SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S BIRTHPLACE
- tectural merit; in front of it is an orchard, just as in
the days of old, and it was in this orchard that Newton saw the historic apple fall. We should imagine that the house and surroundings generally, except possibly the ugly cart-shed at the back, are but little altered since the famous philosopher's time. We at once set to work to make a sketch of the old house, reproduced herewith; in doing this we observed, just over the doorway, where one often finds a coat-of-arms, a stone carved with the representation of two "cross-bones" in a shield, and below this gruesome device we read the following inscription:—
In this Manor House
Sir Isaac Newton Knt
Was born 25th December
A.D. 1642.
After finishing our sketch, we ventured to knock at the front door and politely asked if it would be possible for a perfect stranger just to take a glance at the room in which Newton was born. A pleasant-faced woman opened it, presumably the lady of the house, and with a smile she said, "Certainly, if it would interest you to see it." We replied, with many thanks for the unexpected courtesy, that it would very much interest us to see it, whereupon we were taken upstairs to a comfortable old-fashioned chamber, in no way remarkable for size or quaintness, unless a fireplace in the corner can be considered the latter. The position of this room is shown by the upper front mullioned window to the left of the house in the picture, the
