NEWTON. In the annals of the human race are recorded the names of a few men, who have shone as the ornament and the boast of their species, whose wisdom has multiplied the triumphs and hastened the progress of intellect, and whose genius has thrown a splendor over the world. Of this fortunate number Newton stands at the head. To give a full account of this extraordinary man, of his life and character, his discoveries and their influence, would be to analyze all that is wonderful in the human mind, to reveal the deep things of nature, unfold the mechanism of the universe, and enumerate the achievements of science during the last century. No such arduous and venturesome task will here be undertaken, nor any thing more than the outlines of a subject, whose compass is so vast, and whose objects are so elevated. Sir Isaac Newton was born at Woolsthorpe, near Grantham, Lincolnshire, on the 25th of December, 1642. In his early infancy he was extremely feeble, and little hope of his life was entertained. His father died three months before he was born, and accordingly the charge of the son devolved wholly on the mother. She spared no pains with his education, and kept him under her own eye till he was twelve years old, when she sent him to the public school at Grantham. He was boarded in the house of an apothecary, whose brother was usher of the school. It was here that he first began to display the peculiar bent of his genius, and to give a presage of what its future versatility and power would accomplish. It is recorded of him, while at this school, that his thoughts ran more on practical mechanics, than on his regular exercises, and that during the hours of recreation, which the other boys devoted to play, he was busy with hammers, saws, and hatchets, constructing miniature models and machines of wood. Among his first efforts was a wooden clock, kept in motion. by water, and telling the hours on a dial-plate at the top. He made kites, to which were attached paper lanterns, and one of his favourite amusements was flying them in the night, to the consternation of the neighbouring inhabitants. He fabricated tables and other articles of furniture for his schoolfellows, and is said to have invented and executed a vehicle with four wheels, on which he could transport himself from one place to another by turning a windlass. The motions of the heavenly bodies did not escape his notice even at this period; for he formed a dial |