1780 — 85 .]

THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

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the sciences ye severally possess, to deserve a continu-ance of his Royal favor; to measure your futureexertions by the standard of his princely liberality;and thus shew the world, that ye still are, as ye alwayshave been, worthy the Patronage of your King.”

After the election of officers and Council, the So-ciety dined together at the Crown and Anchor: where,if the more sober pursuits of philosophy did not leadto an outpouring of loyalty in the form of an ode, theFellows assembled were not behind the Royal Acade-micians in grateful expressions of thanks for theKing’s favour.

There is a small Manuscript book in the Society’sLibrary, giving the names of the Fellows present atthe Anniversary dinners from 1768, to 1809. Fromthis it appears that from 1768, to 1771, inclusive, theydined in the Middle-Temple Hall; in 1772, at theMitre Tavern, and afterwards at the Crown andAnchor, in the Strand, where the Society continuedto hold their Anniversary Dinner until 1848, when thetavern was sold to the Whittington Club 8 . The aver-age attendance on those occasions, during the aboveyears, was 70.

In the middle of 1779, the melancholy intelli-gence reached England, of the massacre of CaptainCook . The death of this gallant officer was a greaterloss to science than to the profession which he adorn-ed ; and thus, it will easily be understood, that theRoyal Society could not lose such a member of theirbody without being anxious to honour his name andmemory by a particular mark of respect. Sir Joseph

8 The Freemason’s Tavern, in Great Queen Street, has beenselected for the future celebration of the Anniversary Dinner.