Benjamin Robins had printed two political pamphlets (Nos 1 and 2 below) in 1739 and a third one (No. 3) which is his to the extent that it was grossly “disfigured” before being put “abroad”. A pamphlet (No. 4) not by Robins is included here because it is a short, interesting, anonymous answer, in effect, to pamphlet No. 1.
In 1742, Robins was Secretary of a House of Commons Secret Enquiry into Lord Orford's conduct which produced its report in May (No. 5) and which was followed by a “leaked” one (No. 6) in June.
All the pamphlets (save No. 4) and reports came out anonymously and were it not for James Wilson's biography of Robins which prefaces Wilson's collection of his Mathematical Tracts (printed in 1761), we should not know of Robins' involvement in them.
Wilson refers only minimally to these documents (again, No. 4 excepted), but historians of science since 1761 seem not to have read and commented on them. For this reason, we now give below summaries of their contents. Among other things, the issues addressed reflect the turmoil of the age as described in a companion paper, W. Johnson, “Called to publick employment … a very honourable post.” To be published (1993).