Royal Society. 1 29 



which was to form the obverse of it, while Sir Thomas undertook 

 to compose the design for the reverse. Unfortunately, that distin- 

 guished artist, either from over-delicacy or over- anxiety to produce 

 a work of art worthy of the object for which it was intended, or 

 from that spirit of procrastination which was unhappily too common 

 with him, delayed its execution from year to year, and died without 

 leaving behind him even a sketch of his ideas respecting it, though 

 the character of such a design as would be at once classical and ap- 

 propriate to the purpose, was the subject of frequent conversation, 

 and even of favourite speculation with him. From these and other 

 causes, to which it is not necessary for me now to advert, it arose, 

 that, at the demise of His late Majesty, although the adjudication of 

 ten Medals had been formally made and announced from the Chair 

 of the Royal Society, not even the dies, much less the Medals, were 

 forthcoming for the purpose of distribution to the various distin- 

 guished persons, some of them foreigners, to whom they had been 

 awarded. 



It cannot be necessary for me to impress upon you, Gentlemen, 

 that the non-completion of an engagement so solemnly entered into 

 with the whole republic of men of science, would have brought dis- 

 credit not merely upon the Royal Society, but upon the personal 

 honour of a Monarch of this country, whose name it is our especial 

 duty as Fellows of the Royal Society, to hand down unsullied to 

 posterity, as our munificent Patron and benefactor ; and as no funds 

 had been placed at the disposal of our Treasurer, nor in the hands of 

 any other ostensible person to meet the very heavy expenses which 

 must be incurred for cutting the dies and furnishing the Medals 

 already awarded, I felt it to be my duty, when I succeeded to this 

 Chair, to recommend to the Council the suspension of any further 

 adjudgment of the Medals until I could have an opportunity of 

 ascertaining the nature of the commands which had been issued con- 

 cerning them by the late Sovereign through his official advisers or 

 otherwise, and also of taking the pleasure of His present Majesty 

 respecting their continuance in future, and the conditions to which 

 they should be subject. These inquiries terminated in the most 

 satisfactory manner. On a proper application to those who were 

 intrusted with the ultimate arrangement of His late Majesty's affairs, 

 prompt measures, as far as lay in their power, were adopted for the 

 immediate fulfilment of every pledge which it was conceived had 

 been given to the Royal Society and to the public at large in the 

 name of George the Fourth. 



The dies for the Medals upon the old foundation are now com- 

 pleted, and ready for distribution ; they bear upon the one side the 

 likeness of His late Majesty, while the reverse represents the cele- 

 brated statue of Sir Isaac Newton, which is placed in the chapel 

 of Trinity College, Cambridge, with such emblematical accompa- 

 niments as seemed best calculated to indicate the magnificent ob- 

 jects of the researches and discoveries of that great philosopher, 

 whose peculiar connexion with the Royal Society forms the most 

 glorious circumstance in its annals. 



Third Series. Vol. 4. No. 20. Feb. 1684. 8 



