and pTDgrefs of Mxe Rojat Sbciefy of London . ^t 



Stfl academy had been inftltated at Paris for the refinement of 

 th.e French fengiiage. A fitnilar eftablHhni °nt began to be 

 fbrniecl at Caen, At Aix, in Frovence, the iHuftrioiis Peirefc, 

 the Robert Boyle of France, not only correfponded with the 

 moft eminent and ingenious m«?n in Europe on almoll every 

 intererting iubje6l, iu phyfics and in trhe ftudy of antiquities, 

 bnt ensiaiied his friends often to afFemble in his hoiife for the 

 mutual communication of their obfervationsand difcoveric? 

 as well in natural philnfupKy as in. every other part of know- 

 Icdg-e. Bnt the in.ftitution of an academy of fciences was 

 i^rved to diftinguifh, a.t a period fom.ewhat later, the mi- 

 Hiftry of Colbert, and the moft. fplendid part of the rei^n of 

 Lewis, the Fburteenth- The pjrofcflbrs in the German uni- 

 yerfities occafionajiv met and. ciniver^d about the fubjcfts 

 aijd ends of their (tudies; but in thcfe, phyfical fcience had, 

 hitherto, bnt fmall (hare ; and there was not as yet, in Ger- 

 manv, any feparate company of philofophers aflbciated for 

 the inveftigation of the laws of material nature. 



Dr. Seth Ward, the Hon. P.obcrt Bovle, Dr.. WlHHns, 

 Sir WiUiam Petty, Mr. Matthew Wren,' Dr. Walhs, Dr. 

 Goddard, Dr. Willis, Dr. Bxithurft, Dr. ChriftQ])her Wren„ 

 and Mr. Rooke, were the principal perfons who aflbciated 

 at the njeetin<Ts in Wadham colleffc. Thev met ralljer to. 

 perform experiments than to difcourfe about them. Mecha- 

 nics and chemiftry were the branches of fcience to wliiqh 

 their firft experiments chieHy related. In the year 1-658 the 

 (cene of their meetings was transferred fi'ojn Oxford to Gre- 

 fham college, in Lgndon,. 1^h<yr numbers were here foon 

 confiderablv augmented. Their meetings were, for a time, 

 ijiterrijpted by the diiUjrbances which enfiled- between the 

 ufurpation of the Cromwells and the reftoration in i66q. 



At the reftoration, two Scotfmen, Sir Rbbert Moray, of 

 Tibbermnir, and a Mr. tlrij^ine, who., having followed thi 

 iing in his exilt;, had now intl-uence g.t contrt, e.agcrly joined 

 tlic. philofophical niectipes a.t Grefhavn collcp,c, and pcr^ 

 ftiaded their fovereign to take the fifing fociety under hi.-? o.\vv 

 •fpecial patronage. A royaV charter w^s foop after graniedy 

 incorporating tliefe philofpphcrs into a bodr, to eonlift of a 

 prefident, a council gf ooe-and-t\vent)- inenibci'S', and" an in- 

 deternjinate number of ft;llovt<. VVilljam Lord "Vifcowntf 

 Brounker became their firtt prejklent. The inftilution was-, 

 ■for a time, very much au ob'iei^ of faftitonablt' attention a? 

 court. The king liimfeif, as ih^ patron aiiti fo'uidsr, t\'M 

 dake of Buf.kingnain, prince Rupert, the earl of (J'lnrcndnn, 

 the Hrrt eail of Shaftefbury, Monk dnke of Albemarle, duke 

 Albert of Brunfwick-E.unealmrgli, the earl of Peterborough, 



were 



