DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1041#0015
History of the Society of Dilettanti s
the same sentiment in others, was destined to be the
genuine ruling principle of the Society, its members
seem to have awakened to the fact that they might
become a leading power in social life.
Through their negligence at the outset the actual Date of
date of the foundation of the Society remains un- first
certain. At a meeting held at the Bedford Head records-
Tavern on March 6y 17 3 d, it was decided to keep
a regular minute-book, the records of meetings
having been previously merely jotted down on loose
papers. The first entries in the red morocco minute-
books of the Society are dated April ? and May 2,
173 6—Anno Soc. Ter. in the Latin style adopted (and
still kept up) for this purpose. When a separate book
was commenced on December 13, 1744, f°r the
minutes of the committee meetings, its date of com-
mencement is Ann. Soc. Duodec. From these entries it
may be assumed that the first meeting of the Society
was held in December, probably on December j or
12, 1732.
The majority of the original members were young character
noblemen or men of wealth and position between °for'g'«"1
twenty and thirty years of age, who had just come wem *"
home from their travels on the Continent (tours
usually made under the charge of some governor of
more mature age from the Universities or the Church),
and who were eager on their return not only to
compare notes of their experiences and acquisi-
tions, but also to be regarded as arbiters of taste
and culture in their native country. It can easily
be imagined that the convivial meetings of a society
thus constituted were characterized, in that age, by
a vivacity which would be hardly in tune with the
soberer ideas prevailing at the close of the nineteenth
century.
the same sentiment in others, was destined to be the
genuine ruling principle of the Society, its members
seem to have awakened to the fact that they might
become a leading power in social life.
Through their negligence at the outset the actual Date of
date of the foundation of the Society remains un- first
certain. At a meeting held at the Bedford Head records-
Tavern on March 6y 17 3 d, it was decided to keep
a regular minute-book, the records of meetings
having been previously merely jotted down on loose
papers. The first entries in the red morocco minute-
books of the Society are dated April ? and May 2,
173 6—Anno Soc. Ter. in the Latin style adopted (and
still kept up) for this purpose. When a separate book
was commenced on December 13, 1744, f°r the
minutes of the committee meetings, its date of com-
mencement is Ann. Soc. Duodec. From these entries it
may be assumed that the first meeting of the Society
was held in December, probably on December j or
12, 1732.
The majority of the original members were young character
noblemen or men of wealth and position between °for'g'«"1
twenty and thirty years of age, who had just come wem *"
home from their travels on the Continent (tours
usually made under the charge of some governor of
more mature age from the Universities or the Church),
and who were eager on their return not only to
compare notes of their experiences and acquisi-
tions, but also to be regarded as arbiters of taste
and culture in their native country. It can easily
be imagined that the convivial meetings of a society
thus constituted were characterized, in that age, by
a vivacity which would be hardly in tune with the
soberer ideas prevailing at the close of the nineteenth
century.