Epitaphs in WESTMINSTER ABBEY. The tomb of Sir ISAAC NEWTON* represents him leaning and reposing at full length, with four books under his arm, in an antique robe, upon a sarcophagus. Near him are two winged boys, with a label, who appear to be speaking. Half buried in a dark pyramid behind hangs a celestial globe, on which is a golden line with " Dec. 24, 1680." On the globe is an exceedingly sleepy figure of Astronomy leaning on a book; and the tablet of the sarcophagus contains a bas relief of infants making philosophical experiments. It is the joint production of Kent and Rysbrack, and does but little eredit to their talents. On the pedestal is inscribed, "H. S. E. ISAACUS NEWTON, Eques Auratus, qui animi vi propè divinâ, planetarum motus, figuras, sua Mathesi facem præferente, primus demonstravit; Colorumque inde nascentium proprietates, HUMANI GENERIS DECUS. Nat. 25 Dec. A. D. 1642. Obiit. 20 Mar. 1726." Directly before the tomb, on a blue stone, is, "Hic depositum est quod mortale fuit Isaaci Newtoni." On the right side of the great West door is a pedestal and sarcophagus, with boys of bronze hanging a medallion on a pyramid, by Cheere; the inscription as follows: "Johannes Conduitt, Rei Monet. Præf." "Exadversus hunc locum, juxta magni Newtoni cineres, suas deponi voluit reliquias Johannes Conduitt, arm. pectoris candorem, ingenii comitatem, quæque inter alias virtutes præcipue eminebat φιλανθρώπων, amicorum ut nuper deliciæ, ita gravisimus jam luctus et desiderium. Uxorem duxit Catharinam Barton, fœminam lectissimam, ex quâ unicam suscepit Filiam, conjugis cognominem. Monumentum hoc, quod Marito dilectissimo moestissima destinaverat Vidua, amborum parentum, optimè de se meritorum memoriæ, sacrari jussit superstes Filia honorabilis Johannis Wallop, honoratissimi Johannis Vicecomitis de Lymington Filii natu maximi Uxor. Obierunt; ille 23 Maii, 1737, annos natus 49: * See Gent. Mag. 1734, pp. 64, 159; 1740, p. 594. In Epitaphs in the Church of BITTON in Gloucestershire. Arms of Newton: Quarterly, 1. and 4. Argent, on a chevron Azure, three Garbs Or; 2. and 3. Argent, two thigh-bones in saltire Sable. "Here lyeth the Body of charitable, valiant, and beloved of all. and died May 31, A. D. 1699. of Rampton, in the County of They lived happily all their Time Four Sons and Thirteen Daughters. at the Charge of his youngest Son, "Here lyeth the Body of Dame Mary Newton, Widow and Relict of Sir John Newton, late of Barr's Court, Bart. by whom he had Four Sons and Thirteen Daughters. She died Nov. 23, 1712, in the 35th Year of her Age." Epitaphs in a Chapel on the North side of HATHER Church co. Lincoln, the burial-place of the NEWTONS of Thorpe in this Parish. Against the North wall, a monument of grey marble, being an half oval between two Ionic pilasters: at top Death's head and urn; and below a cherub's head: "Here lies, in hopes of the wife of JOHN NEWTON, of Thorpe in the county of Lincoln, Esq. daughter of WM. HEVENINGHAM, of Heveningham, Suffolk, Esq. and MARY daughter and heiress of JOHN Earl of DOVER. She lived so as if she meant to die young. Even her youth was pious and exemplary; in which she diligently hearkened to the law of God and her Mother; and by the same steps with a gentle hand, she led into the way of virtue her own offspring. "JOHN "JOHN, her eldest, she prepared betimes for Heaven; and for grief almost followed, and now lies buried by her. "She left a daughter CAREY, about six years of age, in whom it appeared, what the prudence of a mother, neither fond nor severe, could affect even in so tender years. By a peculiar art her children both stood in awe and loved her. "After a tedious sickness she died big with child; and was to the last more desirous that should live, than she. She deserved a longer life here, but more an eternal one. "She died May 11, in the year of our Lord 1686, of her age 26." On the floor, under this, on a free stone: "JOHN, son and heir of John Newton, Esq. On another free stone: Here lieth buried the body of Dame Elizabeth Eyre, of Rampton, in the county of Nottingham." Against the West wall, a monument of grey marble, with pediment and urn; and at top, over a cone : "Here lies the Body of Sir JOHN NEWTON, Baronet, who departed this life February the 12th, 1733-4, aged 83. By his first wife ABIGAIL, daughter of WILLIAM HEVENINGHAM, Esq. he had issue one daughter named CARY, married to EDWARD COKE, Esq. of Holcomb in Norfolk. And by his second wife, daughter and coheir of MICHAEL WARTON, Esq. of Beverley in the county of York, and widow of Sir JOHN BRIGHT of Badsworth, in the same county, he had issue one son, named MICHAEL, married to MARGARET Countess of Conengsby; and one daughter, named SUSANNA, married to WILLIAM ARCHER, Esq. of Welford in Berkshire. "This monument was erected in memory of the deceased by the Lady NEWTON, his widow." Arms of Newton, quarterly, as at Bitton; with an inescutcheon, Or, on a chevron Azure, a martlet, betweeen two pheons of the first, Warton. On the same wall is a very neat monument of grey marble. Between two figures in a mourning posture, on an altar tomb of black marble veined, is the bust of a lady on a pedestal; at her back is raised a canopy, with urns at top. In front of the tomb below: "Near this place lies the Body of SUSANNA Lady NEWTON, who was daughter of MICHAEL WARTON, of Beverley in the county of York, Esq. and sister and coheiress to Sir MICHAEL WARTON, of the same place, Knt. "She married, first, Sir JOHN BRIGHT, of Badsworth in the County of York, Baronet, by whom she had no issue. "And "And, after, Sir JOHN NEWTON, of Barr's Court in the county of Gloucester, Bart. by whom she had one son, the honourable Sir MICHAEL NEWTON, Bart. Knight of the Bath, married to the Right Honourable the Countess of Conengesby; and one daughter, SUSANNA, married to WILLIAM ARCHER, of Welford, in the county of Berks, Esq. She departed this life April the 19th, 1737, in the eighty-sixth year of her age. Having ordered by her will a monument; this was, in obedience to her command, erected by her daughter and executrix, SUSANNA ARCHER, in the year of our Lord 1737." Against the same wall, a fine monument of grey marble. On an altar tomb a large urn between two figures, sitting on stones, as big as the life, in a mourning posture; that on the left having her right hand on her breast, and her left holding a book; the other reclining her head on her right hand, bent backward, and holding a circular snake in her left. Above is a large piece of marble, with pediments, bases, cherub, &c. In front of the altar tomb: "Near this place is interred the Body of Sir MICHAEL NEWTON, Bart. Knight of the most honourable Order of the Bath. He was the son of Sir JOHN NEWTON, of BARR's Court, in the county of GLOCESTER, by Dame SUSAN, the widow of Sir JOHN BRIGHT of BADSWORTH in the County of YORK, and sister and coheiress of Sir MICHAEL WARTON of BEVERLEY in the said county. He married in the year 1730, MARGARET, Countess of Conengesby, daughter and coheiress of THOMAS, Earl of Conengesby, by his wife FRANCES daughter of RICHARD, Earl of Ranelegh, who dyed Jan. 4, 1732-3, as the stone below. He had issue one son, JOHN, Viscount Conengesbey, who died an infant in the year 1733, aged above two months. He represented the Boroughs of BEVERLEY and GRANTHAM in four different Parliaments, and discharged the trust reposed in him by his constituents with a steady and uniform regard to the real interests of his country. Nor did the example of a corrupt and venal age, enslaved to ministerial influence, mislead his judgment: nor did the offer of an honorable employment divert his resolute attachment from the pursuit of PATRIOTISM. "He died April 6th, 1743. This monument was erected in the year 1746, *** Mrs. Sarah Brown (widow of Mr. Benjamin Brown, of Ouston in Leicestershire), who was someway related to the Smiths, had, about the year 1786, a fine original Portrait of Sir ISAAC NEWTON, which was purchased by the late Duke of Rutland, and placed in Belvoir Castle. Miscellaneous Letters of Sir ISAAC NEWTON. TO FRANCIS ASTON, Esq.* << SIR, Trinity College, Cambridge, May 18, 1669. "Since in your letter you give me so much liberty of spending my judgment about what may be to your advantage in travelling, I shall do it more freely than perhaps otherwise would have been decent. First, then, I will lay down some general rules, most of which, I believe, you have considered already; but if any of them be new to you they may excuse the rest; if none at all, yet is my punishment more in writing than yours in reading. "When you come into any fresh company, 1. Observe their humours. 2. Suit your own carriage thereto, by which insinuation you will make their converse more free and open. 3. Let your discourse be more in queries and doubtings, than peremptory assertions, or disputings, it being the design of travellers to learn, not to teach. Besides, it will persuade your acquaintance that you have the greater esteem of them, and so make them more ready to communicate what they know to you; whereas nothing sooner occasions disrespect and quarrels than peremptoriness. You will find little or no advantage in seeming wiser, or much more ignorant, than your company. 4. Seldom discommend any thing, though never so bad, or do it but moderately, unless you be unexpectedly forced to an unhandsome retraction. It is safer to commend any thing more than it deserves, than to discommend a thing so much as it deserves; for commendations meet not so often with oppositions, or at least are not usually so ill resented by men that think otherwise, as discommendations. And you will insinuate into men's favour by nothing sooner than seeming to approve and commend what they like; but beware of doing it by a comparison. 5. If you be affronted, it is better in a foreign country to pass it by in silence and with a jest, though with some dishonour, than to endeavour revenge; for in the first case your credit's ne'er the worse: when you return into England, or come into other company, they have not heard of the quarrel. But in the second case, you may bear the marks of the quarrel while you live, if you outlive it at all. But if you find yourself unavoidably engaged, it is best, I think, if you can command your passion and language, to keep them pretty evenly, at some certain moderate pitch, not much heightening them to exasperate your adversary, or provoke his friends, nor letting them grow overmuch dejected to make him insult. In a word, if you can keep reason above passion, that and watchfulness will be your best defendants. To which purpose you may consider, that though such excuses as this, he provoked me so much I could not forbear, may pass among friends, yet *This Letter, written when he was 27 years of age, to a young gentleman then entering upon his travels, whilst it gave rules for his friend's conduct, in some measure described his own. amongst |