THE NAMING OF THE SOCIETY 13 



On the evening of May 3 following, King Charles paid a visit 

 to the Society and was shown Saturn's rings and Jupiter and his 

 satellites * through his Majesty's great telescope, drawing thirty- 

 five feet; on which were divers discourses'. 1 Ten days later 

 Evelyn records: 'May 14. His Majesty was pleased to discourse 

 with me concerning several particulars relating to our Society, 

 and the planet Saturn, &c., as he sate at Supper in the with- 

 drawing-room to his bedroom.' 2 



The question of the name that should be given to the new 

 Society M r as doubtless the subject of much discussion at this time. 

 It would appear that the name ultimately chosen was first 

 publicly applied to the Society by Evelyn in the Dedication to 

 the Earl of Clarendon of his translation of Gabriel Naude's ' Avis 

 pour dresser une Bibliotheque ', wherein he lauded that nobleman 

 for his services * in the promoting and encouraging of the ROYAL 

 SOCIETY '. The book appeared about the middle of November. 

 By that time Evelyn seems to have accustomed himself to think, 

 and even in his Diary to write, of the company of philosophers 

 as the ' Royal Society '. His colleagues lost no time in 

 expressing their gratification to him for his public recognition of 

 them by this title. The entry in his Diary under date 

 December 3 is as follows : ' By universal suffrage of our philo- 

 sophic assembly, an order was made and registered, that I should 

 receive their public thanks for the honourable mention I made 

 of them by the name of Royal Society, in my Epistle Dedicatory 

 to the Lord Chancellor before my traduction of Naudaeus. Too 

 great an honour for a trifle.' 3 It is allowable to believe that 

 during the frequent conversations' which Evelyn had with the 

 King that autumn, when so many subjects were discussed, the 

 important matter of the Society's name was considered. Charles 

 was now genuinely interested in the work of the philosophers, 

 and if he did not propose the title himself, he doubtless at once 

 approved of it, if it was suggested by his eminent and esteemed 

 courtier. 



The question of a name had become somewhat urgent, for the 



1 Evelyn's Diary, vol. ii, p. 168. Edit, of Austin Dobson, 1906. 



2 Ibid. p. 170. 



3 Ibid. p. 179 ; Journal-book of Royal Society, December 11, 1661. 



