_LONDON:_
PRINTED BY HENRY BALDWIN,
FOR CHARLES DILLY, IN THE POULTRY.
M DCC XCI
FACSIMILE OF THE
TITLE PAGE OF THE FIRST EDITION OF BOSWELL'S
"LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON"--THIS HAS
PROVED TO BE THE MOST POPULAR
BIOGRAPHY IN THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE]
The best idea of Dr. Johnson's verse may be gained from _London_ and
_The Vanity of Human Wishes_. These are not great poetry. The verse is
of the style which Pope produced, but which the modern taste rejects
because of its artificial form. Yet there are many good lines in these
two poems and they reflect the author's wide reading as well as his
knowledge of human life. _The Lives of the Poets_ are far better written
than Johnson's early work, and they contain many interesting incidents
and much keen criticism. These, with some of Johnson's prayers and his
letter to Lord Chesterfield, include about all that the modern reader
will care to go through.
The Chesterfield letter is a little masterpiece of satire. Johnson, it
must be borne in mind, had dedicated the prospectus of his Dictionary to
Chesterfield, but he had been virtually turned away from this patron's
door with the beggarly gift of L10. For seven years he wrought at his
desk, often hungry, ragged and exposed to the weather, without any
assistance; but when the end was in sight and the great work was passing
through the press, the noble lord deigned to write two review articles,
praising the work. And here is a bit of Dr. Johnson's incisive sarcasm
in the famous letter to the selfish nobleman:
"Is not a Patron, my Lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man
struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground,
encumbers him with help? The notice which you have pleased to take of my
labors, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I
am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot
impart it; till I am known, and do not want it."
Of Boswell's _Life of Dr. Johnson_ only a few words can be said. To
treat it properly one should have an entire article like this, for it is
one of the great books of the world. A good preparation for taking it up
is the reading of the reviews of it by Macaulay and Carlyle. These two
essays, among the most brilliant of their authors' work, give striking
pictures of Boswell and of the man who was the dictator of English
literature for thirty years. Then take up Boswell himself in such a
handy edition as that in Everyman's Library, in two volumes. Read the
book in spare half hours, when you are not hurried, and you will get
from it much pleasure as well as profit. It is packed with amusement and
information, and it is very modern in spirit, in spite of its
old-fashioned style.
[Illustration:
PAINTING BY EYRE CROWE
OF DR. JOHNSON, BOSWELL AND
GOLDSMITH AT THE MITRE
TAVERN, FLEET STREET
THE SCENE OF MANY WORD
COMBATS BETWEEN THE DOUGHTY
DOCTOR AND HIS
ASSOCIATES]
Through its pages you get a very strong impression of old Dr. Johnson.
You laugh at the man's gross superstitions, at his vanity, his
greediness at table, his absurd judgments of many of his contemporaries,
his abuse of pensioners and his own quick acceptance of a pension. At
all these foibles and weaknesses you smile, yet underneath them was a
genuine man, like Milton, full of simplicity, honesty, reverence and
humility--a man greater than any literary work that he produced or
spoken word that he left behind him. You laugh at his groanings, his
gluttony, his capacity for unlimited cups of hot tea; but you recall
with tears in your eyes his pathetic prayers, his kindness to the old
and crippled pensioners whom he fed and clothed, and his pilgrimage to
Uttoxeter to stand bare-headed in the street, as penance for harsh words
spoken to his father in a fit of boyish petulance years before.