ABSTRACT
Publication of Doctrine of Chances confirmed De Moivre as one of the leading mathematicians of his time in Britain. Knowledge of his work went beyond his circle of friends, mathematicians, Royal Society members, and aristocratic employers. Still within the circle, but at the periphery, was the actor and playwright, Colley Cibber. De Moivre and Cibber had some common connections; Cibber’s original patron was the 1st Duke of Devonshire and he had other prominent Whig connections that included Robert Walpole.1 The one known interaction between De Moivre and Cibber is that they discussed the difference between French and English actors’ methods of declamation in tragedies.2 Whether or not he had ever read it, Cibber was aware in some way of the Doctrine of Chances and must have felt that many in his audience knew of the book as well as of the author’s reputation. Cibber was also an inveterate gambler. There is a gambling reference to De Moivre in Cibber’s play The Provok’d Husband, which was first staged in 1728. One of the characters in the play is a gambler named Count Basset (after the card game). During the second act, Basset mentions that the “Demoivre Baronet” had lost a lot of money the previous night at White’s Coffeehouse, a favorite haunt of gamblers.3 Perhaps De Moivre was in the audience on opening night to hear his name.
