Dr Jeremy, bishop of Down and Connor in Ireland, was the son of a barber at Cambridge, where he was educated. Upon entering into orders, he became divinity lecturer of St Paul's in London; and was, by the interest of Archbishop Laud, elected fellow of All Souls college, Cambridge, in 1636. Two years after he became one of the chaplains of the archbishop, who bestowed on him the rectory of Uppingham in Rutlandshire. In 1642, he was chaplain to the king; and a frequent preacher before him and the court at Oxford. He afterward attended in the king's army in the condition of a chaplain. Upon the declining of his majesty's cause, he retired into Wales, where he was permitted to officiate as minister, and to keep a school, in order to maintain himself and his children. In this retirement he wrote several of his works. Having spent several years there, his family was visited with sickness; and he lost three sons of great hopes within the space of two or three months. This affliction touched him sensibly, that it made him desirous to leave the country; and, going to London, he for a time officiated in a private congregation of loyalists to his great hazard. At length meeting with Edward lord Conway, that nobleman carried him over with him into Ireland, and settled him at Portmore, where he wrote his Ductor Dubitantium. Upon the Restoration he returned to England. Soon after, he was advanced to the bishopric of Down and Connor in Ireland; and had the administration of the see of Dromore granted to him. He was likewise made privy-counsellor and vice-chancellor of the university of Dublin; which place he held till his death. He died of a fever at Linnegarvy in 1667, and was interred in a chapel which he himself had built on the ruins of the old cathedral of Dromore.

Dr Brook, was born at Edmonton, August 18th 1685. He was the son of John Taylor, Esq. of Bifrons-house in Kent, by Olivia, daughter of Sir Nicholas Tempest, of Durham, Baronet. His grandfather, Nathaniel Taylor, was one of those puritans whom "Cromwell thought fit to elect by a letter, dated June 14th 1653, to represent the county of Bedford in parliament." The character of his father partook in no small degree of the austerity that had been transmitted to him in the line of his ancestors, and by the spirit of the times in which they lived; and to this cause may be ascribed the disaffection which sometimes subsisted between the father and even such a son as is the subject of this article. The old gentleman's morose temper, however, yielded to the powers of music; and the most eminent professors of the art in that period were hospitably welcomed in his house. His son Brook was induced, by his natural genius, and by the disposition of his father, which he wished by all the means in his power to conciliate, to direct his particular attention to music; and he became in very early life a distinguished proficient in it.—"In a large family piece, he is represented at the age of 13 sitting in the centre of his brothers and sisters; the two elder of whom, Olivia and Mary, crown him with laurel, bearing the insignia of harmony."

To music he added another accomplishment, in which he equally excelled. "His drawings and paintings, of which some are still preserved, require not those allowances for error or imperfection with which we scan the performances of even the superior dilettanti;—they will bear the test of scrutiny and criticism from artists themselves, and those of the first genius and professional abilities." Though he was eminent in the culture and practice both of music and drawing in his early youth, his whole attention was not occupied by these fascinating arts. His classical education was conducted at home under a private tutor; and his proficiency in the ordinary branches of the languages and the mathematics was so great, that he was deemed qualified for the university at the early age of 15.

In 1701 he was entered a fellow commoner of St John's College, Cambridge. At that period mathematics engaged more particularly the attention of the university; and the examples of eminence in the learned world, derived from that branch of science, attracted the notice and roused the emulation of every youth possessed of talents and of application. We may presume, that Brook Taylor, from the very hour of his admission at college, adopted the course of study which a Machin, a Keil, and, above all, a Newton, had opened to the mind of man, as leading to discoveries of the celestial system.—That he applied early to these studies, and without remission, is to be inferred from the early notice and kind attention with which he was honoured by those eminent persons, and from the extraordinary progress which he made in their favourite science."

In 1708 he wrote his treatise On the Centre of Oscillation, which was not published in the Philosophical Transactions till some years afterwards. In 1709, he took his degree of Bachelor of Laws. In 1712, he was chosen a Fellow of the Royal Society. During the interval between these two periods, he corresponded with Professor Keil on several of the most abstruse subjects of mathematical disquisition. Sir William Young informs us, that he has in his possession a letter, dated in 1712, addressed to Mr Machin, which contains at length a solution of Kepler's problem, and marking the use to be derived from that solution. - In this year he presented to the Royal Society three different papers: one On the Ascent of Water between two Glass Planes; a second, On the Centre of Oscillation; and a third, on the Motion of a stretched String. It appears from his correspondence with Keil, that in 1713 he presented a paper on his favourite subject of Music; but this is not preserved in the Transactions.

His distinguished proficiency in those branches of science, which engaged the particular attention of the Royal Society at this period, and which embroiled them in contests with foreign academies, recommended him to the notice of its most illustrious members; and in 1714 he was elected to the office of secretary. In this year he took at Cambridge his degree of Doctor of Laws: and at this time he transmitted, in a letter to Sir Hans Sloane, An Account of some curious Experiments relative to Magnetism; which, however, was not delivered to the Society till many years afterward, when it was printed in the Transactions. His application to those studies to which his genius inclined was indefatigable; for we find that in 1715 he published in Latin his Methodus Incrementorum; also a curious essay preserved in the Philosophical Transactions, entitled An Account of an Experiment for the Discovery of the Laws of Magnetic Attraction; likewise a treatise well known to mathematicians, and highly valued by the best judges, on the Principles of Linear Perspective. In the same year (such were his admirable talents, and so capable were they of being directed to various subjects), he conducted a controversial correspondence with the Count Raymond de Montmort, on the Tenets of Malebranche; which occasioned his being particularly noticed in the eulogium pronounced by the French academy on the decease of that eminent metaphysician.

The new philosophy of Newton (as it was then called) engaged the attention of mathematicians and philosophers both at home and abroad. At Paris it was in high estimation; and the men of science in that city were desirous of obtaining a personal acquaintance with the learned secretary of the Royal Society, whose reputation was so generally acknowledged, and who had particularly distinguished himself in the Leibnitzian or German controversy, as we may denominate it, of that period. In consequence of many urgent invitations, he determined to visit his friends at Paris in the year 1716. He was received with every possible token of affection and respect; and had an opportunity of displaying many traits of character, which mark the general scholar and accomplished gentleman, as well as the profound mathematician. His company was courted by all "who had temper to enjoy, or talents to improve, the charms of social intercourse." Besides the mathematicians, to whom he had always free access, he was here introduced to Lord Bolingbroke, the Count de Caylus, and Bishop Bossuet.

Early in 1717 he returned to London, and composed three treatises, which were presented to the Royal Society, and published in the 30th volume of the Transactions. About this time his intense application had impaired his health to a considerable degree; and he was under the necessity of repairing, for relaxation and relief, to Aix-la-Chapelle. Having likewise a desire of directing his attention to subjects of moral and religious speculation, he resigned his office of secretary to the Royal Society in 1718.

After his return to England in 1719, he applied to subjects of a very different kind from those that had employed the thoughts and labours of his more early life. Among his papers of this date, Sir William Young has found detached parts of A Treatise on the Jewish Sacrifices, and a dissertation of considerable length On the Lawfulness of eating Blood. He did not, however, wholly neglect his former subjects of study, but employed his leisure hours in combining science and art; with this view he revised and improved his treatise on Linear Perspective. Drawing continued to be his favourite amusement to his latest hour; and it is not improbable, that his valuable life was shortened by the sedentary habits which this amusement, succeeding his severer studies, occasioned. "He drew figures with extraordinary precision and beauty of pencil. Landscape was yet his favourite branch of design. His original landscapes are mostly painted in water colours, but with all the richness and strength of oils. They have a force of colour, a freedom of touch, a varied disposition of planes of distance, and a learned use of aerial as well as linear perspective, which all professional men who have seen these paintings have admired."

The work of Dr Brook Taylor in linear perspective was censured by Bernoulli, in a treatise published in the Acts of Leipzig, as "abstruse to all, and as unintelligible to artists for whom it was more especially written." It must be acknowledged that this excellent work, for so it deserves to be called, was not level to the apprehensions of practitioners in the art of drawing and design; but it was much esteemed by mathematicians. Three editions of it have been published; and as it is now scarce, a republication of it in its most improved and perfect state would be very acceptable. Mr Kirby, however, has made it more plain and popular, in his treatise entitled "Brook Taylor's Perspective made easy;" and this book, detailing and illustrating the principles of the original work, has been the vade mecum of artists. Dr Brook Taylor was incensed by the invicious attacks of Bernoulli; and he published An Apology against J. Bernoulli's Objections, which may be seen in the 30th volume of the Philosophical Transactions. Bernoulli, with his usual envy of British mathematicians, had disputed our author's right to his own work. work. We have no reason to doubt Dr Taylor's claims to the undecided discovery of the method which he describes, though he is not an original inventor. This method was long before published by Guido Ubaldi, in his Perspective, printed at Pefaro in 1600; where it is delivered very clearly, and confirmed by most elegant demonstrations; and where it is actually applied to the art of delineating the scenes of a theatre.

Toward the end of the year 1720, Dr Brook Taylor accepted the invitation of Lord Bolingbroke to spend some time at La Source, a country-seat near Orleans, which he held in right of his wife, the widow of the Marquis de Villette, nephew of Madame de Maintenon. In the next year he returned to England, and published the last paper which appears with his name in the Philosophical Transactions, entitled, An Experiment made to ascertain the Proportion of Expansion of Liquor in the Thermometer, with regard to the degree of Heat.

In 1721, Dr Brook Taylor married Miss Bridges of Wallington in the county of Surrey, a young lady of good family, but of small fortune; and this marriage occasioned a rupture with his father, whose consent he had never obtained. The death of this lady in 1725, and that of an infant son, whom the parents regarded as the preface and pledge of reconciliation with the father, and who actually proved such, deeply affected the sensibility of Dr Taylor. However, during the two succeeding years he resided with his father at Bifrons, where "the musical parties, so agreeable to his taste and early proficiency, and the affectionate attentions of a numerous family welcoming an amiable brother, so long estranged by paternal resentment, not only soothed his sorrows, but ultimately engaged him to a scene of country retirement, and domesticated and fixed his habits of life. He could no more recur to the defunctory resources and cold solace of society, which casual visits, flight acquaintance, and distant friendships, afford the man—who hath none to make and cheer a constant home."

In 1725 he formed a new connection; and with the full approbation of his father and family, married Sabetta, daughter of John Sawbridge, Esq., of Olantigh, in Kent. In 1729, on the death of his father, he succeeded to the family estate of Bifrons. In the following year he lost his wife in childbirth. The daughter whose birth occasioned this melancholy event survived, and became the mother of Sir William Young, to whom we owe these memoirs of his grandfather.

In the interval that elapsed between the years 1721 and 1730, no production by Brook Taylor appears in the Philosophical Transactions; nor did he publish in the course of that time any work. His biographer has found no traces of his learned labour, excepting a Treatise of Logarithms, which was committed to his friend Lord Pailey (afterward Abercorn), in order to be prepared for the press; but which probably never was printed. His health was now much impaired; relaxation became necessary, and he was diverted by new connections from the habit of severe study, which had distinguished the early period of his life, and which had contributed to contract the duration of it. Happy in the social circle of domestic enjoyment, and devoting his attention to business or amusement as they occurred, his application and his literary emulation seem to have declined. He did not long survive the loss of his second wife; and his remaining days were days of increasing imbecility and sorrow.

"The essay entitled Contemplatio Philosophica, published by Sir William Young, 1793, appears to have been written about this time, and probably with a view to abstract his mind from painful recollections and regret. It was the effort of a strong mind, and is a most remarkable example of the close logic of the mathematician applied to metaphysics. But the blow was too deep at heart for study to afford more than temporary relief. The very resource was hurtful, and intense study but accelerated the decline of his health. His friends offered every comfort; in particular Lord Bolingbroke pressed his consolation, and fought to call his mind from regret of domestic endearments to social friendship at Dawley.

The attention and kindness of his friends, however, could not ward off the approaches of dissolution. "Having survived his second wife little more than a year, Dr Brook Taylor died of a decline in the 46th year of his age, December the 29th 1731, and was buried in the church-yard of St Ann's, Soho. I am spared (says his descendant) the necessity of closing this biographical sketch with a prolix detail of his character: in the best acceptation of duties relative to each situation of life in which he was engaged, his own writings, and the writings of those who best knew him, prove him to have been the finished Christian, gentleman, and scholar."