126 HISTORY OF [1780—85.

logues, as having originally belonged to the RoyalSociety ’s Museum.

It appears by the Minutes of Council, that a Com-mittee was appointed to confer with Sir WilliamChambers , from time to time, on the necessaryarrangements respecting the new apartments; whichwere sufficiently completed to receive the Society onthe 30th November, 1780, on which day the Anni-versary Meeting was held in them. The removal ofthe Society from their secluded and almost obscureresidence in Crane Court, to Somerset House, was anevent strongly marking the high esteem of the Sove-reign for the body, and tended greatly to strengthenthe reputation of George III . as a patron of science ;for to him is the merit due, of having ordered aportion of Somerset House to be set apart for thehigh purposes of science. And it will be fitting tosay a few words in this place, respecting the newbuilding to which the Society removed.

Somerset House derives its name and origin fromthe Protector, Edward Seymour , Duke of Somerset,maternal uncle to Edward YI. The whole of LongAcre, with Covent Garden and its neighbourhood,belonged to this nobleman, who, desirous of possess-ing a residence suitable to his high rank, determinedto build a palace where the present Somerset Housenow stands. To obtain space and building materials,he was guilty of some infringements of public andprivate rights, which were urged against him in thehour of adversity. An Inn of Chancery, called StrandInn, or Chester’s Inn, the episcopal houses of theBishops of Lichfield, Coventry, Worcester , and Llan-daff, and the church and church-yard of St. Mary-le-Strand, were demolished for the site of the new