268 NEWTON. 



opportunity, and the inclination, to render 

 themselves familiar with art and science 

 their intelligence first scanning the track- 

 less desert then the wide expanse of 

 ocean and last the starry heavens ; thus 

 laying up for themselves i treasures upon 

 earth' that none but themselves can fully 

 enjoy ; for how little must be my know- 

 ledge of a subject like this, compared to 

 the information possessed by one who, one 

 hundred years ago, could compute the 

 time of this eclipse so exactly as to foretell 

 it to the very minute I mean Sir Isaac 

 Newton. But the time and the oppor- 

 tunity have gone, never to be recalled. I 

 have no alternative but to be content 

 with my own ignorance. 



It was somewhere about this time that 

 the following incident occurred: 



On taking the reins at Henley, and 

 looking round, I observed on the roof, 

 sitting on the near side, an elderly gentle- 



