"In the house where he lodged there were some female inmates, in
whose company he appears to have taken much pleasure. One of these,
a Miss Storey, sister to Dr. Storey, a physician at Buckminster, near
Colsterworth, was two or three years younger than Newton and to great
personal attractions she seems to have added more than the usual
allotment of female talent. The society of this young lady and her
companions was always preferred to that of his own school-fellows,
and it was one of his most agreeable occupations to construct for
them little tables and cupboards, and other utensils for holding
their dolls and their trinkets. He had lived nearly six years in the
same house with Miss Storey, and there is reason to believe that
their youthful friendship gradually rose to a higher passion; but the
smallness of her portion, and the inadequacy of his own fortune,
appear to have prevented the consummation of their happiness. Miss
Storey was afterwards twice married, and under the name of Mrs.
Vincent, Dr. Stukeley visited her at Grantham in 1727, at the age of
eighty-two, and obtained from her many particulars respecting the
early history of our author. Newton's esteem for her continued
unabated during his life. He regularly visited her when he went to
Lincolnshire, and never failed to relieve her from little pecuniary
difficulties which seem to have beset her family."
The schoolboy at Grantham was only fourteen years of age when his
mother became a widow for the second time. She then returned to the
old family home at Woolsthorpe, bringing with her the three children
of her second marriage. Her means appear to have been somewhat
scanty, and it was consequently thought necessary to recall Isaac
from the school. His recently-born industry had been such that he
had already made good progress in his studies, and his mother hoped
that he would now lay aside his books, and those silent meditations
to which, even at this early age, he had become addicted. It was
expected that, instead of such pursuits, which were deemed quite
useless, the boy would enter busily into the duties of the farm and
the details of a country life. But before long it became manifest
that the study of nature and the pursuit of knowledge had such a
fascination for the youth that he could give little attention to
aught else. It was plain that he would make but an indifferent
farmer. He greatly preferred experimenting on his water-wheels to
looking after labourers, while he found that working at mathematics
behind a hedge was much more interesting than chaffering about the
price of bullocks in the market place. Fortunately for humanity his
mother, like a wise woman, determined to let her boy's genius have
the scope which it required. He was accordingly sent back to
Grantham school, with the object of being trained in the knowledge
which would fit him for entering the University of Cambridge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account