Page:Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's life.djvu/5

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
iii

I have need enough of an apology, who dare to take in hand the present ſubject. biography is a thing wh I have no claim to, and has only been well executed by the maſterly pen of a Plutarch. a candid reader will make great allowances in the case; in confidence of wh I undertook it. nor ſhall I eaſily be excuſd from a ſhare of vanity, where I have ſo often brought my ſelf upon the carpet. but when tis conſider'd; it will be found very neceſsary, to an intelligent reader. I think I need ſay no more in juſtification of it, than that what I ſay is strictly true Θ & as none of my countrymen have hitherto thought fit to give this important life to the publick, I flatter my self that what I have here done, tho' it cannot do juſtice to the ſubject, yet will give us a ſatiſfaction in many particulars worth knowing; by no means to be thrown into oblivion. & the very name of Newton is able to wipe out all faults; and indeed that was the ſole incentive, that made me think of publishing it.