{385}to those of Boswell and Malone consists of the flattest and poorest
reflections, reflections such as the least intelligent reader is quite
competent to make for himself, and such as no intelligent reader would
think it worth while to utter aloud. They remind us of nothing so much
as of those profound and interesting annotations which are penciled by
sempstresses and apothecaries’ boys on the dog-eared margins of novels
borrowed from circulating libraries; “How beautiful!” “Cursed prosy!”
“I don’t like Sir Reginald Malcolm at all.”
“I think Pelham is a sad dandy.” Mr. Croker is perpetually stopping us
in our progress through the most delightful narrative in the language,
to observe that really Dr. Johnson was very rude, that he talked more for
victory than for truth, that his taste for port wine with capillaire in
it was very odd, that Boswell was impertinent, that it was foolish in
Mrs. Thrale to blame the music-master; and so forth.
We cannot speak more favourably of the manner in which the notes are
written than of the matter of which they consist. We find in every
page words used in wrong senses, and constructions which violate the
plainest rules of grammar. We have the vulgarism of “mutual friend,” for
“common friend.” We have “fallacy” used as synonymous with “falsehood.”
We have many such inextricable labyrinths of pronouns as that which
follows: “Lord Erskine was fond of this anecdote; he told it to the
editor the first time that he had the honour of being in his company.”
Lastly, we have a plentiful supply of sentences resembling those which
we subjoin. “Markland, _who_, with Jortin and Thirlby, Johnson calls
three contemporaries of great eminence.” (1) “Warburton himself did not
feel, as Mr.
(1) IV. 377.
{386}Boswell was disposed to think he did, kindly or gratefully _of
Johnson_.” (1) “It was _him_ that Horace Walpole called a man who never
made a bad figure but as an author.” (2) One or two of these solecisms
should perhaps be attributed to the printer, who has certainly done his
best to fill both the text and the notes with all sorts of blunders. In
truth, he and the editor have between them made the book so bad, that we
do not well see how it could have been worse.
When we turn from the commentary of Mr. Croker to the work of our old
friend Boswell, we find it not only worse printed than in any other
edition with which we are acquainted, but mangled in the most wanton
manner. Much that Boswell inserted in his narrative is, without the
shadow of a reason, degraded to the appendix. The editor has also taken
upon himself to alter or omit passages which he considers as indecorous.
This prudery is quite unintelligible to us. There is nothing immoral
in Boswell’s book, nothing which tends to inflame the passions. He
sometimes uses plain words. But if this be a taint which requires
expurgation, it would be desirable to begin by expurgating the morning
and evening lessons. The delicate office which Mr. Croker has
undertaken he has performed in the most capricious manner. One strong,
old-fashioned, English word, familiar to all who read their Bibles, is
changed for a softer synonyme in some passages, and suffered to stand
unaltered in others. In one place a faint allusion made by Johnson to
an indelicate subject, an allusion so faint that, till Mr. Croker’s note
pointed it out to us, we had never noticed it, and of which we are quite
sure that the meaning would never be discovered by any of those
(1) IV. 415
(2) II. 461.
{387}for whose sake books are expurgated, is altogether omitted. In
another place, a coarse and stupid jest of Dr. Taylor on the same
subject, expressed in the broadest language, almost the only passage,
as far as we remember, in all Boswell’s book, which we should have been
inclined to leave out, is suffered to remain.
We complain, however, much more of the additions than of the omissions.
We have half of Mrs. Thrale’s book, scraps of Mr. Tyers, scraps of Mr.
Murphy, scraps of Mr. Cradock, long prosings of Sir John Hawkins, and
connecting observations by Mr. Croker himself, inserted into the midst
of Boswell’s text. To this practice we most decidedly object. An
editor might as well publish Thucydides with extracts from Diodorus
interspersed, or incorporate the Lives of Suetonius with the History and
Annals of Tacitus. Mr. Croker tells us, indeed, that he has done only
what Boswell wished to do, and was prevented from doing by the law of
copyright. We doubt this greatly. Boswell has studiously abstained
from availing himself of the information given by his rivals, on many
occasions on which he might have cited them without subjecting himself
to the charge of piracy. Mr. Croker has himself, on one occasion,
remarked very justly that Boswell was unwilling to owe any obligation to
Hawkins. But, be this as it may, if Boswell had quoted from Sir John
and from Mrs. Thrale, he would have been guided by his own taste and
judgment in selecting his quotations. On what Boswell quoted he would
have commented with perfect freedom; and the borrowed passages, so
selected, and accompanied by such comments, would have become original.
They would have dove-tailed into the work. No hitch, no crease,
{388}would have been discernible. The whole would appear one and
indivisible,
“Ut per læve severos