ed the only propositions of his philosophy which were true,
he was persecuted by the pretended philosophers of Holland, who
understood him no better; and who, having a nearer view of his glory,
hated his person the more, so that he was obliged to leave Utrecht.
Descartes was injuriously accused of being an atheist, the last refuge of
religious scandal: and he who had employed all the sagacity and
penetration of his genius, in searching for new proofs of the existence
of a God, was suspected to believe there was no such Being.

Such a persecution from all sides, must necessarily suppose a most
exalted merit as well as a very distinguished reputation, and indeed he
possessed both. Reason at that time darted a ray upon the world through
the gloom of the schools, and the prejudices of popular superstition. At
last his name spread so universally, that the French were desirous of
bringing him back into his native country by rewards, and accordingly
offered him an annual pension of a thousand crowns. Upon these hopes
Descartes returned to France; paid the fees of his patent, which was sold
at that time, but no pension was settled upon him. Thus disappointed, he
returned to his solitude in North Holland, where he again pursued the
study of philosophy, whilst the great Galileo, at fourscore years of age,
was groaning in the prisons of the Inquisition, only for having
demonstrated the earth's motion.

At last Descartes was snatched from the world in the flower of his age at
Stockholm. His death was owing to a bad regimen, and he expired in the
midst of some literati who were his enemies, and under the hands of a
physician to whom he was odious.

The progress of Sir Isaac Newton's life was quite different. He lived
happy, and very much honoured in his native country, to the age of
fourscore and five years.

It was his peculiar felicity, not only to be born in a country of
liberty, but in an age when all scholastic impertinences were banished
from the world. Reason alone was cultivated, and mankind could only be
his pupil, not his enemy.

One very singular difference in the lives of these two great men is, that
Sir Isaac, during the long course of years he enjoyed, was never sensible
to any passion, was not subject to the common frailties of mankind, nor
ever had any commerce with women--a circumstance which was assured me by
the physician and surgeon who attended him in his last moments.

We may admire Sir Isaac Newto