Esaac Barrow.

BORN A.D. 1630.-died a.D. 1677.

ISAAC BARROW, an eminent mathematician and divine, was born in the city of London, in the month of October, 1630. His father, Thomas Barrow, who survived him, is honourably recorded as "a citizen of London, of good reputation." He was linen-draper to Charles I., whom he followed to Oxford; continuing, indeed, through life, a steady adherent to the royal cause. His brother, Isaac Barrow, uncle to the subject of this memoir, was educated at Cambridge for the church, and became fellow of Peterhouse. He was ejected for writing against the covenant, and, during the commonwealth, experienced great varieties of hard fortune. At the Restoration, he was re-instated in his fellowship, and, soon after, raised to the bishopric of the isle of Man. For some years he was made governor of that island by the earl of Derby. He was translated to the see of St Asaph in 1669, when his nephew, Isaac Barrow, preached his consecration sermon. He died in 1680. There was another Isaac Barrow, brother to the great-grandfather of the subject of this memoir. He was a doctor of medicine, and, in his youth, tutor to Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury. The early youth of Dr Barrow was unpromising. He was sent to the Charter-house school, where he showed no disposition for learning, and was chiefly remarkable for encouraging quarrels and fighting among his school-fellows. His worthy father was often heard to say, that if it pleased the Lord to remove any of his children, he wished it might be his son Isaac.

"Nescia mens hominum fati, sortisque futuræ !"

He was removed to Felstead, in Essex, where his successful diligence in study speedily confuted all his father's gloomy prophecies, and procured him the situation of tutor to Lord Fairfax of Emely, in Ireland. In 1643 he was admitted a pensioner of Peterhouse, Cambridge, of which, however, he does not appear to have been long a member, owing, probably, to the expulsion of his uncle. He entered Trinity college in 1645. At this time the fortunes of his family were greatly reduced, through their attachment to the royal cause; and the young student was mainly indebted for his support at college to the kindness of Dr Hammond, whose memory he afterwards celebrated in an epitaph. His steady resolution in refusing to take the covenant gave of fence to many in the college; but his modesty and discretion preserved the respect and regard of his superiors. A Latin oration on the gunpowder-plot (which is still extant) so far provoked some of the fellows of Trinity that they demanded his expulsion, on which Dr Hill, the master, gave them a quietus by saying, "Barrow is a better man than any of us." He is said to have been dissatisfied with the physiology then taught in the schools, and to have studied with great care the

There does not appear to be much offensive matter in this discourse. The commendations bestowed upon the character and policy of James 1. were probably the most unpalatable parts. Speaking of the religion of that time, he says, "Nec veteres illa corruptela, nec hesternas ineptias admittebat.

writings of Lord Bacon, Des Cartes, Galileo, and all the profoundest philosophers of the age. In 1649, he commenced B.A.; in 1652, he proceeded M.A., and in the same year was incorporated in the same degree at Oxford. After his election to a fellowship in Trinity college, he was so discouraged at the aspect of the times towards the episcopal clergy, that he turned his attention to the medical profession, and pursued with great vigour the study of anatomy, botany, and chemistry. On further consideration, however, and consultation with his uncle, he abandoned the study of medicine, and resumed the profession of divinity. It is said that the reading of Scaliger upon Eusebius directed his attention to astronomy, as a science essentially necessary in the study of chronology; and that his application to astronomy made him a student of the mathematics in which he afterwards attained such extraordinary eminence. About this time he was an unsuccessful competitor for the professorship of Greek, then vacant by the resignation of Duport. It is said that his Arminianism was the cause of his defeat. In the year 1655 he set out on his travels into foreign countries, having sold his books to defray his expenses. In Paris he found his father an attendant upon the English court; and, as one of the doctor's biographers tell us, "out of his small viaticum, he made his father a seasonable present." After staying some months in France, he visited Italy, and at Florence availed himself of the opportunity of consulting the ducal library. The plague then raging at Rome, he was prevented from visiting the eternal city, so that he took shipping at Leghorn and sailed for Smyrna. The vessel was attacked by an Algerine corsair; on which occasion Barrow came on deck, and fought manfully through the whole action, until their obstinate defence compelled the pirate to abandon the attempt. Of this voyage and combat he has given us a long poetical narrative in hexameter and pentameter verse. At Constantinople, Barrow read through the works of Chrysostom, whose diocese was there prior to the irruption of the Turks. For the writings of this father he always entertained the highest esteem. He returned to England by way of Venice, and through Germany and Holland. Soon after his return he was ordained by Brownrigg, bishop of Exeter,—-a prelate whose works, in two volumes folio, attest the vigour of his understanding and the depth of his learning. At the time of the Restor ation it was expected by Barrow and his friends that something would have been done for him; but 'our most religious sovereign the king was too deeply occupied with court-harlequins and prostitutes to remember any thing so insignificant as piety and learning. It was at this time that Barrow wrote his well-known epigram,

"Te magis optavit rediturum, Carole, neino,

Et nemo sensit, te rediisse minus."

Though far from adopting the Cartesian physics, he thus speaks of the French philosopher in an essay bearing this title, Cartesiana hypothesis haud satisfacit præcipuis Nature Phænomenis:' "Renatus Cartesius, vir procul dubio optimus atque ingeniosissimus, ac serio philosophus, et qui videtur ad philosophiæ hujus contemplalionem ea attulisse auxilia, qualia fortassis nemo unquam alius; intelligo eximiam in mathematicis peritiam; animum natura atque assuefactione meditationis patientissimum; judicium præjudiciis omnibus et popularium errorum laqueis exutum, extricatumque ; ne memorem incomparabile ingenii acumen, et facultates quibus præstabat eximiis tam clare et distincti cogitandi, quam mentem suam paucis verbis admodum plene ac dilucide explicandi."

In 1660 he was elevated to the Greek professorship at Cambridge. He delivered a course of lectures on Aristotle's Rhetoric; " of which," says Hill, "I can only say, that some friend (to himself, I mean,) thought fit to borrow, and never to return those lectures." In 1661 he took the degree of B. D. The following year he was appointed, on the recommendation of Dr Wilkins, to the professorship of geometry in Gresham college; where he not only filled his own chair with distinguished ability, but also lectured on astronomy in the absence of his colleague, Dr Pope. In 1663 he was chosen fellow of the Royal Society in the first election of members after their incorporation. In the same year he was appointed to the then recently instituted Lucasian professorship of mathematics at Cambridge, when he resigned the Greek chair in that university, as well as his situation in Gresham college. After discharging the duties of this office with great ability for nine years, he resigned it to his illustrious pupil, Mr, afterwards Sir Isaac Newton; and, for the remainder of his life, applied himself wholly to divinity. He was created doctor of divinity in 1670. Two years after he was raised to the mastership of Trinity college; on which occasion the king observed, that "he had given it to the best scholar in England." On receiving this appointment he resigned a small living in Wales, previously bestowed upon him by his uncle, the bishop of St Asaph, and a prebend in Salisbury cathedral, to which he had been presented by Ward, bishop of Salisbury. Of these preferments he had always distributed the profits in charity. A few years after he was made vice-chancellor of the university. In the month of April, 1677, he was seized with a fever, which terminated his life on the fourth of May following. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, where his friends erected a monument to his memory, exhibiting a Latin epitaph from the pen of Dr Mapletoft. Dr Barrow is described as short in stature, of a pale complexion, but possessed of great muscular strength. His character was a beautiful assemblage of virtues: intrepid firmness, incorruptible integrity, a perfect simplicity of life and manners, a courtesy and cheerfulness which no change of circumstances seems to have impaired, a native modesty unspoiled by all his great abilities and acquirements, and a serious piety arising out of the profoundest conviction of the truth and value of religion. Of his humanity the following characteristic anecdote is preserved. Walking about the premises of a friend in the evening, he was attacked by a fierce mastiff, which was left unchained at night, and had not become acquainted with the Doctor's person. He struggled with the dog and threw him down; but when on the point of strangling him, he reflected that the animal was only doing his duty in seizing a stranger; for which, therefore, he did not deserve to die. As he durst not loose his hold, lest the dog should seize and tear him, he laid himself down on the animal, and there remained till some one came to his assistance. Dr Barrow is said to have been extremely negligent of his personal appearance. Of this a ludicrous story is recorded in the Biographia Britannica. The well-known anecdote of his 'wit-combat' with Lord Rochester illustrates his power of repartee. The witty profligate, on meeting Barrow, exclaimed, "Doctor, I am yours to the shoe-tie;" to which the clergyman replied, "My lord, I am yours to the ground." The peer rejoined, "Doctor, I am yours to the centre;"" My lord," retorted the doctor, “I am

yours to the antipodes." Determined not to be outdone, his lordship blasphemously added, "Doctor, I am yours to the lowest pit of hell;" on which Barrow turned on his heel and said, " And there, my lord, 1 leave you." In speaking of the intellectual powers of Barrow, and commenting upon his works, it is difficult to do anything like justice to the subject, without seeming to run into the extravagances of inflated and unmeaning panegyric. Yet he may be safely pronounced one of the most remarkable men of any age or nation. As a mathematician,

he is, unquestionably,

"If not first, in the very first line;"

deserving honourable mention even in the age of Newton and Leibnitz, of Pascal and the two Bernoullis. After all the improvements in the exact sciences to which later times have given birth, his mathematical lectures may still be read, even by accomplished geometers, with instruction and delight. In particular they display extraordinary insight into what may be called the metaphysics of mathematical science. The theological writings of Barrow-which were most of them published after his death-consist principally of sermons; containing, however, two longer treatises of great value, on the Pope's supremacy, and the Unity of the Church. His sermons are truly extraordinary performances; and, intellectually considered, are, in our judgment, beyond comparison superior to those of even his greatest contemporaries. We can willingly spare the ever-blazing imagination of Taylor, the wit and elegance of Louth, the rough originality of Hall and Donne, and the nervous rhetoric of Chillingworth, in one who every where displays a gigantic grasp. of intellect, an exuberant fecundity of thought and illustration, a closeness of logic, and a sustained majesty of style, for which, in their combination, we know not where else to look. He possessed beyond all men, since the days of Aristotle, the power of exhausting a subject. Hence Le Clerc says of his sermons, that they are treatises or exact dissertations, rather than harangues to please the multitude. The discourses on the duty of thanksgiving, on bounty to the poor, on the folly and danger of delaying repentance, on faith, and on the Trinity, may be instanced as among his finest. His description of facetiousness, (in the sermon against foolish talking and jesting,) which Dr Johnson considered the finest thing in the language, is both too long and too well-known to be quoted here. We shall give one or two quotations, however, which may exhibit, not indeed the reach and force of his intellect, for a due idea of which it would be necessary to read through a whole discourse, but the rich exuberance of thought, the beauty of imagery, and felicity of diction, by which he is eminently distinguished. "Yea, 'tis our duty not to le contented only, but to be delighted, to be transported, to be ravished with the emanations of God's love: to entertain them with such a disposition of mind as the dry and parched ground imbibes the soft dew and gentle showers; as the chill and darksome air admits the benign influences of heavenly light; as the thirsty soul takes in the sweet and cooling stream. He that with a sullen look, a dead heart, a faint sense, a cold hand, embraces the gifts of heaven, is really unthankful, though with deluges of wine and oil he makes the altars to o'erflow, and clouds the sky with the steam of his sacrifices."

3 First Sermon on Thanksgiving.

"As to the commands of God, we may lift up ourselves against them,' we may fight stoutly, we may in a sort prove conquerors; but it will be a miserable victory, the trophies whereof shall be erected in hell, and stand upon the ruins of our happiness."

"We may consider and meditate upon the total incomprehensibility of God, in all things belonging to him; in his nature, his attributes, his decrees, his works and ways; which are all full of depth, mystery, and wonder. God inhabiteth a light inaccessible to the dim and weak sight of mortal eyes; which no man hath seen, or can see.' Even those spiritual eagles, the quick and strong-sighted seraphim, are obliged to cover their faces, as not daring to look upon nor able to sustain the fulger of his immediate presence, the flashes of glory and majesty issuing from his throne." 5

"Let us consider the Spirit of God as vouchsafing to attend over us, to converse with us, to dwell in us; rendering our souls holy temples of his divinity, royal thrones of his majesty, bright orbs of his heavenly light, pleasant paradises of his blissful presence, our souls which naturally are profane receptacles of wicked and impure affections, dark cells of false and fond imaginations, close prisons of black and sad thoughts."

With all the excellencies of which we have spoken, the sermons of this illustrious divine are by no means recommended as models of pulpit eloquence. Their very depth and comprehensiveness of thought, their laboured majesty of style, would place them far beyond the understanding of any congregation that ever was or ever will be assembled in this world. They are also chargeable with a more serious fault; a defective exhibition of the great principles of the gospel. In saying this, we do not allude to his Arminianism; nor do we charge him with denying any one of the essential doctrines of the gospel. But the fault we find is this; that the great evangelical principles which we know him to have held, were not exhibited with sufficient prominence or in due proportion. They are recognised, they are defended by him; nay, they sometimes kindle him into a rapturous eloquence worthy of his theme. But they are not made the life and soul of his theology, the centre of the system, the source of influence, vitality, and attraction. The Opuscula of Barrow consist in the main of college-exercises, both verse and prose, in the learned languages; and of lectures delivered in his professorial capacity. They possess a high degree of merit; displaying, indeed, all the excellencies of thought and style by which his English compositions are distinguished. If the Oratio Sarcasmica in Schold Græca, is not to be considered a mere jeu d'esprit, we fear that the study of Greek was but lightly esteemed by the young Cantabrigians of that day. "Levasti me," says the doctor, "levasti me (humanissimi quotquot estis academici) gravissimo onere; a maximo periculo liberastis; labori, solicitudini, pudori meo abunde pepercistis; jugi scilicet illa et pertinaci absentiâ, qua has scholas refugistis.Enimvero ex quo in anni decedentis auspiciis longum mihi vale peroranti dixistis, desedi continuo solus huic cathedræ (nemo vestrum sat scio vel mentienti aur testis fidem derogabit) tanquam rupi suæ Prometheus affixus: vel ut arbiter quidam supremus in illa (quam non nemo nuper excogitavit) republica Solipsorum; non montibus dico

• On Submission to the Divine Will.

Sermon on the Trinity.

• Ibid.