DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1041#0029
History of the Society of Dilettanti 17
son of the Earl of Kinnoul, similarly went through
a course of travel on leaving Oxford, and became
successively Bishop of St. Asaph and of Salisbury,
and eventually Archbishop of York, dying in 1776.
Joseph Spence, another of the original members,
owed his election to the circumstance that he had
travelled as governor to the Earl of Middlesex, and
later also to the Earl of Lincoln. He was Pro-
fessor of Poetry and afterwards Regius Professor
of Modern History in Oxford, a friend and corre-
spondent of Pope, and is well known as the author
of Polymetis and the Anecdotes. He died at Byfleet in
Surrey, in August, 17 6 8. These were among the more
remarkable of the earliest members of the Society
of Dilettanti. Others, such as Colonel Degge, Sir
Brownlow Sherard, Viscount Boyne, Viscount Galway,
Mr. E. Clarke, Sir L. Pilkington, appear in the
minute-books as active members, but their share in
the proceedings is less defined. The names mentioned
will show that, although the early meetings may
have been convivial and perhaps uproarious, the
members were for the most part men of education
and distinction, and included several who were of
real importance in the history of the country.
To the above must be added a fewnames of members Sandwich.
who took an active and leading part in the early
proceedings of the Society, although they were not
elected until after i7 3<f, the date of the earliest
extant list. These were the Earl of Sandwich, the
Duke of Bedford, Mr. Thomas Brand, and the Earl
of Holdernesse. John Montagu, fourth Earl of
Sandwich, has been beyond doubt one of the best-
abused men of his century. He was born in 1718,
and succeeded to the peerage at the age of eleven.
After a course of education at Eton and Trinity
son of the Earl of Kinnoul, similarly went through
a course of travel on leaving Oxford, and became
successively Bishop of St. Asaph and of Salisbury,
and eventually Archbishop of York, dying in 1776.
Joseph Spence, another of the original members,
owed his election to the circumstance that he had
travelled as governor to the Earl of Middlesex, and
later also to the Earl of Lincoln. He was Pro-
fessor of Poetry and afterwards Regius Professor
of Modern History in Oxford, a friend and corre-
spondent of Pope, and is well known as the author
of Polymetis and the Anecdotes. He died at Byfleet in
Surrey, in August, 17 6 8. These were among the more
remarkable of the earliest members of the Society
of Dilettanti. Others, such as Colonel Degge, Sir
Brownlow Sherard, Viscount Boyne, Viscount Galway,
Mr. E. Clarke, Sir L. Pilkington, appear in the
minute-books as active members, but their share in
the proceedings is less defined. The names mentioned
will show that, although the early meetings may
have been convivial and perhaps uproarious, the
members were for the most part men of education
and distinction, and included several who were of
real importance in the history of the country.
To the above must be added a fewnames of members Sandwich.
who took an active and leading part in the early
proceedings of the Society, although they were not
elected until after i7 3<f, the date of the earliest
extant list. These were the Earl of Sandwich, the
Duke of Bedford, Mr. Thomas Brand, and the Earl
of Holdernesse. John Montagu, fourth Earl of
Sandwich, has been beyond doubt one of the best-
abused men of his century. He was born in 1718,
and succeeded to the peerage at the age of eleven.
After a course of education at Eton and Trinity