1760 Henry Cavendish 73 



His few guests are said to have been treated on all occa- 

 sions to the same fare, which was by no means sumptuous, 

 being invariably a leg of mutton. Once when three or four 

 scientific men were to dine with him, and his housekeeper 

 came to ask what was to be got for dinner, he said, ' a leg 

 of mutton ! ' ' Sir, that will not be enough for five.' ' Well, 

 then, get two/ was the reply. 1 



Cavendish's biographer remarks that " the most striking 

 of his prominent peculiarities at a first glance, was a singular 

 love of solitariness, and a reluctance to mix with his fellows, 

 which I may perhaps best denote by saying that Cavendish 

 was one of the most ungregarious of beings." 2 This judg- 

 ment was undoubtedly founded on good evidence. Never- 

 theless the record of his relations with the Royal Society 

 Club shows that it must not be accepted too absolutely. 

 Proofs will be given in the following pages from the hitherto 

 unpublished registers of the Club that for many years he 

 was unquestionably the most constant and regular in his 

 attendance of all the members who have ever belonged to 

 the fraternity. To say that he dined with the Club every 

 Thursday does not convey to the mind a full appreciation 

 of the true measure of his assiduity, which can only be 

 properly expressed in a numerical statement. At first he 

 seems to have restricted himself to about two dinners in 

 the month, but in the course of ten years his attendance 

 rose by successive increments until it sometimes included 

 every week in the year, for in his time the Club con- 

 tinued its meetings during the Royal Society's vacation 

 and recesses. 



From 1770 onwards to the end of his life, that is for some 

 forty years, his record was never lower than 44 attendances 

 in the year, and was usually about 50. In 1784, January 

 began on a Thursday, the meeting day of the Club, and 

 December ended on a Friday, thus giving in all 53 weekly 

 gatherings and he was present at every one of them. In 

 the slack months of the year, when most of the members 

 of the Club were away on holiday, sometimes not more 



1 G. Wilson's Life of Cavendish, p. 164. 2 Ibid. p. 165. 



