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in English
A revised version of f. 10v, in Catherine Conduitt's hand and here designated 10vB, is pinned onto the original f. 10v.
r
Day 1642
parish of
of Lincoln, near three months after
the death of his father, who was
descended from the eldest branch of the
family of rtt
Mannor rch
authentick deeds to have been near
200 years in his family which came
thither from Westby in the same County
but originally from
Lancashire from whence famil
probably had their name. His mother
was Hannah Ascough of the bleof Ascoughs of Overton in the County of
She was married a second time, to
the Reverend Mr Benjamin Smith
Rector of North Witham & had by
him a son & two daughters from
whom are descended the four nephews
& nieces who inherit r
personal estate —
r
to the great school at Grantham ch
where he shewed a strong disposition
towards mechanicks & gave early
tokens of an unco
after he had been there some years
his mother took him home intending
he should apply himself to the
his genius could not brook such an
employment & the strong inclination
he shewed for reading & inattention
to every thing else induced his mother
to send him to Grantham school again
for nine months & thence to Trinity
College at Cambridge, where he
was admitted the 5th of Iune 1660 —
He always informed himself before hand
of the books his tutour intended to
read & when he came to the lectures
found he knew more of them than
his tutour, the first books he read
for that purpose were Sanderson's
logick & Kepler's opticks
A desire to know wether there was
any thing in judicial astrology
first put him upon studying Mathe
maticks, he discovered the emptiness
of that science the moment made
a figure for ch
use of 2 or 3 problems in Euclid ch
Index & never read but
despised it upon the whole as a
trifling book& despised Euclid
upon Descartes's Geometry & made
himself master of it by dint of
genius & application without going u
bought a prism to try some
experiments upon Des Cartes's book
of colours & soon found out his
own Hypothesis
of Descartes's
began to have the first hint of his
method of fluxions & in the year
1665 when he retired to his own
estate on account of the Plague
he firstdiscovered chfell into
apple fall from a tree a heavy body fall to the ground
He made
he was long before that co
loose tracts & letters to the Royal
Society of chso an account
is given in the Royal Socie Co
Epistolicum & now I am on that
subject excuse the duty & affection of a relation to a dear benefactor&r
observe to you that as
have appeared relating to that dispute
it is expected from your candour &
justice that you will alter & in some
measure recall several passages in
your works printed before those
discoveries were made, — In your
Eloge upon the Marquis de L'Hopital
you say –
inventè par ren meme tems par r
I am confident you are perswaded
(as I am credibly informed the Germans
now are) not only that rmade those discoveries invented the
method of fluxions many years
before r
of it, but that r
from him – If the chain of circumstances
& the clear evidence ch
before the world were not sufficient,
Mr Leibnitz's manner of defending
himself would convince every body
of what I have advanced. He r Leibnitz
of answering matter of fact had recourse
to little chicane & disputes
nothing to the purpose, & never offered one
the Co
him in his life time & by his friends
after his death has never yet appeared,
nor I beleive ever wil —– I have
seen a letter writt by r Bernoulli
absolutely denies in the strongest terms
that he was the author of the
Charta volans fathered upon him
by Mr Leibtnitz chproves what
was alwaysgives is a farther reason to
himself was the author of that
libel ch
ever made
so bad as to oblige him to have
recourse to shifts & practices very
In the r Leibnitz, you say – r
et le caractere par lequel
marquoit l'infiniment petit etoit
beaucoup plus co
grand usage que celui de This may perhaps be true leaves an
but as the difference it
opinion, at least with cursory
readers that Mr Leibnitz was
the first inventor ur Leibnitz's Characters are more usefull & at all events that
is no argument at all of the inventionr
world that u
to be the first inventor of the differential
of fluxions he
enough to apply it to the system
of the Universe ch
great & glorious use rmade of it — Excuse rmy the affection Ibut of a relation to a dear & honoured benefactoracknowledge
2 You are so well acquainted with
the books r
need not say any thing to you
on that subject – 1. I must not omitt
telling you that the rd
problem chsent
the Mathematicians in Europe at 4 a
clock in the afternoon after be had been
very much tired th
all day, & yet solved it before he
went to bed that night —
In 1667 he was elected fellow of Trinity
College in Cambridge & in 1669 Dr
Barrow resigned the Mathematical
professorship to him – In 1671 he
was elected fellow of the Royal Society.
In 1675 he had a dispensation
from
without taking orders. In 1687 he
was chosen one of the delegates of the
University of Cambridge before the
High Co
their refusing to admitt Father
Francis Master of arts upon the
taking the oaths prescribed by
the Statutes, & he was a great
instrument in perswading his
collegues to persist in
nance of their rights & priviledges.
In
University of Cambridge member
of the Convention Parliament &
sate in it till its dissolution –
In 1696 the late Earl of Halifax,
then Chancellor of the Exchequer, that
great Patron of the learned writt him
a letter to Cambridge acquainting him
he had prevailed with the King an office of honour & credit in ch
recoinage ch
In 1699 he was made Master &
Worker of the Mint in ch
continued to his death & behaved
himself with an universal character
of integrity & disinterestedness &
had frequent opportunities of employing
his skill in Mathematicks & Chymistry
particularly in his table of Assays
of foreign coins ch
at the end of Dr Arbuthnott's book
of coins —
In 1701 he made Mr Whiston his
at Cambridge & gave him all the
salary from that time u
not absolutely resign the professorship
till 1703. Upon the choice of a
new Parliament in 1701 he was
reelected member for the University
In 1705 he stood again with
the present
to the then Lord High Treasurer, but neither of them were chosen, after chr
yearhe was Knighted by the Queen
at Cambridge
In 1703 he was Elected President
above 23 years to his death, being
the first who was President so long
& was never discontinued.
At the University he spent the greatest
tired with his severer studies of
Philosophy his only releif & amuse
ment was going to some other
as History Chronology Divinity
& Chymistry all ch
searched to thoroughly as appears
by the many rough
on those subjects, after his coming
to London all the time he had to spare
from his business & the civilities of ch
& complaisant were was employed
the same way
You know already how the abstract
of the
in France chThat proceeding
determined him to print the work
from whence the extract was made
as privately as possible & keep
the copies in his own possession, it
is now in the press & will I hope
be out before the 12. of r
do my self the honour to send you
one of the first that are printed
Being r
in ch
affect r
I had an extract made make
real objections, stript of the they were thwith, & shewed itthem & I had the pleasure of
to r
finding the only effect they had upon
him was to convince him of the
ignorance of the author, he saw
afterwards the whole book without
altering his opinion, in ch
was not single as the world will
soon see by a little tractr Halley
has a latelyof Pere Souciet's treatise, without
ever having seen the proofs &
authorities in use r's cheif
work.
r
the year 1696 when he was made
Warden of the Mint, no body ever
lived with him but my wife who
was with him near twenty years
before & after her marriage – He
always lived in a very handsome generous
manner u
vanity, always hospitable & upon
proper occasions gave splendid
entertainments. He was generous
to say they who gaue
they died never gaue, ch
was the
make a will – I beleive no man
of his circumstances ever gave
away so much during his life time
in alms in encouraging ingenuity
& learning & to his relations,
nor upon all occasions shewed
a greater contempt of his own
mony ch
belonged to the publick or to any
society he was entrusted for,
He refused pensions & additional
employments that were offered him He by all foreigners & at home
all reigns & under all administrations
even by those he opposed, for he in all always shewed an
inflexible attachment to the cause
of liberty
always shewed him a particular
honour & the Queen distinguishing
marks of their favour & esteem parti &
often ad did him the honour to admitt him
to their Royal presence for hours together
The Queen who shews so much favour & countenance
to all learned men & entertains herself so often with discourses of always
expressed the a& yet had the She was graciously pleased to take a
goodness in his later years to forbear laying her
co
his age
part in the disputes he was concerned
his life & expressed a great regard for every thing
that concerned his honour & memory after his
all administrations even by those he opposed, for in every
station he shewed an inflexable attachment to the cause
of liberty & our present happy t
tysa very parti
cular marks of their favour & esteem & often did
him the honour to admitt him
Queen who shews so much favour & countenance to all
learned men & entertains her self often with hearing ts
desired to see him and always expressed great satisfaction
in his conversation, she was graciously pleased to take
part in the disputes he was engaged in during his
life & expressed a great reguard for every thing
that concerned his honour & memory after his death
that I have often had the honour to
hear her Majesty say to the be the whole
that she kept the abstract of Chronology r
her choicest treasures, & that she
thought it a happiness to have lived
at the same time & have known so
great a man — I conjure you, r
to insert this in yo the Eloge because
I am perswaded you can say nothing
that will do him more honour than the applause such a co
from a Queen who is the Minerva of her age
an innate modesty & simplicity
appeared in all his words &
actions
Notwithstanding the extraordinary
honours that were paid him he was so n
humble & an opinion of himself that
he was sometimes took the applause chin a quite
different sense from what it was intended
&
from any of his works that
would co
with the glory of those hon inventions
which have done so much honour to
humane nature if his friends & country
men had not been more jealous
& their glory than he
He was exceedingly courteous & affable
even to the lowest & never despised
any man for want of capacity but
always expressed shewed
any immorality or contempt of religion
He was ahad
religion chvolumes
he has left on that subject as well as , but his
by the exemplariness of his lifeopinion
founded on a narrow bottom, nor
his charity & morality so scanty as
to shew a coldness to those of another
opinionwho were of other sentiments
less ch
always shewed
& detestation —
He had such a meekness & sweetness of temper
that a melancholy story would often fetch
tears from him & he was would shudder
any act of cruelty to man or beast, mercy
to both being the darling topick he loved
to dwell upon —
An innate modesty & simplicity shewed it
self in all his actions & expressions, & his
whole life was one continued series of
labour patience charity generosity temperance
piety goodness & all other virtues without from ch
pure & unspotted in thought word & deed
He was never married,sober &
in his diet but never observed any regimen
he was blessed with a very happy & vigorous
constitution, he was short of a in inclining to be fat, had a very countenan some of he would often
appear from under his wig
illness had the bloom & colour of a young
man & never used spectacles nor lost but one
About five years before he died he was
troubled with an incontinence of urine chupon chafter whi
went always in a chair & left off dining
abroad or with much company at home
& ea more upon than & fruit meat fleshch
eat very heartily of — At In the ch
In ry
upon ch
to take a lodging by chwhere
soon after his moving there heth year a fit of the he had in his a fit of the the gout
a slight attack of it a few years before,
after ch
been some years
that air lodging
In the winter 1725 he being disabled from
to resign to me his chan t
& his old deputy being confined by a dropsy.
I being satisfied how uneasie
be to venture a so great a trust of that
consequence & nicety with any stranger,
& how prejudicial all motion was to
him offered to act chabout
died I made him so easy on that
subject that he hardly ever went to
the Tower u
benefit from rest & the air at Kensington visibly worse always by going to town there no methods that were used could keep him from coming to town without any real call –
On Tuesday the last day of ry