1 82 HISTORY OF SCIENCE. 



myself it seems that I have been but as a child playing on the sea- 

 shore ; now finding some pebble rather more polished, and now some 

 shell rather more agreeably variegated than another; while the immense 

 ocean of truth extended before me unexplored." Newton enjoyed 

 excellent health until he was nearly eighty years of age. He never 

 used spectacles, and two days before his decease he read the morning 

 papers. He died on the 2oth of March, 1727 (old style), at the age 

 of eighty-five years and three months. His country was desirous to 

 show her sense of the greatness of the illustrious philosopher who had 

 departed, and his body lay in state in the Jerusalem Chamber, and was 

 thence conveyed for sepulture to Westminster Abbey. The funeral cere- 

 mony was attended by a great concourse ; six peers of the realm bore 

 the pall, and every honour was paid to the remains. 



Newton was never married. From the manner in which his life was 

 spent> immersed as he was in profound studies when not engaged in the 

 most responsible official . duties, he felt no want of domestic society. 

 His niece, who with her husband lived in his house, supplied the place 

 of children, and with filial care tended his declining years. From the. 

 large emoluments of his office, his prudence, and his simple habits .of 

 life, Newton became very rich, and he employed his riches in doing 

 good. His generosity took the form, not of legacies, but of presents, 

 gifts to relations or to friends in want. His physiognomy is described 

 as calm rather than expressive, and his manner as languid rather than 

 animated. 



There is no name on the roll of scientific fame more illustrious than 

 that of Newton. The number and importance of his discoveries, and 

 the early age at which they were made, render his career almost with- 

 out a parallel. Yet he declared that whatever he had accomplished 

 was owing, not to extraordinary sagacity, but solely to industry and 

 patient thought. At Cambridge he spent the greater part of his time 

 in study, and even his relaxations consisted in merely turning his mind 

 to subjects of thought, as history, chronology, chemistry, and divinity. 

 After taking up his residence in London, all the time he had to spare 

 from the duties of his office and from social courtesies was employed 

 in studies, which he pursued with the greatest perseverance and patience. 

 His modesty in reference to his great discoveries is illustrated by the 

 saying of his which has been already quoted. This modesty did not 

 arise from either a want of appreciation of the importance of his labours 

 or a disregard of such fame as eminence in science confers, but from 

 his knowledge of the vastness of the field which he left unexplored. 

 Newton's life has been described as one continued course of labour, 

 patience ; charity, generosity, temperance, piety, goodness, and all other 

 virtues, without a mixture of any vice whatever. He refused sinecure 

 appointments and pensions, was scrupulously careful in expending the 

 public money, and he was respected and honoured in all reigns and 

 under all administrations. A handsome monument was soon afterwards 



