About the year 1722, Sir Isaac was desirous of publishing a third edition of his Principia, and the premature3 death of Mr. Cotes having deprived him of his valuable aid, he had the good fortune to become acquainted with Dr. Henry Pemberton, a young and accomplished4 physician, who had cultivated mathematical learning with considerable success. M. Poleni, an eminent5 professor in the University of Padua, having endeavoured, on the authority of a new experiment, to overturn the common opinion respecting the force of bodies in motion, and to establish that of Leibnitz in its place, Dr. Pemberton transmitted to Dr. Mead6 a demonstration7 of its inaccuracy. Dr. Mead communicated this paper to Sir Isaac, who not only highly approved of it, but added a demonstration of his own, drawn8 from another consideration of the subject; and this was printed without his name, as a postscript9 to Pemberton’s paper, when it appeared in the Transactions.121
In a short time after the commencement of their acquaintance, Sir Isaac engaged Dr. Pemberton to superintend the new edition of the Principia. In discharging this duty, Dr. Pemberton had occasion to make many remarks on this work, which Sir Isaac285 always received with the utmost goodness, and the new edition appeared with numerous alterations10 in 1726. On the occasions upon which he had personal intercourse11 with Sir Isaac, and which were necessarily numerous, he endeavoured to learn his opinions on various mathematical subjects, and to obtain some historical information respecting his inventions and discoveries. Sir Isaac entered freely into all these topics and during the conversations which took place, and while they were reading together Dr. Pemberton’s popular account of Sir Isaac’s discoveries, he obtained the most perfect evidence that, though his memory was much decayed, yet he was fully12 able to understand his own writings.
During the last twenty years of his life, which he spent in London, the charge of his domestic concerns devolved upon his beautiful and accomplished niece, Mrs. Catharine Barton, the wife of Colonel Barton, for whom, as we have already seen, the Earl of Halifax had conceived the warmest affection. This lady, who had been educated at her uncle’s expense, married Mr. Conduit, and continued to reside with her husband in Sir Isaac’s house till the time of his death.
In the year 1722, when he had reached the eightieth year of his age, he was seized with an incontinence of urine, which was ascribed to stone in the bladder, and was considered incurable13. By means of a strict regimen, however, and other precautions, he was enabled to alleviate14 his complaint, and to procure15 long intervals16 of ease. At this time he gave up the use of his carriage, and always went out in a chair. He declined all invitations to dinner, and at his own house he had only small parties. In his diet he was extremely temperate17. Though he took a little butcher meat, yet the principal articles of his food were broth18, vegetables, and fruit, of which he always ate very heartily19. In spite of all286 his precautions, however, he experienced a return of his old complaint, and in August, 1724, he passed a stone the size of a pea, which came away in two pieces, the one at the distance of two days from the other. After some months of tolerable good health, he was seized in January, 1725, with a violent cough and inflammation of the lungs; and in consequence of this attack, he was prevailed upon, with some difficulty, to take up his residence at Kensington, where his health experienced a decided20 improvement. In February, 1725, he was attacked in both his feet with a fit of the gout, of which he had received a slight warning a few years before, and the effect of this new complaint was to produce a great and beneficial change in his general health. On Sunday the 7th March, when his head was clearer and his memory stronger than Mr. Conduit had known it to be for some time, he entered into a long conversation on various subjects in astronomy. He explained to Mr. Conduit how comets might be formed out of the light of vapours discharged from the sun and the fixed21 stars as the centres of systems. He conceived that these luminaries22 were replenished23 by the same comets being again returned to them; and upon this principle he explained the extraordinary lights which were seen among the fixed stars by Hipparchus, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler’s disciples24, and which he supposed to arise from the additional fuel which they received.122
Notwithstanding the improvement which his health had experienced, his indisposition was still sufficiently26 severe to unfit him for the discharge of his duties at the mint; and as his old deputy was confined with the dropsy, he was desirous in 1725 of resigning his office to Mr. Conduit. Difficulties probably were experienced in making this arrangement, but his nephew discharged for him all the287 duties of his office; and during the last year of his life he hardly ever went to the mint.
But though every kind of motion was calculated to aggravate27 his complaint, and though he had derived28 from absolute rest and from the air at Kensington the highest benefit, yet great difficulty was experienced in preventing him from occasionally going to town. Feeling himself able for the journey, he went to London on Tuesday the 28th of February, 1727, to preside at a meeting of the Royal Society. On the following day Mr. Conduit considered him better than he had been for many years, and Sir Isaac was himself so sensible of this improvement in his health, that he assured his nephew that on the Sunday preceding, he had slept from eleven o’clock at night till eight o’clock next morning without waking. He had undergone, however, great fatigue29 in attending the meeting of the Royal Society, and in paying and receiving visits, and the consequence of this was a violent return of his former complaint. He returned to Kensington on Saturday the 4th March, and was attended by Dr. Mead and Dr. Cheselden, who pronounced his disease to be stone, and held out no hopes of his recovery. From the time of his last journey to London he had experienced violent fits of pain with very short intermissions; and though the drops of sweat ran down his face during these severe paroxysms, yet he never uttered a cry or a complaint, or displayed the least marks of peevishness30 or impatience31; but during the short intervals of relief which occurred, he smiled and conversed32 with his usual gayety and cheerfulness. On Wednesday the 15th of March he seemed a little better; and slight, though groundless hopes were entertained of his recovery. On the morning of Saturday the 18th he read the newspapers, and carried on a pretty long conversation with Dr. Mead, when all his senses and faculties33 were strong and vigorous; but at six o’clock288 of the same evening he became insensible, and he continued in that state during the whole of Sunday, and till Monday the 20th, when he expired between one and two o’clock in the morning, in the eighty-fifth year of his age.
His body was removed from Kensington to London, and on Tuesday the 28th March it lay in state in the Jerusalem Chamber34, and was thence conveyed to Westminster Abbey, where it was buried near the entrance into the choir35 on the left-hand. The pall36 was supported by the Lord High Chancellor37, the Dukes of Roxburghe and Montrose, and the Earls of Pembroke, Sussex, and Macclesfield, who were Fellows of the Royal Society. The Hon. Sir Michael Newton, Knight38 of the Bath, was chief mourner, and was followed by some other relations, and several distinguished39 characters who were intimately acquainted with the deceased. The funeral service was performed by the Bishop40 of Rochester, attended by the prebend and choir.
Sensible of the high honour which they derived from their connexion with so distinguished a philosopher, the relations of Sir Isaac Newton who inherited his personal estate,123 agreed to devote 500l. to the erection of a monument to his memory, and the dean and chapter of Westminster appropriated for it a place in the most conspicuous41 part of the Abbey, which had often been refused to the greatest of our nobility. This monument was erected in 1731. On the front of a sarcophagus resting on a pedestal are sculptured in basso-relievo youths bearing in their hands the emblems42 of Sir Isaac’s principal discoveries. One carries a prism, another a reflecting telescope, a third is weighing the sun and289 planets with a steelyard, a fourth is employed about a furnace, and two others are loaded with money newly coined. On the sarcophagus is placed the figure of Sir Isaac in a cumbent posture43, with his elbow resting on several of his works. Two youths stand before him with a scroll44, on which is drawn a remarkable45 diagram relative to the solar system, and above that is a converging46 series. Behind the sarcophagus is a pyramid, from the middle of which rises a globe in mezzo-relievo, upon which several of the constellations47 are drawn, in order to show the path of the comet of 1681, whose period Sir Isaac had determined48, and also the position of the solstitial colure mentioned by Hipparchus, and by means of which Sir Isaac had, in his Chronology, fixed the time of the Argonautic expedition. A figure of Astronomy as Queen of the Sciences sits weeping on the Globe with a sceptre in her hand, and a star surmounts49 the summit of the pyramid. The following epitaph is inscribed50 on the monument.
Hic situs est
Isaacus Newton, Eques Auratus,
Qui Animi Vi prope divina,
Planetarum Motus, Figuras,
Cometarum Semitas, Oceanique ?stus,
Sua Mathesi facem preferente,
Primus demonstravit.
Radiorum Lucis dissimilitudines,
Colorumque inde nascentium Proprietates,
Quas nemo antea vel suspicatus erat, pervestigavit,
Natur?, Antiquitates, S. Scriptur?,
Sedulus, sagax, fidus Interpres,
Dei Opt51. Max. Majestatem Philosophia asseruit,
Evangelii simplicitatem moribus expressit.
Sibi gratulentur Mortales, tale tantumque extitisse,
Humani Generis Decus.
Natus xxv. Decemb. MDCXLII. Obiit. xx. Mar1.
MDCCXXVII.
Of which the following is a literal translation:
Here lies
Isaac Newton, Knight,
Who, by a Vigour52 of Mind almost supernatural,
First demonstrated
290The Motions and Figures of the Planets,
The Paths of the Comets, and the Tides of the Ocean.
He diligently53 investigated
The different Refrangibilities of the Rays of Light,
And the Properties of the Colours to which they give rise.
An assiduous, sagacious, and faithful Interpreter
Of Nature, Antiquity54, and the Holy Scriptures55,
He asserted in his Philosophy the Majesty56 of God,
And exhibited in his conduct the Simplicity57 of the Gospel.
Let Mortals rejoice
That there has existed such and so great
An Ornament58 of Human Nature.
Born 25th Dec. 1642, Died 20th March, 1727.
In the beginning of 1731, a medal was struck at the Tower in honour of Sir Isaac Newton. It had on one side the head of the philosopher, with the motto, Felix cognoscere causas, and on the reverse a figure representing the mathematics.
On the 4th February, 1755, a magnificent full-length statue of Sir Isaac Newton in white marble was erected in the antechapel of Trinity College. He is represented standing25 on a pedestal in a loose gown, holding a prism, and looking upwards59 with an expression of the deepest thought. On the pedestal is the inscription60,
Qui genus humanum ingenio superavit.
Who surpassed all men in genius.
This statue, executed by Roubiliac, was erected at the expense of Dr. Robert Smith, the author of the Compleat System of Optics, and professor of astronomy and experimental philosophy at Cambridge.—It has been thus described by a modern poet:
Hark where the organ, full and clear, With loud hosannas charms the ear; Behold61, a prism within his hands, Absorbed in thought great Newton stands Such was his brow, and looks serene62, His serious gait and musing63 mien64, When taught on eagle wings to fly, He traced the wonders of the sky; The chambers65 of the sun explored, Where tints66 of thousand hues67 were stored.
Dr. Smith likewise bequeathed the sum of 500l.291 for executing a painting on glass for the window at the south end of Trinity College, Cambridge. The subject represents the presentation of Sir Isaac Newton to his majesty George III., who is seated under a canopy68 with a laurel chaplet in his hand, and attended by the British Minerva, apparently69 advising him to reward merit in the person of the great philosopher. Below the throne, the Lord Chancellor Bacon is proposing to register the reward about to be conferred upon Sir Isaac. The original drawing of this absurd picture was executed by Cypriani, and cost one hundred guineas.
The personal estate of Sir Isaac Newton, which was worth about 32,000l., was divided among his four nephews and four nieces of the half-blood, the grandchildren of his mother by the Reverend Mr. Smith. The family estates of Woolsthorpe and Sustern he bequeathed to John Newton, the heir-at-law, whose great-grandfather was Sir Isaac’s uncle. This gentleman does not seem to have sufficiently valued the bequest70, for he sold them in 1732, to Edmund Turnor of Stoke Rocheford.124 A short time before his death, Sir Isaac gave away an estate in Berkshire to the sons and daughter of a brother of Mrs. Conduit, who, in consequence of their father dying before Sir Isaac, had no share in the personal estate; and he also gave an estate of the same value, which he bought at Kensington, to Catharine, the only daughter of Mr. Conduit, who afterward71 married Mr. Wallop, the eldest72 son of Lord Lymington. This lady was afterward Viscountess Lymington, and the estate of Kensington descended73 to the late Earl of Portsmouth, by whom it was sold. Sir Isaac was succeeded as master and warden74 in the mint by his nephew, John Conduit, Esq., who wrote a treatise75 on the gold and silver coin, and who died in 1737, leaving behind him his wife and daughter, the former of whom died in 1739, in the 59th year of her age.
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1
mar
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| vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟 | |
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ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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premature
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| adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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mead
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| n.蜂蜜酒 | |
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demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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postscript
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| n.附言，又及；(正文后的)补充说明 | |
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alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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incurable
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| adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人 | |
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alleviate
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| v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等) | |
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procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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temperate
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| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
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broth
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| n.原(汁)汤(鱼汤、肉汤、菜汤等) | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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luminaries
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| n.杰出人物，名人（luminary的复数形式） | |
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replenished
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| 补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 )； 重新装满 | |
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disciples
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| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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aggravate
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| vt.加重(剧)，使恶化；激怒，使恼火 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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peevishness
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| 脾气不好；爱发牢骚 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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conversed
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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chancellor
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| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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39
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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emblems
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| n.象征，标记( emblem的名词复数 ) | |
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posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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scroll
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| n.卷轴，纸卷；(石刻上的)漩涡 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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converging
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| adj.收敛[缩]的，会聚的，趋同的v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的现在分词 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集 | |
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47
constellations
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| n.星座( constellation的名词复数 )；一群杰出人物；一系列（相关的想法、事物）；一群（相关的人） | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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49
surmounts
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| 战胜( surmount的第三人称单数 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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50
inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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51
opt
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| vi.选择，决定做某事 | |
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52
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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53
diligently
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| ad.industriously;carefully | |
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54
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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55
scriptures
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| 经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典 | |
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56
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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60
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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61
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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63
musing
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| n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式 | |
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64
mien
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| n.风采；态度 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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66
tints
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| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
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hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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canopy
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| n.天篷，遮篷 | |
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69
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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bequest
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| n.遗赠；遗产，遗物 | |
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71
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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72
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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73
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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warden
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| n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人 | |
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treatise
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| n.专著；(专题)论文 | |
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