约翰逊4-6-34

something. It may be added to the _Life of Philips_. The Latin page isto be added to the _Life of Smith_. I shall be at home to revise the twosheets of Milton. March 1, 1779.''Please to get me the last edition of Hughes's _Letters_; and try to get_Dennis upon Blackmore_, and upon Calo, and any thing of the same writeragainst Pope. Our materials are defective.''As Waller professed to have imitated Fairfax, do you think a few pagesof Fairfax would enrich our edition? Few readers have seen it, and itmay please them. But it is not necessary.''An account of the Lives and works of some of the most eminent EnglishPoets. By, &c.--"The English Poets, biographically and criticallyconsidered, by SAM. JOHNSON."--Let Mr. Nichols take his choice, or makeanother to his mind. May, 1781.''You somehow forgot the advertisement for the new edition. It was notinclosed. Of Gay's _Letters_ I see not that any use can be made, forthey give no information of any thing. That he was a member of thePhilosophical Society is something; but surely he could be but acorresponding member. However, not having his life here, I know not howto put it in, and it is of little importance.'See several more in _The Gent. Mag._, 1785. The Editor of thatMiscellany, in which Johnson wrote for several years, seems justly tothink that every fragment of so great a man is worthy of beingpreserved. BOSWELL. In the original MS. in the British Museum, _Your_ inthe third paragraph of this note is not in italics. Johnson writes hiscorrespondent's name _Nichols_, _Nichol_, and _Nicol_. In the fourthparagraph he writes, first _Philips_, and next _Phillips_. His spellingwas sometimes careless, _ante_, i. 260, note 2. In the _Gent. Mag._ for1785, p. 10, another of these notes is published:--'In reading Rowe inyour edition, which is very impudently called mine, I observed a littlepiece unnaturally and odiously obscene. I was offended, but was stillmore offended when I could not find it in Rowe's genuine volumes. Toadmit it had been wrong; to interpolate it is surely worse. If I hadknown of such a piece in the whole collection, I should have been angry.What can be done?' In a note, Mr. Nichols says that this piece 'has notonly appeared in the _Works_ of Rowe, but has been transplanted by Popeinto the _Miscellanies_ he published in his own name and that ofDean Swift.'[132] He published, in 1782, a revised edition of Baker's_ BiographiaDramatica_. Baker was a grandson of De Foe. _Gent. Mag._ 1782, p. 77.[133] Dryden writing of satiric poetry, says:--'Had I time I couldenlarge on the beautiful turns of words and thoughts, which are asrequisite in this as in heroic poetry itself; of which the satire isundoubtedly a species. With these beautiful turns I confess myself tohave been unacquainted, till about twenty years ago, in a conversationwhich I had with that noble wit of Scotland, Sir George Mackenzie, heasked me why I did not imitate in my verses the turns of Mr. Waller, andSir John Denham. ... This hint, thus seasonably given me, first made mesensible of my own wants, and brought me afterwards to seek for thesupply of them in other English authors. I looked over the darling of myyouth, the famous Cowley.' Dryden's _Works_, ed. 1821, xiii. III.[134] In one of his letters to Nichols, Johnson says:--'You have now allCowley. I have been drawn to a great length, but Cowley or Waller neverhad any critical examination before.' _Gent. Mag._ 1785, p.9.[135] _Life of Sheffield_. BOSWELL. Johnson's _Works_, vii. 485.[136] See, however, p.11 of this volume, where the same remark is madeand Johnson is there speaking of _prose_. MALONE.[137]'Purpureus, late qui splendeat unus et alterAssuitur pannus.''... Shreds of purple with broad lustre shineSewed on your poem.'FRANCIS. Horace, _Ars Poet_. 15.[138] The original reading is enclosed in crochets, and the present oneis printed in Italicks. BOSWELL.[139] I have noticed a few words which, to our ears, are more uncommonthan at least two of the three that Boswell mentions; as, 'Languagesdivaricate,' _Works_, vii. 309; 'The mellifluence of Pope's numbers,'_ib._ 337; 'A subject flux and transitory,' _ib._ 389; 'His prose ispure without scrupulosity,' _ib._ 472; 'He received and accommodated theladies' (said of one serving behind the counter), _ib._ viii. 62; 'Theprevalence of this poem was gradual,' _ib._ p. 276; 'His style issometimes concatenated,' _ib._ p. 458. Boswell, on the next page,supplies one more instance--'Images such as the superficies of naturereadily supplies.'[140] See _ante_, iii. 249.[141] Veracious is perhaps one of the 'four or five words' which Johnsonadded, or thought that he added, to the English language. _Ante_, i.221. He gives it in his _Dictionary_, but without any authority for it.It is however older than his time.[142] See Johnson's _Works_, vii. 134, 212, and viii. 386.[143] Horace Walpole (_Letters_, vii. 452) writes of Johnson's'_Billingsgate on Milton_.' A later letter shows that, like so many ofJohnson's critics, he had not read the _Life_. _Ib_. p. 508.[144] _Works_, vii. 108.[145] Thirty years earlier he had written of Milton as 'that poet whoseworks may possibly be read when every other monument of Britishgreatness shall be obliterated.' _Ante_, i. 230. See _ante_, ii. 239.[146] Earl Stanhope (_Life of Pitt_, ii. 65) describes this Society in1790, 'as a Club, till then of little note, which had a yearly festivalin commemoration of the events of 1688. It had been new-modelled, andenlarged with a view to the transactions at Paris, but still retainedits former name to imply a close connection between the principles of1688 in England, and the principles of 1789 in France.' The EarlStanhope of that day presided at the anniversary meeting on Nov. 4,1789. Nov. 4 was the day on which William III. landed.[147] See _An Essay on the Life, Character, and writings of Dr. SamuelJohnson_, London, 1787; which is very well written, making a properallowance for the democratical bigotry of its authour; whom I cannothowever but admire for his liberality in speaking thus of myillustrious friend:--'He possessed extraordinary powers of understanding, which were muchcultivated by study, and still more by meditation and reflection. Hismemory was remarkably retentive, his imagination uncommonly vigorous,and his judgement keen and penetrating. He had a strong sense of theimportance of religion; his piety was sincere, and sometimes ardent; andhis zeal for the interests of virtue was often manifested in hisconversation and in his writings. The same energy which was displayed inhis literary productions was exhibited also in his conversation, whichwas various, striking, and instructive; and perhaps no man ever equalledhim for nervous and pointed repartees.''His _Dictionary_, his moral Essays, and his productions in politeliterature, will convey useful instruction, and elegant entertainment,as long as the language in which they are written shall beunderstood.' BOSWELL.[148] Boswell paraphrases the following passage:--'The King, with lenityof which the world has had perhaps no other example, declined to be thejudge or avenger of his own or his father's wrongs; and promised toadmit into the Act of Oblivion all, except those whom the Parliamentshould except; and the Parliament doomed none to capital punishment butthe wretches who had immediately co-operated in the murder of the King.Milton was certainly not one of them; he had only justified what theyhad done.' Johnson's _Works_, vii. 95.[149]'Though fall'n on evil days,On evil days though fall'n and evil tongues,In darkness, and with dangers compast round.'_Paradise Lost_, vii. 26.[150] Johnson's _Works_, vii. 105.[151] 'His political notions were those of an acrimonious and surlyrepublican.' _Ib_. p. 116.[152] 'What we know of Milton's character in domestick relations is,that he was severe and arbitrary.' _Ib._ p. 116.[153] 'His theological opinions are said to have been first,Calvinistical; and afterwards, perhaps when he began to hate thePresbyterians, to have tended towards Arminianism.... He appears to havebeen untainted by any heretical peculiarity of opinion.' _Ib._ p. 115.[154] Mr. Malone things it is rather a proof that he felt nothing ofthose cheerful sensations which he has described: that on these topicksit is the _poet_, and not the _man_, that writes. BOSWELL.[155] See _ante_, i. 427, ii. 124, and iv. 20, for Johnson'scondemnation of blank verse. This condemnations was not universal. OfDryden, he wrote (_Works_, vii. 249):--'He made rhyming tragedies, till,by the prevalence of manifest propriety, he seems to have grown ashamedof making them any longer.' His own _Irene_ is in blank verse; thoughMacaulay justly remarks of it:--'He had not the slightest notion of whatblank verse should be.' (Macaulay's _Writings and Speeches_, ed. 1871,p. 380.) Of Thomson's _Seasons_, he says (_Works_, vii. 377):--'His is oneof the works in which blank verse seems properly used.' Of Young's_Night Thoughts_:--'This is one of the few poems in which blank versecould not be changed for rhyme but with disadvantage.' _Ib_. p. 460. OfMilton himself, he writes:--'Whatever be the advantages of rhyme, Icannot prevail on myself to wish that Milton had been a rhymer; for Icannot wish his work to be other than it is; yet, like other heroes, heis to be admired rather than imitated.' _Ib_. vii. 142. How much he feltthe power of Milton's blank verse is shewn by his _Rambler_, No. 90,where, after stating that 'the noblest and most majestick pauses whichour versification admits are upon the fourth and sixth syllables,' headds:--' Some passages [in Milton] which conclude at this stop [thesixth syllable] I could never read without some strong emotions ofdelight or admiration.' 'If,' he continues, 'the poetry of Milton beexamined with regard to the pauses and flow of his verses into eachother, it will appear that he has performed all that our language wouldadmit.' Cowper was so indignant at Johnson's criticism of Milton's blankverse that he wrote:--'Oh! I could thresh his old jacket till I made hispension jingle in his pocket.' Southey's _Cowper_, iii. 315.[156] One of the most natural instances of the effect of blank verseoccurred to the late Earl of Hopeton. His Lordship observed one of hisshepherds poring in the fields upon Milton's _Paradise Lost_; and havingasked him what book it was, the man answered, 'An't please yourLordship, this is a very odd sort of an authour: he would fain rhyme,but cannot get at it.' BOSWELL. 'The variety of pauses, so much boastedby the lovers of blank verse, changes the measures of an English poet tothe periods of a declaimer; and there are only a few skilful and happyreaders of Milton, who enable their audience to perceive where the linesend or begin. "Blank verse," said an ingenious critick, "seems to beverse only to the eye."' Johnson's _Works_, vii. 141. In the _Life ofRoscommon_ (_ib_. p. 171), he says:--'A poem frigidly didactick, withoutrhyme, is so near to prose, that the reader only scorns it forpretending to be verse.'[157] Mr. Locke. Often mentioned in Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_.[158] See vol. in. page 71. BOSWELL.[159] It is scarcely a defence. Whatever it was, he thus ends it:-'It isnatural to hope, that a comprehensive is likewise an elevated soul, andthat whoever is wise is also honest. I am willing to believe thatDryden, having employed his mind, active as it was, upon differentstudies, and filled it, capacious as it was, with other materials, cameunprovided to the controversy, and wanted rather skill to discover theright than virtue to maintain it. But inquiries into the heart are notfor man; we must now leave him to his judge.' Works, vii. 279.[160] In the original _fright_. _The Hind and the Panther_, i. 79.[161] In this quotation two passages are joined. _Works_, vii. 339, 340.[162] 'The deep and pathetic morality of the _Vanity of Human Wishes_'says Sir Walter Scott, 'has often extracted tears from those whose eyeswander dry over the pages of professed sentimentality.' CROKER. It. drewtears from Johnson himself. 'When,' says Mrs. Piozzi (_Anec_. p. 50),'he read his own satire, in which the life of a scholar is painted, heburst into a passion of tears. The family and Mr. Scott only werepresent, who, in a jocose way, clapped him on the back, andsaid:--"What's all this, my dear Sir? Why you, and I, and Hercules, youknow, were all troubled with melancholy." He was a very large man, andmade out the triumvirate with Johnson and Hercules comically enough. TheDoctor was so delighted at his odd sally, that he suddenly embraced him,and the subject was immediately changed.'[163] In Disraeli's _Curiosities of Literature_, ed. 1834, iv. 180, isgiven 'a memorandum of Dr. Johnson's of hints for the _Life of Pope_.'[164] _Works_, viii. 345.[165] 'Of the last editor [Warburton] it is more difficult to speak.Respect is due to high place, tenderness to living reputation, andveneration to genius and learning; but he cannot be justly offended atthat liberty of which he has himself so frequently given an example, norvery solicitous what is thought of notes which he ought never to haveconsidered as part of his serious employments.' _Works_, v. 140. See_post_, June 10,1784.[166] The liberality is certainly measured. With much praise there ismuch censure. _Works_, viii. 288. See _ante_, ii. 36, and Boswell's_Hebrides_, Aug. 23.[167] Of Johnson's conduct towards Warburton, a very honourable noticeis taken by the editor of _Tracts by Warburton and a Warburtonian, notadmitted into the Collection of their respective Works_. After an ableand 'fond, though not undistinguishing,' consideration of Warburton'scharacter, he says, 'In two immortal works, Johnson has stood forth inthe foremost rank of his admirers. By the testimony of such a man,impertinence must be abashed, and malignity itself must be softened. Ofliterary merit, Johnson, as we all know, was a sagacious but a mostsevere judge. Such was his discernment, that he pierced into the mostsecret springs of human actions; and such was his integrity, that healways weighed the moral characters of his fellow-creatures in the"balance of the sanctuary." He was too courageous to propitiate a rival,and too proud to truckle to a superiour. Warburton he knew, as I knowhim, and as every man of sense and virtue would wish to be known,--Imean, both from his own writings, and from the writings of those whodissented from his principles, or who envied his reputation. But, as tofavours, he had never received or asked any from the Bishop ofGloucester; and, if my memory fails me not, he had seen him only once,when they met almost without design, conversed without much effort, andparted without any lasting impressions of hatred or affection. Yet, withall the ardour of sympathetic genius, Johnson has done thatspontaneously and ably, which, by some writers, had been beforeattempted injudiciously, and which, by others, from whom more successfulattempts might have been expected, has not _hitherto_ been done at all.He spoke well of Warburton, without insulting those whom Warburtondespised. He suppressed not the imperfections of this extraordinary man,while he endeavoured to do justice to his numerous and transcendentalexcellencies. He defended him when living, amidst the clamours of hisenemies; and praised him when dead, amidst the _silence of hisfriends_.'Having availed myself of this editor's eulogy on my departed friend, forwhich I warmly thank him, let me not suffer the lustre of hisreputation, honestly acquired by profound learning and vigorouseloquence, to be tarnished by a charge of illiberality. He has beenaccused of invidiously dragging again into light certain writings of aperson respectable by his talents, his learning, his station and hisage, which were published a great many years ago, and have since, it issaid, been silently given up by their authour. But when it is consideredthat these writings were not _sins of youth_, but deliberate works ofone well-advanced in life, overflowing at once with flattery to a greatman of great interest in the Church, and with unjust and acrimoniousabuse of two men of eminent merit; and that, though it would have beenunreasonable to expect an humiliating recantation, no apology whateverhas been made in the cool of the evening, for the oppressive fervour ofthe heat of the day; no slight relenting indication has appeared in anynote, or any corner of later publications; is it not fair to understandhim as superciliously persevering? When he allows the shafts to remainin the wounds, and will not stretch forth a lenient hand, is it wrong,is it not generous to become an indignant avenger? BOSWELL. Boswellwrote on Feb. 16, 1789:--'There is just come out a publication whichmakes a considerable noise. The celebrated Dr. Parr, of Norwich,has--wickedly, shall we say?--but surely wantonly--published Warburton's_Juvenile Translations and Discourse on Prodigies_, and Bishop Kurd'sattacks on Jortin and Dr. Thomas Leland, with his _Essay on the Delicacyof Friendship_.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 275. The 'editor,' therefore,is Parr, and the 'Warburtonian' is Hurd. Boswell had written to Parr onJan. 10, 1791:--'I request to hear by return of post if I may say orguess that Dr. Parr is the editor of these tracts.' Parr's _Works_,viii. 12. See also _ib_. iii. 405.[168] In Johnson's _Works_ (1787), xi. 213, it is said, that thismeeting was 'at the Bishop of St. ----'s [Asaph's]. Boswell, by his'careful enquiry,' no doubt meant to show that this statement was wrong.Johnson is reported to have said:--' Dr. Warburton at first lookedsurlily at me; but after we had been jostled into conversation he tookme to a window, asked me some questions, and before we parted was sowell pleased with me that he patted me.'[169] 'Warburton's style is copious without selection, and forciblewithout neatness; he took the words that presented themselves; hisdiction is coarse and impure; and his sentences are unmeasured.'Johnson's _Works_, viii. 288.[170] Churchill, in _The Duellist (Poems_ ed. 1766, ii. 85), describesWarburton as having'A heart, which virtue ne'er disgraced;A head where learning runs to waste.'[171] _Works_, viii. 230.[172] 'I never,' writes Mrs. Piozzi, 'heard Johnson pronounce the words,"I beg your pardon, Sir," to any human creature but the apparentlysoft and gentle Dr. Burney.' Burney had asked her whether she hadsubscribed L100 to building a bridge. '"It is very comical, is it not,Sir?" said I, turning to Dr. Johnson, "that people should tell suchunfounded stories." "It is," answered he, "neither comical nor serious,my dear; it is only a wandering lie." This was spoken in his naturalvoice, without a thought of offence, I am confident; but up bouncedBurney in a towering passion, and to my much amaze put on the hero,surprising Dr. Johnson into a sudden request for pardon, andprotestation of not having ever intended to accuse his friend of afalsehood.' Hayward's _Piozzi_, i. 312.[173] In the original, '_nor_.' _Works_, viii. 311.[174] In the original, '_either_ wise or merry.'[175] In the original, '_stands upon record_'.[176] _Works_, viii. 316. Surely the words 'had not much to say' implythat Johnson had heard the answer, but thought little of its wit.According to Mr. Croker, the repartee is given in Ruffhead's _Life ofPope_, and this book Johnson had seen. _Ante_, ii. 166.[177] Let me here express my grateful remembrance of Lord Somerville'skindness to me, at a very early period. He was the first person of highrank that took particular notice of me in the way most flattering to ayoung man, fondly ambitious of being distinguished for his literarytalents; and by the honour of his encouragement made me think well ofmyself, and aspire to deserve it better. He had a happy art ofcommunicating his varied knowledge of the world, in short remarks andanecdotes, with a quiet pleasant gravity, that was exceedingly engaging.Never shall I forget the hours which I enjoyed with him at hisapartments in the Royal Palace of Holy-Rood House, and at his seat nearEdinburgh, which he himself had formed with an elegant taste. BOSWELL.[178] _Ante_, iii. 392.[179] Boswell, I think, misunderstands Johnson. Johnson said (_Works_,viii. 313) that 'Pope's admiration of the Great seems to have increasedin the advance of life.' His _Iliad_ he had dedicated to Congreve, but'to his latter works he took care to annex names dignified with titles,but was not very happy in his choice; for, except Lord Bathurst, none ofhis noble friends were such as that a good man would wish to have hisintimacy with them known to posterity; he can derive little honour fromthe notice of Cobham, Burlington, or Bolingbroke.' Johnson, it seemsclear, is speaking, not of the noblemen whom Pope knew in general, butof those to whom he dedicated any of his works. Among them LordMarchmont is not found, so that on him no slight is cast.[180] Neither does Johnson actually say that Lord Marchmont had 'anyconcern,' though perhaps he implies it. He writes:--'Pope left the careof his papers to his executors; first to Lord Bolingbroke; and, if heshould not be living, to the Earl of Marchmont: undoubtedly expectingthem to be proud of the trust, and eager to extend his fame. But let noman dream of influence beyond his life. After a decent time, Dodsley the