DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1041#0124
108 History of the Society of Dilettanti
been many. We have seen how, about the beginning of
the period, fresh blood was introduced in the persons
of several artists and scholars engaged in the practical
labours of exploring and publishing the remains of
ancient art in Greece and Asia Minor. At the same
time the original character of the Society was kept
up by the admission of a steady flow of new members,
recruited chiefly from the governing families of the
country, and including many names well known in
political and social life.
New Such were Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquess
members. 0f Rockingham, the Whig Prime Minister and
friend of Burke, who was the fourth of his family
to join the ranks of the Dilettanti; the Dukes of Rich-
mond, Roxburghe, Buccleuch, and Marlborough; the
Earls of Charlemont, Upper Ossory, Clanbrassil, and
Earl Spencer; Sir Thomas Robinson, afterwards Lord
Grantham; and Viscount Palmerston. Charles James
Fox was elected at the age of twenty : and there ap-
pear on the list some members of the family of Pitt,
but not those either of the Great Commoner himself
or of his father. The army sent Lord Ligonier and
Colonel Henry St. John; the navy, Augustus Hervey,
the original husband of the bigamous Duchess of
Kingston, and his nephew Constantine Phipps, the
Arctic explorer, afterwards Lord Mulgrave. Other
sections of society and fashion were represented
by such men as the Honourable Charles Greville,
George Selwyn, the famous wit, with Bennet Langton
and Topham Beauclerk, the friends of Johnson. One
member earned distinction of a fortunately unique
description; Robert Fitzgerald, by birth and marriage
connected with the best families in the land, was
found guilty of murder of a very atrocious descrip-
tion, and suffered the just expiation of his crimes upon
been many. We have seen how, about the beginning of
the period, fresh blood was introduced in the persons
of several artists and scholars engaged in the practical
labours of exploring and publishing the remains of
ancient art in Greece and Asia Minor. At the same
time the original character of the Society was kept
up by the admission of a steady flow of new members,
recruited chiefly from the governing families of the
country, and including many names well known in
political and social life.
New Such were Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquess
members. 0f Rockingham, the Whig Prime Minister and
friend of Burke, who was the fourth of his family
to join the ranks of the Dilettanti; the Dukes of Rich-
mond, Roxburghe, Buccleuch, and Marlborough; the
Earls of Charlemont, Upper Ossory, Clanbrassil, and
Earl Spencer; Sir Thomas Robinson, afterwards Lord
Grantham; and Viscount Palmerston. Charles James
Fox was elected at the age of twenty : and there ap-
pear on the list some members of the family of Pitt,
but not those either of the Great Commoner himself
or of his father. The army sent Lord Ligonier and
Colonel Henry St. John; the navy, Augustus Hervey,
the original husband of the bigamous Duchess of
Kingston, and his nephew Constantine Phipps, the
Arctic explorer, afterwards Lord Mulgrave. Other
sections of society and fashion were represented
by such men as the Honourable Charles Greville,
George Selwyn, the famous wit, with Bennet Langton
and Topham Beauclerk, the friends of Johnson. One
member earned distinction of a fortunately unique
description; Robert Fitzgerald, by birth and marriage
connected with the best families in the land, was
found guilty of murder of a very atrocious descrip-
tion, and suffered the just expiation of his crimes upon