SIR ISAAC NEWTON. 45 



hood. And can your ladyship resolve to spend the 

 rest of your days in grief and sickness ? 



" Can you resolve to wear a widow's habit per- 

 petually, a habit which is less acceptable to com- 

 pany, a habit which will be always putting you in 

 mind of your lost husband, and thereby promote 

 you grief and indisposition till you leave it off? 

 The proper remedy for all these mischiefs is a new 

 husband, and whether your ladyship should admit 

 of a proper remedy for such maladies, is a question 

 which I hope will not need much time to consider 

 of. 



" Whether your ladyship should go constantly in 

 the melancholy dress of a widow, or flourish once 

 more among the ladies ; whether you should spend 

 the rest of your days cheerfully or in sadness, in 

 health or in sickness, are questions which need not 

 much consideration to decide them. Besides that 

 your ladyship will be better able to live according 

 to your quality by the assistance of a husband than 

 upon your own estate alone ; and, therefore, since 

 your ladyship likes the person proposed, I doubt 

 not but in a little time to have notice of your 

 ladyship's inclinations to marry, at least, that 

 you will give him leave to discourse with you 

 about it. 



" I am, madam, your ladyship's most humble and 

 most obedient servant." 



If Lady Norris " liked the person proposed," as 

 Sir Isaac imagined, a marriage was not the result. 

 It is just possible that he was like Leibnitz, who 



