1789 Visitors from Portugal 187 



of habit which led to a general exodus of society and of pro- 

 fessional men from London in autumn was obviously gaining 

 ground, but there were doubtless some members of the 

 Club who either from choice or necessity preferred to remain 

 in town, and to whom the cessation of the weekly dinner 

 would have caused a serious blank in life. 



There was one member who had not attended during a 

 whole year and who according to the regulations was liable 

 to be declared no longer a member. It is interesting to 

 know that his case was put to the ballot and that there were 

 ten balls in favour of his retention and nine for his exclusion. 

 It was thereupon resolved that the member " be still con- 

 sidered a member of the Club." It would thus appear that, 

 on occasion, the rules could be set aside to such an extent 

 that the exclusion of a member by ballot required an absolute 

 majority of black balls. There were no vacancies this year 

 in the membership. 



Among the foreign visitors there came a group of Por- 

 tuguese diplomats. On 23rd July Francisco-Jose-Maria, 

 Chevalier de Brito, and Araujo de Azevedo, Count of Barca 

 dined with the Club. M. Brito had filled various diplomatic 

 functions including that of Envoy-extraordinary and Minister 

 Plenipotentiary from the Court of Portugal to the King of 

 France. He was a friend of the Count of Barca. The 

 latter was now on his way to the Hague as the Minister 

 Plenipotentiary from Portugal, but he had halted in 

 England, where he made the acquaintance of Sir Joseph 

 Banks. After filling the anxious post given to him in 

 Holland he was transferred to Berlin, where as usual he 

 took pains to cultivate the society of the most prominent 

 philosophers of the day. He was fond of science and litera- 

 ture and devoted his leisure to their pursuit. When he 

 was called off from Europe to undertake duties in the 

 Portuguese colony of Brazil, he signalised his stay there 

 by forming a large botanic garden and introducing the 

 cultivation of tea into the country. One of the employments 

 of his leisure was to translate into Portuguese, and among the 

 poems which were thus introduced to his fellow-countrymen 



