Samuel Johnson/Joshua Reynolds - 9 Gerrard Street, London, UK
N 51° 30.716 W 000° 07.842
30U E 699095 N 5710659
The Literary Club was founded here.
Waymark Code: WMC5FW
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 07/28/2011
Views: 4
The plaque reads:
On to outer edge:
!Westminster City Council / Honsway C & E Foundation"
In the inside:
"Hre i / the former / Turk's Head Tavern / Dr Samuel Johnson / & / Joshua Reynolds / founded The Club / in 1764"
================================================
================================================
The Club was a London dining club founded in February 1764 by the artist Joshua Reynolds and essayist Samuel Johnson.
Initially, the club would meet one evening per week at seven, at the Turk's Head Inn in Gerrard Street, Soho. Later, meetings were reduced to once per fortnight whilst Parliament was in session, and were held at rooms in St James's Street. Though the initial suggestion was Reynolds', it is Dr Johnson whose name is most closely associated with the Club. John Timbs, in his Club Life in London, gives an account of the Club's centennial dinner in 1864, which was celebrated at the Clarendon hotel. Henry Hart Milman, the English historian, was treasurer. The Club's toast, no doubt employing a bit of wishful thinking, was "Esto perpetua", Latin for "Let it be perpetual".This Latin phrase traces its origin to the last dying declartion of Paolo Sarpi (1552–1623) the Venetian theologian and philosopher and canon law expert who uttered these words towards the beloved city of Venetian Republic, whose independence he devoutly espoused. The introduction of the phrase to Britain was probably through Sir Joshua Reynolds who went to Italy for his higher training in Renaissance art and painting with the contemporary Italian masters.
Text source: (
visit link)