LEIBNITZ. 
ron Boinebourg. Here he became ac- 
quainted with all the literati, and made fur- 
ther and considerable progress in the study 
of mathematics and philosophy ; chiefly, as 
he says, by the works of Pascal, Gregory, 
St. Vincent, and Huygens. In this course, 
having observed the imperfections of Pas- 
cal’s arithmetical machine, he invented a 
new one, as he called it, which was ap- 
proved by the minister Colbert and the 
Academy of Sciences, in which he was of- 
fered a seat as a member, but refused the 
offers mqde to him, as it would have been 
necessary to have embraced the Catholic 
religion. 
In 1 673 he came over to England, where 
he became acquainted with Mr. Olden- 
burgh, Secretary to the Royal Society, and 
Mr. John Collins, a distinguished member 
of that society ; from whom, it seems, he re- 
ceived some hints of the method of fluxions, 
which had been invented in 1664, or 1665, 
by the then Mr. Isaac New'ton. 
The same year he returned to France, 
where he resided till 1676, when he again 
passed through England and Holland, in his 
journey to Hanover, where he proposed to 
settle. On his arrival there, he applied 
himself to enrich the Duke’s library with 
the best books of all kinds. Ihe Duke dy- 
ing in 1679, his successor, Ernest Augustus, 
then bbhop of Osnaburg, shewed M. Leib- 
nitz the same favour 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 adventure, 
that might have proved a more serious af- 
fair. 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 look- 
ed on as the cause of the tempest, proposed 
to strip him of his clothes and money, and 
to tlirow him overboard. Leibnitz, hearing 
this, w'ithout discovering the least emotion, 
drew a set of beads from his pocket, and 
began turning them over with great seem- 
ing devotion. The artifice succeeded ; one 
of the sailors observing to the pilot, that 
since the man was no heretic, he ought not 
to be drowned. 
In 1700 he was admitted a member of 
tire Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris. 
The same year the Elector of Branden- 
burg, afterwards King of Prussia, founded 
an academy at Berlin by his advice ; and 
he was appointed perpetual President, 
though his affairs would not permit him to 
reside constantly at that place. He pro- 
jected 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 lan- 
guage, and other literary projects. Indeed 
his writings had made him long before fa- 
mous all over Europe, and he had many ho- 
nours and rewards conferred on him. Be- 
side the office of Privy Counsellor of Jus- 
tice, which the Elector of Hanover had 
given him, the Emperor appointed him, in 
1711, Aulic Counsellor j and the Czar made 
him Privy Counsellor of Justice, with a 
pension of 1,000 ducats. Leibnitz under- 
took, at the same time, to establish an aca- 
demy of sciences at Vienna; but the plague 
prevented the execution of it. However 
the Emperor, as a mai-k of his favour, set- 
tled a pension on him of 2,000 florins, and 
promised him one of 4,000, if he would 
come and reside at Vienna; an ofier hC was 
inclined to comply with, but was prevented 
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 Elector had 
appointed Mr. Eccard for his colleague in 
writing that history. The Elector 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 fre- 
quently 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 philosophical subjects. This was 
conducted with great candour and learn- 
ing, and the papers which were published 
by Clarke will ever be esteemed by men of 
genius and learning. The controversy end- 
ed 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 tliin habit of body. 
He had a studious air, and a sweet aspect 
though near-sighted. He was indefatigably 
industrious to the end of his life. He eat 
and drank little. Hunger alone marked 
the time of his meals, and his diet was plain 
and strong. He had a very good memory 
and it is said, could repeat the iEneid from 
beginning to end. What he wanted to re- 
member he wrote down, and never read it 
afterwards. He always professed the Lu- 
