In England. 611 prudent and amiable man, called on Reynolds, and, in a conference of two hours' continuance, succeeded in per- suading him to join them. He ordered his coach, and, accompanied by West, entered the room where his brother artists were assembled. They rose up to a man, and saluted him "President." He was affected by the com- pliment, but declined the honour till he had talked with Johnson and Burke ; he went, consulted his friends, and having considered the consequences carefully, then con- sented. The King, to give dignity to the Royal Academy of Great Britain, bestowed the honour of knighthood on the first President ; and seldom has any such distinction been bestowed amidst more universal approbation. John- son was so elated with the honour conferred on his friend, that he drank wine in its celebration, though he had abstained from it for several years. About the close of the summer of 1773 Sir Joshua visited his native place, and was elected Mayor of Plympton, a distinction so much to his liking that he assured the King — whom on his return he accidentally encountered, in one of the walks at Hampton Court — that it gave him more pleasure than any other he had ever received, " excepting (he added, recollecting himself), excepting that which your Majesty so graciously conferred on me — the honour of knighthood." In this year he exhibited the Strawberry Girl at the Academy. This work Sir Joshua always maintained was one of * the half-dozen original things " which he declared no man ever exceeded in his life's work. He repeated the picture several times ; the original is now in the possession of Sir Richard Wallace. Sir Joshua distinguished himsel above all his brother artists by his Fortune- Teller, his R r 2
