Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1855-11-03

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haps, he ever contemplated. Newton had the
whitest soul lie ever knew simply because his emo
tionai nature was the sheet Of white paper which
tie metaphysicians of that period were continually
talking about.
Sir David Brewster has done his best to prove
the contrary. lie even fancios that he has discoy-
cred Sir Isaac in love. Sir Isaac ia loye.-it is
incredible-it is impossible. Fancy the sedate
Lucasian Professor addressing Lady Norris like
one of those tops called "pretty fellows" whom
Steel shortly afterwards satirized in the latter.
"Cun you resolve to wear Il widows habit perpet-
ually ?' he writes. "Whcther your ladyship should
90 constantly in the melancholy dress ST a widow,
or flourish once more among the ladies"-that is
the question, and that is the style of courtship
which Sir David. with his eyes open and all his
optical reputation, attributes to a philosopher
whose soul was fixed on one idea-the increase of
gravity inversely as the square of the distance
Sir Isaac, we make bold to say never had a thought
Of love.
In comparison with Newton, Uncle Toby's bchN-
vior to the Widow Wadham was the extreme Of
gallantrv and licentiousness. 1t must be remcm-
bered that Newton was q god, and Alexander the
Great used to say that two-he might have said
thrJe-things reminded him that he was n mortal,
and not a god-lovo, sleep and food. These three
things proved the divinity Of Sir Isaac, for he
never spent a thought on love, took very little
sleep, and as for his dinner, he never cared for it
and oftener never ate it. "lIe kept neither dog
nor cat in his chamber" says Humphrey Newton,
(which made well for the old wbman, his bed ma.
kerr, she iaring much the better for it, for. in a nom
ing she has sometimes found both dinner and
supper scarcely tasted Of, which the old woman
has very pleasantly and mumpingly gone away
with"
While speaking Of food, we may mention, il
passing. as a sct-of to the n~egations of Newtou's
animal and emotional nature, his one physical en-.
joyment. He liked fruit, and could eat any guam
tty of it. As a boy, we find him in his account
1 80 H. 4. ,,-,. .,, ,low,;,r t,A.. ,al
marmalade. This latter seems to have grown with
him, for he was always very fond Of Il small roast
ed ounce for supper. lie was as fond OF orange
peel as DIR. johnson, and used to take it boiled IN
water for his breakfast, instead Of tea. Apples,
zoo, appear to have been a fayorite fruit Of his
one Of his letters exhibit him longing after cidey,
and making great endeavors to secure some CRAFTS
of the genuine red steaks" Perhaps it was one
of those favored red steaks" that falling from the
tree suggested the system Of the world-the uni
versatility of the law of gravitation.
Other enioyments Newton had none which were
not purely Intellectual. Even as q boy he never
Joined in the games and amusements Of his COM
panions. We find him making dials and water
clocks and windmills and on the day Of the great
storm Of 1868, when Cromwell was drawing his
la1t breath in Whitehall, and Goodwin stood by
his bedside, assuring him that his soul was safe.
and Bates went soft and sad from room to room
and the trees in st. James's Park were uprooted
by the tempest, Newton, in his 10th year was Jump
ing about in the gale to measure the force Of the
wind. In more advanced years his amusements
were still more severe. When weary of his other
studies, the diilerential calculus and the irregu-
larities of the moon, he refreshed himself j"
with CHRONOLOGY and all the dry details Of lus-
trums, 0lympiads and the expedition Of the ArgO-
nauts.
With such pleasure it will not be surprising
that we return to negation, and say that his Gsthet-
zeal nature was utterly blank. lie had a perfect
bnrrnrc f Yco+ru onI would ioua aoiOoI tbn emit;
ment of his friend Barrow, that it is 'an ingeni-
Gus kind of nonsense" lie showed his regard
for sculpture when he said of his friend, the
Earl of Pembroke, that he was ga lover of stone
dolls" And his opinion of painting is expressed
in an anecdote which we do not profess to COM
prehend, but which, according to the interpreta.
ton suggested by Sir David Brewster, implies
that he considered pictures nothing but dirt"
As we look further into Newton's character we
find everywhere the same absence of co!or, the
same Wilderness that Bishop Burnett observed. One
curious specimen of it is presented in a letter of
advice to his young friend, Francis Aston, who was
about to set out on his travels.
"If you bee aifronted, - wrote the philosopher, at
is better IN a lorraine country to pass it by in 81.
lence, or with q jest, though with some dishonor,
than to ondeavor revenge for in the first case
your credits ne'er the the worst when you return
into England, or come into other company that
have not heard of the QUARREL. But,in tho second
case, you may beare the marks of the QUARREL
while you live, if you Outlive it at ALL" Here is
vengeance--1issuading his young friend from a
quarrel on the ground, not Of high Christian prin-
lciple, but Of unmaniy fear. If the truth must be
spoken, Newton was a coward. 1t is the most
amazing thing to read how frightened he was to
face the public. He could not bear publicity. This
was partly the result of a timid disposition which
made him shrink from criticism, but partly also it
was the result Of a self-absorbed and unsociable
nature that was all in all to itself, and felt no
need of human sympathy. When, shortly after
writing the above letter to Francis Aston, he was
asked for permission to publish one of his papers
in the Philosophical Transactions, he gave his
consent, on condition that his name should &c
withheld.
'For 1 see not" he writes, "what there is desi-
rable in public esteem, were | able to acquire il
and maintain it. II would, perhaps, increase my
acquaintance-the thing which ] chiefly study 70
decline" This appalling selfabsorption is with,
out n parallel in the history Of the human mind
After having been embroiled in q trihing optical
discussion with a Dutch physician of the name OF
Linus. he writes as follows to one of his friends
u see | have made myself "a slave TO philsO-
ply; out if | get free of Mr.. Linus's business ]
will resolutely bid adieu to it eternally, excepting
what | do for my private satisfaction or leave to
come out after me-" That sentence represents Sin
Isaac to the life. All his pursuits were for hi.
own private satisfaction he stunned mankind
and there is not one of his discoveries that would
ever have been published if it had not been drag
ged into he light by his friends, while he looked
on, fretting and muttering at the intrusion. o.
him it may be be said with truth, what was never
truly said of Milton, Ellis soul was like a star, and
dwelt apart"
Dwelling thus apart, and viewing with singular
apathy all that men most prize in public esteem
and private sympathy, it was natural that Newton
should look with stoical contempt on all the object,
of human ambition. Love he needed not homo,
he sought not; above all things he despised wealth
Master of the Mint, money had no charms for him
Speculum metal, for his rejecting telescope, wa,
to him the most precious of metals. The bursting
Of a soap hubble gave him more concern thai
the loss Of 10000 on the bursting Of the Soutl
Sea Bubble. His Indifference was extended to hi
latest biographer, who has not condescended Il
hint at the loss. Sir Isaac thought more of a LEM
and a prism than all the ingots at the Mint ard al
the diamonds in Amsterdam. lie parted with hi
money freely-so freely, indeed, that his biogra
pliers have regarded it as a proof of singular gener
osty. IL was nothing of the kind it was no morc
Il uanarosify than il tho nor of fba n ~ za xYI,