[130] “He was very kind to all the Ayscoughs. To one he gave 800l., to another 200l., and to a third 100l., and many other sums; and other engagements did he enter into also for them. He was the ready assistant of all who were any way related to him,—to their children and grandchildren.”—Annual Register, 1776, vol. xix. p. 25. Sir Isaac gave some donations to the chapel and parish of Colsterworth. Hearne says “that he promised to become a benefactor to the Royal Society, but failed.”
[131] The following anecdote of Sir Isaac’s absence has been published, but I cannot vouch for its authenticity. His intimate friend Dr. Stukely, who had been deputy to Dr. Halley as secretary to the Royal Society, was one day shown into Sir Isaac’s dining-room, where his dinner had been for some time served up. Dr. Stukely waited for a considerable time, and getting impatient, he removed the cover from a chicken, which he ate, replacing the bones under the cover. In a short time Sir Isaac entered the room, and after the usual compliments sat down to his dinner, but on taking off the cover, and seeing nothing but bones, he remarked, “How absent we philosophers are. I really thought that I had not dined.”
[132] Epistolary Correspondence, vol. i. p. 180, sec. 77.
[133] MS. Memoranda in the Bodleian Library.
[134] Turnor’s Collections, p. 176.
[135] The anecdote of the falling apple is mentioned neither by Dr. Stukely nor by Mr. Conduit, and as I have not been able to find any authority for it whatever, I did not feel myself at liberty to use it.
[136] In the Monthly Review for August, 1829, p. 593, it is stated, that the correspondence between Newton and Flamstead, from 1680 to 1698, exists in the Sloane collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum. Professor Rigaud, however, has had the kindness to inquire into the accuracy of this statement, and he has ascertained that these letters are merely copies, which Dr. Birch had made from the originals at Oxford.
[137] See [page 288], [note].
[138] This entail was executed in 1724, a year or two before Sir Richard’s death.—D. B.