246 Biographical Account of Sir Isaac Newton. [Oct; 



I do not know the value of his Fellowship, nor of his Professor- 

 ship, but both together could not be less, surely, than 100/. a 

 year ; so that his ineome, at that time, could not well be less 

 than 200/. a year. Upon this, indeed, he had his mother and 

 her family to support; but if we consider the expense of living 

 in 1671, we can hardly pronounce Mr. Newton, at that time, a 

 poor man. In 1675 he had a dispensation from King Charles 

 II. for retaining his Fellowship without taking orders. In 1687 

 he was chosen one of the Delegates to represent the University 

 of Cambridge, before the High Commission Court, to answer 

 for their refusing to' admit Father Francis, Master of Arts, upon 

 the King's mandamus, without his taking the oaths prescribed 

 by the statutes. He was a great instrument in persuading his 

 colleagues to persist in the maintenance of their rights and pri- 

 vileges. So strenuous, indeed, was the defence which he made, 

 that the Crown thought proper to drop its pretensions. In 1688 

 he was chosen by the University of Cambridge, Member of the 

 Convention Parliament, and sat in it till its dissolution. He was 

 chosen Member of Parliament also for the same University in 

 1701. In 1696 the Earl of Halifax, at that time Mr. Mon- 

 tague, and Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was a great patron 

 of the learned, wrote him a letter to Cambridge, acquainting 

 him that he had prevailed with the King to make him Warden 

 of the Mint.* In this post he did signal service in the great re- 

 coinage, which took place soon after. In 1699 he was made 

 Master and Worker of the Mint ; in which situation he con- 

 tinued till his death, and behaved himself with an universal 

 character of integrity and disinterestedness. He had frequent 

 opportunities of employing his skill in mathematics and che- 

 mistry, particularly in his Table of Assays of Foreign Coins, 

 which is printed at the end of Dr. Arbuthnot's Book of Coins. 

 In 1701 he made Mr. Whiston his Deputy Professor of Ma- 

 thematics at Cambridge, and gave him all the salary from that 

 time, though he did not absolutely resign the Professorship till 



» The letter was as follows ; — 

 Sir, 



I am very glad that at last I can give yon a good proof of my 

 friendship, and the esteem the King lias of your merits. Mr. Overton, the 

 Warden of the Mint, is made one of the Commissioners of the Customs, and the 

 King has promised me to make Mr. Newton Warden of the Mint. The office is 

 the most proper for you ; 'tis the chief office in the Mint, 'tis worth five or six 

 hundred pounds per annum, and has not too much business to require more at- 

 tendance than you may spare. I desire that you will come up as soon as you 

 can, and will take care of your warraRt in the mean time. LeP-me see you as 

 soon as you come to town, that I may carry you to kiss the King's hand. 1 be- 

 lieve you may have a lodging near me, I am, &c. 



I'mw.ES MoNTMr.i I 



