Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/251

 us. vi. SEPT. 14, i9i2.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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" During the seven years in which the meetings were held at Arundel House," states ' The Record,'

"the question of obtaining a habitation of their own was discussed by the Fellows. It was in the early summer of 1667 that the King's gift of Chelsea College was made, when land amounting to nearly thirty acres and all the buildings upon the ground were handed over to the Society."

On the 24th of September, 1667, Evelyn states that he had

" orders to deliver the possession of Chelsea College (used as my prison during the war with Holland for such as were sent from the fleet to "London) to our Society, as a gift of his Majesty our Founder."

Documents, then as now, took a long time to complete, and it was not until the 19th of May, 1669, that at a Council of the Royal Society it was announced that the grant was finished. This conveyance was .the third charter granted to the Society.

The site of Chelsea College was felt by the Fellows not to be sufficiently central for their future home. Afterwards the King became desirous of repurchasing it for the pur- pose of building a hospital for soldiers. Evelyn was informed of his Majesty's Wish on the 14th of September. 1681, by Sir Stephen Fox, who requested his assistance in the matter as one of the Council of the Royal Society. To the proposal the President (Sir Christopher Wren) and the Council assented, and a sum of 1,300Z. was paid for the surrender.

In the meantime Mr. Henry Howard, knowing how anxious the Fellows were to secure a site in London, had offered to pre- sent the Society with a piece of ground for the erection of a college on the land near Arundel House, and a committee was formed for the purpose of obtaining funds. On the 24th of January, 1668, Evelyn, anxious to commence,

"went to stake out ground for building a college for the Royal Society at Arundel House, but did not finish it, which we shall repent of." On the 2nd of April he subscribed 50,000 bricks towards the building ; but on the same day Pepys was not so ready with his contribution :

" With Lord Brouneker to the Royall Society, where they had just dined ; but there I was forced to subscribe to the building of a College, and did give 4W. ; and several others did subscribe, some greater and some less sums ; but several I saw hang off: and I doubt it will spoil the Society, for it breeds faction and ill-will, and becomes burden- some to some that cannot, or would not, do it."

Although the building was never erected, the Society was not " spoiled." A consider- able sum was raised in the course of a few

months, and plans were submitted ; but legal difficulties appear to have arisen as to the title to the ground. " At all events, the scheme was allowed to drop, and the Society continued to meet under the hospitable roof of Arundel House for five years more." On the 1st of December, 1673, the new Exchange being completed, the City enter- tained the Fellows at Gresham College, to welcome them back to their first place of assembly.

As years rolled on, the growing library and the continued increase of "rarities" required more space than could be afforded in the rooms at the College ; and although many of the Fellows regretted the idea of leaving the first home of the Society, it was felt desirable that the Society should be under its own roof. At last, under the Presi- dency of Sir Isaac Newton, the Council in 1710 purchased a house in Crane Court, Fleet Street, and its first meeting was held there on the 8th of November of that year.

" These premises continued to be the Society's abode for seventy years, until in the autumn of 1780 rooms in Somerset House were placed at its disposal by the Government. In 185/, the apart- ments then being required for Government offices, the Society was transferred to Burlington House, where it still remains."

The second part of the memorial volume contains the signatures of the Charter Book, the last signature being that, of Edward Nettleship, who became a Fellow during the present year. The Charter Book was instituted to contain transcripts of the charters that had been granted by the King, the statutes adopted for the organization and administration of the Society, and the signatures of all Fellows who should be elected and admitted. The volume con- sists of folio leaves of fine vellum ; it is bound in crimson velvet with gilt clasps and corners, and has in the centre on one side a gold plate bearing the shield of the Society, and on the other side a similar plate engraved with the eagle crest. The only sovereigns whose signatures do not appear are those of William and Mary and of Anne.

At the head of each page is the Obligation, that those who append their names below undertake to promote the good of the Royal Society, attend its meetings, and obey its laws.

Sir Archibald Geikie explains that

" the Charter Book does not contain a complete list of all who have been elected Fellows of the Society. By the Statutes it is provided that every person who is elected a Fellow shall appear