of the blunts. When Franklin was informed of the King's action, he wrote from France: "The King's changing his pointed conductors for blunt ones is a matter of small importance to me. . . . For it is only since he thought himself and family safe from the thunder of Heaven that he dared to use his own thunder in destroying his own subjects." But George III. went further. He even endeavoured to make the Royal Society rescind their decision in favour of points. Sir John Pringle, the President,—a man who had been Professor of Moral Philosophy in Edinburgh, who was physician-extraordinary to the King and Queen, vir illustris de omnibus bonis artibus bene meritus,—when urged to use his influence against points and for blunts, manfully replied, "Sire, I cannot reverse the laws and operations of nature." A late[1] addition to the story is that the King replied, "Perhaps, Sir John, you had better resign." That he did resign and withdraw to Edinburgh a year afterward, is certain: whether points and blunts had any influence in causing him to take that step is uncertain, but it can scarcely be doubted that the King's interference in a scientific quarrel had something to do with the censure passed on his generosity by Dr. Watson, the son, four years afterwards.[2]
- ↑ In 1820.
- ↑ Sir John, after his return from Edinburgh to London in 1781, had the pleasure of spending a couple of hours on week-nights at a society of which he had been for many years a member, and where he met "with such friends as Mr. Cavendish, Dr. Heberden, and Dr. Watson." It was at one of these meetings that Sir John, on the 14th of January 1782, was seized with a fit from which he never recovered. In August of that year, with his friend's death still fresh in his thoughts, Dr. Watson gave expression to his sentiments regarding the King's shabbiness (Annual Register, 1783 [45]).
