this undertaking, to which Pope was induced by a reward of two hundred
and seventeen pounds, twelve shillings, he seems never to have reflected
afterwards _without vexation_[158].' The Doctor ought never to reflect
'without vexation' on his own edition of Shakespeare. He published his
proposals in 1756, but the work itself did not appear till 1768, and
then, though the world was warmly prejudiced in his favour, and tho' he
had plundered every thing which he thought valuable, from all his
predecessors, yet his performance was received with general disregard.
His preface was the particular butt of censure; his deficiencies were
detected 'with all the insolence of victory;' and the public were, for
once, inclined to say of him, what he says of Mr Theobald, viz. that he
was 'a man of heavy diligence, with very slender powers[159].'
Indeed the Doctor persecutes the name of Theobald with the most
rancorous spirit of revenge. In his proposals for printing Shakespeare,
he tells us, 'that Mr Theobald, if fame be just to his memory,
considered his learning only as an instrument of gain, and made no
farther enquiry after his authour's meaning, when once he had notes
sufficient to embellish his page with the expected decorations.' If
Theobald was poor, he was certainly prudent in considering his learning
as an instrument of gain. In this point, he has been exactly copied by
no less a personage than Dr Johnson himself. But the Doctor has not
ventured to say that Theobald was a venal prostituted dabbler in
politics; that he insulted his King, till he received a pension; and
that when he had received his pension, he insulted his country. No. 'The
old books, the cold pedantry, and sluggish pertinacity of Theobald,'
never excited the serious contempt or indignation of mankind. Dr Johnson
asserts, 'That when Theobald published Shakespeare in opposition to
Pope, the _best_ notes were supplied by Warburton[160].' This is an
assertion without a proof, and merits no regard; for his veracity keeps
pace with his candour.
The admirers of Pope will be sensible of the good nature and honesty of
Dr Johnson, from the following unqualified assertion: 'The great object
of his (Pope's) ridicule is _poverty_; the crimes with which he
reproaches his antagonists are their debts, their habitation in the
mint, and their want of a dinner. He seems to be of an opinion, not very
uncommon in the world, that to want money is to want every thing[161].'
The crimes with which Pope reproaches the Duncenian heroes are slander
and _forgery_[162], most of them were not only bad writers, but bad
men; and it is only in the latter point of view, that the poet
considered them as fair objects of ridicule. Had Pope been capable of
insulting honest indigence, his reputation and his glory must have been
for ever blasted. The humanity of Englishmen would have rejected, with
horror, such impious wit. The last part of this malicious paragraph is,
after a few pages, contradicted by Dr Johnson himself. Had Pope been of
opinion, that _to want money is to want every thing_, he would not have
assisted Dodsley 'with a hundred pounds that he might open a shop--of
the subscription of forty pounds a-year that he raised for Savage,
TWENTY were paid by himself. He was accused of loving money, but his
love was eagerness to gain, not solicitude to keep it. In the duties of
friendship, he was zealous and constant. It does not appear that he lost
a _single_ friend by coldness, or by injury; those who loved him once,
continued their kindness[163].' This cannot be the picture of a man who
insulted innocent misery.
The Doctor is perpetually giving us strokes of his own character. Thus,
of Mr Thomson we are informed, 'that he was "more fat than bard
beseems," of a _dull_ countenance, and a _gross, unanimated, uninviting_
appearance.' This is the Rambler's portrait, but when applied to the
author of the Seasons, it is not true, for Mr Murdoch assures us, 'that
his worst appearance was, when you saw him walking alone, in a
thoughtful mood; but let a friend accost him, and enter into
conversation, he would instantly brighten into a most amiable aspect,
his features no longer the same, and his eye darting a peculiar animated
fire. His looks always announced, and half expressed what he was about
to say[164].'
The Doctor fills up several pages with blotted variations from Pope's
manuscript translation of the Iliad. He exults in this precious
production, and foresees that the wisest of his readers will wish for
more. Having perused a few lines of it only, I cannot pretend to rate
the value of this commodity: But a plain reader will be apt to suspect
that the Doctor has on this, as on former occasions, adopted the prudent
proverb,_ multum scribere, multum solvere_. If Lexiphanes _overflows
with Greek_, he may, by comparing Pope with Homer, afford much
entertainment.
'Wives and husbands are, indeed, incessantly complaining of each
other[165].'--Not unless both are fools, nor always then. For the credit
of its author, I suppress the sequel of this unhappy period.
Dr Johnson observes, that Mr Addison, 'by a serious display of the
beauties of Chevy Chace, exposed himself to the ridicule of
Wagstaff.--In Chevy Chace there is _not much_ of either bombast or
affectation, but there is chill and lifeless imbecility. The story
cannot possibly be told in a manner that shall make _less_ impression on
the mind[166].' This is a most scandalous criticism; no man who ever
heard the ballad, will hear it with patience. The Doctor's pious
intention seems to have been to lessen the reputation of Addison. Let
him who falsifies without shame, be chastised without mercy[167].
Though Dr Johnson long acted as Reviewer of books for the Gentleman's
Magazine, and though he often exercised his pen in that capacity with
the most grovelling insolence, yet he cannot speak with patience of his
rivals in that branch of trade. 'We have now,' says he, 'among other
disturbers of human quiet, a numerous body of Reviewers and
Remarkers[168].' He is angry with Lord Lyttleton, for having once
condescended to correspond with the Critical Reviewers. He observes,
that the CRITICAL REVIEWERS, 'can satisfy their hunger only by devouring
their brethren. I am far from imagining that they are naturally more
ravenous or blood-thirsty, than those on whom they fall with so much
violence and fury; but they are _hungry_, and _hunger_ must be
satisfied; and these SAVAGES, when their bellies are full, will fawn on
those whom they now bite[169].' They have lately[170] celebrated the
Doctor's great candour, of which this passage is the best evidence that
'will easily be found.'
I finish this essay by reciting the circumstance which gave it birth.
In 1778, Mr William Shaw published an Analysis of the Gaelic language.
He quoted specimens of Gaelic poetry, and harangued on its beauties,
with the aukward elocution of one who did not understand them. A few
months ago, he printed a pamphlet. He traduced decent characters. He
denied the existence of Gaelic poetry, and his name was echoed in the
newspapers as a miracle of candour. Is there in the annals of Grubaean
impudence any parallel to this? Is there any nation in the world except
_one_, perpetually deluded by a succession of impostors? Are these the
blessed fruits of that freedom which patriots perish to defend? If there
be no pillory, no whipping post for such accumulated guilt, we may truly
say with Shakespeare, that 'Liberty plucks Justice by the nose.' This
incomparable bookbuilder, who writes a dictionary before he can write
grammar, had previously boasted what a harvest he would reap from
English credulity. He was not deceived. The bait was caught; and the
voice of truth was for some time drowned in the clamours of the rabble.
Mr Shaw wants only money. He thinks only how to get it, and with a
courage that is respectable, avowed his intentions. But better things
might have been expected from the moral and majestic author of the
Rambler. He must have seen the Analysis of the Gaelic language, for Shaw
mentions him as the patron of that work. He must have seen the specimens
of Celtic poetry there inserted. That he is likewise the patron of this
poor scribble, no man, I suppose, will offer to deny. From this single
circumstance, Dr Johnson stands convicted of _an illiberal intention to
deceive_. Candour can hardly hesitate to sum up his character in the
vulgar but expressive pollysyllable.
It will be demanded, why a private individual, without interest or
connections, presumes to interfere in the quarrels of the learned? But
when the most shameless of mankind, is _hired_ to abuse the characters
of his countrymen, to blast the reputations of the living and the dead;
when _such_ a tool is employed for _such_ a purpose, that those who are
insulted cannot with propriety stoop to a reply,--THEN the highest
degree of goodness may degenerate into the lowest degree of weakness,
silence becomes approbation, and tenderness and delicacy deserve
different names. He is unfit to be the friend of virtue who cannot
defend her dignity; who dares not execute her vengeance. In this
shameful affair, one circumstance does honour to Dr Johnson. _His
friendship is not exhausted in a compliment._ He does not excite
expectation merely to disappoint it. He resembles not some perfidious
wretches, whom his intrepid eloquence hath so properly pointed out to
public indignation. Exerting the generosity which often ennobles the
character of an Englishman, he engages not his dependant in a
performance for which he scruples to pay.
To glean the tithe of this man's absurdities cannot be of peculiar
consequence to me: But the world is long since weary of his arrogant
pedantry, his officious malice, his detested assiduity to undermine his
superiors, and overbear his equals. Reformation is never quite hopeless,
and by submitting to make a catalogue of his errors, there is a chance
to humble and reform him. Perhaps indeed, like '_The drudges of
sedition_, HE will hear in sullen silence, HE will feel conviction
without shame, and be confounded, but not abashed[171].' I have not
arrested a few careless expressions, which, in the glow of composition,
will sometimes escape, but by fair, and copious quotations from Dr
Johnson's ponderous abortions, have attempted to illustrate his covetous
and shameless prolixity; his corruptions of our language; his very
limited literature; his entire want of general learning; his antipathy
to rival merit; his paralytick reasoning; his solemn trifling pedantry;
his narrow views of human life; his adherence to contradictions; his
defiance of decency; and his contempt of truth. I have not been sporting
in the mere wantonness of assertion. I have produced such various, such
invincible, such damning proofs, that the Doctor himself must feel a
burst of conviction. To collect every particle of _inanity_ which may be
found in our _patriot's_ works is infinitely beyond the limits of an
eighteen-pence pamphlet. I stop at present here, but the subject seems
_inexhaustible_[172]!
_FINIS._
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Read Mr Mason's Ode to Truth, and pick out a single sentiment if you
can.
[2] World, No. 100.
[3] Swift had the splendid misfortune to be a man of genius. By a very
singular felicity, he excelled both in verse and prose. He boasted, that
no _new_ word was to be found in his volumes; though, in glory above all
writers of his time, he did not fancy _that_ entitled him to ingross or
insult conversation. He was no less remarkably clean, than _some_ are
remarkably dirty. His love of fame never led him into the lowest of all
vices; and a sense of his own dignity made him respect the importance
and the feelings of others. He often went many miles on foot, that he
might be able to bestow on the poor, what a coach would have cost him.
He raised some hundreds of families from beggary, by lending them five
pounds a-piece only. He inspired his footmen with Celtic attachment.
Whatever was his pride, he shewed none of it in 'the venerable presence
of misery.' Though a poet he was free from vanity; though an author and
a divine, his example did not fall behind his precepts; though a
courtier, he disdained to fawn on his superiors; though a patriot, he
never, like our successive generations of blasted orators, sacrificed
his principles to his passions. 'His meanest talent was his wit.' His
learning had no pedantry, his piety no superstition; his benevolence
almost no parallel. His intrepid eloquence first pointed out to his
oppressed countrymen, that path to Independence, to happiness, and to
glory, which their posterity, at this moment, so nobly pursue. His
treatise on the conduct of their foreign allies, first taught the
English nation the dangers of a continental war, dispelled their
delusive dreams of conquest, and stopt them in the full career to ruin.
[4] See parallel between Diogenes and Dr Johnson in Town and Country
Magazine. In his life of Swift, the Doctor tells us, that 'he relieved
without pity, and assisted without kindness.'
[5] Idler, No. 70.
[6] Preface to Shakespeare.
[7] Life of Pope.
[8] The following extracts from the Doctor's Dictionary are a key to his
political tenets: EXCISE, a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and
adjudged, not by the common judges of property, but _wretches_ hired by
those to whom excise is paid. _Gazetteer_, was lately a term of the
utmost infamy, being usually applied to wretches that were _hired_ to
vindicate the court. _Pension_, an allowance made to any one without an
equivalent. In England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a
state hireling for treason to his country. _Pensioner_, a slave of
state, hired by a stipend to obey his master. KING, monarch, supreme
governour. _Monarch_, a governour invested with _absolute_ authority, a
_King_. _Whig_, 1. whey, 2. the name of a _faction_. _Tory_, one who
adheres to the _antient_ constitution of the state, and the apostolical
hierarchy of the church of England, opposed to a _whig_. _Johnson's fol.
Dic._ The word _faction_ is always used in a _bad_ sense; though, in
defining it, the Doctor did not, and, after what he had said of a whig,
perhaps durst not say, that a faction is always a term for the supposed
disturbers of public peace. 'The most obsequious of the slaves of pride,
the most rapturous of the gazers upon wealth, the most officious of the
whisperers of greatness, are collected from seminaries appropriated to
the study of wisdom and of virtue;' _Rambler_, No. 180. That is to say,
men of learning are a set of the most sneaking, pitiful, time-serving
rascals. The reader will make his own applications.
[9] See _Political tracts by the author of the Rambler_. His character
of Hambden, the reader will find in the 1st page of Waller's life. Of
Milton, he says, that 'his impudence had been at least equal to his
other powers. Such was his malignity, that hell grew darker at his
frown. He thought women born only for obedience, and men only for
rebellion.' There is much more in the same tone; and, with what justice
his epithets are applied, let Englishmen judge.
[10] Taxation no tyranny.
[11] Ibid, No. 89.
[12] Idler, No. 85.
[13] Tour, p. 59.
[14] Tour, p. 84.
[15] Idler, No. 82.
[16] He should have said _causes_, for he mentions _two_.--What is the
Doctor's distinction here between habit and custom?
[17] _Quere_, Are we more accustomed to beauty than deformity? or is not
the fact otherwise.--Did habit ever make a sick man fond of disease, or
a poor man fond of poverty?
[18] Vide Preface to folio Dict.
[19] Dr Campbell of Aberdeen, on the use of new words, says, 'That
nothing can be juster than Johnson's manner of arguing on this subject,
in regard to what Swift a little chimerically proposeth, that though new
words be introduced, none should be suffered to become obsolete.' This
Gentleman ought to have consulted Swift himself. Let him peruse the
'petty treatise,' and then let him blush for having trusted an author
void of fidelity.
[20] As the venerable and admirable father of _the_ English Dictionary
has treated the names of such men as Young and Lyttleton with so little
ceremony, the reader will perhaps forgive the insertion of his own
character, as drawn by Chesterfield. 'I am almost in a fever, whenever I
am in his company. His figure (without being deformed) seems made to
disgrace or ridicule the common structure of the human body. His legs
and arms are never in the position, which, according to the situation of
his body, they ought to be in; but constantly employed in committing
acts of hostility upon the graces. He throws any where but down his
throat, whatever he means to drink; and only mangles what he means to
carve. _Inattentive to all the regards of social life_, he mistimes, or
misplaces every thing. He disputes with heat, and indiscriminately,
mindless of the rank, character, and situation, of those with whom he
disputes; absolutely ignorant of the several gradations of familiarity
or respect, he is exactly the same to his superiors, his equals, and his
inferiors; and therefore by a necessary consequence absurd to two of the
three. Is it possible to love such a man? No. The utmost I can do for
him, is to consider him as a respectable Hottentot.' Churchill's account
of our hero comes nearly to the same. And I presume that the inimitable
Dr Smollet, has exhibited a third picture of this illustrious original
in Humphry Clinker, Vol. 1.--Dr Johnson's letter to the Earl of
Chesterfield concludes in these words: 'Whatever be the event of my
endeavours, I shall _not easily_ regret an attempt which has procured me
the honour of appearing thus publicly, my Lord, your Lordship's most
obedient, and most humble servant, Sam. Johnson.' These extracts afford
a striking contrast between the severity of the polite peer, and the
humble politeness (for _once_) of the rugged pedant.
[21] Lives of English poets, vol. iii. p. 243 and 284. 12_mo_ edit.
[22] Vide Life of Dryden.
[23] Vid. Dict. article Blood.
[24] _Excogitation_, this combination of letters is to be found in the
Doctor's works, though not in his Dictionary.
[25] Rasselas, chap. vi.
[26] He meant to say _there_.
[27] Tour, p. 16. and 18. &c.
[28] Tour, p. 186.
[29] Ibid, p. 21.
[30] Rambler, No. 79.
[31] Tour, p. 369 &c.
[32] Tour, p. 373.
[33] Ibid, p. 55.
[34] Vid. folio Dictionary.
[35] Tour, p. 242.
[36] Butler's life.
[37] Rambler, No. 59.
[38] Ibid.
[39] Vid. Plutarch.
[40] Tour, p. 283.
[41] Tour, p. 124.
[42] Ibid, p. 154.
[43] The Doctor ought to have said, 'For _these reasons_,' as he
mentions several.
[44] Pope's life.
[45] He should have said, _no poet_; for that was his meaning, if he had
any. No _writer_, includes prose as well as verse; and this sample may
give us a fair idea of the Doctor's _accuracy_ in point of style.
[46] Life of Pope.
[47] Ibid.
[48] Gray's life.
[49] Gray's life.
[50] Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. XVII.
[51] Gray's life.
[52] Ibid.
[53] Ibid.
[54] Edinburgh Review, Vol. III. P. 55. _et seq._
[55] Gray's life.
[56] Ibid.
[57] Ibid.
[58] Life of Pope.
[59] Gray's life.
[60] Ibid.
[61] Gray's life.
[62] Ibid.
[63] Pastor cum traheret per freta navibus, &c.
[64] Gray's life. Dr. Beattie of Aberdeen differs very widely from Dr.
Johnson on the merit of this poem. He says, 'I have heard the finest Ode
in the world (meaning Gray's Bard) blamed for the boldness of its
figures, and for what the critic was pleased to call obscurity.'
Beattie's Essays on poetry and musick, 3d edit. p. 269. This is,
certainly very strong; yet he seems in some danger of contradicting
himself, when he says in another place, That 'for energy of words,
vivacity of description, and _apposite_ variety of numbers, Dryden's
Feast of Alexander is superior to any ode of Horace or Pindar now
extant.' Ibid, p. 17. One would have been apt to suppose that the Lyrick
Poem which eclipsed Horace, if not the finest, is at least one of 'the
finest in the world.'--But an author has novelty to recommend him, when
he affirms that Gray is superior to Dryden, and Dryden to all Antiquity.
[65] Gray's life.
[66] Ibid.
[67] Ibid.
[68] Gray's life.
[69] Gray's life.
[70] A favourite phrase of the Rambler's.
[71] Gray's life.
[72] Ibid.
[73] Taxation no Tyranny.
[74] Taxation no Tyranny.
[75] Dryden's life.
[76] Ibid.
[77] Rambler, No. 150.
[78] Rambler, No. 9.
[79] Vide the life of Garrick by Mr Davies.
[80] Rambler, No. 160.
[81] Ibid.
[82] Churchill's Apology.
[83] Vide Life of Cowley. His impressions had been very slight, for
Crowley has nothing of the melody, or magnificence of the Fairy Queen.
Of its great author we know little but that he was praised, and
neglected, unfortunate, and poor: and, from his epitaph, that he died
young. His subject is not happy, his words are often obsolete, and his
stanza can hardly please us long. But we may presume that he wanted
leisure to study the great models of antiquity: That he wanted that
tranquillity of mind so requisite to the success of a poet: And that his
defects are owing to the bad taste of his age, and the hardships of his
life. Had he lived longer, and had he enjoyed that competence which a
prudent shoeblack seldom fails to enjoy, Spenser would have been second
in fame to Shakespeare only.
[84] Dr Johnson on Cymbeline. The same sentiment is started in his
account of Pope, 'To the particular species of excellence men are
directed, not by an ascendant planet, or predominant humour, but by the
first book which they read, some early conversation which they heard, or
some accident which excited ardour and emulation.'--The Doctor is in
this passage censuring Pope's ignorance of human nature--while his own
marvellous and extreme stupidity makes him almost beneath censure. The
reader will not realize Montesquieu's remark, That _when we attempt to
prove things so evident we are sure never to convince_.
[85] Annual Register 1779, Part II. p. 148. I abridge his words, but
give their full meaning.
[86] Life of Waller.
[87] Life of Rowe.
[88] Life of Milton.
[89] Life of Swift.
[90] Preface to Shakespeare.
[91] Ibid.
[92] Preface to Shakespeare.
[93] 'He has scenes of _undoubted_ and _perpetual_ excellence.' Ibid. Is
there not some inconsistency in these various assertions.
[94] See in the same style his observations on Prior, Akenside, and
others.
[95] _Quere._ Did ever Shakespeare, or any other man, compose a single
page, or even a single line, on any subject, without either straining
his faculties, or at least soliciting his invention. It is very possible
that the Doctor did not suspect the full extent of his expression.
[96] Vide Dictionary.
[97] Life of Pope.
[98] Ibid.
[99] Pope's life.
[100] Eloisa, Letter 83.
[101] Pope's life.
[102] Preface to Shakespeare.
[103] Pope's life.
[104] Ibid.
[105] Rambler, No. 36.
[106] Ibid.
[107] Thomson's life.
[108] The author has no intention here to disseminate political
opinions--His only meaning is to prove, that _somebody_ has neither
principle, nor consistency, nor shame.
[109] Life of Shenstone.
[110] Gentleman's Magazine.
[111] Vide life of Milton.
[112] Life of Smith.
[113] Tour, p. 8, 12mo edit.
[114] The Crucifix--Gulliver's Travels.
[115] 'And read their history in a nation's eyes.' GRAY'S ELEGY.
[116] On this subject nothing liberal could be expected from Dr Johnson,
who, in spite of his murmurs about Excise, and his actual benevolence in
private life, has always been the firm advocate of oppression. His
project of hiring the Cherokees to massacre the North Americans (vide
supra p. 32) may serve to inform us what he himself would have done, had
he been seated in the saddle of authority. But what shall be said for
some Scottish historians who have adopted the same ideas? One of them
tells us, that Beaton had prepared a list of three hundred and sixty of
the leaders of the Protestant party, whose lives and fortunes were to be
sacrificed to the rapacity and the pride of this ambitious prelate. Yet
he pronounces the killing of such a dangerous monster to be a most
execrable deed. He dwells with studied exultation on the execution of
Charles I. but if our King really deserved his fate, Was not Beaton by
many degrees more criminal? An author can hardly spend his time worse,
than in writing to flatter the prejudices, and to corrupt the common
sense of the world.
[117] Preface to Shakespeare.
[118] _Quere._ What is _unquenchable_ curiosity? and how can a play
excite curiosity which cannot be satisfied by its conclusion?
[119] Preface to Shakespeare.
[120] Ibid.
[121] Weekly Mirror, No. 12.