FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[1]Read Mr Mason's Ode to Truth, and pick out a single sentiment if you can.[2]World, No. 100.[3]Swift had the splendid misfortune to be a man of genius. By a very singular felicity, he excelled both in verse and prose. He boasted, that nonewword was to be found in his volumes; though, in glory above all writers of his time, he did not fancythatentitled him to ingross or insult conversation. He was no less remarkably clean, thansomeare remarkably dirty. His love of fame never led him into the lowest of all vices; and a sense of his own dignity made him respect the importance and the feelings of others. He often went many miles on foot, that he might be able to bestow on the poor, what a coach would have cost him. He raised some hundreds of families from beggary, by lending them five pounds a-piece only. He inspired his footmen with Celtic attachment. Whatever was his pride, he shewed none of it in 'the venerable presence of misery.' Though a poet he was free from vanity; though an author and a divine, his example did not fall behind his precepts; though a courtier, he disdained to fawn on his superiors; though a patriot, he never, like our successive generations of blasted orators, sacrificed his principles to his passions. 'His meanest talent was his wit.' His learning had no pedantry, his piety no superstition; his benevolence almost no parallel. His intrepid eloquence first pointed out to his oppressed countrymen, that path to Independence, to happiness, and to glory, which their posterity, at this moment, so nobly pursue. His treatise on the conduct of their foreign allies, first taught the English nation the dangers of a continental war, dispelled their delusive dreams of conquest, and stopt them in the full career to ruin.[4]See parallel between Diogenes and Dr Johnson in Town and Country Magazine. In his life of Swift, the Doctor tells us, that 'he relieved without pity, and assisted without kindness.'[5]Idler, No. 70.[6]Preface to Shakespeare.[7]Life of Pope.[8]The following extracts from the Doctor's Dictionary are a key to his political tenets:Excise, a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged, not by the common judges of property, butwretcheshired by those to whom excise is paid.Gazetteer, was lately a term of the utmost infamy, being usually applied to wretches that werehiredto vindicate the court.Pension, an allowance made to any one without an equivalent. In England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country.Pensioner, a slave of state, hired by a stipend to obey his master.King, monarch, supreme governour.Monarch, a governour invested withabsoluteauthority, aKing.Whig, 1. whey, 2. the name of afaction.Tory, one who adheres to theantientconstitution of the state, and the apostolical hierarchy of the church of England, opposed to awhig.Johnson's fol. Dic.The wordfactionis always used in abadsense; though, in defining it, the Doctor did not, and, after what he had said of a whig, perhaps durst not say, that a faction is always a term for the supposed disturbers of public peace. 'The most obsequious of the slaves of pride, the most rapturous of the gazers upon wealth, the most officious of the whisperers of greatness, are collected from seminaries appropriated to the study of wisdom and of virtue;'Rambler, No. 180. That is to say, men of learning are a set of the most sneaking, pitiful, time-serving rascals. The reader will make his own applications.[9]SeePolitical tracts by the author of the Rambler. His character of Hambden, the reader will find in the 1st page of Waller's life. Of Milton, he says, that 'his impudence had been at least equal to his other powers. Such was his malignity, that hell grew darker at his frown. He thought women born only for obedience, and men only for rebellion.' There is much more in the same tone; and, with what justice his epithets are applied, let Englishmen judge.[10]Taxation no tyranny.[11]Ibid, No. 89.[12]Idler, No. 85.[13]Tour, p. 59.[14]Tour, p. 84.[15]Idler, No. 82.[16]He should have saidcauses, for he mentionstwo.—What is the Doctor's distinction here between habit and custom?[17]Quere, Are we more accustomed to beauty than deformity? or is not the fact otherwise.—Did habit ever make a sick man fond of disease, or a poor man fond of poverty?[18]Vide Preface to folio Dict.[19]Dr Campbell of Aberdeen, on the use of new words, says, 'That nothing can be juster than Johnson's manner of arguing on this subject, in regard to what Swift a little chimerically proposeth, that though new words be introduced, none should be suffered to become obsolete.' This Gentleman ought to have consulted Swift himself. Let him peruse the 'petty treatise,' and then let him blush for having trusted an author void of fidelity.[20]As the venerable and admirable father oftheEnglish Dictionary has treated the names of such men as Young and Lyttleton with so little ceremony, the reader will perhaps forgive the insertion of his own character, as drawn by Chesterfield. 'I am almost in a fever, whenever I am in his company. His figure (without being deformed) seems made to disgrace or ridicule the common structure of the human body. His legs and arms are never in the position, which, according to the situation of his body, they ought to be in; but constantly employed in committing acts of hostility upon the graces. He throws any where but down his throat, whatever he means to drink; and only mangles what he means to carve.Inattentive to all the regards of social life, he mistimes, or misplaces every thing. He disputes with heat, and indiscriminately, mindless of the rank, character, and situation, of those with whom he disputes; absolutely ignorant of the several gradations of familiarity or respect, he is exactly the same to his superiors, his equals, and his inferiors; and therefore by a necessary consequence absurd to two of the three. Is it possible to love such a man? No. The utmost I can do for him, is to consider him as a respectable Hottentot.' Churchill's account of our hero comes nearly to the same. And I presume that the inimitable Dr Smollet, has exhibited a third picture of this illustrious original in Humphry Clinker, Vol. 1.—Dr Johnson's letter to the Earl of Chesterfield concludes in these words: 'Whatever be the event of my endeavours, I shallnot easilyregret an attempt which has procured me the honour of appearing thus publicly, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient, and most humble servant, Sam. Johnson.' These extracts afford a striking contrast between the severity of the polite peer, and the humble politeness (foronce) of the rugged pedant.[21]Lives of English poets, vol. iii. p. 243 and 284. 12moedit.[22]Vide Life of Dryden.[23]Vid. Dict. article Blood.[24]Excogitation, this combination of letters is to be found in the Doctor's works, though not in his Dictionary.[25]Rasselas, chap. vi.[26]He meant to saythere.[27]Tour, p. 16. and 18. &c.[28]Tour, p. 186.[29]Ibid, p. 21.[30]Rambler, No. 79.[31]Tour, p. 369 &c.[32]Tour, p. 373.[33]Ibid, p.55.[34]Vid. folio Dictionary.[35]Tour, p. 242.[36]Butler's life.[37]Rambler, No. 59.[38]Ibid.[39]Vid. Plutarch.[40]Tour, p. 283.[41]Tour, p. 124.[42]Ibid, p. 154.[43]The Doctor ought to have said, 'Forthese reasons,'as he mentions several.[44]Pope's life.[45]He should have said,no poet; for that was his meaning, if he had any. Nowriter, includes prose as well as verse; and this sample may give us a fair idea of the Doctor'saccuracyin point of style.[46]Life of Pope.[47]Ibid.[48]Gray's life.[49]Gray's life.[50]Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. XVII.[51]Gray's life.[52]Ibid.[53]Ibid.[54]Edinburgh Review, Vol. III. P. 55.et seq.[55]Gray's life.[56]Ibid.[57]Ibid.[58]Life of Pope.[59]Gray's life.[60]Ibid.[61]Gray's life.[62]Ibid.[63]Pastor cum traheret per freta navibus, &c.[64]Gray's life. Dr. Beattie of Aberdeen differs very widely from Dr. Johnson on the merit of this poem. He says, 'I have heard the finest Ode in the world (meaning Gray's Bard) blamed for the boldness of its figures, and for what the critic was pleased to call obscurity.' Beattie's Essays on poetry and musick, 3d edit. p. 269. This is, certainly very strong; yet he seems in some danger of contradicting himself, when he says in another place, That 'for energy of words, vivacity of description, andappositevariety of numbers, Dryden's Feast of Alexander is superior to any ode of Horace or Pindar now extant.' Ibid, p. 17. One would have been apt to suppose that the Lyrick Poem which eclipsed Horace, if not the finest, is at least one of 'the finest in the world.'—But an author has novelty to recommend him, when he affirms that Gray is superior to Dryden, and Dryden to all Antiquity.[65]Gray's life.[66]Ibid.[67]Ibid.[68]Gray's life.[69]Gray's life.[70]A favourite phrase of the Rambler's.[71]Gray's life.[72]Ibid.[73]Taxation no Tyranny.[74]Taxation no Tyranny.[75]Dryden's life.[76]Ibid.[77]Rambler, No. 150.[78]Rambler, No. 9.[79]Vide the life of Garrick by Mr Davies.[80]Rambler, No. 160.[81]Ibid.[82]Churchill's Apology.[83]Vide Life of Cowley. His impressions had been very slight, for Crowley has nothing of the melody, or magnificence of the Fairy Queen. Of its great author we know little but that he was praised, and neglected, unfortunate, and poor: and, from his epitaph, that he died young. His subject is not happy, his words are often obsolete, and his stanza can hardly please us long. But we may presume that he wanted leisure to study the great models of antiquity: That he wanted that tranquillity of mind so requisite to the success of a poet: And that his defects are owing to the bad taste of his age, and the hardships of his life. Had he lived longer, and had he enjoyed that competence which a prudent shoeblack seldom fails to enjoy, Spenser would have been second in fame to Shakespeare only.[84]Dr Johnson on Cymbeline. The same sentiment is started in his account of Pope, 'To the particular species of excellence men are directed, not by an ascendant planet, or predominant humour, but by the first book which they read, some early conversation which they heard, or some accident which excited ardour and emulation.'—The Doctor is in this passage censuring Pope's ignorance of human nature—while his own marvellous and extreme stupidity makes him almost beneath censure. The reader will not realize Montesquieu's remark, Thatwhen we attempt to prove things so evident we are sure never to convince.[85]Annual Register 1779, Part II. p. 148. I abridge his words, but give their full meaning.[86]Life of Waller.[87]Life of Rowe.[88]Life of Milton.[89]Life of Swift.[90]Preface to Shakespeare.[91]Ibid.[92]Preface to Shakespeare.[93]'He has scenes ofundoubtedandperpetualexcellence.' Ibid. Is there not some inconsistency in these various assertions.[94]See in the same style his observations on Prior, Akenside, and others.[95]Quere.Did ever Shakespeare, or any other man, compose a single page, or even a single line, on any subject, without either straining his faculties, or at least soliciting his invention. It is very possible that the Doctor did not suspect the full extent of his expression.[96]Vide Dictionary.[97]Life of Pope.[98]Ibid.[99]Pope's life.[100]Eloisa, Letter 83.[101]Pope's life.[102]Preface to Shakespeare.[103]Pope's life.[104]Ibid.[105]Rambler, No. 36.[106]Ibid.[107]Thomson's life.[108]The author has no intention here to disseminate political opinions—His only meaning is to prove, thatsomebodyhas neither principle, nor consistency, nor shame.[109]Life of Shenstone.[110]Gentleman's Magazine.[111]Vide life of Milton.[112]Life of Smith.[113]Tour, p. 8, 12mo edit.[114]The Crucifix—Gulliver's Travels.[115]'And read their history in a nation's eyes.'Gray's Elegy.[116]On this subject nothing liberal could be expected from Dr Johnson, who, in spite of his murmurs about Excise, and his actual benevolence in private life, has always been the firm advocate of oppression. His project of hiring the Cherokees to massacre the North Americans (vide supra p. 32) may serve to inform us what he himself would have done, had he been seated in the saddle of authority. But what shall be said for some Scottish historians who have adopted the same ideas? One of them tells us, that Beaton had prepared a list of three hundred and sixty of the leaders of the Protestant party, whose lives and fortunes were to be sacrificed to the rapacity and the pride of this ambitious prelate. Yet he pronounces the killing of such a dangerous monster to be a most execrable deed. He dwells with studied exultation on the execution of Charles I. but if our King really deserved his fate, Was not Beaton by many degrees more criminal? An author can hardly spend his time worse, than in writing to flatter the prejudices, and to corrupt the common sense of the world.[117]Preface to Shakespeare.[118]Quere.What isunquenchablecuriosity? and how can a play excite curiosity which cannot be satisfied by its conclusion?[119]Preface to Shakespeare.[120]Ibid.[121]Weekly Mirror, No. 12.[122]Monthly Review, on Dr Graham's Pindaricks.[123]Dr Johnson's life of Pope.[124]Vide Terence and the Careless Husband.[125]Vide Dr Johnson's life of Shenstone.[126]Vide Preface to Dr Johnson's octavo Dictionary, 4th edition.[127]Vide Measure for measure.[128]Vide Dictionary.[129]Optics, P. 349.[130]Chem. I. P. 399. 614.[131]Preface to Folio Dictionary.[132]Perhaps he means, in definingThunder,Plum porridge, the particleBut, &c.[133]Letter to the Earl of Chesterfield.[134]Preface to folio dictionary.[135]Ibid.[136]Ibid.[137]Ibid.[138]It is said that this word is not to be found in any book previous to the reign of James II. and that it was derived from the Priests who surrounded him.[139]Solidity.'1. Fullness of matter;not hollowness. 2. Firmness; hardness; compactness;density;' &c. &c. Dr Johnson's dictionary. Every page is replete with jargon of this kind.[140]Essay, &c. Book II. Chap. iv. Sect. 6.[141]History of Manchester, Vol. II.[142]Preface to the octavo dictionary.[143]Vid. Preface to folio Dictionary.[144]Vide Life of Pope.[145]Vide Rambler.[146]The Booksellers, vide Life of Dryden.[147]Vide Dictionary, articleWater.[148]Dr Johnson's Dictionary, 4th edition, folio.[149]Ibid.[150]It is needless to observe, that there is no such coinin existence.[151]Idler, No. 94.[152]What string does the Doctor mean? for, besides the optic nerve, there are six muscles, four straight, and two oblique, and other small nervous branches.[153]It is surprising how some persons acquire the reputation of piety. The fervour of Dr Johnson's devotion cannot be denied by those who have seen him rise in the midst of a large company—fall down on his knees behind his chair, repeat his Pater noster, and then resume his seat. This is one way to get a character for holiness, and it is an absolute fact.Laud proved his title to the dignity of a saint, by doing all the mischief that lay in his power. He lighted up the flames of discord through three kingdoms. They were extinguished in the course of twenty years, by rivers of blood.'Knocking Jack of the North' founded his reputation, by railing at the damnable sin of fornication, destroying great numbers of fine buildings, and insulting the person of his Sovereign. His character was completely detestable, which is evident from the whole tenor of his life and writings, from his 'Blast against Women,' and above all, from his insolence to Queen Mary, a Princess the most admired, the most beautiful, the most injured, and the most unfortunate of her age.[154]Preface to Shakespeare.[155]Ibid. Dr Johnson on Shakespeare.[156]Preface to Folio Dictionary.[157]False Alarm.[158]Life of Pope.[159]Life of Pope.[160]Ibid.[161]Ibid.[162]Let Budgell charge low Grubstreet on my quill—And write whate'er he please,except myWILL!Epistle to Arbuthnot.[163]Life of Pope.[164]Vide life prefixed to his works.[165]Rambler, No. 45.[166]Life of Addison.[167]Dr Johnson's reputation is raised to such a height, that many writers do not think their productions can be successful, unless they have his liberty to acknowledge their obligations to him. This tribute of gratitude generally occupies a splendid dedication, or the second paragraph in the author's preface, and we are sometimes reminded in a marginal note of his particular respect for the Doctor. By a man of tolerable information, such eulogiums cannot be perused without intense disgust. But one of these gentlemen has boasted of the Doctor's approbation of a work, which, had he ever been consulted, he would havedamned beyond all depth. Dr Percy has published three volumes of English ballads, and as an apology for this work, he says in his preface, that he could refuse nothing to such judges as the late Mr Shenstone, and—the author of theRambler. Now take notice, that the very first poem in the collection, and one of the very best in the whole of it, is Chevy Chace! Dr Percy admires it. Dr Johnson ridicules it in the roughest terms. What are we to think of this; and what must Dr Percy feel when he reads the passage just now quoted from his friend? If Dr Johnson thinks Chevy Chace so insufferably dull, how must he have sickened in the perusal of many pieces in that collection.[168]Fugitive pieces. Vol. II. p. 136.[169]Ibid, p. 26.[170]Review for August 1782.[171]Vide False Alarm.[172]Though Dr Johnson has on all occasions expressed the utmost contempt and aversion for the Scots, yet they have in general been solicitous to soothe his pride. Dr Smollet says, that 'Johnson, inferior to none in philosophy, philology, and poetry, stands foremost as an essayist, justly celebrated for the strength, dignity, and variety of his stile, &c.' And Beattie affirms, that his dictionary, considered as the work of one man, is amost wonderfulperformance! The Doctor's capital enemies have likewise been Caledonians. The great author of Lexiphanes was a Scot, and the Rambler is yet smarting under the rough but irresistibleremarksof a Highland reviewer.Our ingenious advocate for the second sight (vid. Tour) has long been duped by a succession of rascals. Lawder persuaded him to believe, that Paradise Lost was compiled from scraps of modern Latin poetry; his pamphlet bears strong internal evidence that part of it at least (as has been long alledged) is the production of the Doctor's pen. Compare in particular the preface with such attempts in prose as we know to be Lawder's own. Vide Gentleman's Magazine.Mr Shaw has of late renewed hisenquiries. They are only to be regarded as the desperate ravings of a man who believes that, in consequence of thenew light, his moral and his literary character have sunk together into final perdition; that his name, like Lawder's, will be remembered only to his infamy, andthatDr Johnson himself despises and abhors him. Do you think me too severe on the Doctor's infirmities? Can you forgive his injustice to the memory of his benefactors—his political duplicity—his thirst for blood—his inveterate antipathy to the most sacred rights of mankind?Dr Johnson says, that one of the lowest of all human beings is a Commissioner of Excise. This can hardly be the case, unless himself or his reverend friend Mr Shaw shall arrive at that dignity. But in the meantime, there is a Commissioner of Excise, or Customs, (no matter which) who in the scale of human beings is not muchlowerthan Lexiphanes himself. This couple stand in the most striking contrast: and to draw the character of the first is to write an oblique but most severe censure on the character of the second. Dr Smith's language is a luscious and pure specimen of strength, elegance, precision, and simplicity. HisEnquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nationsdeserves to be studied by every member of the community, as one of the most accurate, profound, and persuasive books that ever was written. Inthatperformance he displays an intimate and extensive knowledge of mankind, in every department of life, from the cabinet to the cottage; a supreme contempt of national prejudice, and a fearless attachment to liberty, to justice, and to truth. His work is admired as a mass of excellence, a condensation of reasonings, the most various, important, original, and just.

[1]Read Mr Mason's Ode to Truth, and pick out a single sentiment if you can.

[2]World, No. 100.

[3]Swift had the splendid misfortune to be a man of genius. By a very singular felicity, he excelled both in verse and prose. He boasted, that nonewword was to be found in his volumes; though, in glory above all writers of his time, he did not fancythatentitled him to ingross or insult conversation. He was no less remarkably clean, thansomeare remarkably dirty. His love of fame never led him into the lowest of all vices; and a sense of his own dignity made him respect the importance and the feelings of others. He often went many miles on foot, that he might be able to bestow on the poor, what a coach would have cost him. He raised some hundreds of families from beggary, by lending them five pounds a-piece only. He inspired his footmen with Celtic attachment. Whatever was his pride, he shewed none of it in 'the venerable presence of misery.' Though a poet he was free from vanity; though an author and a divine, his example did not fall behind his precepts; though a courtier, he disdained to fawn on his superiors; though a patriot, he never, like our successive generations of blasted orators, sacrificed his principles to his passions. 'His meanest talent was his wit.' His learning had no pedantry, his piety no superstition; his benevolence almost no parallel. His intrepid eloquence first pointed out to his oppressed countrymen, that path to Independence, to happiness, and to glory, which their posterity, at this moment, so nobly pursue. His treatise on the conduct of their foreign allies, first taught the English nation the dangers of a continental war, dispelled their delusive dreams of conquest, and stopt them in the full career to ruin.

[4]See parallel between Diogenes and Dr Johnson in Town and Country Magazine. In his life of Swift, the Doctor tells us, that 'he relieved without pity, and assisted without kindness.'

[5]Idler, No. 70.

[6]Preface to Shakespeare.

[7]Life of Pope.

[8]The following extracts from the Doctor's Dictionary are a key to his political tenets:Excise, a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged, not by the common judges of property, butwretcheshired by those to whom excise is paid.Gazetteer, was lately a term of the utmost infamy, being usually applied to wretches that werehiredto vindicate the court.Pension, an allowance made to any one without an equivalent. In England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country.Pensioner, a slave of state, hired by a stipend to obey his master.King, monarch, supreme governour.Monarch, a governour invested withabsoluteauthority, aKing.Whig, 1. whey, 2. the name of afaction.Tory, one who adheres to theantientconstitution of the state, and the apostolical hierarchy of the church of England, opposed to awhig.Johnson's fol. Dic.The wordfactionis always used in abadsense; though, in defining it, the Doctor did not, and, after what he had said of a whig, perhaps durst not say, that a faction is always a term for the supposed disturbers of public peace. 'The most obsequious of the slaves of pride, the most rapturous of the gazers upon wealth, the most officious of the whisperers of greatness, are collected from seminaries appropriated to the study of wisdom and of virtue;'Rambler, No. 180. That is to say, men of learning are a set of the most sneaking, pitiful, time-serving rascals. The reader will make his own applications.

[9]SeePolitical tracts by the author of the Rambler. His character of Hambden, the reader will find in the 1st page of Waller's life. Of Milton, he says, that 'his impudence had been at least equal to his other powers. Such was his malignity, that hell grew darker at his frown. He thought women born only for obedience, and men only for rebellion.' There is much more in the same tone; and, with what justice his epithets are applied, let Englishmen judge.

[10]Taxation no tyranny.

[11]Ibid, No. 89.

[12]Idler, No. 85.

[13]Tour, p. 59.

[14]Tour, p. 84.

[15]Idler, No. 82.

[16]He should have saidcauses, for he mentionstwo.—What is the Doctor's distinction here between habit and custom?

[17]Quere, Are we more accustomed to beauty than deformity? or is not the fact otherwise.—Did habit ever make a sick man fond of disease, or a poor man fond of poverty?

[18]Vide Preface to folio Dict.

[19]Dr Campbell of Aberdeen, on the use of new words, says, 'That nothing can be juster than Johnson's manner of arguing on this subject, in regard to what Swift a little chimerically proposeth, that though new words be introduced, none should be suffered to become obsolete.' This Gentleman ought to have consulted Swift himself. Let him peruse the 'petty treatise,' and then let him blush for having trusted an author void of fidelity.

[20]As the venerable and admirable father oftheEnglish Dictionary has treated the names of such men as Young and Lyttleton with so little ceremony, the reader will perhaps forgive the insertion of his own character, as drawn by Chesterfield. 'I am almost in a fever, whenever I am in his company. His figure (without being deformed) seems made to disgrace or ridicule the common structure of the human body. His legs and arms are never in the position, which, according to the situation of his body, they ought to be in; but constantly employed in committing acts of hostility upon the graces. He throws any where but down his throat, whatever he means to drink; and only mangles what he means to carve.Inattentive to all the regards of social life, he mistimes, or misplaces every thing. He disputes with heat, and indiscriminately, mindless of the rank, character, and situation, of those with whom he disputes; absolutely ignorant of the several gradations of familiarity or respect, he is exactly the same to his superiors, his equals, and his inferiors; and therefore by a necessary consequence absurd to two of the three. Is it possible to love such a man? No. The utmost I can do for him, is to consider him as a respectable Hottentot.' Churchill's account of our hero comes nearly to the same. And I presume that the inimitable Dr Smollet, has exhibited a third picture of this illustrious original in Humphry Clinker, Vol. 1.—Dr Johnson's letter to the Earl of Chesterfield concludes in these words: 'Whatever be the event of my endeavours, I shallnot easilyregret an attempt which has procured me the honour of appearing thus publicly, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient, and most humble servant, Sam. Johnson.' These extracts afford a striking contrast between the severity of the polite peer, and the humble politeness (foronce) of the rugged pedant.

[21]Lives of English poets, vol. iii. p. 243 and 284. 12moedit.

[22]Vide Life of Dryden.

[23]Vid. Dict. article Blood.

[24]Excogitation, this combination of letters is to be found in the Doctor's works, though not in his Dictionary.

[25]Rasselas, chap. vi.

[26]He meant to saythere.

[27]Tour, p. 16. and 18. &c.

[28]Tour, p. 186.

[29]Ibid, p. 21.

[30]Rambler, No. 79.

[31]Tour, p. 369 &c.

[32]Tour, p. 373.

[33]Ibid, p.55.

[34]Vid. folio Dictionary.

[35]Tour, p. 242.

[36]Butler's life.

[37]Rambler, No. 59.

[38]Ibid.

[39]Vid. Plutarch.

[40]Tour, p. 283.

[41]Tour, p. 124.

[42]Ibid, p. 154.

[43]The Doctor ought to have said, 'Forthese reasons,'as he mentions several.

[44]Pope's life.

[45]He should have said,no poet; for that was his meaning, if he had any. Nowriter, includes prose as well as verse; and this sample may give us a fair idea of the Doctor'saccuracyin point of style.

[46]Life of Pope.

[47]Ibid.

[48]Gray's life.

[49]Gray's life.

[50]Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. XVII.

[51]Gray's life.

[52]Ibid.

[53]Ibid.

[54]Edinburgh Review, Vol. III. P. 55.et seq.

[55]Gray's life.

[56]Ibid.

[57]Ibid.

[58]Life of Pope.

[59]Gray's life.

[60]Ibid.

[61]Gray's life.

[62]Ibid.

[63]Pastor cum traheret per freta navibus, &c.

[64]Gray's life. Dr. Beattie of Aberdeen differs very widely from Dr. Johnson on the merit of this poem. He says, 'I have heard the finest Ode in the world (meaning Gray's Bard) blamed for the boldness of its figures, and for what the critic was pleased to call obscurity.' Beattie's Essays on poetry and musick, 3d edit. p. 269. This is, certainly very strong; yet he seems in some danger of contradicting himself, when he says in another place, That 'for energy of words, vivacity of description, andappositevariety of numbers, Dryden's Feast of Alexander is superior to any ode of Horace or Pindar now extant.' Ibid, p. 17. One would have been apt to suppose that the Lyrick Poem which eclipsed Horace, if not the finest, is at least one of 'the finest in the world.'—But an author has novelty to recommend him, when he affirms that Gray is superior to Dryden, and Dryden to all Antiquity.

[65]Gray's life.

[66]Ibid.

[67]Ibid.

[68]Gray's life.

[69]Gray's life.

[70]A favourite phrase of the Rambler's.

[71]Gray's life.

[72]Ibid.

[73]Taxation no Tyranny.

[74]Taxation no Tyranny.

[75]Dryden's life.

[76]Ibid.

[77]Rambler, No. 150.

[78]Rambler, No. 9.

[79]Vide the life of Garrick by Mr Davies.

[80]Rambler, No. 160.

[81]Ibid.

[82]Churchill's Apology.

[83]Vide Life of Cowley. His impressions had been very slight, for Crowley has nothing of the melody, or magnificence of the Fairy Queen. Of its great author we know little but that he was praised, and neglected, unfortunate, and poor: and, from his epitaph, that he died young. His subject is not happy, his words are often obsolete, and his stanza can hardly please us long. But we may presume that he wanted leisure to study the great models of antiquity: That he wanted that tranquillity of mind so requisite to the success of a poet: And that his defects are owing to the bad taste of his age, and the hardships of his life. Had he lived longer, and had he enjoyed that competence which a prudent shoeblack seldom fails to enjoy, Spenser would have been second in fame to Shakespeare only.

[84]Dr Johnson on Cymbeline. The same sentiment is started in his account of Pope, 'To the particular species of excellence men are directed, not by an ascendant planet, or predominant humour, but by the first book which they read, some early conversation which they heard, or some accident which excited ardour and emulation.'—The Doctor is in this passage censuring Pope's ignorance of human nature—while his own marvellous and extreme stupidity makes him almost beneath censure. The reader will not realize Montesquieu's remark, Thatwhen we attempt to prove things so evident we are sure never to convince.

[85]Annual Register 1779, Part II. p. 148. I abridge his words, but give their full meaning.

[86]Life of Waller.

[87]Life of Rowe.

[88]Life of Milton.

[89]Life of Swift.

[90]Preface to Shakespeare.

[91]Ibid.

[92]Preface to Shakespeare.

[93]'He has scenes ofundoubtedandperpetualexcellence.' Ibid. Is there not some inconsistency in these various assertions.

[94]See in the same style his observations on Prior, Akenside, and others.

[95]Quere.Did ever Shakespeare, or any other man, compose a single page, or even a single line, on any subject, without either straining his faculties, or at least soliciting his invention. It is very possible that the Doctor did not suspect the full extent of his expression.

[96]Vide Dictionary.

[97]Life of Pope.

[98]Ibid.

[99]Pope's life.

[100]Eloisa, Letter 83.

[101]Pope's life.

[102]Preface to Shakespeare.

[103]Pope's life.

[104]Ibid.

[105]Rambler, No. 36.

[106]Ibid.

[107]Thomson's life.

[108]The author has no intention here to disseminate political opinions—His only meaning is to prove, thatsomebodyhas neither principle, nor consistency, nor shame.

[109]Life of Shenstone.

[110]Gentleman's Magazine.

[111]Vide life of Milton.

[112]Life of Smith.

[113]Tour, p. 8, 12mo edit.

[114]The Crucifix—Gulliver's Travels.

[115]'And read their history in a nation's eyes.'Gray's Elegy.

[116]On this subject nothing liberal could be expected from Dr Johnson, who, in spite of his murmurs about Excise, and his actual benevolence in private life, has always been the firm advocate of oppression. His project of hiring the Cherokees to massacre the North Americans (vide supra p. 32) may serve to inform us what he himself would have done, had he been seated in the saddle of authority. But what shall be said for some Scottish historians who have adopted the same ideas? One of them tells us, that Beaton had prepared a list of three hundred and sixty of the leaders of the Protestant party, whose lives and fortunes were to be sacrificed to the rapacity and the pride of this ambitious prelate. Yet he pronounces the killing of such a dangerous monster to be a most execrable deed. He dwells with studied exultation on the execution of Charles I. but if our King really deserved his fate, Was not Beaton by many degrees more criminal? An author can hardly spend his time worse, than in writing to flatter the prejudices, and to corrupt the common sense of the world.

[117]Preface to Shakespeare.

[118]Quere.What isunquenchablecuriosity? and how can a play excite curiosity which cannot be satisfied by its conclusion?

[119]Preface to Shakespeare.

[120]Ibid.

[121]Weekly Mirror, No. 12.

[122]Monthly Review, on Dr Graham's Pindaricks.

[123]Dr Johnson's life of Pope.

[124]Vide Terence and the Careless Husband.

[125]Vide Dr Johnson's life of Shenstone.

[126]Vide Preface to Dr Johnson's octavo Dictionary, 4th edition.

[127]Vide Measure for measure.

[128]Vide Dictionary.

[129]Optics, P. 349.

[130]Chem. I. P. 399. 614.

[131]Preface to Folio Dictionary.

[132]Perhaps he means, in definingThunder,Plum porridge, the particleBut, &c.

[133]Letter to the Earl of Chesterfield.

[134]Preface to folio dictionary.

[135]Ibid.

[136]Ibid.

[137]Ibid.

[138]It is said that this word is not to be found in any book previous to the reign of James II. and that it was derived from the Priests who surrounded him.

[139]Solidity.'1. Fullness of matter;not hollowness. 2. Firmness; hardness; compactness;density;' &c. &c. Dr Johnson's dictionary. Every page is replete with jargon of this kind.

[140]Essay, &c. Book II. Chap. iv. Sect. 6.

[141]History of Manchester, Vol. II.

[142]Preface to the octavo dictionary.

[143]Vid. Preface to folio Dictionary.

[144]Vide Life of Pope.

[145]Vide Rambler.

[146]The Booksellers, vide Life of Dryden.

[147]Vide Dictionary, articleWater.

[148]Dr Johnson's Dictionary, 4th edition, folio.

[149]Ibid.

[150]It is needless to observe, that there is no such coinin existence.

[151]Idler, No. 94.

[152]What string does the Doctor mean? for, besides the optic nerve, there are six muscles, four straight, and two oblique, and other small nervous branches.

[153]It is surprising how some persons acquire the reputation of piety. The fervour of Dr Johnson's devotion cannot be denied by those who have seen him rise in the midst of a large company—fall down on his knees behind his chair, repeat his Pater noster, and then resume his seat. This is one way to get a character for holiness, and it is an absolute fact.Laud proved his title to the dignity of a saint, by doing all the mischief that lay in his power. He lighted up the flames of discord through three kingdoms. They were extinguished in the course of twenty years, by rivers of blood.'Knocking Jack of the North' founded his reputation, by railing at the damnable sin of fornication, destroying great numbers of fine buildings, and insulting the person of his Sovereign. His character was completely detestable, which is evident from the whole tenor of his life and writings, from his 'Blast against Women,' and above all, from his insolence to Queen Mary, a Princess the most admired, the most beautiful, the most injured, and the most unfortunate of her age.

Laud proved his title to the dignity of a saint, by doing all the mischief that lay in his power. He lighted up the flames of discord through three kingdoms. They were extinguished in the course of twenty years, by rivers of blood.

'Knocking Jack of the North' founded his reputation, by railing at the damnable sin of fornication, destroying great numbers of fine buildings, and insulting the person of his Sovereign. His character was completely detestable, which is evident from the whole tenor of his life and writings, from his 'Blast against Women,' and above all, from his insolence to Queen Mary, a Princess the most admired, the most beautiful, the most injured, and the most unfortunate of her age.

[154]Preface to Shakespeare.

[155]Ibid. Dr Johnson on Shakespeare.

[156]Preface to Folio Dictionary.

[157]False Alarm.

[158]Life of Pope.

[159]Life of Pope.

[160]Ibid.

[161]Ibid.

[162]Let Budgell charge low Grubstreet on my quill—And write whate'er he please,except myWILL!Epistle to Arbuthnot.

[162]

Let Budgell charge low Grubstreet on my quill—And write whate'er he please,except myWILL!

Epistle to Arbuthnot.

[163]Life of Pope.

[164]Vide life prefixed to his works.

[165]Rambler, No. 45.

[166]Life of Addison.

[167]Dr Johnson's reputation is raised to such a height, that many writers do not think their productions can be successful, unless they have his liberty to acknowledge their obligations to him. This tribute of gratitude generally occupies a splendid dedication, or the second paragraph in the author's preface, and we are sometimes reminded in a marginal note of his particular respect for the Doctor. By a man of tolerable information, such eulogiums cannot be perused without intense disgust. But one of these gentlemen has boasted of the Doctor's approbation of a work, which, had he ever been consulted, he would havedamned beyond all depth. Dr Percy has published three volumes of English ballads, and as an apology for this work, he says in his preface, that he could refuse nothing to such judges as the late Mr Shenstone, and—the author of theRambler. Now take notice, that the very first poem in the collection, and one of the very best in the whole of it, is Chevy Chace! Dr Percy admires it. Dr Johnson ridicules it in the roughest terms. What are we to think of this; and what must Dr Percy feel when he reads the passage just now quoted from his friend? If Dr Johnson thinks Chevy Chace so insufferably dull, how must he have sickened in the perusal of many pieces in that collection.

[168]Fugitive pieces. Vol. II. p. 136.

[169]Ibid, p. 26.

[170]Review for August 1782.

[171]Vide False Alarm.

[172]Though Dr Johnson has on all occasions expressed the utmost contempt and aversion for the Scots, yet they have in general been solicitous to soothe his pride. Dr Smollet says, that 'Johnson, inferior to none in philosophy, philology, and poetry, stands foremost as an essayist, justly celebrated for the strength, dignity, and variety of his stile, &c.' And Beattie affirms, that his dictionary, considered as the work of one man, is amost wonderfulperformance! The Doctor's capital enemies have likewise been Caledonians. The great author of Lexiphanes was a Scot, and the Rambler is yet smarting under the rough but irresistibleremarksof a Highland reviewer.Our ingenious advocate for the second sight (vid. Tour) has long been duped by a succession of rascals. Lawder persuaded him to believe, that Paradise Lost was compiled from scraps of modern Latin poetry; his pamphlet bears strong internal evidence that part of it at least (as has been long alledged) is the production of the Doctor's pen. Compare in particular the preface with such attempts in prose as we know to be Lawder's own. Vide Gentleman's Magazine.Mr Shaw has of late renewed hisenquiries. They are only to be regarded as the desperate ravings of a man who believes that, in consequence of thenew light, his moral and his literary character have sunk together into final perdition; that his name, like Lawder's, will be remembered only to his infamy, andthatDr Johnson himself despises and abhors him. Do you think me too severe on the Doctor's infirmities? Can you forgive his injustice to the memory of his benefactors—his political duplicity—his thirst for blood—his inveterate antipathy to the most sacred rights of mankind?Dr Johnson says, that one of the lowest of all human beings is a Commissioner of Excise. This can hardly be the case, unless himself or his reverend friend Mr Shaw shall arrive at that dignity. But in the meantime, there is a Commissioner of Excise, or Customs, (no matter which) who in the scale of human beings is not muchlowerthan Lexiphanes himself. This couple stand in the most striking contrast: and to draw the character of the first is to write an oblique but most severe censure on the character of the second. Dr Smith's language is a luscious and pure specimen of strength, elegance, precision, and simplicity. HisEnquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nationsdeserves to be studied by every member of the community, as one of the most accurate, profound, and persuasive books that ever was written. Inthatperformance he displays an intimate and extensive knowledge of mankind, in every department of life, from the cabinet to the cottage; a supreme contempt of national prejudice, and a fearless attachment to liberty, to justice, and to truth. His work is admired as a mass of excellence, a condensation of reasonings, the most various, important, original, and just.

Our ingenious advocate for the second sight (vid. Tour) has long been duped by a succession of rascals. Lawder persuaded him to believe, that Paradise Lost was compiled from scraps of modern Latin poetry; his pamphlet bears strong internal evidence that part of it at least (as has been long alledged) is the production of the Doctor's pen. Compare in particular the preface with such attempts in prose as we know to be Lawder's own. Vide Gentleman's Magazine.

Mr Shaw has of late renewed hisenquiries. They are only to be regarded as the desperate ravings of a man who believes that, in consequence of thenew light, his moral and his literary character have sunk together into final perdition; that his name, like Lawder's, will be remembered only to his infamy, andthatDr Johnson himself despises and abhors him. Do you think me too severe on the Doctor's infirmities? Can you forgive his injustice to the memory of his benefactors—his political duplicity—his thirst for blood—his inveterate antipathy to the most sacred rights of mankind?

Dr Johnson says, that one of the lowest of all human beings is a Commissioner of Excise. This can hardly be the case, unless himself or his reverend friend Mr Shaw shall arrive at that dignity. But in the meantime, there is a Commissioner of Excise, or Customs, (no matter which) who in the scale of human beings is not muchlowerthan Lexiphanes himself. This couple stand in the most striking contrast: and to draw the character of the first is to write an oblique but most severe censure on the character of the second. Dr Smith's language is a luscious and pure specimen of strength, elegance, precision, and simplicity. HisEnquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nationsdeserves to be studied by every member of the community, as one of the most accurate, profound, and persuasive books that ever was written. Inthatperformance he displays an intimate and extensive knowledge of mankind, in every department of life, from the cabinet to the cottage; a supreme contempt of national prejudice, and a fearless attachment to liberty, to justice, and to truth. His work is admired as a mass of excellence, a condensation of reasonings, the most various, important, original, and just.

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

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