a 



: 



SEQUEL TO THE EPOCH OF NEWTON. 199 



office during the remaining twenty-five years of his 

 life. In 1705, he was knighted in the Master's 

 Lodge, at Trinity College, by Queen Anne, then 

 on a visit to the university of Cambridge. After 

 the accession of George the First, Newton's con- 

 versation was frequently sought by the Princess, 

 afterwards Queen Caroline, who had a taste for 

 speculative studies, and was often heard to declare 

 in public, that she thought herself fortunate in 

 living at a time which enabled her to enjoy the 

 society of so great a genius. His fame, and the 

 respect paid him, went on increasing to the end 

 of his life; and when, in 1727, full of years and 

 glory, his earthly career was ended, his death was 

 mourned as a national calamity, with the forms 

 usually confined to royalty. His body lay in state 

 in the Jerusalem chamber ; his pall was borne by 

 the first nobles of the land; and his earthly re- 

 mains were deposited in the center of Westminster 

 Abbey, in the midst of the memorials of the greatest 

 and wisest men whom England has produced. 



It cannot be superfluous to say a word or two 

 >n the reception of his philosophy in the univer- 

 sities of England. These are often represented as 

 places where bigotry and ignorance resist, as long 

 as it is possible to resist, the invasion of new 

 truths. We cannot doubt that such opinions have 

 prevailed extensively, when we find an intelligent 

 and generally temperate writer, like the late Pro- 

 fessor Playfair of Edinburgh, so far possessed by 



