' Horace Walpole's
_Letters_, ix. 319. In Malone's correspondence are complaints of the
backwardness of the members of the Literary Club 'to pay the amounts
nominally subscribed by them.' Prior's _Goldsmith_, ii. 226.
[1281] It was, says Malone, owing to Reynolds that the monument was
erected in St. Paul's. In his _Journey to Flanders_he had lamented that
sculpture languished in England, and was almost confined to monuments to
eminent men. But even in these it had not fair play, for Westminster
Abbey was so full, that the recent monuments appeared ridiculous being
stuck up in odd holes and corners. On the other hand St. Paul's looked
forlorn and desolate. Here monuments should be erected, under the
direction of the Royal Academy. He took advantage of Johnson's death to
make a beginning with the plan which he had here sketched, and induced
his friends to give up their intention of setting up the monument in the
Abbey. Reynolds's _Works_, ed. 1824, ii. 248. 'He asked Dr. Parr--but in
vain--to include in the epitaph Johnson's title of Professor of Ancient
Literature to the Royal Academy; as it was on this pretext that he
persuaded the Academicians to subscribe a hundred guineas.
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