The first forty Members 1 3 



contrived and constructed instruments which enabled Halley 

 and Bradley to make their astronomical observations, and 

 which were fully appreciated by the French Academy. 



Then there was a notable band of medical men, in- - 

 eluding some leaders of their profession. Besides Dr. Wil- 

 liam Watson, already mentioned, there were Drs. William 

 Battie, Charles Feake, and Gowin Knight. The last- 

 named received in 1747 the high award of the Copley 

 Medal. The Church was represented in the Club by Thomas 

 Birch, already alluded to and by Samuel Squire, who in c 

 after years became the Bishop of St. David's. The interests 

 of geography and maritime exploration were doubtless looked 

 after by Captain Middleton, who had seen service in the 

 Hudson Bay region and among the Arctic seas, and in after 

 years in home waters of the Scottish and Flemish coasts. 



Members of Parliament were likewise included in the 

 original list of the Club. Baron Willoughby of Parham was 

 for some years one of the most frequently present at the 

 weekly dinners and was often voted into the chair at these 

 gatherings. Charles Stanhope, who had sat in the House 

 of Commons for several constituencies in succession, was 

 another strong supporter of the Club. The Arts were not 

 neglected, for James Gibbs, one of the foremost architects 

 of the day, who has left his record in many public build- 

 ings and monuments in London, Oxford, and Cambridge, 

 elected F.R.S. in 1729, became a member of the Dining- 

 Club in 1747. A place was found, too, for a representative 

 of literature in the person of Richard Roderick, Fellow of 

 Queen's College, Cambridge, an accomplished critic and 

 writer of light verse who in 1750 was honoured with the 

 Fellowship of the Royal Society. 



Of the members who, though active supporters of the 

 Club, were never elected into the Royal Society, the most 

 prominent was Jeremiah Dyson. This amiable and 

 versatile man, politician, civil servant, and pamphleteer, 

 had in his youth studied at the University of Edinburgh, 

 where he formed a life-long friendship with Mark Aken- 

 side the poet, who was likewise then a student of 



