Qui genus humanum ingenio superavit.
Who surpassed all men in genius.
This statue, executed by Roubiliac, was erected at the expense of Dr. Robert Smith, the author of the Compleat System of Optics, and professor of astronomy and experimental philosophy at Cambridge.—It has been thus described by a modern poet:
Hark where the organ, full and clear,
With loud hosannas charms the ear;
Behold, a prism within his hands,
Absorbed in thought great Newton stands
Such was his brow, and looks serene,
His serious gait and musing mien,
When taught on eagle wings to fly,
He traced the wonders of the sky;
The chambers of the sun explored,
Where tints of thousand hues were stored.
Dr. Smith likewise bequeathed the sum of 500l. for executing a painting on glass for the window at the south end of Trinity College, Cambridge. The subject represents the presentation of Sir Isaac Newton to his majesty George III., who is seated under a canopy with a laurel chaplet in his hand, and attended by the British Minerva, apparently advising him to reward merit in the person of the great philosopher. Below the throne, the Lord Chancellor Bacon is proposing to register the reward about to be conferred upon Sir Isaac. The original drawing of this absurd picture was executed by Cypriani, and cost one hundred guineas.
The personal estate of Sir Isaac Newton, which was worth about 32,000l., was divided among his four nephews and four nieces of the half-blood, the grandchildren of his mother by the Reverend Mr. Smith. The family estates of Woolsthorpe and Sustern he bequeathed to John Newton, the heir-at-law, whose great-grandfather was Sir Isaac’s uncle. This gentleman does not seem to have sufficiently valued the bequest, for he sold them in 1732, to Edmund Turnor of Stoke Rocheford.[124] A short time before his death, Sir Isaac gave away an estate in Berkshire to the sons and daughter of a brother of Mrs. Conduit, who, in consequence of their father dying before Sir Isaac, had no share in the personal estate; and he also gave an estate of the same value, which he bought at Kensington, to Catharine, the only daughter of Mr. Conduit, who afterward married Mr. Wallop, the eldest son of Lord Lymington. This lady was afterward Viscountess Lymington, and the estate of Kensington descended to the late Earl of Portsmouth, by whom it was sold. Sir Isaac was succeeded as master and warden in the mint by his nephew, John Conduit, Esq., who wrote a treatise on the gold and silver coin, and who died in 1737, leaving behind him his wife and daughter, the former of whom died in 1739, in the 59th year of her age.
CHAPTER XIX.
Permanence of Newton’s Reputation—Character of his Genius—His Methods of Investigation similar to that used by Galileo—Error in ascribing his Discoveries to the Use of the Methods recommended by Lord Bacon—The Pretensions of the Baconian Philosophy examined—Sir Isaac Newton’s social Character—His great Modesty—The Simplicity of his Character—His religious and moral Character—His Hospitality and Mode of Life—His Generosity and Charity—His Absence—His personal Appearance—Statues and Pictures of him—Memorials and Recollections of him.
Such were the last days of Sir Isaac Newton, and such the last laurels which were shed over his grave. A century of discoveries has since his day been added to science; but brilliant as these discoveries are, they have not obliterated the minutest of his labours, and have served only to brighten the halo which encircles his name. The achievements of genius, like the source from which they spring, are indestructible. Acts of legislation and deeds of war may confer a high celebrity, but the reputation which they bring is only local and transient; and while they are hailed by the nation which they benefit, they are reprobated by the people whom they ruin or enslave. The labours of science, on the contrary, bear along with them no counterpart of evil. They are the liberal bequests of great minds to every individual of their race, and wherever they are welcomed and honoured they become the solace of private life, and the ornament and bulwark of the commonwealth.