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princeps or chieftain. In England before the Conquest | Black Book of the Household and the Statutes of Eltham, the comitatus had developed or degenerated into the thegnhood, and among the most eminent and powerful of the king's thegns, were his dishthegn, his bowerthegn, and his horsethegn or staller. In Normandy at the time of the Conquest a similar arrangement, imitated from the French court, had long been established, and the Norman dukes, like their overlords the kings of France, had their seneschal or steward, their chamberlain, and their constable. After the Conquest the ducal household of Normandy was reproduced in the royal household of England; and since, in obedience to the spirit of feudalism, the great offices of the first had been made hereditary, the great offices of the second were made hereditary also, and were thenceforth held by the grantees and their descendants as grand-serjeanties of the crown. The consequence was that they passed out of immediate relation to the practical conduct of affairs either in both state and court or in the one or the other of them. The steward and chamberlain of England were superseded in their political functions by the justiciar and treasurer of England, and in their domestic functions by the steward and chamberlain of the household. The marshal of England took the place of the constable of England in the royal palace, and was associated with him in the command of the royal armies. In due course, however, the marshalship as well as the constableship became hereditary, and, although the constable and marshal of England retained their military authority until a comparatively late period, the duties they had successively performed about the palace had been long before transferred to the master of the horse. Under these circumstances the holders of the original great offices of state and the household ceased to attend the court except on occasions of extraordinary ceremony, and their representatives either by inheritance or by special appointment have ever since continued to appear at coronations and some other public solemnities, such as the opening of the parliament or trials by the House of Lords.1

The materials available for a history of the royal household are somewhat scanty and obscure. The earliest record relating to it is of the reign of Henry II., and is contained in the Black Book of the Exchequer. It enumerates the various inmates of the king's palace and the daily allowances made to them at the period at which it was compiled. Hence it affords valuable evidence of the antiquity and relative importance of the court offices to which it refers, notwithstanding that it is silent as to the functions and formal subordination of the persons who filled them.2 In addition to this record we have a series of far later, but for the most part equally meagre, documents bearing more or less directly on the constitution of the royal household, and extending, with long intervals, from the reign of Edward III. to the reign of William and Mary. Among them, however, are what are known as the

1 The great officers of state and the household whom we have particularly mentioned do not of course exhaust, the catalogue of them. We have named those only whose representatives are still dignitaries of the court and functionaries of the palace. If the reader consults Hallam (Middle Ages, vol. i. p. 181 sq.), Freeman (Norman Conquest, vol. i. p. 91 sq., and vol. v. p. 426 sq.), and Stubbs (Const. Hist., vol. i. p. 343, sq.), he will be able himself to fill in the details of the outline we have given above.

2 The record in question is entitled Constitutio Domus Regis de Procurationibus, and is printed by Hearne (Liber Niger Scaccarii, vol. i. p. 341 sq.). It is analysed by Stubbs (Const. Hist., vol. i. note 2, P. 345).

3A Collection of Ordinances and Regulations for the Government of the Royal Household, made in Divers Reigns from King Edward 111. to King William and Queen Mary, printed for the Society of Antiquaries, London, 1790. See also Pegge's Curialia, published partly before and partly after this volume; and Carlisle's Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber, published in 1829. Pegge and Carlisle, however, deal with small and insignificant portions of the royal establishment.

compiled the first in the reign of Edward IV. and the second in the reign of Henry VIII., from which a good deal of detailed information may be gathered concerning the arrangements of the court in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Statutes of Eltham were meant for the practical guidance merely of those who were responsible for the good order and the sufficient supply of the sovereign's household at the time they were issued. But the Black Book of the Household, besides being a sort of treatise on princely magnificence generally, professes to be based on the regulations established for the governance of the court by Edward III., who, it affirms, was the first sctter of certeynties among his domesticall meyne, upon a grounded rule" and whose palace it describes as "the house of very policie and flowre of England;" and it may therefore possibly, and even probably, take us back to a period much more remote than that at which it was actually put together. Various orders, returns, and accounts of the reigns of Elizabeth, James I., Charles I., Charles II., and William and Mary throw considerable light on the organization of particular sections of the royal household in times nearer to our own.5 Moreover, there were several parliamentary inquiries into the expenses of the royal household in connexion with the settlement or reform of the civil list during the reigns of George III., George IV., and William IV. But they add little or nothing to our knowledge of the subject in what was then its historical as distinguished from its contemporary aspects. So much, indeed, is this the case that, on the accession of Queen Victoria, Chamberlayne's Present State of England, which contains a catalogue of the officials at the court of Queen Anne, was described by Lord Melbourne the prime minister as the "only authority" which the advisers of the crown could find for their assistance in determining the appropriate constitution and dimensions of the domestic establishment of a queen regnant.7

In its main outlines the existing organization of the royal household is essentially the same as it was under the Tudors or the Plantagenets. It is now, as it was then, divided into three principal departments, at the head of which are severally the lord steward, the lord chamberlain, and the master of the horse, and the respective provinces of which may be generally described as "below stairs," "above stairs," and "out of doors." But at present, the sovereign being a queen, the royal household is in some other respects rather differently arranged from what it would be if there were a king and a queen consort. When there is a king and a queen consort there is a

4 Liber Niger Domus Regis Edward IV. and Ordinances for the Household made at Eltham in the seventeenth year of King Henry VIII., A.D. 1526, are the titles of these two documents. The earlier documents printed in the same collection are Household of King Edward III. in Peace and War from the eighteenth to the twenty-first year of his reign; Ordinances of the Household of King Henry IV. in the thirty-third year of his reign, A.D. 1455, and Articles ordained by King Henry VII. for the Regulation of his Household, A.D. 1494. 5 The Book of the Household of Queen Elizabeth as it was ordained in the forty-third year of her Reign delivered to our Sovereign Lord King James, &c., is simply a list of officers' names and allowances. It seems to have been drawn up under the curious circumstances referred to in Archæologia (vol. xii. pp. 80-85). For the rest of these documents see Ordinances and Regulations, &c., pp. 299, 340, 347, 352, 368, and 380.

6 Burke's celebrated Act "for enabling His Majesty to discharge the debt contracted upon the civil list, and for preventing the same from being in arrear for the future, &c.," 22 Geo. III. c. 82, was passed in 1782. But it was foreshadowed in his great speech on "Economical. Reform Idelivered two years before. Since the beginning of the current century select committees of the House of Commons have reported on the civil list and royal household in 1803, 1804, 1815, and 1831.

"

7 Torrens's Memoirs of William, second Viscount Melbourne, vol. ii. p. 303.

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separate establishment "above stairs" and "out of doors for the queen consort. She has a lord chamberlain's department and a department of the master of the horse of her own, and all the ladies of the court from the mistress of the robes to the maids of honour are in her service. At the commencement of the reign of Queen Victoria the two establishments were combined, and on the whole considerably reduced. Hence the royal household, although it is of course much larger than that of a queen consort would be, is also appreciably smaller than that of a king and queen consort together has been since the reigning family acceded to the throne.1

I. Department of the Lord Steward of the Household.-The hall; the kitchen, ewry, and pantry; the wine, beer, and coal cellars; and the almonry are in the lord steward's department. The lord steward-is the first dignitary of the court, and presides at the Board of Green Cloth, where all the accounts of the household are examined and passed. He is always a member of the Govern. ment of the day, a peer, and a privy councillor. He receives his appointment from the sovereign in person, and bears a wlite staff as the emblem and warrant of his authority. In his department the treasurer and comptroller of the household are the officers next in rank to him. They also sit at the Board of Green Cloth, carry white staves, and belong to the ministry. They are always peers or the sons of peers, and privy councillors. But the duties which in theory belong to the ford steward, treasurer, and comptroller of the household are in practice performed by the master of the household, who is a permanent officer and resides in the palace. It is he who really investigates the accounts and maintains discipline among the ordinary servants of the royal establishment. He is a white-staff officer and a member of the Board of Green Cloth but not of the ministry, and among other things he presides at the daily dinners of the suite in waiting on the sovereign. In the lord steward's department are the secretary and three clerks of the Board of Green Cloth; the coroner and paymaster of the household; and the officers of the almonry, namely, the hereditary grand almoner," the lord high almoner, the sub-almoner, the groom of the almonry, and the secretary to the lord high almoner. 6

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II. Department of the Lord Chamberlain of the Household.-The bedchamber, privy chamber, and presence chamber, the wardrobe, the housekeeper's room, and the guardroom, the metropolitan theatres, and the chapels royal are in the lord chamberlain's department. The lord chamberlain is the second dignitary of the court, and is always a member of the Governinent of the day, a peer, and a privy councillor. He carries a white staff, and wears a golden or jewelled key, typical of the key of the palace, which is supposed to be in his charge, as the ensigns of his office. He is responsible for the necessary arrangements connected with state ceremonies, such as coronations and royal marriages, christenings, and funerals. All invitations to court are sent out in his name by command of the sovereign, and at drawing rooms and levees he stands next to the Sovereign and announces the persons who are approaching the throne. It is also part of his duty to conduct the sovereign to and from his or her carriage.7. The vice-chamberlain of the household is the lord chamberlain's assistant and deputy. He also is one of the ministry, a white-staff officer, and the bearer of a key; and he is always a peer or the son of a peer as well as a privy councillor.

1 Hansard, Parl. Debates, vol. xxxix. pp. 140 sq., 1342 sq.

2 In the Statutes of Elthan he is called "the lord great master," but in the Household Book of Queen Elizabeth "the lord steward," as before and since. In 31 Hen. VIII. c. 10, "for placing of the lords," he is described as "the grand master or lord steward of the king's most honourable household." The whole business of purveyance and pre-emption was anciently managed by the Board of Green Cloth. Seo under heading "The counting house of the king's household, Donus Compotus Hospitii Regis," iŋ Coke, Institutes, iv. cap. 19. It Is designated "the court of the virge or green cloth "in 22 Geo. III. 2. 82, § 5. 3 In the old time the lord steward had three courts besides the board of green cloth under nin., namely, the lord steward's court, the court of the Marshalsy, and the palace court (Coke, Inst., iv. caps 20 and 21; Reeves, Ilist. of the Law of England, vol. H. pp. 138 and 297; Stephen, Commentaries on the Law of England, vol. iv. p. 222). The lord steward or his deputies formerly administered the oaths to the inembers of the House of Commons, and frequent inconveniences were the consequence (sco IIatsell, Precedents of Proceedings in the Ilouse of Commons, London, 1818, vol. ii. pp. 81-91). In certain cases now "the lords with white staves " are the proper persons to bear communications between the sovereign and the Ilouses of Parliament.

In the case of the master of the household we see history repeating itself. He is not named in the Black Book of Edward IV. or in the Statutes of Henry VIII., and is entered as "master of the household and clerk of the green cloth In the Household Book of Queen Elizabeth. But practically he has superseded the lord steward of the household, as the lord steward of the household at one time. superseded the lord high steward of Englund. /

The marquess of Excter.

In the lord steward's department the offices of cofferer of the househola, treasurer of the chamber, paymaster of pensions, and six clerks of the Board of Green Cloth were abolished by 22 Geo. III. c. 82.

7 The lord chamberlain of the household at one tinc discharged some Import ant political functions, which are described by Sir Harris Nicolas (Proceedings of the Privy Council, vol. vl., Preface, p. xxiii).

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When there is a king the groom of the stole comes next to the vice-chamberlain in rank and authority. At present, however, the mistress of the robes in some measure occupies the position of the groom of the stole. She is the only lady of the court who comes into office and goes out with the administration, and the duties she performs are merely occasional and formal. She is always a duchess, and attends the queen at all state ceremonies and entertainments, but is never in permanent residence at the palace." On the contrary the ladies of the bedchamber share the function of personal attendance on the sovereign throughout the year. Of these there are eight, always peeresses, and each is in waiting for about a fortnight or three weeks at a time. But the women of the bedchamber, of whom there are also eight, appear only at court ceremonies and entertainments according to a roster annually issued under the authority of the lord chamberlain. They are usually the daughters of peers or the wives of the sous of peers, and in the old time, like the mistress of the robes and the ladies of the bedchamber, habitually assisted the queen at her daily toilette. But this has long ceased to be done by any of them. The maids of honour, whose situations are by no means sinecures, are like-. wise eight in number and have the same terms of waiting as the ladies of the bedchamber. They are commonly if not always the daughters or granddaughters of peers, and when they have no superior title and precedence by birth are called "honourable and placed next after the daughters of barons. The queen as a special mark of her favour nominates "extra" ladies and women of the bed-chamber and mails of honour. But their position is altogether honorary and involves no charge on the civil list. There are eight lords and eight grooms, who are properly described as." of the bedchamber or "in waiting," according as the reigning sovereign is a king or a queen, and whose terms of attendance are of similar duration to those of the ladies of the bedchamber and the maids of honour. Occasionally "extra" lords and grooms in waiting are nominated by the queen, who, however, are unpaid and have no regular duties. The master, assistant master, and marshal of the ceremonies are the officers whose special function it is to enforce the observance of the etiquette of the court. The reception of foreign potentates and ambassadors is under their particular care, and they, assist in the ordering of all entertainments and festivities at the palace.10 The gentleman usher of the black rod-the black rod which he carries being the ensign of his office is the principal usher of the court and kingdom. He is one of the original functionaries of the order of the Garter, and is in constant attendance on the House of Lords, from whom, either personally or by his deputy the yeoman usher of the black rod, it is part of his duty to carry messages and summonses to the House of Commons. The gentlemen ushers of the privy chamber and the gentlemen ushers daily waiters, of whom there are four cach, and the gentlemen ushers quarterly waiters and the sergeants-atarins, of whom there are eight each, are in waiting only at drawing rooms and levees and state balls and concerts. But of the sovereign's sergeants-at-arms there are two others to whom special duties are assigned, the one attending the speaker in the House of Commons, and the other attending the lord chancellor in the House of Lords, carrying their maces and executing their orders. The yeomen of the guard date from the reign of Henry VII., and the gentlemen-at-arins from the reign of Henry VIII. The captain of each corps is always a member of the ministry and a peer. Besides the captains, the former, now called the queen's bodyguard, consists of a lieutenant, ensign, clerk of the cheque and adjutant, four exons, and a hundred yeomen; and the latter, once called the gentlemen pensioners, consists of a lieutenant, standard-bearer, clerk of the cheque and adjutant, a sub-officer, and forty gentlemen. The comptroller and examiner of accounts, the licenser of plays, the dean and subdean of the chapel royal, the clerk of the closet, the groom of the robes, the pages of the backstairs, of the chamber, and of the presence, the poet laureate, the royal physicians and surgeons, chaplains, painters and sculptors, librarians and musicians, &c., are all under the superintendence of the lord chamberlain of the household. 12

III. Department of the Master of the Horse.-The stables and coachhouses, the stud, mews, and kennels, are in the master of the horse's department. The master of the horse is the third

In the reign of Queen Anne, Sarah duchess of Marlborough from 1704, and Elizabeth duchess of Somerset from 1710, held the combined offices of mistress of the robes and groom of the stole.

Since the great "bedchamber question" of 1839 the settled practice has been for all the ladies of the court except the mistress of the robes to receive and continue in their appointments independently of the political connexions of their husbands. fathers, and brothers (see Mr Gladstone's Gleanings of Past Yeurs, vol i. p. 40; and Torrens's Memoirs of Lord Melbourne, vol. ii. p. 304).

10 The office of master of the ceremonics was created by James I. The master of the ceremonics wears a medal attached to a gold chain round his neck, on one rido being an emblem of peace with the motto "Beati pacifici," and on the other an emblem of war with the motto "Dicu et mon droit" (scc Finelti Philoxensis, by Sir John Finett, master of the ceremonics to James 1. und Charles I., 1606; and D'Israell's Curiosities of Literature, 10th ed., p. 242 sg.). 11 See May, Parliamentary Practice, pp. 236, 244.

12 The offices of master of the great wardrobe and master of the jewel house in the lord chamberlain's department were abolished by 22 Gco. III. c. 82.

dignitary of the court, and is always a member of the Government of the day, a peer, and a privy councillor. All matters connected with the horses and hounds of the sovereign are within his jurisdiction. The master of the buckhounds, who is also one of the ministry, ranks next to him, and it is his duty to attend the royal hunt and to head the procession of royal equipages on the racecourse at Ascot, where he presents himself on horseback in a green and gold uniform wearing the couples of a hound as the badge of his office. The hereditary grand falconer is also subordinated to the master of the horse. But the practical management of the royal stables and stud in fact devolves on the chief or crown equerry, formerly called the gentleman of the horse, who is never in personal attendance on the sovereign, and whose appoint ment is permanent. Tho clerk marshal has the supervision of the accounts of the department before they are submitted to the Board of Green Cloth, and is in waiting on the sovereign on state occasions only. Exclusive of the crown equerry there are seven regular equerries, besides extra and honorary equerries, one of whom is always in attendance on the sovereign and rides at the side of the royal carriage. They are always officers of the army, and each of them is "on duty" for about the same time as the lords and grooms in waiting. There are also three pages of honour in the master of the horse's department, who must not be confounded with the pages of various kinds who are in the department of the lord chamberlain. They are youths aged from twelve to sixteen, selected by the sovereign in person, to attend on her at state ceremonies, when two of them arrayed in an antique costume assist the groom of the robes in carrying the royal train.

It remains to be said that to the three ancient departments of the royal household which we have already noticed two others have been added in comparatively recent times. The departments of the private secretary and the keeper of the privy purse to the sovereign, which are for the present combined, originated no longer ago than the earlier part of the current century. Very great doubts were at one time entertained as to whether such an office as that of private secretary to the sovereign could constitutionally exist, and the privy purse itself was unknown until after the passing of Burke's Act of 1782. As at present organized these branches of the royal household consist of the private secretary and keeper of the privy purse, two assistant private secretaries and keepers of the privy purse, and a secretary and two clerks of the privy purse. By the statute which settled the civil list at the beginning of the current reign (1 & 2 Vict. c. 2) the privy purse was fixed at £60,000 a year, and the salaries, allowances, and other expenses of the royal house. hold were fixed at £303,760 a year. (F. DR.)

ROYAL SOCIETY, THE, or, more fully, The Royal, Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is an association of men interested in the advancement of mathematical and physical science. It is the oldest scientific society in Great Britain, and one of the oldest in Europe.

The Royal Society is usually considered to nave been founded in the year 1660, but a nucleus had in fact been in existence for some years before that date. Wallis informs us that as early as the year 1645 weekly meetings were held of "divers worthy persons, inquisitive into natural philosophy, and other parts of human learning, and particularly of what hath been called the New Philo sophy or Experimental Philosophy," and there can be little doubt that this gathering of philosophers is identical with the "Invisible College" of which Boyle speaks in sundry letters written in 1646 and 1647. These weekly meetings, according to Wallis, were first suggested by Theodore Haak, "a German of the Palatinate then resident in London," and they were held sometimes in Dr Goddard's

lodgings in Wood Street, sometimes at the Bull-Head Tavern in Cheapside, but more often at Gresham College.

On November 28, 1660, the first journal book of the society was opened with a "memorandum," from which the following is an extract:-"Memorandum that Novemb. 28. 1660, These persons following, according to the usuall custom of most of them, mett together at Gresham Colledge to heare Mr Wren's lecture, viz., The Lord Brouncker, Mr Boyle, Mr Bruce, Sir Robert Moray, Sir Paul Neile, Dr Wilkins, Dr Goddard, Dr Petty, Mr Ball, Mr Rooke, Mr Wren, Mr Hill. And after the lecture was ended, they did, according to the usuall manner withdrawe for mutuall

1 The duke of St Albans.

converse. Where amongst other matters that were discoursed of, something was offered about a designe of founding a Colledge for the promoting of Physico-Mathematicall Experimentall Learning." It was agreed at this meeting that the company should continue to assemble on Wednesdays at 3 o'clock; an admission fee of ten shillings with a subscription of one shilling a week was instituted; Dr Wilkins was appointed chairman; and a list of forty-one persons judged likely and fit to join the design was drawn up. On the following Wednesday Sir Robert Moray brought word that the king (Charles II.) approved the design of the meetings; a form of obligation was framed, and was signed by all the persons enumerated in the memorandum of November 28, and by seventy-three others. December 12 another meeting was held at which fifty-five was fixed as the number of the society,-persons of the degree of baron, fellows of the College of Physicians, and public professors of mathematics, physic, and natural philosophy of both universities being supernumeraries.

On

Gresham College was now appointed to be the regular meeting-place of the society. Sir Robert Moray was chosen president (March 6, 1661), and continued in that office ceeded by Lord Brouncker. In October 1661 the king until the incorporation of the society, when he was sucoffered to be entered one of the society, and next year the society was incorporated under the name of "The Royal Society," the charter of incorporation passing the great seal on the 15th July 1662, to be modified, however, by a second charter in the following year. The council of the Royal Society met for the first time on May 13, 1663, when resolutions were passed that debate concerning those to be admitted should be secret, and that fellows should pay 1s. a week to defray expenses.

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At this early stage of the society's history one main part of their labours was the "correspondence" which was actively maintained with Continental philosophers, and it was from this that the Philosophical Transactions (a publication now of world-wide celebrity) took its rise. At first the Transactions was entirely the work of the secretary, except that it was ordered (March 1, 1664–5) being first reviewed by some of the members of the same.' "that the tract be licensed by the Council of the Society, The first number, consisting of sixteen quarto pages, In 1750 four appeared on Monday 6th March 1664–5. hundred and ninety-six numbers or forty-six volumes had work was issued under the superintendence of a committee, been published by the secretaries. After this date the and the division into numbers disappeared. At present (1885) one hundred and seventy-five volumes have been completed.

Another matter to which the society turned their attention was the formation of a museum, the nucleus being Hubbard," which, by a resolution of council passed "the collection of rarities formerly belonging to Mr February 21, 1666, was purchased for the sum of £100. This museum, at one time the most famous in London, 1781, upon the removal of the society to Somerset House. was presented to the trustees of the British Museum in

After the Great Fire of London in September 1666 the apartments of the Royal Society in Gresham College were required for the use of the city authorities, and the society were the fore invited by Henry Howard of Norfolk to them with the library purchased by his grandfather meet in Arundel House. At the same time he presented Thomas, earl of Arundel, and thus the foundation was laid of the magnificent collection of scientific works, probably not far short of 45,000 volumes, which the society bulk was sold to the trustees of the British Museum in at the present time possesses. Of the Arundel MSS. the 1830 for the sum of £3559, the proceeds being devoted

o the purchase of scientific books. These MSS. are still | Russell in 1849 that at the close of the year the president and cept in the museum as a separate collection.

Under date December 21, 1671, the journal-book records that "the lord bishop of Sarum proposed for candidate Mr Isaac Newton, professor of the mathematicks at Cambridge." Newton was elected a fellow January 11, 1671-2, and in 1703 he was appointed president, a post which he held till his death in 1727. During his presidency the society moved to Crane Court, their first meeting in the new quarters being held November 8, 1710. In the same year they were appointed visitors and directors of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, a function which they continued to perform until the accession of William IV., when by the new warrant then issued the president and six of the fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society were added to the list of visitors.

In 1780, under the presidency of Sir Joseph Banks, the Royal Society removed from Crane Court to the apart ments assigned to them by the Government in the new Somerset House, where they remained until they removed to Burlington House in 1857. The policy of Sir Joseph Banks was to render the fellowship more difficult of attainment than it had been, and the measures which he took for this purpose, combined with other circumstances, led to the rise of a faction headed by Dr Horsley. Throughout the years 1783 and 1784 feeling ran exceedingly high, but in the end the president was supported by the majority of the society. An account of the controversy will be found in a tract entitled An Authentic Narra tive of the Dissensions and Debates in the Royal Society. In connexion with this policy of Sir Joseph Banks may be mentioned a further step in the same direction taken in the year 1847, when the number of candidates recommended for election by the council was limited to fifteen, and the election was made annual. Concurrently, however, with this gradual narrowing of the Royal Society's

boundaries was the successive establishment of other scientific bodies. The founding of the Linnean Society in 1788 under the auspices of several fellows of the Royal Society was the first instance of the establishment of a distinct scientific association under royal charter. The Geological Society followed in 1807, and the Royal Astronomical Society in 1820. The Chemical, the Royal Geographical, and the Entomological are the remaining chartered scientific societies existing in London at the present time. The Royal Society continues, however, to hold the foremost place among the scientific bodies of England, not only from the number of eminent men included in its fellowship, but also from its close official connexion with the Government.

The following will serve as some indication of the variety and importance of the scientific matters upon which they have been consulted by or have memorialized the Government during the last seventy years:-1816, standard measures of length; 1817, expedition in search of North-West Passage; 1822, use of coal-tar in vessels of war; best manner of measuring tonnage of ships; 1823, corrosion of copper sheathing by sea-water; Babbage's cal culating-machine; lightning-conductors for vessels of war; 1825, supervision of gas-works; 1826, Parry's North Polar expedition; 1882, tidal observations; 1885, instruments and tables for testing the strength of spirits; 1839, Antarctic expedition; magnetic observatories in the colonies; 1845, Franklin's Arctic expedition; 1849-55, Government grant for scientific research; 1862, the great Melbourne telescope; 1865, pendulum observations in India; 1866, reorganization of the meteorological department; 1868, deep sea research; 1872, Challenger" expedition; 1874, Arctic expedition; 1875, eclipse expedition; 1876, Vivisection Bill; 1877, transit of Venus expedition; 1879, prevention of accidents in mines; 1881, pendulum observations; 1882, transit of Venus; cruise of the "Triton" in Faroe Channel; 1883, borings in delta of Nile; 1884, Bureau des Poids et Mesures; prime meridian conference, &c. One of the most important duties which the Royal Society performs on behalf of the Government is the administration of the annual grant of £4000 for the promotion of scientific research. This grant originated in a proposal by Lord John

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council should point out to the first lord of the treasury a limited number of persons to whom the grant of a reward or of a sum to defray the cost of experiments might be of essential service. This grant of £1000 afterwards became annual, and was continued until 1876. In that year an additional sum of £4000 for similar purposes was granted, and the two funds of £1000 and £4000 were combined in a single annual grant of £4000 under new regulations. administered concurrently until 1881, in which year the two were One of the most useful of the society's undertakings of late years is the great catalogue of scientific papers,- -an index, in eight quarto volumes, under authors' names, of all the memoirs of importance in the chief English and foreign scientific serials from the year 1800 to the year 1873. tion and at the expense of the Royal Society, and was printed by The work was prepared under the direcH. M. Stationery Office.

A statement of the trust funds administered by the Royal Society will be found in their published Proceedings under date November 30th of each year, and the origin and history of these funds will be found in Weld's History of the Royal Society, and in the late William Spottiswoode's "Anniversary Address for 1874" (Proc. Roy. Soc., xxiii. p. 4). The income of the society is derived from the annual contributions and composition fees of the fellows, from rents, and from interest on various investments. The balance-sheet and an account of the estates and property are published in the Proceedings at each anniversary. Four medals (a Copley, two Royal, and a Davy) are awarded by the society every year, and the Rumford medal in alternate years. The first of these originated in a bequest by Sir Godfrey Copley (1709), and is awarded "to the living author of such philosophical research, either published or communicated to the society, as may appear to the council to be deserving of that honour"; the author may be an Englishman Rumford in 1796 of £1000 3 per cent. consols, for the most or a foreigner. The Rumford medal originated in a gift from Count important discoveries in heat or light made during the preceding two years. The Royal medals were instituted by George IV., and are awarded annually for the two most important contributions to science published in the British dominions not more than ten years nor less than one year from the date of the award. The Davy medal was founded by the will of Dr John Davy, F.R.S., the brother of Sir Humphry Davy, and is given annually for the most important discovery in chemistry made in Europe or Anglo-America. An enumeration of the awards of each of the medals will be found at the end of the list of fellows which is published annually by the society.

Under the existing statutes of the Royal Society every candidate for election must be recommended by a certificate in writing signed by six or more fellows, of whom three at least must sign from council annually select fifteen by ballot, and on the first Thursday personal knowledge. From the candidates so recommended the in June the names so selected are submitted to the society in the form of a printed balloting-sheet with space left for erasure and substitution of names. Princes of the blood may, however, be proposed at any ordinary meeting and put to the vote on the same day, and any member of H. M. privy council may be balloted for on the third ordinary meeting from the day upon which his certificate is read. Foreign members, not exceeding fifty, may be selected by the council from among men of the greatest scientific eminence, and proposed to the society for election. Every member of the privileged class is liable to an admission fee of £10 and an annual payment of £4; other fellowз pay £3 per annum. The composition for annual payments is £60.

The anniversary meeting for the election of the council and officers is held on St Andrew's Day. The council for the ensuing year, out of which are chosen the president, treasurer, principal secretaries, and foreign secretary, must consist of eleven members of the existing council and ten fellows who are not members of the existing council. These are nominated by the president and council previously to the anniversary meeting. The session of the society is from November to June; the ordinary meetings are held every Thursday during the session, at 4.30 P.M. The selection for publication from the papers read before the society is made by the "Committee of Papers," which consists of the members of the council for the time being aided by referees. The papers so selected are published either in the Philosophical Transactions (4to) or the Proceedings of the Royal Society (8vo), and one copy of each of these publications is presented gratis to every fellow of the society and to the chief scientific societies throughout the world.

The making and repealing of laws is vested in the council, and in every case the question must be put to the vote on two several days of their meeting.

The text of the charters of the Royal Society is given in the appendix to Weld's History of the Royal Society, and in the same work will be found lists of the presidents,.treasurers; secretaries, and assistant-secretaries from the foundation to the year 1845. Appendix IV. to Thomson's History of the Rogal Society (1812) gives a chronological list of all the fellows down to the year 1812 with dates of birth, election, admission, and death, and an alphabetical index to the same,

Other histories are Bishop Sprat's (1667), which consists largely of a defence of the society against the attacks of a priort philosophers, and Dr Birch's (1756), which treats mainly of the society's scientific work (H. R.*)

ROYAN, a town of France, in the department of Charente Inférieure, is situated on the right bank of the Gironde, where it joins the ocean; a branch line of 51 miles connects it with Saujon, on the Seudre Railway, which joins the Bordeaux-Nantes line at Pons. Royan, which in 1881 had a population of only 4573 (5445 as a commune), is one of the most frequented bathing resorts on the Atlantic seaboard, the visitors numbering about 80,000 annually. Royan owes this popularity to its charming neighbourhood, pleasantly watered by brooks and shaded by fine trees down to the steep rocky shore. The coast is divided into a number of small bays or "conches," forming so many distinct beaches: to the east of the town is the "Grande Conche"; to the south the "Conche de Foncillon,' separated from the first-named by a quay which forms a fine terraced esplanade; beyond the fort of Royan, which protects the entrance of the river, follow in succession the conches "du Chay" and "de Grand Robinson," and the most fashionable of all, that of Pontaillac. In the Avenue de Pontaillac stand a large new casino, a theatre, and a hydropathic establishment. Royan also has a race-course and a museum of natural history.

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Royan, whose inhabitants were Protestants, had to sustain in 1622 an eight days' siege by the troops of Louis XIII. As late as the end of last century it was but a "bourg" of about one thousand inhabitants, noticeable only for its priory, where Brantôme wrote a portion of his Chronicles. The prosperity of the place dates from the Restoration, when steamboat communication was established with Bordeaux. The question of making of Royan the seaport for Bordeaux has often been mooted, but as yet the harbour is still a merely tidal one and is dry at low water. Tho sardine, here known by the name of royan, is caught by the local fishermen.

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ROYER-COLLARD, PIERRE PAUL (1763-1845), French statesman and philosopher, was born on the 21st June 1763 at Sompuis near Vitry-le-Français. At an early age he became a member of the bar, and pleaded several times in the old parlement of Paris. On the breaking out of the Revolution he took the popular side, and was elected to a seat in the municipal council of Paris. secretary to this body from 1790 to 1792, but separated himself from the later excesses of the Revolution. During the Reign of Terror he lived in retirement at Sompuis, and after vainly endeavouring in 1797, as member of the Council of Five Hundred, to bring about the restoration of the monarchy, he retired altogether from public life till the fall of Napoleon in 1814. During the interval he devoted himself mainly to philosophical studies. Animated by a profound distrust of the negative sensationalism and materialism which had characterized the French philosophy of the 18th century, he found a master whom he could follow in Thomas Reid. The study of Reid's Inquiry, which he picked up on a book-stall, first gave a definite form and direction to his thinking. Royer-Collard may be said to have introduced Reid to France, and the works of the Scottish philosopher were translated not long afterwards by his pupil Jouffroy. In 1810 Royer-Collard became professor of philosophy, and taught with success in Paris, till the Restoration recalled him to political life. In 1815 he was elected to represent his native department of the Marne in the chamber of deputies; he was also made councillor of state and appointed president of the commission of public instruction. A royalist of moderate views, he helped to restrain the extreme members of his own party, opposing alike the reactionary laws against the press and the proposal to give the clergy control of public instruction. In 1827 he was so popular as to be elected in seven departments, and shortly afterwards he became a member of the French Academy; in the following year he

was made president of the chamber. In this capacity he had the unpleasant duty of presenting to Charles X. the address in which the majority of the chamber refused their further support to the Government (March 1830). Royer-Collard retained his position as deputy under the new régime of Louis Philippe, but no longer took a prominent part in public affairs. In 1842 he withdrew completely from active life and spent most of his remaining time at his country seat of Châteauvieux near SainteAignan. He died there on the 2d September 1845. As a philosopher, Royer-Collard is not distinguished either by originality or profundity; but he possesses a certain importance as having transplanted to France the philosophy of common sense. He has himself left no philosophical writings except some fragments which appear in Jouffroy's edition of Reid; but by his example and teaching he founded the school which has been variously named the Scoto-French, the eclectic, the spiritualistic, or the psychological. Maine de Biran, Cousin to some extent, and Jouffroy in a closer way, as well as Janet and others at the present day, are the chief representatives of the school. The name "Spiritualisme," which is perhaps the commonest designation, expresses the tenacity with which, in opposition to the dominant sensationalistic materialism of France, it upholds the doctrine of a spiritual Ego as a fact of consciousness. The title psychological, however, would be preferred by the philosophers themselves as describing their method, and the basis on which they claim to have erected their philosophy. Philosophy tends for them, as for Reid and Stewart, to become a classification of isolated facts of consciousness.

Several blographies of Royer-Collard have been published. Barante, Vie politique de M. Royer-Collard, ses discours, et ses écrits, 1861, is the fullest. Others are by Philippe and Lacombe. In addition may be mentioned Mémoires sur Royer Collard, by his nephew Genty de Bussy.

ROYLE, JOHN FORBES (1800-1858), a distinguished botanist and teacher of materia medica. His reputation is especially founded upon the results of personal investigations in the Himalaya Mountains and in other parts of Hindustan. He was born in Cawnpore in 1800. His medical education was obtained in London, and on its completion he entered the service of the East India Comassistant surgeon. pany, and was sent to India in 1822 in the grade of In this service he devoted himself to studying in the field the botany and geology of the regions within his reach, and made large collections among the Himalaya Mountains. He also made special investiga tions of the medical properties of the plants of Hindustan and of the history of their uses among the native races. The results of these investigations appeared in 1837 in the form of a valuable work On the Antiquity of Hindoo Medicine. For nearly ten years he held the post of superintendent of the East India Company's botanic garden in the Himalayas at Saharanpur. He returned to London professorship of materia medica in King's College, London, on furlough in 1831, and in 1837 he was appointed to the conducted a special department of correspondence, relating a position which he held till 1856. From 1838 onwards he to vegetable products, at the East India House, and at the time of his death he had just completed there the formaof technical products from the East Indies. tion and arrangement of an extensive and valuable museum In 1851 he superintended the Indian department of the Great Exhibition. He died at Acton near London on 2d January

1858.

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of the Botany and other branches of Natural History of the Himalaya The work on which his reputation chiefly rests is the Illustrations Mountains, and of the Flora of Cashmere, in 2 vols. 4to, begun in 1839. It contains much information on the natural products of India, especially on such as are useful in the arts or as drugs. In viz., An Essay on the Productive Resources of India (1840). A Manual addition to this work, however, he wrote several others of repute, of Materia Medica (1845), An Essay on the Cultivation of Cotton (1857), and on The Cordage Plants and Vegetable Fibres of India (1855). He also published a number of papers, between 1882 and 1855, upon subjects akin to those of his larger works, in scientific journals, for the most part published in India. Among these papers are included three on geological subjects. A list of the whole will be found in the Royal Society's Catalogue of Scientific Papers.

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