The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of the late Samuel Johnson (1786)

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

Title: A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of the late Samuel Johnson (1786)

Author: John Courtenay

Editor: Robert E. Kelley

Release date: July 5, 2009 [eBook #29324]

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29324

Credits: Produced by Chris Curnow, Stephanie Eason, Joseph Cooper

and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at

http://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A POETICAL REVIEW OF THE LITERARY AND MORAL CHARACTER OF THE LATE SAMUEL JOHNSON (1786) ***

THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY

John Courtenay

A

POETICAL REVIEW

OF THE LITERARY

AND MORAL CHARACTER

OF THE LATE

SAMUEL JOHNSON

(1786)

Introduction by

ROBERT E. KELLEY

PUBLICATION NUMBER 133

WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

1969

GENERAL EDITORS

William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles

Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

David S. Rodes, University of California, Los Angeles

ADVISORY EDITORS

Richard C. Boys, University of Michigan

James L. Clifford, Columbia University

Ralph Cohen, University of Virginia

Vinton A. Dearing, University of California, Los Angeles

Arthur Friedman, University of Chicago

Louis A. Landa, Princeton University

Earl Miner, University of California, Los Angeles

Samuel H. Monk, University of Minnesota

Everett T. Moore, University of California, Los Angeles

Lawrence Clark Powell, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

James Sutherland, University College, London

H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los Angeles

Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY

Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Mary Kerbret, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

INTRODUCTION

The eighteenth century was an age addicted to gossiping about its literary figures. This addiction was nowhere better demonstrated than by the countless reflections, sermons, poems, pamphlets, biographical sketches, and biographies about Samuel Johnson. The most productive phase of this activity commenced almost immediately after Johnson's death in December, 1784, and continued into the next century.

One item of Johnsoniana which seems to have been neglected, perhaps because Birkbeck Hill did not include it in his Johnsonian Miscellanies, is A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of the Late Samuel Johnson, L.L.D., with Notes. This poem of three hundred and four lines was written by John Courtenay (1741-1816). First published in the spring of 1786 by Charles Dilly, the poem went through three editions in the same year. Its popularity was determined less by Courtenay's poetic talent than by public interest in the Johnsoniana that flooded the market. Courtenay's literary output, though scanty, was diverse; he wrote light verse, character sketches, and essays, including two controversial pieces in support of the French Revolution.[1] It is apparent, however, that for him writing was hardly more than an avocation.

Despite his notoriety as a controversial member of Parliament, as a first-rate wit, and as an intimate friend of Boswell, Courtenay remains a shadowy figure. References to him occur often in the last volumes of Boswell's journal, but few of them are particularly revealing. Courtenay evidently never met Johnson; indeed, the anonymous author of A Poetical Epistle from the Ghost of Dr. Johnson to His Four Friends: The Rev. Mr. Strahan. James Boswell, Esq. Mrs. Piozzi. J. Courtenay, Esq. M.P. (1786) censures Courtenay for writing about a man whom he did not know. Although a member of the Literary Club, Courtenay did not join this group until four years after Johnson died. He was proposed on 9 December 1788, by Sir Joshua Reynolds (Boswell seconded), and elected two weeks later, on 23 December, during the same meeting at which it was decided to erect a monument to Dr. Johnson in Westminster Abbey.[2]

If, then, Courtenay did not belong to the Johnson circle, he became, shortly after Johnson's death, a valued member of the Boswell circle. Courtenay must have met Boswell in the spring or early summer of 1785, about thirteen years after arriving in England from his native Ireland in the service of Viscount Townshend. Boswell's first reference to Courtenay occurs in his journal under 7 July 1785.[3] It is clear from this entry that he had met Courtenay earlier, but subsequent references indicate that the acquaintance was a fresh one.

From the start Boswell enjoyed Courtenay's company. In the first place, Boswell appreciated Courtenay's talent in conversation. Although he seldom recorded specimens of Courtenay's talk, Boswell was generous in his praise of his wit. "Courtenay's wit," he wrote, "sparkles more than almost any man's."[4] On 26 March 1788, Boswell described him as a "valuable addition" to a meeting of the Essex Head Club which he attended as Boswell's guest. "Indeed," Boswell continued, "his conversation is excellent; it has so much literature, wit, and at the same time manly sense, in it."[5] An example of his "manly sense" that "struck home" to Boswell was Courtenay's remark that had Johnson been born to three thousand pounds a year his melancholy would have been at greater leisure to torment him.[6]

But there was a greater reason for Courtenay's intimacy with Boswell. The period following Johnson's death was for Boswell a time of intense anxiety. By 1786 Courtenay and Edmond Malone had become Boswell's closest confidants. Boswell relished the long walks and the dinners he took with Courtenay. Throughout his journal he confessed to the therapeutic value of Courtenay's company; "I am," he admitted, "quite another Man with M. C., Malone, Courtenay."[7]

Moreover, Boswell often solicited Courtenay's advice in various crises. Courtenay, together with Malone, helped him out of scrapes with Alexander Tytler and Lord Macdonald, induced him to lighten his published attacks on Mrs. Piozzi and helped make him aware of the merit of her edition of Johnson's correspondence, and advised him to cancel some questionable passages in the Life on William Gerard Hamilton. From time to time he also cautioned Boswell not to expect political preferment when he did not deserve it. It appears, too, that he took part in the prolonged deliberations over Johnson's monument in Westminster Abbey. Concerned that Boswell's drinking might impede his work on the Life, Courtenay made him promise to quit drinking from December 1790, to the following March, a promise which, as far as he was able, Boswell kept.[8]

Courtenay's high spirits and his ability to relieve Boswell's melancholy were all the more remarkable because Courtenay, with a wife and seven children to support, was poverty-stricken during most of this period. Boswell, lamenting the failure of the Whigs to provide financial assistance to one of the party's most active members, found Courtenay's "firmness of mind ... amazing" under such difficulties.[9] No doubt Courtenay's resolve endeared him to Boswell, whose own financial and psychological problems were, of course, a great burden.

This is not to say that relations between the two men were always cordial. Courtenay was evidently a non-believer, and the two men often differed on religious matters. Boswell condemned Courtenay's "wild ravings" in favor of the French revolution, and once confessed his deep regret about quarreling with so close a friend on this subject.[10] They also differed on the question of slavery, and Boswell good-naturedly chided Courtenay and William Windham as abolitionists in his poem, No Abolition of Slavery; or the Universal Empire of Love (1791).[11] It is clear, too, that as Boswell's depression grew, Courtenay's power to brighten his spirits waned considerably. Their friendship, nevertheless, seems to have ended on a happy note, for Boswell's final mention of Courtenay in his journal includes the remark that with Courtenay he had spent a "good day."[12]

Courtenay's Poetical Review, characterized by Donald A. Stauffer as an embodiment of the "vice-and-virtue philosophy" in biography, was one of the most spirited pieces of Johnsoniana to appear.[13] The poem begins with disdain, but at line sixty-one reverses direction and becomes vigorously commendatory. Courtenay did not attempt to add fresh information about Johnson's life and career. Consequently, the unfavorable portion of the poem is a conventional catalog of Johnson's often publicized foibles and prejudices, just as the favorable section is in part a commonplace survey of his artistic achievement.

This contrast, as Stauffer remarks, renders Courtenay's praise more powerful.[14] More important, the play between scorn and praise reflects the ambivalence which colors contemporary accounts of Johnson. We are now accustomed to the notion of great art as the product of a flawed life. But in the eighteenth century, an age largely devoted to the idea of discreet biography which concealed or minimized the subject's weaknesses, a man like Johnson presented formidable problems to the biographer and his readers. Although Courtenay merely versified material which other writers had discussed in much more detail, his poem is important because it synthesizes the conflicting attitudes towards Johnson which prevailed immediately after his death. Courtenay, like many others, saw in Johnson a powerful mixture of great virtues and vices; and though he is not impartial, he effects, through his honesty, an admirable balance between Johnson's strengths and weaknesses. The final forty lines of the Review constitute one of the most balanced of all contemporary tributes to Johnson as a human being.

For the most part, the commendatory section of the poem is an unsystematic tracing of Johnson's moral and literary merits. Courtenay's rhapsodizing on the Dictionary, the Rambler, and the Lives of the Poets is conventional. Clearly, he admired the wide scope of Johnson's learning and his ability to communicate his knowledge of men and manners in his writings. But his admiration occasionally betrays him; for instance, in describing the "brilliant school" through which Johnson's influence was perpetuated, he overestimated the extent to which Reynolds, Malone, Burney, Jones, Goldsmith, Steevens, Hawkesworth, and Boswell were indebted to Johnson's writings.[15] Usually, however, he was on firmer ground. Courtenay was the only writer before Boswell to praise Johnson's Latin verse, a body of poetry virtually ignored by other contemporary biographers and memorialists.[16] Furthermore, he employs footnotes skillfully. Though they impede the progress of the poem, they do support poetic statement with factual evidence and explain and amplify certain points made in the verses.

The clearest evidence for the care which Courtenay took with the Review can be found upon examination of his revisions. He made few substantial changes in the second edition, but the third edition contains important revisions. Courtenay added ten lines and five footnotes in the final version, and lightened some of the scorn in the first portion by substituting weaker phrases for stronger ones. He also enclosed lines seven through twenty in quotation marks to make it appear that the sentiment expressed therein was not his own, but a judgment he had heard elsewhere.

But the most significant revisions are concerned with organization. By transferring segments of certain verse paragraphs to others, he achieves a more unified portrait of Johnson. By means of such revision, he forms his general evaluation of Johnson's writing into one unit and his comments on individual works into another, where before they had been awkwardly interwoven.

Courtenay's Review did not go unnoticed at the time, though for obvious reasons it was given less attention by the reviewers than the more notorious Johnsoniana. Extracts from the poem were printed in several magazines. The reviewers were almost unanimous in damning the poem's inelegance, unevenness, and lack of harmony, but reserved praise for the sentiments and candor.[17] Chesterfield's apologist in William Hayley's Two Dialogues; Containing a Comparative View of the Lives, Characters, and Writings of Philip, the Late Earl of Chesterfield, and Dr. Samuel Johnson (1787) protested that Courtenay was too kind to Johnson. The severest indictment of the Review came from the anonymous author of A Poetical Epistle from the Ghost of Dr. Johnson, mentioned earlier, who charged Courtenay with poor taste and with belaboring the obvious by proving that Johnson was "not quite destitute of brains."[18]

The greatest champion of the Review was, of course, Boswell. The Life is sprinkled with quotations from the third edition, 118 lines in all, mostly from Courtenay's commendatory verses. In view of the many published attacks on Johnson, Boswell must have appreciated Courtenay's sentiments all the more. Doubtless Courtenay's warm praise of the Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides also found favor with Boswell.[19] Perhaps Boswell's final and least partial judgment of the Review was expressed in his letter to James Abercrombie of Philadelphia dated 11 June 1792. He sent Abercrombie a copy of the poem, commenting that "though I except to several passages, you will find some very good writing."[20]

Courtenay's Review, together with several other little known memorabilia concerning Johnson, stimulated one of the most energetic and splenetic literary controversies of the late eighteenth century. In addition, the Review and pieces like it aroused a considerable amount of useful, if vitriolic, discussion about the art of biography.

University of Iowa

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION

[1] See DNB.

[2] For the information about Courtenay's election, I am indebted to Professor James M. Osborn of Yale University. Boswell gives no precise date for Courtenay's entry into the Club. His first reference to Courtenay's membership occurs in his journal entry of 19 January 1790. See Private Papers of James Boswell, ed. Geoffrey Scott and Frederick A. Pottle (Privately Printed, 1928-1934), XVIII, 22. See also Boswell's letter to Edmond Malone dated 16 December 1790, Letters of James Boswell, ed. C. B. Tinker (Oxford, 1924), II, 409-410. Courtenay and other intimates of Boswell were called "The Gang" by Philip Metcalfe. See Private Papers, XVII, 52, 55; XVIII, 15.

[3] Private Papers, XVI, 106.

[4] Ibid., XVII, 80. For additional testimony to Courtenay's reputation as a wit, see Thraliana, ed. Katharine C. Balderston (Oxford, 1951), I, 486, and James Prior, Life of Edmond Malone (London, 1860), 287-288.

[5] Private Papers, XVII, 86.

[6] Ibid., pp. 76-77.

[7] Ibid., XVI, 178. "M. C." is Mrs. Rudd.

[8] See Boswell's letters to Malone, Letters, II, 405, 427, and Private Papers, XVIII, 100. Courtenay became alarmed over Boswell's deepening melancholy, as seen in this passage from his letter to Malone of 22 February 1791: "Poor Boswell is very low, & desperate & ... melancholy mad, feels no spring, no pleasure in existence, & is so perceptibly altered for the worse that it is remarked everywhere. I try all I can to revivify him, but he [turns?] so tiresomely & tediously—for the same cursed trite commonplace topics, about death &c.—that we grow old, and when we are old, we are not young—that I despair of effecting a cure. Doctors Warren and Devaynes very kindly interest themselves about him, but you wd be of more service to him than anyone." Quoted from a MS at Yale University Library by James Osborn, "Edmond Malone and Dr. Johnson," Johnson, Boswell and Their Circle: Essays Presented to Lawrence Fitzroy Powell in Honour of His Eighty-fourth Birthday (Oxford, 1965), p. 16.

[9] Letters, II, 428, 425. Boswell tried to negotiate loans for Courtenay, and made a successful application to Reynolds. See Private Papers, XVII, 85-86, 101-102; XVIII, 120.

[10] Private Papers, XVIII, 171, 178, 184.

[11] See Frank Brady, Boswell's Political Career (New Haven, 1965), p. 169, and Frederick A. Pottle, The Literary Career of James Boswell, Esq. (Oxford, 1929), p. 147.

[12] Private Papers, XVIII, 271. This entry is dated 31 March 1794, not long before the journal ends and some thirteen months before Boswell's death.

[13] The Art of Biography in Eighteenth Century England (Princeton, 1941), p. 345.

[14] Ibid., p. 346.

[15] W. K. Wimsatt, Jr., in The Prose Style of Samuel Johnson (New Haven, 1941), pp. 135-138, argues against the notion that Johnson's friends formed such a "school."

[16] Boswell praised Courtenay's "just and discriminative eulogy" on Johnson's Latin poems, and quoted it. See Boswell's Life of Johnson, ed. G. B. Hill, revised L. F. Powell (Oxford, 1934-1950), I, 62.

[17] See European Magazine, IX (April 1786), 266; Gentleman's Magazine, LVI (May 1786), 415; Monthly Review, LXXV (September 1786), 229.

[18] It should be noted that the attack on Courtenay in this poem is the mildest of the four. The famous caricaturist, Sayer, included Courtenay in a poetic attack on Mrs. Piozzi appended to his print, Frontispiece to the 2nd Edition of Johnson's Letters, published 7 April 1788. See James L. Clifford, Hester Lynch Piozzi (Mrs. Thrale) (Oxford, 1952), p. 329.

[19] Boswell quoted Courtenay's compliment in Life, II, 268.

[20] Letters, II, 444.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

The text of this edition of A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of the Late Samuel Johnson, L.L.D., with Notes is reproduced from a copy in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

A

POETICAL REVIEW

OF THE

LITERARY AND MORAL CHARACTER

OF THE LATE

SAMUEL JOHNSON L.L.D.

WITH NOTES.

BY JOHN COURTENAY, ESQ.

THE THIRD EDITION, CORRECTED.

Man is thy theme; his virtue, or his rage,

Drawn to the life, in each elaborate page. WALLER.

——immensæ veluti connexa carinæ

Cymba minor. STATIUS.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR CHARLES DILLY IN THE POULTRY.

M DCC LXXXVI.

A

POETICAL REVIEW, &c.

A Generous tear will Caledonia shed?

Her ancient foe, illustrious Johnson's dead;

Mac-Ossian's sons may now securely rest,

Safe from the bitter sneer, the cynick jest.[21]

The song of triumph now I seem to hear,

And these the sounds that vibrate on my ear:

"Low lies the man, who scarce deigns Gray to praise,

But from the tomb calls Blackmore's sleeping lays;

A passport grants to Pomfret's dismal chimes,

To Yalden's hymns, and Watts's holy rhimes;[22]

By subtle doubts would Swift's fair fame invade,

And round his brows the ray of glory shade;[23]

With poignant taunt mild Shenstone's life arraigns,

His taste contemns, and sweetly-flowing strains;

At zealous Milton aims his tory dart,

But in his Savage finds a moral heart;

At great Nassau despiteful rancour flings,[24]

But pension'd kneels ev'n to usurping kings:

Rich, old and dying, bows his laurel'd head,

And almost deigns to ask superfluous bread."[25]

A sceptick once, he taught the letter'd throng

To doubt the existence of fam'd Ossian's song;

Yet by the eye of faith, in reason's spite,

Saw ghosts and witches, preach'd up second sight:

For o'er his soul sad Superstition threw

Her gloom, and ting'd his genius with her hue.

On popish ground he takes his high church station,

To sound mysterious tenets through the nation;[26]

On Scotland's kirk he vents a bigot's gall,[27]

Though her young chieftains prophecy like SAUL![28]

On Tetty's state his frighted fancy runs,[29]

And Heaven's appeas'd by cross unbutter'd buns:[30]

He sleeps and fasts,[31] pens on himself a libel,[32]

And still believes, but never reads the Bible.[33]

Fame says, at school, of scripture science vain,

Bel and the Dragon smote him on the brain;[34]

Scar'd with the blow, he shun'd the Jewish law,

And eyed the Ark with reverential awe:[35]

Let priestly S—h—n in a godly fit

The tale relate, in aid of Holy Writ;

Though candid Adams, by whom DAVID fell,[36]

Who ancient miracles sustain'd so well,

To recent wonders may deny his aid,[37]

Nor own a buzy zealot of the trade.

A coward wish, long stigmatiz'd by fame,

Devotes Mæcenas to eternal shame;[38]

Religious Johnson, future life to gain,

Would ev'n submit to everlasting pain:

How clear, how strong, such kindred colours paint

The Roman epicure and Christian saint!

O, had he liv'd in more enlighten'd times,

When signs from heaven proclaim'd vile mortals' crimes,

How had he groan'd, with sacred horrors pale,

When Noah's comet shook her angry tail;[39]

That wicked comet, which Will Whiston swore

Would burn the earth that she had drown'd before![40]

Or when Moll Tosts, by throes parturient vext,

Saw her young rabbets peep from Esdras' text![41]

To him such signs, prepar'd by mystick grace,

Had shewn the impending doom of Adam's race.

But who to blaze his frailties feels delight,

When the great author rises to our sight?

When the pure tenour of his life we view,

Himself the bright exemplar that he drew?

Whose works console the good, instruct the wise,

And teach the soul to claim her kindred skies.

By grateful bards his name be ever sung,

Whose sterling touch has fix'd the English tongue!

Fortune's dire weight, the patron's cold disdain,

"Shook off, as dew-drops from the lion's mane;"[42]

Unknown, unaided, in a friendless state,[43]

Without one smile of favour from the great;

The bulky tome his curious care refines,

Till the great work in full perfection shines;

His wide research and patient skill displays

What scarce was sketch'd in ANNA's golden days;[44]

What only learning's aggregated toil

Slowly accomplish'd in each foreign soil.[45]

Yet to the mine though the rich coin he trace,

No current marks his early essays grace;

For in each page we find a massy store

Of English bullion mix'd with Latian ore:

In solemn pomp, with pedantry combin'd,

He vents the morbid sadness of his mind;[46]

In scientifick phrase affects to smile,

Form'd on Brown's turgid Latin-English style:[47]

Too oft the abstract decorates his prose,[48]

While measur'd ternaries the periods close:

But all propriety his Ramblers mock,

When Betty prates from Newton and from Locke;

When no diversity we trace between

The lofty moralist and gay fifteen—[49]

Yet genius still breaks through the encumbering phrase;

His taste we censure, but the work we praise:

There learning beams with fancy's brilliant dyes,

Vivid as lights that gild the northern skies;

Man's complex heart he bares to open day,

Clear as the prism unfolds the blended ray:

The picture from his mind assumes its hue;

The shades too dark, but the design still true.

Though Johnson's merits thus I freely scan,

And paint the foibles of this wond'rous man;

Yet can I coolly read, and not admire,

When Learning, Wit and Poetry conspire

To shed a radiance o'er his moral page,

And spread truth's sacred light to many an age?

For all his works with innate lustre shine,

Strength all his own, and energy divine.

While through life's maze he sent a piercing view,

His mind expansive to the object grew.

With various stores of erudition fraught,

The lively image, the deep-searching thought,

Slept in repose;—but when the moment press'd,

The bright ideas flood at once confess'd;[50]

Instant his genius sped its vigorous rays,

And o'er the letter'd world diffus'd a blaze:

As womb'd with fire the cloud electrick flies,

And calmly o'er the horizon seems to rise;

Touch'd by the pointed steel, the lightning flows,

And all the expanse with rich effulgence glows.

In judgment keen, he acts the critick's part,

By reason proves the feelings of the heart;

In thought profound, in nature's study wise,

Shews from what source our fine sensations rise;

With truth, precision, fancy's claims defines,

And throws new splendour o'er the poet's lines.[51]

When specious sophists with presumption scan

The source of evil, hidden still from man;[52]

Revive Arabian tales[53], and vainly hope

To rival St. John, and his scholar, Pope;[54]

Though metaphysicks spread the gloom of night,

By reason's star he guides our aching sight;

The bounds of knowledge marks; and points the way

To pathless wastes, where wilder'd sages stray;

Where, like a farthing linkboy, Jennings stands,

And the dim torch drops from his feeble hands.

Impressive truth, in splendid fiction drest,[55]

Checks the vain wish, and calms the troubled breast;

O'er the dark mind a light celestial throws,

And sooths the angry passions to repose;

As oil effus'd illumes and smooths the deep,[56]

When round the bark the foaming surges sweep.—

But hark, he sings! the strain ev'n Pope admires;

Indignant Virtue her own bard inspires;

Sublime as Juvenal, he pours his lays,[57]

And with the Roman shares congenial praise:—

In glowing numbers now he fires the age,

And Shakspeare's sun relumes the clouded stage.[58]

So full his mind with images was fraught,

The rapid strains scarce claim'd a second thought;

And with like ease his vivid lines assume

The garb and dignity of ancient Rome.—

Let college versemen trite conceits express,

Trick'd out in splendid shreds of Virgil's dress;

From playful Ovid cull the tinsel phrase,

And vapid notions hitch in pilfer'd lays;

Then with mosaick art the piece combine,

And boast the glitter of each dulcet line:

Johnson adventur'd boldly to transfuse

His vigorous sense into the Latian muse;

Aspir'd to shine by unreflected light,

And with a Roman's ardour think and write.

He felt the tuneful Nine his breast inspire,

And, like a master, wak'd the[59] soothing lyre:

Horatian strains a grateful heart proclaim,

While Sky's wild rocks resound his Thralia's name.—

Hesperia's plant, in some less skillful hands,

To bloom a while, factitious heat demands;

Though glowing Maro a faint warmth supplies,

The sickly blossom in the hot-house dies:

By Johnson's genial culture, art, and toil,

Its root strikes deep, and owns the fost'ring soil;

Imbibes our sun through all its swelling veins,

And grows a native of Britannia's plains.

Soft-ey'd compassion, with a look benign

His fervent vows he offer'd at thy shrine;

To guilt, to woe, the sacred debt was paid,[60]

And helpless females bless'd his pious aid:

Snatch'd from disease, and want's abandon'd crew,

Despair and anguish from their victims flew;

Hope's soothing balm into their bosoms stole,

And tears of penitence restor'd the soul.

Nor did philanthrophy alone expand

His liberal heart, and ope his bounteous hand;

His talents ev'n he gave to friendship's claim,[61]

And by the gift imparted wealth and fame:

His mind exhaustless sped its vivid force,

Yet with unbated vigour held its course;

As some fix'd star fulfills heaven's great designs,

Lights other spheres, yet undiminish'd shines.

How few distinguish'd of the studious train

At the gay board their empire can maintain!

In their own books intomb'd their wisdom lies;

Too dull for talk, their slow conceptions rise:

Yet the mute author, of his writings proud,

For wit unshewn claims homage from the crowd;

As thread-bare misers, by mean avarice school'd,

Expect obeisance from their hidden gold.—

In converse quick, impetuous Johnson press'd

His weighty logick, or sarcastick jest:

Strong in the chace, and nimble in the turns,[62]

For victory still his fervid spirit burns;

Subtle when wrong, invincible when right,

Arm'd at all points, and glorying in his might,

Gladiator-like, he traverses the field,

And strength and skill compel the foe to yield.—

Yet have I seen him, with a milder air,

Encircled by the witty and the fair,

Ev'n in old age with placid mien rejoice

At beauty's smile, and beauty's flattering voice.—

With Reynolds' pencil, vivid, bold, and true,

So fervent Boswell gives him to our view.

In every trait we see his mind expand;

The master rises by the pupil's hand;

We love the writer, praise his happy vein,

Grac'd with the naiveté of the sage Montaigne.

Hence not alone are brighter parts display'd,

But ev'n the specks of character portray'd:

We see the Rambler with fastidious smile

Mark the lone tree, and note the heath-clad isle;

But when the heroick tale of Flora charms,[63]

Deck'd in a kilt, he wields a chieftain's arms:

The tuneful piper sounds a martial strain,

And Samuel sings, "The King shall have his ain":

Two Georges in his loyal zeal are slur'd,[64]

A gracious pension only saves the third!—

By Nature's gifts ordain'd mankind to rule,

He, like a Titian, form'd his brilliant school;

And taught congenial spirits to excel,

While from his lips impressive wisdom fell.

Our boasted GOLDSMITH felt the sovereign sway;

From him deriv'd the sweet yet nervous lay.

To Fame's proud cliff he bade our Raphael rise;

Hence REYNOLDS' pen with REYNOLDS' pencil vyes.

With Johnson's flame melodious BURNEY glows,[65]

While the grand strain in smoother cadence flows.

And you, MALONE, to critick learning dear,

Correct and elegant, refin'd, though clear,

By studying him, acquir'd that classick taste,

Which high in Shakspeare's fane thy statue plac'd.

Near Johnson STEEVENS stands, on scenick ground,

Acute, laborious, fertile, and profound.

Ingenious HAWKESWORTH to this school we owe,

And scarce the pupil from the tutor know.

Here early parts accomplish'd JONES[66] sublimes,

And science blends with Asia's lofty rhimes:

Harmonious JONES! who in his splendid strains

Sings Camdeo's sports, on Agra's flowery plains;

In Hindu fictions while we fondly trace

Love and the Muses, deck'd with Attick grace.[67]

Amid these names can BOSWELL be forgot,

Scarce by North Britons now esteem'd a Scot?[68]

Who to the sage devoted from his youth,

Imbib'd from him the sacred love of truth;

The keen research, the exercise of mind,

And that best art, the art to know mankind.—

Nor was his energy confin'd alone

To friends around his philosophick throne;

Its influence wide improv'd our letter'd isle,

And lucid vigour mark'd the general style:

As Nile's proud waves, swol'n from their oozy bed,

First o'er the neighbouring meads majestick spread;

Till gathering force, they more and more expand,

And with new virtue fertilise the land.

Thus sings the Muse, to Johnson's memory just,

And scatters praise and censure o'er his dust;

For through each checker'd scene a contrast ran,

Too sad a proof, how great, how weak is man!

Though o'er his passions conscience held the rein,

He shook at dismal phantoms of the brain:

A boundless faith that noble mind debas'd,

By piercing wit, energick reason grac'd:

A generous Briton[69], yet he seems to hope

For James's grandson, and for James's Pope:

With courtly zeal fair freedom's sons defames,[70]

Yet, like a Hamden, pleads Ierne's claims.[71]

Though proudly splenetick, yet idly vain,

Accepted flattery, and dealt disdain.—

E'en shades like these, to brilliancy ally'd,

May comfort fools, and curb the Sage's pride.

Yet Learning's sons, who o'er his foibles mourn,

To latest time shall fondly view his urn;

And wond'ring praise, to human frailties blind,

Talents and virtue of the brightest kind;

Revere the man, with various knowledge stor'd,

Who science, arts, and life's whole scheme explor'd;

Who firmly scorn'd, when in a lowly state,

To flatter vice, or court the vain and great;[72]

Whose heart still felt a sympathetick glow,

Prompt to relieve man's variegated woe;

Whose ardent hope, intensely fix'd on high,

Saw future bliss with intellectual eye.

Still in his breast Religion held her sway,

Disclosing visions of celestial day;

And gave his soul, amidst this world of strife,

The blest reversion of eternal life:

By this dispell'd, each doubt and horrour flies,

And calm at length in holy peace he dies.

The sculptur'd trophy, and imperial bust,

That proudly rise around his hallow'd dust,

Shall mould'ring fall, by Time's slow hand decay'd,

But the bright meed of virtue ne'er shall fade.

Exulting Genius stamps his sacred name,

Enroll'd for ever in the dome of Fame.

T H E    E N D.

Footnotes:

[21] "A Scotchman must be a sturdy moralist, who does not prefer Scotland to truth." Johnson's Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland.

[22] "The Poems of Dr. Watts were by my recommendation inserted in this collection; the readers of which are to impute to me whatever pleasure or weariness they may find in the perusal of Blackmore, Watts, Pomfret and Yalden." Johnson's Life of Watts.

The following specimen of their productions may be sufficient to enable the reader to judge of their respective merits:

"Alas, Jerusalem! alas! where's now

Thy pristine glory, thy unmatch'd renown,

To which the heathen monarchies did bow?

Ah, hapless, miserable town!"

Eleazar's Lamentation over Jerusalem, paraphrased by Pomfret.

"Before the Almighty Artist fram'd the sky,

Or gave the earth its harmony,

His first command was for thy light;

He view'd the lovely birth, and blessed it:

In purple swaddling bands it struggling lay,

Old Chaos then a chearful smile put on,

And from thy beauteous form did first presage its own."

Yalden's Hymn to Light.

"My chearful soul now all the day

Sits waiting here and sings;

Looks through the ruins of her clay,

And practises her wings.

O, rather let this flesh decay,

The ruins wider grow!

Till glad to see the enlarged way,

I stretch my pinions through."

A Sight of Heaven in Sickness, by Isaac Watts.

[23] "He seemed to me to have an unaccountable prejudice against Swift.—He said to-day,—I doubt if the Tale of a Tub was his; it has so much more thinking, more knowledge, more power, more colour, than any of the works that are indisputably his. If it was his, I shall only say, he was impar sibi." Boswell's Tour to the Hebrides, p. 38.

Doctor Johnson's "unaccountable prejudice against Swift" may probably be derived from the same source as Blackmore's, if we may venture to form a judgement from the panegyrick he bestows on the following groundless invective, expressly aimed at Swift as the author of A Tale of a Tub, which he quotes in his life of Blackmore: "Several, in their books, have many sarcastical and spiteful strokes at religion in general; while others make themselves pleasant with the principles of the Christian. Of the last kind, this age has seen a most audacious example, in the book intituled "A Tale of a Tub." Had this writing been published in a pagan or popish nation, who are justly impatient of all indignity offered to the established religion of their country, no doubt but the author would have received the punishment he deserved.—But the fate of this impious buffoon is very different; for in a protestant kingdom, zealous of their civil and religious immunities, he has not only escaped affronts and the effects of publick resentment, but has been caressed and patronised by persons of great figure of all denominations."

The malevolent dullness of bigotry alone could have inspired Blackmore with these sentiments. The fact is, that the Tale of a Tub is a continued panegyrick on the Church of England, and a bitter satire on Popery, Calvinism, and every sect of dissenters. At the same time I am persuaded, that every reader of taste and discernment will perceive in many parts of Swift's other writings strong internal proofs of that style which characterises the Tale of a Tub; especially in the Publick Spirit of the Whigs. It is well known, that he affected simplicity, and studiously avoided any display of learning, except where the subject made it absolutely necessary. Temporary, local, and political topicks compose too great a part of his works; but in a treatise that admitted "more thinking, more knowledge," &c. he naturally exerted all his powers.—Let us hear the author himself on this point.

"The greatest part of that book was finished above thirteen years since, (1696) which is eight years before it was published. The author was then young, his invention at the height, and his reading fresh in his head." And again: "Men should be more cautious in losing their time, if they did but consider, that to answer a book effectually requireth more pains and skill, more wit, learning and judgement, than were employed in writing it.—And the author assureth those gentlemen, who have given themselves that trouble with him, that his discourse is the product of the study, the observation, and the invention of several years; that he often blotted out more than he left; and if his papers had not been a long time out of his possession, they must still have undergone more severe corrections." An Apology for the Tale of a Tub.—With respect to this work being the production of Swift, see his letter to the printer, Mr. Benjamin Tooke, dated Dublin, June 29, 1710, and Tooke's Answer on the publication of the Apology and a new edition of the Tale of a Tub. Hawkesworth's edition of Swift's Works, 8vo. vol. xvi. p. 145.

Doctor Hawkesworth mentions, in his preface, that the edition of A Tale of a Tub, printed in 1710, was revised and corrected by the Dean a short time before his understanding was impaired, and that the corrected copy was, in the year 1760, in the hands of his kinsman, Mr. Deane Swift.

[24] Johnson. "I would tell truth of the two Georges, or of that scoundrel, King William." Boswell's Tour to the Hebrides, p. 312.

[25] See his letter to Lord Thurlow, in which he seems to approve of the application (though he was not previously consulted), thanks his Lordship for having made it, and even expresses some degree of surprize and resentment on the proposed addition to his pension being refused.

[26] "If (added Dr. Johnson) GOD had never spoken figuratively, we might hold that he speaks literally, when he says, "This is my body." Boswell's Tour, p. 67.—Here his only objection to transubstantiation seems to rest on the style of the Scripture being figurative elsewhere as well as in this passage. Hence we may infer, that he would otherwise have believed in it.—But Archbishop Tillotson and Mr. Locke reason more philosophically, by asserting that "no doctrine, however clearly expressed in Scripture, is to be admitted, if it contradict the evidence of our senses:—For our evidence for the truth of revealed religion is less than the evidence for the truth of our senses, because, even in the first authors of our religion, it was no greater; and it is evident it must diminish in passing from them to us, through the medium of human testimony."—This question, however, may perhaps be better elucidated by the following Anecdote, preserved by Mr. Richardson, than by a more serious discussion:

"Mr. Pope, who loved to talk of Titcum, (one who used to be of the party with him, Gay, Swift, Craggs, and Addison, and that set, in his youth,) told us, that Gay went to see him as he was dying, and asked him, if he would have a priest; (for he was a papist,) 'No, said he, what should I do with them? But I would rather have one of them, than one of yours, of the two. Our fools, (continued he) write great books to prove that bread is God; but your booby (he meant Tillotson) has wrote a long argument to prove that bread is bread.'" Richardsoniana, p. 167.

[27] See his conversation with Lord Auchinleck. Boswell's Tour.

[28] See the First Book of Samuel, ch. x.

[29] "And I commend to thy fatherly goodness the soul of my departed wife, beseeching thee to grant her whatever is best in her present state."

Johnson's Meditations.

[30] "I returned home, but could not settle my mind. At last I read a chapter. Then went down about six or seven, and eat two cross-buns."

Meditations, p. 154.

[31] "I fasted, though less rigorously than at other times. I by negligence poured some milk into my tea. Ibid. p. 146.—Yesterday, I fasted, as I have always, or commonly done, since the death of Tetty; the fast was more painful than usual."

[32]

"PURPOSES.

To keep a journal. To begin this day. (Sept. 18th, 1766.)

To spend four hours in study every day, and as much more as I can.

To read a portion of Scripture in Greek every Sunday.

To rise at eight.—Oct. 3d. Of all this I have done nothing." Ibid.

[33] "I resolved last Easter to read, within the year, the whole Bible; a great part of which I had never looked upon." Meditations.

[34] "I have never yet read the Apocrypha. When I was a boy I have read or heard Bel and the Dragon." Meditations.

[35] See the First Book of Samuel, ch. v. and vi. in which an account is given of the punishment of the Philistines for looking into the ark.

[36] The Rev. Dr. Adams of Oxford, distinguished for his answer to David Hume's Essay on Miracles.

[37] From the following letter there is reason to apprehend that Dr. Adams would not support Mr. S——n, if he should add this to the other singular anecdotes that he has published relative to Dr. Johnson.

Mr. Urban,     Oxford, Oct. 22d, 1785.

In your last month's Review of books, you have asserted, that the publication of Dr. Johnson's Prayers and Meditations appears to have been at the instance of Dr. Adams, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford. This, I think, is more than you are warranted by the editor's preface to say; and is so far from being true, that Dr. Adams never saw a line of these compositions, before they appeared in print, nor ever heard from Dr. Johnson, or the editor, that any such existed. Had he been consulted about the publication, he would certainly have given his voice against it: and he therefore hopes, that you will clear him, in as publick a manner as you can, from being any way accessary to it.     Wm. Adams.

[38]

"Debilem facite manu,

Debilem pede, coxa;

Tuber adstrue gibberum;

Lubricos quate dentes;

Vita dum superest, bene est:

Hanc mihi, vel acuta

Si sedeam cruce, sustine."   SENEC. EPIST. 101.

Let me but live, the fam'd Mæcenas cries,

Lame of both hands, and lame in feet and thighs;

Hump-back'd, and toothless;—all convuls'd with pain,

Ev'n on the cross,—so precious life remain.

Dr. Johnson, in his last illness, is said to have declared (in the presence of Doctors H. and B.) that he would prefer a state of existence in eternal pain to annihilation.

[39] "This last comet (which appeared in the year 1680) I may well call the most remarkable one that ever appeared; since, besides the former consideration, I shall presently shew, that it is no other than that very comet, which came by the earth at the time of Noah's deluge, and which was the cause of the same." Whiston's Theory of the Earth, p. 188.

[40] "Since 575 years appear to be the period of the comet that caused the deluge, what a learned friend who was the occasion of my examination of this matter, suggests, will deserve to be considered; viz. Whether the story of the phœnix, that celebrated emblem of the resurrection in Christian antiquity, (that it returns once after five centuries, and goes to the altar and city of the sun, and is there burnt; and another arises out of its ashes, and carries away the remains of the former; &c.) be not an allegorical representation of this comet, which returns once after five centuries, and goes down to the sun, and is there vehemently heated, and its outward regions dissolved; yet that it flies off again, and carries away what remains after that terrible burning; &c. and whether the conflagration and renovation of things, which some such comet may bring on the earth, be not hereby prefigured, I will not here be positive: but I own, that I do not know of any solution of this famous piece of mythology and hieroglyphics, as this seems to be, that can be compared with it." Ibid. p. 196.

[41] "'Tis here foretold [by Esdras] that there should be signs in the woman; and before all others this prediction has been verified in the famous rabbet-woman of Surrey, in the days of King George I.—This story has been so unjustly laughed out of countenance, that I must distinctly give my reasons for believing it to be true, and alleging it here as the fulfilling of this ancient prophecy before us.—1st. The man-midwife, Mr. Howard of Godalmin in Surrey, a person of very great honesty, skill and reputation in his profession, attested it.—It was believed by King George to be real; and it was also believed by my old friends the Speaker and Mr. Samuel Collet, as they told me themselves, and was generally by sober persons in the neighbourhood. Nay Mr. Molyneux, the Prince's Secretary, a very inquisitive person, and my very worthy friend, assured me he had at first so great a diffidence in the truth of the fact, and was so little biassed by the other believers, even by the King himself, that he would not be satisfied till he was permitted both to see and feel the rabbet, in that very passage, whence we all come into this world."

Whiston's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 110.

[42] "The incumbrances of fortune were shaken from his mind as dew-drops from the lion's mane." Johnson's Preface to his edition of Shakespeare.

[43] Every reader of sensibility must be strongly affected by the following pathetick passages:—"Much of my life has been lost under the pressures of disease; much has been trifled away; and much has always been spent in provision for the day that was passing over me; but I shall not think my employment useless or ignoble, if by my assistance foreign nations and distant ages gain access to the propagators of knowledge, and understand the teachers of truth; if my labours afford light to the repositories of science, and add celebrity to Bacon, to Hooker, to Milton, and to Boyle."

"In this work, when it shall be found that much is omitted, let it not be forgotten that much likewise is performed; and though no book was ever spared out of tenderness to the authour, and the world is little solicitous to know whence proceeded the faults of that which it condemns, yet it may gratify curiosity to inform it, that the ENGLISH DICTIONARY was written with little assistance of the learned, and without any patronage of the great; not in the soft obscurities of retirement, or under the shelter of academick bowers, but amidst inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and in sorrow." Preface to Dr. Johnson's Dictionary.

[44] See Swift's letter to Lord Oxford for the institution of an academy to improve and fix the English language.

[45] The great French and Italian Dictionaries were not the productions of an individual, but were compiled by a body of Academicians in each country.

[46] "In times and regions so disjoined from each other, that there can scarcely be imagined any communication of sentiments, either by commerce or tradition, has prevailed a general and uniform expectation of propitiating GOD by corporal austerities, of anticipating his vengeance by voluntary inflictions, and appeasing his justice by a speedy and cheerful submission to a less penalty when a greater is incurred."

Rambler, No. 110.

[47] The style of the Ramblers seem to have been formed on that of Sir Thomas Brown's Vulgar Errors and Christian Morals.

"But ice is water congealed by the frigidity of the air, whereby it acquireth no new form, but rather a consistence or determination of its defluency, and amitteth not its essence, but condition of fluidity. Neither doth there any thing properly conglaciate but water, or watery humidity, for the determination of quicksilver is properly fixation, that of milk coagulation, and that of oil and unctuous bodies only incrassation."—Is this written by Brown or Johnson?

[48] In the Ramblers the abstract too often occurs instead of the concrete;—one of Dr. Johnson's peculiarities.

[49] See Victoria's Letter, RAMBLER, No. 130.—"I was never permitted to sleep till I had passed through the cosmetick discipline, part of which was a regular lustration performed with bean-flower water and may-dews; my hair was perfumed with a variety of unguents, by some of which it was to be thickened, and by others to be curled. The softness of my hands was secured by medicated gloves, and my bosom rubbed with a pomade prepared by my mother, of virtue to discuss pimples, and clear discolorations."

[50] Dr. Johnson's extraordinary facility of composition is well known from many circumstances. He wrote forty pages of the Life of Savage in one night. He composed seventy lines of his Imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, and wrote them down from memory, without altering a word. In the Prologue on opening Drury-Lane theatre, he changed but one word, and that in compliment to Mr. Garrick. Some of his Ramblers were written while the printer's messenger was waiting to carry the copy to the press. Many of the Idlers were written at Oxford; Dr. Johnson often began his talk only just in time not to miss the post, and sent away the paper without reading it over.

[51] See his admirable Lives of the Poets, and particularly his Disquisition on metaphysical and religious poetry.

[52] See his Review of Soame Jennings's Essay on the Origin of Evil; a masterpiece of composition, both for vigour of style and precision of ideas.

[53] Pope's or rather Bolingbroke's system was borrowed from the Arabian metaphysicians.

[54] The scheme of the Essay on Man was given by Lord Bolingbroke to Pope.

[55] See that sublime and beautiful Tale, The Prince of Abyssinia; and The Rambler, No. 65, 204, &c. &c.

[56] "The world is disposed to call this a discovery of Dr. Franklin's, (from his paper inserted in the Philosophical Transactions) but in this they are much mistaken. Pliny, Plutarch, and other naturalists were acquainted with it."—"Ea natura est olei, ut lucem afferat, ac tranquillar omnia, etiam mare, quo non aliud elementum implacabilius."

Memoirs of the Society of Manchester.

[57] London, a Satire, and The Vanity of Human Wishes, are both imitations of Juvenal. On the publication of London in 1738, Mr. Pope was so much struck by it, that he desired Mr. Dodsley, his bookseller, to find out the author. Dodsley having sought him in vain for some time, Mr. Pope said, he would very soon be deterré. Afterwards Mr. Richardson the painter found out Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Pope recommended him to Lord Gower.

[58] See the Prologue spoken by Mr. Garrick in 1747, on the opening of Drury-Lane theatre.

[59] "Inter ignotæ strepitus loquelæ."—Ode to Mrs. Thrale.

[60] The dignified and affecting letter written by him to the King in the name of Doctor Dodd, after his condemnation, is justly, and, I believe, universally admired. His benevolence, indeed, was uniform and unbounded.——I have been assured, that he has often been so much affected by the sight of several unfortunate women, whom he has seen almost perishing in the streets, that he has taken them to his own house; had them attended with care and tenderness; and, on their recovery, clothed, and placed them in a way of life to earn their bread by honest industry.

[61] The papers in the ADVENTURER, signed with the letter T, are commonly attributed to one of Dr. Johnson's earliest and most intimate friends, Dr. Bathurst; but there is good reason to believe that they were written by Dr. Johnson, and given by him to his friend. At that time Dr. Johnson was himself engaged in writing the Rambler, and could ill afford to make a present of his labours. The various other pieces that he gave away, have bestowed fame, and probably fortune, on several persons. To the great disgrace of some of his clerical friends, forty sermons, which he himself tells us he wrote, have not yet been deterré.

[62] "A good continued speech (says Bacon in his ESSAYS) without a good speech of interlocution, shews slowness; and a good reply or second speech, without a good settled speech, sheweth shallowness and weakness. As we see in beasts, that those that are weakest in the course, are yet nimblest in the turn; as it is betwixt the greyhound and the hare."—If this observation be just, Dr. Johnson is an exception to the rule; for he was certainly as strong "in the course, as nimble in the turn"; as ready in "reply," as in "a settled speech."

[63] The celebrated Flora Macdonald. See Boswell's Tour.

[64] See Note 24.

[65] Dr. Burney's History of Musick is equally distinguished by elegance and perspicuity of style, and for scientifick knowledge.

[66] Sir William Jones produced that learned and ingenious work, Poeseos Asiaticæ Commentarii, at a very early age.

[67] "The Hindu God, to whom the following poem is addressed, appears evidently the same with the Grecian EROS, and the Roman CUPIDO.——His favourite place of resort is a large tract of country round AGRA, and principally the plains of Matra, where KRISHEN also and the nine GOPIA, who are clearly the Apollo and Muses of the Greeks, usually spend the night with musick and dance." Preface to the HYMN to CAMDEO, translated from the Hindu language into Persian, and re-translated by Sir William Jones.

There can be little doubt, considering the antiquity and early civilisation of Hindostan, that both the philosophy and beautiful mythology of the Greeks were drawn from that part of Asia.

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

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

[69] When Dr. Johnson repeated to Mr. Boswell Goldsmith's beautiful eulogium on the English nation, his eyes filled with tears.—Boswell's Tour, p. 431.—See also the Dissertation on the Bravery of the English common Soldiers, at the end of the Idler.

[70] See Taxation no Tyranny.

[71] Though Dr. Johnson has called Hamden the zealot of rebellion, yet that distinguished patriot could not have expressed himself with more ardour in the cause of liberty, than Dr. Johnson does in the following passage in his Life of Swift: "In the succeeding reign [that of George I.] he delivered Ireland from plunder and oppression; and shewed that wit, confederated with truth, had such force as authority was unable to resist.—It was from the time when he first began to patronize the Irish, that they may date their riches, and prosperity. He taught them first to know their own interest, their weight and their strength, and gave them spirit to assert that equality with their fellow-subjects to which they have been ever since making vigorous advances, and to claim those rights which they have at last established."

The truth indeed seems to be, that Dr. Johnson, though he had been bred in high-church principles, and always expressed himself in controversial argument like a Tory, possessed a high independent spirit, and appears to have been a friend to the rights of man. His definition of the word Caitiff, in his Dictionary, may throw some light on this part of his character. "Caitiff. [cattivo, Ital. a slave; whence it came to signify a bad man, with some implication of meanness; as knave in English, and fur in Latin; so certainly does slavery destroy virtue.

'Ημισυ τῆς αρετῆς ἀποαινυται δουλιον ἤμαρ.

A slave and a scoundrel are signified by the same words in many languages.] A mean villain," &c. See also that animated passage in his London, beginning, "Here let those reign," &c.

[72] It is observable that Dr. Johnson did not prefix a dedication to any one of his various works.

THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY

WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK

MEMORIAL LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT

1948-1949

16. Henry Nevil Payne, The Fatal Jealousie (1673).

18. Anonymous, "Of Genius," in The Occasional Paper, Vol. III, No. 10 (1719), and Aaron Hill, Preface to The Creation (1720).

1949-1950

19. Susanna Centlivre, The Busie Body (1709).

20. Lewis Theobald, Preface to the Works of Shakespeare (1734).

22. Samuel Johnson, The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749), and two Rambler papers (1750).

23. John Dryden, His Majesties Declaration Defended (1681).

1951-1952

31. Thomas Gray, An Elegy Wrote in a Country Churchyard (1751), and The Eton College Manuscript.

1952-1953

41. Bernard Mandeville, A Letter to Dion (1732).

1963-1964

104. Thomas D'Urfey, Wonders in the Sun; or, The Kingdom of the Birds (1706).

1964-1965

110. John Tutchin, Selected Poems (1685-1700).

111. Anonymous, Political Justice (1736).

112. Robert Dodsley, An Essay on Fable (1764).

113. T. R., An Essay Concerning Critical and Curious Learning (1698).

114. Two Poems Against Pope: Leonard Welsted, One Epistle to Mr. A. Pope (1730), and Anonymous, The Blatant Beast (1742).

1965-1966

115. Daniel Defoe and others, Accounts of the Apparition of Mrs. Veal.

116. Charles Macklin, The Covent Garden Theatre (1752).

117. Sir George L'Estrange, Citt and Bumpkin (1680).

118. Henry More, Enthusiasmus Triumphatus (1662).

119. Thomas Traherne, Meditations on the Six Days of the Creation (1717).

120. Bernard Mandeville, Aesop Dress'd or a Collection of Fables (1704).

1966-1967

123. Edmond Malone, Cursory Observations on the Poems Attributed to Mr. Thomas Rowley (1782).

124. Anonymous, The Female Wits (1704).

125. Anonymous, The Scribleriad (1742). Lord Hervey, The Difference Between Verbal and Practical Virtue (1742).

126. Le Lutrin: an Heroick Poem, Written Originally in French by Monsieur Boileau: Made English by N. O. (1682).

1967-1968

127-128. Charles Macklin, A Will and No Will, or a Bone for the Lawyers (1746). The New Play Criticiz'd, or The Plague of Envy (1747). Introduction by Jean B. Kern.

129. Lawrence Echard, Prefaces to Terence's Comedies (1694) and Plautus's Comedies (1694). Introduction by John Barnard.

130. Henry More, Democritus Platonissans (1646). Introduction by P. G. Stanwood.

131. John Evelyn, The History of ... Sabatai Sevi ... The Suppos'd Messiah of the Jews (1669). Introduction by Christopher W. Grose.

132. Walter Harte, An Essay on Satire, Particularly on the Dunciad (1730). Introduction by Thomas B. Gilmore.

Subsequent publications may be checked in the annual prospectus.

Publications of the first fifteen years of the Society (numbers 1-90) are available in paperbound units of six issues at $16.00 per unit, from the Kraus Reprint Company, 16 East 46th Street, New York, N.Y. 10017.

Publications in print are available at the regular membership rate of $5.00 yearly. Prices of single issues may be obtained upon request.

William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: University of California, Los Angeles

THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY

2520 CIMARRON STREET, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90018

General Editors: William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library; George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles; Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles

Corresponding Secretary: Mrs. Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

The Society's purpose is to publish rare Restoration and eighteenth-century works (usually as facsimile reproductions). All income of the Society is devoted to defraying costs of publication and mailing.

Correspondence concerning memberships in the United States and Canada should be addressed to the Corresponding Secretary at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2520 Cimarron Street, Los Angeles, California. Correspondence concerning editorial matters may be addressed to the General Editors at the same address. Manuscripts of introductions should conform to the recommendations of the MLA Style Sheet. The membership fee is $5.00 a year in the United States and Canada and £1.16.6 in Great Britain and Europe. British and European prospective members should address B. H. Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England. Copies of back issues in print may be obtained from the Corresponding Secretary.

Publications of the first fifteen years of the Society (numbers 1-90) are available in paperbound units of six issues at $16.00 per unit, from the Kraus Reprint Company, 16 East 46th Street, New York, N. Y. 10017.

Make check or money order payable to THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

REGULAR PUBLICATIONS FOR 1968-1969

133. John Courtenay, A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of the Late Samuel Johnson (1786). Introduction by Robert E. Kelley.

134. John Downes, Roscius Anglicanus (1708). Introduction by John Loftis.

135. Sir John Hill, Hypochondriasis, a Practical Treatise on the Nature and Cure of that Disorder Call'd the Hyp or Hypo (1766). Introduction by G. S. Rousseau.

136. Thomas Sheridan, Discourse ... Being Introductory to His Course of Lectures on Elocution and the English Language (1759). Introduction by G. P. Mohrman.

137. Arthur Murphy, The Englishman From Paris (1756). Introduction by Simon Trefman. Previously unpublished manuscript.

138. [Catherine Trotter], Olinda's Adventures (1718). Introduction by Robert Adams Day.

SPECIAL PUBLICATION FOR 1968-1969

After THE TEMPEST. Introduction by George Robert Guffey.

Next in the continuing series of special publications by the Society will be After THE TEMPEST, a volume including the Dryden-Davenant version of The Tempest (1670); the "operatic" Tempest (1674); Thomas Duffet's Mock-Tempest (1675); and the "Garrick" Tempest (1756), with an Introduction by George Robert Guffey.

Already published in this series are:

1. John Ogilby, The Fables of Aesop Paraphras'd in Verse (1668), with an Introduction by Earl Miner.

2. John Gay, Fables (1727, 1738), with an Introduction by Vinton A. Dearing.

3. Elkanah Settle, The Empress of Morocco (1673) with five plates; Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco (1674) by John Dryden, John Crowne and Thomas Shadwell; Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco Revised (1674) by Elkanah Settle; and The Empress of Morocco. A Farce (1674) by Thomas Duffet; with an Introduction by Maximillian E. Novak.

Price to members of the Society, $2.50 for the first copy of each title, and $3.25 for additional copies. Price to non-members, $4.00. Standing orders for this continuing series of Special Publications will be accepted. British and European orders should be addressed to B. H. Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England.

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A POETICAL REVIEW OF THE LITERARY AND MORAL CHARACTER OF THE LATE SAMUEL JOHNSON (1786) ***

Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be renamed.

Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.

START: FULL LICENSE

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™ LICENSE

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg License available with this file or online at www.gutenberg.org/license.

Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg electronic works

1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg electronic works even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project Gutenberg electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.

1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Gutenberg electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the United States and you are located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Gutenberg mission of promoting free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg name associated with the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg License when you share it without charge with others.

1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any country other than the United States.

1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg License must appear prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg work (any work on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, copied or distributed:

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg™ License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg electronic work is derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg electronic work is posted with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked to the Project Gutenberg License for all works posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.

1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg.

1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Gutenberg License.

1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg work in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version posted on the official Project Gutenberg website (www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg works unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing access to or distributing Project Gutenberg electronic works provided that:

- • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from the use of Project Gutenberg works calculated using the method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg trademark, but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.”

- • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ works.

- • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of receipt of the work.

- • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.

1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.

1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the problem.

1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg work, and (c) any Defect you cause.

Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is synonymous with the free distribution of electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg’s goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg collection will remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure and permanent future for Project Gutenberg and future generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.

Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.

The Foundation’s business office is located at 41 Watchung Plaza #516, Montclair NJ 07042, USA, +1 (862) 621-9288. Email contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate.

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.

Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg electronic works

Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project Gutenberg eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.

Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.

Most people start at our website which has the main PG search facility: www.gutenberg.org.

This website includes information about Project Gutenberg, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.

Table of Contents

The Augustan Reprint Society

John Courtenay A

POETICAL REVIEW OF THE LITERARY AND MORAL CHARACTER

OF THE LATE

SAMUEL JOHNSON

(1786)

Introduction by

Robert E. Kelley

PUBLICATION NUMBER 133 WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY University of California, Los Angeles 1969

INTRODUCTION

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION

A

POETICAL REVIEW

OF THE LITERARY AND MORAL CHARACTER OF THE LATE

SAMUEL JOHNSON L.L.D.

WITH NOTES. By JOHN COURTENAY, Esq.

THE THIRD EDITION, CORRECTED.

A

POETICAL REVIEW, &c.

T H E E N D.

The Augustan Reprint Society

WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT

1948-1949

1949-1950

1951-1952

1952-1953

1963-1964

1964-1965

1965-1966

1966-1967

1967-1968

William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: University of California, Los Angeles

The Augustan Reprint Society

REGULAR PUBLICATIONS FOR 1968-1969

SPECIAL PUBLICATION FOR 1968-1969

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™ LICENSE