THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 13 



madder 1 which were to be sent to Holland, with a view 

 to eliciting information. Dutch methods seem to 

 have been highly appreciated, and among the earliest 

 volumes acquired by the Society as a nucleus for its 

 library were works by Dutch writers on agriculture 

 and husbandry. 



On the 4th of December 173 1, the first election of 

 officers was held, when Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 

 Duke of Dorset, lord lieutenant, was named as presi- 

 dent of the Society ; the Primate (Hugh Boulter), vice- 

 president ; Anthony Sheppard, treasurer ; Dr. Stephens, 

 secretary for home affairs ; Thomas Prior, secretary for 

 foreign affairs ; William Maple, curator and registrar. 

 Subsequently, on being waited on at the Castle by a 

 deputation to thank him for the honour done the 

 Society by his consenting to become President, the 

 Duke of Dorset signed his name in that capacity in 

 the subscription book. Hugh Boulter, primate, who 

 was chosen vice-president, held the See of Armagh 

 from 1724 to 1742. He was born in London, and 

 soon after entering on public life, his great talents 

 made him a conspicuous figure both in Church and 

 State. He lies buried in Westminster Abbey, where 

 there is a monument to his memory. At this election 

 Dr. John Van Lewen was admitted a member, and he 

 appears to have been the first member of the Society 

 admitted by ballot. He was son of a Dutch physician, 

 and practised as an accoucheur, dying in Moles- 

 worth street in 1736. Van Lewen was father of 

 Letitia Van Lewen, Swift's favourite, who married the 

 Rev. Matthew Pilkington. 



1 Madder was grown in large quantities in Flanders, on which 

 account cloth, made in England, was still sent over there to be 

 dyed. Until the introduction of the coal-tar colours, more than a 

 century later, madder was the principal source of all red dyes. (See 

 Hist. Roy. Soc. A7'ts, p. 15.) 



