SIR JOSEPH BANKS xxix 
a Privy Councillor, was an honorary member of the Board 
of Trade, the indulgence was granted” (Barrow, Joc. cit. p. 29). 
That Banks contemplated a voyage to the North Pole 
appears from a statement by Barrow that he announced 
such an intention at a meeting of the Batavian Society at 
Rotterdam in 1773, when he desired to be put in possession 
of such discoveries and observations as had been made by 
the Dutch, promising to acquaint them with any discoveries 
he might make in the course of such a voyage. 
On his return from Iceland, Banks settled in Soho 
Square, where he accumulated a magnificent library (as 
well as at Revesby Abbey) and large collections, the whole 
being arranged in the most methodical manner. These 
business-like habits formed a marked feature in everything 
he undertook throughout his life, as to which interesting 
testimony is afforded by Barrow, who, during a visit shortly 
before Banks’s death, was shown his papers and correspond- 
ence carefully assorted and labelled. In this he received 
considerable assistance from his successive librarians, 
Solander and Dryander. 
On the resignation of Sir John Pringle in November 
1778, Banks was chosen to succeed him as President of 
the Royal Society, an honour for which he had incontest- 
able claims, in his many sacrifices to science in all climates 
during the voyages to Newfoundland, round the world with 
Cook, and to Iceland, in his ardent love of natural science, 
his many accomplishments, his wealth and social position, 
his habitual intercourse with the king and with the heads 
of public departments whose influence was greatest for the 
furtherance of scientific research, and, above all, perhaps, in 
the disinterestedness with which he placed his collections 
and library at the disposal of all applicants of merit, and 
in the expenditure of his wealth. 
Notwithstanding all these claims on the votes of the 
Fellows of the Society, Banks was not destined to retain 
tranquil possession of the Presidency, and two or three 
circumstances, arising out of the zeal with which he dis- 
charged his duties, made him several enemies. One of 
