The name of this great English philosopher is one of the most illustrious that history presents. The immortal discoveries his genius effected, the height of fame he reached, and the meekness and humility he exhibited after his most marvellous intellectual triumphs, are in the highest degree calculated to excite wonder, to win admiration, and to command respect.

Newton had never to contend with such circumstances as have perplexed and distracted many of those who have accomplished great things for the human race. His father was a farmer-squire of small estate in Lincolnshire, who died before the birth of his famous son, leaving his mother a widow a few months after their marriage; and had their only child been one rejoicing venando aut agrum colendo aetatem agere, he would, in all probability, have passed through life in ease, comfort, and prosperity. Perhaps, in such a case, he might have turned his powerful mind to the science of agriculture, and contributed materially to its progress. But, be that as it may, his attention was, at an early age, directed to other subjects, and the foundation laid of his deathless fame.

In a valley by the river Witham stands the old manor-house of Woolsthorpe, where his forefathers, originally from Lancashire, had vegetated for centuries. There, in the dark December of 1642,—a dark and gloomy period,—this benefactor of his kind first saw that light whose speed he was destined to ascertain. He was so small and feeble an infant that hardly any hope of his surviving the hour of his birth was entertained by the attendants. Indeed, two women who were despatched for medicine to strengthen him. were not a little surprised to find him in life on their return,—by so slender a thread hung the existence of the child who was to perform distinguished services to the world, his country, and his religion. Unsearchable, truly, are the ways of Providence! His mother, ere long, became the blooming wife of a neighbouring rector, and the young philosopher, being left in the care of her mother, was in due season sent to a day-school at Skillington. At first, however, he did not prove a very attentive scholar. A peculiarly active mind and a lively fancy did not naturally lead him to any particular diligence or industry in the routine studies to which a boy is at first expected to apply himself; and he rather delighted to practise his dexterity in the use of a set of small tools, with which he gave evidence of a mechanical bent of mind. While his companions were at sport or mischief, he was in the habit of busily occupying his attention with some ingenious piece of workmanship, invented by his own young brain, and fashioned with his own little hands. An accident first fired him to strive for distinction in the schoolroom. The boy who was immediately above him in the class, after treating him with a tyranny hard to bear, was cruel enough to kick him in the stomach with a severity that caused great pain. Newton resolved to have his revenge; but of such a kind as was natural to his reasoning mind, even at that immature age. He determined to excel his oppressor in their studies and lessons; and, setting himself to the task with zeal and diligence, he never halted in his course till he had found his way to the top of the class; thus exhibiting and leaving a noble example to others of his years similarly situated. Doubtless, after this, he would heartily forgive his crest-fallen persecutor, who could not hut henceforth feel ashamed of his unmanly conduct, while Newton would enjoy the proud consciousness of having done his duty after the bravest and noblest fashion which it is in the power of man to adopt,

At the age of twelve he was removed to a public school in the borough-town of Grantham, where he was remarked as a "sober, silent, thinking lad," somewhat fond of retirement, not altogether averse to solitude, and much given to observation. Per-ceiving that a windmill was erecting in the vicinity, he watched it with great interest and curiosity, went every day to mark the progress made, and became so thoroughly acquainted with the machinery as to con. struct and complete a small model of it. This he placed on the top of the house, where, to the joy of himself and his companions, it was set in motion by the wind; and the machinery was so perfect a copy of that from which it had been taken as to call forth the warm praise of all who saw it. At this time he introduced the flying of paper-kites, till then un-known, thereby entitling himself to the gratitude of boys of all future generations, studied assiduously their most advantageous shape and size, and had enough of the spirit of mischief in him to take vast delight in raising rumours of comets and meteors, by attaching paper lanterns to their tails on dark nights. Another of his inventions was a water-clock, which was most ingeniously constructed, and used long after his departure from Grantham by a surgeon, in whose house he had lived while there. His attention was also keenly directed to the movements of the celestial bodies, and by narrowly watching the shadows as they passed slowly along the wall of his lodging and the roofs of the adjoining houses, he devised and formed a dial for his own use. Fol lowing up his success in this respect, he traced out and corrected it by observations which he made in succeeding years. It was long remembered in the town as a good time-piece, and known, as a memorial of his early genius, by the name of "Isaac's dial."

Ordinary boys are animated by a spirit which not seldom prompts them to set him of the birchen rod at defiance, and avoid the hated schoolroom for the lonely banks of running streams, or any other place where they can indulge, uncontrolled, in every species of mischief. It delights one to wet his feet in fishing for minnows, or in trusting to the waters the boat shaped by his own hands, when he should have been otherwise employed. It pleases another to abuse the unfortunate donkey that circum stances may have placed in his power. A thir rejoices in robbing birds' nests, to the certain destruction of his clothes, or in climbing crags and precipices in search of young hawks and owls, at the risk of his neck. A fourth lazily reclines on the grassy sod, and, under the noon-day sun, dreams of such actions as the others are engaged in. But Newton cared for none of these things. Almost from infancy he had occupied his mind with thought; and while out of school, he always preferred the society of the females in the house where he lodged to that of his rollicking class-fellows. Among the former was a young lady, clever and charming, for whom he conceived a juvenile friendship, which gradually ripened into a more tender feeling; but the fates were adverse, and it came to nothing.

On his arrival at the age of fifteen, his relations deemed it time that he should qualify himself for what seemed his natural career. Accordingly, he was summoned from his studies to assist in farming the small estate to which he was born, and returned to Woolsthorpe to apply himself, as they expected, to agriculture. It soon became evident, however, that he would never flourish as a farmer. The cultivation of the soil, the breeding of sheep, the growth of corn, and the fattening of cattle, were not subjects of the slightest interest to him. His mind was too earnestly intent on, and absorbed in, other pursuits to care for such matters; and he was framing some model, getting a water-wheel into play, or solving a difficult problem, little recking whether his wheat was ripening on the arable land, or his flocks thriving in the green pastures. Neither, when sent on Saturday to Grantham market, did he show the slightest turn for selling grain, handling pigs, or bargaining with cattle-dealers over foaming tankards of the old Saxon beverage. On the contrary, no sooner were the horses stabled at the Saracen's Head than he hurried off to his former quarters, and pored over some dusty volume, till the aged servant transacted the necessary business, to the best of his ability. At other times he did not even enter the town, but, sitting down under a tree by the wayside, read studiously till his trusty henchman returned.