The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-08-07 00:00:00

SUPPLEMENT TO
Dr aibtrinioli tanbartc

AND GENERAL COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER.

it, is not so much a matter of wonder. The task was
probably too great a one to admit of satisfactory
accomplishment ; but that an experienced and veteran
litterateur as Sir David Brewster unquestionably is
should have failed in the structural arrangement of his
work seems " passing strange." As a book con-
structor, the learned and somewhat vituperative
Caledonian has had extensive practice ; and as the
successful illustrator of abstruse science in a popular
form, Sir David Brewster has been long before the
world, and in these capacities he has earned so fair an
amount of reputation as to lead to the expectation of
an orderly, clearly-written biography, if we might not
also have 'anticipated a skilful moral anatomy of the
great philosopher. In all these respects the book
proves disappointing. The narrative is confused and
perplexing in no ordinary degree. From almost the
period of his infancy, the literary knight of St. Andrews
is in the habit of representing Newton as Sir Isaac ;
and by this knightly title we are informed that the
future philosopher was a negligent grazier, and devoted
his time to study and reading in hedge-bottoms, when
he ought to have been attending to his mother's cattle.
Similar want of distinctness pervades the chapters of
college life ; and the reader who started in ignorance
of the facts of the case derived from other sources, and
who did not finish the reading of the two volumes,
might be induced to think that the meditative boy had
been born the heir to a baronetcy instead of being the
son of
i a farmer. In like manner the reader is inciden-
tally informed of the fact, that Newton was President
of the Royal Society, but at what time and under what
circumstances this dignity was conferred on him, as
well as that of knighthood, is left for, explanation to
nearly the conclusion of the book. The dramatic effect
of this arrangement may indeed be artistic, and the
surprise created by it may be complete, but it is a
method of constructing biography as puzzling as it is
new—as unsatisfactory, as it is unusual. These singu-
lar defects in the personal biography are, to a great'
extent, repeated in relation to the scientific career of
Newton, in connexion with which we are treated to a
liberal insight into the scientific progress and dis-
cursive success of Sir David Brewster. This latter
portion of the achievement is somewhat adroitly per-
formed, under colour of a disquisition on what has been
done in science since Newton's time.

These defects, though numerous and striking,
nevertheless, are not by any means sufficient to rob
the book of interest, and that, too, of a high order. It
contains much and varied information on nearly all
the subjects connected with the very important public
life of Newton. The facts narrated In the two volumes
are numerous and generally well stated, the objection
to the book being chiefly its want of method and order.
These facts, which bear on almost every phase of
character, and explain every doubtful position of his
life, are mainly contributions from a previously pro-
jected biography of Newton, by Mr. Conduitt, father
of Sir Isaac's favourite grand niece. • Sir Isaac, as is
well known, for many years enjoyed the important
position of Master of the Mint ; but it is not so gene-
rally known as it ought to be, that his careful investi-
gation into the nature and chemistry of metals fully
qualified him for discharging important duties con-
nected with the office ; while the high integrity of his
nature led him to disdain the idea of making the
situation merely a money-making sinecure. Of this
latter spirit there are numerous instances scattered
throughout the book. One illustration of this is in-
dicative not only of his spirit and temper, but it also
shows the debasing habits to which courtly favour
may reduce high-bred people. It is contained in a
letter from the Rev. Dr. Derham, author of the Astro-
Theology, to Mr. Conduitt