He was accordingly
induced to associate with himself for this purpose a distinguished
young mathematician, Roger Coates, a Fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge, who had recently been appointed Plumian Professor of
Astronomy. On July 27th, 1713, Newton, by this time a favourite at
Court, waited on the Queen, and presented her with a copy of the new
edition of the "Principia."
Throughout his life Newton appears to have been greatly interested in
theological studies, and he specially devoted his attention to the
subject of prophecy. He left behind him a manuscript on the
prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John, and he also
wrote various theological papers. Many other subjects had from time
to time engaged his attention. He studied the laws of heat; he
experimented in pursuit of the dreams of the Alchymist; while the
philosopher who had revealed the mechanism of the heavens found
occasional relaxation in trying to interpret hieroglyphics. In the
last few years of his life he bore with fortitude a painful ailment,
and on Monday, March 20th, 1727, he died in the eighty-fifth year of
his age. On Tuesday, March 28th, he was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Though Newton lived long enough to receive the honour that his
astonishing discoveries so justly merited, and though for many years
of his life his renown was much greater than that of any of his
contemporaries, yet it is not too much to say that, in the years
which have since elapsed, Newton's fame has been ever steadily
advancing, so that it never stood higher than it does at this moment.
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