The first para

published at the end of his Optics.* graph expresses nearly the same ideas as some sentences in the scholium beginning “Deus summus est ens æternum, infinitum, absolute perfectum ;"† and it is remarkable that the second paragraph is found only in the third edition of the Principia, which appeared in 1726, the year before Newton's death.

In the middle of the year 1694, about the time when our author is said to be beginning to understand the Principia, we find him occupied with the difficult and profound subject of the lunar theory. In order to procure observations for verifying the equations which he had deduced from the theory of gravity, he paid a visit to Flamstead, at the Royal Observatory of Greenwich, on the 1st September, 1694, when he received from him a series of lunar observations. On the 7th of October he wrote to Flamstead that he had compared the observations with his theory, and had satisfied himself that by both together "the moon's theory may be reduced to a good degree of exactness, perhaps to the exactness of two or three minutes." He wrote him again on the 24th October, and the correspondence was continued till 1698, Newton making constant application for observations to compare with his theory

*Dr. Gregory concludes his account of this manuscript, which he has kindly permitted me to read, in the following words:"I do not know whether it is true, as stated by Huygens, 'Newtonum incidisse in Phrenitim; but I think every gentleman who examines this manuscript will be of opinion that he must have thoroughly recovered from his phrenitis before he wrote either the Commentary on the Opinions of the Ancients, or the Sketch of his own Theological and Philosophical Opinions which it contains."

†This paragraph is as follows:-"Deum esse ens summe perfectum concedunt omnes. Entis autem summe perfecti Idea est ut sit substantia, una, simplex, indivisibilis, viva et vivifica, ubique semper necessario existens, summe intelligens omnia, libere volens bona, voluntate efficiens possibilia, effectibus nobilioribus similitudinem propriam quantum fieri potest communicans, omnia in se continens tanquam eorum principium et locus, omnia per presentiam substantialem cernens et regens, et cum rebus omnibus, secundum leges accuratas ut naturæ totius fundamentum et causa constanter co-operans, nisi ubi aliter agere bonum est,”

of the planetary motions; while Flamstead, not sufficiently aware of the importance of the inquiry, received his requests as if they were idle intrusions in which the interests of science were but slightly concerned.*

In reviewing the details which we have now given respecting the health and occupations of Newton from the beginning of 1692 till 1695, it is impossible to draw any other conclusion than that he possessed a sound mind, and was perfectly capable of carrying on his mathematical, his metaphysical, and his astronomical inquiries. His friend and admirer, Mr. Pepys, residing within fifty miles of Cambridge, had never heard of his being attacked with any illness till he inferred it from the letter to himself written in September, 1693. Mr. Millington, who lived in the same university, had been equally unacquainted with any such attack, and, after a personal interview with Newton, for the express purpose of ascertaining the state of his health, he assures Mr. Pepys "that he is very well,-that he fears he is under some small degree of melancholy, but that there is

*The following extract, characteristic of Flamstead's manner, is from a letter to Newton dated January 6, 1698-9.

"Upon hearing occasionally that you had sent a letter to Dr. Wallis about the parallax of the fixed stars to be printed, and that you had mentioned me therein with respect to the theory of the moon, I was concerned to be publicly brought upon the state about what, perhaps, will never be fitted for the public, and thereby the world put into an expectation of what perhaps they are never likely to have. I do not love to be printed upon every occasion, much less to be dunned and teased by foreigners about mathematical things, or to be thought by your own people to be trifling away my time when I should be about the king's business." On the first of the above passages in italics Flamstead has the following memorandum:-"When Mr. Halley boasts 'tis done, and given to him as a secret, tells the Society so and foreigners.' In the second passage in italics, Mr. Flamstead refers, in a note, to Mr. Colson's letter to him, in which he seems to have represented practical astronomy as trifling. Mr. Flamstead adds, "Was Mr. Newton a trifler when he read mathematics for a salary at Cambridge: surely, then, astronomy is of some good use, though his place be more beneficial." For these extracts from the original manuscript in the collection of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, I have been indebted to the kindness of Professor Rigaud of Oxford,

no reason to suspect that it hath at all touched his understanding."

During this period of bodily indisposition, his mind, though in a state of nervous irritability, and disturbed by want of rest, was capable of putting forth its highest powers. At the request of Dr. Wallis he drew up an example of one of his propositions on the quadrature of curves in second fluxions. He composed, at the desire of Dr. Bentley, his profound and beautiful letters on the existence of the Deity. He was requested by Locke to reconsider his opinions on the subject of innate ideas; and we find him grappling with the difficulties of the lunar theory.

But with all these proofs of a vigorous mind, a diminution of his mental powers has been rashly inferred from the cessation of his great discoveries, and from his unwillingness to enter upon new investigations. The facts, however, here assumed are as incorrect as the inference which is drawn from them. The ambition of fame is a youthful passion, which is softened, if not subdued, by age. Success diminishes its ardour, and early pre-eminence often extinguishes it. Before the middle

period of life Newton was invested with all the insignia of immortality; but endowed with a native humility of mind, and animated with those hopes which teach us to form an humble estimate of human greatness, he was satisfied with the laurels which he had won, and he sought only to perfect and complete his labours. His mind was principally bent on the improvement of the Principia; but he occasionally diverged into new fields of scientific research, -he solved problems of great difficulty which had been proposed to try his strength, and he devoted much of his time to profound inquiries in chronology and in theological literature.

The powers of his mind were therefore in full requisition; and, when we consider that he was

called to the discharge of high official functions which forced him into public life, and compelled him to direct his genius into new channels, we can scarcely be surprised that he ceased to produce any original works on abstract science. In the direction of the affairs of the mint, and of the Royal Society, to which we shall now follow him, he found ample occupation for his time; while the leisure of his declining years was devoted to those exalted studies in which philosophy yields to the supremacy of faith, and hope administers to the aspirations of genius.

CHAPTER XIV.

No Mark of National Gratitude conferred upon Newton-Friendship between him and Charles Montague, afterward Earl of Halifax-Mr Montague appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1694-He resolves upon a Recoinage-Nominates Mr. Newton Warden of the Mint in 1695-Mr. Newton appointed Master of the Mint in 1699-Notice of the Earl of Halifax-Mr. Newton elected Associate of the Academy of Sciences in 1699-Member for Cambridge in 1701-and President of the Royal Society in 1703-Queen Anne confers upon him the Honour of Knighthood in 1705-Second Edition of the Principia, edited by Cotes-His Conduct respecting Mr. Ditton's Method of finding the Longitude.

HITHERTO We have viewed Newton chiefly as a philosopher leading a life of seclusion within the walls of a college, and either engaged in the duties of his professorship, or ardently occupied in mathematical and scientific inquiries. He had now reached the fifty-third year of his age, and while those of his own standing at the university had been receiving high appointments in the church, or lucrative offices in the state, he still remained without any mark of the respect or gratitude of his country. All Europe indeed had been offering incense to his name, and

Englishmen themselves boasted of him as the pride of their country and the ornament of their species, but he was left in comparative poverty,* with no other income than the salary of his professorship, eked out with the small rental of his paternal inheritance. Such disregard of the highest genius, dignified by the highest virtue, could have taken place only in England, and we should have ascribed it to the turbulence of the age in which he lived, had we not seen, in the history of another century, that the successive governments which preside over the destinies of our country have never been able either to feel or to recognise the true nobility of genius.

Among his friends at Cambridge Newton had the honour of numbering Charles Montague, grandson of Henry Earl of Manchester, a young man of high promise, and every way worthy of his friendship. Though devoted to literary pursuits, and twenty years younger than Newton, he cherished for the philosopher all the veneration of a disciple, and his affection for him gathered new strength as he rose to the highest honours and offices of the state. In the year 1684 we find him co-operating with Newton in the establishment of a philosophical society at Cambridge; but though both of them had made personal application to different individuals to become members, yet the plan failed, from the want, as Newton expresses it, of persons willing to try experiments.

Mr. Montague sat along with Newton in the convention parliament, and such were the powers which he displayed in that assembly as a public speaker, that he was appointed a commissioner of the treasury, and soon afterward a privy counsellor. In these situations his talents and knowledge of business were highly conspicuous, and in 1694 he was ap

* See page 215, note.