Hitherto we have viewed Newton chiefly as a philosopher leading a life of seclusion7 within the walls of a college, and either engaged in the duties of his professorship, or ardently8 occupied in mathematical and scientific inquiries9. He had now reached the fifty-third year of his age, and while those of his own standing10 at the university had been receiving high appointments in the church, or lucrative11 offices in the state, he still remained without any mark of the respect or gratitude of his country. All Europe indeed had been offering incense12 to his name, and224 Englishmen themselves boasted of him as the pride of their country and the ornament13 of their species, but he was left in comparative poverty,87 with no other income than the salary of his professorship, eked14 out with the small rental15 of his paternal16 inheritance. Such disregard of the highest genius, dignified17 by the highest virtue18, could have taken place only in England, and we should have ascribed it to the turbulence19 of the age in which he lived, had we not seen, in the history of another century, that the successive governments which preside over the destinies of our country have never been able either to feel or to recognise the true nobility of genius.
Among his friends at Cambridge Newton had the honour of numbering Charles Montague, grandson of Henry Earl of Manchester, a young man of high promise, and every way worthy20 of his friendship. Though devoted21 to literary pursuits, and twenty years younger than Newton, he cherished for the philosopher all the veneration22 of a disciple23, and his affection for him gathered new strength as he rose to the highest honours and offices of the state. In the year 1684 we find him co-operating with Newton in the establishment of a philosophical24 society at Cambridge; but though both of them had made personal application to different individuals to become members, yet the plan failed, from the want, as Newton expresses it, of persons willing to try experiments.
Mr. Montague sat along with Newton in the convention parliament, and such were the powers which he displayed in that assembly as a public speaker, that he was appointed a commissioner25 of the treasury26, and soon afterward a privy27 counsellor. In these situations his talents and knowledge of business were highly conspicuous28, and in 1694 he was appointed225 chancellor of the exchequer. The current coin of the nation having been adulterated and debased, one of his earliest designs was to recoin it and restore it to its intrinsic value. This scheme, however, met with great opposition29. It was characterized as a wild project, unsuitable to a period of war, as highly injurious to the interests of commerce, and as likely to sap the foundation of the government. But he had weighed the subject too deeply, and had intrenched himself behind opinions too impartial30 and too well-founded, to be driven from a measure which the best interests of his country seemed to require.
The persons whom Mr. Montague had consulted about the recoinage were Newton, Locke, and Halley, and in consequence of Mr. Overton, the warden of the mint, having been appointed a commissioner of customs, he embraced the opportunity which was thus offered of serving his friend and his country by recommending Newton to that important office. The notice of this appointment was conveyed in the following letter to Newton.
London, 19th March, 1695.
“Sir,
“I am very glad that, at last, I can give you a good proof of my friendship, and the esteem31 the king has of your merits. Mr. Overton, the warden of the mint, is made one of the commissioners32 of the customs, and the king has promised me to make Mr. Newton warden of the mint. The office is the most proper for you. ’Tis the chief office in the mint, ’tis worth five or six hundred pounds per annum, and has not too much business to require more attendance than you can spare. I desire that you will come up as soon as you can, and I will take care of your warrant in the mean time. Let me see you as soon as you come to town, that I may carry you to kiss the king’s hand. I believe you may have a lodging33 near me.—I am, &c.
Charles Montague.”
226 In this new situation the mathematical and chymical knowledge of our author was of great service to the nation, and he became eminently34 useful in carrying on the recoinage, which was completed in the short space of two years. In the year 1699, he was promoted to the mastership of the mint,—an office which was worth twelve or fifteen hundred pounds per annum, and which he held during the remainder of his life. In this situation he wrote an official report on the Coinage, which has been published; and he drew up a table of Assays35 of Foreign Coins, which is printed at the end of Dr. Arbuthnot’s Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights, and Measures, which appeared in 1727.
While our author filled the inferior office of warden of the mint, he retained his professorship at Cambridge; but upon his promotion36 in 1699, he appointed Mr. Whiston to be his deputy, with all the emoluments37 of the office; and when he resigned the chair in 1703, he succeeded in getting him nominated his successor.
The appointment of Newton to the mastership of the mint must have been peculiarly gratifying to the Royal Society, and it was probably from a feeling of gratitude to Mr. Montague, as much as from a regard for his talents, that this able statesman was elected president of that learned body on the 30th November, 1695. This office he held for three years, and on the 30th January, 1697, Newton had the satisfaction of addressing to him his solution of the celebrated38 problems proposed by John Bernouilli.
This accomplished39 nobleman was created Earl of Halifax in 1700, and after the death of his first wife he conceived a strong attachment40 for Mrs. Catharine Barton, the widow of Colonel Barton, and the niece of Newton. This lady was young, gay, and beautiful, and though she did not escape the censures42 of her contemporaries, she was regarded by those who knew her as a woman of strict honour and virtue.227 We are not acquainted with the causes which prevented her union with the Earl of Halifax, but so great was the esteem and affection which he bore her, that in the will in which he left 100l. to Mr. Newton, he bequeathed to his niece a very large portion of his fortune. This distinguished43 statesman died in 1715, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. Himself a poet and an elegant writer, he was the liberal patron of genius, and he numbered among his intimate friends Congreve, Halley, Prior, Tickell, Steele, and Pope. His conduct to Newton will be for ever remembered in the annals of science. The sages44 of every nation and of every age will pronounce with affection the name of Charles Montague, and the persecuted45 science of England will continue to deplore46 that he was the first and the last English minister who honoured genius by his friendship and rewarded it by his patronage47.
The elevation48 of Mr. Newton to the highest offices in the mint was followed by other marks of honour. The Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris having been empowered by a new charter granted in 1699, to admit a very small number of foreign associates, Newton was elected a member of that distinguished body. In the year 1701, on the assembling of a new parliament, he was re-elected one of the members for the University of Cambridge.88 In 1703 he was chosen President of the Royal Society of London, and he was annually49 re-elected to this office during the remaining twenty-five years of his life. On the 16th of April, 1705, when Queen Anne was living at the royal residence of Newmarket, she went with Prince George of Denmark and the rest of the court to visit the University of Cambridge. After the meeting of the Regia Consilia, her majesty50 held a228 court at Trinity Lodge51, the residence of Dr. Bentley, then master of Trinity; where the honour of knighthood was conferred upon Mr. Newton, Mr. John Ellis, the vice-chancellor, and Mr. James Montague, the university counsel.89
On the dissolution of the parliament, which took place in 1705, Sir Isaac was again a candidate for the representation of the University, but notwithstanding the recent expression of the royal favour, he lost his election by a very great majority.90 This singular result was perhaps owing to the loss of that personal influence which his residence in the university could not fail to command, though it is more probable that the ministry52 preferred the candidates of a more obsequious53 character, and that the electors looked for advantages which Sir Isaac Newton was not able to obtain for them.
Although the first edition of the Principia had been for some time sold off, and copies of it had become extremely rare, yet Sir Isaac’s attention was so much occupied with his professional avocations54 that he could not find leisure for preparing a new edition. Dr. Bentley, who had repeatedly urged him to this task, at last succeeded, by engaging Roger Cotes, Plumian Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge, to superintend its publication at the university press. In June, 1709, Sir Isaac committed this important trust to his young friend; and about the middle of July he promised to send him in the course of a fortnight his own revised copy of the work. Business, however, seems to have intervened, and Mr. Cotes was obliged to remind Sir Isaac of his promise, which he did in the following letter:—
229
Cambridge, Aug. 18th, 1709.
“Sir,
“The earnest desire I have to see a new edition of your Principia makes me somewhat impatient till we receive your copy of it, which you were pleased to promise me about the middle of last month you would send down in about a fortnight’s time. I hope you will pardon me for this uneasiness, from which I cannot free myself, and for giving you this trouble to let you know it. I have been so much obliged by yourself and by your book, that (I desire you to believe me) I think myself bound in gratitude to take all the care I possibly can that it shall be correct.—Your obliged servant,
“Roger Cotes.
“For Sir Isaac Newton, at his house in
Jermyn-street, near St. James’s
Church, Westminster.”
This was the first letter of that celebrated correspondence, consisting of nearly three hundred letters, in which Sir Isaac and Mr. Cotes discussed the various improvements which were thought necessary in a new edition of the Principia. This valuable collection of letters is preserved in the library of Trinity College; and we cannot refrain from repeating the wish expressed by Dr. Monk55, “that one of the many accomplished Newtonians who are resident in that society would favour the world by publishing the whole collection.”
When the work was at last printed, Mr. Cotes expressed a wish that Dr. Bentley should write the preface to it, but it was the opinion both of Sir Isaac and Dr. Bentley that the preface should come from the pen of Mr. Cotes himself. This he accordingly undertook; but previous to its execution he addressed the following letter to Dr. Bentley, in order to learn from Sir Isaac the particular view with which it should be written.
230
March 10th, 1712–13.
“Sir,
“I received what you wrote to me in Sir Isaac’s letter. I will set about the index in a day or two. As for the preface, I should be glad to know from Sir Isaac with what view he thinks proper to have it written. You know the book has been received abroad with some disadvantage, and the cause of it may be easily guessed at. The Commercium Epistolicum, lately published by order of the Royal Society, gives such indubitable proofs of Mr. Leibnitz’s want of candour, that I shall not scruple56 in the least to speak out the full truth of the matter, if it be thought convenient. There are some pieces of his looking this way which deserve a censure41, as his Tentamen de motuum c?lestium causis. If Sir Isaac is willing that something of this nature may be done, I should be glad if, while I am making the index, he would consider of it, and put down a few notes of what he thinks most material to be insisted on. This I say upon supposition that I write the preface myself. But I think it will be much more advisable that you, or he, or both of you should write it while you are in town. You may depend upon it I will own it, and defend it as well as I can, if hereafter there be occasion.—I am sir, &c.”
We are not acquainted with the instructions which were given to Mr. Cotes in consequence of this application; but it appears from the preface itself, which contains a long and able summary of the Newtonian philosophy, that Sir Isaac had prohibited any personal reference to the conduct of Leibnitz.
The general preface is dated 12th May, 1713, and in a subsidiary preface of only a few lines, dated March 28th, 1713, Sir Isaac mentions the leading alterations57 which had been made in this edition. The determination of the forces by which bodies may revolve58 in given orbits was simplified and enlarged. The theory of the resistance of fluids was231 more accurately59 investigated, and confirmed by new experiments. The theory of the moon and the precession of the equinoxes were more fully60 deduced from their principles; and the theory of comets was confirmed by several examples of their orbits more accurately computed61.
In the year 1714, several captains and owners of merchant vessels62 petitioned the House of Commons to consider the propriety63 of bringing in a bill to reward inventions for promoting the discovery of the longitude at sea. A committee was appointed to investigate the subject, and Mr. Ditton and Mr. Whiston, having thought of a new method of finding the longitude, submitted it to the committee. Four members of the Royal Society, viz. Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Halley, Mr. Cotes, and Dr. Clarke, were examined on the subject, along with Mr. Ditton and Mr. Whiston. The last three of these philosophers stated their opinions verbally. Mr. Cotes considered the proposed scheme as correct in theory and on shore, and both he and Dr. Halley were of opinion that expensive experiments would be requisite64. Newton, when called upon for his opinion, read the following memorandum65, which deserves to be recorded.
“For determining the longitude at sea there have been several projects, true in theory, but difficult to execute.
“1. One is by a watch to keep time exactly; but by reason of the motion of the ship, the variation of heat and cold, wet or dry, and the difference of gravity in different latitudes67, such a watch hath not yet been made.
“2. Another is by the eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites; but by reason of the length of telescopes requisite to observe them, and the motion of a ship at sea, those eclipses cannot yet be there observed.
“3. A third is by the place of the moon; but her theory is not yet exact enough for that purpose; it232 is exact enough to determine the longitude within two or three degrees, but not within a degree.
“4. A fourth is Mr. Ditton’s project, and this is rather for keeping an account of the longitude at sea than for finding it, if at any time it should be lost, as it may easily be in cloudy weather. How far this is practicable, and with what charge, they that are skilled in sea affairs are best able to judge. In sailing by this method, whenever they are to pass over very deep seas, they must sail due east or west; they must first sail into the latitude66 of the next place to which they are going beyond it, and then keep due east or west till they come at that place. In the first three ways there must be a watch regulated by a spring, and rectified68 every visible sunrise and sunset, to tell the hour of the day or night. In the fourth way such a watch is not necessary. In the first way there must be two watches, this and the other above mentioned. In any of the first three ways, it may be of some service to find the longitude within a degree, and of much more service to find it within forty minutes, or half a degree if it may, and the success may deserve rewards accordingly. In the fourth way, it is easier to enable seamen69 to know their distance and bearing from the shore 40, 60, or 80 miles off, than to cross the seas; and some part of the reward may be given when the first is performed on the coast of Great Britain for the safety of ships coming home; and the rest when seamen shall be enabled to sail to an assigned remote harbour without losing their longitude if it may be.”
The committee brought up their report on the 11th June, and recommended that a bill should be introduced into parliament for the purpose of rewarding inventions or discoveries connected with the determination of the longitude. The bill passed the House of Commons on the 3d July, and was agreed to by the Lords on the 8th of the same month.91
233 In giving an account of this transaction,92 Mr. Whiston states, that nobody understood Sir Isaac’s paper, and that after sitting down he obstinately70 kept silence, though he was much pressed to explain himself more distinctly. At last, seeing that the scheme was likely to be rejected, Whiston ventured to say that Sir Isaac did not wish to explain more through fear of compromising himself, but that he really approved of the plan. Sir Isaac, he goes on to say, repeated word for word what Whiston had said. This is the part of Mr. Newton’s conduct which M. Biot has described as puerile71, and “tending to confirm the fact of the aberration72 of his intellect in 1693.” Before we can admit such a censure we must be satisfied with the correctness of Whiston’s statement. Newton’s paper is perfectly73 intelligible74, and we may easily understand how he might have approved of Mr. Ditton’s plan as ingenious and practicable under particular circumstances, though he did not think it of that paramount75 importance which would have authorized76 the House of Commons to distinguish it by a parliamentary reward. The conflict between public duty and a disposition77 to promote the interests of Mr. Whiston and Mr. Ditton was no doubt the cause of that embarrassment78 of manner which the former of these mathematicians79 has so unkindly brought before the public.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
gratitude
|
|
| adj.感激，感谢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
afterward
|
|
| adv.后来；以后 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
chancellor
|
|
| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
exchequer
|
|
| n.财政部；国库 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
warden
|
|
| n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
longitude
|
|
| n.经线，经度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
seclusion
|
|
| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
ardently
|
|
| adv.热心地，热烈地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
inquiries
|
|
| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
lucrative
|
|
| adj.赚钱的，可获利的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
incense
|
|
| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
ornament
|
|
| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
eked
|
|
| v.（靠节省用量）使…的供应持久( eke的过去式和过去分词 )；节约使用；竭力维持生计；勉强度日 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
rental
|
|
| n.租赁，出租，出租业 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
paternal
|
|
| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
dignified
|
|
| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
virtue
|
|
| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
turbulence
|
|
| n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
worthy
|
|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
devoted
|
|
| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
veneration
|
|
| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
disciple
|
|
| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
philosophical
|
|
| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
commissioner
|
|
| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
treasury
|
|
| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
privy
|
|
| adj.私用的；隐密的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
conspicuous
|
|
| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
opposition
|
|
| n.反对，敌对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
impartial
|
|
| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
esteem
|
|
| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
commissioners
|
|
| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
lodging
|
|
| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
eminently
|
|
| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
assays
|
|
| n.化验( assay的名词复数 )；试验；尝试；试金 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
promotion
|
|
| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
emoluments
|
|
| n.报酬，薪水( emolument的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
celebrated
|
|
| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
accomplished
|
|
| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
attachment
|
|
| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
censure
|
|
| v./n.责备；非难；责难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
censures
|
|
| v.指责，非难，谴责( censure的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
sages
|
|
| n.圣人( sage的名词复数 )；智者；哲人；鼠尾草（可用作调料） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
persecuted
|
|
| （尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
deplore
|
|
| vt.哀叹，对...深感遗憾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
patronage
|
|
| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
elevation
|
|
| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
annually
|
|
| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
majesty
|
|
| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
lodge
|
|
| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
ministry
|
|
| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
obsequious
|
|
| adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
avocations
|
|
| n.业余爱好，嗜好( avocation的名词复数 )；职业 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
monk
|
|
| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
scruple
|
|
| n./v.顾忌，迟疑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
alterations
|
|
| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
revolve
|
|
| vi.(使)旋转；循环出现 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
accurately
|
|
| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
computed
|
|
| adj.[医]计算的，使用计算机的v.计算，估算( compute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
vessels
|
|
| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
propriety
|
|
| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
requisite
|
|
| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
memorandum
|
|
| n.备忘录，便笺 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
latitude
|
|
| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
latitudes
|
|
| 纬度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
rectified
|
|
| [医]矫正的，调整的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
seamen
|
|
| n.海员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
obstinately
|
|
| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
puerile
|
|
| adj.幼稚的，儿童的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
aberration
|
|
| n.离开正路，脱离常规，色差 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
intelligible
|
|
| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
paramount
|
|
| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
authorized
|
|
| a.委任的，许可的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
disposition
|
|
| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
embarrassment
|
|
| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
mathematicians
|
|
| 数学家( mathematician的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |