"2. Sir Isaac Newton's Rules, in his ', concerning the Resolution of the higher Equations, and the Affectations of their Roots, being, for the most part, delivered without any Demonstration, Mr. MacLaurin had designed, that his Treatise should serve as a Commentary on that Work. For we here find all those difficult Passages in Sir Isaac's Book, which have so long perplexed the Students of Algebra, clearly explained and demonstrated. How much such a Commentary was wanted, we may learn from the Words of the late eminent Author.The ablest Mathematicians of the last Age (says he) did not disdain to write Notes on the Geometry of Des Cartes; and surely Sir Isaac Newton's Arithmetic no less deserves that Honour. To excite some one of the many skilful Hands that our Times afford to undertake this Work, and to shew the Necessity of it, I give this Specimen, in an Explication of two Passages of the '; which, however, are not the most difficult in that Book.What this learned Professor so earnestly wished for, we at last see executed; not separately nor in the loose disagreeable Form which such Commentaries generally take, but in a Manner equally natural and convenient; every Demonstration being aptly inserted into the Body of the Work, as a necessary and inseparable Member; an Advantage which, with some others, obvious enough to an attentive Reader, will, 'tis hoped, distinguish this Performance from every other, of the Kind, that has hitherto appeared."