THE GRANTING OF A CHARTER n 



Ex munificentia 

 Augustissimi Monarchae 



Carol! II 

 Dei Gra. Mag. Brit. Franc, et Hib. 



Regis fkt'. 



Societatis llegalis ad Scientiam 



Naturalem promouendu institutae 



Fundatoris et Patroni 



An. Dni. 1663 



This mace is still in constant use. At every meeting of the 

 Council and of the Society it is placed on the table in front of 

 the President before the business is begun. 1 



The first Council of the incorporated Society as given in this 

 Charter was as follows : Viscount Brouncker (President), Sir 

 Robert Moray, Kt., Robert Boyle, William Brereton (afterwards 

 Lord Brereton), Sir Kenelme Digby, Kt., Sir Paul Neile, Henry 

 Slingesby, Sir William Petty, Kt., John AVallis, D.D., Timothy 

 Clarke, M.D., John Wilkins, D.D., George Ent, M.D., William 

 Erskine, Jonathan Goddard, M.D., Christopher Wren, William 

 Balle, Matthew Wren, John Evelyn, Thomas Henshawe, Dudley 

 Palmer, Henry Oldenburg (Secretary). 



The first Charter, however, did not give the Fellows all the 

 privileges which they desired, and, representations having been 

 made, a second Charter (see p. 69), supplying the desired privileges 

 and retaining all the clauses of incorporation contained in the first 

 Charter, passed the Great Seal on the 22nd of April, 1663, and 

 was read before the Society on the 13th May following. In 1669 

 a third Charter (see p. 94) was given, but this does little more 

 than grant to the Society lands in Chelsea (the Chelsea College, 

 pp. 25, 27), and while confirming the powers given by the second 

 Charter makes some slight changes. 



It is practically the second Charter which ensures the Society 

 its privileges, and by which the Society has since been, and 

 continues to be, governed. In this Charter the King declares 

 himself to be the Founder and Patron of the Society. It is 

 provided, as in the first Charter, that the Society shall be 



1 The groundlessness of the legend that this mace of the Society was the ' bauble ' 

 turned out of the House of Commons by Oliver Cromwell has been exposed by Weld, 

 Hist. Roy. Soc., vol. i, p. 152, &c. 



