SOCIETY, Royal, had its origin from the voluntary intercourse of learned men, who conceived that their pursuits might be improved and forwarded by the com munication of their thoughts and obser vations to each other during their leisure hours. Dr. Wilkins, of Wadham College, Oxford, who entertained the resident philosophers of that university at his lodgings weekly, for this feast of reason, deserves the honour of founding the Society, as it was there the more ex panded idea of future benefit to the com munity was generated and matured, and which would probably have been car ried into effect, had not the unhappy civil war, during the reign of Charles 1. banished every laudable public intention from the minds of the learned, and con verted the seat of learning into a military post.
Thus expelled from Oxford, we find that many of the members of this infant society afterwards resided in London,antl still che rishing the plan, they contrived to meet at Gresham College between the y ears 1658 and 1663. The evident advantages likely to be derived from the labours of the philosopher, who was by this means compelled to exert his best faculties to escape free from the observa flocs of his brethren in science, to whom they were submitted, soon attracted the .notice of those who had sufficient influ ence at court to procure a charter of in corporation from a monarch, whose pur suits were widely different, and which was dated April 22,1663. This act, reflecting equal honour on the age and nation, was accompanied by a declaration from the King, expressed within it, that he wished to be considered in the threefold charac ter of founder, patron, and companion.
Thus the Society received the royal pro tection, and became a body politic, under the direction of a president and council, who were elected by the fellows or mem bers; the latter also cannot obtain admis sion without the routine of being proposed by persons already admitted, who, by this means, become responsible for the propri ety of the recommendation ; and a formal ballot, which takes place after a sufficient time has elapsed to enable the Society to judge whether the candidate has just pre tensions to the honourable and learned distinction of Fellow of the Royal Society, "for promoting the knowledge of natural thin ;s and useful experiments." The li
berality, which, almost universally, distin guishes the genuine philosopher, soon furnished their apartments with valuable and interesting natural and artificial pro ductions; and they were sufficiently nume rous at the commencement of the eigh teenth century to compose a folio cata logue, for which the public are indebted to Dr. Grew : since that period the contri butions have greatly multiplied, and form a most important collection. The meet ings are now held weekly, for the general purposes of the Society, from the middle of November till July, on Thursday even ings, between the hours of eight and nine o'clock, when thosz papers arc read which the secretary receives in the interval be tween each meeting, and exhibits such curiosities as may be sent to him for that purpose. Their own declaration, made very long since, will contribute to explain the nature of the communications to this valuable institution, which is calculated to "make faithful records of all the works of nature or art which come within their reach ; so that the present, as well as after ages, may be enabled to put a mark on errors which have been strengthened by long prescription; to restore truths that have been neglected; to put those already known to more various uses, and to make the way more passable to what remains unrevealed." Sect sty of Antiquarians. Though the object of this body is of rather less import ant::: than that of the Royal Society, yet it has obtained a celebrity little inferior, as much has been done by it towards as certaining the changes which have takes place in the surface of the earth, exclu sive of the principal purpose of the asso ciation, which is to generate a liking for the study of our national antiquities; so that, in the sequel, genuine history shall be preferred to the superficial information gleaned from monastic writers ; this will be still further explained by the preamble of the charter, which asserts, that the study of antiquity, and the history of former times, has ever been esteemed highly com mendable and useful, not only to improve the minds of' men, but also to incite them to virtuous and noble actions, and such as may hereafter render them famous and worthy examples to late posterity.