cured his fame. He had, as was said of another extraordinary individual, "that general curiosity, to which no kind of knowlege is indifferent or superfluous:" he was aware how all the objects of human intellect combine together, and what mutual light is shed from truth to truth: he knew that mental, like corporeal vigor, is maintained and increased by exercise; and that a superior mind is aided, not oppressed, by the various stores of literary attainment: above all, he never looked on his studies in the light of a selfish amusement, but pursued them from the highest motives, the advancement of virtue, and the melioration of society.

Such appear to have been the sentiments and pursuits of Barrow in the early stages of his academical life; nor to these did he ever prove false in his future brilliant career. In 1648 he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts; but as the names in this and several succeeding years are arranged, in the University Register, according to colleges, without any regard to the order of merit, it is impossible to determine his place on the tripos: had such order been then established, there can be little doubt where the name of Newton's great precursor would have appeared. The following is the recorded account of his introduction to mathematical studies. Reading Scaliger on Eusebius, he soon perceived the dependence of chronology on astronomy: this put him on the study of Ptolemy's Almagest; but finding that book and all astronomical calculations to be founded on geometry, he applied himself to Euclid's Elements, of which he published a new and improved edition: from thence he proceeded to the demonstration of the other ancient mathematicians, having as an associate in these invigorating studies, the celebrated naturalist John Ray, a

man of the same honest independent spirit as himself,* to whom he was ever afterwards united in the strictest bonds

of friendship.

It would be gratifying to know who were the other intimate companions of his youth; but we are informed by his biographer that he had few, except in his own college: of this we may be certain, that none but the studious and the good were the associates of Isaac Barrow. There can be little doubt but that his friendship with the learned and amiable Tillotson, at this time a student of Clare Hall, was thus early formed, as well as that with Abraham Hill, one of his executors, and his brief biographer; and though the intimacy was of a later date, and Barrow appears in the light of a patron as well as that of a friend, we may perhaps insert in this list the name of him who stands highest in the annals of scientific fame, the immortal Newton. Such was Barrow's regard for that great man, that he not only fostered and encouraged his rising genius, but by his disinterested generosity gave occasion for the display of his matured excellence, when he resigned to him the mathematical chair in 1699. Yet such was his impartiality, that when, as Master of the College, he had to decide on the merits of Newton and Mr. Robert Uvedale, who were candidates for a lay-fellowship, he preferred Mr. Uvedale as senior of the two, when he found them equal in literary attainments.+

In 1662, Ray, being unwilling to comply with the act of uniformity, resigned his fellowship, though the college strongly urged him to retain it. Barrow was a decided, conscientious, orthodox member of the establishment; but this difference of principles created no other difference between those great and good men. + Hutchins's Dorsetshire, vol. ii. p. 504. 2nd edit.

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When the time came that Barrow could be chosen fellow, he obtained that distinction solely by his great merit; since nothing else could have recommended him to his electors, whose political opinions were generally adverse to his own his case affords but an example of that strict impartiality which seems ever to have distinguished the rulers of this noble college, when left to the free exercise of their elective rights. In 1651 he commenced Master of Arts; and from a Latin speech preserved in his Opuscula, it appears that he executed the office of Moderator that same year.* In the speech alluded to, which is a very remarkable specimen of mature judgment, as well as of various and extensive scholarship, in so young a man, he gives many admirable instructious both to young and old; indignantly reprehends the vices and follies of a dissolute age; indicates the best remedies; and recommends the noblest objects of study; but in particular he inveighs with caustic severity against that licentiousness which, in the place of wit, seems to have tainted the speeches of his predecessors in the schools; insomuch that custom demanded of him to undertake, as it were, the combined character of Ulysses and Thersites, of Democritus and Heraclitus; or on the same stage to act the part of Cato and of Roscius. Barrow however, after a severe objurgation of his audience, who stood gaping for their accustomed jests, refuses to become a buffoon for their amusement, or a pandar to their depraved taste;

* The title of this speech is "Oratio Mod1a; in Auspiciis termini Apr. 30, 1651." In this case he must have been Moderator immediately after he had incepted, and before he was created M. A. or he was created by a special grace, which was not an uncommon thing in those days.

whilst with great naïveté and candor he professes himself ready to indulge in that cheerful festive humor which made him the delight and ornament of society. Illud si verum sit, quod fama loquitur, stomachos vestros solidi omnis cibi pertasos, et dapium Rhetoricarum nauseam, et salubrioris Philosophiæ gravedinem usque adeo invasisse, ut præter futilia quædam bellaria, et putidissima nugarum fercula palato vestro nihil sapiat; nè ipsa sapientia, nisi insipida, neque veritas, nisi jocis condita, neque ratio, nisi ridiculo tincta; mala profecto sorte ego vobis coquus sum datus, ad illum inanium deliciarum apparatum neque ingenio factus, neque studio institutus. Innocentes jocos, tempestivos sales, liberales facetias, (ità me Musæ omnes et Gratiæ ament) nemo est usquam qui me sinceriùs diligat, nemo qui tetricam illam et inanem plerumque austeritatem vehementius detestetur.*

About this time he seems to have applied himself with considerable diligence to Latin versification; but the subjects selected for the exercise of his muse were, according to the taste of the age, better adapted to scholastic disputation than to the divine art of poesy.t Conceiving also that the times were unpropitious to men of his opinion in the affairs of church and state, he designed to follow the profession of medicine; accordingly for some years he bent the course of his studies that way, making great progress in the sciences of botany, chemistry, and anatomy. But after mature deliberation with himself, and frequent conference with his worthy uncle the Bishop of St. Asaph, he determined to make divinity the end and aim

* Opuscula, p. 136.

+ See his Opuscula, pp. 218-267.

of all his labors; conceiving himself bound to this by the oath which he had taken when elected to a fellowship. Henceforward he never lost sight of this principle of action; and whether he dwelt with congenial spirits in the Academic groves, or with the barbaric spoilers of the Byzantine throne, we find him still engaged in theological inquiries, and imbibing sacred eloquence from the works of departed sages.

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With regard to the character which he established for himself amongst his contemporaries, nothing more amiable can well be imagined. He seems to have had no enemies all respected his manly independence; admired his integrity and urbanity; enjoyed the sunshine of his benevolent temper, and the enlivening eloquence of his discourse; whilst they were improved by the facility with which he communicated to them the riches of his wellstored mind, and by the instructive comments which he used to make, as well on the importance as on the truth of questions under discussion.* This combination of amiable and exalted qualities was the talisman which preserved him safe in all the conflicts of those disordered times; which rendered him beloved by all his associates whilst he was their equal, and unenvied when he became their superior.

Barrow's tutor during his undergraduateship had been the celebrated Dr. Duport, Greek professor, and afterwards Dean of Peterborough; who, as one of his learned successors in both these pieces of preferment, has well observed,† appears to have been the main instrument by which literature was upheld in the seventeenth century; and who,

See his biography by Mr. A. Hill. Works vol. i. fol. edit.

+ Dr. Monk, now Bishop of Glocester. See his Memoir of Duport in the Museum Criticum, vol. ii, p. 672.