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tences is French. Now the French structure and the English structure may, in the nature of things, be equally good: but if you allow that the English language is established, he is wrong. My name might originally have been Nicholson, as well as Johnson; but were you to call me Nicholson now, you would call me very absurdly."

In 1769, Boswell presented Dr. Johnson to general Paoli. They met with a manly ease, mutually conscious of their own abilities. The general spoke Italian and Dr. Johnson English, and understood one another very well, with a little of interpretation from Boswell, in which he compared himself to an isthmus, which joins two great continents. Upon Johnson's approach, the general said, "From what I have read of your works, sir, and from what Mr. Boswell has told me of you, I have long held you in great veneration." The general talked of languages being formed on the particular notions and manners of a people, without knowing which, we cannot know the language. We may know the direct signification of single words; but by these. no beauty of expression, no sally of genius, no wit is conveyed to the mind. All this must be by allusion to other ideas. JOHNSON. "Sir, you talk of language, as if you had never done any thing else but study it, instead of governing a nation." PAOLI. "Questo e un troppo gran complimento: this is too great a compliment." JOHNSON. "I should have thought so, if I had not heard you talk."

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Johnson advised Boswell to complete a dictionary of words peculiar to Scotland, of which he had shown him a specimen. "Sir," said he, "Ray has made a collection of north-country words: by

collecting those of your country, you will do a useful thing towards the history of the language."

Talking of language, Johnson observed, that Leibnitz had made some progress in a work, tracing all languages up to the Hebrew. “Why, sir,” said he, 66 you would not imagine, that the French jour, day, is derived from the Latin dies, and yet nothing is more certain; and the intermediate steps are very clear. From dies, comes diurnus; diu is, by inaccurate ears, or inaccurate pronunciation, easily confounded with giu; then the Italians form a substantive of the ablative of an adjective, and thence giurno, or, as they make it, giorno, which is readily contracted into giour, or jour." He observed that the Bohemian language was true Sclavonic. Mr. Kristrom, a Swede, said it had some similarity with the German. JOHNSON. " Why, sir, to be sure, such parts of Sclavonia as confine with Germany will borrow Germau words; and such parts as confine with Tartary will borrow Tartar words."

He said, he never had it properly ascertained, that the Scotch Highlanders and the Irish understood each other. Boswell told him, that his cousin, colonel Graham, of the Royal Highlanders, whom he met at Drogheda, said they did. JOHN SON. "Sir, if the Highlanders understood Irish, why translate the New Testament into Erse, as was lately done at Edinburgh, when there is an Irish translation?" BOSWELL."Although the Erse and Irish are both dialects of the same language, there may be a good deal of diversity between them, as between the different dialects in Italy."

Sir Alexander Macdonald said to him, "I have

been correcting several Scottish accents in my friend Boswell: I doubt, sir, if any Scotchman ever attains to a perfect English pronunciation," JOHNSON, " Why, sir, few of them do, because they do not persevere, after acquiring a certain degree of it; but, sir, there can be no doubt, that they may attain to a perfect English pronunciation, if they will: we find how near they come to it; and certainly a man who conquers nineteen parts of the Scottish accent, may conquer the twentieth. But, sir, when a man has got the better of nine tenths, he grows weary, he relaxes his diligence, he finds he has corrected his accent so far as not to be. disagreeable, and he no longer desires his friends to tell him when he is wrong; nor does he choose to be told. Sir, when people watch me narrowly, and I do not watch myself, they will find me out to be of a particular county: in the same manner, Dunning may be found out to be a Devonshire man: so most Scotchmen may be found out. But, sir, little aberrations are of no disadvantage. I never catched Mallet in a Scotch accent; and yet Mallet, I suppose, was past five-and-twenty before he came to London."

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The earl of Marchmont, with great good-humour, related, that the master of a shop in London, where he was not known, said to him, "I suppose, sir, you are an American." Why so, sir?" said his lordship. "Because, sir," replied the shopkeeper, 66 you speak neither English nor Scotch, but something different from both, which I conclude is the language of America."

BOSWELL."It may be of use, sir, to have a dictionary to ascertain the pronunciation." JOHNSON.

"Why, sir, my Dictionary shows you the accents of words, if you can but remember them." Boswell. "But, sir, we want marks to ascertain the pronunciation of the vowels: Sheridan, I believe, has finished such a work." JOHNSON. "Why, sir, consider how much easier it is to learn a language by the ear, than by any marks. Sheridan's Dictionary may do very well; but you cannot always carry it about with you: and, when you want the word, you have not the Dictionary.* It is like a man who has a sword that will not draw: it is an admirable sword, to be sure; but while your enemy is cutting your throat, you are unable to use it. Besides, sir, what entitles Sheridan to fix the pronunciation of English? He has, in the first place, the disadvantage of being an Irishman: and if he says he will fix it after the example of the best company, why they differ among themselves. I remember an instance: when I published the Plan for my Dictionary, lord Chesterfield told me that the word great should be pronounced so as to rhyme to state; and sir William Yonge sent me word, that it should be pronounced so as to rhyme to seat, and that none but an Irishman would pronounce it grait. Now here were two men of the highest rank, the one the best speaker in the house of lords, the other the best speaker in the house of commons, differing entirely."

A person was mentioned, who, it was said, could take down in short hand the speeches in parliament with perfect exactness. JOHNSON. "Sir, it is im

This remark was equally applicable to his own; but he was no friend to Sheridan.-Ed.

possible. I remember one Angel, who came to me to write for him a preface or dedication to a book upon short hand, and he professed to write as fast as a man could speak. In order to try him, I took down a book, and read while he wrote; and I favoured him, for I read more deliberately than usual. I had proceeded but a very little way, when he begged I would desist, for he could not follow me."

Boswell read to him a letter which lord Monboddo had written, containing some critical remarks upon the style of his Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. His lordship praised the very fine passage upon landing at Icolmkill: but his own style being exceedingly dry and hard, he disapproved of the richness of Johnson's language, and of his frequent use of metaphorical expressions. JOHNSON. "Why, sir, this criticism would be just, if, in my style, superfluous words, or words too big for the thoughts, could be pointed out; but this I do not believe can be done. For instance, in the passage which lord Monboddo admires, 'We were now treading that illustrious region,' the word illustrious contributes nothing to the mere narration; for the fact might be told without it: but it is not therefore superfluous; for it wakes the mind to peculiar attention, where something of more than usual importance is to be presented. Illustrious!'-for what?-and then the sentence proceeds to expand the circumstances connected with Iona. And, sir, as to metaphorical expression, that is a great excellence in style, when it is used with propriety; for it gives you two ideas for one-conveys the meaning more luminously, and generally with a perception of delight." He found fault with Boswell, for using the phrase

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