the prince of philosophers, of whom the poet has strikingly, but not very piously, observed,

Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night,

God said, let Newton be, and all was light.

Sir Isaac's town-house was in St. Martin's Street, at the corner of Long's Court, Leicester Fields and here is still a small observatory on the roof, which was erected by him. The tenement where he first drew breath, is a simple farm house, in the village of Woolsthorpe, about half a mile west of Collersworth, on the great north road, between Stamford and Grantham; and he breathed his last in Pitt's Buildings, Kensington. His paternal inheritance, with the improvements made by him, fell to his second cousin, Robert Newton, a low, ignorant man, dissolute and extravagant, who soon squandered the whole away, and died at Collersworth, at the age of thirty, by a piece of tobacco pipe sticking in his throat when he was drunk.

wards. The character of Bishop Horne was too great to admit a supposition that he wished to deceive; but there can be no doubt that he was grossly imposed upon, for the whole tale is quite at variance with the natural disposition of Sir Isaac Newton, who was so far from expressing any anxiety about his opinions, that he always left them to shift for themselves, upon the strength of the demonstrations with which he sent them into the world.

WILLIAM CONGREVE.

THIS ingenious dramatist was born at Bardsey,

in Yorkshire, in 1669; but his father, who was a gentleman of good property, removing to Ireland, the son received his education at Kilkenny school, and next at the University of Dublin. In 1691, he became a member of the society of the Middle Temple, with a view of studying the law; but growing weary of that pursuit, he turned his thoughts to writing for the stage, and, at the age of nineteen, he began his celebrated comedy of the Old Bachelor, which, by the recommendation of Southerne, he submitted to the perusal of Dryden, who declared "that he had never seen such a first play, though, from the author's inexperience, it stood in need of some corrections, to render it fit for representation on the stage," which improvements the veteran bard very generously supplied. This play appeared in January, 1693, and with such success, that in about a month's time, it passed through three editions from the press.

Previous to the performance of the Old Bachelor, Congreve gave to his friend Southerne a song, beginning thus

"Tell me no more I am deceiv'd, &c."

which was introduced into his comedy of The

Maid's Last Prayer, and was set to musick by Purcell. From this time he lived upon terms of the greatest intimacy with Dryden, and was honoured by that great poet with an excellent copy of verses, prefixed to the Double Dealer, which was exhibited in November, 1693.

Of this play, Dryden says, in a letter to his friend Walsh, Congreve's Double Dealer is censured by the greater part of the town, and is defended only by the best judges, who, you know, are commonly the fewest: yet it gains ground daily, and has already been acted eight times."

And in the dedication of his "Third Miscellany," published in 1693, Dryden speaks thus of his young friend-" Congreve, whom I cannot. mention without the wonder which is due to his ́excellent parts, and that entire affection which I bear him."

When Betterton opened his theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, in 1695, Congreve gave him his comedy of "Love for Love," one of the most pleasing and popular of all his dramatick performances. Two years afterwards he brought out his tragedy, entituled "The Mourning Bride;' of which it is no inconsiderable praise that Dr. Johnson has selected a passage, which he pronounces to be second to none in the English language. About this period Congreve became involved in a controversy with the learned Jeremy Collier, who had attacked his plays on account of their immorality. Congreve replied, but weakly;