History of the mace given to the Royal Society by King Charles the Second

The Second Charter of the Royal Society passed the Great Seal on the 22nd of April 1663, and in August following, Charles the Second presented the Society with the Mace at present in their possession. It is probable that His Majesty resolved some time before to honour the Society with this mark of his esteem, for, in the above Charter, permission is given to have two Sergeants-at-Mace to attend upon the President (duos servientes ad clavas, qui de tempore in tempus super Prœsidem attendant ). The Council-Book of the Society records, that “on the 3rd of August 1663, the President (Lord Brouncker) informed the Society, that Sir Gilbert Talbot, Master of the Jewell House, had sent to him, without taking any fees, the Mace bestowed by His Majesty upon the Society; ” and that he, the said President, had “in the Book of His Majesty’s Jewell House, acknowledged the receipt thereof for the Society.”