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1750.

of mind was the mould for his language. Had his conceptions been nar-
rower, his expreffion would have been easier. His fentences have a dignified Etat. 41.
march; and, it is certain, that his example has given a general elevation to
the language of his country, for many of our best writers have approached
very near to him; and, from the influence which he has had upon our compo-
fition, scarcely any thing is written now that is not better expreffed than was
ufual before he appeared to lead the national taste.

This circumftance, the truth of which must strike every critical reader, has been fo happily enforced by Mr. Courtenay, in his "Moral and Literary Character of Dr. Johnson," that I cannot prevail on myself to withhold it, notwithstanding his, perhaps, too great partiality for one of his friends:

By Nature's gifts ordain'd mankind to rule,
"He, like a Titian, form'd his brilliant school;
"And taught congenial fpirits to excel,
"While from his lips impreffive wisdom fell.
"Our boasted GOLDSMITH felt the fovereign fway
"From him deriv'd the sweet, yet nervous lay.
"To Fame's proud cliff he bade our Raphael rife;
"Hence REYNOLDS' pen with REYNOLDS' pencil vies.
"With Johnson's flame melodious BURNEY glows,
"While the grand strain in smoother cadence flows.
"And you, MALONE, to critick learning dear,
"Correct and elegant, refin'd, though clear,
"By ftudying him, acquir'd that claffick tafte,
"Which high in Shakspeare's fane thy ftatue plac'd.
"Near Johnson STEEVENS ftands, on fcenick ground,
"Acute, laborious, fertile, and profound.

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1750.

Etat. 41.

"Amid thefe names can BOSWELL be forgot,
"Scarce by North Britons now esteem'd a Scot??
"Who to the fage devoted from his youth,
"Imbib'd from him the facred love of truth;
"The keen research, the exercise of mind,
"And that beft 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 ifle,
"And lucid vigour mark'd the general style:

"As Nile's proud waves, fwol'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 fertilife the land."

Johnfon's language, however, must be allowed to be too mafculine for the delicate gentleness of female writing. His ladies, therefore, feem strangely formal, even to ridicule; and seem well denominated by the names which he has given them, as, Misella, Zozima, Properantia, Rhodoclia.

It has of late been the fashion to compare the style of Addison and Johnson, and to depreciate, I think very unjustly, the ftyle of Addison as nerveless and feeble, because it has not the ftrength and energy of that of Johnson. Their profe may be balanced like the poetry of Dryden and Pope. Both are excellent, though in different ways. Addison writes with the ease of a gentleman. His readers fancy that a wife and accomplished companion is talking to them, fo that he infinuates his fentiments and tafte into their minds by an imperceptible influence. Johnson writes like a teacher. He dictates to his readers as if from an academical chair. They attend with awe and admiration; and his precepts are impreffed upon them by his commanding

The following obfervation in Mr. Bofwell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides may fufficiently account for that gentleman's being "now fcarcely efteem'd a Scot" by many of his countrymen: "If he [Dr. Johnson] was particularly prejudiced against the Seots, it was because they were more in his way; because he thought their fuccefs in England rather exceeded the due proportion of their real merit; and because he could not but fee in them that nationality which, I believe, no liberal-minded Scotchman will deny." Mr. Boswell, indeed, is fo free from national prejudices, that he might with equal propriety have been described as

"Scarce by South Britons now esteem'd a Scot."

COURTENAY.

eloquence.

1750.

eloquence. Addison's style, like a light wine, pleases every body from the firft. Johnson's, like a liquor of more body, feems too strong at first, but, by Etat. 41. degrees, is highly relished; and fuch is the melody of his periods, fo much do they captivate the ear, and feize upon the attention, that there is scarcely any writer, however inconsiderable, who does not aim, in some degree, at the same fpecies of excellence. But let us not ungratefully undervalue that beautiful ftyle, which has pleafingly conveyed to us much inftruction and entertainment. Though comparatively weak, when opposed to Johnson's Herculean vigour, let us not call it pofitively feeble. Let us remember the character of his style, as given by Johnson himself: "What he attempted, he performed; he is never feeble, and he did not wish to be energetick; he is never rapid, and he never stagnates. His fentences have neither studied amplitude, nor affected brevity: his periods, though not diligently rounded, are voluble and eafy. Whoever wishes to attain an English ftyle, familiar but not coarfe, and elegant but not oftentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addifon'."

Though the Rambler was not concluded till the year 1752, I fhall, under this year, fay all that I have to obferve upon it. Some of the tranflations of the mottos by himself, are admirably done. He acknowledges to have received" elegant tranflations" of many of them from Mr. James Elphinston; and some are very happily tranflated by a Mr. F. Lewis, of whom I never heard more, except that Johnson thus defcribed him to Mr. Malone: "Sir, he lived in London, and hung loose upon fociety." The concluding paper of his Rambler is at once dignified and pathetick. I cannot, however, but wifh, that he had not ended it with an unneceffary Greek verfe, tranflated also into an English couplet. It is too much like the conceit of thofe dramatick poets, who used to conclude each act with a rhyme; and the expreffion in the first line of his couplet, "Celestial powers," though proper in Pagan poetry, is ill fuited to Chriftianity, with a conformity to which he confoles himself. How much better would it have been, to have ended with the profe fentence, "I shall never envy the honours which wit and learning obtain in any other caufe, if I can be numbered among the writers who have given ardour to virtue, and confidence to truth.”

His friend Dr. Birch being now engaged in preparing an edition of Raleigh's fmaller pieces, Dr. Johnfon wrote the following letter to that gentleman:

'I shall probably, in another work, maintain the merit of Addison's poetry, which has been very unjustly depreciated,

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1750.

Etat. 41.

* SIR,

To Dr. BIRCH.

Gough-fquare, May 12, 1750.

"KNOWING that you are now preparing to favour the publick with a new edition of Raleigh's miscellaneous pieces, I have taken the liberty to fend you a Manufcript, which fell by chance within my notice. I perceive no proofs of forgery in my examination of it; and the owner tells me, that, as he has heard, the hand-writing is Sir Walter's. If you fhould find reafon to conclude it genuine, it will be a kindness to the owner, a blind perfon2, to recommend it to the bookfellers. I am, Sir,

"Your most humble fervant,

"SAM. JOHNSON."

His just abhorrence of Milton's political notions was ever ftrong. But this did not prevent his warm admiration of Milton's great poetical merit, to which he has done illustrious justice, beyond all who have written upon the subject. And this year he not only wrote a Prologue, which was fpoken by Mr. Garrick before the acting of Comus at Drury-lane theatre, for the benefit of Milton's grand-daughter, but took a very zealous intereft in the fuccefs of the charity. On the day preceding the performance, he published the following letter in the "General Advertiser," addreffed to the printer of that paper:

« SIR,

"THAT a certain degree of reputation is acquired merely by approving the works of genius, and testifying a regard to the memory of authours, is a truth too evident to be be denied; and therefore to ensure a participation of fame with a celebrated poet, many who would, perhaps, have contributed to ftarve him when alive, have heaped expensive pageants upon his grave.

It muft, indeed, be confeffed, that this method of becoming known to pofterity with honour is peculiar to the great, or at least to the wealthy; but an opportunity now offers for almost every individual to fecure the praise of paying a just regard to the illuftrious dead, united with the pleasure of doing good to the living. To affift illuftrious indigence, ftruggling with distress and debilitated by age, is a difplay of virtue, and an acquisition of happiness and honour.

2 Mrs. Williams is probably the perfon meant.

"Whoever,

1750.

"Whoever, then, would be thought capable of pleasure in reading the works of our incomparable Milton, and not so destitute of gratitude as to Etat. 41. refufe to lay out a trifle in rational and elegant entertainment for the benefit of his living remains, for the exercise of their own virtue, the increase of their reputation, and the pleasing consciousness of doing good, should appear at Drury-lane theatre to-morrow, April 5, when Comus will be performed for the benefit of Mrs. Elizabeth Fofter, grand-daughter to the authour, and the only furviving branch of his family.

"N. B. There will be a new prologue on the occafion, written by the authour of Irene, and spoken by Mr. Garrick; and, by particular defire, there will be added to the Masque a dramatick fatire, called Lethe, in which Mr. Garrick will perform."

In 1751 we are to confider him as carrying on both his Dictionary and Rambler. But he alfo wrote "The Life of Cheynel,*" in the mifcellany called "The Student;" and the Reverend Dr. Douglas having, with uncommon acuteness, clearly detected a grofs forgery and impofition upon the publick by William Lauder, a Scotch schoolmaster, who had, with equal impudence and ingenuity, reprefented Milton as a plagiary from certain modern Latin poets, Johnson, who had been so far impofed upon as to furnish a Preface and Postscript to his work, now dictated a letter for Lauder, addreffed to Dr. Douglas, acknowledging his fraud in terms of fuitable contrition'.

This extraordinary attempt of Lauder was no fudden effort. He had brooded over it for many years; and to this hour it is uncertain what his principal motive was, unless it were a vain notion of his fuperiority, in being able, by whatever means, to deceive mankind. To effect this, he produced certain paffages from Grotius, Masenius, and others, which had a faint resemblance to fome parts of the "Paradife Loft." In these he interpolated fome

3 Left there should be any person, at any future period, abfurd enough to fufpect that Johnson was a partaker in Lauder's fraud, or had any knowledge of it, when he affifted him with his mafterly pen, it is proper here to quote the words of Dr. Douglas, now Bishop of Carlisle, at the time when he detected the impofition. "It is to be hoped, nay it is expected, that the elegant and nervous writer, whofe judicious fentiments and inimitable style point out the authour of Lauder's Preface and Poftfcript, will no longer allow one to plume himself with his feathers, who appeareth fo little to deserve his affistance: an assistance which I am perfuaded would never have been communicated, had there been the least suspicion of those facts which I have been the instrument of conveying to the world in these sheets." Milton no Plagiary, 2d edit. p. 78. And his Lordship has been pleased now to authorise me to fay, in the strongest manner, that there is no ground whatever for any unfavourable reflection against Dr. Johnson, who expreffed the ftrongeft indignation against Lauder..

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