Page:Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's life.djvu/139

 severe studys; yet he had great strength of nature, & a good constitution. tho' not tall in stature, yet strong, sinewy, & well made. thro' this, and his temperance, & mild disposition, he lived to a great age. the last time I was with him, he told me, his breakfast was commonly an infusion of orange peel in boiling water, as thea, sweetned a little; with bread & butter. he drank then more water, than formerly, vizt. morning, & night. wine he uses only, & but little, at dinner.

My great friend Thomas Earl of pembroke, & he were well acquainted: from whom I have heard, that Sir Isaac always cured a cold, by lying in bed for 2 or 3 days, which carry'd it off, by perspiration.

on the other hand, in discourse on lord pembrokes busts, statues &c. Sir Isaac would pleasantly call them, my Lords old fashion'd babys.

Sir Isaac's eyes were very full, & protuberant, which renderd him near sighted, in youth, & manhood. & was the reason of his seeing so well in age; the eye being betterd, by growing somewhat flatter: whereby the visual rays unite at a convenient distance, neither too near, nor too far off the eyes. in the year 1725 I saw him cast up Mr. Treasurer Pitfields accounts of the Royal Society; being a whole sheet of paper; without pen & ink, without spectacles: an indication