[41] Mr. Strange, in his _Inquiry into the Rise and Establishment of the Royal Academy of Arts of London_, places the causes of this disagreement in a point of view somewhat different from Mr. Hogarth's narrative; but in their account of the consequences the narrators precisely agree:-- "A society, composed of a number of the most respectable persons in this country, commonly known by the name of the 'Dilettanti,' made the first step towards an establishment of this nature. That society having accumulated a considerable fund, and being really promoters of the fine arts, generously offered to appropriate it to support a public academy. "General Gray, a gentleman distinguished by his public spirit and fine taste, was deputed by that society to treat with the artists. I was present at their meeting. On the part of our intended benefactors, I observed that generosity and benevolence which are peculiar to true greatness; but on the part of the majority of the leading artists, I was sorry to remark motives, apparently limited to their own views and ambition to govern, diametrically opposite to the liberality with which we were treated. After various conferences, the 'Dilettanti' finding that they were to be allowed no share in the government of the academy, or in the appropriating their own fund, the negotiation ended."--Strange's _Inquiry_, p. 62. [42] This society was first projected by Mr. William Shipley, who was very active in his endeavours to establish it. Their original proposal was, to "give premiums for the revival and advancement of those arts and sciences which are at a low ebb amongst us; as poetry, painting, tapestry, architecture, etc." The plan, in the latter end of the year 1753, was laid before Dr. Hales and Mr. Baker, by whom it was introduced to Lord Romney and Lord Folkestone, who warmly patronized the institution. In March 1754, they met at Rathmell's Coffeehouse, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. Their first premium for the best drawing by boys and girls under fourteen years of age was £15; but as the subscribers were then too few in number to raise the proposed sum, the two above-named noblemen made good a considerable deficiency. They next met at the Circulating Library, in Crane Court, Fleet Street, and on the 10th of January 1755 at Peele's Coffeehouse, where the first premium of £5 for the best drawing by boys under the age of fourteen was adjudged to Mr. Richard Cosway. [43] "Swift's Laputa tailor made all his clothes by mathematical rules, and there was no objection to them,--except that they never fitted those for whom they were made."