Note 499 — Chapter XXVIII · SCIENCE, ETC.
Reading edition
Addison, in the Tatler,[499] cannot resist the temptation of making fun of this Society: 'When I married this Gentleman he had a very handsome estate, but upon buying a set of Microscopes he was chosen a Fellow of the Royal Society, from which time I do not remember ever to have heard him speak as other people did, or talk in a manner that any of his family could understand.' Steele,[500] too, must needs give a little stab: 'When I meet with a young fellow that is an humble admirer of these Sciences, but more dull than the rest of the Company, I conclude him to be a Fellow of the Royal Society.'