PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY. 



1846. No. 64. 



April 30, 1846. 



The MARQUIS OF NORTHAMPTON, President, in the Chair, 



" History of the Mace given to the Royal Society by King Charles 

 the Second." By Charles Richard Weld, Esq., Barrister at Law, 

 Assistant Secretary and Librarian to the Royal Society. Com- 

 municated by the Marquis of Northampton, President of the Royal 

 Society. 



The Second Charter of the Royal Society passed the Great Seal 

 on the 22nd of April 1663, and in August following, Charles the 

 Second presented the Society with the Mace at present in their pos- 

 session. 



It is probable that His Majesty resolved some time before to 

 honour the Society with this mark of his esteem, for, in the above 

 Charter, permission is given to have two Sergeants-at-Mace to at- 

 tend upon the President {duos servient es ad clavas, qui de tempore in 

 tempus super Prcesidem attendant). The Council-Book of the Society 

 records, that "on the 3rd of August 1663, the President (Lord 

 Brouncker) informed the Society, that Sir Gilbert Talbot, Master of 

 the Jewell House, had sent to him, without taking any fees, the Mace 

 bestowed by His Majesty upon the Society ; " and that he, the said 

 President, had "in the Book of His Majesty's Jewell House, ac- 

 knowledged the receipt thereof for the Society*." 



This Mace, which fills so important an office in the Royal Society, 

 as without it no Meeting can be held, is made of silver, richly gilt, 

 and weighs 190 oz. avoirdupois. It consists of a Stem, handsomely 

 chased, with a running pattern of the Thistle, terminated at the 

 upper end by an urn-shaped head, surmounted by a Crown, Ball, 

 and Cross. Upon the head are embossed figures of a Rose, Harp, 

 Thistle, and Fleur-de-Lys, emblematic of England, Ireland, Scot- 

 land, and France, on each side of which are the letters C. R. 

 Under the Crown, and at the top of the head, the Royal Arms ap- 



* Vol. 1. p. 23. 



