speak for herself. The unhappy woman who waits on you with this, has been known to me many years. She is the daughter of a clergyman of Leicestershire, who by an unhappy marriage is reduced to solicit a refuge in the workhouse of your parish, to which she has a claim by her husband's settle ment. Her case admits of little deliberation; she is turned out of her lodging into the street. What my condition allows me to do for her I have already done, and having no friend, she can have recourse only to the parish. I am, reverend Sir, &c. SAM. JOHNSON. Bolt Court, Feb. 11. 1784. SIR, My physicians endeavour to make me believe that I shall sometime be better qualified to receive visits from men of elegance and civility like yours. Mrs. Pellè shall wait upon you, and you will judge what will be proper for you to do. I once more return you my thanks, and am, Sir, &c. SAM. JOHNSON. LETTER 526. SIR, TO THE SAME. Feb. 17. 1784. 1 I am so much disordered that I can only say that this is the person whom I recommend to your kindness and favour. I am, Sir, &c. LETTER 527. TO THE SAME. SAM. JOHNSON. June 2. 1784. SIR, You do every thing that is liberal and kind. Mrs. Pellè is a bad manager for herself, but I will employ a more skilful agent, one Mrs. Gardiner, who will wait on you and ginals, in the possession of his son; who observes, that "they are of no further interest, than as showing the goodness of Johnson's heart, and the spirit with which he entered into the cause and interests of an individual in distress, when he was almost on the bed of sickness and death employ Pellè's money to the best advantage. Mrs. Gardiner will wait on you. I return you, Sir, sincere thanks for your attention to me. I am ill, but hope to come back better (1), and to be made better still by your conversation. I am, Sir, &c. SAM. JOHNSON. No. II. Various Imitations of Johnson's Style. [See antè, Vol. VIII. p. 321.] | I SHALL now fulfil my promise of exhibiting specimens of various sorts of imitation of Johnson's style. In the "Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, 1787," there is an "Essay on the Style of Dr. Samuel Johnson," by the Reverend Robert Burrowes, whose respect for the great object of his criticism (2) is thus evinced in the concluding paragraph: “ I have singled him out from the whole body of English writers, because his universally-acknowledged beauties would be most apt to induce imitation: and I have treated rather on his faults, than his perfections, because an essay might comprise all the observations I could make upon his faults, while volumes would not be sufficient for a treatise on his perfections." (1) [Dr. Johnson left town on the following morning, with Boswell, for Oxford.] (2) We must smile at a little inaccuracy of metaphor in the preface to the Transactions, which is written by Mr. Burrowes. The critic of the style of Johnson having, with a just zeal for literature, observed, that the whole nation are called on to exert themselves, afterwards says, "They are called on by every tye which can have laudable influence on the heart of man."- BOSWELL. See antè, Vol. I. p. 256. — C. Mr. Burrowes has analysed the composition of Johnson, and pointed out its peculiarities with much acuteness; and I would recommend a careful perusal of his Essay to those who being captivated by the union of perspicuity and splendour which the writings of Johnson contain, without having a sufficient portion of his vigour of mind, may be in danger of becoming bad copyists of his manner. I, however, cannot but observe, and I observe it to his credit, that this learned gentleman has himself caught no mean degree of the expansion and harmony which, independent of all other circumstances, characterise the sentences of Johnson. Thus, in the preface to the volume in which the Essay appears, we find, "If it be said that in societies of this sort too much attention is frequently bestowed on subjects barren and speculative, it may be answered that no one science is so little connected with the rest as not to afford many principles whose use may extend considerably beyond the science to which they primarily belong, and that no proposition is so purely theoretical as to be totally incapable of being applied to practical purposes. There is no apparent connection between duration and the cycloidal arch, the properties of which duly attended to have furnished us with our best regulated methods of measuring time: and he who had made himself master of the nature and affections of the logarithmic curve is not aware that he has advanced considerably towards ascertaining the proportionable density of the air at its various distances from the surface of the earth." The ludicrous imitators of Johnson's style are innumerable. Their general method is to accumulate hard words, without considering, that, although he was fond of introducing them occasionally, there is not a single sentence in all his writings where they are crowded together, as in the first verse of the following imaginary Ode by him to Mrs. Thrale (1), which appeared in the newspapers: "Cervisial coctor's viduate dame, (1) Johnson's wishing to unite himself with this rich widow was much talked of, but I believe without foundation. The report, however, gave This and a thousand other such attempts are totally unlike the original, which the writers imagined they were turning into ridicule. There is not similarity enough for burlesque, or even for caricature. Mr. Colman, in his "Prose on several Occasions," has " A Letter from Lexiphanes, containing Proposals for a Glossary, or Vocabulary of the Vulgar Tongue; intended as a Supplement to a larger Dictionary." It is evidently meant as a sportive sally of ridicule on Johnson, whose style is thus imitated, without being grossly overcharged: "It is easy to foresee that the idle and illiterate will complain that I have increased their labours by endeavouring to diminish them; and that I have explained what is more easy by what is more difficult - ignotum per ignotius. I expect, on the other hand, the liberal acknowledgments of the learned. He who is buried in scholastic retirement, secluded from the assemblies of the gay, and remote from the circles of the polite, will at once comprehend the definitions, and be grateful for such a seasonable and necessary elucidation of his mother-tongue." Annexed to this letter is the following short specimen of the work, thrown together in a vague and desultory manner, not even adhering to alphabetical concatenation. occasion to a poem, not without characteristical merit, entitled "Ode to Mrs. Thrale, by Samuel Johnson, LL.D., on their supposed approaching Nuptials:" printed for Mr. Faulder in Bond Street. I shall quote as a specimen the first three stanzas : "If e'er my fingers touch'd the lyre, "My dearest lady! view your slave, "To rich felicity thus raised, My bosom glows with amorous fire, 'Tis I myself am Thrale's Entire."- B. Mrs. Carter, in one of her letters to Mrs. Montagu, says, "I once saw him (Dr. Johnson) very indigné when somebody jested about Mrs. Thrale's marrying himself. The choice would, no doubt, have been singular, but much less exceptionable than that which she has made." Mrs. Carter's Letters, vol. iii. p. 221. — C. "HODGE-PODGE, - A culinary mixture of heterogeneous ingredients: applied metaphorically to all discordant combinations. "TIT FOR TAT, — Adequate retaliation. "SHILLY SHALLY, -Hesitation and irresolution. 66 RIGMAROLE,- Discourse, incoherent and rhapsodical. 1 · Tintinnabulary chimes, used metaphorically to signify despatch and vehemence." (1) The serious imitators of Johnson's style, whether intentionally or by the imperceptible effect of its strength and animation, are, as I have had already occasion to observe, so many, that I might introduce quotations from a numerous body of writers in our language, since he appeared in the literary world. I shall point out the following: WILLIAM ROBERTSON, D.D. "In other parts of the globe, man, in his rudest state, appears as lord of the creation, giving law to various tribes of animals which he has tamed and reduced to subjection. The Tartar follows his prey on the horse which he has reared, or tends his numerous herds which furnish him both with food and clothing; the Arab has rendered the camel docile, and avails himself of its persevering strength; the Laplander has formed the reindeer to be subservient to his will; and even the people of Kamschatka have trained their dogs to labour. This command over the inferior creatures is one of the noblest prerogatives of man, and among the greatest efforts of his wisdom and power. Without this, his dominion is incomplete. He is a monarch who has no subjects; a master without servants; and must perform every operation by the strength of his own arm." (2) EDWARD GIBBON, ESQ. "Of all our passions and appetites, the love of power is of the most imperious and unsociable nature, since the pride of one man requires the (1) On the original publication of Mr. Boswell's own work, the press teemed with parodies, or imitations of his style of reporting Dr. Johnson's conversation but they are now all deservedly forgotten, except one by Mr. Alexander Chalmers, which is executed with so much liveliness and pleasantry, and is, in fact, so just a criticism on the lighter portions of this work, that the reader will be, I believe, much pleased to find it preserved. See ante, "Lesson in Biography; or, How to write the Life of one's Friend."- C. |