Page:Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's life.djvu/141

 of the strength of his memory, as well as eyesight. but I have heard very extraordinary things of the strength of his memory, in arithmetical operations, & calculations by numbers, & letters, which he has done, when in bed, by night.

Dr. Harwood of the Commons told me, he was present once at the Royal Society, when a learned foreigner was admitted; who made (as customarily abroad) a studyed harangue in latin, to thank the Society for that honor. Sr. Isaac answer'd it readily in the same language, with a good grace, & fluency.

when Dr. Woodward quarreld with Sr. Hans Sloan, at a Council of the Royal Society; & was so troublesom that they were oblig'd to expell him, Sr. Isaac told the Dr. "we allow you to have natural philosophy, but turn you out for want of moral".

& this will naturally bring us to say somewhat of Sr. Isaac's moral character; which was eminently good, & never impeachd in any one instance. somewhat of it depends on the good state of the body & repose of the mind, & a government over passions. Sr. Isaac by his great prudence, & naturally a good constitution, had preserv'd his health to old age, far beyond what one could have expected in one so intirely for the better part of his life, immersd in solitude, inactivity, meditation & study: in an