Note 56 — Miscellanea.
Reading edition
Newton was, however, much pestered with inquirers; and a Correspondent of the Gentleman’s Magazine, in 1784, relates that he once had a transient view of a Ms. in Pope’s handwriting, in which he read a verified anecdote relating to the above period. Sir Isaac being often interrupted by ignorant pretenders to the discovery of the longitude, ordered his porter to inquire of every stranger who desired admission whether he came about the longitude, and to exclude such as answered in the affirmative. Two lines in Pope’s Ms., as the Correspondent recollects, ran thus:
“‘Is it about the longitude you come?’ The porter asks: ‘Sir Isaac’s not at home.’”