52 Presidentship of the Earl of Macclesfield 1754 



had no longer any independent existence. The King seems 

 to cling to the last link that connected him with England, 

 and is anxious to have one more talk with the English 

 representative. 



It will be remembered that in the list of toasts enumerated 

 by Sir Joseph Ayloffe (p. 7) as having been proposed in 

 his time at the dinners of the Royal Society Club, the health 

 of the King of Poland was given. Sympathy with the fate 

 of that unhappy country might perhaps have suggested 

 this inclusion. But if the toast ever became customary 

 it more probably had a personal relation to the fact that 

 the last King of Poland had been a guest of the Club when 

 he was Count Poniatowski, and had left behind him pleasant 

 recollections of his visit. 



M. Clairault, already referred to (p. 44), again dined with 

 the Club four times in the spring. 



One of the guests this year was Lord Cadogan, whose 

 family name as well as that of his father-in-law are attached 

 to a number of street-names in the south-west of London. 

 Entering the army in 1706 he served in some of Marl- 

 borough's campaigns, and also in 1715 against the rebellious 

 Scots. He succeeded to his father's barony in 1726, and 

 married a daughter of Sir Hans Sloane, whose manor of 

 Chelsea thus came into his possession. It is interesting to 

 know that some of the familiar thoroughfares that have been 

 driven through the estate which Sir Hans Sloane purchased, 

 such as Sloane Street and Hans Place, are reminiscent 

 of one who was a noted personage in his day. Sloane 

 was an enthusiastic naturalist, and in the course of his life 

 amassed extensive collections. He became a Fellow of the 

 Royal Society on January 21, 1684-5, was Secretary of the 

 Society from 1693 to 1712 and succeeded Sir Isaac Newton 

 in the Presidential Chair, which he filled for fourteen years 

 from 1727 to 1741. He was the first of the long line of 

 English physicians to be made baronet an honour conferred 

 on him by George I. in 1716. He died in January 1753, 

 at the great age of 92. Next year, which was that where- 

 with we are now concerned in the history of the Club, 



