Latin authours.
'Lives of Illustrious Persons, as well of the active as the learned, in
imitation of Plutarch.
'Judgement of the learned upon English authours.
'Poetical Dictionary of the English tongue.
'Considerations upon the present state of London.
'Collection of Epigrams, with notes and observations.
'Observations on the English language, relating to words, phrases, and
modes of Speech.
'Minutiae Literariae, Miscellaneous reflections, criticisms,
emendations, notes.
'History of the Constitution.
'Comparison of Philosophical and Christian Morality, by sentences
collected from the moralists and fathers.
'Plutarch's Lives, in English, with notes.
'POETRY and works of IMAGINATION.
'Hymn to Ignorance.
'The Palace of Sloth,--a vision.
'Coluthus, to be translated.
'Prejudice,--a poetical essay.
'The Palace of Nonsense,--a vision.'
Johnson's extraordinary facility of composition, when he shook off his
constitutional indolence, and resolutely sat down to write, is admirably
described by Mr. Courtenay, in his Poetical Review, which I have several
times quoted:
'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 stood at once confess'd;
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 th' horizon seems to rise;
Touch'd by the pointed steel, the lightning flows,
And all th' expanse with rich effulgence glows.'
We shall in vain endeavour to know with exact precision every production
of Johnson's pen. He owned to me, that he had written about forty
sermons; but as I understood that he had given or sold them to different
persons, who were to preach them as their own, he did not consider
himself at liberty to acknowledge them. Would those who were thus aided
by him, who are still alive, and the friends of those who are dead,
fairly inform the world, it would be obligingly gratifying a reasonable
curiosity, to which there should, I think, now be no objection. Two
volumes of them, published since his death, are sufficiently
ascertained; see vol. iii. p. 181. I have before me, in his
hand-writing, a fragment of twenty quarto leaves, of a translation into
English of Sallust, _De Bella Catilinario_. When it was done I have no
notion; but it seems to have no very superior merit to mark it as his.
Beside the publications heretofore mentioned, I am satisfied, from
internal evidence, to admit also as genuine the following, which,
notwithstanding all my chronological care, escaped me in the course of
this work:
'Considerations on the Case of Dr. Trapp's Sermons,' + published in
1739, in the _Gentleman's Magazine_. [These Considerations were
published, not in 1739, but in 1787. _Ante_, i. 140, note 5.] It is a
very ingenious defence of the right of _abridging_ an authour's work,
without being held as infringing his property. This is one of the nicest
questions in the _Law of Literature_; and I cannot help thinking, that
the indulgence of abridging is often exceedingly injurious to authours
and booksellers, and should in very few cases be permitted. At any rate,
to prevent difficult and uncertain discussion, and give an absolute
security to authours in the property of their labours, no abridgement
whatever should be permitted, till after the expiration of such a number
of years as the Legislature may be pleased to fix.
But, though it has been confidently ascribed to him, I cannot allow that
he wrote a Dedication to both Houses of Parliament of a book entitled
_The Evangelical History Harmonized_. He was no _croaker_; no declaimer
against _the times_. [See _ante_, ii. 357.] He would not have written,
'That we are fallen upon an age in which corruption is not barely
universal, is universally confessed.' Nor 'Rapine preys on the publick
without opposition, and perjury betrays it without inquiry.' Nor would
he, to excite a speedy reformation, have conjured up such phantoms of
terrour as these: 'A few years longer, and perhaps all endeavours will
be in vain. We may be swallowed by an earthquake: we may be delivered to
our enemies.' This is not Johnsonian.
There are, indeed, in this Dedication, several sentences constructed
upon the model of those of Johnson. But the imitation of the form,
without the spirit of his style, has been so general, that this of
itself is not sufficient evidence. Even our newspaper writers aspire to
it. In an account of the funeral of Edwin, the comedian, in _The Diary_
of Nov. 9, 1790, that son of drollery is thus described: 'A man who had
so often cheered the sullenness of vacancy, and suspended the approaches
of sorrow.' And in _The Dublin Evening Post_, August 16, 1791, there is
the following paragraph: 'It is a singular circumstance, that, in a city
like this, containing 200,000 people, there are three months in the year
during which no place of publick amusement is open. Long vacation is
here a vacation from pleasure, as well as business; nor is there any
mode of passing the listless evenings of declining summer, but in the
riots of a tavern, or the stupidity of a coffee-house.'
I have not thought it necessary to specify every copy of verses written
by Johnson, it being my intention to, publish an authentick edition of
all his Poetry, with notes. BOSWELL. This _Catalogue_, as Mr. Boswell
calls it, is by Dr. Johnson intitled _Designs_. It seems from the hand
that it was written early in life: from the marginal dates it appears
that some portions were added in 1752 and 1753. CROKER.
[1171] On April 19 of this year he wrote: 'When I lay sleepless, I used
to drive the night along by turning Greek epigrams into Latin. I know
not if I have not turned a hundred.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 364.
Forty-five years earlier he described how Boerhaave, 'when he lay whole
days and nights without sleep, found no method of diverting his thoughts
so effectual as meditation upon his studies, and often relieved and
mitigated the sense of his torments by the recollection of what he had
read, and by reviewing those stores of knowledge which he had reposited
in his memory.' _Works_, vi. 284.
[1172] Mr. Cumberland assures me, that he was always treated with great
courtesy by Dr. Johnson, who, in his _Letters to Mrs. Thrale_, vol. ii.
p. 68 thus speaks of that learned, ingenious, and accomplished
gentleman: 'The want of company is an inconvenience: but Mr. Cumberland
is a million.' BOSWELL. Northcote, according to Hazlitt (_Conversations
of Northcote_, p. 275), said that Johnson and his friends 'never
admitted C----[Cumberland] as one of the set; Sir Joshua did not invite
him to dinner. If he had been in the room, Goldsmith would have flown
out of it as if a dragon had been there. I remember Garrick once saying,
"D--n his _dish-clout_ face; his plays would never do, if it were not
for my patching them up and acting in them."'
[1173] See _ante_, p. 64, note 2.
[1174] Dr. Parr said, "There are three great Grecians in England: Porson
is the first; Burney is the third; and who is the second I need not
tell"' Field's _Parr_, ii. 215.
[1175] 'Dr. Johnson,' said Parr, 'was an admirable scholar.... The
classical scholar was forgotten in the great original contributor to the
literature of his country.' _Ib._ i. 164. 'Upon his correct and profound
knowledge of the Latin language,' he wrote, 'I have always spoken with
unusual zeal and unusual confidence.' Johnson's _Parr_, iv. 679. Mrs.
Piozzi (_Anec._ p. 54) recounts a 'triumph' gained by Johnson in a talk
on Greek literature.
[1176] _Ante_, iii. 172.
[1177] We must smile at a little inaccuracy of metaphor in the Preface
to the _Transactions_, which is written by Mr. Burrowes. The _critick of
the style of_ JOHNSON having, with a just zeal for literature, observed,
that the whole nation are called on to exert themselves, afterwards
says: 'They are _called on_ by every _tye_ which can have a laudable
influence on the heart of man.' BOSWELL.
[1178] Johnson's wishing to unite himself with this rich widow, was much
talked of, but I believe without foundation. The report, however, gave
occasion to a poem, not without characteristical merit, entitled, 'Ode
to Mrs. Thrale, by Samuel Johnson, LL.D. on their supposed approaching
Nuptials; printed for Mr. Faulder in Bond-street.' I shall quote as a
specimen the first three stanzas:--
'If e'er my fingers touch'd the lyre,
In satire fierce, in pleasure gay;
Shall not my THRALIA'S smiles inspire?
Shall Sam refuse the sportive lay?
My dearest Lady! view your slave,
Behold him as your very _Scrub_;
Eager to write, as authour grave,
Or govern well, the brewing-tub.
To rich felicity thus raised,
My bosom glows with amorous fire;
Porter no longer shall be praised,
'Tis I MYSELF am _Thrale's Entire_'
[1179] See _ante_, ii. 44.
[1180] '_Higledy piggledy_,--Conglomeration and confusion.
'_Hodge-podge_,--A culinary mixture of heterogeneous ingredients:
applied metaphorically to all discordant combinations.
'_Tit for Tat_,--Adequate retaliation.
'_Shilly Shally_,--Hesitation and irresolution.
'_Fee! fau! fum!--Gigantic intonations.
_Rigmarole_,-Discourse, incoherent and rhapsodical.
'_Crincum-crancum_,--Lines of irregularity and involution.
'_Dingdong_--Tintinabulary chimes, used metaphorically to signify
dispatch and vehemence.' BOSWELL. In all the editions that I have
examined the sentence in the text beginning with 'annexed,' and ending
with 'concatenation,' is printed as if it were Boswell's. It is a
quotation from vol. ii. p. 93 of Colman's book. For _Scrub_, see _ante_,
iii. 70, note 2.
[1181] See _ante_, iii. 173.
[1182] _History of America_, vol. i. quarto, p. 332. BOSWELL.
[1183] Gibbon (_Misc. Works_, i. 219) thus writes of his own
style:--'The style of an author should be the image of his mind, but the
choice and command of language is the fruit of exercise. Many
experiments were made before I could hit the middle tone between a dull
chronicle and a rhetorical declamation; three times did I compose the
first chapter, and twice the second and third, before I was tolerably
satisfied with their effect.' See _ante_, p. 36, note 1.
[1184] _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, vol. i. chap. iv.
BOSWELL.
[1185] Macaulay (_Essays_, ed. 1874, iv. 157) gives a yet better example
of her Johnsonian style, though, as I have shewn (_ante_, p. 223, note
5), he is wrong in saying that Johnson's hand can be seen.
[1186] _Cecilia_, Book. vii. chap. i. [v.] BOSWELL.
[1187] The passage which I quote is taken from that gentleman's
_Elements of Orthoepy_; containing a distinct View of the whole Analogy
of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE, so far as relates to _Pronunciation, Accent,
and Quantity_, London, 1784. I beg leave to offer my particular
acknowledgements to the authour of a work of uncommon merit and great
utility. I know no book which contains, in the same compass, more
learning, polite literature, sound sense, accuracy of arrangement, and
perspicuity of expression. BOSWELL.
[1188] That collection was presented to Dr. Johnson, I believe by its
authours; and I heard him speak very well of it. BOSWELL. _The Mirror_
was published in 1779-80; by 1793 it reached its ninth edition. For an
account of it see Appendix DD. to Forbes's _Beattie_. Henry Mackenzie,
the author of _The Man of Feeling_, was the chief contributor as well as
the conductor of the paper. He is given as the author of No. 16 in
Lynam's edition, p. 1.
[1189] The name of Vicesimus Knox is now scarcely known. Yet so late as
1824 his collected _Works_ were published in seven octavo volumes. The
editor says of his _Essays_ (i. iii):--'In no department of the _Belles
Lettres_ has any publication, excepting the _Spectator_, been so
extensively circulated. It has been translated into most of the European
languages.' See _ante_, i. 222, note 1; iii. 13, note 3; and iv. 330.
[1190] _Lucretius_, iii. 6.
[1191] It were to be wished, that he had imitated that great man in
every respect, and had not followed the example of Dr. Adam Smith
[_ante_, iii. 13, note 1] in ungraciously attacking his venerable _Alma
Mater_ Oxford. It must, however, be observed, that he is much less to
blame than Smith: he only objects to certain particulars; Smith to the
whole institution; though indebted for much of his learning to an
exhibition which he enjoyed for many years at Baliol College. Neither of
them, however, will do any hurt to the noblest university in the world.
While I animadvert on what appears to me exceptionable in some of the
works of Dr. Knox, I cannot refuse due praise to others of his
productions; particularly his sermons, and to the spirit with which he
maintains, against presumptuous hereticks, the consolatory doctrines
peculiar to the Christian Revelation. This he has done in a manner
equally strenuous and conciliating. Neither ought I to omit mentioning a
remarkable instance of his candour: Notwithstanding the wide difference
of our opinions, upon the important subject of University education, in
a letter to me concerning this Work, he thus expresses himself: 'I thank
you for the very great entertainment your _Life of Johnson_ gives me. It
is a most valuable work. Yours is a new species of biography. Happy for
Johnson, that he had so able a recorder of his wit and wisdom.' BOSWELL.
[1192] Dr. Knox, in his _Moral and Literary_ abstraction, may be excused
for not knowing the political regulations of his country. No senator can
be in the hands of a bailiff. BOSWELL.
[1193] It is entitled _A Continuation of Dr. J--n's Criticism on the
Poems of Gray_. The following is perhaps the best passage:--'On some
fine evening Gray had seen the moon shining on a tower such as is here
described. An owl might be peeping out from the ivy with which it was
clad. Of the observer the station might be such that the owl, now
emerged from the mantling, presented itself to his eye in profile,
skirting with the Moon's limb. All this is well. The perspective is
striking; and the picture well defined. But the poet was not contented.
He felt a desire to enlarge it; and in executing his purpose gave it
accumulation without improvement. The idea of the Owl's _complaining_ is
an artificial one; and the views on which it proceeds absurd. Gray
should have seen, that it but ill befitted the _Bird of Wisdom_ to
complain to the Moon of an intrusion which the Moon could no more help
than herself.' p. 17. Johnson wrote of this book:--'I know little of
it, for though it was sent me I never cut the leaves open. I had a
letter with it representing it to me as my own work; in such an account
to the publick there may be humour, but to myself it was neither serious
nor comical. I suspect the writer to be wrong-headed.' _Piozzi Letters_,
ii. 289. 'I was told,' wrote Walpole (_Letters_, viii. 376), 'it would
divert me, that it seems to criticise Gray, but really laughs at
Johnson. I sent for it and skimmed it over, but am not at all clear what
it means--no recommendation of anything. I rather think the author
wishes to be taken by Gray's admirers for a ridiculer of Johnson, and by
the tatter's for a censurer of Gray.' '"The cleverest parody of the
Doctor's style of criticism," wrote Sir Walter Scott, "is by John Young
of Glasgow, and is very capital."' _Croker Corres_, ii. 34.
[1194] See _ante_, iv. 59, for Burke's description of Croft's imitation.
[1195] See _ante_, ii. 465.
[1196] H.S.E.
MICHAEL JOHNSON,
Vir impavidus, constans, animosus, periculorum immemor, laborum
patientissimus; fiducia christiana fortis, fervidusque; paterfamilias
apprime strenuus; bibliopola admodum peritus; mente et libris et
negotiis exculta; animo ita firmo, ut, rebus adversis diu conflictatus,
nec sibi nec suis defuerit; lingua sic temperata, ut ei nihil quod aures
vel pias, vel castas laesisset, aut dolor, vel voluptas unquam
expresserit.
Natus Cubleiae, in agro Derbiensi,
Anno MDCLVI.
Obiit MDCCXXXI.
Apposita est SARA, conjux,
Antiqua FORDORUM gente oriunda; quam domi sedulam, foris paucis notam;
nulli molestam, mentis acumine et judicii subtilitate praecellentem;
aliis multum, sibi parum indulgentem: aeternitati semper attentam, omne
fere virtutis nomen commendavit.
Nata Nortoniae Regis, in agro Varvicensi, Anno MDCLXIX;
Obiit MDCCLIX.
Cum NATHANAELE, illorum filio, qui natus MDCCXII, cum vires et animi et
corporis multa pollicerentur, anno MDCCXXXVII, vitam brevem pia morte
finivit. Johnson's _Works_, i. 150.
[1197] Hawkins (_Life_, p. 590) says that he asked that the stone over
his own grave 'might be so placed as to protect his body from injury.'
Harwood (_History of Lichfield_, p. 520) says that the stone in St.
Michael's was removed in 1796, when the church was paved. A fresh one
with the old inscriptions was placed in the church on the hundredth
anniversary of Johnson's death by Robert Thorp, Esq., of Buxton Road
House, Macclesfield. The Rev. James Serjeantson, Rector of St.
Michael's, suggests to me that the first stone was never set up. It is,
he says, unlikely that such a memorial within a dozen years was treated
so unworthily. Moreover in 1841 and again in 1883, during reparations of
the church, a very careful search was made for it, but without result.
There may have been, he thinks, some difficulty in finding the exact
place of interment. The matter may have stood over till it was
forgotten, and the mason, whose receipted bill shews that he was paid
for the stone, may have used it for some other purpose.
[1198] See _ante_, i. 241, and iv. 351.
[1199] 'He would also,' says Hawkins (_Life_, p. 579), 'have written in
Latin verse an epitaph for Mr. Garrick, but found himself unequal to the
task of original poetic composition in that language.'
[1200] In his _Life of Browne_, Johnson wrote:--'The time will come to
every human being when it must be known how well he can bear to die; and
it has appeared that our author's fortitude did not desert him in the
great hour of trial.' _Works_, vi. 499.
[1201] A Club in London, founded by the learned and ingenious physician,
Dr. Ash, in honour of whose name it was called Eumelian, from the Greek
[Greek: Eumelias]; though it was warmly contended, and even put to a
vote, that it should have the more obvious appellation of _Fraxinean_,
from the Latin. BOSWELL. This club, founded in 1788, met at the Blenheim
Tavern, Bond-street. Reynolds, Boswell, Burney, and Windham were
members. Rose's _Biog. Dict._ ii. 240. [Greek: Eummeliaes] means _armed
with good ashen spear_.
[1202] Mrs. Thrale's _Collection_, March 10,1784. Vol. ii. p. 350.
BOSWELL.
[1203] Hawkins's _Life of Johnson_, p. 583.
[1204] See what he said to Mr. Malone, p. 53 of this volume. BOSWELL.
[1205] See _ante_, i. 223, note 2.
[1206] _Epistle to the Romans_, vii. 23.
[1207] 'Johnson's passions,' wrote Reynolds, 'were like those of other
men, the difference only lay in his keeping a stricter watch over
himself. In petty circumstances this [? his] wayward disposition
appeared, but in greater things he thought it worth while to summon his
recollection and be always on his guard.... [To them that loved him not]
as rough as winter; to those who sought his love as mild as summer--many
instances will readily occur to those who knew him intimately of the
