in which capacity he served both in England and Ireland (Strype, Ecclesiatical Memorials, II. i. 473; Thomas, Historical Notes, 1856). He died in the king's bench prison, Southwark, in 1558, probably not long after making his will, 28 June 1558 (cf. Kennet in Lansd. MS. 980, Brit. Mus.) The assertion that he was imprisoned for debt accords with his allusions to pecuniary difficulties at the end of the ‘Whetstone of Witte,’ but he left a little money to his relatives in his will (see Halliwell, Connection of Wales with the Early Science of England. The will is in the prerogative office). He had four sons and five daughters (see Cambrian Quarterly Magazine, v. 116 &c.). The only known portraits of Recorde are woodcuts in the ‘Urinal of Physick’ and the ‘Pathway to Knowledge.’ There seems no doubt that he was an active champion of the protestant reformation (cf. Fuller, Worthies; Pits, p. 745).
Though the greatest part of his time was spent in the mathematical sciences, Recorde is said to have been deeply skilled in rhetoric, philosophy, polite literature, history, cosmography, astrology, astronomy, physic, music, mineralogy, and every branch of natural history. He was also conversant with all matters relating to the coinage, had a good knowledge of Saxon (cf. his marginal notes to Alex. Essebiensis, MS. C. C. C. Cantabr. E. ii.), was no mean divine, and was acquainted with the law. He was a zealous antiquary, and made a large collection of historical and other ancient manuscripts. He was probably the first, certainly one of the first, in England to adopt the Copernican system, which was only put forward as an hypothesis in 1543; though he seems to have thought the world not yet quite ripe for such a doctrine, and was perhaps afraid to avow it very distinctly (Halliwell in Phil. Mag. June 1840). He advises his reader not to rely too much on Ptolemy; but it appears that he had not quite abandoned astrology.
Recorde was practically the founder of an English school of mathematical writers. He was the first writer in English on arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy, and the first to introduce algebra into England. He seems, in fact, to have been one of the first to see the independence of an algebraic operation and its numerical interpretation (Ball, History of Mathematics in Cambridge). Recorde is superior to others, even Vieta, in his perception of general results connected with the fundamental notation of algebra, and he is free from the tendency, then common, to invest simple numbers with the character of planes, solids, &c. He also uses fractions and arabic numerals with greater freedom than was usual in his time. De Morgan, in a most learned and valuable article on Recorde's works (Companion to the British Almanac for 1837, pp. 30–7), says that, to his knowledge, Recorde's ‘Pathway’ contains the first use of the term ‘sine’ in English. His only claims to originality of invention rest on his discovery of the method of extracting the square root of multinomial algebraic expressions, and on his having been the first to use the present sign of equality, i.e. ‘=’ (for both see Whetstone of Witte, 1557). This sign was probably taken from mediæval manuscripts, in which it is used for ‘est’ (cf. Henry, Revue Archéologique, 1879). The ‘Whetstone of Witte’ is also the first English book containing the symbols ‘+’ and ‘-,’ which Recorde seems sometimes to have used as symbols of operation, and not as mere abbreviations. Recorde's mathematical works continued to be standard authorities till the end of the sixteenth century (cf. Cunningham, Cosmographicall Glasse, 1559, and one of them (‘Grounde of Artes’) was still popular at the end of the seventeenth century. They are all written in the form of a somewhat diffuse dialogue between the master and scholar. Recorde's style, not very free in his earlier books, improved later. In his prefaces, introductions, and conclusions he frequently indulges in very passable poetry (a beautiful and dignified hymn from the ‘Castle of Knowledge’ is quoted in Collier's Bibliographical Account).
Recorde's earliest work was: 1. ‘The Grounde of Artes,’ on arithmetic, 1540, 1542, 1543, 1549, 1551, 1552, 1558, 1561, 1570, 1571, 1573; with additions by John Dee and John Mellis, 1582, 1583, 1590, 1600, 1607, 1610; and by Robert Norton, 1618; and by Robert Hartwell and R. C., 1623, 1636, 1646, 1648, 1652, 1654; and by Thomas Willsford, 1658, 1662; the last known edition is by Edward Hatton in 1699. From the preface Recorde seems to have contemplated a publication on alloys, which was probably not encouraged by the ministers of Edward VI., part of whose policy it was to adulterate the coin. Perhaps his best known work is 2. ‘The Whetstone of Witte, or the second Part of Arithmetike,’ 1557, on algebra (the title, = cos ingenii, is a play on the word cosa = thing, then used for the unknown in algebra). This work is referred to in Scott's ‘Fortunes of Nigel,’ chap. xxiv., as being the only book in the usurer's house besides the bible. Halliwell (Letters on Scientific Subjects, Preface, p. x) says that it ranks
