Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/277

 us. vi. SEPT. 2i, 1912.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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the age that acknowledges it no more....Yo have numbers and charms that can bind eve these spirits of darkness, and render their instru ments obsequious ; and we know you have divine hymn for us ; the lustre of the Roya Society calls for an ode from the best of poet upon the noblest argument."

Cowley, it appears from a letter he wrote to Evelyn on the 13th of May, 1667, had already been engaged on the verses at the suggestion of Sprat, and the poem was prefixed to the latter's history. On th 16th of August Pepys saw the work at hi bookseller's, and, believing it to be " i fine book," " bespoke one in quires."

Another great friend of Evelyn's, also a pioneer of the Koyal Society, was " that miracle of a youth " Christopher Wren On the 17th of June, 1679, Evelyn records " I was godfather to a son of Sir Christopher Wren, surveyor to his Majesty's buildings that most excellent and learned person.' At the early age of 25 Wren was Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, and lectured there with Robert Hooke at the Wednesday and Thursday meetings until about the year 1658. Sprat (third edition, p. 57) gives the date as 1638, evidently a mistake. Wren was charged by the Society in the King's name to make a globe of the moon, on which he delineated the superficial features of the satellite. Hooke is described in ' The Record ' as the

" brilliant, original, and versatile physicist, with an inexhaustible fertility in devising experi- mental proofs of physical deductions, a gift which he employed unweariedly in the service the Society, thus largely contributing to the interest and success of the meetings."

Dr. Wilkins was also a " dear and excellent friend" of Evelyn's; indeed, it was at his lodgings at Wadham College that the first meetings were held. Evelyn speaks of him as " most obliging and universally curious," and he showed Evelyn

''the transparent apiaries, which he had built like castles and palaces, and so ordered them one upon another, as to take the honey without destroying the bees."

It was to Wilkins that the King " expressed his desire of having determined the measure of a degree upon the Earth, and did expect the assistance of the Society in it."

In a work published in 1638 under the title The Discovery of a New World ; or, A Discourse on the World in the Moon,' Wilkins had advocated the practicability o'f a passage to the moon.

Another Royal Society friend of Evelyn's was Sir Robert Moray, whose admiration

for Evelyn was very great, as, indeed, was that of all who became intimate with him.

These names indicate but a few of the friendships formed by Evelyn with the earnest men who founded this first of learned societies. Lake all who live to a great age, he had the sorrow of mourning many who passed before him. In a letter to Dr. Beale as far back as the llth of June, 1679, he laments the " pillars we have lost Palmer, Moray, Chester, Oldenburg, and others." The inscription on his tomb is indeed true that his fame is perpetuated " by far more lasting monuments than those of stone or brass." He was a typical virtuoso of the noblest kind ; three words present him to us for all time : " Scholar and Gentleman." JOHN COLLJNS FRANCIS.

(To be continued.)

GEORGE MEIKLE KEMP AND FREEMASONRY.

MB. CHARLES S. BURDON in stating that Lodge Edinburgh St. James, No. 97, was the mother lodge of the architect of the Scott Monument, Edinburgh (see ante, p. 146), has surely been misinformed. Kemp was initiated into Freemasonry iu Lodge Edinburgh St. Andrew, No. 48, on 5 October, 1827, his entry being recorded in the books of that lodge as follows : j

Treasurer's Books and Accounts. '' 1827, Oct. 5. jreorge Kemp, carpenter, Koxburgh Close, 5.P. and R. a/c, made Masters chair for his fees. A. Waghorne, Secy, and Genealogist."

The handsome and massive chair which designed and made for the use of the H.W. Master, in return for being entered, massed, and raised in Masonry, is an object )f much interest, and highly valued as the landiwork of Bro. Kemp by the members of lis mother lodge. It is constructed of oak, he seat and arms being of a simple design. ?he back is supported on two fluted Ionic olumns with a shaped pediment above, sur- nounted by a gilded figure of St. Andrew with his typical cross ; the back also contains he usual Masonic emblems carved out of >ak, under which has been placed and overed with glass Bro. Kemp's Masonic pron ; and in the ground of the pediment ire the higher symbols of Freemasonry minted in an artistic manner. The follow- ng inscription appears on the chair :

Presented by George M. Kemp

Architect of Sir Walter Scotts Monument To his Mother Lodge St. Andrews (No. 48) Edinburgh in the year 1827.