Page:Reflections on the decline of science in England - Babbage - 1830.pdf/75



Why Mr. Davies Gilbert became President of the Royal Society I cannot precisely say. Let him who penned, and those who supported this resolution solve the enigma.

"It was Resolved, "That it is the opinion of the Council that Davies Gilbert, Esq.is by far the most fit person to be proposed to the Society at the approaching anniversary as President, and that he be recommended accordingly."

To resolve that he was a fit person might have been sufficiently flattering: to state that he was the most fit, was a little hard upon the rest of the Society; but to resolve that he was "by far the most fit," was only consistent with that strain of compliment in which his supporters indulge, and was a eulogy, by no means unique in its kind, I believe, even at that very Council.

That Mr. Gilbert is a most amiable and kind-hearted man will be instantly admitted by all who are, in the least degree, acquainted with him: that he is fit for the chair of the Royal