Mark Of The Lion

Abstract In September 1695 ISAAC NEWTON SUDDENLY DISAPPEARED FROM Cambridge without explanation. He returned two weeks later but told no one where he had been. Rumors began to circulate that he secretly had gone to London, and finally secured the government post that his friendjohn Locke had been unable to deliver. These rumors were given substance in late November when the mathematician john Wallis wrote Edmond Halley from Oxford: “We are told here Newton is made Master of the Mint: which, if so, I do congratulate him.”1 Halley, who had kept in touch with Newton, was aware that negotiations were under way, and that Newton’s cause was being championed by his ally Charles Montague, a powerful political figure who had the king’s ear. Halley also knew that Wallis was some what mis informed.Newton was not a candidate for the position of master of the mint but rather that of warden, or second in command. In March 1696, Montague again summoned Newton to London. If all went well, the appointment would he his together with the handsome salary of five or six hundred pounds per year. Without even pausing to draft a reply, Newton hoarded the coach for the capital and his long-awaited audience with King William III.