DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1041#0126
no History of the Society of Dilettanti
Townley, and Cracherode, will be held in permanent
remembrance on account of the great collections of
works of art which passed by bequest or purchase
from their hands into those of the nation, and
between them compose no inconsiderable proportion
of the public treasures at the British Museum.
Deaths of In the meantime most of the founders of the
Founders. Society, and not a few men of those who may be
regarded as belonging to the second generation of
its members, had in the course of nature fallen
out of its ranks. Mr. Harris, its first Treasurer,
was one of the earliest to go in 1764., followed
in the next year by the gay Sewallis Shirley. In
17 d 9 died Mr. Howe and the Duke of Dorset, better
known to the Society as the Earl of Middlesex;
in 1771 Daniel Boone, the Duke of Bedford, and
Mr. Robert Wood, the explorer and first director
of the Society's archaeological ventures. In 1773
both the brothers Gray, who may be ranked among
the true founders of the Society, followed each
other quickly into the grave; Sir James first, leaving
the baronetcy to be held for a few months only
by his brother, the General. Both died past the
years of the Psalmist, but, curious to say, left
a mother to mourn their loss. Earl Harcourt died
in 1777, Knapton the painter and the Earl of Holder-
nesse in 1778, Earl Temple in 1779, * Athenian'
Stuart in 1780. In 1781 Lord le Despencer (under
which title the conspicuous name of Sir Francis
Dashwood was somewhat obscured) paid the debt
of nature after a long and varied, not wholly in-
famous, nor even wholly inglorious career. Fauquier
the banker, who had been Treasurer to the Society
for a few years, died in 1788. The Earl of Sandwich
succumbed in 1792, dying, as he lived, hard, and
Townley, and Cracherode, will be held in permanent
remembrance on account of the great collections of
works of art which passed by bequest or purchase
from their hands into those of the nation, and
between them compose no inconsiderable proportion
of the public treasures at the British Museum.
Deaths of In the meantime most of the founders of the
Founders. Society, and not a few men of those who may be
regarded as belonging to the second generation of
its members, had in the course of nature fallen
out of its ranks. Mr. Harris, its first Treasurer,
was one of the earliest to go in 1764., followed
in the next year by the gay Sewallis Shirley. In
17 d 9 died Mr. Howe and the Duke of Dorset, better
known to the Society as the Earl of Middlesex;
in 1771 Daniel Boone, the Duke of Bedford, and
Mr. Robert Wood, the explorer and first director
of the Society's archaeological ventures. In 1773
both the brothers Gray, who may be ranked among
the true founders of the Society, followed each
other quickly into the grave; Sir James first, leaving
the baronetcy to be held for a few months only
by his brother, the General. Both died past the
years of the Psalmist, but, curious to say, left
a mother to mourn their loss. Earl Harcourt died
in 1777, Knapton the painter and the Earl of Holder-
nesse in 1778, Earl Temple in 1779, * Athenian'
Stuart in 1780. In 1781 Lord le Despencer (under
which title the conspicuous name of Sir Francis
Dashwood was somewhat obscured) paid the debt
of nature after a long and varied, not wholly in-
famous, nor even wholly inglorious career. Fauquier
the banker, who had been Treasurer to the Society
for a few years, died in 1788. The Earl of Sandwich
succumbed in 1792, dying, as he lived, hard, and