Letter 0540

Southwell has been confined by the weather so he sent his son to ‘putte our president in mind of tomorrow’. The President of the Royal Society, Lord Somers, informed Southwell’s son that he would not be present and reminded him that he had previously requested to be excused from the election. Southwell concludes saying that he will see Sloane at ten o’clock the next morning at Gresham College ‘soe we may be unanimous in some other Person.’ Sir Robert Southwell was a diplomat and government official. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1662, and was elected president from 1690 to 1695 (Toby Barnard, Southwell, Sir Robert (16351702), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26066, accessed 19 June 2013]).