This in England is in a great measure owing to the worthy elections that are so frequently made in our Royal Society.[140] They seem to be in a confederacy against men of polite genius, noble thought, and diffusive learning; and choose into their assemblies such as have no pretence to wisdom, but want of wit; or to natural knowledge, but ignorance of everything else. I have made observations in this matter so long, that when I meet with a young fellow that is a humble admirer of the sciences, but more dull than the rest of the company, I conclude him to be a Fellow of the Royal Society.
FOOTNOTES:
[136] The authorship of the letter which forms the principal part of this number is unknown. Goldsmith was told that a Dean of Killaloe was the author of a paper in the Tatler or Spectator, but there is nothing to connect the Dean (Jerome Ryves) with this particular number.
[137] This may apply either to Swift, from whom Steele borrowed the name of Bickerstaff, or to Steele himself.
[138] "Our one horse vehicles have always been peculiar to ourselves, and were in use long before anything of a similar kind was introduced into England. The earliest and rudest of these were the Ring's End cars, so called from their plying principally to that place and Irishtown, then the resort of the beau monde for the benefit of sea-bathing. This car consisted of a seat suspended in a strap of leather between shafts, and without springs. The noise made by the creaking of the strap, which supported the whole weight of the company, particularly distinguished this mode of conveyance" ("Sketches of Ireland Sixty Years Ago," p. 77, quoted in Notes and Queries, 7th Series, iv. 178-179). Ring's End is a fishing village near Dublin.
[139] Sir Hans Sloane. The hazardous voyage to Liverpool is, perhaps, an allusion to the doctor's voyage to Jamaica, ridiculed by Dr. William King, in "A Voyage to the Island of Cajamai."
[140] For previous attacks on the Royal Society by Addison, see Nos. 119, 216, and 221.
[No. 237. [? Steele.][141]
From Thursday, Oct. 12, to Saturday, Oct. 14, 1710.
In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas
Corpora.——