Читать книгу William Oughtred - Cajori Florian - Страница 8

According to certain sources of information, Oughtred traveled on the European Continent and was invited to change his abode to the Continent. We have seen no statement from Oughtred himself on this matter. He seldom referred to himself in his books and letters. The autobiography contained in his Apologeticall Epistle was written a quarter of a century before his death. Aubrey gives the following:

In the time of the civill warres the duke of Florence invited him over, and offered him 500 li. per annum; but he would not accept it, because of his religion.18

A portrait of Oughtred, painted in 1646 by Hollar and inserted in the English edition of the Clavis of 1647, contains underneath the following lines:

In the sketch of Oughtred by Owen Manning it is confessed that “it is not known to what this alludes; but possibly he might have been in Italy with his patron, the Earl of Arundel.”19 It would seem quite certain either that Oughtred traveled in Europe or that he received some sort of an offer to settle in Italy. In view of Aubrey’s explicit statement and of Oughtred’s well-known habit of confining himself to his duties and studies in his own parish, seldom going even as far as London, we strongly incline to the opinion that he did not travel on the Continent, but that he received an offer from some patron of the sciences – possibly some distinguished visitor – to settle in Italy.