one

nothing till they died, never gave. This, perhaps, was reason why he never made a will. Scarcely any man of his circumstances ever gave away so much during his own life-time, in alms, in encouraging ingenuity and learning, and to his relations; nor, upon all occasions, showed a greater contempt of his own money, or a more scrupulous frugality of that which belonged to the public, or to any society he was entrusted for. He refused pensions and additional employments that were offered him; he was highly honoured and respected in all reigns, and under all administrations, even by those whom he opposed; for in every situation he shewed an inflexible attachment to the cause of liberty, and to the constitution of Great Britain. George II. and queen Caroline shewed him particular marks of their favour and esteem, and often conversed with him for hours together. The queen in particular, used to take delight in his company, and was accustomed to congratulate herself that she lived in the same country, and at the same time, with so illustrious a person.

Yet, notwithstanding the extraordinary honours that were paid him, he had so humble an opinion of himself, that he had no relish for the applause which he received. In Spence's "Anecdotes" we are told, that when Ramsay was one day complimenting him on his discoveries in philosophy, he answered, "Alas! I am only like a child picking up pebbles on the shore of the great ocean of truth." He was so little vain and desirous of glory from any of his works, that he would have let others run away with the credit of those inventions which have done so much honour to human nature, if his friends and countrymen had not been more jealous than he was of his own glory, and the honour of his country. He was exceedingly courteous and affable, even to the lowest, and never despised any man for want of capacity but always expressed freely his resentment against immorality or impiety. He not only shewed a great and constant regard to religion in general, as well by an exemplary life, as in all his writings, but was also a firm believer in revealed religion, with one exception, an important one indeed, that his sentiments on the doctrine of the Trinity by no means coincided with what are generally beld. He left many papers behind him on religious subjects, which Dr. Horsley, who examined them, declined publishing, probably on account of the opinions which we have just hinted. Sir Isaac had such a mildness of tem

per that a melancholy story would often draw tears from him, and he was exceedingly shocked at any act of cruelty to man or beast; mercy to both being the topic that he loved to dwell upon. An innate modesty and simplicity showed itself in all his actions and expressions. His whole life was one continued series of labour, patience, charity, generosity, temperance, piety, goodness, and every other virtue, without a mixture of any known vice whatsoever.

Fontenelle, after detailing these circumstances, observes, that "he was not distinguished from other men by any siugularity, either natural or affected ;" and Dr. Johnson considered it as an eminent instance of Newton's supe riority to the rest of mankind, "that he was able to separate knowledge from those weaknesses by which knowledge is generally disgraced: that he was able to excel in science and wisdom, without purchasing them by the neglect of little things; and that he stood alone merely because he had left the rest of mankind behind him, not because he deviated from the beaten track.".

He was blessed with a very happy and vigorous constitution: he was of a middle stature, and rather plump in his latter years he had a very lively and piercing eye*: a comely and gracious aspect, and a fine head of hair, as white as silver, without any baldness. To the time of his last illness he had the bloom and colour of a young man. He never wore spectacles, nor lost more than one tooth till the day of his death. About five years before his death, he was troubled with an incontinence of urine, and sometimes with a stillicidium, both of which continued to afflict him, more or less, according to the motion to which he was exposed. On this account he sold his chariot, and went always in a chair: and he gave up dining abroad, or with much company at home. He eat little flesh, and lived chiefly upon broth, vegetables, and fruit, of which he always eat heartily. In August, 1724, he voided, without any pain, a stone about the size of a pea, which came away in two pieces: one some days after the other. In January 1725, he had a violent cough and inflammation of the

This bishop Atterbury denies. "The œil fort vif, et fort perçant, which Fontenelle gives him, did not belong to him, at least for twenty years past, about which time I first came acquainted with him. Indeed, in the whole air of his face and make, there was no

thing of that penetrating sagacity which appears in his composures. He had something rather languid in his look and manner, which did not, raise any great expectation in those who did not know him." Atterbury's Correspondence, vol. II. p. 329.

lungs, upon which he was persuaded, with considerable difficulty, to take a house in Kensington, where he had, in his eighty-fourth year, a fit of the gout, for the second time, having had a slight attack of it some years before. This fit left him in better health than he had enjoyed for several years. In the winter of 1725, he wanted to resign his situation as master of the mint to his nephew, Mr. Conduitt, but this gentleman would not permit his resignation, but offered to conduct the whole business in his place: and for about a year before his death sir Isaac hardly ever went to the Mint, trusting entirely to the management of his nephew.

Sir

On Tuesday, Feb. 28, 1727, he went to town, in order to attend a meeting of the Royal Society. Next day Mr. Conduitt paid him a visit, and found him apparently in better health than he had enjoyed for several years. Isaac was sensible of it himself, and told his nephew, smiling, that he had slept the Sunday before from eleven at night till eight in the morning, without waking. But his fatigue in attending the Society, and in paying and receiving visits, brought his old complaint violently upon him *. Dr. Mead and Mr. Cheselden were carried out to Kensington to see him, by Mr. Conduitt. They immediately pronounced his disease to be the stone in the bladder, and gave no hopes of his recovery. The stone was pro

bably removed from the place where it lay quiet, by the great motion and fatigue of his last journey to London. From this time he had violent fits of pain, with scarcely any intermission: and though the drops of sweat ran down his face with anguish, he never complained, nor cried out, nor shewed the least sign of peevishness or impatience; and, during the short intervals from that violent torture, would smile and talk with his usual cheerfulness. On Wednesday

* Dr. Pearce, afterwards bp. of Rochester, had an interview with sir Isaac a few days before his death,when he read to the doctor a part of his Chronology for near an hour. Happening to speak of some fact, he could not recollect the name of the king in whose reign it happened, and therefore complained of his memory beginning to fail him ; but he added immediately, that it was in such a year of such an olympiad, naming them both very exactly. Dr. Pearce very justly considered the ready mention of such chronological dates,

as a greater proof of his memory not failing him, than the naming of the king would have been. Newton's Chronology, edit. 1770, p. 10, where this account was first published, in contradiction of a report that our great philosopher's faculties had failed him some time before his death. It is highly proper that such a report should be contradicted; but some decay of faculties in a man whose mind had been on the stretch for seventy years, would not have been wonderful.

March 15 he was somewhat better, and fallacious hopes were entertained of his recovery. On Saturday March 18 he read the newspapers, and held a pretty long conversation with Dr. Mead, and had all his senses perfect; but that evening at six, and all Sunday, he was insensible, and died on Monday March 20, 1727, between one and two o'clock in the morning; having reached the age of eighty-four years and a few months, and retained all his senses and faculties to the end of his life, strong, vigorous, and lively. He continued writing and studying many hours every day, till the period of his last illness. Although he had lived with great splendour and liberality, and had originally but a small property, he accumulated 32,000l. of personal estate which was divided between his four nephews and nieces of half-blood *. The land which he had of his father and mother descended to his heir of the whole blood, John Newton, whose great grand-father was sir Isaac's uncle.

Sir Isaac was remarkably liberal to all his relations, particularly to his mother's family by Mr. Smith, giving to one 500l. to another an estate of 4000l. or thereabouts, to make up a loss occasioned by the imprudent marriage of one of them, and to prevent a lawsuit among themselves. This was done many years before his death. He had a half-sister, who had a daughter, to whom he gave the best of educations. This was "the famous witty Miss Barton,' who married Mr. Conduitt; sir Isaac bought an estate of 70l. or 80l. a-year, and gave it to their daughter Miss Conduitt, then very young, who was afterwards married to the eldest son of lord Lymington, from whom the present earl of Portsmouth is descended. He was equally kind to his mother's relations, the Ayscoughs, some of whom had been imprudent, and needed his help. To one he gave 800l. to another 2007. and many other sums, and frequently became security for them. He is said never to have sold the copies of any of his works, but gave them freely to the booksellers. Mr. Seward appears therefore to

It appears that these nephews and nieces bestowed certain sums in charity, as they thought would do credit to their uncle; particularly we And 201, given by them to the poor of Woolsthorpe and Colsterworth, in Lincolnshire. Sir Isaac had contributed about two years before his death

to the erection of a gallery in Colsterworth church. See his correspondence on the subject in Gent. Mag. vol. LIX. p. 775. In the same vol. p. 1976, is his pedigree, written by himself; and on the plate opposite p 798, is a facsimile of his and Mr. Conduitt's hand. writing.

have been greatly mistaken in imputing a desire of gain to sir Isaac because he had some concern in the SouthSea bubble, and lost, according to his niece's report, 20,000l. Even this loss made no alteration in his liberality, and in point of fact, it appears that the greatest instances of his kindness to his relations and friends occurred after the year 1720. The John Newton above mentioned, who inherited his real estate, died in 1737, at the age of thirty. He is said to have been illiterate and intemperate. With him the family of Newton became extinct.

Sir Isaac Newton was buried with great magnificence, at the public expence. On March 28, he lay in state in the Jerusalem-chamber, and was buried from thence in Westminster-abbey, near the entry into the choir. The spot is one of the most conspicuous in the abbey, and had been previously refused to different noblemen who had applied for it. The pall was supported by the lord high chancellor, the dukes of Montrose and Roxborough, and the earls of Pembroke, Sussex, and Macclesfield, being fellows of the Royal Society. The hon. sir Michael Newton, knight of the Bath, was chief mourner, and was followed by some other relations, and some eminent persons intimately acquainted with sir Isaac. The office was performed by the bishop of Rochester, Dr. Bradford, attended by the prebendaries and choir. A magnificent monument was afterwards erected to his memory, in the abbey, and, by the munificence of the late Dr. Robert Smith, master of Trinity college, the antichapel of that college contains an admirable full-length statue of sir Isaac, by Roubilliac. Medals also were struck to his memory, one by Croker of our mint; one by Dassier of Geneva; and another by Roettiers in France. The only portrait for which he ever sat was by Kneller, and is, if we mistake not, in the collection of the duke of Rutland.

The first life of this illustrious man which appeared was drawn up by Fontenelle, from materials furnished by sir Isaac's nephew, and published in the memoirs of the French Academy. Why none of his countrymen executed such an undertaking we shall not inquire. This, however, is the life from which all succeeding biographers have extracted their materials, and it formed the ground-work of the long, but somewhat confused account, that has hitherto appeared in this dictionary. But, like almost all the eloges, published in the memoirs of the French Academy,

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