.1750. Etat. 41. had upon our compofition, 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 muft ftrike 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 spirits to excel, "While from his lips impreffive wisdom fell. "Our boafted GOLDSMITH felt the fovereign fway; "From him deriv'd the fweet, 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, By studying him, acquir'd that claffick tafte, "Acute, laborious, fertile, and profound. "Here "Here early parts accomplish'd JoNEs fublimes, "Love and the Mufes, deck'd with Attick grace. "To friends around his philofophick throne; "As Nile's proud waves, fwol'n from their oozy "First o'er the neighbouring meads majestick spread; "Till gathering force, they more and more expand, "And with new virtue fertilife the land.” The following obfervation in Mr. Bofwell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides may fufficiently 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 fee in them that nationality which, I believe, no liberal-minded Scotchman will deny." Mr. Bofwell, indeed, is fo free from national prejudices, that he might with equal propriety have been defcribed as "Scarce by South Britons now esteem'd a Scot." 1750. Etat. 41. 1750. 41. Johnson's language, however, must be allowed Ætat. to be too mafculine for the delicate gentlenefs of female writing. His ladies, therefore, feem ftrangely formal, even to ridicule; and are well denominated by the names which he has given them, as Mifella, Zozima, Properantia, Rho'doclia. It has of late been the fashion to compare the fstyle of Addison and Johnson, and to depreciate, I think very unjustly, the style of Addison as nervelefs and feeble, because it has not the strength 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. Addifon writes with the eafe of a gentleman. His readers fancy that a wife and accomplished companion is talking to them; fo that he infinuates his fentiments and taste 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 eloquence. Addifon's ftyle, like a light wine, pleases every body from the firft. Johnfon's, like a liquor of more body, feems too ftrong at first, but, by degrees, is highly relifhed; and fuch is the melody of his periods, fo much do they captivate the ear, and feize upon the attention, that there is fcarcely any writer, however inconfiderable, who does not aim, in fome degree, at the fame fpecies of excellence. But let us not ungratefully undervalue that beautiful style, which has pleafingly conveyed to us much inftruction and entertainment. Though comparatively weak, opposed to Johnson's Herculean vigour, let us not call it pofitively feeble. Let us remember the character of his ftyle, 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 ftagnates. His fentences have neither ftudied 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, muft 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 translations of the mottos by himself, are admirably done. He acknowledges to have received " elegant tranfflations" of many of them from Mr. James Elphinfton; and some are very happily translated 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 alfo 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." 'I fhall probably, in another work, maintain the merit of Addifon's poetry, which has been very unjustly depreciated. 1750. Etat, 41. though Etat. 41. 1750. though proper in Pagan poetry, is ill fuited to Christianity, with "a conformity" to which he confoles himself. How much better would it have been, to have ended with the prose sentence << 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 smaller pieces, Dr. Johnson wrote the following letter to that gentleman: «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 mifcellaneous pieces, I have taken the liberty to fend you a Manuscript, 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 be has heard, the handwriting is Sir Walter's. If you should find reafon to conclude it genuine, it will be a kindness to the owner, a blind perfon, to recommend it to the bookfellers. I am, Sir, "Your most humble fervant, "SAM. JOHNSON." His juft abhorrence of Milton's political notions was ever ftrong. But this did not prevent his ?Mrs, Williams is probably the perfon meant. warm |