relate, will not be reckoned decisive against a poet's reputation. When I was a young man, I translated Addison's Latin poem on the Battle of the Pygmies and the Cranes, and must plead guilty to the following couplet : "Down from the guardian boughs the nests they flung, And kill'd the yet unanimated young · And yet I trust I am no blockhead. changed the word kill'd into crush'd.” I afterwards 254. Watts's" Improvement of the Mind.” Watts's " Improvement of the Mind" was a very favourite book with him he used to recommend it, as he also did "Le Dictionnaire Portatif" of Abbé L'Avocat. 255. Kempis, "De Imitatione Christi." He was, for some time, pleased with Kempis's tract, "De Imitatione Christi ;" but at length laid it aside, saying, "that the main design of it was to promote monastic piety, and inculcate ecclesiastical obedience." One sentiment therein he however greatly applauded, and I find it adopted by Bishop Taylor, who gives it in these words: "It is no great matter to live lovingly with good-natured, with humble, and meek persons; but he that can do so with the froward, with the wilful, and the ignorant, with the peevish and perverse, he only hath true charity. Always remembering, that our true solid peace, the peace of God, consists rather in compliance with others, than in being complied with; in suffering and forbearing, rather than in contention and victory." 256. Dr. Hammond. He was extremely fond of Dr. Hammond's (1) works, (1) Henry Hammond, D.D., born in 1605; elected a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1625; canon of Christchurch and sometimes gave them as a present to young men going into orders: he also bought them for the library at Streatham. 66 Being asked, whether he had read Mrs. Macaulay's second volume of the "History of England," — “No, Sir," says he, nor her first neither." 66 258. Churchill. Being told that Churchill had abused him under the character of Pomposo, in his Ghost, "I always thought," said he, “he was a shallow fellow, and I think so still.” 259. Lord Kaimes. Johnson thought very well of Lord Kaimes's "Elements of Criticism:" of others of his writings he thought very indifferently. 260. Mandeville. He thought highly of, and would often commend, Mandeville's "Discourse on Hypochondriac Affections.” 261. Cowley. In his own judgment of the " Lives of the Poets," Johnson gave the preference to that of Cowley, as containing a nicer investigation and discrimination of the characteristics of wit, than is elsewhere to be found. 262. Addison's "Cato." He thought Addison's "Cato" the best model of 1645. He suffered much persecution during the Rebellion, and was, it is said, designed for the bishopric of Worcester at the Restoration; but he died a few days before the king's return. He was a voluminous writer, but his best known work is "A Paraphrase and Annotations on the New Testament," which Dr. Johnson recommended to Mr. Boswell. See antè, Vol. VI. p. 181. — - C. tragedy we had; yet he used to say, of all things, the most ridiculous would be to see a girl cry at the representation of it. 263. Religious Poetry. Moses Browne, originally a pen-cutter, and afterwards a writer in the "Gentleman's Magazine," published a series of devout contemplations, called “Sunday Thoughts." Johnson, who often expressed his dislike of religious poetry, and who, for the purpose of religious meditation, seemed to think one day as proper as another, read them with cold approbation, and said, he had a great mind to write and publish" Monday Thoughts." 264. Abyssinian Bruce. He said that when he first conversed with Mr. Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller, he was very much inclined to believe he had been there; but that he had afterwards altered his opinion. (1) 265. Government. That Johnson was a Tory, he not only never hesitated to confess, but, by his frequent invectives against the Whigs, was forward to proclaim: yet was he not so besotted in his notions, as to abet what is called the patriarchal scheme, as delineated by Sir Robert Filmer and other writers on government; nor, with others of a more sober cast, to acquiesce in the opinion that, because submission to governors is, in general terms, inculcated in the Holy Scriptures, the resistance of tyranny and oppression is, in all cases, unlawful: he seemed rather to adopt the sentiments of Hooker on the VOL. IX. (1) [See antè, Vol. V. p. 274.] L subject, as explained by Hoadly, and, by consequence, to look on submission to lawful authority as a moral obligation; he therefore condemned the conduct of James the Second during his short reign; and, had he been a subject of that weak and infatuated monarch, would, I am persuaded, have resisted any invasion of his right, or unwarrantable exertion of power, with the same spirit as did the president and fellows of Magdalen College, or those conscientious divines, the seven bishops. This disposition, as it leads to Whiggism, one would have thought might have reconciled him to the memory of James's successor, whose exercise of the regal authority among us merited better returns than were made him; but, it had no such effect: he never spoke of King William but in terms of reproach, and, in his opinion of him, seemed to adopt all the prejudices of jacobite bigotry and rancour. 266. Sir Robert Walpole. Of Sir Robert Walpole, notwithstanding that he had written against him in the early part of his life, he had a high opinion. He said of him, that he was a fine fellow, and that his very enemies deemed him so before his death: he honoured his memory for having kept this country in peace many years, as also for the goodness and placability of his temper; of which Pulteney, Earl of Bath, thought so highly, that, in a conversation with Johnson, he said, that Sir Robert was of a temper so calm and equal, and so hard to be provoked, that he was very sure he never felt the bitterest invectives against him for half an hour. To the same purpose Johnson related the following anecdote, which he said he had from Lord North: Sir Robert having got into his hands some treasonable letters of his inveterate enemy, William Shippen, one of the heads of the jacobite faction, he sent for him, and burned them before his face. Some time after wards, Shippen had occasion to take the oaths to the government in the House of Commons, which, while he was doing, Sir Robert, who stood next him, and knew his principles to be the same as ever, smiled: Egad, Robin," said Shippen, who had observed him, "that's hardly fair.” To party opposition Dr. Johnson ever expressed great aversion; and, of the pretences of patriots, always spoke with indignation and contempt. He partook of the short-lived joy that infatuated the public, when Sir Robert Walpole ceased to have the direction of the national councils, and trusted to the professions of Mr. Pulteney and his adherents, who called themselves the country-party, that all elections should thenceforward be free and uninfluenced, and that bribery and corruption, which were never practised but by courtiers and their agents, should be no more. A few weeks, nay, a few days, convinced Johnson, that what had assumed the appearance of patriotism, was personal hatred and inveterate malice in some, and in others, an ambition for that power which, when they had got it, they knew not how to exercise. A change of men, and in some respect of measures, took place: Mr. Pulteney's ambition was gratified by a peerage; the wants of his associates were relieved by places, and seats at the public boards; and, in a short time, the stream of government resumed its former channel, and ran with a current as even as it had ever done. Upon this developement of the motives, the views, and the consistency of the above-mentioned band of patriots, Johnson once remarked to me, that it had given more strength to government than all that had been written in its defence; meaning thereby, that it had destroyed all confidence in men of that character. |