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diff --git a/29324-8.txt b/29324-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e037d23 --- /dev/null +++ b/29324-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1829 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral +Character of the late Samuel Johnson (1786), by John Courtenay + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of the late Samuel Johnson (1786) + +Author: John Courtenay + +Editor: Robert E. Kelley + +Release Date: July 5, 2009 [EBook #29324] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAMUEL JOHNSON *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Stephanie Eason, Joseph Cooper +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + + John Courtenay + + A + POETICAL REVIEW + OF THE LITERARY + AND MORAL CHARACTER + OF THE LATE + _SAMUEL JOHNSON_ + + (1786) + + _Introduction by_ + ROBERT E. KELLEY + + PUBLICATION NUMBER 133 + + WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY + UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES + + 1969 + + + + + GENERAL EDITORS + William E. Conway, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ + George Robert Guffey, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Maximillian E. Novak, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + + + ASSOCIATE EDITOR + David S. Rodes, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + + + ADVISORY EDITORS + Richard C. Boys, _University of Michigan_ + James L. Clifford, _Columbia University_ + Ralph Cohen, _University of Virginia_ + Vinton A. Dearing, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Arthur Friedman, _University of Chicago_ + Louis A. Landa, _Princeton University_ + Earl Miner, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Samuel H. Monk, _University of Minnesota_ + Everett T. Moore, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Lawrence Clark Powell, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ + James Sutherland, _University College, London_ + H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Robert Vosper, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ + + + CORRESPONDING SECRETARY + Edna C. Davis, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ + + + EDITORIAL ASSISTANT + Mary Kerbret, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The eighteenth century was an age addicted to gossiping about its +literary figures. This addiction was nowhere better demonstrated than +by the countless reflections, sermons, poems, pamphlets, biographical +sketches, and biographies about Samuel Johnson. The most productive +phase of this activity commenced almost immediately after Johnson's +death in December, 1784, and continued into the next century. + +One item of Johnsoniana which seems to have been neglected, perhaps +because Birkbeck Hill did not include it in his _Johnsonian +Miscellanies_, is _A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral +Character of the Late Samuel Johnson, L.L.D., with Notes_. This poem +of three hundred and four lines was written by John Courtenay +(1741-1816). First published in the spring of 1786 by Charles Dilly, +the poem went through three editions in the same year. Its popularity +was determined less by Courtenay's poetic talent than by public +interest in the Johnsoniana that flooded the market. Courtenay's +literary output, though scanty, was diverse; he wrote light verse, +character sketches, and essays, including two controversial pieces in +support of the French Revolution.[1] It is apparent, however, that for +him writing was hardly more than an avocation. + +Despite his notoriety as a controversial member of Parliament, as a +first-rate wit, and as an intimate friend of Boswell, Courtenay +remains a shadowy figure. References to him occur often in the last +volumes of Boswell's journal, but few of them are particularly +revealing. Courtenay evidently never met Johnson; indeed, the +anonymous author of _A Poetical Epistle from the Ghost of Dr. Johnson +to His Four Friends: The Rev. Mr. Strahan. James Boswell, Esq. Mrs. +Piozzi. J. Courtenay, Esq. M.P._ (1786) censures Courtenay for writing +about a man whom he did not know. Although a member of the Literary +Club, Courtenay did not join this group until four years after Johnson +died. He was proposed on 9 December 1788, by Sir Joshua Reynolds +(Boswell seconded), and elected two weeks later, on 23 December, +during the same meeting at which it was decided to erect a monument to +Dr. Johnson in Westminster Abbey.[2] + +If, then, Courtenay did not belong to the Johnson circle, he became, +shortly after Johnson's death, a valued member of the Boswell circle. +Courtenay must have met Boswell in the spring or early summer of 1785, +about thirteen years after arriving in England from his native Ireland +in the service of Viscount Townshend. Boswell's first reference to +Courtenay occurs in his journal under 7 July 1785.[3] It is clear from +this entry that he had met Courtenay earlier, but subsequent +references indicate that the acquaintance was a fresh one. + +From the start Boswell enjoyed Courtenay's company. In the first +place, Boswell appreciated Courtenay's talent in conversation. +Although he seldom recorded specimens of Courtenay's talk, Boswell was +generous in his praise of his wit. "Courtenay's wit," he wrote, +"sparkles more than almost any man's."[4] On 26 March 1788, Boswell +described him as a "valuable addition" to a meeting of the Essex Head +Club which he attended as Boswell's guest. "Indeed," Boswell +continued, "his conversation is excellent; it has so much literature, +wit, and at the same time manly sense, in it."[5] An example of his +"manly sense" that "struck home" to Boswell was Courtenay's remark +that had Johnson been born to three thousand pounds a year his +melancholy would have been at greater leisure to torment him.[6] + +But there was a greater reason for Courtenay's intimacy with Boswell. +The period following Johnson's death was for Boswell a time of intense +anxiety. By 1786 Courtenay and Edmond Malone had become Boswell's +closest confidants. Boswell relished the long walks and the dinners he +took with Courtenay. Throughout his journal he confessed to the +therapeutic value of Courtenay's company; "I am," he admitted, "quite +another Man with M. C., Malone, Courtenay."[7] + +Moreover, Boswell often solicited Courtenay's advice in various +crises. Courtenay, together with Malone, helped him out of scrapes +with Alexander Tytler and Lord Macdonald, induced him to lighten his +published attacks on Mrs. Piozzi and helped make him aware of the +merit of her edition of Johnson's correspondence, and advised him to +cancel some questionable passages in the _Life_ on William Gerard +Hamilton. From time to time he also cautioned Boswell not to expect +political preferment when he did not deserve it. It appears, too, that +he took part in the prolonged deliberations over Johnson's monument in +Westminster Abbey. Concerned that Boswell's drinking might impede his +work on the _Life_, Courtenay made him promise to quit drinking from +December 1790, to the following March, a promise which, as far as he +was able, Boswell kept.[8] + +Courtenay's high spirits and his ability to relieve Boswell's +melancholy were all the more remarkable because Courtenay, with a wife +and seven children to support, was poverty-stricken during most of +this period. Boswell, lamenting the failure of the Whigs to provide +financial assistance to one of the party's most active members, found +Courtenay's "firmness of mind ... amazing" under such difficulties.[9] +No doubt Courtenay's resolve endeared him to Boswell, whose own +financial and psychological problems were, of course, a great burden. + +This is not to say that relations between the two men were always +cordial. Courtenay was evidently a non-believer, and the two men often +differed on religious matters. Boswell condemned Courtenay's "wild +ravings" in favor of the French revolution, and once confessed his +deep regret about quarreling with so close a friend on this +subject.[10] They also differed on the question of slavery, and +Boswell good-naturedly chided Courtenay and William Windham as +abolitionists in his poem, _No Abolition of Slavery; or the Universal +Empire of Love_ (1791).[11] It is clear, too, that as Boswell's +depression grew, Courtenay's power to brighten his spirits waned +considerably. Their friendship, nevertheless, seems to have ended on a +happy note, for Boswell's final mention of Courtenay in his journal +includes the remark that with Courtenay he had spent a "good day."[12] + +Courtenay's _Poetical Review_, characterized by Donald A. Stauffer as +an embodiment of the "vice-and-virtue philosophy" in biography, was +one of the most spirited pieces of Johnsoniana to appear.[13] The +poem begins with disdain, but at line sixty-one reverses direction and +becomes vigorously commendatory. Courtenay did not attempt to add +fresh information about Johnson's life and career. Consequently, the +unfavorable portion of the poem is a conventional catalog of Johnson's +often publicized foibles and prejudices, just as the favorable section +is in part a commonplace survey of his artistic achievement. + +This contrast, as Stauffer remarks, renders Courtenay's praise more +powerful.[14] More important, the play between scorn and praise +reflects the ambivalence which colors contemporary accounts of +Johnson. We are now accustomed to the notion of great art as the +product of a flawed life. But in the eighteenth century, an age +largely devoted to the idea of discreet biography which concealed or +minimized the subject's weaknesses, a man like Johnson presented +formidable problems to the biographer and his readers. Although +Courtenay merely versified material which other writers had discussed +in much more detail, his poem is important because it synthesizes the +conflicting attitudes towards Johnson which prevailed immediately +after his death. Courtenay, like many others, saw in Johnson a +powerful mixture of great virtues and vices; and though he is not +impartial, he effects, through his honesty, an admirable balance +between Johnson's strengths and weaknesses. The final forty lines of +the _Review_ constitute one of the most balanced of all contemporary +tributes to Johnson as a human being. + +For the most part, the commendatory section of the poem is an +unsystematic tracing of Johnson's moral and literary merits. +Courtenay's rhapsodizing on the _Dictionary_, the _Rambler_, and the +_Lives of the Poets_ is conventional. Clearly, he admired the wide +scope of Johnson's learning and his ability to communicate his +knowledge of men and manners in his writings. But his admiration +occasionally betrays him; for instance, in describing the "brilliant +school" through which Johnson's influence was perpetuated, he +overestimated the extent to which Reynolds, Malone, Burney, Jones, +Goldsmith, Steevens, Hawkesworth, and Boswell were indebted to +Johnson's writings.[15] Usually, however, he was on firmer ground. +Courtenay was the only writer before Boswell to praise Johnson's Latin +verse, a body of poetry virtually ignored by other contemporary +biographers and memorialists.[16] Furthermore, he employs footnotes +skillfully. Though they impede the progress of the poem, they do +support poetic statement with factual evidence and explain and amplify +certain points made in the verses. + +The clearest evidence for the care which Courtenay took with the +_Review_ can be found upon examination of his revisions. He made few +substantial changes in the second edition, but the third edition +contains important revisions. Courtenay added ten lines and five +footnotes in the final version, and lightened some of the scorn in the +first portion by substituting weaker phrases for stronger ones. He +also enclosed lines seven through twenty in quotation marks to make it +appear that the sentiment expressed therein was not his own, but a +judgment he had heard elsewhere. + +But the most significant revisions are concerned with organization. By +transferring segments of certain verse paragraphs to others, he +achieves a more unified portrait of Johnson. By means of such +revision, he forms his general evaluation of Johnson's writing into +one unit and his comments on individual works into another, where +before they had been awkwardly interwoven. + +Courtenay's _Review_ did not go unnoticed at the time, though for +obvious reasons it was given less attention by the reviewers than the +more notorious Johnsoniana. Extracts from the poem were printed in +several magazines. The reviewers were almost unanimous in damning the +poem's inelegance, unevenness, and lack of harmony, but reserved +praise for the sentiments and candor.[17] Chesterfield's apologist in +William Hayley's _Two Dialogues; Containing a Comparative View of the +Lives, Characters, and Writings of Philip, the Late Earl of +Chesterfield, and Dr. Samuel Johnson_ (1787) protested that Courtenay +was too kind to Johnson. The severest indictment of the Review came +from the anonymous author of _A Poetical Epistle from the Ghost of Dr. +Johnson_, mentioned earlier, who charged Courtenay with poor taste and +with belaboring the obvious by proving that Johnson was "not quite +destitute of brains."[18] + +The greatest champion of the _Review_ was, of course, Boswell. The +_Life_ is sprinkled with quotations from the third edition, 118 lines +in all, mostly from Courtenay's commendatory verses. In view of the +many published attacks on Johnson, Boswell must have appreciated +Courtenay's sentiments all the more. Doubtless Courtenay's warm praise +of the _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_ also found favor with +Boswell.[19] Perhaps Boswell's final and least partial judgment of the +_Review_ was expressed in his letter to James Abercrombie of +Philadelphia dated 11 June 1792. He sent Abercrombie a copy of the +poem, commenting that "though I except to several passages, you will +find some very good writing."[20] + +Courtenay's _Review_, together with several other little known +_memorabilia_ concerning Johnson, stimulated one of the most energetic +and splenetic literary controversies of the late eighteenth century. +In addition, the _Review_ and pieces like it aroused a considerable +amount of useful, if vitriolic, discussion about the art of biography. + + +University of Iowa + + + +NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION + +[1] See _DNB_. + +[2] For the information about Courtenay's election, I am indebted to +Professor James M. Osborn of Yale University. Boswell gives no precise +date for Courtenay's entry into the Club. His first reference to +Courtenay's membership occurs in his journal entry of 19 January 1790. +See _Private Papers of James Boswell_, ed. Geoffrey Scott and +Frederick A. Pottle (Privately Printed, 1928-1934), XVIII, 22. See +also Boswell's letter to Edmond Malone dated 16 December 1790, +_Letters of James Boswell_, ed. C. B. Tinker (Oxford, 1924), II, +409-410. Courtenay and other intimates of Boswell were called "The +Gang" by Philip Metcalfe. See _Private Papers_, XVII, 52, 55; XVIII, +15. + +[3] _Private Papers_, XVI, 106. + +[4] _Ibid._, XVII, 80. For additional testimony to Courtenay's +reputation as a wit, see _Thraliana_, ed. Katharine C. Balderston +(Oxford, 1951), I, 486, and James Prior, _Life of Edmond Malone_ +(London, 1860), 287-288. + +[5] _Private Papers_, XVII, 86. + +[6] _Ibid._, pp. 76-77. + +[7] _Ibid._, XVI, 178. "M. C." is Mrs. Rudd. + +[8] See Boswell's letters to Malone, _Letters_, II, 405, 427, and +_Private Papers_, XVIII, 100. Courtenay became alarmed over Boswell's +deepening melancholy, as seen in this passage from his letter to +Malone of 22 February 1791: "Poor Boswell is very low, & desperate & +... melancholy mad, feels no spring, no pleasure in existence, & is so +perceptibly altered for the worse that it is remarked everywhere. I +try all I can to revivify him, but he [turns?] so tiresomely & +tediously--for the same cursed trite commonplace topics, about death +&c.--that we grow old, and when we are old, we are not young--that I +despair of effecting a cure. Doctors Warren and Devaynes very kindly +interest themselves about him, but you wd be of more service to him +than anyone." Quoted from a MS at Yale University Library by James +Osborn, "Edmond Malone and Dr. Johnson," _Johnson, Boswell and Their +Circle: Essays Presented to Lawrence Fitzroy Powell in Honour of His +Eighty-fourth Birthday_ (Oxford, 1965), p. 16. + +[9] _Letters_, II, 428, 425. Boswell tried to negotiate loans for +Courtenay, and made a successful application to Reynolds. See _Private +Papers_, XVII, 85-86, 101-102; XVIII, 120. + +[10] _Private Papers_, XVIII, 171, 178, 184. + +[11] See Frank Brady, _Boswell's Political Career_ (New Haven, 1965), +p. 169, and Frederick A. Pottle, _The Literary Career of James +Boswell, Esq._ (Oxford, 1929), p. 147. + +[12] _Private Papers_, XVIII, 271. This entry is dated 31 March 1794, +not long before the journal ends and some thirteen months before +Boswell's death. + +[13] _The Art of Biography in Eighteenth Century England_ (Princeton, +1941), p. 345. + +[14] _Ibid._, p. 346. + +[15] W. K. Wimsatt, Jr., in _The Prose Style of Samuel Johnson_ (New +Haven, 1941), pp. 135-138, argues against the notion that Johnson's +friends formed such a "school." + +[16] Boswell praised Courtenay's "just and discriminative eulogy" on +Johnson's Latin poems, and quoted it. See _Boswell's Life of Johnson_, +ed. G. B. Hill, revised L. F. Powell (Oxford, 1934-1950), I, 62. + +[17] See _European Magazine_, IX (April 1786), 266; _Gentleman's +Magazine_, LVI (May 1786), 415; _Monthly Review_, LXXV (September +1786), 229. + +[18] It should be noted that the attack on Courtenay in this poem is +the mildest of the four. The famous caricaturist, Sayer, included +Courtenay in a poetic attack on Mrs. Piozzi appended to his print, +_Frontispiece to the 2nd Edition of Johnson's Letters_, published 7 +April 1788. See James L. Clifford, _Hester Lynch Piozzi (Mrs. Thrale)_ +(Oxford, 1952), p. 329. + +[19] Boswell quoted Courtenay's compliment in _Life_, II, 268. + +[20] _Letters_, II, 444. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +The text of this edition of _A Poetical Review of the Literary and +Moral Character of the Late Samuel Johnson, L.L.D., with Notes_ is +reproduced from a copy in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript +Library, Yale University. + + + + + A + POETICAL REVIEW + OF THE + LITERARY AND MORAL CHARACTER + OF THE LATE + _SAMUEL JOHNSON, L.L.D._ + + WITH NOTES. + + BY JOHN COURTENAY, ESQ. + THE THIRD EDITION, CORRECTED. + + Man is thy theme; his virtue, or his rage, + Drawn to the life, in each elaborate page. WALLER. + + ----_immensæ veluti connexa carinæ + Cymba minor._ STATIUS. + + + LONDON: + PRINTED FOR CHARLES DILLY IN THE POULTRY. + M DCC LXXXVI. + + + + + A + POETICAL REVIEW, &c. + + A Generous tear will Caledonia shed? + Her ancient foe, illustrious Johnson's dead; + Mac-Ossian's sons may now securely rest, + Safe from the bitter sneer, the cynick jest.[21] + The song of triumph now I seem to hear, + And these the sounds that vibrate on my ear: + "Low lies the man, who scarce deigns Gray to praise, + But from the tomb calls Blackmore's sleeping lays; + A passport grants to Pomfret's dismal chimes, + To Yalden's hymns, and Watts's holy rhimes;[22] + By subtle doubts would Swift's fair fame invade, + And round his brows the ray of glory shade;[23] + With poignant taunt mild Shenstone's life arraigns, + His taste contemns, and sweetly-flowing strains; + At zealous Milton aims his tory dart, + But in his Savage finds a moral heart; + At great Nassau despiteful rancour flings,[24] + But pension'd kneels ev'n to usurping kings: + Rich, old and dying, bows his laurel'd head, + And almost deigns to ask superfluous bread."[25] + A sceptick once, he taught the letter'd throng + To doubt the existence of fam'd Ossian's song; + Yet by the eye of faith, in reason's spite, + Saw ghosts and witches, preach'd up _second sight_: + For o'er his soul sad Superstition threw + Her gloom, and ting'd his genius with her hue. + On popish ground he takes his high church station, + To sound mysterious tenets through the nation;[26] + On Scotland's kirk he vents a bigot's gall,[27] + Though her young chieftains prophecy like SAUL![28] + On Tetty's state his frighted fancy runs,[29] + And Heaven's appeas'd by cross unbutter'd buns:[30] + He sleeps and fasts[31], pens on himself a libel,[32] + And still believes, but never reads the Bible.[33] + Fame says, at school, of scripture science vain, + Bel and the Dragon smote him on the brain;[34] + Scar'd with the blow, he shun'd the Jewish law, + And eyed the Ark with reverential awe:[35] + Let priestly S--h--n in a godly fit + The tale relate, in aid of Holy Writ; + Though candid Adams, by whom DAVID fell,[36] + Who ancient miracles sustain'd so well, + To recent wonders may deny his aid,[37] + Nor own a buzy zealot of the trade. + A coward wish, long stigmatiz'd by fame, + Devotes Mæcenas to eternal shame;[38] + Religious Johnson, future life to gain, + Would ev'n submit to everlasting pain: + How clear, how strong, such kindred colours paint + The Roman epicure and Christian saint! + O, had he liv'd in more enlighten'd times, + When signs from heaven proclaim'd vile mortals' crimes, + How had he groan'd, with sacred horrors pale, + When Noah's comet shook her angry tail[39]; + That wicked comet, which Will Whiston swore + Would burn the earth that she had drown'd before![40] + Or when Moll Tosts, by throes parturient vext, + Saw her young rabbets peep from Esdras' text![41] + To him such signs, prepar'd by mystick grace, + Had shewn the impending doom of Adam's race. + But who to blaze his frailties feels delight, + When the great author rises to our sight? + When the pure tenour of his life we view, + Himself the bright exemplar that he drew? + Whose works console the good, instruct the wise, + And teach the soul to claim her kindred skies. + By grateful bards his name be ever sung, + Whose sterling touch has fix'd the English tongue! + Fortune's dire weight, the patron's cold disdain, + "Shook off, as dew-drops from the lion's mane;"[42] + Unknown, unaided, in a friendless state,[43] + Without one smile of favour from the great; + The bulky tome his curious care refines, + Till the great work in full perfection shines; + His wide research and patient skill displays + What scarce was sketch'd in ANNA's golden days;[44] + What only learning's aggregated toil + Slowly accomplish'd in each foreign soil.[45] + Yet to the mine though the rich coin he trace, + No current marks his early essays grace; + For in each page we find a massy store + Of English bullion mix'd with Latian ore: + In solemn pomp, with pedantry combin'd, + He vents the morbid sadness of his mind;[46] + In scientifick phrase affects to smile, + Form'd on Brown's turgid Latin-English style:[47] + Too oft the abstract decorates his prose,[48] + While measur'd ternaries the periods close: + But all propriety his Ramblers mock, + When Betty prates from Newton and from Locke; + When no diversity we trace between + The lofty moralist and gay fifteen--[49] + Yet genius still breaks through the encumbering phrase; + His taste we censure, but the work we praise: + There learning beams with fancy's brilliant dyes, + Vivid as lights that gild the northern skies; + Man's complex heart he bares to open day, + Clear as the prism unfolds the blended ray: + The picture from his mind assumes its hue; + The shades too dark, but the design still true. + Though Johnson's merits thus I freely scan, + And paint the foibles of this wond'rous man; + Yet can I coolly read, and not admire, + When Learning, Wit and Poetry conspire + To shed a radiance o'er his moral page, + And spread truth's sacred light to many an age? + For all his works with innate lustre shine, + Strength all his own, and energy divine. + While through life's maze he sent a piercing view, + His mind expansive to the object grew. + With various stores of erudition fraught, + The lively image, the deep-searching thought, + Slept in repose;--but when the moment press'd, + The bright ideas flood at once confess'd;[50] + Instant his genius sped its vigorous rays, + And o'er the letter'd world diffus'd a blaze: + As womb'd with fire the cloud electrick flies, + And calmly o'er the horizon seems to rise; + Touch'd by the pointed steel, the lightning flows, + And all the expanse with rich effulgence glows. + In judgment keen, he acts the critick's part, + By reason proves the feelings of the heart; + In thought profound, in nature's study wise, + Shews from what source our fine sensations rise; + With truth, precision, fancy's claims defines, + And throws new splendour o'er the poet's lines.[51] + When specious sophists with presumption scan + The source of evil, hidden still from man;[52] + Revive Arabian tales[53], and vainly hope + To rival St. John, and his scholar, Pope;[54] + Though metaphysicks spread the gloom of night, + By reason's star he guides our aching sight; + The bounds of knowledge marks; and points the way + To pathless wastes, where wilder'd sages stray; + Where, like a farthing linkboy, Jennings stands, + And the dim torch drops from his feeble hands. + Impressive truth, in splendid fiction drest,[55] + Checks the vain wish, and calms the troubled breast; + O'er the dark mind a light celestial throws, + And sooths the angry passions to repose; + As oil effus'd illumes and smooths the deep,[56] + When round the bark the foaming surges sweep.-- + But hark, he sings! the strain ev'n Pope admires; + Indignant Virtue her own bard inspires; + Sublime as Juvenal, he pours his lays,[57] + And with the Roman shares congenial praise:-- + In glowing numbers now he fires the age, + And Shakspeare's sun relumes the clouded stage.[58] + So full his mind with images was fraught, + The rapid strains scarce claim'd a second thought; + And with like ease his vivid lines assume + The garb and dignity of ancient Rome.-- + Let college _versemen_ trite conceits express, + Trick'd out in splendid shreds of Virgil's dress; + From playful Ovid cull the tinsel phrase, + And vapid notions hitch in pilfer'd lays; + Then with mosaick art the piece combine, + And boast the glitter of each dulcet line: + Johnson adventur'd boldly to transfuse + His vigorous sense into the Latian muse; + Aspir'd to shine by unreflected light, + And with a Roman's ardour _think_ and write. + He felt the tuneful Nine his breast inspire, + And, like a master, wak'd the[59] soothing lyre: + Horatian strains a grateful heart proclaim, + While Sky's wild rocks resound his Thralia's name.-- + Hesperia's plant, in some less skillful hands, + To bloom a while, factitious heat demands; + Though glowing Maro a faint warmth supplies, + The sickly blossom in the hot-house dies: + By Johnson's genial culture, art, and toil, + Its root strikes deep, and owns the fost'ring soil; + Imbibes our sun through all its swelling veins, + And grows a native of Britannia's plains. + Soft-ey'd compassion, with a look benign + His fervent vows he offer'd at thy shrine; + To guilt, to woe, the sacred debt was paid,[60] + And helpless females bless'd his pious aid: + Snatch'd from disease, and want's abandon'd crew, + Despair and anguish from their victims flew; + Hope's soothing balm into their bosoms stole, + And tears of penitence restor'd the soul. + Nor did philanthrophy alone expand + His liberal heart, and ope his bounteous hand; + His _talents_ ev'n he gave to friendship's claim,[61] + And by the gift imparted wealth and fame: + His mind exhaustless sped its vivid force, + Yet with unbated vigour held its course; + As some fix'd star fulfills heaven's great designs, + Lights other spheres, yet undiminish'd shines. + How few distinguish'd of the studious train + At the gay board their empire can maintain! + In their own books intomb'd their wisdom lies; + Too dull for talk, their slow conceptions rise: + Yet the mute author, of his writings proud, + For wit unshewn claims homage from the crowd; + As thread-bare misers, by mean avarice school'd, + Expect obeisance from their hidden gold.-- + In converse quick, impetuous Johnson press'd + His weighty logick, or sarcastick jest: + Strong in the chace, and nimble in the turns,[62] + For victory still his fervid spirit burns; + Subtle when wrong, invincible when right, + Arm'd at all points, and glorying in his might, + Gladiator-like, he traverses the field, + And strength and skill compel the foe to yield.-- + Yet have I seen him, with a milder air, + Encircled by the witty and the fair, + Ev'n in old age with placid mien rejoice + At beauty's smile, and beauty's flattering voice.-- + With Reynolds' pencil, vivid, bold, and true, + So fervent Boswell gives him to our view. + In every trait we see his mind expand; + The master rises by the pupil's hand; + We love the writer, praise his happy vein, + Grac'd with the naiveté of the sage Montaigne. + Hence not alone are brighter parts display'd, + But ev'n the specks of character portray'd: + We _see_ the Rambler with fastidious smile + Mark the lone tree, and note the heath-clad isle; + But when the heroick tale of Flora charms,[63] + Deck'd in a kilt, he wields a chieftain's arms: + The tuneful piper sounds a martial strain, + And Samuel sings, "The King shall have his ain": + Two Georges in his loyal zeal are slur'd,[64] + A gracious pension only saves the third!-- + By Nature's gifts ordain'd mankind to rule, + He, like a Titian, form'd his brilliant school; + And taught congenial spirits to excel, + While from his lips impressive wisdom fell. + Our boasted GOLDSMITH felt the sovereign sway; + From him deriv'd the sweet yet nervous lay. + To Fame's proud cliff he bade our Raphael rise; + Hence REYNOLDS' pen with REYNOLDS' pencil vyes. + With Johnson's flame melodious BURNEY glows,[65] + While the grand strain in smoother cadence flows. + And you, MALONE, to critick learning dear, + Correct and elegant, refin'd, though clear, + By studying him, acquir'd that classick taste, + Which high in Shakspeare's fane thy statue plac'd. + Near Johnson STEEVENS stands, on scenick ground, + Acute, laborious, fertile, and profound. + Ingenious HAWKESWORTH to this school we owe, + And scarce the pupil from the tutor know. + Here early parts accomplish'd JONES[66] sublimes, + And science blends with Asia's lofty rhimes: + Harmonious JONES! who in his splendid strains + Sings Camdeo's sports, on Agra's flowery plains; + In Hindu fictions while we fondly trace + Love and the Muses, deck'd with Attick grace.[67] + Amid these names can BOSWELL be forgot, + Scarce by North Britons now esteem'd a Scot?[68] + Who to the sage devoted from his youth, + Imbib'd from him the sacred love of truth; + The keen research, the exercise of mind, + And that best art, the art to know mankind.-- + Nor was his energy confin'd alone + To friends around his philosophick throne; + Its influence wide improv'd our letter'd isle, + And lucid vigour mark'd the general style: + As Nile's proud waves, swol'n from their oozy bed, + First o'er the neighbouring meads majestick spread; + Till gathering force, they more and more expand, + And with new virtue fertilise the land. + Thus sings the Muse, to Johnson's memory just, + And scatters praise and censure o'er his dust; + For through each checker'd scene a contrast ran, + Too sad a proof, how great, how weak is man! + Though o'er his passions conscience held the rein, + He shook at dismal phantoms of the brain: + A boundless faith that noble mind debas'd, + By piercing wit, energick reason grac'd: + A generous Briton,[69] yet he seems to hope + For James's grandson, and for James's Pope: + With courtly zeal fair freedom's sons defames,[70] + Yet, like a Hamden, pleads Ierne's claims.[71] + Though proudly splenetick, yet idly vain, + Accepted flattery, and dealt disdain.-- + E'en shades like these, to brilliancy ally'd, + May comfort fools, and curb the Sage's pride. + Yet Learning's sons, who o'er his foibles mourn, + To latest time shall fondly view his urn; + And wond'ring praise, to human frailties blind, + Talents and virtue of the brightest kind; + Revere the man, with various knowledge stor'd, + Who science, arts, and life's whole scheme explor'd; + Who firmly scorn'd, when in a lowly state, + To flatter vice, or court the vain and great;[72] + Whose heart still felt a sympathetick glow, + Prompt to relieve man's variegated woe; + Whose ardent hope, intensely fix'd on high, + Saw future bliss with intellectual eye. + Still in his breast Religion held her sway, + Disclosing visions of celestial day; + And gave his soul, amidst this world of strife, + The blest reversion of eternal life: + By this dispell'd, each doubt and horrour flies, + And calm at length in holy peace he dies. + The sculptur'd trophy, and imperial bust, + That proudly rise around his hallow'd dust, + Shall mould'ring fall, by Time's slow hand decay'd, + But the bright meed of virtue ne'er shall fade. + Exulting Genius stamps his sacred name, + Enroll'd for ever in the dome of Fame. + +THE END. + + + +Footnotes: + +[21] "A Scotchman must be a sturdy moralist, who does not prefer +Scotland to truth." Johnson's _Journey to the Western Isles of +Scotland_. + +[22] "The Poems of Dr. Watts were by my recommendation inserted in +this collection; the readers of which are to impute to me whatever +pleasure or weariness they may find in the perusal of Blackmore, +Watts, Pomfret and Yalden." Johnson's _Life of Watts_. + +The following specimen of their productions may be sufficient to +enable the reader to judge of their respective merits: + + "Alas, Jerusalem! alas! where's now + Thy pristine glory, thy unmatch'd renown, + To which the heathen monarchies did bow? + Ah, hapless, miserable town!" + + Eleazar's _Lamentation over Jerusalem, paraphrased by_ Pomfret. + + "Before the Almighty Artist fram'd the sky, + Or gave the earth its harmony, + His first command was for thy light; + He view'd the lovely birth, and blessed it: + _In purple swaddling bands it struggling lay_, + Old Chaos then a chearful smile put on, + And from thy beauteous form did first presage its own." + + Yalden's _Hymn to Light_. + + + "My chearful soul now all the day + Sits waiting here and sings; + Looks through the ruins of her clay, + And practises her wings. + O, rather let this flesh decay, + The ruins wider grow! + Till glad to see the enlarged way, + I stretch my pinions through." + + _A Sight of Heaven in Sickness, by_ Isaac Watts. + +[23] "He seemed to me to have an unaccountable prejudice against +Swift.--He said to-day,--I doubt if the _Tale of a Tub_ was his; it +has so much more thinking, more knowledge, more power, more colour, +than any of the works that are indisputably his. If it was his, I +shall only say, he was _impar sibi_." Boswell's _Tour to the +Hebrides_, p. 38. + +Doctor Johnson's "unaccountable prejudice against Swift" may probably +be derived from the same source as Blackmore's, if we may venture to +form a judgement from the panegyrick he bestows on the following +groundless invective, expressly aimed at Swift as the author of _A +Tale of a Tub_, which he quotes in his life of Blackmore: "Several, in +their books, have many sarcastical and spiteful strokes at religion in +general; while others make themselves pleasant with the principles of +the Christian. Of the last kind, this age has seen a most audacious +example, in the book intituled "_A Tale of a Tub_." Had this writing +been published in a pagan or _popish_ nation, who are _justly_ +impatient of all indignity offered to the established religion of +their country, no doubt but the author would have received the +punishment he deserved.--But the fate of this impious buffoon is very +different; for in a protestant kingdom, zealous of their civil and +religious immunities, he has not only escaped affronts and the effects +of publick resentment, but has been caressed and patronised by persons +of great figure of all denominations." + +The malevolent dullness of bigotry alone could have inspired Blackmore +with these sentiments. The fact is, that the _Tale of a Tub_ is a +continued panegyrick on the Church of England, and a bitter satire on +Popery, Calvinism, and every sect of dissenters. At the same time I am +persuaded, that every reader of taste and discernment will perceive in +many parts of Swift's other writings strong internal proofs of that +style which characterises the _Tale of a Tub_; especially in the +_Publick Spirit of the Whigs_. It is well known, that he affected +simplicity, and studiously avoided any display of learning, except +where the subject made it absolutely necessary. Temporary, local, and +political topicks compose too great a part of his works; but in a +treatise that admitted "more thinking, more knowledge," &c. he +naturally exerted all his powers.--Let us hear the author himself on +this point. + +"The greatest part of that book was finished above thirteen years +since, (1696) which is eight years before it was published. The author +was then young, his invention at the height, and his reading fresh in +his head." And again: "Men should be more cautious in losing their +time, if they did but consider, that to answer a book effectually +requireth more pains and skill, more wit, learning and judgement, than +were employed in writing it.--And the author assureth those gentlemen, +who have given themselves that trouble with him, that his discourse is +the product of the study, the observation, and the invention of +_several years_; that he often blotted out more than he left; and if +his papers had not been a long time out of his possession, they must +still have undergone more severe corrections." _An Apology for the +Tale of a Tub._--With respect to this work being the production of +Swift, see his letter to the printer, Mr. Benjamin Tooke, dated +Dublin, June 29, 1710, and Tooke's Answer on the publication of _the +Apology_ and a new edition of the _Tale of a Tub_. Hawkesworth's +edition of Swift's Works, 8vo. vol. xvi. p. 145. + +Doctor Hawkesworth mentions, in his preface, that the edition of _A +Tale of a Tub_, printed in 1710, was revised and corrected by the Dean +a short time before his understanding was impaired, and that the +corrected copy was, in the year 1760, in the hands of his kinsman, Mr. +Deane Swift. + +[24] _Johnson._ "I would tell truth of the two Georges, or of that +_scoundrel_, King William." Boswell's _Tour to the Hebrides_, p. 312. + +[25] See his letter to Lord Thurlow, in which he seems to approve of +the application (though he was not previously consulted), thanks his +Lordship for having made it, and even expresses some degree of +surprize and resentment on the proposed addition to his pension being +refused. + +[26] "If (added Dr. Johnson) GOD had never spoken figuratively, we +might hold that he speaks literally, when he says, "This is my body." +Boswell's _Tour_, p. 67.--Here his only objection to transubstantiation +seems to rest on the style of the Scripture being figurative elsewhere +as well as in this passage. Hence we may infer, that he would +otherwise have believed in it.--But Archbishop Tillotson and Mr. Locke +reason more philosophically, by asserting that "no doctrine, however +clearly expressed in Scripture, is to be admitted, if it contradict +the evidence of our senses:--For our evidence for the truth of +revealed religion is _less_ than the evidence for the truth of our +senses, because, _even_ in the first authors of our religion, it was +no greater; and it is evident it must diminish in passing from them to +us, through the medium of human testimony."--This question, however, +may perhaps be better elucidated by the following Anecdote, preserved +by Mr. Richardson, than by a more serious discussion: + +"Mr. Pope, who loved to talk of Titcum, (one who used to be of the +party with him, Gay, Swift, Craggs, and Addison, and that set, in his +youth,) told us, that Gay went to see him as he was dying, and asked +him, if he would have a priest; (for he was a papist,) 'No, said he, +what should I do with them? But I would rather have one of them, than +one of yours, of the two. Our fools, (continued he) write great books +to prove that _bread_ is _God_; but your booby (he meant Tillotson) +has wrote a long argument to prove that _bread_ is _bread_.'" +_Richardsoniana_, p. 167. + +[27] See his conversation with Lord Auchinleck. Boswell's _Tour_. + +[28] See the First Book of Samuel, ch. x. + +[29] "And I commend to thy fatherly goodness the soul of my departed +wife, beseeching thee to grant her whatever is best in her present state." + Johnson's _Meditations_. + +[30] "I returned home, but could not settle my mind. At last I read a +chapter. Then went down about six or seven, and eat two _cross-buns_." + _Meditations_, p. 154. + +[31] "I fasted, though less rigorously than at other times. I by +negligence poured some milk into my tea. _Ibid._ p. 146.--Yesterday, I +fasted, as I have always, or commonly done, since the death of Tetty; +the fast was more painful than usual." + +[32] + "PURPOSES. + To keep a journal. To begin this day. (Sept. 18th, 1766.) + To spend four hours in study every day, and as much more as I can. + To read a portion of Scripture in Greek every Sunday. + To rise at eight.--Oct. 3d. Of all this I have done nothing." _Ibid._ + +[33] "I resolved last Easter to read, within the year, the whole +Bible; a great part of which I had never looked upon." _Meditations._ + +[34] "I have never yet read the Apocrypha. When I was a boy I have +read or heard Bel and the Dragon." _Meditations._ + +[35] See the First Book of Samuel, ch. v. and vi. in which an account +is given of the punishment of the Philistines for looking into the +ark. + +[36] The Rev. Dr. Adams of Oxford, distinguished for his answer to +David Hume's _Essay on Miracles_. + +[37] From the following letter there is reason to apprehend that Dr. +Adams would not support Mr. S----n, if he should add this to the other +singular anecdotes that he has published relative to Dr. Johnson. + +Mr. Urban, Oxford, Oct. 22d, 1785. + +In your last month's Review of books, you have asserted, that the +publication of Dr. Johnson's _Prayers_ and _Meditations_ appears to +have been at the instance of Dr. Adams, Master of Pembroke College, +Oxford. This, I think, is more than you are warranted by the editor's +preface to say; and is so far from being true, that Dr. Adams never +saw a line of these compositions, before they appeared in print, nor +ever heard from Dr. Johnson, or the editor, that any such existed. Had +he been consulted about the publication, he would certainly have given +his voice against it: and he therefore hopes, that you will clear him, +in as publick a manner as you can, from being any way accessary to it. + Wm. Adams. + +[38] + "Debilem facite manu, + Debilem pede, coxa; + Tuber adstrue gibberum; + Lubricos quate dentes; + Vita dum superest, bene est: + Hanc mihi, vel acuta + Si sedeam cruce, sustine." SENEC. EPIST. 101. + + Let me but live, the fam'd Mæcenas cries, + Lame of both hands, and lame in feet and thighs; + Hump-back'd, and toothless;--all convuls'd with pain, + Ev'n on the cross,--so precious life remain. + +Dr. Johnson, in his last illness, is said to have declared (in the +presence of Doctors H. and B.) that he would prefer a state of +existence in eternal pain to annihilation. + +[39] "This last comet (which appeared in the year 1680) I may well +call the most remarkable one that ever appeared; since, besides the +former consideration, I shall presently shew, that it is no other than +that very comet, which came by the earth at the time of Noah's deluge, +and _which was the cause of the same_." Whiston's _Theory of the +Earth_, p. 188. + +[40] "Since 575 years appear to be the period of the comet that caused +the deluge, what a learned friend who was the occasion of my +examination of this matter, suggests, will deserve to be considered; +viz. Whether the story of the phoenix, that celebrated emblem of the +resurrection in Christian antiquity, (that it returns once after five +centuries, and goes to the altar and city of the sun, and is there +burnt; and another arises out of its ashes, and carries away the +remains of the former; &c.) be not an allegorical representation of +this comet, which returns once after five centuries, and goes down to +the sun, and is there vehemently heated, and its outward regions +dissolved; yet that it flies off again, and carries away what remains +after that terrible burning; &c. and whether the _conflagration_ and +renovation of things, which some such comet may bring on the earth, be +not hereby prefigured, I will not here be positive: but I own, that I +do not know of any solution of this famous piece of mythology and +hieroglyphics, as this seems to be, that can be compared with it." +_Ibid._ p. 196. + +[41] "'Tis here foretold [by Esdras] that there should be _signs in +the woman_; and before all others this prediction has been verified in +the famous _rabbet-woman of Surrey_, in the days of King George +I.--This story has been so unjustly laughed out of countenance, that I +must distinctly give my reasons for believing it to be true, and +alleging it here as the fulfilling of this ancient prophecy before +us.--1st. The man-midwife, Mr. Howard of Godalmin in Surrey, a person +of very great honesty, skill and reputation in his profession, +attested it.--It was believed by King George to be real; and it was +also believed by my old friends the Speaker and Mr. Samuel Collet, as +they told me themselves, and was generally by sober persons in the +neighbourhood. Nay Mr. Molyneux, the Prince's Secretary, a very +inquisitive person, and my very worthy friend, assured me he had at +first so great a diffidence in the truth of the fact, and was so +little biassed by the other believers, even by the King himself, that +he would not be satisfied till he was permitted both to see and feel +the rabbet, _in that very passage, whence we all come into this +world_." + Whiston's _Memoirs_, vol. ii. p. 110. + +[42] "The incumbrances of fortune were shaken from his mind as +_dew-drops from the lion's mane_." Johnson's _Preface to his edition +of Shakespeare_. + +[43] Every reader of sensibility must be strongly affected by the +following pathetick passages:--"Much of my life has been lost under +the pressures of disease; much has been trifled away; and much has +always been spent in provision for the day that was passing over me; +but I shall not think my employment useless or ignoble, if by my +assistance foreign nations and distant ages gain access to the +propagators of knowledge, and understand the teachers of truth; if my +labours afford light to the repositories of science, and add celebrity +to Bacon, to Hooker, to Milton, and to Boyle." + +"In this work, when it shall be found that much is omitted, let it not +be forgotten that much likewise is performed; and though no book was +ever spared out of tenderness to the authour, and the world is little +solicitous to know whence proceeded the faults of that which it +condemns, yet it may gratify curiosity to inform it, that the ENGLISH +DICTIONARY was written with _little assistance of the learned, and +without any patronage of the great; not in the soft obscurities of +retirement, or under the shelter of academick bowers, but amidst +inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and in sorrow_." Preface to +Dr. Johnson's Dictionary. + +[44] See Swift's letter to Lord Oxford for the institution of an +academy to improve and fix the English language. + +[45] The great French and Italian Dictionaries were not the +productions of an individual, but were compiled by a body of +Academicians in each country. + +[46] "In times and regions so disjoined from each other, that there +can scarcely be imagined any communication of sentiments, either by +commerce or tradition, has prevailed a general and uniform expectation +of propitiating GOD by corporal austerities, of anticipating his +vengeance by voluntary inflictions, and appeasing his justice by a +speedy and cheerful submission to a less penalty when a greater is +incurred." + _Rambler_, No. 110. + +[47] The style of the _Ramblers_ seem to have been formed on that of +Sir Thomas Brown's _Vulgar Errors_ and _Christian Morals_. + +"But ice is water congealed by the frigidity of the air, whereby it +acquireth no new form, but rather a consistence or determination of +its defluency, and amitteth not its essence, but condition of +fluidity. Neither doth there any thing properly conglaciate but water, +or watery humidity, for the determination of quicksilver is properly +fixation, that of milk coagulation, and that of oil and unctuous +bodies only incrassation."--Is this written by Brown or Johnson? + +[48] In the _Ramblers_ the abstract too often occurs instead of the +concrete;--one of Dr. Johnson's peculiarities. + +[49] See Victoria's Letter, RAMBLER, No. 130.--"I was never permitted +to sleep till I had passed through the cosmetick discipline, part of +which was a regular lustration performed with bean-flower water and +may-dews; my hair was perfumed with a variety of unguents, by some of +which it was to be thickened, and by others to be curled. The softness +of my hands was secured by medicated gloves, and my bosom rubbed with +a pomade prepared by my mother, of virtue to discuss pimples, and +clear discolorations." + +[50] Dr. Johnson's extraordinary facility of composition is well known +from many circumstances. He wrote forty pages of the Life of Savage in +one night. He composed seventy lines of his Imitation of the Tenth +Satire of Juvenal, and wrote them down from memory, without altering a +word. In the Prologue on opening Drury-Lane theatre, he changed but +one word, and that in compliment to Mr. Garrick. Some of his +_Ramblers_ were written while the printer's messenger was waiting to +carry the copy to the press. Many of the _Idlers_ were written at +Oxford; Dr. Johnson often began his talk only just in time not to miss +the post, and sent away the paper without reading it over. + +[51] See his admirable _Lives of the Poets_, and particularly his +Disquisition on metaphysical and religious poetry. + +[52] See his Review of Soame Jennings's _Essay on the Origin of Evil_; +a masterpiece of composition, both for vigour of style and precision +of ideas. + +[53] Pope's or rather Bolingbroke's system was borrowed from the +Arabian metaphysicians. + +[54] The scheme of the _Essay on Man_ was given by Lord Bolingbroke to +Pope. + +[55] See that sublime and beautiful Tale, _The Prince of Abyssinia_; +and _The Rambler_, No. 65, 204, &c. &c. + +[56] "The world is disposed to call this a discovery of Dr. +Franklin's, (from his paper inserted in the Philosophical +Transactions) but in this they are much mistaken. Pliny, Plutarch, and +other naturalists were acquainted with it."--"Ea natura est olei, ut +lucem afferat, ac tranquillar omnia, etiam mare, quo non aliud +elementum implacabilius." + _Memoirs of the Society of Manchester._ + +[57] _London_, a Satire, and _The Vanity of Human Wishes_, are both +imitations of Juvenal. On the publication of _London_ in 1738, Mr. +Pope was so much struck by it, that he desired Mr. Dodsley, his +bookseller, to find out the author. Dodsley having sought him in vain +for some time, Mr. Pope said, he would very soon be _deterré_. +Afterwards Mr. Richardson the painter found out Mr. Johnson, and Mr. +Pope recommended him to Lord Gower. + +[58] See the Prologue spoken by Mr. Garrick in 1747, on the opening of +Drury-Lane theatre. + +[59] "Inter _ignotæ_ strepitus _loquelæ_."--Ode to Mrs. Thrale. + +[60] The dignified and affecting letter written by him to the King in +the name of Doctor Dodd, after his condemnation, is justly, and, I +believe, universally admired. His benevolence, indeed, was uniform and +unbounded.----I have been assured, that he has often been so much +affected by the sight of several unfortunate women, whom he has seen +almost perishing in the streets, that he has taken them to his own +house; had them attended with care and tenderness; and, on their +recovery, clothed, and placed them in a way of life to earn their +bread by honest industry. + +[61] The papers in the ADVENTURER, signed with the letter T, are +commonly attributed to one of Dr. Johnson's earliest and most intimate +friends, Dr. Bathurst; but there is good reason to believe that they +were written by Dr. Johnson, and given by him to his friend. At that +time Dr. Johnson was himself engaged in writing the _Rambler_, and +could ill afford to make a present of his labours. The various other +pieces that he gave away, have bestowed fame, and probably fortune, on +several persons. To the great disgrace of some of his clerical +friends, forty sermons, which he himself tells us he wrote, have not +yet been _deterré_. + +[62] "A good continued speech (says Bacon in his ESSAYS) without a +good speech of interlocution, shews slowness; and a good reply or +second speech, without a good settled speech, sheweth shallowness and +weakness. As we see in beasts, that those that are weakest in the +course, are yet _nimblest in the turn_; as it is betwixt the greyhound +and the hare."--If this observation be just, Dr. Johnson is an +exception to the rule; for he was certainly as _strong_ "in the +course, as nimble in the turn"; as ready in "reply," as in "a settled +speech." + +[63] The celebrated Flora Macdonald. See Boswell's _Tour_. + +[64] See Note 4. + +[65] Dr. Burney's _History of Musick_ is equally distinguished by +elegance and perspicuity of style, and for scientifick knowledge. + +[66] Sir William Jones produced that learned and ingenious work, +_Poeseos Asiaticæ Commentarii_, at a very early age. + +[67] "The Hindu God, to whom the following poem is addressed, appears +evidently the same with the Grecian EROS, and the Roman CUPIDO.----His +favourite place of resort is a large tract of country round AGRA, and +principally the plains of Matra, where KRISHEN also and the nine +GOPIA, who are clearly the Apollo and Muses of the Greeks, usually +spend the night with musick and dance." Preface to the HYMN to CAMDEO, +translated from the Hindu language into Persian, and re-translated by +Sir William Jones. + +There can be little doubt, considering the antiquity and early +civilisation of Hindostan, that both the philosophy and beautiful +mythology of the Greeks were drawn from that part of Asia. + +[68] The following observation in Mr. Boswell's _Journal of a Tour to +the Hebrides_, may sufficiently account for that gentleman's being +"now scarcely esteem'd a Scot" by many of his countrymen; "If he [Dr. +Johnson] was particularly prejudiced against the Scots it was because +they were more in his way; because he thought their success in England +rather exceeded the due proportion of their real merit; and because he +could not but see in them that nationality which, I believe, no +liberal-minded Scotchman will deny." Mr. Boswell indeed is so free +from national prejudices, that he might with equal propriety have been +described as-- + + "Scarce by _South_ Britons now esteem'd a Scot." + +[69] When Dr. Johnson repeated to Mr. Boswell Goldsmith's beautiful +eulogium on the English nation, his eyes filled with tears.--Boswell's +_Tour_, p. 431.--See also the Dissertation on the Bravery of the +English common Soldiers, at the end of the _Idler_. + +[70] See _Taxation no Tyranny_. + +[71] Though Dr. Johnson has called Hamden the _zealot of rebellion_, +yet that distinguished patriot could not have expressed himself with +more ardour in the cause of liberty, than Dr. Johnson does in the +following passage in his Life of Swift: "In the succeeding reign [that +of George I.] he delivered Ireland from plunder and _oppression_; and +shewed that wit, confederated with _truth_, had such force as +authority was unable to resist.--It was from the time when he first +began to patronize the Irish, that they may date their riches, and +prosperity. He taught them first to know their own interest, their +weight and their strength, and gave them spirit to assert that +_equality_ with their fellow-subjects to which they have been ever +since making vigorous advances, and to claim those _rights_ which they +have at last established." + +The truth indeed seems to be, that Dr. Johnson, though he had been +bred in high-church principles, and always expressed himself in +controversial argument like a Tory, possessed a high independent +spirit, and appears to have been a friend to the rights of man. His +definition of the word _Caitiff_, in his Dictionary, may throw some +light on this part of his character. "Caitiff. [_cattivo_, Ital. a +slave; whence it came to signify a bad man, with some implication of +meanness; as _knave_ in English, and _fur_ in Latin; so _certainly +does slavery destroy virtue_. + + Hêmisu tês aretês apoainutai doulion êmar. + +A slave and a scoundrel are signified by the same words in many +languages.] A mean villain," &c. See also that animated passage in his +_London_, beginning, "Here let those reign," &c. + +[72] It is observable that Dr. Johnson did not prefix a dedication to +any one of his various works. + + + +THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + + WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK + MEMORIAL LIBRARY + +UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES + +PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT + + +1948-1949 + +16. Henry Nevil Payne, _The Fatal Jealousie_ (1673). + +18. Anonymous, "Of Genius," in _The Occasional Paper_, Vol. III, No. +10 (1719), and Aaron Hill, Preface to _The Creation_ (1720). + + +1949-1950 + +19. Susanna Centlivre, _The Busie Body_ (1709). + +20. Lewis Theobald, _Preface to the Works of Shakespeare_ (1734). + +22. Samuel Johnson, _The Vanity of Human Wishes_ (1749), and two +_Rambler_ papers (1750). + +23. John Dryden, _His Majesties Declaration Defended_ (1681). + + +1951-1952 + +31. Thomas Gray, _An Elegy Wrote in a Country Churchyard_ (1751), and +_The Eton College Manuscript_. + + +1952-1953 + +41. Bernard Mandeville, _A Letter to Dion_ (1732). + + +1963-1964 + +104. Thomas D'Urfey, _Wonders in the Sun_; or, _The Kingdom of the +Birds_ (1706). + + +1964-1965 + +110. John Tutchin, _Selected Poems_ (1685-1700). + +111. Anonymous, _Political Justice_ (1736). + +112. Robert Dodsley, _An Essay on Fable_ (1764). + +113. T. R., _An Essay Concerning Critical and Curious Learning_ +(1698). + +114. _Two Poems Against Pope_: Leonard Welsted, _One Epistle to Mr. A. +Pope_ (1730), and _Anonymous, The Blatant Beast_ (1742). + + +1965-1966 + +115. Daniel Defoe and others, _Accounts of the Apparition of Mrs. +Veal_. + +116. Charles Macklin, _The Covent Garden Theatre_ (1752). + +117. Sir George L'Estrange, _Citt and Bumpkin_ (1680). + +118. Henry More, _Enthusiasmus Triumphatus_ (1662). + +119. Thomas Traherne, _Meditations on the Six Days of the Creation_ +(1717). + +120. Bernard Mandeville, _Aesop Dress'd or a Collection of Fables_ +(1704). + + +1966-1967 + +123. Edmond Malone, _Cursory Observations on the Poems Attributed to +Mr. Thomas Rowley_ (1782). + +124. Anonymous, _The Female Wits_ (1704). + +125. Anonymous, _The Scribleriad_ (1742). Lord Hervey, _The Difference +Between Verbal and Practical Virtue_ (1742). + +126. _Le Lutrin: an Heroick Poem, Written Originally in French by +Monsieur Boileau: Made English by N. O._ (1682). + + +1967-1968 + +127-128. Charles Macklin, _A Will and No Will, or a Bone for the +Lawyers_ (1746). _The New Play Criticiz'd, or The Plague +of Envy_ (1747). Introduction by Jean B. Kern. + +129. Lawrence Echard, Prefaces to _Terence's Comedies_ (1694) and +_Plautus's Comedies_ (1694). Introduction by John Barnard. + +130. Henry More, _Democritus Platonissans_ (1646). Introduction by P. +G. Stanwood. + +131. John Evelyn, _The History of ... Sabatai Sevi ... The Suppos'd +Messiah of the Jews_ (1669). Introduction by Christopher W. Grose. + +132. Walter Harte, _An Essay on Satire, Particularly on the Dunciad_ +(1730). Introduction by Thomas B. Gilmore. + + +Subsequent publications may be checked in the annual prospectus. + +Publications of the first fifteen years of the Society (numbers 1-90) +are available in paperbound units of six issues at $16.00 per unit, +from the Kraus Reprint Company, 16 East 46th Street, New York, N.Y. +10017. + +Publications in print are available at the regular membership rate of +$5.00 yearly. Prices of single issues may be obtained upon request. + +William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: University of California, Los +Angeles + +THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + +2520 CIMARRON STREET, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90018 + +_General Editors_: William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial +Library; George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles; +Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles + +_Corresponding Secretary_: Mrs. Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark +Memorial Library + + +The Society's purpose is to publish rare Restoration and +eighteenth-century works (usually as facsimile reproductions). All +income of the Society is devoted to defraying costs of publication and +mailing. + +Correspondence concerning memberships in the United States and Canada +should be addressed to the Corresponding Secretary at the William +Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2520 Cimarron Street, Los Angeles, +California. Correspondence concerning editorial matters may be +addressed to the General Editors at the same address. Manuscripts of +introductions should conform to the recommendations of the MLA _Style +Sheet_. The membership fee is $5.00 a year in the United States and +Canada and £1.16.6 in Great Britain and Europe. British and European +prospective members should address B. H. Blackwell, Broad Street, +Oxford, England. Copies of back issues in print may be obtained from +the Corresponding Secretary. + +Publications of the first fifteen years of the Society (numbers 1-90) +are available in paperbound units of six issues at $16.00 per unit, +from the Kraus Reprint Company, 16 East 46th Street, New York, N. Y. +10017. + + +Make check or money order payable to THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF +CALIFORNIA + + +REGULAR PUBLICATIONS FOR 1968-1969 + +133. John Courtenay, _A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral +Character of the Late Samuel Johnson_ (1786). Introduction by Robert +E. Kelley. + +134. John Downes, _Roscius Anglicanus_ (1708). Introduction by John +Loftis. + +135. Sir John Hill, _Hypochondriasis, a Practical Treatise on the +Nature and Cure of that Disorder Call'd the Hyp or Hypo_ (1766). +Introduction by G. S. Rousseau. + +136. Thomas Sheridan, _Discourse ... Being Introductory to His Course +of Lectures on Elocution and the English Language_ (1759). +Introduction by G. P. Mohrman. + +137. Arthur Murphy, _The Englishman From Paris_ (1756). Introduction +by Simon Trefman. Previously unpublished manuscript. + +138. [Catherine Trotter], _Olinda's Adventures_ (1718). Introduction +by Robert Adams Day. + + +SPECIAL PUBLICATION FOR 1968-1969 + +_After THE TEMPEST._ Introduction by George Robert Guffey. + +Next in the continuing series of special publications by the Society +will be _After THE TEMPEST_, a volume including the Dryden-Davenant +version of _The Tempest_ (1670); the "operatic" _Tempest_ (1674); +Thomas Duffet's _Mock-Tempest_ (1675); and the "Garrick" _Tempest_ +(1756), with an Introduction by George Robert Guffey. + +Already published in this series are: + +1. John Ogilby, _The Fables of Aesop Paraphras'd in Verse_ (1668), +with an Introduction by Earl Miner. + +2. John Gay, _Fables_ (1727, 1738), with an Introduction by Vinton A. +Dearing. + +3. Elkanah Settle, _The Empress of Morocco_ (1673) with five plates; +_Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco_ (1674) by John +Dryden, John Crowne and Thomas Shadwell; _Notes and Observations on +the Empress of Morocco Revised_ (1674) by Elkanah Settle; and _The +Empress of Morocco. A Farce_ (1674) by Thomas Duffet; with an +Introduction by Maximillian E. Novak. + +Price to members of the Society, $2.50 for the first copy of each +title, and $3.25 for additional copies. Price to non-members, $4.00. +Standing orders for this continuing series of Special Publications +will be accepted. British and European orders should be addressed to +B. H. Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England. + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + Passages in italics indicated by underscore _italics_. + + The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version + these letters have been replaced with transliterations. + + Misprints corrected: + "ther" corrected to "their" (footnote 23) + "Crticiz'd" corrected to "Criticiz'd" (advertisements) + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Poetical Review of the Literary and +Moral Character of the late Samuel Johnson (1786), by John Courtenay + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAMUEL JOHNSON *** + +***** This file should be named 29324-8.txt or 29324-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/2/29324/ + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Stephanie Eason, Joseph Cooper +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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