hand and firmly secure his rights upon a certain and impregnable basis.
A petition to have inventions for promoting the discovery of the longitude at sea, suitably rewarded, was presented to the House of Commons, in 1714. A committee, having been appointed to investigate the subject, called upon Newton and others for their opinions. That of our author was given in writing. A report, favourable to the desired measure, was then taken up, and a bill for its adoption subsequently passed.
On the ascension of George I., in 1714, Newton became an object of profound interest at court. His position under government, his surpassing fame, his spotless character, and, above all, his deep and consistent piety, attracted the reverent regard of the Princess of Wales, afterward queen-consort to George II. She was a woman of a highly cultivated mind, and derived the greatest pleasure from conversing with Newton and corresponding with Leibnitz. One day, in conversation with her, our author mentioned and explained a new system of chronology, which he had composed at Cambridge, where he had been in the habit "of refreshing himself with history and chronology, when he was weary with other studies." Subsequently, in the year 1718, she requested a copy of this interesting and ingenious work. Newton, accordingly, drew up an abstract of the system from the separate papers in which it existed, and gave it to her on condition that it should not be communicated to any other person. Sometime afterward she requested that the Abbé Conti might be allowed to have a copy of it. The author consented: and the abbé received a copy of the manuscript, under the like injunction and promise of secrecy. This manuscript bore the title of "A short Chronicle, from the First Memory of Things in Europe, to the Conquest of Persia, by Alexander the Great."
After Newton took up his residence in London, he lived in a style suited to his elevated position and rank. He kept his carriage, with an establishment of three male and three female servants. But to everything like vain show and luxury he was utterly averse. His household affairs, for the last twenty years of his life, were under the charge of his niece, Mrs. Catherine Barton,
