Page:Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's life.djvu/137

Halifax,

⁺chancellor of the Exchequer;

who sensible of his merit, was resolv'd, he sh^d. no longer be immur'd in a college. the Earl, together with Lord Somers, undertook the great affair of the recoynage. & judg'd rightly, that S^r. Isaac was the fittest man in the kingdom, to assist them. ^r. Isaac therefore was made master of the mint. in 1699, he was made master, & worker of the mint.

^*Sir Isaac's political notions on the affair of money, are thought to be extremely judicious.

^ħin 1701 he resign'd his professorship at Cambridg, & M^r. Whiston succeeded, by his recommendation.

at length, in the forepart of the present century, he was elected president of the Royal Society 1703. there we view him in his proper dignity. that chair which had held so many great men, his predecessors, was now filled indeed!

^xthere he sat at rest, in the intellectual center:

as the great solar orb shining with its own light, & diffusing his beamy influence, thro' the whole system of arts, & sciences. to him gravitated all the lesser lights, both regular planets, & extravagant comets of erudition, both at home, & abroad.

^ɣas the moon always turns the face to her principal, the earth.

from him they borrowd a ray, & sip'd from his common fountain. & now was that illustrious body truly so; & at its height of glory: the prototype of these literary Societys in Europe, with the great Newton at their head, as an object almost ador'd.

⁺and that great Mecænas of the learned world, Lewis XIV of France, thought himself honor'd by inlisting Sir Isaac into the number of his beneficiarys. & our countrymen at that time could not have a greater recommendation in foreign countrys parts, nor a freer introduction to the great, & the learned, than in quality of that of a member of the Royal Society: & especially if they had a title to any degree of intimacy, with the president.

^ʘwitness the honors paid to Mr. Martin Folkes when he travelld into Italy, tho' after Sir Isaac's death. nor did foreigners, when in England value themselves a little, if they could pay a visit to Sir Isaac: many of whom the most considerable men in all parts of the globe, came hither for that very purpose. & thought the hazards of thir voyage overpaid, in enjoying that privelege.

for eight years I was a constant attendant there, which may be reckon'd a lucid part of one's life.

S^r. Isaac was gray headed when under 40; owing, perhaps, to the infinite expence of spirits from