DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1041#0143
TX4- History of the Society of Dilettanti
give offence or to be considered a breach of morality.
Its spirit is meant to be truly antiquarian: if the result
is both dull and grotesque, that is due partly to
the far-fetched mythological fancies which passed for
learning at the time, partly to a failure of tact and
humorous perception in the authors. Offence at any
rate the publication did give, and Payne Knight,
whose name was chiefly identified with the publica-
tion, was vehemently assailed on its account. Mathias,
a satirist of a violent and reckless description, dubbed
ca miserable imp' by Dr. Wolcot, and branded by De
Quincey for c much mean and impotent spite' and
{systematic pedantry,' made a severe attack on him in
the work known as The Pursuits of Literature. These
and other attacks affected Payne Knight so much that
he did his best to call in all the copies he could of
the offending work, which is consequently of great
scarcity and especially in an unmutilated condition.
Retrospect: At the close of the eighteenth century the Society
'work of the 0f Dilettanti, notwithstanding such a slip in taste and
fnItaly" judgement as this, might well look back with satis-
faction upon the work done by its members, both
collectively and individually, in the cause of classical
archaeology. Sixty or seventy years earlier, the
study of classical antiquities could hardly be said to
exist, while the collection of specimens and the
description of ancient buildings and sites were left
to a few casual travellers. The foundation of the
Society of Dilettanti brought together all the rich
young travellers of British birth in a kind of healthy
competition towards a single goal. Under the spur
of this competition purses were opened freely, and
with the help of English gold the soil of Rome and
the Campagna yielded up its long-buried treasures.
Without the zeal and perspicacity of such men as
give offence or to be considered a breach of morality.
Its spirit is meant to be truly antiquarian: if the result
is both dull and grotesque, that is due partly to
the far-fetched mythological fancies which passed for
learning at the time, partly to a failure of tact and
humorous perception in the authors. Offence at any
rate the publication did give, and Payne Knight,
whose name was chiefly identified with the publica-
tion, was vehemently assailed on its account. Mathias,
a satirist of a violent and reckless description, dubbed
ca miserable imp' by Dr. Wolcot, and branded by De
Quincey for c much mean and impotent spite' and
{systematic pedantry,' made a severe attack on him in
the work known as The Pursuits of Literature. These
and other attacks affected Payne Knight so much that
he did his best to call in all the copies he could of
the offending work, which is consequently of great
scarcity and especially in an unmutilated condition.
Retrospect: At the close of the eighteenth century the Society
'work of the 0f Dilettanti, notwithstanding such a slip in taste and
fnItaly" judgement as this, might well look back with satis-
faction upon the work done by its members, both
collectively and individually, in the cause of classical
archaeology. Sixty or seventy years earlier, the
study of classical antiquities could hardly be said to
exist, while the collection of specimens and the
description of ancient buildings and sites were left
to a few casual travellers. The foundation of the
Society of Dilettanti brought together all the rich
young travellers of British birth in a kind of healthy
competition towards a single goal. Under the spur
of this competition purses were opened freely, and
with the help of English gold the soil of Rome and
the Campagna yielded up its long-buried treasures.
Without the zeal and perspicacity of such men as