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nothing of particular moment or interest, except that in the exordium he seems to give a just and true account of his own inoffensive, amiable, retiring disposition, when he urges it as a reason why he is unversed in public business, and unfit to handle the reins of authority. He adverts also to the peculiar difficulties attending every kind of government in those times of lax discipline, rebellious spirit, dissolute habits, and extreme licentiousness; drawing a vivid picture of the state of things, and earnestly requesting the assistance of his brother heads in repressing any examples of vicious conduct that might have crept into the university.

We find however, from a very beautiful speech made when he laid down his office, that he passed through it without encountering any of those unpleasant circumstances which he had anticipated; but he expresses no small delight in casting aside the trappings of authority, and regaining his beloved tranquillity in a more private station. Hujus ingruentis lætitiæ causas nihil opus est exponere: quis enim portum non hilaris ingreditur ? quis sibi se restitutum non lætabundus excipit? quem non delectet eximi jugo, vel emancipari servitute, tot dominis addicta, quorum tam difficile sit exequi placita, quam sententias conciliare? quis invitá Minervâ susceptum onus non animo adlubescente deponat? quis demum a fervido rerum æstu in amœnam umbram, ab obstreperis litibus in tranquillam pacem, ab alienis importunis negotiis ad sua jucunda studia regresso sibi non impensè gratuletur? Hence the source of his joy: but he adds, that there is a grief also, which he experiences, and which arises from unpropitious fate not having allowed him to perform any act worthy of himself or of the university;

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from the necessity of his going off the stage more like to the miserable Galba, than to the admirable Vespasian; wherein he probably alludes, in as gentle a manner as possible, to the failure of his scheme in the affair of the theatre.

Though liberated from the fatigues of public business, Barrow did not spare his mental labor; but set himself assiduously to work on that admirable treatise respecting Papal Supremacy, which alone would have established his reputation, and set him at the head of controversial writers. The pains which he took with this noble tract were immense; and the state of his manuscripts in Trinity College Library shows that probably no piece was ever composed more studiously, digested more carefully, or supported by more numerous and powerful authorities. "He understood Popery," as Mr. Hill his biographer rightly observes, "both at home and abroad: he had narrowly observed it militant in England, triumphant in Italy, disguised in France: he had earlier apprehensions, than most others, of the approaching danger, and would have appeared with the forwardest in a needful time."

Barrow's opinion of Popery, of its degrading ordinances, and of the evils to which they lead, is expressed with uncommon force and severity in the copy of hexameters which he sent to his college from Paris: nor can there be any doubt that a man like him, who never eagerly coveted the splendors of rank, or the advantages of wealth, would willingly have risked, or cheerfully resigned, all earthly possessions when his conscience demanded the sacrifice. Unfortunately for the University and mankind at large, his life was not protracted long enough to afford him this trial of his faith and constancy. Being invited to preach the Passion Sermon on the 13th of April, 1677, at Guild

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hall, he never preached but once more; for he fell sick of a fever, which carried him off on the 4th of May following: thus the last public act of a life spent in constant preparation for eternity, was one of the highest duties in his sacred profession: death approached him when he was in the maturity of his manhood, and at the height of his worldly ambition; but approached without his terrors; for he found him like a vigilant sentinel ready at his post, and only took away from him what is frail and transient, to establish what is permanent and real. His latter end is thus feelingly described by Dr. Pope: "The last time he was in London, whither he came, as it is customary, to the election of Westminster scholars, he went to Knightsbridge to give the Bishop of Salisbury a visit, and then made me engage my word to come to him at Trinity College immediately after the Michaelmas ensuing. I cannot express the rapture of joy I was in, having, as I thought, so near a prospect of his charming and instructive conversation I fancied it would be a heaven on earth; for he was immensely rich in learning, and very liberal and communicative of it, delighting in nothing more than to impart to others, if they desired it, whatever he had attained by much time and study: but of a sudden all my hopes vanished, and were melted like snow before the sun. Some few days after he came again to Knightsbridge, and sate down to dinner; but I observed he did not eat: whereupon I asked him, how it was with him. He answered that he had a slight indisposition hanging about him, with which he had struggled two or three days, and that he hoped by fasting and opium to get it off, as he had removed another and more dangerous sickness at Constantinople some years before. But these remedies availed him not his malady proved, in the event, an inward, malig

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nant, and insuperable fever, of which he died May 4, 1677, in the 47th year of his age, in mean lodgings, at a sadler's, near Charing Cross, which he had used for seve ral years: for though his condition was much bettered by his obtaining the mastership of Trinity College, yet that had no bad influence on his morals; he still continued the same humble person, and could not be prevailed upon to take more reputable lodgings. I may truly say, Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit; Nulli flebilior quam mihi."

The mortal remains of this illustrious man were deposited in the south wing of Westminster Abbey near the western wall, where his friends erected a marble monument to his memory, with a bust on the top, and the following inscription in front, written by his excellent friend Dr. John Mapletoft, one of the Professors of Gresham College.

ISAACUS BARROW,

S. T. P. REGI CAROLO II. A SACRIS.

Vir prope divinus, et vere magnus, si quid magni habent
Pietas, probitas, fides, summa eruditio, par modestia,
Mores sanctissimi undequaque et suavissimi.

Geometria Professor Londini Greshamensis,
Græcæ Linguæ, et Matheseos apud Cantabrigienses suos.
Cathedras omnes, ecclesiam, gentem ornavit.
Collegium S. S. Trinitatis Præses illustravit,
Jactis bibliothecæ vere regiæ fundamentis auxit.
Opes, honores, et universum vitæ ambitum,

Ad majora natus, non contempsit, sed reliquit seculo.
Deum, quem a teneris coluit, cum primis imitatus est
Paucissimis egendo, benefaciendo quam plurimis,
Etiam posteris, quibus vel mortuus concionari non desinit.
Cætera, et pene majora ex scriptis peti possunt.
Abi, Lector, et æmulare.

Obiit iv. die Maii, ann. Dom. MDCLXXVII

Etat. suæ XLVII.

Monumentum hoc Amici posuere.

"In this epitaph," as Mr. A. Hill observes, "his much esteemed friend Dr. Mapletoft doth truly describe him: his picture was never made from the life, and the effigy on his tomb doth little resemble him." Dr. Ward however contradicts this account so far as to say, that although Barrow never could be prevailed on to sit for his picture, some friends found means to get it taken without his knowlege, whilst they engaged his attention in discourse. "He was in person," says Mr. Hill, "of the lesser size, and lean; of extraordinary strength; of a fair and calm complexion, very sensible of the cold; his eyes grey, clear, and somewhat short-sighted; his hair of a light auburn, very fine and curling. He is well represented by the figure of Marcus Brutus on his denarii." If the likeness prefixed to the first edition of Barrow's works by his friend Archbishop Tillotson, be correct, we see that penetrating sagacity of intellect and that amiable spirit of goodness combined, which so eminently distinguished the original. If it be not so, what cause has posterity for regret, whilst the mind of the man may be so accurately traced in the indelible record of his glorious writings?

I can in truth delare, that in no human character which I ever investigated, have I discovered such minute, I may say imperceptible traces of vice, or such a pervading love of virtue, as in that of Isaac Barrow. Those who knew him best, bear the most ample testimony to his almost faultless disposition; and Dr. Pope, who had a long and very intimate acquaintance with him, need not be discredited, when he affirms that he can find no fault to allege against him, but that he was a little too long in his sermons. Yet in those sermons what a rich legacy has he left to his countrymen! What an unbounded command over our language is there displayed! what a va

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