Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1856-01-25

excepting what / do for my |
private satisfaction, or leave to come out
me-" That sentence represents Sir Isaac
to the life. All his pursuits were for his
own private satisfaction he Stunned man
kind and there is not one of his discov-
cries that would ever have been published
if it had not been dragged into the light
by his friends, while he looked on, fret
ting and muttering at the intrusion. Ut
him it may be said with truth, what was
never truly said of Milton, " His 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,
1t was natural thst Newton thould look
with stoical contempt on all the objects of
human ambition. Love he needed not ;
honor he sought not above all things he
despised wealth. Master Of the mint,
money had no charms for him. Specu-
lum metal, for his refecting telescope,
was to him the most precious of metal.
The bursting of soap bubble, when pur
suing bis experiments on color, gave him
more concern than the loss of 100000 on
the bursting of the South Sea Bubble.
His indifference was extended to his latest
biographer, who has not condescended to
hint at the less. Sir Isaac thought more
of lens and prism than of all the in
cots at the Mint and all the diamonds in
Amsterdam. He parted with his money
freely-so freely, indeed, that his biogra-
pliers have regarded it as a proof Of sim
gular generosity. 1t was nothing Of the
kind; it was no more generosity than is
the act of the poor savage who gives
away inestimable treasures for glass
bead or little bit of mirror.
What cared he for wealth? He had
no interest in human life, he had no sub
lunary pleasures which money could pur-
chase, except pippins and red streaks.
He gave it away to anybody who asked
for it. In one of his absent fits he had
his pocket picked of more than $4,000
and suspected a nephew of the celebrated
William Winston; he made no efforts tc
------- L. hay,l- h;lla and -vhc,, cc1nf
how much he had lost, only replied ''Toc
much" He was so far imposed upor
that he paid $4,000 for an estate in Wilt
shire worth only the half of that sum he
was told that he might vacate his bargain
in equity, and he declined the trouble
" [ have seen," says honest Humphrey
Newton, l have seen small pasteboard
box in his study set against the open win.
dow, no less, as one might suppose, than
1000 guineas in it, crowded edgeways
whether this was suspicion or careless
ness 1 can not say ; perhaps to try the f.
deity of those about him."
1t was certainly carelessness but poor
Humphrey chow wildly he remembers
it all } felt sorely tempted when he saw,
as one might suppose'-for he was toe
honest to count them-"no less than 1000
guineas' crowded edgeways," and it was
a help to bis fidelity to believe that the
trial was intended by his master-his
master, to whom, when at the head of the
Mint, duchess all in vain offered bribe
Of $4,000. At one period of his life Sir
Isaac gave some study to alchemy, and
we might suppose, from one of the SEN
tences in the letter to Francis Aston
from which we have already quoted that
he had thought of transmutation as a
means Of money-making. He recon-
mends his young friend to inquire on the
Continent about transmutation, these
being the most luciferous, and many
times tucJer0us experiments, too, in phi
losophy."
! This letter, however, it must be re-
membered, was not written long before
his circumstances were such as to give
him some anxiety, and he was glad tc
escape his weekly payments as member
of the Royal Society. If ever he though
of money-making, it was only to pay hi:
frugal buttery book and buy putty for hi
lenses and oranges for his sister. HI
gave away his money without concern
he was even offensive in bis iberahty
and quarreled with persons who refused
his purse. Think of Sir Isaac taking
J. handful of guineas at random out of hi
} pocket and offering it as a fee to a physi
clan like Cheselden!
We have not said anything of the con
, troyersies which brought Newton int
contact with his fellow-men, and put hi
? manliness to the test; and we must leav
: it to others to adjust all the microscope
5 details Of authorship and copyright whic
e these controversies involve. But it
impossible to pass without reprehensio
b the unfairness with which Newton treate