reformation in North Wales, and he appears to have honestly attempted to suppress the irregularities of the native clergy, though perhaps he was himself not quite free from the taint of nepotism.
Robinson married Jane, daughter of Randal Brereton, by Mary, daughter of Sir William Griffith of Penrhyn, chamberlain of North Wales, and by her he had numerous sons, including Hugh [q. v.], and William, his eldest, whose son was John Robinson (1617-1681) [q. v.] the royalist.
[The chief authorities for Nicholas Robinson's life are Wood's Athenae Oxon. ii. 797-9; Le Neve's Fasti, i. 105, 115-16; Williams's Eminent Welshmen, pp. 459 et seq; Cooper's Athenae Cnntabr. i. 603-5; Yorke's Royal Tribes of Wales, ed. Williams, pp. 23, 173; Strype's various works.]
ROBINSON, NICHOLAS, M.D. (1697?–1775), physician, a native of Wales, born about 1697, graduated M.D. at Rheims on 15 Dec. 1718, and, like Richard Mead [q. v.], who was his first patron, began practice without the necessary license of the College of Physicians, residing in Wood Street in the city of London. In 1721 he published ‘A Compleat Treatise of the Gravel and Stone,’ in which he condemns the guarded opinion which Charles Bernard [q. v.] had given on the subject of cutting into the kidney to remove renal calculus, and declares himself strongly in favour of the operation. He describes a tinctura lithontriptica, pulvis lithontripticus, and elixir lithontripticum devised by him as sovereign remedies for the stone and the gravel. In 1725 he published ‘A New Theory of Physick and Diseases founded on the Newtonian Philosophy.’ The theory is indefinite, and seems little more than that there is no infallible authority in medicine. In 1727 he published ‘A New Method of treating Consumptions,’ and on 27 March was admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians. He moved to Warwick Court in Warwick Lane, and in 1729 published ‘A New System of the Spleen, Vapours, and Hypochondriack Melancholy,’ dedicated to Sir Hans Sloane [q. v.] He mentions in it, from the report of eye-witnesses, the last symptoms of Marlborough's illness, which are generally known from Johnson's poetical allusion to them, and relates as example of the occasional danger of the disease then known as vapours that a Mrs. Davis died of joy because her son returned safely from India; while a Mrs. Chiswell died of sorrow because her son went to Turkey. In 1729 he published a ‘Discourse on the Nature and Cause of Sudden Deaths,’ in which he maintains that some cases of apoplexy ought not to be treated by bleeding, and describes from his own observation the cerebral appearances in opium poisoning. His ‘Treatise of the Venereal Disease,’ which appeared in 1736, and ‘Essay on Gout,’ published in 1755, are without any original observations. He used to give lectures on medicine at his house, and published a syllabus. He also wrote ‘The Christian Philosopher’ in 1741, and ‘A Treatise on the Virtues of a Crust of Bread’ in 1756. All his writings are diffuse, and contain scarcely an observation of permanent value. He died on 13 May 1775.
[Munk's Coll. of Phys. ii. 108; Works.]
ROBINSON, PETER FREDERICK (1776–1858), architect, born in 1776, became a pupil of Henry Holland (1746?–1806) [q. v.] From 1795 to 1798 he was articled to William Porden [q. v.], and he resided in 1801–2 at the Pavilion at Brighton, superintending the works in Porden's absence. In 1805 he designed Hans Town Assembly Rooms, Cadogan Place; in 1811–12 the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, which William Bullock of Liverpool intended for his London museum of natural history. The details of the elevation were taken from V. Denon's work on the Egyptian monuments, and especially from the temple at Denderah; but the composition of the design is quite at variance with the principles of Egyptian architecture. About this period he employed the young James Duffield Harding [q. v.] for perspective drawing. Harding also contributed illustrations to ‘Vitruvius Britannicus’ and other works of Robinson. In 1813 he designed the town-hall and market-place at Llanbedr, Cardiganshire. In 1816 he travelled on the continent, and visited Rome. In 1819 he made alterations at Bulstrode for the Duke of Somerset; in 1821 he restored Mickleham church, Surrey; in 1826–8 he made alterations at York Castle gaol; in 1829–32 he built the Swiss Cottage at the Colosseum, Regent's Park; in 1836 he sent in designs which were not successful in the competition for the new Houses of Parliament. He also designed or altered numerous country houses for private gentlemen.
He projected the continuation of ‘Vitruvius Britannicus,’ commenced by Colin Campbell (d. 1729) [q. v.], and continued by George Richardson (1736?–1817?) [q. v.], and published five parts, viz.: ‘Woburn Abbey,’ 1827; ‘Hatfield House,’ 1833; ‘Hardwicke Hall,’ 1835; ‘Castle Ashby,’ 1841; and ‘Warwick Castle,’ 1842. He also published ‘Rural Architecture: Designs for Ornamental Cottages,’
