30 Presidentship of Martin Folkes 1748 



folio volumes, was begun in 1759 and completed in 1775. 

 He presented a copy of it to the King of Sweden, who 

 acknowledged it by conferring on him the Order of Vasa. 

 Thereafter he called himself " Sir John Hill," and purchasing 

 the degree of M.D. from the University of St. Andrews, 

 posed as a medical man. Among his multifarious under- 

 takings he wrote stage-plays which no manager would accept, 

 and he avenged himself by publishing acrimonious pamphlets 

 against these officials. Garrick, who came in for his share 

 of the vituperation, replied in the famous epigram : 



For physic and farces, his equal there scarce is ; 

 His farces are physic, his physic a farce is. 



In the preface to his attack on the Royal Society he 

 declared that he had " the honour not to be a Member of 

 the Royal Society of London." The Society took care that 

 he should retain that negative distinction. 1 



The Duke of Richmond, the second holder of the title, 

 who, as already mentioned, was a guest of the Club on 19 th 

 May, no doubt came there by invitation of the President. 

 When staying with the Duke at Goodwood in the pre- 

 vious year, Folkes wrote of him that he loved " all sorts 

 of natural knowledge," and was " the most humane and 

 best man living " a character borne out by the testimony 

 of other writers of the day. He had seen some service in 

 the army, was present at the Battle of Dettingen, and took 

 part at Carlisle in the expedition against the Jacobite 

 rebels of 1745. 



The most notable English man of science whose name 

 appears among the guests this year was James Bradley, 

 D.D. (1693-1762), who so early showed his astronomical 

 powers as to be elected into the Royal Society at the age 

 of five and twenty. Although he entered the Church and 

 had received several ecclesiastical appointments, he resigned 

 these when he accepted the Savilian professorship of 

 astronomy at Oxford in 1721. He became Astronomer 



1 The Annual Register for 1775 contains " A short Account of the Life, 

 Writings and Genius of the late Sir John Hill," which makes out the best 

 it can for his record. 



