LEIBNITZ. 



Upon this lie repaired to Altorf, where 

 he maintained a thesis de Casibus Pcr- 

 plexis with such applause, that he had 

 the degree of Doctor conferred on him. 



In 1672 he went to Paris, to manage 

 some affairs at the French court for the 

 Huron Boinebourg. Here he became 

 acquainted with all the literati, and made 

 further and considerable progress in the 

 study of mathematics and philosophy ; 

 chiefly, as he says, by the works of Pas- 

 cal, Gregory, St. Vincent, and Huygens. 

 In this course, having observed the im- 

 perfections of Pascal's arithmetical ma- 

 chine, he invented a new one, as he call- 

 ed it, which was approved by the mi- 

 nister Colbert and the Academy of 

 Sciences, in which he was offered a 

 seat as a member, but refused the offers 

 inade to him, as it would have been ne- 

 cessary to have embraced the Catholic 

 religion. 



In 1673 he went over to England, 

 where he became acquainted with Mr. 

 Oldenbnrgh, Secretary to the Royal So- 

 ciety, and Mr. John Collins, a distin- 

 guished member of that society ; from 

 whom, it seems, he received some hints 

 of the method of fluxions, which had 

 been invented in 1664, or 1665, by the 

 then Mr. Isaac Newton. 



The same year he returned to France, 

 where lie resided till 1676, when he again 

 passed through England and Holland, in 

 his journey to Hanover, where he pro- 

 posed to settle. On his arrival there, he 

 applied himself to enrich the Duke's li- 

 brary with the best books of all kinds. 

 The Duke dying in 1679, his successor, 

 Ernest Augustus, then bishop of Osna- 

 burg, shewed M. Leibnitz the same fa- 

 vour as his predecessor had done, and 

 engaged him to write the history of the 

 House of Brunswick. To execute this 

 task, he travelled over Germany and 

 Italy to collect materials. While he was 

 in Italy he met with a pleasant adven- 

 ture, that might have proved a more se- 

 rious affair. Passing in a small bark from 

 Venice to Messola, a storm arose; during 

 which; the pilot, imagining he was not 

 understood by a German, whom, being a 

 heretic, he looked on as the cause of the 

 tempest, proposed to strip him of his 

 clothes and money, and to throw him 

 overboard. Leibnitz, hearing this, with- 

 out discovering the least emotion, drew a 

 set of beads from his pocket, and began 

 turning them over with great seeming 

 devotion. The artifice succeeded ; one 

 of the sailors observing to the pilot, that 



since the man was no heretic, lie ought 

 not to be drowned. 



In 1700 he was admitted a member of 

 the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris. 

 The same year the Elector of Branden- 

 burg, afterwards King of Prussia, found- 

 ed an academy at Berlin by his advice ; 

 and he was appointed perpetual Presi- 

 dent, though his affairs would not permit 

 him to reside constantly at that place. 

 He projected an academy of the same 

 kind at Dresden : and this design would 

 have been executed, if it had not been 

 prevented by the confusions in Poland. 

 He was engaged likewise in a scheme for 

 an universal language, and other literary 

 projects. Indeed his writings had made 

 him long before famous all over Europe, 

 and he had many honours and rewards 

 conferred on him. Beside the office of 

 Privy Counsellor of Justice, which the 

 Elector of Hanover had given him, the 

 Emperor appointed him, in 1711, Aulic 

 Counsellor; and the Czar made him Privy 

 Counsellor of Justice, with a pension of 

 1,000 ducats. Leibnitz undertook, at the 

 same time, to establish an academy of 

 sciences at Vienna ; but the plague pre- 

 vented the execution of it. However, the 

 Emperor, as a mark of his favour, settled 

 a pension on him of 2.000 florins, and 

 promised him one of 4,000, if he would 

 come and reside at Vienna; an offer he 

 was inclined to comply with, but was pre- 

 vented by the death of that prince. 



Meanwhile, the History of Brunswick 

 being interrupted by other works, which 

 he wrote occasionally, he found, at his 

 return to Hanover in 1714, that the Elec- 

 tor had appointed Mr. .Eccard for his col- 

 league in writing that history. The Elec- 

 tor was then raised to the throne of Great 

 Britain, which place Leibnitz visited the 

 latter end of that year, when he received 

 particular marks of friendship from the 

 King, and was frequently at court. He 

 now was engaged in a dispute with Dr. 

 Samuel Clarke, upon the subjects of free- 

 will, the reality of space, and other philo- 

 sophical subjects. This was conducted 

 with great candour and learning, and the 

 papers which were published by Clarke 

 will ever be esteemed by men. of genius 

 and learning. The controversy ended 

 only with the death of Leibnitz, Novem- 

 ber 14, 1716, which was occasioned by 

 the gout and stone, in the 70th year of his 

 age. 



As to his character and person : he was 

 of a middle stature and a thin habit 01 

 body. He had a studious air, and a sweet 



