over which body he presided for 25 years from 1703.  In the same year his new theory of flight was pub. in a paper before the society.  His epoch-making discovery of the law of universal gravitation was not promulgated until 1687, though the first glimpse of it had come to him so early as 1665.  The discovery of fluxions, which he claimed, was contested by Leibnitz, and led to a long and bitter controversy between the two philosophers.  He twice sat in Parliament for his Univ., and was Master of the Mint from 1699, in which capacity he presented reports on the coinage.  He was knighted in 1705, and d. at Kensington in 1727.  For a short time, after an unfortunate accident by which a number of invaluable manuscripts were burned, he suffered from some mental aberration.  His writings fall into two classes, scientific and theological.  In the first are included his famous treatises, Light and Colours (1672), Optics (1704), the Principia (1687), in Latin, its full title being Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.  In the second are his Observations upon the Prophecies of Holy Writ and An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture.  In character N. was remarkable for simplicity, humility, and gentleness, with a great distaste for controversy, in which, nevertheless, he was repeatedly involved. Life by Sir D. Brewster, second ed., 1855, etc.

NEWTON, JOHN (1725-1807).—­Divine and hymn-writer, s. of a shipmaster, was b. in London, and for many years led a varied and adventurous life at sea, part of the time on board a man-of-war and part as captain of a slaver.  In 1748 he came under strong religious convictions, and after acting as a tide-waiter at Liverpool for a few years, he applied for orders in 1758, and was ordained curate of Olney in 1764.  Here he became the intimate and sympathetic friend of Cowper, in conjunction with whom he produced the Olney Hymns.  In 1779 he was translated to the Rectory of St. Mary, Woolnoth, London, where he had great popularity and influence, and wrote many religious works, including Cardiphonia, and Remarkable Passages in his Own Life.  He lives, however, in his hymns, among which are some of the best and most widely known in the language, such as In evil long I took delight, Glorious things of Thee are Spoken, How Sweet the Name of Jesus sounds, and many others.  In his latter years N. was blind.

NICHOL, JOHN (1833-1894).—­Poet and biographer, s. of John P.N., Prof. of Astronomy in Glasgow, ed. at Glasgow and Oxf., and held the chair of English Literature in Glasgow, 1862-1889.  Among his writings are Hannibal (1873), a drama, Death of Themistocles and other Poems (1881), Fragments of Criticism, and American Literature; also Lives of Bacon, Burns, Carlyle, and Byron.

NOEL, HON.  RODEN BERKELEY WRIOTHESLEY (1834-1894).—­Poet, s., of the 1st Earl of Gainsborough, was ed. at Camb.  He wrote Behind the Veil (1863), The Red Flag (1872), Songs of the Heights and Deeps (1885), and Essays on various poets, also a Life of Byron.