He had gone to early morning chapel, leaving a lighted
candle among his papers on his desk. Tradition asserts that his
little dog "Diamond" upset the candle; at all events, when Newton
came back he found that many valuable papers had perished in a
conflagration. The loss of these manuscripts seems to have had a
serious effect. Indeed, it has been asserted that the distress
reduced Newton to a state of mental aberration for a considerable
time. This has, apparently, not been confirmed, but there is no
doubt that he experienced considerable disquiet, for in writing on
September 13th, 1693, to Mr. Pepys, he says:
"I am extremely troubled at the embroilment I am in, and have
neither ate nor slept well this twelvemonth, nor have my former
consistency of mind."
Notwithstanding the fame which Newton had achieved, by the
publication of his, "Principia," and by all his researches, the State
had not as yet taken any notice whatever of the most illustrious man
of science that this or any other country has ever produced. Many of
his friends had exerted themselves to procure him some permanent
appointment, but without success. It happened, however, that Mr.
Montagu, who had sat with Newton in Parliament, was appointed
Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1694.
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