an apothecary at Grantham.  We learn from Newton himself that at first he had a very low place in the class lists of the school, and was by no means one of those model school-boys who find favour in the eyes of the school-master by attention to Latin grammar.  Isaac’s first incentive to diligent study seems to have been derived from the circumstance that he was severely kicked by one of the boys who was above him in the class.  This indignity had the effect of stimulating young Newton’s activity to such an extent that he not only attained the desired object of passing over the head of the boy who had maltreated him, but continued to rise until he became the head of the school.

The play-hours of the great philosopher were devoted to pursuits very different from those of most school-boys.  His chief amusement was found in making mechanical toys and various ingenious contrivances.  He watched day by day with great interest the workmen engaged in constructing a windmill in the neighbourhood of the school, the result of which was that the boy made a working model of the windmill and of its machinery, which seems to have been much admired, as indicating his aptitude for mechanics.  We are told that Isaac also indulged in somewhat higher flights of mechanical enterprise.  He constructed a carriage, the wheels of which were to be driven by the hands of the occupant, while the first philosophical instrument he made was a clock, which was actuated by water.  He also devoted much attention to the construction of paper kites, and his skill in this respect was highly appreciated by his schoolfellows.  Like a true philosopher, even at this stage he experimented on the best methods of attaching the string, and on the proportions which the tail ought to have.  He also made lanthorns of paper to provide himself with light as he walked to school in the dark winter mornings.

The only love affair in Newton’s life appears to have commenced while he was still of tender years.  The incidents are thus described in Brewster’s “Life of Newton,” a work to which I am much indebted in this chapter.

“In the house where he lodged there were some female inmates, in whose company he appears to have taken much pleasure.  One of these, a Miss Storey, sister to Dr. Storey, a physician at Buckminster, near Colsterworth, was two or three years younger than Newton and to great personal attractions she seems to have added more than the usual allotment of female talent.  The society of this young lady and her companions was always preferred to that of his own school-fellows, and it was one of his most agreeable occupations to construct for them little tables and cupboards, and other utensils for holding their dolls and their trinkets.  He had lived nearly six years in the same house with Miss Storey, and there is reason to believe that their youthful friendship gradually rose to a higher passion; but the smallness of her portion, and the inadequacy