Newton

Extract

Isaac newton S investigations will always rank among the chief achieve¬ments of our race- It is intended in this sketch to give an outline of his life and what he did.

Newton was born prematurely on the morning of Christmas Day, 1642, in the manor house of AYoolsthorpe, a tiny hamlet a few miles south of Grantham. His mother had been married less than a year, and was already a widow; her means were narrow, but when lie was three years old she espoused a neighbouring parson, it being apparently a condition of the contract that Isaac should not accompany her to her new home, but should he given by the bridegroom a field to be added to the Wools-thorpe estate His grandmother, Mrs. Ayscough, then came to live at the manor, and took charge of him : he continued with her till lie was twelve years old, attending the village schools, where lie learnt reading, writing, and arithmetic.