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method of aeries and fluxions, which he after- wards brought to perfection, though his claim to thediscorery was unjustly contested by Leibnitz, who obtained a knowledge of it in 1676, from the author himself. On the breaking out of the plague in 1666, he retired to his country seat, where, sitting alone in his garden, some apples iallinff from a tree, led his thoughts to the sub- ject of gravity ; and reflecting on the power of that principle, he began to consider, that as it is not diminished at the remotest distance from the centre of the earth, it may be extended as far as the moon, and to all the planetary bodies. This subject he afterwards resumed on the occasion of the great comet in 1680, and in 1687 the im- portant principle which forms the foundation of the Newtonian phUosophy was first published under the title of Phuotmhiee NatunUit prin- eipia Mathematica; or. Mathematical Prineiplet of Natural PhUotopky. In 1671, when he was chosen fellow of the royal society, to which learned body he communicated his theory of light and colours, which was followed by his account of a new telescope invented by him, and other interesting papers. In 1696 he was made war- den of the mint, and afterwards master of that o£Sce ; which place he discharged with the greatest honour till his death. In 1703 he was chosen president of the royal society, in which station he continued twenty-five years. In 1705 queen Anne conferred on him die honour of knight- hood. In the succeeding reini he was often at coort, and the princess of Wales, afterwards queen Caroline, frequently conversed with him on philosophicid subjects. So thoroughly con- vinced of the truths of divine revelation was this great man, that he inculcated in many of his writings, with all the force of his enlightened mind, the benevolent principles of Christianitv, and after his death was published Same Oo- servatioiu on the Proj^eeiet of Daniel and the Apoeah/pte of St. Johai.
" Katore uid natnre'a Uws Ur hid in niglit, Ood said, let Newton be, and all vaa light."
This glory of the British nation and ornament of human nature was buried in Westminster abbey, where a stately monument was erected over his remains at the entrance to the choir. Sir Isaac was of a middling stature, and his countenance was pleasing and venerable. He never made use of spectacles, and during his whole life lost but one tooth. A complete and elegant edition of his works was published with illustrations by Dr. Horsley, 1779, in five volumes quarto. Sir Isaac Newton had several illustrious fol- lowers, such as Halley and Bradley, Maclaurin and Smith, who eminently distinguished them- selves by their knowledge, discoveries, and writ- ings. Under such men, geometry, astronomy, and optics assumed no small degree of splendour. 1727, June II. Died, Geobob I., in the sixty- fifth year of his age, and the thirtieth of his reign. All historians Iwve accotmted Georee I. a very fortunate monarch. In his conduct alter his accession to the throne of England, he exercised
g;reat resolution, penererance, and a never-fiuling attention to business. That he studied the interest of the Hanoverians more than he did that of his English subjects, ought rather to be a subject of regret than of censure (provided that kings are allowed to feel the force of earlj habit), since his majesty had attained bis fifty-fonrth year previ- ous to his first landing in England, ana was quite ignorant of the manners, customs, and lang^uage of the country ; but he listened with great liberality to those who acquainted him with Uie genuine principles of the British constitution. In his domestic habits the king allowed a culpa- ble indulgence towards his mistress to render him severe to an amiable wife,* and negligent in theperformance of his paternal duties.
With regard to the progress of literature, in this reign, the same eminent men continued to flourish, and therefore, properly belong to the sra of queen Anne. It was in her time that their genius was completely formed; it was in her reig^, or somewhat earner, that they began to write; and it was the spirit they had then imbibed, which continued to operate in the sub- sequent period. The glory, therefore, they have reflected on their country, was a glory of which the succeeding princes had no right to partake. Admitting the truth of these allegations, it may be proper to state the literary facts that more distincUy marked the reigns of the two first sovereigns of the Hanover family. It is certain that, during that time, a considerable revolution was produced in the minds of men ; and that various objects of inquiiy engaged their atten- tion, which, if not wholly new, had not been discussed before to an equal extent, or with an equal degree of accuracy and precision. Nor was this entirely owing to the natural progress of reason, and the gentie and gradual operation of literature in opening and enlarging the human faculties, but arose, in particular, from the po- litical situation of Great Britain. The accession of another royal family, whose claims were dis- approved by a large bodv of the people, rendered it highly requisite to disseminate, as widely as possible, the principles which were favourable to the recent establishment Accordingly, able men were engaged in diffusing more liberal sentiments upon these subjects; and, as this could not be done without exciting a warm con-
- Thia nnfoitanate lady was Sophia DonMir, the mly
child of WUliam dnke at Zell ) the waa born in iSM ; and hei alliance was courted by the greatest princes in Ger. many, and at the aire of sixteen wasmarri^to the elector of Hanover. On a charge of adoltery with the cooat Koningtmarl[, a Swedish naUeman, she was conlhied in the castle of Alden, on the river ABer, in the duchy of Zdl, where the endnred captivity thirty-two years. She died on the isth of November, 17S(I| and her death was an- nonnced onder the title of the electress dowager of Han- nover. She Gondncted herself daring her confinement with wilMtuNM and patience : she received the sacrament once every week, when she always asaerted her inno. cence of Uie crime laid to her charge. Subaeqnent dr- cmnstanees have tended to shew that she was net guilty, Imt was BaCTUced to the jealousy of the coontess of riaten, the fovonrtte mistress of Emctt Aognstos, who, being herself in lore with the ooont, and sUghted by him, re. solved to sacrifice the lover and the piuicees to her ven- geance.
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