Lives of the Poets: Cowley, Denham, Milton, Butler, Rochester, Roscommon, Otway, Waller, Pomfret, Dorset, Stepney, J. Philips, Walsh, Dryden, Smith, Duke, King, Sprat, Halifax, Parnell, Garth, Rowe, Addison, Hughes and Sheffield, Prior, Congreve, Blackmore, Fenton, Gay, Granville, Yalden, Tickell, Hammond, Somerville, Savage, Swift, Broome, Pope, Pitt, Thomson, Watts, A. Philips, West, Collins, Dyer, Shenstone, Young, Mallet, Akenside, Gray, Lyttelton.... Journey to the Hebrides Vision of Theodoric Prayers and Meditations Miscellaneous Reviews Parliamentary Debates. "THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES." By the publication of "London," a paraphrase on the third satire of Juvenal, in 1738, Johnson attracted the attention of Alexander Pope, the reigning king of poets, who remarked of the then obscure author, "He will soon be deterré;" by the publication of "The Vanity of Human Wishes," an imitation of the tenth satire of Juvenal, Johnson gave to the world "the finest poem written since Pope's time and in Pope's manner, with the exception of Goldsmith's still finer performances." The most celebrated passage in this poem is the description of Charles XII. of Sweden, as an illustration of the vanity of military glory. QUOTATIONS. "On what foundations stands the warrior's pride, No dangers fright him and no labors tire." "His fall was destined to a barren strand, "Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage. "But leave to Heaven the measure and the choice Implore His aid, in His decisions rest, THE "RAMBLER" (1750-1752). Johnson intended this periodical paper as a successor to Addison's Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian. It appeared twice a week-on Tuesdays and Saturdays and contained criticisms, tales, and essays on religious and moral subjects. All of the numbers, with the exception of four, were written by Johnson himself. He gave Sir Joshua Reynolds the following account of the Rambler's christening: "What must be done, sir, will be done. When I was to begin publishing that paper I was at a loss how to name it. I sat down at night upon my bedside, and resolved that I would not go to sleep till I had fixed its title. The Rambler seemed the best that occurred, and I took it." The paper had a small circulation; its being the work of one man, and that man a Johnson, deprived it of the charm of variety and invested its general character with a heaviness and solemnity unsuited to the public taste. But when the papers were collected there was a rapid sale. Thirteen thousand copies were required for England alone, and separate editions were issued for Scotland and Ireland. It was translated into Italian, and the Empress of Russia ordered a Russian version of it. Richardson commended it highly, and Dr. Young devoted much study to it. In the latter part of the eighteenth century there was great discussion as to the relative superiority of Addison and Johnson, but the question has now been for a long time decided in favor of the former. Selections. VII. On Abstraction and Self-examination; XXXIII. Labor and Rest; XXXIV. Female Fastidiousness and Timorous Refinement; LIV. On Penitence and the Placability of the Divine Nature; LXXXII. A Virtuoso who has collected Curiosities; CLXV. Serotinus; CLXXIX. Against Affectation; CLXXXII. Fortunehunting; CXCIV.-CXCV. A Tutor's Account of the Follies of his Pupil; CXCVIII. Legacy-hunting. "JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY." "Johnson's Dictionary" was received with enthusiasm, as the need for such a work had long been felt. Its principal defects are etymological, while the chief merit of the work is the happy selection of quotations for illustrating the meaning of words. In connection with its appearance a circumstance occurred that struck a death-blow to patronage in literature. Johnson had addressed the plan of his "Dictionary" to Lord Chesterfield, the courtly diplomatist and literateur, whose name has become proverbial for exquisite and finished politeness. But the subsequent neglect of that nobleman aroused the indignation of Johnson, who became exasperated when, just before the publication of the work, his fallacious patron, in the expectation of its being dedicated to himself, endeavored to conciliate the lexicographer by writing two papers in The World greatly complimenting the work. Johnson himself thus stated the matter: "Sir, after making great professions, he had, for many years, taken no notice of me; but when my 'Dictionary' was coming out he fell a-scribbling in The World about it. Upon which I wrote him a letter expressed in civil terms, but such as might show him that I did not mind what he said or wrote, and that I had done with him." This is that celebrated letter which Mr. Carlyle called "the far-famed blast of doom, proclaiming into the ear of Lord Chesterfield, and through him of the listening world, that patronage should be no more:" "To the Earl of Chesterfield: "February 7, 1755 "MY LORD, I have been lately informed by the proprietor of The World that two papers, in which my 'Dictionary' is recommended to the public, were written by your lordship. To be so distinguished is an honor which, being very little accustomed to favors from the great, I know not well how to receive, or in what terms to acknowledge. "When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your lordship, I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the enchantment of your address, and could not forbear to wish that I might boast myself le vainqueur du vainqueur de la terre-that I might obtain that regard for which I saw the world contending; but I found my attendance so little encouraged that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me to continue it. When I had once addressed your lordship in public, I had exhausted all the arts of pleasing which a wearied and uncourtly scholar can possess. I had done all that I could, and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever so little. "Seven years, my lord, have now passed since I waited in your outward rooms and was repulsed from your door; during which time I have been pushing on my work through difficulties of which it is useless to complain, and have brought it at last to the verge of publication without one act of assistance, one word of encouragement, and one smile of favor. Such treatment I did not expect, for I never had a patron before. "The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, and found him a native of the rocks. "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 the ground encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been 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. I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received, or to be unwilling that the public should consider me as owing that to a patron which Providence has enabled me to do for myself. "Having carried on my work thus far, with so little obligation to any favorer of learning, I shall not be disappointed though I should conclude it, should loss be possible, with loss; for I have been long wakened from that dream of hope in which I once boasted myself with so much exultation, my lord, "Your lordship's most humble, most obedient servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." Definitions. Some of Johnson's definitions are very amusing for their obscurity and for being colored with the author's personal opinions and prejudices, while a few are decidedly erroneous. "Network: Anything reticulated or decussated at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections." "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." "Tory: A cant term derived, I suppose, from an Irish word signifying a savage. One who adheres to the ancient constitution of the State and the apostolic hierarchy of the Church of England; opposed to a Whig." "Whig: The name of a faction." "Windward: Toward the wind." "Leeward: Toward the wind." CRITICISMS. Had Johnson left nothing but his "Dictionary," one might have traced there a great intellect, a genuine man. Looking to its clearness of definition, its general solidity, honesty, insight, and successful method, it may be called the best of all dictionaries. There is in it a kind of architectural nobleness; it stands there like a great, solid, square-built edifice, finished symmetrically complete: you judge that a true builder did it. - Thomas CarlylE: Hero-worship. But "Johnson's Dictionary" was hailed with an enthusiasm such as no similar work has ever excited. It was, indeed, the first dictionary which could be read with pleas ure. The definitions show so much acuteness of thought and command of language, and the passages quoted from poets, divines, and philosophers are so skilfully selected that a leisure hour may always be very agreeably spent in turning over the pages. The faults of the book resolve themselves, for the most part, into one great fault. Johnson was a wretched etymologist. He knew little or nothing of any Teutonic language except English, which, indeed, as he wrote it, was scarcely a Teutonic language; and thus he was absolutely at the mercy of Junius and Skinner.-T. B. MACAULAY. THE "IDLER." This periodical paper appeared every Saturday in a weekly newspaper named The Universal Chronicle or Weekly Gazette. Its contents were similar to that of the Rambler, but of greater variety. Of the one hundred and three essays, |
