164 A Review of some leading Points in (he Official Character 



by mere theory, but most valued and most promoted those 

 sciences which rested on the firm basis of fact. With the ex- 

 ception that he had no relish for poetry, he had a well formed 

 taste ; and he was a man of extensive reading and of deep re- 

 flection. He was not too much of a philosopher to be ashamed 

 of avowing his belief in a divine revelation ; but read and thought 

 much on the momentous subject of religion. He maintained for 

 some time an active correspondence with the celebrated Mi- 

 chaelis, who addressed to him some valuable letters, in Latin, 

 on Daniel's Prophecy of the seventy tveeks, which Sir John pub- 

 lished in 1773. 



During tlie six years that Sir John had the honour of being 

 President of the Royal Society, he adopted the practice of de- 

 livering an oration on the assignment of Sir Godfrey Copley's 

 medal to the author of some valuable invention or discovery. 

 He was led to this almost entirely by accident; but the addresses 

 thus delivered, being intended to point out what was actually 

 due to the individual who received the medal, by showing what 

 had been effected before in the same department of research, 

 became exceedingly valuable as brief historical disquisitions; and 

 being each directed to a different topic of inquiry, they evinced 

 such an extent and variety of reading, such a correctness of 

 judgement, and such a freedom from bias or partiality, as were 

 at once honourable to him, and to the Society who had elected 

 such a President. Of these discourses the 1st was " On the 

 different kinds of air," delivered November 30, 1773, on the 

 assignment of the Copleian rnedal to Dr. Priestley : the 2d, 

 *' On the Torpedo," in 1774, on presenting the medal to Mr. 

 JValsh: the 3d, " On the attraction of mountains," in 1775, 

 on presenting the medal to Dr. Maskelyne for his observations 

 at Schehallie'n : the 4th, '^ On preserving the health of mari- 

 ners," delivered in 1776, on assigning the medal to Captain 

 Cook : the 5th, " On the invention and improvements of the 

 reflecting telescope," in 1777$ on assigning the medal to Dr. 

 Mudge of Plymouth : the 6th and last, " On the theory of gun- 

 nery," was delivered on the day of his resignation, when he pre- 

 sented the medal in the name of the Society to Dr. Hutton of 

 Woolwich, on account of his important experiments on that sub- 

 ject. 



Diversified as were the topics of these discourses, their author 

 seems " at home" in each. His researches were often erudite; 

 his remarks ingenious and solid, sometimes profound ; his lan- 

 guage elegant and perspicuous, occasionally passing into a stream 

 of genuine eloquence which really enchants and captivates the 

 reader. 



Sir John was a man not merely of scientific, but of high moral 



character. 



