NEWTON (Dr. John)

, an eminent English mathematician and divine, was the grandson of John Newton of Axmouth in Devonshire, and son of Hum phrey Newton of Oundle in Northamptonshire, where he was born in 1622. After receiving the proper foun dation of a grammar education, he was sent to Oxford, where he was entered a commoner of St. Edmund's Hall in 1637. He took the degree of bachelor of arts in 1641; and the year following he was created master, in precedence to many students of quality, on account of his distinguished talents in the great branches of literature. His genius leading him strongly to astronomy and mathematics, he applied himself diligently to those sciences, as well as to divinity, and made a great proficiency in them, which he found of some service to him during Cromwell's government.

After the restoration of Charles the 2d, he reaped the fruits of his loyalty: being created doctor of divinity at Oxford, Sept. 1661, he was made one of the king's chaplains, and rector of Ross in Herefordshire, instead of Mr. John Toombes, ejected for nonconformity. He held this living till his death, which happened at Ross on Christmas day 1678, at 56 years of age.|

Mr. Wood gave him the character of a capricious and humoursome person. However that be, his writings are a proof of his great application to study, and a sufficient monument of his genius and skill in the mathematical sciences. These are,

1. Astronomia Britannica, &c: in 4to, 1656.

2. Help to Calculation; with Tables of Declination, &c: 4to, 1657.

3. Trigonometria Britannica, in two books; the one composed by our author, and the other translated from the Latin of Henry Gellibrand: folio, 1658.

4. Chiliades Centum Logarithmorum, printed with,

5. Geometrical Trigonometry: 1659.

6. Mathematical Elements, three parts: 4to, 1660.

7. A Perpetual Diary, or Almanac: 1662.

8. Description of the Use of the Carpenter's Rule: 1667.

9. Ephemerides, shewing the interest and rate of money at 6 per cent. &c: 1667.

10. Chiliades Centum Logarithmorum et Tabula Partium Proportionalium: 1667.

11. The Rule of Interest, or the Case of Decimal Fractions, &c, part 2: 8vo, 1668.

12. School-pastimes for young children, &c: 8vo, 1669.

13. Art of Practical Gauging, &c: 1669.

14. Introduction to the art of Rhetoric: 1671.

15. The Art of Natural Arithmetic in Whole Numbers, and Fractions Vulgar and Decimal: 8vo, 1671.

16. The English Academy: 8vo, 1677.

17. Cosmography.

18. Introduction to Astronomy.

19. Introduction to Geography: 8vo, 1678.