not stand its ground as long as life, and whether a soul well principled will not be sooner separated than subdued.” Piozzi, p. 37. its pointed satire. [Sophron was Though instruction be the predominant purpose of the Rambler, yet it is enlivened with a considerable portion of amusement. Nothing can be more erroneous than the notion which some persons have entertained, that Johnson was then a retired authour, ignorant of the world; and, of consequence, that he wrote only from his imagination, when he described characters and manners. He said to me that, before he wrote that work, he had been "running about the world," as he expressed it, more than almost any body; and I have heard him relate, with much satisfaction, that several of the characters in the Rambler were drawn so naturally, that when it first circulated in numbers, a club in one of the towns in Essex imagined themselves to be severally ex-82, a virtuoso who has collected curiosities: hibited in it, and were much incensed against a person who, they suspected, had thus made them objects of publick notice; nor were they quieted till authentick assurance was given them, that the Rambler was written by a person who had never heard of any one of them 1. Some of the characters are believed to have been actually drawn from the life 2, particularly that of Prospero from Garrick 3, who never entirely forgave 1 [This anecdote was, according to Mrs. Piozzi, communicated to Johnson by Mr. Murphy, but (as the lady tells it), with details which savour more of a desire to make a good story than to tell a true one. See Piozzi, p. 180.—ED.] 2 That of GELIDUS, in No. 24, from Professor Colson, and that of EUPHUES in the same paper, which, with many others, was doubtless drawn from the life. EUPHUES, I once thought, might have been intended to represent either Lord Chesterfield or Soame Jenyns; but Mr. Bindley, with more probability, thinks that George Bubb Doddington, who was remarkable for the homeliness of his person, and the finery of his dress, was the person meant under that character. MALONE. [See (ante, p. 38) reasons for doubting that Gelidus could be meant for Professor Colson. The folly of such guesses at characters is forcibly exemplified in Mr. Malone's producing three such different candidates for that of Euphues, as Lord Chesterfield, Soame Jenyns, and Bubb Doddington!-ED.] 3 For instances of fertility of fancy, and accurate description of real life, I appeal to No. 19, a man who wanders from one profession to another, with most plausible reasons for every change: No. 34, female fastidiousness and timorous refinement: No. No. 88, petty modes of entertaining a company, and conciliating kindness: No. 182, fortune-hunting: No. 194-195, a tutor's account of the follies of his pupil: No. 197 -198, legacy-hunting: He has given a specimen of his nice observation of the mere external appearances of life, in the following passage in No. 179, against affectation, that frequent and most disgusting quality: "He that stands to contemplate the crowds that fill the streets of a populous city will see many passengers, whose air and motions it will be difficult to behold without contempt and laughter: but if he examine what are the appearances that thus powerfully excite his risibility, he will find among them neither poverty nor disease, nor any involuntary or painful defect. The disposition to derision and insult is awakened by the softness of foppery, the swell of insolence, the liveliness of levity, or the solemnity of grandeur; by the sprightly trip, the stately walk, the formal strut, and the lofty mien; by gestures intended to catch the eye, and by looks Johnson's temper, which almost amounted to envy, there is noue that seems, all the circumstances considered, more unjustifiable than this would have been. Hawkins, however, who seldom missed an opportunity of displaying Johnson's faults or frailties, does not, even, when censuring his conduct towards Garrick, allude to this offence. (See Life p. 421). Let us therefore hope, that the other biographers made an application of the character of Prospero which Johnson did not intend.—ED.] [Having just seen Garrick's generous and successful endeavours to advance the fame and improve the fortunes of his friend, it were melancholy to be obliged, by the evidence of Boswell, Murphy, and Mrs. Piozzi, to believe that 4 [These characters are alluded to in the conJohnson meant to satirize that amiable, inoffen- clusion of the 188th Rambler, but so slightly that sive, and (to him) most friendly man, whose pro- it seems hardly worth while to inquire whether fession, as well as his personal feelings, rendered the hints were furnished by observation or invenhim peculiarly sensitive to such attacks. Mr. tion. As to the anecdote told of the elder Dr. Murphy, with less taste and good nature than is Salter, it could have only been, as Mr. Chalmers usual to him, seems to make light of poor Gar- observes, the repetition of some story of his youthrick's vexation; but amongst the many instances ful days, for he was 70 years of age before he which have been adduced of that infirmity of became a member of the Ivy-lane club.-ED.] elaborately formed as evidences of impor- | idle charge has been echoed from one bab tance." Piozzi, p. 3. [Of the allegorical papers in the Rambler, Labour and Rest (No. 33) was Johnson's favourite; but Serotinus (No 165), the man who returns late in life to receive honours in his native country, and meets with mortification instead of respect, was considered by him as a masterpiece in the science of life and manners.] Every page of the Rambler shows a mind teeming with classical allusions and poetical imagery: illustrations from other writers are, upon all occasions, so ready, and mingle so easily, in his periods, that the whole appears of one uniform vivid texture. No. 70. bler to another, who have confounded Johnson's Essays with Johnson's Dictionary; and because he thought it right in a lexicon of our language to collect many words which had fallen into disuse, but were supported by great authorities, it has been imagined that all of these have been interwoven into his own compositions. That some of them have been adopted by him unnecessarily, may, perhaps, be allowed; but, in general, they are evidently an advantage, for without them his stately ideas would be confined and cramped. "He that thinks with more extent than another, will want words of a larger meaning 3." He Idler, The style of this work has been censured once told me, that he had formed by some shallow criticks as involved and turgid, and abounding with antiquated and word not authorized by former writers; but hard words. So ill-founded is the first part where are we to seek authorities for resuscitation, of this objection, that I will challenge all orbity, volant, fatuity, divaricate, asinine, narwho may honour this book with a perusal, and innumerable others of the same stamp, which cotic, vulnerary, empireumatic, papilionaceous,' to point out any English writer whose lan-abound in and disgrace his pages?-for obtund, guage conveys his meaning with equal force and perspicuity. It must, indeed, be allowed, that the structure of his sentences is expanded, and often has somewhat of the inversion of Latin; and that he delighted to express familiar thoughts in philosophical language; being in this the reverse of Socrates, who, it is said, reduced philosophy to the simplicity of common life. But let us attend to what he himself says in his concluding paper: "When common words were less pleasing to the ear, or less distinct in their signification, I have familiarized the terms of philosophy, by applying them to popular ideas." And, as to the second part of this objection, upon a late careful revision of the work, I can with confidence say, that it is amazing how few of those words, for which it has been unjustly characterised, are actually to be found in it: I am sure not the proportion of one to each paper2. This disruption, sensory, or panoply,' all occurring in 1 Yet his style did not escape the harmless shafts of pleasant humour; for the ingenious Bounell Thornton published a mock Rambler in the Dru--ED.] ry-lane Journal.-BOSWELL.-[And Mr. Murphy, in commenting on this passage, quotes the witty observation of Dryden: "If so many foreign words are poured in upon us, it looks as if they were designed not to assist the natives but to conquer them." Life, p. 157.-ED.] [Mr. Boswell's zeal carries him too far: Johnson's style, especially in the Rambler, is frequently turgid, even to ridicule; but he has been too often censured with a malicious flippancy, which Boswell may be excused for resenting; and even graver critics have sometimes treated him with inconsiderate injustice; for instance, The Rev. Dr. Burrowes (now Dean of Cork), in an "Essay on the Style of Dr. Johnson," published in the first volume of the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy (1787), observes: "Johnson says that he has rarely admitted any VOL. I. 12 But al 3 [This is a truism in the disguise of a sophism. "He that thinks with more extent will," no doubt, "want words of a larger meaning," but the words themselves may be plain and simple; the number of syllables, and oro-rotundity (if one may venture to use the expression) of the sound of a word can never add much, and may, in some cases, do injury to the meaning. What words were ever written of a larger meaning than the following, which, however, are the most simple and elementary that can be found" God said, Let there be light, and there was light!" If we were to convert the proposition in the Idler, and say, that "he who thinks feebly needs bigger words to cover his inanity," we should be nearer the truth. But it must be admitted (as Mr. Boswell soon after observes) that Johnson (though he, in some of his works, pushed his peculiarities name him, would stamp a reverence on the opinion. Hawk. p. 271. his style upon that of Sir William Temple, and upon 66 Chambers's Proposal for his Dictionary." He certainly was mistaken; [That Johnson owed his excelor if he imagined at first that he was imi- lence as a writer to the divines and tating Temple, he was very unsuccessful 2; others of the last century, Sir John for nothing can be more unlike than the sim- Hawkins attests, from having been the witplicity of Temple, and the richness of John-ness of his course of reading, and heard him son. Their styles differ as plain cloth and brocade. Temple, indeed, seems equally erroneous in supposing that he himself had formed his style upon Sandys's View of the State of Religion in the Western Parts of the World. The style of Johnson was, undoubtedly, much formed upon that of the great writers in the last century, Hooker, Bacon, Sanderson, Hakewill, and others; those" GIANTS," as they were well characterised by a GREAT PERSONAGE 3, whose authority, were I to to an absurd extent) has been on the whole a benefactor to our language; he has introduced more dignity into our style, more regularity into our grammatical construction, and given a fuller and more sonorous sound to the march of our sentences and the cadence of our periods.-ED.] The paper here alluded to was, I believe, Chamber's Proposal for a second and improved edition of his Dictionary, which, I think, appeared in 1738. This proposal was probably in circulation in 1737, when Johuson first came to London.-MALONE. declare his sentiments of their works. Hooker he admired for his logical precision, Sanderson for his acuteness, and Taylor for his amazing erudition; Sir Thomas Browne for his penetration, and Cowley for the ease and unaffected structure of his periods. The tinsel of Sprat disgusted him, and he could but just endure the smooth verbosity of Tillotson. Hammond and Barrow he thought involved; and of the latter that he was unnecessarily prolix 4.] We may, with the utmost propriety, apply to his learned style that passage of Horace, a part of which he has taken as the motto to his Dictionary: "Cum tabulis animum censoris sumet honesti; Epist. I. ii. e. 2. 2 The author appears to me to have misunderstood Johnson in this instance. He did not, I conceive, mean to say that, when he first began to write, he made Sir William Temple his model, with a view to form a style that should resemble his in all its parts; but that he formed his style on that of Temple and others, by taking from each those characteristic excellencies which were most worthy of imitation. See this matter further explained under April 9, 1778; where, in a conversation at Sir Joshua Reynold's, Johnson himself mentions the particular improvements which Temple made in the English style. These, Indiciis monstrare recentibus abdita rerum, doubtless, were the objects of his imitation, so far as that writer was his model.-MALONE. To so great a master of thinking, to one of such vast and various knowledge as Johnson, might have been allowed a liberal indulgence of that licence which Horace claims in another place: Si forté necesse est vi. 4. It is to be observed, that Mr. Boswell, in his first edition, attributed this anecdote to "one whose authority, &c.:" in subsequent editions he changed "one" into "GREAT PERSONAGE." 3 [Here is an instance of the difficulty of explaining, after the lapse of a very few years, circumstances once of great notoriety. My learned and excellent friend, the Bishop of Ferns, writes-ED.] to me, "State that this Great Personage was 4 [The editor has thought it right to preserve his late majesty, George the Third. Every one the foregoing, as the evidence of an eye-witness to knows it now, but who will know it fifty years Johnson's course of reading; though it may be hence?" No doubt the generality of readers well doubted whether Sir J. Hawkins has prehave understood Mr. Boswell to refer to the late served exactly the characteristic qualities which king; but, although the Editor has made very ex- he attributed to these illustrious men. It is not tensive inquiries amongst those who were most easy to conceive how the erudition of Taylor or likely to know, he has not been able to discover the penetration of Browne could have improved any precise authority on this point, nor has he Johnson's style; nor is it likely that Johnson would obtained even a conjecture as to the person to have celebrated the eloquent and subtile Taylor whom, or the occasion on which, his majesty for erudition alone, or the pious and learned used this happy expression. The editor had for-Browne for mere penetration. Johnson's friend, merly heard, but he does not recollect from whom, that when, on some occasion, the great divines of the 17th century were mentioned in the king's presence, his majesty said, "Yes-there were GIANTS in those days,"-in allusion to Genesis, Mr. Fitzherbert, said (see post, 8th April, 1775) that "it was not every man who could carry a bon mot;" certainly Hawkins was not a man likely to convey adequately Dr. Johnson's critical opinion of Jeremy Taylor.-ED.] Fingere cinctutis non exaudita Cethegis De Arte Poeticâ. Yet Johnson assured me, that he had not taken upon him to add more that four or five words to the English language, of his own formation; and he was very much offended at the general licence by no means "modestly taken" in his time, not only to coin new words, but to use many words in senses quite different from their established meaning, and those frequently very fantastical. Sir Thomas Browne, whose Life Johnson wrote, was remarkably fond of AngloLatin diction; and to his example we are to ascribe Johnson's sometimes indulging himself in this kind of phraseology. Johnson's comprehenson of mind was the mould for his language. Had his conceptions been narrower, his expression would have been easier. His sentences have a dignified march; and it is certain, that his example has given a general elevation to the language of his country, for many of our best writers have approached very near to him; and, from the influence which he has had upon our composition, scarcely any thing is written now that is not better expressed than was usual before he appeared to lead the national taste. This circumstance, the truth of which must strike every critical reader, has been so 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 impressive wisdom fell. Our boasted Goldsmith felt the sovereign sway; From him derived the sweet, yet nervous lay. To Fame's proud cliff he bade our Raffaelle rise: Hence Reynolds' pen with Reynolds' pencil vies. With Johnson's flame melodious Burney glows, While the grand strain in smoother cadence flows. 1 The observation of his having imitated Sir Thomas Browne has been made by many people; and lately it has been insisted on, and illustrated by a variety of quotations from Browne, in one of the popular Essays written by the Rev. Mr. Knox, master of Tunbridge-school, whom I have set down in my list of those who have sometimes not unsuccessfully imitated Dr. Johnson's style.-BOSWELL. And you, Malone, to critic learning dear, Johnson's language, however, must be allowed to be too masculine for the delicate gentleness of female writing. His ladies, therefore, seem strangely formal, even to ridicule; and are well denominated by the names which he has given them, as Misella, Zozima, Properantia, Rhodoclia 3. It has of late been the fashion to compare the style of Addison and Johnson, and to depreciate 4, I think, very unjustly, the style 66 now 2 The following observation in Mr. Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides may sufficiently account for that gentleman's being scarcely esteemed a Scot" by many of his countrymen: "If he (Dr. Johnson) was particularly prejudiced against the Scots, it was because they success in England rather exceeded the due prowere more in his way; because he thought their portion 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 esteemed a Scot." COURTENAY. 3 [Mr. Burke said pleasantly, that "his ladies were all Johnsons in petticoats." Mr. Murphy (Life, p. 159) seems to pass somewhat of the same censure on the letter in the 12th Rambler, from a young woman that wants a place: yetsuch is the uncertainty of criticism-this is the paper quoted by Mr. Chalmers, as an example of such ease and familiarity of style, which made him almost doubt whether it was Johnson's Brit. Ess. vol. xix. p. 44.—ED.] [Where did Mr. Boswell discover this, except in Sir J. Hawkins, who says (p. 270), with more than usual absurdity and bad taste, "I find 1 of Addison as nerveless and feeble, because | an opinion gaining ground, not much to the advantage of Mr. Addison's style, the characteristics of which are feebleness and inanity-I speak of that alone, for his sentiments are excellent and his humour exquisite." What the worthy knight meant by inanity, as applied to Addison's style, is not worth inquiring.-ED.] When Johnson showed me a proof-sheet of the character of Addison, in which he so highly extols his style, I could not help observing, that it had not been his own model, as no two styles could differ more from each other. "Sir, Addison had his style, and I have mine." When I ventured to ask him, whether the difference did not consist in this, that Addison's style was full of idioms, colloquial phrases, and proverbs; and his own more strictly grammatical and free from such phraseology and modes of speech as can never be literally translated or understood by foreigners; he allowed the discrimination to be just. Let any one who doubts it, try to translate one of Addison's Spectators into Latin, French, or Italian; and though so easy, familiar, and elegant, to an Englishman, as to give the intellect no trouble; yet he would find the transfusion into another language extremely difficult, if not impos attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison 2." Piozzi, p. 153. [His manner of criticising and commending Addison's prose was the same in conversation as we read it in his printed strictures, and many of the expressions used have been heard to fall from him on common occasions. It was notwithstanding observable enough (or Mrs. Piozzi fancied so), that he never liked, though he always thought fit, to praise it; and his praises resembled those of a man who extols the superiour elegance of high painted porcelain, while he himself always chooses to eat off plate. She told him so one day, and he neither denied it nor appeared displeased. Piozzi, p. 45. But his opinion of Steele's essays was not so favourable. 66 They are too thin (said he) for an Englishman's taste; mere superficial observations on life and manners, without erudition enough to make them keep, like the light French wines, which turn sour with standing awhile, for want of body, as we call it 3."] Though the Rambler was not concluded till the year 1752, I shall, under this year, say all that I have to observe upon it. Some of the translations of the mottos, by himself, are admirably done. He acknowledges to have received "elegant translations" of many of them from Mr James Elphinston; and some are very happily translated by a Mr. F. Lewis, of whom I never heard more, except that Johnson thus described him to Mr. Malone: "Sir, he lived in London, and hung loose upon society 4." The concluding paper of his Ram sible. But a Rambler, Adventurer, or Idler, of Johnson, would fall into any classical or European language, as easily as if it had been originally conceived in it.—BURNEY. I shall probably, in another work, maintain the merit of Addison's poetry, which has been very unjustly depreciated.-BOSWELL. Boswell never, that the editor knows of, executed [Mr. this intention.-ED.] 3 [This illustration (which Mr. Boswell has applied to Addison and Johnson) seems, in this instance, not very happy, and still less just. Steele's Essays have outlived a century, and are certainly not yet sour to any good taste.-ED.] 4 In the Gentleman's Magazine for October, 1752, p. 468, he is styled "the Rev. Francis Lewis, of Chiswick." The late Lord Macartney, while he resided at Chiswick, at my request, made some inquiry concerning him at that place, but no intelligence was obtained. The translations of the mottos supplied by Mr. Elphinston appeared first in the Edinburgh edition of the Rambler, and in some instances were revised and improved, probably by Johnson, be |