give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison." (1) 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." (2) The concluding paper of his Rambler is at once dignified and pathetic. I cannot, however, but wish, that he had not ended it with an unnecessary Greek verse, translated also into an English couplet. (3) It is too much like the conceit of those dramatic poets, who used to conclude each act with a rhyme; and the expression in the first line of his couplet, "Celestial powers," though proper in Pagan poetry, is ill suited to Christianity, with "a conformity" to which he consoles himself. How much better would it have been, to have ended with the prose sentence, "I shall never envy the honours which wit and learning (1) I shall probably, in another work, maintain the merit of Addison's poetry, which has been very unjustly depreciated. [Mr. Boswell, it is believed, never executed this intention.] (2) In the Gentleman's Magazine, for October 1752, p. 468., he is styled "the Rev. Francis Lewis, of Chiswick.” (3) [Αὐτῶν ἐκ μακάρων ἀντάξιος είη αμοιβή. From you my labours wait their last reward."] obtain in any other cause, if I can be numbered among the writers who have given ardour to virtue, and confidence to truth." His friend, Dr. Birch, being now engaged in preparing an edition of Ralegh's smaller pieces, Dr. Johnson wrote the following letter to that gentleman : LETTER 19. TO DR. BIRCH. "Gough-square, May 12. 1750. 1 66 SIR, Knowing that you are now preparing to favour the public with a new edition of Ralegh's miscellaneous pieces, I have taken the liberty to send you a manuscript, which fell by chance within my notice. I perceive no proofs of forgery in my examination of it; and the owner tells me, that as he has heard, the hand-writing is Sir Walter's. If you should find reason to conclude it genuine, it will be a kindness to the owner, a blind person ('), to recommend it to the booksellers. I am, Sir, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." His just abhorrence of Milton's political notions was ever strong. But this did not prevent his warm admiration of Milton's great poetical merit, to which he has done illustrious justice, beyond all who have written upon the subject. And this year he not only wrote a Prologue, which was spoken by Mr. Garrick before the acting of Comus at Drury Lane Theatre, for the benefit of Milton's grand-daughter, but took a very zealous interest in the success of the charity. On the day preceding the performance, he published (1) Mrs. Williams is probably the person meant. the following letter in the "General Advertiser,” addressed to the printer of that paper:— SIR, That a certain degree of reputation is acquired merely by approving the works of genius, and testifying a regard to the memory of authours, is a truth too evident to be denied; and therefore to ensure a participation of fame with a celebrated poet, many, who would, perhaps, have contributed to starve him when alive, have heaped expensive pageants upon his grave. (1) "It must, indeed, be confessed, that this method of becoming known to posterity with honour, is peculiar to the great, or at least to the wealthy; but an opportunity now offers for almost every individual to secure the praise of paying a just regard to the illustrious dead, united with the pleasure of doing good to the living. To assist industrious indigence, struggling with distress and debilitated by age, is a display of virtue, and an acquisition of happiness and honour. "Whoever, then, would be thought capable of pleasure in reading the works of our incomparable Milton, and not so destitute of gratitude as to refuse to lay out a trifle in rational and elegant entertainment, for the benefit of his living remains, for the exercise of their own virtue, the increase of their reputation, and the pleasing consciousness of doing good, should appear at Drury Lane theatre to-morrow, April 5., when Comus will be performed for the benefit of Mrs. Elizabeth Foster, grand-daughter to the author (2), and the only surviving branch of his family. (1) Alluding probably to Mr. Auditor Benson, [who, in 1737, erected a monument to Milton in Westminster Abbey, and did not omit to inscribe his own name on it.] See Dunciad, b. iii. and iv. - - MALONE. (2) Mrs. Elizabeth Foster died May 9. 1754. "N. B. There will be a new prologue on the occasion, written by the authour of Irene, and spoken by Mr. Garrick; and, by particular desire, there will be added to the Masque a dramatic satire, called Lethe, in which Mr. Garrick will perform." (1) In 1751 we are to consider him as carrying on both his Dictionary and Rambler. But he also wrote "The Life of Cheynel,"* in the miscellany called "The Student;" and the Rev. Dr. Douglas having with uncommon acuteness clearly detected a gross forgery and imposition upon the public by William Lauder, a Scotch schoolmaster, who had, with equal impudence and ingenuity, represented Milton as a plagiary from certain modern Latin poets, Johnson, who had been so far imposed upon as to furnish a Preface and Postscript to his work, now dictated a letter for Lauder, addressed to Dr. Douglas, acknowledging his fraud in terms of suitable contrition. (2) (1) [For the honour of letters, the dignity of sacred poetry, the spirit of the English nation, and the glory of human nature, it is to be regretted that we do not find a more liberal assistance, Tonson, the bookseller, whose family had been enriched by the sale of the poet's writings, gave 201., and Bishop Newton, his biographer, brought a large contribution; but all their efforts, joined to the allurements of Johnson's pen and Garrick's performance, procured only 130%. —ANDERSON.] (2) Lest there should be any person, at any future period, absurd enough to suspect that Johnson was a partaker in Lauder's fraud, or had any knowledge of it, when he assisted him with his masterly pen, it is proper here to quote the words of Dr. Douglas, now Bishop of Salisbury, at the time when he detected the imposition. "It is to be hoped, nay it is expected, that the elegant and nervous writer, whose judicious sentiments and inimitable style point out the author of Lauder's Preface and Postscript, will no longer allow one to plume himself with his feathers, who appeareth so little to deserve assistance: "an assistance which I am persuaded would never have been communi This extraordinary attempt of Lauder was no sudden effort. He had brooded over it for many years and to this hour it is uncertain what his principal motive was, unless it were a vain notion of his superiority, in being able, by whatever means, to deceive mankind. To effect this, he produced certain passages from Grotius, Masenius, and others, which had a faint resemblance to some parts of the "Paradise Lost." In these he interpolated some fragments of Hog's Latin translation of that poem, alleging that the mass thus fabricated was the archetype from which Milton copied. These fabrications he published from time to time in the Gentleman's Magazine; and, exulting in his fancied success, he in 1750 ventured to collect them into a pamphlet, entitled "An Essay on Milton's Use and Imitation of the Moderns in his Paradise Lost." To this pamphlet Johnson wrote a Preface, in full persuasion cated, had there been the least suspicion of those facts which I have been the instrument of conveying to the world in these sheets." Milton no Plagiary, 2d edit. p. 78. And his Lordship has been pleased now to authorise me to say, in the strongest manner, that there is no ground whatever for any unfavourable reflection against Dr. Johnson, who expressed the strongest indignation against Lauder.- BOSWELL. In the Gent. Mag. for 1754, is a short account of a renewed attack by Lauder on Milton's character, in a pamphlet entitled "The Grand Impostor detected, or Milton convicted of Forgery against King Charles I." Mr. Chalmers thinks that this review was probably written by Johnson; but it is, on every account, very unlikely. The article is trivial, and seems to be written neither in the style nor sentiments of Johnson.-CROKER. [Lauder afterwards went to Barbadoes, where he some time His behaviour there was mean and despicable, taught school. and he passed the remainder of his life in universal contempt. He died about the year 1771.-NICHOLS.] |