'Johnson (frowning very angrily). Madam, she is an odious wench. . . . She knew no more of the Church which she left and that which she embraced, than she did of the difference between the Copernican and Ptolemaic systems. "Mrs. Knowles. She had the New Testament before her. "Johnson. Madam, she could not understand the New Testament, the most difficult book in the world, for which the study of a lifetime is required. 66 Mrs. Knowles. It is clear as to essentials. "Johnson. But not as to controversial points. "Mrs. Knowles. Must we, then, go by implicit faith? "Johnson. Why, madam, the greatest part of our knowledge is implicit faith. . . . "He then," said Boswell, "rose again into passion, and attacked the young proselyte in the severest terms of reproach." Mrs. Knowles published a full account1 of the controversy with Dr. Johnson, and it is easy to see that Boswell had good reason for not giving fuller details. He was much too conscientious and honourable to make the least alteration in any of the conversations which he reported; but he probably thought it allowable to condense considerably on certain occasions. I It appeared in The Gentleman's Magazine for June, 1791, and was afterwards issued as a pamphlet in 1799. G CHAPTER VIII. OLDSMITH had died in 1774, and Johnson had announced his death in a letter to Boswell of the 4th of July of that year. "Of poor, dear Dr. Goldsmith there is little to be told more than the papers have made public. He died of a fever, I am afraid more violent by uneasiness of mind. His debts began to be heavy, and all his resources were exhausted. Sir Joshua is of opinion that he owed not less than two thousand pounds. Was ever poet so trusted before?" It had at first been contemplated to give him a public funeral, but the design was abandoned, and he was buried. in the graveyard of the Temple Church with such privacy that the site of his grave is now not known. Reynolds had at this time (1776) originated the idea of a monument in the Abbey, and the epitaph was written by Johnson. A good deal of opposition was made to its being in Latin, and some members of the "Club," including Burke, Gibbon, Sheridan, and Reynolds, drew up a remonstrance, in the form of a round robin, to the following effect: "We, the Circumscribers, having read with great pleasure, an intended epitaph for the monu ment of Dr. Goldsmith, which, considered abstractedly, appears to be, for elegant composition, and masterly style, in every respect worthy of the pen of its learned. author, are yet of opinion that the character of the deceased as a writer, particularly as a poet, is perhaps not delineated with all the exactness which Dr. Johnson is capable of giving it; we therefore, with deference to his superior judgment, humbly request that he would at least take the trouble of revising it, and of making such additions and alterations as he shall think proper upon a farther perusal; but if we might venture to express our wishes, they would lead us to request that he would write the epitaph in English rather than in Latin, as we think that the memory of so eminent an English writer ought to be perpetuated in the language to which his works are likely to be so lasting an ornament, which we also know to have been the opinion of the late Doctor himself." But the sturdy old scholar refused "to disgrace the walls of Westminster Abbey with an English inscription," and the Latin original was, accordingly, placed on the tablet beneath the medallion of the poet's head. In 1777, Johnson undertook a congenial work, for which he was in every way fitted, and which may still be read with delight and interest. The first four volumes appeared, in 1779, as the "Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, of the most eminent of the English Poets," and the series was completed in 1781. These "Prefaces" were afterwards published as "Lives of the English Poets," but the former title is more correct. The "Lives," admirable in their. own way, are not so much biographies as critical essays. Few attempts are made to give exact details, and in some cases, where information was supplied, Johnson neglected to make use of it. The "Life of Savage," already referred to, is undoubtedly the best of the series, but a critic once said of it that it contained only one date, and that date incorrect. This is a manifest exaggeration, but it is certainly a matter of regret, that, at a time, when, for some of the "Lives," it was possible to procure most valuable information, no such attempt was made. In our own day, considerable surprise would be expressed if the writer of a biography of Congreve were bold enough to say-"Of his (Congreve's) plays I cannot speak distinctly, for since I inspected them many years have passed;" or whose remarks on Congreve's first novel, "Incognita," were limited to a candid confession, “It is praised by the biographers, I would rather praise it than read it." But Johnson's memory was so retentive, and his acquaintance with English literature so extensive, that he was able, from his previous knowledge, to give an excellent account of most of the works which he criticises, and his remarks are often of the greatest interest and value. The strange paradoxes, in which he indulged in his ordinary conversation, appear rarely in the “Lives,” and, in many cases, where he had conceived a strong prejudice against the works of certain writers, he carefully discriminates between the merits and defects of their separate productions. He had no admiration for Gray, but he does full justice to his "Elegy," of which he says, "Had Gray often written thus, it had been vain to blame, and useless to praise him ;" and on one occasion, in discussing "The Bard," he acknowledged the extraordinary beauty of the two lines "Tho' fann'd by Conquest's crimson wing They mock the air with idle state." There are probably many critics now who, with a hearty admiration for Gray's exquisite choice of language, and the simple beauty of his style, agree with Johnson that he was a "mechanical poet." Charles James Fox and many others, among whom was William Cowper, the author of "The Task,” complained bitterly of Johnson's treatment of their favourite authors. Some of the "Lives," especially those of Gray, Milton, and Lyttelton, were commented on with great severity, but this feeling of anger appears difficult to understand. The biographical portion of the work contains nothing to offend any sensibilities, and even in the case of Milton, whose political principles Johnson detested, great veneration is expressed for his abilities and his personal character. The sublimity of the "Paradise Lost" is admitted, but Johnson could hardly be expected to praise pastoral poetry, which he disliked, especially when accompanied by mythological imagery. It seemed to his strong common-sense mere absurdity for a poet to assume the character of a shepherd, and address another poet in a similar disguise: "What image of tenderness," he writes, in speaking of "Lycidas," "can be excited by these lines? 'We drove afield, and both together heard |