X PREFACE. 



correspondence, however, is in a very fair condition throughout, 

 and had been arranged in an orderly manner. 



On receiving a preliminary report on the contents of the 

 collection, Lord Portsmouth expressed a wish that the papers 

 relating to Theology, Chronology, History, and Alchemy, should 

 be returned to him at Hurstbourne, where they would be care- 

 fully preserved. On account of his connection with the Newton 

 family, Lord Portsmouth also naturally wished to have returned 

 to him all the papers relating to private, personal, and family 

 matters. These, however, are comparatively few, and not of 

 much interest, with the exception of a short note from Newton's 

 mother, written to him when a boy at College. 



Although till the present time the papers have never been 

 thoroughly examined, they have been looked at and partially 

 used by various persons since Newton's death. When that 

 occurred (in 1727) Dr Pellett was appointed by the executors to 

 examine them and to select such as he deemed fit for publica- 

 tion. A rough catalogue of the papers is appended to a bond 

 given by Mr Conduitt to the administrators of Newton's estate, 

 in which he binds himself to account for any profit he may 

 make by their publication. This list, with some remarks of 

 Dr Pellett, will be found in Hutton's Mathematical Dictionary. 

 All which Dr Pellett deemed fit to be printed were An Abstract 

 of the Chronology in 12 half-sheets folio, and The Chronology of 

 Ancient Kingdoms Amended in 92 half-sheets folio; and these 

 were printed in 1728 under the care of Mr Conduitt. 



The whole collection was inspected by Dr Horsley, who 

 edited in 1779 the well-known edition of Newton's works in five 

 quarto volumes. He left a few unimportant remarks on some 

 of the papers, but he made no use of them in his edition. 



It was again placed in the hands of Sir David Brewster, for 

 his second and elaborate life of Newton in 1855; he made some 

 use of the scattered mathematical notes and papers, and printed 

 a considerable portion of the correspondence. 



The character of the collection will be made clear by the 

 catalogue which is now put forth. It divides itself (excluding 

 the correspondence) into the heads of Mathematics, Chemistry 



