R O Y 



It U Y 



Orefliam College. This ailembly feems to be that men- 

 tioned under the title of the a Inviiible, or Philofophicai 

 College," by Mr. Boyle, in fome letters written in 1646 

 and 1647. About the years 1648 and 1649, the company, 

 which formed thefe meetings, began to be divided : thole m 

 Lendon continued to meet there as before ; and thofe who 

 were removed to Oxford occafionally joined them. The 

 latter, viz. Dr. Wilkins, Dr. Wallis, and Dr. Goddard, 

 in connection with others, continuing their affemblies in 

 Oxford, brought the ftudy of natural and experimental plii- 

 lofophy into fafhion there ; meeting iirll in Dr. Pettv's 

 lodgings, afterwards at Dr. Wilkins's apartments in Wad- 

 ham College, and, upon his removal, in the lodgings of the 

 honourable Mr. Boyle. The greateft part of the Oxford 

 fociety coming to London about the year 1659, they met 

 once or twice a week in term-time, at Grefham College, 

 till they were difperfed by the public diffractions of that 

 year, and the place of their meeting was made a quarter for 

 foldiers. Upon the Reiloration, in 1660, their meetings 

 were revived, and attended with a larger concourfe of per- 

 sons, eminent for their character and learning. 



They were at length taken notice of by the king, who 

 was pleafed to grant them an ample charter, dated the 221I 

 of April 1663, by which they were creeled into a corpora- 

 tion, " confuting of a prefident, council, and fellows, for 

 promoting natural knowledge." 



Their manner of electing fellows is by ballotting. Their 

 council are in number twenty-one, including the prefident, 

 vice-prelident, treafurer, two fecretaries, and fecretary for 

 foreign correfpondence ; eleven of which are continued for 

 the next year, and ten more added to them ; all chofen on 

 St. Andrew's day. Each member, at his admiflion, fub- 

 tcribes an engagement, that he will endeavour to promote 

 the good of the fociety ; from which he may be freed at 

 any time, by fignifying to the prefident, that he delires to 

 withdraw. 



The charges are five guineas paid to the treafurer at ad- 

 million ; and thirteen (hillings per quarter, fo long as the 

 perfon continues a member ; or, in lieu of the annual fub- 

 lcription, a compofition of twenty-fix guineas in one pay- 

 ment. 



Their defign is, to « make faithful records of all the 

 works of nature or art, which come within their reach ; fo 

 that the prefent, as well as after-ages, may be enabled to 

 put a mark on errors which have been ltrengthened by long 

 prefcription ; to reilore truths that have been neglected ; to 

 pufh thofe already known to more various ufes ; to make 

 the way more pailable to what remains unrevealed," &c. 



To this purpofe they have made a great number of ex- 

 periments and obfervations on moll of the works of nature ; 

 eclipfes, comets, meteors, mines, plants, earthquakes, in- 

 undations, fprings, damps, fubterraneous fires, tides, cur- 

 rents, the magnet, &c. Alfo numbers of fhort hiltories of 

 nature ; arts, manufactures, ufeful engines, contrivances, 

 &c. The fervices they have been of to the public are very 

 great. They have improved naval, civil, and military ar- 

 chitecture j advanced the fecurity and perfection of na- 

 vigation ; improved agriculture ; and put not only this 

 kingdom, but alfo Ireland, the plantations, &c. upon 

 planting. 



They have registered experiments, hiftories, relations, ob- 

 fervations, 3cc. and reduced them into one common ftock ; 

 and have, from time to time, publifhed fome of the molt 

 immediate ufe, under the title of Philofophical Tranfa&ions, 

 &c. and laid the reft up in public regifters, to be nakedly 

 tranfmitted to pofterity, as a folid ground-work for future 

 fyltems. See Transactions. 



They have a library adapted to their inflitution ; towards 

 which Mr. Henry Howard, afterwards duke of Norfolk, 

 contributed the Norfolcian library, and which is, at this 

 time, greatly increafed by a continual feries of benefactions. 

 The imifaint, or repofitory, of natural and artificial rarities, 

 given them by Daniel Colwal, efq., and fince enriched by 

 many others, is now removed to the Britifh Mufeum, anil 

 makes a part of that great repofitory. Their motto is, 

 nullics in verba ; and their place of affemblino- is So- 

 merfet-place, in the Strand. Sir Godfrey Copley, bart.,' 

 left five guineas to be given annually to the perfon who 

 mould write the belt paper in the year, under the head of 

 experimental philofophy. This reward, which is now 

 changed to a gold medal, is the higheft honour the fociety 

 can beltow. It is conferred on St. Andrew's day. 



Royal Society of Miifieiam. See Mufcal Fund, and 

 Royal Society of Mujicians. 



Royal Spanijh Academy. See Academy'. 



Royal Sugar. See Sugar. 



Royal, in Sea Language, is a name given to the higheft 

 fail which is extended in any (hip. It is fpread immediately- 

 above the top-gallant fail, to whofe yard-arms the lower 

 corners of it are attached. The fail is never ufed but in 

 light and favourable breeze?. 



Royal Stay. See Stay. 



Royal Yard. See Yard. 



Royals, in Artillery, are a kind of fmall mortars, which 

 carry a (hell, whofe diameter is five inches and a half. See 

 Mortar. 



Royal Bay, in Geography, a bay on the N.E. of the 

 idand of Georgia, between Cape George and Cape Char- 

 lotte. -Alfo, a bay on the N. coaft of Antigua, a little to 

 the E. of Peyerfan's Point. 



Royal, or Minong, //land, an idand about sj miles 

 long, and 12 wide, in the N.W. part of lake Superior. 

 N. lat. 47 S 2>. W. long. 8 9 °.-Alfo, a fmall fertile idand 

 in the river St. Lawrence, 60 miles below lake Ontario. 

 N. lat. 44 46'. W. long. 75" 24'. 



Royal Reach, a channel in the (traits of Magellan, ex- 

 tending from Fortefcue bay to Pallage Point. 



Royal Sound, a large bay on the coaft of Kerguelen's 

 land, between Cape George and the Prince of Wales's 

 Foreknd. 



Royal's River, a river of America, in Cumberland 

 county, Maine, which runs into Cafco bay, in the townfhip 

 of North Yarmouth. 



ROYALSTON, a townfhip of Worcefter county, 

 Mafl'aciiufetts ; 40 miles N.W. by N. of Worceiter ; in- 

 corporated in 1665, and containing 1419 inhabitant*, 

 Miller's river traverfes this town from the eait. 



ROYALTIES, Regalities, the rights of the king; 

 otherwife called the king's prerogative, and the regalia. See 

 Prerogative and Regalia. 



Of thele, fome the king may grant to common perfor.s ; 

 others are iafeparahle from the crown. 



ROYALTON, in Geography, a townfhip of Windfor 

 county, in the (late of Vermont, N.W. of Hartford, on 

 White river, containing 1748 inhabitants. 



ROYAMUNGAL, a river of Bengal, which runs ir.tc 

 the bay of Bengal, N. lat. 21 35'. E. long. 89= 18'. 



ROYAN, a town of France, in the department of tne 

 Lower Charente, on the Garonne; fortified by the Hu- 

 guenots, and defended fo vigoroufly againlt Louis XIII. 

 in the year 162 1, that he was compelled to withdraw his 

 troops ; but he afterwards avenged his difgrace, by demo- 

 lifhing it fo entirely, that the prefent place is only the 

 fuburbs of the former ; 12 miles S. of Marennes. 



ROYAUMEIZ, 



