this difficult and most salutary reform. In 1699, he was pro
moted to the Mastership of the Mint an office worth twelve or
fifteen hundred pounds per annum, and which he held during the
remainder of his life. He wrote, in this capacity, an official Re
port on the Coinage, which has been published ; he also prepared
a Table of Assays of Foreign Coins, which was printed at the
end of Dr. Arbuthnot s Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights, and
Measures, in 1727.
Newton retained his Professorship at Cambridge till 1703.
But he had, on receiving the appointment of Master of the Mint,
in 1699, made Mr. Whiston his deputy, with all the emoluments
of the office ; and, on finally resigning, procured his nomination to
the vacant Chair.
In January 1697, John Bernouilli proposed to the most distin
guished mathematicians of Europe two problems for solution.
Leibnitz, admiring the beauty of one of them, requested the time
for solving it to be extended to twelve months twice the period
originally named. The delay was readily granted. Newton, how
ever, sent in, the day after he received the problems, a solution of
them to the President of the Royal Society. Bernouilli obtained
solutions from Newton, Leibinitz and the Marquis De L Hopital ;
but Newton s though anonymous, he immediately recognised
" tanquam ungue leonem" as the lion is known by his claw.
We may mention here the famous problem of the trajectories
proposed by Leibnitz, in 1716, for the purpose of "feeling the
pulse of the English Analysts." Newton received the problem
about five o clock in the afternoon, as he was returning from the
LIFE OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON. 45
Mint ; and though it was extremely difficult and he himself much
fatigued, yet he completed its solution, the same evening before
he went to bed.
The history of these problems affords, by direct comparison, a
striking illustration of Newton s vast superiority of mind. That
amazing concentration and grasp of intellect, of which we have
spoken, enabled him to master speedily, and, as it were, by a
single effort, those things, for the achievement of which, the many
would essay utterly in vain, and the very, very few attain only
after long and renewed striving. And yet, with a modesty as
unparalleled as his power, he attributed his successes, not to any
extraordinary sagacity, but solely to industry and patient thought.
Mr- kept the subject of consideration constantly before him, and
waited till the first dawning opened gradually into a full and
clear light ; never quitting, if possible, the mental process till the
object of it were wholly gained. He never allowed this habit of
meditation to appear in his intercourse with society ; but in the
privacy of his own chamber, or in the midst of his own family, he
gave himself up to the deepest abstraction. Occupied with some
interesting investigation, he would often sit down on his bedside,
after he rose, and remain there, for hours, partially dressed.
Meal-time would frequently come and pass unheeded ; so that,
unless urgently reminded, he would neglect to take the re
quisite quantity of nourishment. But notwithstanding his anx
iety to be left undisturbed, he would, when occasion required,
turn aside his thoughts, though bent upon the most intricate re
search, and then, when leisure served, again direct them to the
very point where they ceased to act : and this he seemed to ac
complish not so much by the force of his memory, as by the force
of his inventive faculty, before the vigorous intensity of which, no
subject, however abstruse, remained long unexplored.
Me was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences
at Paris, in 1699, when that distinguished Body were empowered,
by a new charter, to admit a small number of foreign associates.
In 1700, he communicated to Dr. Halley a description of his re
flecting instrument for observing the moon s distance from the
fixed stars. This description was published in the Philosophical
46 LIFE OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON,
Transactions, in 1742. The instrument was the same as that
produced by Mr. Hadley, in 1731, and which, under the name of
Hadley s Quadrant, has been of so great use in navigation. On
the assembling of the new Parliament, in 1701, Newton was reelected
one of the members for the University of Cambridge. In
1703, he was chosen President of the Royal Society of London,
to which office he was annually re-elected till the period of his
decease about twenty-five years afterward.
Our author unquestionably devoted more labour to, and, in
many respects, took a greater pride in his Optical, than his other
discoveries. This science he had placed on a new and indestruc
tible basis ; and he wished not only to build, but to perfect the
costly and glowing structure. He had communicated, before the
publication of the PRINCIPIA, his most important researches on
light to the Royal Society, in detached papers which were inserted
in successive numbers of the Transactions ; but he did not pub
lish a connected view of these labours till 1704, when they appeared
under the title of OPTICS : OR, A TREATISE ON THE REFLEXIONS,
REFRACTIONS, INFLEXIONS AND COLOURS OF LIGHT. To this,
but to no subsequent edition, were added two Mathematical Trea
tises, entitled, TRACTATUS DUO DE SPECIEBUS ET MAGNITUDINE
FIGURARUM cuRViLiNEARUM ; the one bearing the title TRACTATUS
DE QUADRATURA CuRVARUM ; and the other, that of ENUMERATIO
LINEARUM TERTII ORDiNis. The publication of these Mathemati
cal Treatises was made necessary in consequence of plagiarisms
from the manuscripts of them loaned by the author to his friends.
Dr. Samuel Clarke published a Latin translation of the Optics, in
in 1706 ; whereupon he was presented by Newton, as a mark of
his grateful approbation, with five hundred pounds, or one hun
dred pounds for each of his children. The work was afterward
translated into French. It had a remarkably wide circulation,
and appeared, in several successive editions, both in England and
on the Continent. There is displayed, particularly on this Opti
cal Treatise, the author s talent for simplifying and communica
ting the profoundest speculations. It is a faculty rarely united to
that of the highest invention. Newton possessed both ; and thus
that mental perfectness which enabled him to create, to combine,
LIFE OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON. 47
and to teach, and so render himself, not the "ornament" cnly;
but inconceivably more, the pre-eminent benefactor of his species.
The honour of knighthood v/as conferred on our author in
1705. Soon afterward, he was a candidate again for the Repre
sentation of the University, but was defeated by a large majority.
It is thought that a more pliant man was preferred by both min
isters and electors. Newton was always remarkable for simplicity
of dress, and his only known departure from it was on this oc
casion, when he is said to have appeared in a suit of laced
clothes.
The Algebraical Lectures which he had, Juring nine years,
delivered at Cambridge, were published by Whiston, in 1707,
under the title of ARITHMETICS UNIVERSALIS, SINE DE COMPOSI
TIONS ET RESOLUTIONS ARITHMETICA LIBER. This publication
is said to have been a breach of confidence on Whiston s part. Mr.
Ralphson, not long afterward, translated the work into English ;
and a second edition of it, with improvements by the author, was
issued at London, 1712, by Dr. Machin. Subsequent editions,
both in English and Latin, with commentaries, have been published.
In June, 1709, Newton intrusted the superintendence of a
second edition of the PRINCIPIA to Roger Cotes, Plumian Pro
fessor of Astronomy at Cambridge. The first edition had been
sold off for some time. Copies of the work had become very
rare, and could only be obtained at several times their original
cost. A great number of letters passed oetween the author and
Mr. Cotes during the preparation of the edition, which finally
appeared in May, 1713. It had many alterations and improve
ments, and was accompanied by an admirable Preface from the
pen of Cotes.
Our author s early Treatise, entitled, ANALYSIS PER EQUATIONES
NUMERO TERMINORUM INFINITAS, as well as a small Tract, Gearing
the title of METHODUS DIFFERENTIALS, was published, witn nis
consent, in 1711. The former of these, and the Treatise De
Quadratura Curvarum, translated into Englisn, witn a .arge com
mentary, appeared in 1745. His work, entitled. ARTIS ANA
LYTICS SPECIMINA, VEL GEOMETRIA ANALYTICA, was iirs; given
to the world in the edition of Dr. Horsley, 1779.
48 LIFE OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON.
It is a notable fact, in Newton s history, that he never volun*
tarily published any one of his purely mathematical writings
The cause of this unwillingness in some, and, in other instances,
of his indifference, or, at least, want of solicitude to put forth his
works may be confidently sought for in his repugnance to every
thing like contest or dispute. But, going deeper than this aver
sion, we find, underlying his whole character and running parallel
with all his discoveries, that extraordinary humility which always
preserved him in a position so relatively just to the behests of
time and eternity, that the infinite value of truth, and the utter
worthlessness of fame, were alike constantly present to him.
Judging of his course, however, in its more temporary aspect, as
bearing upon his immediate quiet, it seemed the most unfortunate.
For an early publication, especially in the case of his Method of
Fluxions, would have anticipated all rivalry, and secured him
from the contentious claims of Leibnitz. Still each one will solve
the problem of his existence in his own way, and, with a manlike
Newton, his own, as we conceive, could be no other than the best
way. The conduct of Leibnitz in this affair is quite irreconcilable
with the stature and strength of the man ; giant-like, and doing
nobly, in many ways, a giant s work, yet cringing himself into the
dimensions and performances of a common calumniator. Opening
in 1699, the discussion in question continued till the close of
Leibnitz s life, in 1716. We give the summary of the case as
contained in the Report of the Committee of the Royal Society,
the deliberately weighed opinion of which has been adopted as an
authoritative decision in all countries.
" We have consulted the letters and letter books in the custody
of the Royal Society, and those found among the papers of Mr.
John Collins, dated between the years 1669 and 1677, inclusive ;
and showed them to such as knew and avouched the hands of Mr.
Barrow, Mr. Collins, Mr. Oldenburg, and Mr. Leibnitz ; and
compared those of Mr. Gregory with one another, and with copies
of some of them taken in the hand of Mr. Collins ; and have
extracted from them what relates to the matter referred to us :
all which extracts, herewith delivered to you, we believe to be
genuine and authentic. And by these letters and papers wf
find:
LIFE OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON. 49
"
I. Mr. Leibnitz was in London in the beginning of the year
1673 ; and went thence in or about March, to Paris, where he
kept a correspondence with Mr. Collins, by means of Mr. Olden
burg, till about September, 1676, and then returned, by London
and Amsterdam, to Hanover: and that Mr. Collins was very free
in communicating to able mathematicians what he had received
from Mr, Newton and Mr. Gregory.
" II. That when Mr. Leibnitz was the first time in London,
he contended for the invention of another differential method,
properly so called ; and, notwithstanding he was shown by Dr.
Pell that it was Newton?
s method, persisted in maintaining it to
be his own invention, by reason that he had found it by himself
without knowing what Newton had done before, and had much
improved it. And we find no mention of his having any other
differential method than Newton s before his letter of the 21st of
June, 1677, which was a year after a copy of Mr. Newton s letter
of the 10th of December, 1672, had been sent to Paris to be
communicated to him ; and above four years after Mr. Collins
began to communicate that letter to his correspondents ;
in which
letter the method of fluxions was sufficiently described to any
intelligent person.
"III. That by Mr. Newton s letter, of the 13th of June, 1676
it appears that he had the method of fluxions above five years
before the writing of that letter. And by his Analysis per ^Equationes
numero Terminorum Infmitas, communicated by Dr. Barrow
to Mr. Collins, in July, 1669, we find that he had invented the
method before that time.
"IV. That the differential method is one and the same with
the method of fluxions, excepting the name and mode of notation ;
Mr. Leibnitz calling those quantities differences which Mr. Newton
calls moments, or fluxions ; and marking them with a letter d a
mark not used by Mr. Newton.
" And, therefore, we take the proper question to be, not who
invented this or that method, but, who was the first inventor of
the method ? And we believe that those who have reputed Mr.
Leibnitz the first inventor knew little or nothing of his correspond
ence with Mr. Collins and Mr. Oldenburg long before, nor of Mr.
50 LIFE OP SIR ISAAC NEWTON.
Newton s hiving that method above fifteen years before Mr
Leibnitz began to publish it in the Acta Eruditorum of Leipsic.
" For which reason we reckon Mr. Newton the first inventor ;
and are of opinion that Mr. Keill, in asserting the same, has been
no ways injurious to Mr. Leibnitz. And we submit to the judg
ment of the Society, whether the extract and papers, now pre
sented to you, together with what is extant, to the same pur
pose, in Dr. Wallis s third volume, may not deserve to be made
public."
This Report, with the collection of letters and manuscripts,
under the title of COMMERCIUM EPISTOLICUM D. JOHANNIS COLLINS
ET ALIORUM DE ANALYSI PROMOTA JuSSU SoCIETATIS REGIES
EDITUM, appeared accordingly in the early part of 1713. Its
publication seemed to infuse additional bitterness into the feelings
of Leibnitz, who descended to unfounded charges and empty
threats. He had been privy counsellor to the Elector of Han
over, before that prince was elevated to the British throne ; and
in his correspondence, in 1715 and 1716, with the Abbe Conti,
then at the court of George L, and with Caroline, Princess of
Wales, he attacked the doctrines of the PRINCIPIA, and indirectly
its author, in a manner very discreditable to himself, both as a
learned and as an honourable man. His assaults, however, were
triumphantly met; and, to the complete overthrow of his rival
pretensions, Newton was induced to give the finishing blow. The
verdict is universal and irreversible that the English preceded
the German philosopher, by at least ten years, in the invention
of fluxions. Newton could not have borrowed from Leibnitz ;
but Leibnitz might have borrowed from Newton. A new edition
of the Commercium Epistolicum was published in 1722-5 (?) ; but
neither in this, nor in the former edition, did our author take any
part. The disciples, enthusiastic, capable and ready, effectually
shielded, with the buckler of Truth, the character of the Master,
whose own conduct throughout was replete with delicacy, dignity
and justice. He kept aloof from the controversy in which Dr.
Keill stood forth as the chief representative of the Newtonian
side till the very last, when, for the satisfaction of the King,
George L. rather than for his own, he consented to put forth his
LIFE OF SI| L^.-vJ NEWTON. 5i
hand and firmly secure his rights upon a certain and impregnable,
basis.
A petition to have inventions for promoting the discovery of the
longitude at sea, suitably rewarded, was presented to the House
of Commons, in 1714. A committee, having been appointed to
investigate the subject, called upon Newton and others for their
opinions. That of our author was given in writing, A report,
favourable to the desired measure, was then taken up, and a bill
for its adoption subsequently passed.
On the ascension of George I., in 1714, Newton became an
object of profound interest at court. His position under govern
ment, his surpassing fame, his spotless character, and. above all,
his deep and consistent piety, attracted the reverent regard of the
Princess of Wales, afterward queen -consort to George II. She
was a woman of a highly cultivated mind, and derived the greatest
pleasure from conversing with Newton and corresponding with
Leibnitz. One day, in conversation with her, our author men
tioned and explained a new system of chronology, which he had
composed at Cambridge, where he had been in the habit " of
refreshing himself with history and chronology, when he wac
weary with other studies." Subsequently, in the year 1718, she
requested a copy of this interesting and ingenious work Newton,
accordingly, drew up an abstract of the system from the separate
papers in which it existed, and gave it to her on condition that it
should riot be communicated to any other person. Sometime
afterward she requested that the Abbe Conti might be allowed
to have a copy of it The author consented: and the abbe
received a copy of the manuscript, under the like injunction and
promise of secrecy. This manuscript bore the title of " A short
Chronicle, from the First Memory of Tilings in Europe, to the
Conquest of Persia, by Alexander the Great."
After Newton took up his residence in London, he lived in a
style suited to his elevated position and rank. He kept his car
riage, with an establishment of three male and three female serv
ants. But to everything like vain show and luxury he was utterly
averse. His household affairs, for the last twenty years of his
life, were under the charge of his niece, Mrs. Catherine Barton,
52 LIFE OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON.
wife and widow of Colonel Barton a woman of great beauty and
accomplishment and subsequently married to John Conduit, Esq.
At home Newton was distinguished by that dignified and gentle
hospitality which springs alone from true nobleness. On all pro
per occasions, he gave splendid entertainments, though without
ostentation. In society, whether of the palace or the cottage,
his manner was self-possessed and urbane ;
his look benign and
affable ;
his speech candid and modest ;
his whole air undisturb
edly serene. He had none of what are usually called the singu
larities of genius ; suiting himself easily to every company
except that of the vicious and wicked ; and speaking of himself
and others, naturally, so as never even to be suspected of vanity.
There was in him, if we may be allowed the expression, a WHOLE
NESS of nature, which did not admit of such imperfections and
weakness the circle was too perfect, the law too constant, and
the disturbing forces too slight to suffer scarcely any of those
eccentricities which so interrupt and mar the movements of many
bright spirits, rendering their course through the world more like
that of the blazing meteor than that of the light and life-impart
ing sun. In brief, the words GREATNESS and GOODNESS could
not, humanly speaking, be more fitly employed than when applied
as the pre-eminent characteristics of this pure, meek and vene
rable sage.
In the eightieth year of his age, Newton was seized with
symptoms of stone in the bladder. His disease was pronounced
incurable. He succeeded, however, by means of a strict regimen,
and other precautions, in alleviating his complaint, and procuring
long intervals of ease. His diet, always frugai, was now extremely
temperate, consisting chiefly of broth, vegetables, and fruit, with,
now and then, a little butcher meat. He gave up the use of his
carriage, and employed, in its stead, when he went out, a chair.
All invitations to dinner were declined ; and only small parties
were received, occasionally, at his own house.
In 1724 he wrote to the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, offering
to contribute twenty pounds yearly toward the salary of Mr.
Maclaurin, provided he accepted the assistant Professorship of
Mathematics in the University of that place. Not only in the
LIFE OP SIR ISAAC NEWTON. 53
cause of ingenuity and learning, but in that of religion in relieving
the poor and .assisting his relations, Newton annually expended
large sums. He was generous and charitable almost to a fault.
Those, he would often remark, who gave away nothing till they
died, never gave at all. His wealth had become considerable by
a prudent economy ; but he regarded money in no other light
than as one of the means wherewith he had been intrusted to do
good, and he faithfully employed it accordingly.
He experienced, in spite of all his precautionary measures, a
return of his complaint in the month of August, of the same year,
1 724, when he passed a stone the size of pea ;
it came from him
in two pieces, the one at the distance of two day.s from the other.
Tolerable good health then followed for some months. In Janu
ary, 1725, however, he was taken with a violent cough and inflam
mation of the lungs. In consequence of this attack, he was pre
vailed upon to remove to Kensington, where his health greatly
improved. In February following, he was attacked in both feet
with the gout, of the approach of which he had received, a few
years before, a slight warning, and the presence of which now
produced a very beneficial change in his general health. Mr.
Conduit, his nephew, has recorded a curious conversation which
took place, at or near this time, between himself and Sir Isaac.
"I was, on Sunday night, the 7th March, 1724-5, at Kensing
ton, with Sir Isaac Newton, in his lodgings, just after he was out
of a fit of the gout, which he had had in both of his feet, for the
first time, in the eighty-third year of his age. He was better after
it, and his head clearer and memory stronger than I had known
them for some time. He then repeated to me, by way of dis
course, very distinctly, though rather in answer to my queries,
than in one continued narration, what he had often hinted to me
before, viz. : that it was his conjecture (he would affirm nothing)
that there was a sort of revolution in the heavenly bodies ; that
the vapours and light, emitted by the sun, which had their sedi
ment, as water and other matter, had gathered themselves, by
degrees, into a body, and attracted more matter from the planets,
and at last made a secondary planet (viz. : one of those that go
round another planet), and then, by gathering to them, and
54 LIFE OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON.
attracting more matter, became a primary planet ; and then, bf
increasing still, became a comet, which, after certain revolutions,
by coming nearer and nearer to the sun, had all its volatile parts
condensed, and became a matter tit to recruit and replenish the
sun (which must waste by the constant heat and light it emitted),
as a faggot would this fire if put into it (we were sitting by a
wood fire), and that that would probably be the effect of the
comet of 1680, sooner or later
; for, by the observations made
upon it, it appeared, before it came near the sun, with a tail only
two or three degrees long ; but, by the heat it contracted, in going
so near the sun, it seemed to have a tail of thirty or forty degrees
