with great force, and an elegant choice of language, the effect of which was aided by his having a loud voice, and a slow deliberate utterance. In him were united a most logical head with a most fertile imagination, which gave him an extraordinary advantage in arguing: for he could reason close or wide, as he saw best for the moment. Exulting in his intellectual strength and dexterity, he could, when he pleased, be the greatest sophist that ever contended in the lists of declamation; and, from a spirit of contradiction, and a delight in shewing his powers, he would often maintain the wrong side with equal warmth and ingenuity; so that, when there was an audience, his real opinions could seldom be gathered from his talk; though when he was in company with a single friend, he would There it bold to say, that the excellent works he published will not distinguish him from other learned men so advantageously as this. To publish books of great learning, to make Greek and Latin verses exceedingly well turned, is not a common talent, I own; neither is it extremely rare. It is incomparably more difficult to find men who can furnish discourse about an infinite number of things, and who can diversify them an hundred ways. How many authours are there, who are admired for their works, on account of the vast learning that is displayed in them, who are not able to sustain a conversation. Those who know Menage only by his books, might think he resembled those learned men: but if you shew the MENAGIANA, you distinguish him from them, and make him known by a talent which is given to very few learned men. appears that he was a man who spoke off-hand a thousand good things. His memory extended to what was ancient and modern; to the court and to the city; to the dead and to the living languages; to things serious and things jocose; in a word, to a thousand sorts of subjects. That which appeared a trifle to some readers of the Menagiana, who did not consider circumstances, caused admiration in other readers, who minded the difference between what a man speaks without preparation, and that which he prepares for the press. And, therefore, we cannot sufficiently commend the care which his illustrious friends took to erect a monument so capable of giving him immortal glory. They were not obliged to rectify what they had heard him say; for, in so doing, they had not been faithful historians of his conversation." discuss a subject with genuine fairness; but he was too conscientious to make errour permanent and pernicious, by deliberately writing it; and, in all his numerous works, he earnestly inculcated what appeared to him to be the truth; his piety being constant, and the ruling principle of all his conduct. Such was SAMUEL JOHNSON, a man whose talents, acquirements, and virtues, were so extraordinary, that the more his character is considered, the more he will be regarded by the present age, and by posterity, with admiration and reverence. INDEX. A. ABERCROMBIE, James, Esq. of Philadelphia, his communi- Abingdon, Lord, bon mot of, iv. 271, n. Abington, Mrs. iii. 48, 51, 55. Abjuration, oath of, ii. 305. Absentees from their estates, how far justifiable, iv. 19, 20. Abyssinia, see Lobo, Rasselas. Academy, Royal, instituted, ii. 161. Action in public speaking, ii. 298. Actors, i. 130, 152; ii. 180, 319; iii. 186; iv. 25, 287; v. 123. Miss, v. 176. Addison, Johnson's opinion of, i. 176; ii. 33; iii. 70. his style compared with Johnson's, i. 176. Adey, Miss Mary, i. 14; iii. 188. "Adventurer," Hawkesworth's, i. 162, 183, 198, 201. Egri Ephemeris, Johnson's, v. 266. Agar, W. E. Esq. iii. 313, n. Agutter, Rev. Mr. his sermon on Johnson's death, v. 309. Akenside's poetry, ii. 252; iii. 225. his early friendship with Charles Townshend, iii. 199 Alchymy, iii. 97. Aleppo, Siege of,' a tragedy, iv. 98. Alfred, i. 137. his Will, v. 18. Allen, Mr. the printer, ii. 72; iv. 151; v. 235. America and Americans, iii. 22, 40, 42, 43; iv. 45, 129, 362. Angelone's Letters, iv. 390. Angels, v. 174, n. Antiquities, study of iv. 250. Arbuthnot, ii. 33. Argyle, Archibald, Duke of, iii. 264. Armorial bearings, as ancient as the siege of Troy, ii. 266. Armstrong, Dr. i. 341; iii. 312.. Arnold, Dr. on insanity, iv. 17. Articles, thirty-nine, ii. 240. Ascham, Roger, Johnson's life of, ii. 68. Ash, John, M. D. founder of the Eumelian Club, v. 282. Astle, Thomas, Esq. v. 18. Rev. Mr. v. 195. Aston, Molly, i. 50, 326; iv. 178, 336, n. Athol porridge, iv. 360. Atterbury, Bishop, his funeral sermon on Lady Cutts, iv. 69. Avarice, iii. 263; iv. 159. Auchinleck, Lord, (the Authour's father), iii. 136. Authours, of deciding on their MSS. ii. 280; iv. 157.. respect due to them, iv. 152. See Books. should put as much into their books as they will hold, ii. 321. had better be attacked than unnoticed, iv. 212. B2 Bacon, Lord Verulam, iv. 34; v. 165. Badcock, Rev. Mr. v. 297, n. Bagshaw, Rev. Thomas, ii. 343. Johnson's letters to, ii, 343; v. 232.. Baker, Sir Geo. v. 237. Ballads, (ancient), ii. 299. Balloons, v. 240. Ballow, Thomas, Esq. (the lawyer), iii. 216. Baltick, Johnson's proposed expedition to the, iii. 333. Barber, Mr. Francis, i. 184, 188; ii. 202, 203; iv. 429. Barclay, Mr. the young authour, ii. 98. Mr. one of Mr. Thrale's successors, iv. 395. his trial, ii. 181. Johnson's letters to him, i. 298, 306, 314. Barnard, Rev. Dr. (Bishop of Limerick), iii. 35; iv. 392. Barretier, J. P. Johnson's Life of, i. 109. Barrington, Hon. Daines, ii. 333; iv. 152. Barrow, Rev. Dr. his sermons, iv. 383. Barrowby, Dr. v. 176. Barry, Sir Edward, M. D. his notion that pulsation occasions James, Esq. (the painter), Johnson's letter to, v. 84. his paintings, v. 105. Bateman, Edward, Tutor of Christ-church, his lectures, i. 47. Bathurst, Dr. Richard, i. 197, 199, 336. Bayle's Dictionary, ii. 33. Beech, Thomas, ii. 3. Beattie, Dr. ii. 230, 234; v. 71. letter from Johnson to, iv. 269. Beauclerk, Topham, Esq. i. 194; iv. 261. his violent altercation with Johnson, iv. 220. Beauty, manly, described by Shakspeare and Milton, iv. 353. Bedlam, iii. 96; v. 90. Beggars, iv. 236. Beggars' Opera,' iii. 88, 89; iv. 158. Belchier, Surgeon, iii. 246. Bellamy, Mrs. her letter to Johnson, v. 125, n. 6 Belsham, Mr. his Essay on Dramatick Poetry, i. 322. |