We have Royal Societies for philosophers, for antiquaries, and for
artists--none for men of letters! The lovers of philological studies
have regretted the want of an asylum since the days of Anne, when the
establishment of an English Academy of Literature was designed; but
political changes occurred which threw out a literary administration.
France and Italy have gloried in great national academies, and even in
provincial ones. With us, the curious history and the fate of the
societies at Spalding, Stamford, and Peterborough, whom their zealous
founder lived to see sink into country clubs, is that of most of our
_rural_ attempts at literary academies! The Manchester society has but
an ambiguous existence; and that of Exeter expired in its birth. Yet
that a great purpose may be obtained by an inconsiderable number, the
history of "The Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures,"
&c., may prove; for that originally consisted only of twelve persons,
brought together with great difficulty, and neither distinguished for
their ability nor their rank.
The opponents to the establishment of an academy in this country may
urge, and find Bruyère on their side, that no corporate body generates a
single man of genius. No Milton, no Hume, no Adam Smith, will spring out
of an academical community, however they may partake of one common
labour. Of the fame, too, shared among the many, the individual feels
his portion too contracted, besides that he will often suffer by
comparison. Literature, with us, exists independent of patronage or
association. We have done well without an academy; our dictionary and
our style have been polished by individuals, and not by a society.
The advocates for such a literary institution may reply, that in what
has been advanced against it we may perhaps find more glory than profit.
Had an academy been established in this country, we should have
possessed all our present advantages, with the peculiar ones of such an
institution. A series of volumes composed by the learned of England had
rivalled the precious "Memoirs of the French Academy," probably more
philosophical, and more congenial to our modes of thinking! The
congregating spirit creates by its sympathy; an intercourse exists
between its members which had not otherwise occurred; in this attrition
of minds, the torpid awakens, the timid is emboldened, and the secluded
is called forth; to contradict, and to be contradicted, is the privilege
and the source of knowledge. Those original ideas, hints, and
suggestions, which some literary men sometimes throw out once or twice
during their whole lives, might here be preserved; and if endowed with
sufficient funds, there are important labours, which surpass the means
and industry of the individual, which would be more advantageously
performed by such literary unions.
An academy of literature can only succeed by the same means in which
originated all such academies--among individuals themselves. It will not
be "by the favour of the MANY, but by the wisdom and energy of the FEW."
It is not even in the power of royalty to create at a word what can only
be formed by the co-operation of the workmen themselves, and of the
great taskmaster, Time!
Such institutions have sprung from the same principle, and have followed
the same march. It was from a private meeting that "The French Academy"
derived its origin; and the true beginners of that celebrated
institution assuredly had no foresight of the object to which their
conferences tended. Several literary friends at Paris, finding the
extent of the city occasioned much loss of time in their visits, agreed
to meet on a fixed day every week, and chose Conrart's residence as
centrical. They met for the purposes of general conversation, or to walk
together, or, what was not least social, to partake in some refreshing
_collation_. All being literary men, those who were authors submitted
their new works to this friendly society, who, without jealousy or
malice, freely communicated their strictures; the works were improved,
the authors were delighted, and the critics were honest! Such was the
happy life of the members of this private society during three or four
years. Pelisson, the earliest historian of the French Academy, has
delightfully described it: "It was such that, now when they speak of
these first days of the Academy, they call it the golden age, during
which, with all the innocence and freedom of that fortunate period,
without pomp and noise, and without any other laws than those of
friendship, they enjoyed together all which a society of minds, and a
rational life, can yield of whatever softens and charms."
They were happy, and they resolved to be silent; nor was this bond and
compact of friendship violated till one of them, Malleville, secretary
of Marshal Bassompierre, being anxious that his friend Faret, who had
just printed his _L'Honnête Homme_, which he had drawn from the famous
"Il Cortigiano" of Castiglione, should profit by all their opinions,
procured his admission to one of their conferences; Faret presented them
with his book, heard a great deal concerning the nature of his work, was
charmed by their literary communications, and returned home ready to
burst with the secret. Could the society hope that others would be more
faithful than they had been to themselves? Faret happened to be one of
those light-hearted men who are communicative in the degree in which
they are grateful, and he whispered the secret to Des Marets and to
Boisrobert. The first, as soon as he heard of such a literary senate,
used every effort to appear before them and read the first volume of his
"Ariane." Boisrobert, a man of distinction, and a common friend to them
all, could not be refused an admission; he admired the frankness of
their mutual criticisms. The society, besides, was a new object; and his
daily business was to furnish an amusing story to his patron, Richelieu.
The cardinal-minister was very literary, and apt to be so hipped in his
hours of retirement, that the physician declared, that "all his drugs
were of no avail, unless his patient mixed with them a drachm of
Boisrobert." In one of those fortunate moments, when the cardinal was
"in the vein," Boisrobert painted, with the warmest hues, this region of
literary felicity, of a small, happy society formed of critics and
authors! The minister, who was ever considering things in that
particular aspect which might tend to his own glory, instantly asked
Boisrobert, whether this private meeting would not like to be
constituted a public body, and establish itself by letters patent,
offering them his protection. The flatterer of the minister was
overjoyed, and executed the important mission; but not one of the
members shared in the rapture, while some regretted an honour which
would only disturb the sweetness and familiarity of their intercourse.
Malleville, whose master was a prisoner in the Bastile, and Serisay, the
_intendant_ of the Duke of Rochefoucault, who was in disgrace at court,
louldly protested, in the style of an opposition party, against the
protection of the minister; but Chapelain, who was known to have no
party-interests, argued so clearly, that he left them to infer that
Richelieu's _offer_ was a _command_; that the cardinal was a minister
who willed not things by halves; and was one of those very great men who
avenge any contempt shown to them even on such little men as themselves!
In a word, the dogs bowed their necks to the golden collar. However, the
appearance, if not the reality, of freedom was left to them; and the
minister allowed them to frame their own constitution, and elect their
own magistrates and citizens in this infant and illustrious republic of
literature. The history of the farther establishment of the French
Academy is elegantly narrated by Pelisson. The usual difficulty occurred
of fixing on a title; and they appear to have changed it so often, that
the Academy was at first addressed by more than one title; Académie _des
beaux Esprits_; Académie _de l'Eloquence_; Académie _Eminente_, in
allusion to the quality of the cardinal, its protector. Desirous of
avoiding the extravagant and mystifying titles of the Italian
academies,[275] they fixed on the most unaffected, "_L'Académie
Française_; but though the national genius may disguise itself for a
moment, it cannot be entirely got rid of, and they assumed a vaunting
device of a laurel wreath, including their epigraph, "_à
l'Immortalité_." The Academy of Petersburgh has chosen a more
enlightened inscription, _Paulatim_ ("little by little"), so expressive
of the great labours of man--even of the inventions of genius!
Such was the origin of L'ACADEMIE FRANCAISE; it was long a private
meeting before it became a public institution. Yet, like the Royal
Society, its origin has been attributed to political motives, with a
view to divert the attention from popular discontents; but when we look
into the real origin of the French Academy, and our Royal Society, it
must be granted, that if the government either in France or England ever
entertained this project, it came to them so accidentally, that at least
we cannot allow them the merit of profound invention. Statesmen are
often considered by speculative men in their closets to be mightier
wonder-workers than they often prove to be.
Were the origin of the Royal Society inquired into, it might be justly
dated a century before its existence; the real founder was Lord Bacon,
who planned the _ideal institution_ in his philosophical romance of the
New Atlantis! This notion is not fanciful, and it was that of its first
founders, as not only appears by the expression of old Aubrey, when,
alluding to the commencement of the society, he adds _secundum mentem
Domini Baconi_; but by a rare print designed by Evelyn, probably for a
frontispiece to Bishop Sprat's history, although we seldom find the
print in the volume. The design is precious to a Grangerite, exhibiting
three fine portraits. On one side is represented a library, and on the
table lie the statutes, the journals, and the mace of the Royal Society;
on its opposite side are suspended numerous philosophical instruments;
in the centre of the print is a column on which is placed the bust of
Charles the Second, the patron; on each side whole lengths of Lord
Brouncker, the first president, and Lord Bacon, as the founder,
inscribed _Artium Instaurator_. The graver of Hollar has preserved this
happy intention of Evelyn's, which exemplifies what may be called the
continuity and genealogy of genius, as its spirit is perpetuated by its
successors.[276]
When the fury of the civil wars had exhausted all parties, and a
breathing time from the passions and madness of the age allowed
ingenious men to return once more to their forsaken studies, Bacon's
vision of a philosophical society appears to have occupied their
reveries. It charmed the fancy of Cowley and Milton; but the politics
and religion of the times were still possessed by the same frenzy, and
divinity and politics were unanimously agreed to be utterly proscribed
from their inquiries. On the subject of religion they were more
particularly alarmed, not only at the time of the foundation of the
society, but at a much later period, when under the direction of Newton
himself. Even Bishop Sprat, their first historian, observed, that "they
have freely admitted men of different religions, countries, and
professions of life, not to lay the foundation of an English, Scotch,
Irish, popish, or protestant philosophy, but a philosophy of mankind." A
curious protest of the most illustrious of philosophers may be found:
when "the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge were desirous of
holding their meetings at the house of the Royal Society, Newton drew up
a number of arguments against their admission. One of them is, that "It
is a fundamental rule of the society not to meddle with religion; and
the reason is, that we may give no occasion to religious bodies to
meddle with us." Newton would not even comply with their wishes, lest by
this compliance the Royal Society might "dissatisfy those of other
religions." The wisdom of the protest by Newton is as admirable as it is
remarkable,--the preservation of the Royal Society from the passions of
the age.
It was in the lodgings of Dr. Wilkins in Wadham College that a small
philosophical club met together, which proved to be, as Aubrey expresses
it, the _incunabula_ of the Royal Society. When the members were
dispersed about London, they renewed their meetings first at a tavern,
then at a private house; and when the society became too great to be
called a club, they assembled in "the parlour" of Gresham College, which
itself had been raised by the munificence of a citizen, who endowed it
liberally, and presented a noble example to the individuals now
assembled under its roof. The society afterwards derived its title from
a sort of accident. The warm loyalty of Evelyn in the first hopeful days
of the Restoration, in his dedicatory epistle of Naudé's treatise on
libraries, called that philosophical meeting THE ROYAL SOCIETY. These
learned men immediately voted their thanks to Evelyn for the happy
designation, which was so grateful to Charles the Second, who was
himself a virtuoso of the day, that the charter was soon granted: the
king, declaring himself their founder, "sent them a mace of silver-gilt,
of the same fashion and bigness as those carried before his majesty, to
be borne before the president on meeting days." To the zeal of Evelyn
the Royal Society owes no inferior acquisition to its title and its
mace:[277] the noble Arundelian library, the rare literary accumulation
of the noble Howards; the last possessor of which had so little
inclination for books, that the treasures which his ancestors had
collected lay open at the mercy of any purloiner. This degenerate heir
to the literature and the name of Howard seemed perfectly relieved when
Evelyn sent his marbles, which were perishing in his gardens, to Oxford,
and his books, which were diminishing daily, to the Royal Society!
The SOCIETY of ANTIQUARIES might create a deeper interest, could we
penetrate to its secret history: it was interrupted, and suffered to
expire by some obscure cause of political jealousy. It long ceased to
exist, and was only reinstated almost in our own days. The revival of
learning under Edward the Sixth suffered a severe check from the
papistical government of Mary; but under Elizabeth a happier era opened
to our literary pursuits. At this period several students of the Inns of
Court, many of whose names are illustrious for their rank or their
genius, formed a weekly society, which they called "the Antiquaries'
College." From very opposite quarters we are furnished with many curious
particulars of their literary intercourse: it is delightful to discover
Rawleigh borrowing manuscripts from the library of Sir Robert Cotton,
and Selden deriving his studies from the collections of Rawleigh. Their
mode of proceeding has even been preserved. At every meeting they
proposed a question or two respecting the history or the antiquities of
the English nation, on which each member was expected, at the subsequent
meeting, to deliver a dissertation or an opinion. They also "supped
together." From the days of Athenæus to those of Dr. Johnson, the
pleasures of the table have enlivened those of literature. A copy of
each question and a summons for the place of conference were sent to the
absent members. The opinions were carefully registered by the secretary,
and the dissertations deposited in their archives. One of these
summonses to Stowe, the antiquary, with his memoranda on the back,
exists in the Ashmolean Museum. I shall preserve it with all its verbal
_ærugo_.
"SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.
"To MR. STOWE.
"The place appointed for a conference upon the question
followinge ys att Mr. Garter's house, on Frydaye the 2nd. of
this November, being Al Soule's daye, at 2 of the clocke in
the afternoone, where your oppinioun in wrytinge or otherwise
is expected.
"The question is,
"Of the antiquitie, etimologie, and priviledges of parishes
in Englande.
"Yt ys desyred that you give not notice hereof to any, but
such as haue the like somons."
Such is the summons; the memoranda in the handwriting of Stowe are
these:--
[630. Honorius Romanus, Archbyshope of Canterbury, devided his province
into _parishes_; he ordeyned clerks and prechars, comaunding them that
they should instruct the people, as well by good lyfe, as by doctryne.
760. Cuthbert, Archbyshope of Canterbury, procured of the Pope, that in
cities and townes there should be appoynted church yards for buriall of
the dead, whose bodies were used to be buried abrode, & cet.]
Their meetings had hitherto been private; but to give stability to them,
they petitioned for a charter of incorporation, under the title of the
_Academy for the Study of Antiquity and History, founded by Queen
Elizabeth_. And to preserve all the memorials of history which the
dissolution of the monasteries had scattered about the kingdom, they
proposed to erect a library, to be called "The Library of Queen
Elizabeth." The death of the queen overturned this honourable project.
The society was somewhat interrupted by the usual casualties of human
life; the members were dispersed or died, and it ceased for twenty
years. Spelman, Camden, and others, desirous of renovating the society,
met for this purpose at the Herald's-office; they settled their
regulations, among which, one was "for avoiding offence, they should
neither meddle with matters of state nor religion." "But before our next
meeting," says Spelman, "we had notice that his majesty took _a little
mislike of our society_, not being informed that we had resolved to
decline all matters of state. Yet hereupon we forbore to meet again, and
so all our labour's lost!" Unquestionably much was lost, for much could
have been produced; and Spelman's work on law terms, where I find this
information, was one of the first projected. James the First has
incurred the censure of those who have written more boldly than Spelman
on the suppression of this society; but whether James was misinformed by
"taking a little mislike," or whether the antiquaries failed in exerting
themselves to open their plan more clearly to that "timid pedant," as
Gough and others designate this monarch, may yet be doubtful; assuredly
James was not a man to contemn their erudition!
The king at this time was busied by furthering a similar project, which
was to found "King James's College at Chelsea;" a project originating
with Dean Sutcliff; and zealously approved by Prince Henry, to raise a
nursery for young polemics in scholastical divinity, for the purpose of
defending the Protestant cause from the attacks of catholics and
sectaries; a college which was afterwards called by Laud "Controversy
College." In this society were appointed historians and antiquaries, for
Camden and Haywood filled these offices.
The Society of Antiquaries, however, though suppressed, was perhaps
never extinct; it survived in some shape under Charles the Second, for
Ashmole in his Diary notices "the Antiquaries' Feast," as well as "the
Astrologers'," and another of "the Freemasons'."[278] The present
society was only incorporated in 1751. There are two sets of their
Memoirs; for besides the modern _Archæologia_, we have two volumes of
"Curious Discourses," written by the Fathers of the Antiquarian Society
in the age of Elizabeth, collected from their dispersed manuscripts,
which Camden preserved with a parental hand.
The philosophical spirit of the age, it might have been expected, would
have reached our modern antiquaries; but neither profound views, nor
eloquent disquisitions, have imparted that value to their confined
researches and languid efforts, which the character of the times, and
the excellence of our French rivals in their "Academie," so peremptorily
required. It is, however, hopeful to hear Mr. Hallam declare, "I think
our last volumes improve a little, and but a little! A comparison with
the Academy of Inscriptions in its better days must still inspire us
with shame."
Among the statutes of the Society of Antiquaries there is one which
expels any member "who shall, by speaking, writing, or printing,
publicly defame the society." Some things may be too antique and
obsolete even for the Society of Antiquaries! and such is this vile
restriction! It compromises the freedom of the republic of letters.