16 Clara Reeves's Opinion of Richardfon, &c. controverted. to bear, without general indignation, the demolition of their poetic fhrines; till he waved the heretical banner, ignorance and envy were seldom bold enough to publifh decifions that arrogantly controverted univerfal opinion; they were awed into filence by the fplendour of eftablished fame. But now, beneath the fhield of the late arch infidel to the fcrip tures of Apollo, no abfurdity is thought too agrant to be foifted upon the attention of the publick, and the prefs teems with the monsters of unfeeling criticifm. I faw an extra lately, in one of the periodical publications, from Clara Reeves's Progress of Romance, in which fhe is ridiculous enough to place Richardfon's two immortal works, Grandifon and Clariffa, below his perishable Pamela, whofe remembrance is only kept alive by the illustrious name of its parent; a withering branch on a tree of amaranth. The yet unfated pleafure which I had received from repeated perufals of the ENGLISH BARON, excited an affectionate regard for its author, and folicitude for her fame; therefore did the abfurdity of afferting, that Pamela is the chef d'œuvre of Richardfon, pair as well as difguft me; and, without any perfonal knowledge of this lady, excite those unpleafant fenfations which we feel from contemplating folly in our friends, which we know mult injure them. There is but one way of accounting for a decifion fo fenfelefs. The Engib Baron, charming as it is, can fland on no line of equality with Grandifon, and the yet greater Clarissa; which the late Dr. Johnfon, amidft his too frequent in juftice to authors, and general parfimony of praife, uniformly afferted to be not only the first novel, but that perhaps it was the first work in the English language. The English Baron, its author well knows, is better written than Pamela, that dim dawn of an illuftrious genius; and the heart of Clara Reeves, lefs candid and fincere than her imagi. nation is happy, with the co-operation of that eternal misleader felf-conceit, fuggefted this too common practice of difingenuous fpirits, to attempt the degradation of a fuperior writer, by extolling a work of his, which they know, they can themselves excel, above those higher efforts of his genius, which they feel unattainable. Let the ingenuous reader always recollect, that there is a great deal of this fineffe practifed by authors whose abili ties ought to fet them above it. The "The inborn vigour of your fouis defend, But, to return from general ideas on critical decifion to the ftrange affertion of Clara Reeves. No perfon endowed with any refinement of perception, any accuracy of judgement, can think Pamela fuperior to Grandifon and Clarissa. No mind, defcative in thofe powers, could have dictated the English Bardn. Either then that work was not written by Clara Reeves, or he is convicted of a defign to mislead the taste of the publick. She had not been more abfurd, had the afferted that Titus Andronicus is the moft fublime, and Love's Labour Loft the most interefting, of Shak fpeare's p'ays. Verily we have feen decifions from a greater pen than Clara Reeves no whit lets extraordinary. Witnefs that which pronounces Dryden's bombaft poem on the death of Anne Killigrew to be the noblest ode in the English language! The obfervations on Rouffeau's Elifa, quoted from the PROGRESS OF ROMANCE, are juft, but they are not new; they are not Clara Reeves's. The author himfelf infinuates his reafons for the compofition of this work in the preface, given under the form of a dialogue, full of pretended reproach for that unfashionable philofophy, which ventures to excufe the indifcretion of a fingle woman, and treats the gallantries or the married ones with fuch unbounded feverity. Thefe reafons are alfo covertly given in a letter of St. Preux to Eioifa, from Paris, in which he declains upon the innocence of their attachment, yet un. fiain'd by infidelity, compared with the inconftant libertinifm of the Parifian married ladies. In thofe paffages, Rouffeau covertly fuggefts his own apology for the most faulty part of Eloifa. There is, therefore, no new light thrown upon that work by Mifs Reeves. To what heights of arrogance is pub lic Original Anecdote of Villiers, D. of Buckingham.-The Jute. 17 lic criticism arrived, when one Mr. Heron, "of unbafhful forehead," denies poetic fublimity to the language of the SCRIPTURES; and, in a ftyle deformed by perpetual vulgarifms, decides upon the ftyle of others, and gives the lie to the admiring fiat of ages; who denies to Virgil and to Pope a grain of original genius; pronounces the first of all profelfedly defcriptive poems, Thomfon's Seafons, a naufeous work, and fentences it to oblivion ! And do we not fee Mr. Hoole exhibiting the poetafter Scott in the act of impotently attempting to newmodel the poetic matter of our greateft mafters; miftaking for weeds fome of their richest flowers, and, like the owl, finding darkness in exceffive light! Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, A. S. MR. Por El Was Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, ended his days at an ale- When I was young (forty years ago), I used to visit for months at the next vil lage to Empingham, where, among the old people, I picked up fome anecdotes refpecting the abovementioned unhappy peer, which were then fresh in the minds of ment. One of thefe was, that, when he was riding one day in his park with his fteward, he asked whofe fheep (a large flock feeding before them) thofe were? On the fteward's answering, your Grace's;" with some quickness * See Mr. Pope's celebrated character of the Duke of Buckingham, in one of his epiftles on the use and abuse of riches: "In the worst inn's worst room," &c. he replied, "I wish to God they were all foxes." Another was, that, when the Duke on a time was calling with repeated vehemence for a pot of ale, the landlord at the White Horfe was heard to mutter in reply from a back room, "Your Grace is in a plaguy hurry; I'll come as foon as I have ferved my hogs." This circumftance the poet, had he heard of it, would have expreffed in a strong and forcible manner, very different from the following: Some ale! fome ale! th' impetuous Villiers To whom the furly landlord thus replies: Mr. URBAN, V. bliged to take notice of the reflexion that ASI value myself on being a defcend ant of the Jute or Viti, I am o Governor Pownall cafts on my ancestors by calling them pirates (Archæologia, vol. VII. p. 269.) We Guti, or Viti, were permitted by King Ina to fettle in this kingdom on an equal footing with the reft of his fubjects, because we are defcended, as we can prove by record, "de nobili fanguine Anglorum," from the noble blood of the Angles (Leges Edovardi.) Now Ina was too wife and too juft a prince to have fuffered pirates, or any fer of men who were not of undoubted reputation, to mix with his peaceable and well-regulated people. Give me leave to fay, that few families have fo antient or fo equitable a title to their poffeffions in this ifland. They who came in with the ravaging Danes, or with the Norman invader, certainly have not; and, if the early Saxons had committed any injuftice in their first establifhment, it was before we migrated hither, for we had the rare felicity to fettle peaceably, and to be admitted to all the privileges of fellow-citizens with general confent. Where is the man, unless he can prove his descent from the Armorici, who can make it appear, that his ancestors gained an establishment in this country on terms so respectable ? Ricardus Vitus Bafinfiocbius. FACIT INDIGNATIO. AVING always had a high admi + Burleigh an the Hill stands on a fuperb Hration for that great and good man, eminence, overlooking the town of Okeham The Duke died in the year 1687. the late Doctor SAMUEL JOHNSON, it has not been without a strong trial of my patience that I have heard in conver fation 18 Vindication of Dr. Johnfon and Mr. Bofwell. fation, and perused in print, the very abfurd opinions that have been occafionally thrown out on the publication of his "Prayers and Meditations," and Mr. Bofwell's "Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides." To enumerate and confute them all, would be much too tedious a task, and would take up more room in your valuable Mifcellany than you might be willing to allow to any one subject. I fhall, therefore, confine myfelf within as narrow a compass as I can, and begin with the production laft mentioned. A writer in your Magazine of laft month, under the fignature of D. H. with a view to depreciate the author of that very entertaining and inftructive work, which does great credit to the memory of Dr. Johnfon, and to the head and heart of his friend, charges him in capitals, (left the minuteness of his criticifm fhould efcape notice) with vanity, forward nefs, impertinence, nationality, abfurdity, and difrefpect to the memory of Dr. Johnfon: he further afferts, that the Doctor told Mr. Bofwell, as plainly as an Englishman can speak, "that his Journal was not fit to be printed :" and he concludes with this remarkable paragraph: " Bit is time to forbear, fince the deft rap on the knuckles is hit 2 ledoor to make Mr. B. virum volitare per ora (502); and there is no room in heaven for men who do not think with him, (482.)" Of all these heavy charges he does not adduce a fingle proof, but quotes the pages in which, be would have it underfood, the reader may find his remarks fully juftified and fupported. The late Mr. Gray, in order to conceal his numerous plagiarifms, the epithets, phrases, and fometimes half-lines, that he ftole from preceding poets, which, perhaps, at fome future time may be fully difplayed, has, at the bottom of his pages, occafionally quoted paffages from elder writers which he imitated: and without doubt he thought himself fecurely fheltered under this apparent candour; and that the indolent and good-natured reader would never look further. D. H. has adopted a fomewhat fimilar plan: having referred to the paffages that were to fubftantiate his charge, he imagined the appearance of fuch accuracy and ingenuoufnefs would foothe his reader to perfect credulity, and that he would never take the trouble of turning to the pages cited: but unluckily he mifcalculated; for, happening to be in the country, and being perfectly at leifure, 1 examined every page that he has referred to, and find they fcarcely, in a single in ftance, lay the smallest ground for the epithets that he has applied to the journalift. His vanity is proved, 1. by his claiming fome little merit (p. 327 and 342,) from his affiduously ftarting topicks on which Dr. Johnson (who "fcarcely ever spoke till he was spoken to,”) often entertained and inftructed his company; 2. by Mr. B's faying (381), that he could not be bribed. (D. H. probably knows that he himself could; and therefore thinks it great prefumption in Mr. B. to pretend to that integrity which ten thoufand poffefs as well as he.) 3. By Dr. Blair's mentioning (499), that Dr. Johnfon loved and esteemed Mr. B. 4. By Dr. Johnson's having made (505) a very laughable parody on a paffage in Sir John Dalrymple's MEMOIRS: (the reader may fmile, but this is feriously referred to as a proof of the author's infufferable vanity.) 5. By the journalist's claiming fome merit (507) in having perfuaded Dr. J. to undertake the tour, and thus having been, in some measure, the caufe" that our language has been enriched with fuch a book as that which he published on his return; a book which (fays Mr. Bofwell) I never read but with the warmest admiration, as I had fuch opportunities of knowing from what very meagre materials it was composed." And, laftly, bv his printing a letter (521) from Sir William Forbes, in which that gentleman fays, " that this Journal is formed on the most inftructive plan that can be thought of ;" and that he is "not fure an ordinary obferver would be fo well acquainted either with Dr. J. or the manners of the Hebrides, by a perfonal intercourfe, as by a perufal of it." ་ Here is, literally, every fingle proof referred to, to fubftantiate the charge of vanity; and I fuppofe no reader will hefitate to pronounce the journalist not guilty. Not one of the her charges having better foundation, it is almost unneceffary to examine them minutely; but, that your correfpondent may not fay that his antagonist follows his artful method, and fhelters himself under generalities, I fhall request your patience, Mr. Urban, a little longer. Let me, however, ftap one moment, to mention a circumftance that I have heard of the late Dr. Johnfon, which the futile remarks of this critick have brought to my memory.-A very mean writer having in a pamphlet abufed him very grofsly, and very clumsily Vindication of Dr. Johnson and Mr. Bofwell. clumfily at the fame time, the pamphlet was fhewn to Johnfon after running his eye over the pages in which he was a bufed, he toffed it away with a fmile, adding these words:"the fellow has made a dinner out of me, but I could have done it much better myself." Thus your correfpondent has fhewn at once his inalevolence and his impotence; for, while he has adduced what is not in the leaft to the purpose, he has omitted what might very properly have been objected tô Mr. Bofwell, his making a very unreasonable account of high birth, and antiquity of family; a circumftance which it is extremely idle in him to confider as a matter of great importance, or ever to mention oftentatiously; though, no man ought wholly to defpife it: nor indeed is it defpifed by any but by those who have it not, by perfons of mean origin, who yet are willing enough to obtain any diftinction whenever they can, and to tranfmit to their children honours which they themfelves pretend to think of no value. true. fenfe, and contain the wife decifions of ages. As long as France fhall exift, the people of that country will probably be vain, talkative, gay, and frivolous; and fo long, probably, will the inhabitants of old England preferve the charac ter they have long borne, that of a brave, generous, thinking, and fomewhat phlegmatick people. If, indeed, we argue from the general character to every individual in a country, we argue falfly; but the general character is ftill Were it allowable, however, to make any exception to this rule, with refpect to individuals, it should be in the cafe of Scotland; for a liberal-minded Scotchman, unbiaffed by thofe national prejudices, and unconnected with those national combinations, which difgrace that country, is a phænomenon indeed But that the very liberal writer of this Journal fhould be charged with nationality, is fomewhat extraordinary. He who has faid, that Dr. J. was particularly prejudiced against the Scots, because II. The forwardness of the Journalist he thought their fuccefs in England ra is proved, 1. by his having once intended ther exceeded the due proportion of their (301) to have been of a club in Eaft-real merit; and becaufe he could not but cheap. 2. By his drinking the Dutchefs of Argyle's health at her own table (447). And 3. By his having, when very young, been guilty of a boyish frolick in the playhouse (496). These curious documents require no comment.. III. The indifputable proofs of his impertinence are, 1. that he asked Dr. J. "whether he had never been accustomed to wear a night-cap, and whether it was not best to wear one" (331); and 2. by his good-humouredly telling Dr. Johnfoa, when he threatened to return haftily to London, that he fhould not go till Mr. B. told him it was fit for him to do fo (335). IV. The folitary inftance of his nationality is (138), his thinking that "Dr. Johnfon expatiated rather too free ly upon the benefits derived to Scotland from the Union;" and his being "unwilling that thofe who did not know Dr. J. as well as himrfelf, should hear his copious exaggeration on that fubject, left they fhould think him narrow-minded." That the Scotch are the most national people upon earth, has been long with juftice oblerved. A late fuperficial, vain, and impudent writer, of that country, has ftrongly protested against national reflections; and one hears it afferted almost every day, that nothing is fo illiberal. But the fact is, that the characters, like the proverbs of nations, are generally founded on truth and goud fee in them that nationality which he (Mr. B.) conceives no liberal-minded Scotchman will deny" he who has faid that Dr. " Johnfon's Journey to the Western Islands' has been misapprehended even to rancour by his countrymen;" he who has brought forward Dr. Johnfon's pointed farcalm, that "Scotland is compofed of ftone and water, with a little earth appearing here and there above the ftone:" that he who exhibits fuch a rare example of candour, as is fhewn in the paffages here cited, all written by a Scotchman, fhould be misapprehended and mifreprefented "even to rancour" by his countrymen, would not be furprizing; but no one would have thought of inferting fuch an accufation against Mr. B. except your correfpondent, who wished, jure vel injuria, to vent all his fpleen, and therefore threw in this charge to make up his little budget of impotent malevolence. V. 1 fhall not pursue D. H. through his catalogue, of what he is pleafed to call, the Journalist's" abfurdity, and trivial representations of his friend." The pages he refers to do not, in the fmallest degree, warrant his imputation. They indeed exhibit minute traits of character, which this fnarler chooses to call trivial, but which every other reader must be highly pleafed with. A journal does not alpire to the dignity of hiftory; and. 20 Vindication of Dr. Johnfon and Mr. Bofwell. and, even if it did, the author might be defended; for certainly thofe lighter ftrokes of character, and those minute incidents, which hiftorians defpife as unworthy of notice, often give a more faithful and lively portrait of a celebrated man, than circumftances of more dignity and moment. Who would wish that Sir Philip Warwick had fuppreffed his minute account of Cromwell's first appearance in the House of Commons, in a coat ill made by a country taylor, with a dirty band, fpotted with blood, in confequence of his having cut himself when fhaving? What a trait of character have we in the well-known ftory of that artful, hypocritical, canting tyrant's having thrown the cushion of his chair at the head of one of his juntos, and drawn the pen full of ink through the mouth of another, while they were figning the warrant for the execution of Charles-An amiable nobleman, who filled the first law-office in this country, and is yet living, is faid, when he was poffeffed of the great feal, to have been often found lying on a couch reading a novel, with two or three of his children playing round him, and pulling his wig, which he bore with per:ect good-humour. If ever his life fhould be inferted in the Biographia Britannica, and the conductor of that work fhould omit this little circumftance, as not of fufficient importance, I can only fay that he knows nothing of biography, of nature, or the human heart. Dr. J. in the Hebrides ftriding about with a target in his hand, and with a large blue bonnet on his bushy grey wig, is Lord C. playing at blindman's buff with his children, or Cromwell frolicking with Harry Martin in the council-chamber. that were cafually ftarted during this tour, and the minute occurrences of it, were not (he feared) of sufficient importance to engage the attention of the publick? That he meant nothing more than this is manifeft, from his having written with his own hand at Oxford, the year before he died, a page in his friend's journal, to fupply a defect in it; a trouble that he never would have taken, if he had not then thought that, fome time or other, it would be published. I have now done with this futile caviller; but cannot difmifs him without obferving, that the laft paragraph of his letter betrays that kind of ignorance, for which a boy in the lowest form at Weftminfter fchool, were he to fhew equal ftupidity in explaining a paffage of an ancient author, would be well flogged. The words alluded to, which I have mentioned in a former part of this letter, are thefe: "It is time to forbcar, face the hardest rap on the knuckles is but a battledoor to make Mr. B. virum volitare per ora (502); and there is no room in heaven for men who do not think with him." The page of Mr. B.'s Journal quoted in proof of the latter affertion, is p. 422, in which, after fpeaking of his father and Dr. Johnson, he adds, "I trust they have met in heaven, But I must obferve, iu juftice to my friend's political opinions, and my own, that they have met in a place where there is no room for whiggifm." Mr. B. has throughout his book profeffed himself to be, like Dr. Johnfon, a tory, though a moderate one: He defcribes his father as a violent whig, and he fuppofes his father, "who did not think with him,” and Dr. Johnlon, to be now in heaven and yet this writer is ftupid enough to VI. The only remaining charge a- fay, that, according to Mr. Bolwell's gainst Mr. B. is a pretty heavy one, but own pofition, there is no room in heaven has just as little foundation as the reft. for those who do not think with him; beIt is, that Dr. J. told the journalist (p. caufe he has faid, that "in heaven 276,)" that his journal was not fit for there is no room for whiggifm." Had printing." The words referred to, to the words been, "where there is no prove this affertion, are, "Your journal room for whigs," the matter would have is not written in a flovenly manner. It been very different. I despair of exMIGHT BE PRINTED, were the fubject plaining this diftinction to your correfit for printing." This method of prov- fpondent, unless I had the power which ing a man alive, by fhewing that he is the fable fuppofes Iphigenia to have pofdead, is quite novel; and was, I ima- feffed; but every reader of common gine, adopted on Mr. Bayes's plan, to sense must see at once, that it is very elevate and furprize. But I fuppofe we confiftent for a tory to fuppofe, that a fhall be told, that we have Dr. Johnfon's perfon of totally different principles from own authority that the fubject was not himself may be admitted into heaven, and fit for printing. Who but this argu- yet at the fame time to affert, that in the mentative fuicide does not at once fee regions of omnipotent power the fyftem that Dr. J. only means modeftly to infi- must be (if I may use the words without nuate, that a narrative, compofed of his profanencfs,) not whiggifm, but the own fayings and opinions on the topicks |