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in English
r
day in the 25 1642. th of r
Woolstrope in the parish of
in the County of Lincoln about two
months after the death of his father
Isaac Newton who was descended from
the eldest branch of the family of r
Newton of Lincolnshire, tt
Lord of the said Manor of Woolstrope ch
been near 200 years in the
His mother was Hannah Ascough of the antient family of the Ascoughs of
Market Overton in the County of Rutland, who
to the Reverend Mr Benjamin Smith
Rector of North Witham & had by him
a son & two daughters from whom are
descended the four nephews &
who inherit r
rat
great school at Grantham where great
early tokens of an unco
After he had been there about four years
& a half his father in law
home, intending he should apply himself
to the management of his own estate as his ancestors had done for several but his genius
generations before him
could not brook
& the strong inclination he shewed for reading & inattention
to every thing else induced his father in law
to Grantham school again for nine months & thence he went to Trinity College at Cambridge where
he was admitted the 5th of Iune in 1660, under Mr
Pulleyn – Bef He always informed himself before hand
of the books his tutour intended to read, & when
he came to the lectures found he knew more
purpose were Sanderson's logick & Kepler's
opticks, what put L
Having lit on some books relating to Iudicial Astrology
Being, like Cassini,
there was any thing in judicial Astrology put him & finding he could not
make a figuremake no judgement of it till he
could make a figure i.e. see how all the Planets
bear at a certain timechhe soon
emptiness of that science
A desire to know wether there was any thing
in judicial astrology put him as it did Cassini
upon studying Mathematicks, but he immediately discovered he
discovered the emptiness of that science – He bought an
English Euclid with an Index at the end & only turned
to ch
use of in casting a figure, & despised all the
rest as a trifling book.chchHe despised Euclid as
a trifling & vulgar only turned from by the Index
to two or three problems ch
of to see wether there was any thing in
He at once Without the usual steps he went
at once upon Des Cartes's Geometry & made himself
Master of it u
other person, & it may with truth be said of him that
In 1664 he bought a prism to
upon Des Cartes's book of colours & immediately
found out his own Hypothesis & the erroneousness
of Des Cartes's, about this time he began to
haue the first hint of his method of fluxions & & in the year
solved several difficult problems to
1665 when he was retired to his own estate on
account of the Plague, he fell discovered his
system of gravity As to the treatise he sent to the Royal Society
In 1667 he was chosen fellow of Trinity College in
& in 1669 Mathematical professor upon Dr Barrows
resignation – In 1675 he had a particular
dispensation from d to continue fellow without
taking orders —–
In 1687 – I He made all his discoveries before he
was 28 year old, he left some papers
was in the midst of them he left a candle
upon his table amongst his papers & going down ch
a great many relating both to his fluxions &
opticks ch
him to begin againchch
sent to the Royal Society & co& works he publi are soso
is giuen of them in the Coevery day many new lights have appeared relating to that dispute it is expected from your candour & equity that you will do justice to correct several passages in your rformer works printed before those discoveries were made – In the Eloge upon rrmeme tems par r& nothing but the most pressing instances
of his friends & powerfull sollicitations of learned men
have printed any in a pby it appears by a chain of circumstances & that he took it Leibnits took it from him, if there wanted any further proofs – Leibnits's manner of defending himself is sufficient – he lived many years after the dispute was began & never offered the least proof in his own justification, where & since his death that Coreduce oblige him to haue recourse to shifts & practices below very unworthy of a great man – give me leave to and you are so well acquainted with the
books he published that I need say nothing
to you on that subject nor of the general applause
& approbation they have met with — chdabou enclosing it about 4– a clock after he had been tired all day with the business of the Mint where he had been employed all day, & solved it before he went to bed.
In 1667 he was Elected fellow of Trinity
College & in 1669 Dr Barrow resigned the
Mathematical professorship to him —
In 1675 he had a dispensation from d
to continue fellow without taking orders –
In 1687 he was chosen one of the Delegates to
represent the University of Cambridge before
the High Co
University's refusing to admitt Father Francis
Master of Arts upon the s mandamus
without taking the oaths, & was a
great means instrument in perswading
his collegues to persist in the maintenance
of their rights & priviledges – In 1688 he
was chosen which was called by the
In 1696 – the late
of the Exchequer that great Patron of the learned
writt him a letter to Cambridge acquainting
him the he had prevailed th
King to make him Warden of the Mint
in chwas of great
in the great recoinage which happened
immediately after — he soon after quitted his professorship at Cambridge.
made Master & Worker of the Mint
in chthe his death — Chy numbers particularly in his table of Assays of foreign coins chr Arbuthnott
In 1701 of Mathematicks utt
University of Cambridge – In 1705 he stood
again with the Earl of Godolphin the Lord Treasurers only son
chosen, after chwas offered himself no
more – The same year he was Knighted
by the Queen at Cambridge
In 1703 he was Elected President of the Royal
Society being & continued so to his death,
was the first who was President for so long, &
was neuer removed after once
from their first Election to
At the University he spent the greatest time in his close Study
& his when he was spent
or Divinity & Chymistry in all chI beleive he
he examined & searched thoroughly, after his coming
to London he all the time he had to spare from
his employment office & the civilities of life
were employed in the same way, but he was so
courteous & humane even to the lowest people
that he would for
the most trifling visiter – He left His method was
to write down his ch
books he was reading, & make large abstracts
of them, particularly those relating to History
& Chronology& has left behind him many rheams – & had a patience &
of loose papers being foul draughts of his
Mathematical treatises & Chronology & abstracts
of the history – & the volumes of
left behind
in the several studies he was pursuing, qualities
very seldom joined with so much penetration
&
perseverance in any study he was pursuing, equal
to his sagacity & penetration invention, talents one great instance of this are the rheams ch
seldom go together but without both necessary to the
completingon some of ch
six or seven times, the only part of them & that
unpublished ch
was the Chronology,he was often doubtful after the translation of the abstract of it had been printed in France
abouta way odd manner as you know
to print as privately as possible & keep the
copies in his own possession – The answer he gaue
to the remarks upon it you have seen, which the book I saw it was chtreats it
might affect & unwilling had an extract
to engage one of his years in a contest
made of all the real objections stript of that without any & shewed them to
the pleasure of finding they had no weight with the only effect they
him & convinced him the only
had upon him was to convince him of the igno
rance of the authour, he was
whole book without altering his opinion chD r Halley'sr Halley who never saw
The Chronology is in the press & will be out before
I hope before th r
the honour to send you one of
printed
all reigns & under all administrations, even
by those he opposed, for in every station he shewed an inflexible attachment to the cause of liberty, & our present happy
establishment. Their present Majesties
always shewed him particular marks
of their favour & esteem, & often did him the honour to admitt him to their Royal
presence for hours together. The Queen,
whose great entertainment is hearing
arguments concerning matters of Philosophy
& Divinity, frequently desired to see him
& always expressed great satisfaction in
his conversation. She was graciously pleased
to take part in the disputes he was engaged
in during his life, & has shewn a great
regard for every thing that concerned his
honour & memory since his death. I must
not omitt telling you, that I have often
had the honour to hear Her Majesty
say before the whole circle, that she kept r
gave her written in his own hand
among her choicest treasures, & that she
thought it a happiness to have lived
at the same time, & have known so great a man. r
this in the Eloge because I am perswaded
you can say nothing that will do him
more honour, than such a co
from a Queen, who is the Minerva of
her age.
Their present Majesties always shewed
him particular marks of their favour
& esteem, & often did him the honour
to admitt him to their Royal presence
for hours together. The Queen, whose
great entertainment is hearing arguments
upon matters of Divinity & Philosophy,
frequently desired to see him & always
expressed great satisfaction in his con
versation. She was graciously pleased
to take part in the disputes he was
engaged in during his life, & has shewn
a great regard for every thing that
concerned his honour & memory since his
death. I must not omitt telling you
that I have often had the honour to hear
her Majesty say before the whole circle
that she kept the abstract of Chronology r
hand among her choicest treasures,
to have lived at the same time & have
known so great a man. I conjure you r
I am perswaded you can say nothing
that will do him more honour than
such a commendation from a Queen,
who is the Minerva of her age.
he was made Warden of the Mint, no body
ever lived with him but my wife who
was in the
always lived in a very handsome, generous
manner uvery
table, & upon
tainments, he was
bounds, I beleive n he used to say, that
they who gave nothing away till they dyed,
never gave, ch
of his not making a will, I beleive no
man of his circumstances ever gave away
so much during his life time
all occasions shewed a greater contempt
of his own money, nor & frugality of
that ch
society he was entrusted for – He
refused pensions & additional employments
that were offered him, & in all reigns u
& under all
governed here during these last 30 years
he uin all places where he had any thing to do in all stations
to the Cause of liberty
He was so far from being elated with the
extraordinary honours paid him by all mankindnotwithstanding
that he was too often think those
who shewed him that respect ch
to himlook upon ch
so deservedly paid him as in a quite
contrary sense from what it was intended
He was so
of temper that a melancholy
story would often fetch tears from him, & he
had the greatest abhorrence & detestation of
any act of cruelty to man or beast, mercy
to both being a darling topick he used to
Dwell upon — Whilst his He was
As to his sentiments of religion
So far from having any views He was exceed very temperate & sober in his diet u
strict regimen, & was so far from having any
vice that he knew none of the pla
As He very He was certainly a firm
beleiver of revealed religion ch
the many volumes he has left on that subject
as well as by the exemplariness of his life & ,
constantly frequented the divine service u
at the
that particular sect, nor his charity & morality
so scanty as to allow of persecution for
shew a coldness to those who differed
indifferent much less admitt of persecution
of ch
horrence & detestation —
He was very temperate & sober in his diet but neuer observed any regimen a native modesty & simplicity simple simplicity appeared in all
his express behaviour actions & expressions he had he shewed –
& sober in his diet but never observed
any regimen
happy & knew very little sickness
he never used spectacles nor lost a
to the day of his death – About
before he died he was troubled with an
tention of urine chr Mead advised him
to leave off his chariot, & that continued upon
him more or less according to the motion he
used, about two years before he died he voided broke ch
in two pieces at seve
from the other — From the time of Soon after
the indisposition abovementioned he left
off dining abroad or in much company drank
breakfast some tea of orange chips & saffron
prescribed by Dr Mead & bread & butter,
& some broth of for supper some broth
& at dinner eat not seldom
of a chicken but of vegetables & fruit very & sweet meats very heartily ch
agreed very well with him — At chmy wife he was with much ado perswaded him to take a lodging at
where he had for the first time in his
84 year a fit of the gout
so much better that he kept the lodging
till he died, it was visible that whilst he In
staied at Kenthe winter rtold me, was very desirous & pressing to
resign his employment to me, his indispo
sition disabling him from officiating himself, & he soon a
greatest trust
he would be to entrust it with a stranger at
I offered to act for him cha twe a year before he died & made his mind Deathhe went
but 3 or 4 tithô he never failed being a
he never went to the tower above 3 or 4
times afterwards & t then did not then act himself
so well at Kensington that wee took all methods to keep him there & u
I had eased him of his uneasie journeys
to the Tower ch
him not to come to town to stay not to
come to town – ry