GILBERT. 55 



and the bill for the revision of weights and measures, of which he 

 was appointed a commissioner. He was also a member of the Board 

 of Longitude. 



On the 8th of April, 1808, he married Mary Ann Gilbert, only 

 niece of Charles Gilbert of Eastbourne in Sussex, under whose will 

 he came into possession of considerable estates in that county; 

 and, in compliance with its conjunctions, obtained permission to 

 assume the name and arms of Gilbert. 



Mr. Gilbert contributed several important papers on mathematical 

 subjects to the ' Philosophical Transactions.' In July, 1819, he 

 succeeded Samuel Lyons in the office of treasurer to the Royal 

 Society, which office he retained until elected President in 1828. 

 He was also the author of numerous papers in the ' Quarterly 

 Journal of Science and Arts,' and presented the world with the 

 fruits of his labours as an antiquary, by publishing, in 1838, ' The 

 Parochial History of Cornwall,' in four volumes 8vo., founded on 

 the manuscript histories of Mr. Hals arid Mr. Tonkin. Mr. Gilbert 

 was a diligent collector of ancient traditions, legendary tales, songs, 

 and carols, illustrating the manners of the Cornish peasants, and 

 printed various ballads at his house at Eastbourne. He possessed 

 great memory and powers of quotation and anecdote ; his conversa- 

 tion has been described as being a continued stream of learning and 

 philosophy, adapted with excellent taste to the capacity of his 

 auditory, and enlivened with anecdotes to which the most listless 

 could not but listen and learn. 



" His manners," says Dr. Buckland, " were most unaffected, 

 childlike, gentle, and natural. As a friend, he was kind, consi- 

 derate, forbearing, patient, and generous ; and when the grave was 

 closed over him, not one man, woman, or child, who was honoured 

 with his acquaintance, but felt that he had a friend less in the 

 world." 



Mr. Gilbert retired from the chair of the Royal Society in 1830, 

 and two years later from Parliament ; he did not, however, resign 

 himself to repose, but continued in many ways still to advocate the 

 cause of science. In 1839 he became much weaker in health and 

 spirits ; and although he made a journey to Durham, and afterwards 

 into Cornwall, where he presided for the last time at the Anniversary 

 of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall (of which he had been 

 President since its institution in 1814), he was evidently unequal to 

 the exertions he was making. His last visit was to Oxford, which 

 University had some years before conferred on him the title of D.C.L. 

 From that period he never went into public, but, bidding farewell 

 to London, retired to his house at Eastbourne on the 7th of No- 

 vember, 1 839, where he died on the 24th of the following December. 

 His body was borne to the grave by his own labourers, and followed 

 by his widow and family, which consisted of one son (the present 

 J. D. Gilbert, F.R.S.) and two daughters. Weld's History of the 

 Royal Society, with Memoirs of the Presidents. London, 1848. 



