122 Presidentship of Sir John Pringle 1774 



Of the English guests the most frequently present was 

 Benjamin Franklin. He dined no fewer than eighteen times, 

 generally on the invitation of the President, Sir John Pringle. 

 The " General Prevost " who occasionally appeared at the 

 Club was perhaps the officer in command when d'Estaing 

 was repulsed from Savannah. Dr. Blagden, to whom further 

 reference will often be made in later pages, dined several 

 times in the autumn and winter. 



1774. At the Annual General Meeting on 28th July 1774, 

 which was attended by fifteen members, with Sir John 

 Pringle presiding : 



The Treasurer informed the Society that there was no vacancy 

 this year either by Death or Absence. He likewise desired the 

 Society would excuse him from the office of Treasurer for the future, 

 which office he had been honoured with for upwards of 30 years ; 

 but as his state of health would not permit him to do the Duty of 

 that office any longer, in order to clear his Successor from any 

 immediate demands, desired he might pay the undercooks for the 



s. d. 



present year - 76 



which being deducted from 10 

 73. id. [the Balance in the 

 Treasurer's hands] there remains 

 the neat sum of ^9 is. id., which 

 was accordingly paid to D 1 



Dan 1 Solander who was elected \ moirs of this Club 1 

 Treasurer. when a preface is 



Fee etc. for Venison 



from the Earl of 



Hardwicke - 13 6 



For binding the ist 



volume of the Me- 



S r Jn Pringle, President 



wrote - 



This minute in his own clear and bold handwriting was 

 doubtless written not without some regret by the venerable 

 Treasurer. The Club had been the object of his fondest 

 regard and of his most assiduous care. He had seen it grow 

 from its first feeble beginning on 27th October 1743, when 

 he and seven other friends agreed to subscribe six shillings 

 each for a month's trial of the proposal to establish a weekly 



1 This reference is to the first volume of the Minutes of the General 

 (Anniversary) and Special Meetings, extending from the beginning of the 

 Club to 2gth June 1809. The Preface desiderated by the Treasurer was 

 never inserted. 



