LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
593 
We have it not in our poweT to record the name of the erudite 
member, who put this series of scientific questions to Capt. Ross ; 
hut we have great reason to believe, that he found himself in 
the situation of the worthy brewer of Chiswell-street, on the 
occasion of the royal visit to his brewery, when the inqusitive 
monarch put a whole set of questions to him, consecutively, 
without waiting for an answer to any one; on which, the 
brewer became so confounded, that he said to himself:—. 
■---— Now may I be curst, 
If I know which to answer first. 
Capt. Ross, however, acted a more political part, and therefore 
considered, that it would be wholly satisfactory to the com¬ 
mittee, if he answered one of the questions ; and therefore he 
briefly replied, “ The needle dips more at the exact spot/’ 
“ What was the area ?”—I think, within a mile : but all 
these things are going through a committee; there is a com¬ 
mittee of scientific calculation; there is a spherical calculation 
of scientific people on shore, which will make the necessary 
allowances for the spherical figure of the earth.” 
“ By whom , and at what tune , was the name of our most gra¬ 
cious sovereign William the Fourth, fixed to that particular 
spot, which you describe as the true position of the magnetic 
pole. 
These are plain simple questions; and no doubt whatever can 
exist, that it was in the power of Capt. Ross to give a clear and 
explicit answer to them. If the name had been affixed by 
himself, it amounts. almost to a certainty, that he would have 
imparted the flattering information to the committee; on the 
same principle, it is not to be supposed that, if he had known 
it, he would have hesitated for a moment, to impart to the 
committee, the exact time when the name was so affixed, ac¬ 
cording to the plain tenor of the question, that was put to him. 
The answer, however, as given by Capt. Ross, had not the 
slightest connexion with the questions, that were put to him : 
for he answered, “ It was named after the Duke of Clarence; 
25 . 4 g 
