Note 1281 — THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. (continued 7)

It was, says Malone, owing to Reynolds that the monument was erected in St. Paul's. In his Journey to Flandershe 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.' Johnstone's Parr, iv. 686. See ante, ii. 239, where the question was raised whose monument should be first erected in St. Paul's, and Johnson proposed Milton's.