ce left, which the King placed at the disposal of the
Society, and a portion of it was expended on the bust of His Majesty, by
Nollekins, now in its possession.

The gentlemen whose names had been suggested as observers were asked to
appear before the Council if they were willing to accept the position,
and Mr. Dalrymple wrote in reply to say there was only one part of the
world where he would go to take observations, that was the South Seas,
and he would only go if he had "the management of the ship intended for
the service." Mr. Maskelyne told the Council he had recommended Mr.
Dalrymple to the Admiralty for the command of the ship, the use of which
had been granted, but had been informed that such an appointment would be
"entirely repugnant to the regulations of the Navy." It is said that Sir
Edward Hawke, having in his mind the disastrous result of giving Halley
the command of a King's ship in 1698, when a serious mutiny occurred,
positively refused to sign such a commission, saying that he would
"rather cut off his right hand than permit any one but a King's officer
to command one of the ships of His Majesty's Navy."

Dalrymple, originally a clerk in the East India Company's service, had
spent some years trading amongst the islands of the Malay Archipelago and
China, returned to England and published a couple of pamphlets on the
East Indies, and in 1767 a book on the discoveries in the South Pacific
Ocean, which brought him to the notice of the Royal Society. He was
afterwards for a time hydrographer to the East India Company, and was
then appointed the first hydrographer to the Admiralty. He was dismissed
from this position for exceeding his powers, and soon afterwards died. He
appears to have been a clever man, but of an extremely overbearing
disposition and a very high opinion of himself. In writing to Dr.
Hawkesworth on one occasion, he said: "I never write on any subject I do
not thoroughly understand." What makes the remark more interesting is
that he was quite in the wrong on the subject under discussion. He
appears never to have forgiven Cook for having been successful in
obtaining the command of the expedition to observe the Transit of Venus,
and for completely upsetting his pet theory of a large continent in the
Southern Ocean.

PURCHASE OF THE ENDEAVOUR.

The Navy Board, having been ordered by the Admiralty to propose a proper
vessel to convey the observers to the South Seas, first suggested the
Trya