2io Presidentship of Sir Joseph Banks 1800 



at times would get the better of him, not only when sitting 

 as a judge, but even at family worship in his own home. 

 On one occasion, when he was conducting the service, one 

 of the servants, who had stayed behind, amused himself 

 by playing a violin. When his lordship heard the noise 

 he suddenly paused and called out " will no one stop that 

 fellow's d d fiddling ? " 



Lord Henley, who dined on February I3th, had a singularly 

 varied life as a diplomatist. Beginning as a Commoner, 

 by name Morton Eden, he filled a succession of posts in the 

 embassies to different countries of Europe Bavaria, Copen- 

 hagen, Dresden, Saxe-Gotha, Berlin, Vienna and Madrid, 

 and with so much satisfaction to the government that 

 his services were further employed in 1794 by his being 

 recalled from Spain and sent again as envoy extraordinary 

 to Vienna, where he remained on duty for five years more. 

 His merit had been recognised by his being created a Knight 

 of the Bath and on his retirement in November in 1799 

 he was given an Irish peerage with the title of Baron Henley. 

 He was elected into the Royal Society in the spring of 1800. 



Henry Cavendish this year invited twice as his guest 

 " Captain Huddart." This was probably Joseph Huddart 

 whose history is noteworthy. He was a Cumberland lad 

 who took to a sea-faring life and after some years so spent, 

 entered the service of the East India Company. In 1778 

 he was appointed to the command of a merchant-ship in 

 which he made four voyages to the East. He had shown 

 early in life a liking for mathematics and surveying. In 

 the course of his voyages he constantly took advantage of 

 his opportunities to chart the harbours he visited and the 

 coasts along which he sailed, constructing, among others, 

 charts of Sumatra and the coast of India from Bombay to 

 the mouth of the Godavery. When in 1788 he retired 

 from the Company's service, he took to surveying among 

 the Hebrides. His hydrographical qualifications and ex- 

 perience at sea led to his being appointed an Elder-Brother 

 of the Trinity House (1791), and on November 17 in the 

 same year he was elected into the Royal Society. He 



