destined to be a farmer; and this, with his uncle finding him under a hedge, occupied in the solution of a mathematical problem, led to his being again sent to Grantham School, and then to Trinity College, Cambridge, which thence became the real birthplace of Newton's genius. We have not space to detail how he mastered Sanderson's Logic, and Kepler's Optics, before he attended his tutor's lectures upon those works; how he bought a book of Judicial Astrology at Stourbridge Fair, and to understand its trigonometry, purchased an English Euclid, which he soon threw aside for Descartes' Geometry; his longcontinued observations upon a comet in 1664; his first discovery of Fluxions in 1665; his first study of Gravity, suggested to him by the fall of an apple from a tree while sitting in his garden at Woolsthorpe; his purchase of a glass prism at Stourbridge Fair; his first application to optical discoveries; his construction of telescopes,* etc. But we cannot leave him without remarking that late in life, ascribing whatever he had accomplished to the effect of patient and continuous thought rather than to any peculiar genius with which nature had endowed him, he looked upon himself and his labors in a very different light from that in which both he and they were regarded by mankind. “I know not," he remarked, a short time before his death, "what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.' How touching is this sense of humility, and contrast of the littleness of human knowledge with the extent of human ignorance!

دو

WILLIAM PENN AT OXFORD.

William Penn, whose name has become "throughout all civilized countries a synonyme for polity and philanthropy," was born October 14, 1644. He grew up into a graceful and promising child at Wanstead, in Essex, and was sent to learn the first rudiments of scholarship at a grammar-school at Chigwell, then recently founded by the Archbishop of York. When he was eleven years old, his father, Admiral Penn, was arrested by order of Cromwell for his alleged share in the failure of an attack on Hispaniola; and young Penn, "a quick-witted and affectionate child, was overwhelmed with melancholy" at his father's arrest. "While in this state of mind, he was one day surprised in his room, where he was alone, with an inward

* These particulars of Newton's early years have been abridged from Sir David Brewster's enlarged Life of the great philosopher.

and sudden sense of happiness, akin to a strong religious emotion; the chamber at the same time appearing as if filled with a soft and holy light." This incident has been regarded by some as a miracle,-by others as a delusion; but Mr. Hepworth Dixon, the earnest biographer of Penn, considers the lively and sensitive child being in a morbid condition of mind, and his father being in a few days set at liberty, "it is probable that the glory which filled the room and the feeling which suffused his frame were simply the effects of a sensitive temperament over-excited by the glad tidings of this release." His father then retired with his family into Ireland, where William "rapidly improved, under a private tutor from England, in useful and elegant scholarship. He exhibited already a rare aptitude for business. In person he was tall and slender, but his limbs were well knit, and he had a passionate fondness for field sports, boating, and other manly exercises. In the elementary parts of education he had already made such progress that the Admiral thought him ready to begin his more serious studies at the University; and, after due consideration, it was resolved that he should go to Oxford." After a year's delay, to Oxford he went, where he matriculated as a gentleman commoner at Christchurch, of which Dr. John Owen was Dean: South was Orator to the University; and here were Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, and "the noblest and most notable of all ornaments of Oxford at that day"-John Locke. Penn proved at college a hard student, a skillful boater, and adventurous sportsman; his reading was solid aud extensive, and his memory excellent. His great pleasure and recreation while at Christchurch was in reading the doctrinal discussions to which the Puritan idea had given rise; and the preaching of the new doctrines taught by George Fox, and the threatened restoration of popish usages, led Penn and others into forcible opposition to the orders of the Court, for which they were expelled the University. For a boy, he left Oxford with a profound acquaintance with history and theology. Of languages he had more than an ordinary share. Then, and afterward, while at Saumur, (in France), he read the chief writers of Greece and Italy in their native idioms, and acquired a thorough knowledge of French, German, Dutch, and Italian. Later in life he added to his stock two or three dialects of the Red Men. Upon his return to England, Penn's father entered him as a student at Lincoln's Inn, that he might acquire some knowledge of his country's laws. He did not remain long in London, but returned to Ireland; and at Cork, hearing an old Oxford acquaintance preach the doctrines of George Fox, from that night Penn became a Quaker in his heart.

THE GREAT DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH AT ST. PAUL'S.

Among the celebrated Paulines stands prominently the name of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, the ablest general and most consummate statesman of his time. He was the second son of Winston Churchill, and was born at Ashe House,* in the parish of Musbury, adjoining Axeminster, Devonshire, in 1650. Part of the "antient and gentile" seat remains; and the bedstead upon which Marlborough was born is preserved in the neighborhood.

"Of the education of a person afterward so illustrious," says Coxe, "we only know that he was brought up under the care of his father, who was himself a man of letters, and author of a political history of England, entitled Divi Britannici. He was also instructed in the rudiments of knowledge by a neighboring clergyman of great learning and piety; and from him, doubtless, imbibed that due sense of religion, and zealous attachment to the Church of England, which were never obliterated amidst the dissipation of a court, the cares of political business, or the din of arms."

He was next removed to the metropolis, and placed in the school of St. Paul's, but for a short period. This fact is thrice mentioned in the Life of Dean Colet, the founder of the school, by Dr. Knight, who had been himself a scholar, and published his work soon after the death of Marlborough. He is said to have imbibed his passion for a military life from the reading of Vegetius de re Militari, which was then in the school library. The anecdote is thus recorded by the Rev. George North, rector of Colyton, in his copy of Vegetius, presented to the Bodleian Library by the late Mr. Gough:

"From this very book, John Churchill, scholar of this school, afterward the celebrated Duke of Marlborough, first learnt the elements of the art of war, as was told to me, George North, on St Paul's Day, 1724-25, by an old clergyman, who said he was a cotemporary scholar, was then well acquainted with him, and frequently saw him read it. This I testify to be true. G. NORTH."

This tradition is, however, not thought very probable, Vegetius being a difficult book for a boy to read at so early an age, particularly as we can trace no indication that Marlborough possessed such an intimate acquaintance with the Latin tongue as the study of this author must have required. The restless curiosity of youth might, however, have prompted him to look into this book, which contains some amusing prints, not unlikely to attract his attention.†

* A view of Ashe House forms one of the illustrations to Pulman's Book of the Axe, & very intelligent and agreeable companion to that far-famed stream.

† Note to Coxe's Life, by John Wade. Bohn's Edit. 1847.

Notwithstanding he remained but a short time at St. Paul's, he gave early indications of spirit and intelligence. He was appointed page of honor to the Duke of York, who asking Churchill what profession he preferred, and in what manner he should provide for him, the youth threw himself upon his knees, and warmly petitioned that he might be appointed to a pair of colors in one of those fine regiments whose discipline he had admired. The request was graciously received: the youth was gratified with the colors, and thus was opened to "the handsome young Englishman a career of military renown, which may almost be said to have commenced with his first campaign.

وو

MATTHEW PRIOR AT WESTMINSTER.

This celebrated poet was born about 1666, at Wimborne Minster, Dorset: his parents died when he was very young, and he was intrusted to the care of his uncle, Samuel Prior, who kept "the Rummer" tavern, between Whitehall and Charing Cross. At his uncle's charge, Matthew was sent to Westminster School; but from his lines to Fleetwood Shepheard, the future poet assisted his uncle in his business:

My uncle, rest his soul, when living,

Might have contriv'd me ways of thriving:
Taught me with cider to replenish

My vats, or ebbing tide of Rhenish.

So when for hock I drew prickt white-wine,
Swear't had the flavor, and was white-wine.

Tradition relates that the boy was found in his uncle's tavern by the Earl of Dorset, in the act of reading Horace. The Earl sent the lad to St. John's College, Cambridge, where he was admitted in 1683, and was next day appointed a scholar of that house, on the Duchess of Somerset's foundation, by her own nomination. In that year he contributed some verses to the academical congratulations on the marriage of the Princess Anne with Prince George of Denmark. In 1686, he took his degree of B.A., and was chosen fellow of his college; and in 1688, he wrote the Ode to the Deity for a college exercise. In the same year, he and Charles Montague produced "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse;" and with his associate in that composition, Prior left Cambridge, and came up to London to seek his fortune. Late in life he collected his poems, which he published with a dedication to the Duke of Dorset, in gratitude to the memory of that nobleman's father to whose timely munificence he was indebted for the completion of his education.

ADDISON AT LICHFIELD, CHARTER-HOUSE, AND OXFORD. Joseph Addison, one of our greatest writers in prose, was educated with great care. He was born at Milston, Wilts, May 1, 1672, of which place his father was rector, and a man of considerable learning. He sent young Joseph to the school of the Rev. Mr. Naish, at Ambresbury; but he was soon removed to Salisbury, under the care of Mr. Taylor; and thence to the grammar-school at Lichfield, in his 12th year. Dr. Johnson relates a story of Addison being here a ringleader in a barring out; which was told to Johnson, when he was a boy, by Andrew Corbett, of Shropshire, who had it from Mr. Pigot, his uncle, Addison's school-fellow. There is also a tradition that Addison ran away from school, and hid himself in a wood, where he fed on berries, and slept in a hollow tree, till after a long search he was discovered and brought home. From Lichfield, Addison was removed to the Charter-house, under Dr. Ellis, where he first became acquainted with his afterward celebrated friend Steele. At 15, he was not only fit for the university, but carried thither a classical taste and a stock of learning which would have done honor to a Master of Arts. He was entered at Queen's College, Oxford; but, in a few months, some of his Latin verses falling by accident into the hands of Dr. Lancaster, Dean of Magdalen College, he was so pleased with their diction and versification, that he procured for young Addison admittance to Magdalen, where he resided during ten years. A warm admirer says: "There is no passing through the cloisters of Magdalen College, Oxford, without casting an eye up to the study-window of Mr. Addison, from whence his genius first displayed itself."

"Addison was, at first, one of those scholars who are called Demies, but was subsequently elected a fellow. His college is still proud of his name: his portrait hangs in the hall; and strangers are still told that his favorite walk was under the elms which fringe the meadow on the banks of the Cherwell. It is said, and is highly probable, that he was distinguished among his fellow-students by the delicacy of his feelings, by the dryness of his manners, and by the assiduity with which he often prolonged his studies far into the night. It is certain that his reputation for ability and learning stood high. Many years later, the ancient Doctors of Magdalen continued to talk in the common room of his boyish compositions, and expressed their sorrow that no copy of exercises so remarkable had been preserved."

Lord Macaulay, from whose review of Addison's Life and Writings we quote the above passage, considers his knowledge of the Latin poets, from Lucretius and Catullus down to Claudius and Prudentius, to have been singularly exact and profound, but his knowledge of other provinces of ancient literature slight. "He does not appear to have attained more than an ordinary acquaintance with the political and moral writers of Rome, nor was his own Latin prose by any means equal to his Latin verse.