Lives Of The Poets, Vol. 1 (fiscle part-III), Samuel Johnson [good summer reads .TXT] 📗
- Author: Samuel Johnson
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To Be Quoted.
His Translations, So Far As I Have Compared them, Want The Exactness Of
A Scholar. That He Understood His Authors Cannot Be Doubted; But His
Versions Will Not Teach Others To Understand Them, Being too Licentiously
Paraphrastical. They Are, However, For The Most Part, Smooth And Easy;
And, What Is The First Excellence Of A Translator, Such As May Be Read
With Pleasure By Those Who Do Not Know The Originals.
His Poetry Is Polished and Pure; The Product Of A Mind Too Judicious To
Commit Faults, But Not Sufficiently Vigorous To Attain Excellence. He Has
Sometimes A Striking line, Or A Shining paragraph; But, In the Whole, He
Is Warm Rather Than Fervid, And Shows More Dexterity Than Strength. He
Was, However, One Of Our Earliest Examples Of Correctness.
The Versification Which He Had Learned from Dryden, He Debased rather
Than Refined. His Rhymes Are Often Dissonant; In his Georgick He Admits
Broken Lines. He Uses Both Triplets And Alexandrines, But Triplets More
Frequently In his Translations Than His Other Works. The Mere Structure
Of Verses Seems Never To Have Engaged much Of His Care. But His Lines Are
Very Smooth In rosamond, And, Too Smooth In cato.
Addison Is Now To Be Considered as A Critick; A Name Which The Present
Generation Is Scarcely Willing to Allow Him. His Criticism Is Condemned
As Tentative Or Experimental, Rather Than Scientifick; And He Is
Considered as Deciding by Taste[202] Rather Than By Principles.
It Is Not Uncommon, For Those Who Have Grown Wise By The Labour Of
Others, To Add A Little Of Their Own, And Overlook Their Masters. Addison
Is Now Despised by Some Who, Perhaps, Would Never Have Seen His Defects,
But By The Lights Which He Afforded them. That He Always Wrote As
He Would Think It Necessary To Write Now, Cannot Be Affirmed; His
Instructions Were Such As The Character Of His Readers Made Propers That
General Knowledge Which Now Circulates In common Talk, Was In his Time
Rarely To Be Found. Men Not Professing learning were Not Ashamed of
Ignorance; And, In the Female World, Any Acquaintance With Books Was
Distinguished only To Be Censured. His Purpose Was To Infuse Literary
Curiosity, By Gentle And Unsuspected conveyance, Into The Gay, The Idle,
And The Wealthy; He, Therefore, Presented knowledge In the Most Alluring
Form, Not Lofty And Austere, But Accessible And Familiar. When He Showed
Them Their Defects, He Showed them, Likewise, That They Might Be Easily
Supplied. His, Attempt Succeeded; Inquiry Was Awakened, And Comprehension
Expanded. An Emulation Of Intellectual Elegance Was Excited, And, From
His Time To Our Own, Life Has Been Gradually Exalted, And Conversation
Purified and Enlarged.
Dryden Had, Not Many Years Before, Scattered criticism, Over His Prefaces
With Very Little Parsimony; But, Though He Sometimes Condescended to Be
Somewhat Familiar, His Manner Was In general Too Scholastick For Those
Who Had Yet Their Rudiments To Learn, And Found It Not Easy To Understand
Their Master. His Observations Were Framed rather For Those That Were
Learning to Write, Than For Those That Read Only To Talk.
An Instructer Like Addison Was Now Wanting, Whose Remarks Being
Superficial, Might Be Easily Understood, And Being just, Might Prepare
The Mind For More Attainments.
Had He Presented paradise Lost To The Publick With All The Pomp Of System
And Severity Of Science, The Criticism Would, Perhaps, Have Been Admired,
And The Poem Still Have Been Neglected; But, By The Blandishments Of
Gentleness And Facility, He Has Made Milton An Universal Favourite, With
Whom Readers Of Every Class Think It Necessary To Be Pleased.
He Descended, Now And Then, To Lower Disquisitions; And, By A Serious
Display Of The Beauties Of Chevy-Chase, Exposed himself To The Ridicule
Of Wagstaffe, Who Bestowed a Like Pompous Character On Tom Thumb; And To
The Contempt Of Dennis, Who, Considering the Fundamental Position Of His
Criticism, That Chevy-Chase Pleases, And Ought To Please, Because It Is
Natural, Observes, "That There Is A Way Of Deviating from Nature, By
Bombast Or Tumour, Which Soars Above Nature, And Enlarges Images Beyond
Their Real Bulk; By Affectation, Which Forsakes Nature In quest Of
Something unsuitable; And By Imbecility, Which Degrades Nature By
Faintness And Diminution, By Obscuring its Appearances, And Weakening
Its Effects." In chevy-Chase There Is Not Much Of Either Bombast Or
Affectation; But There Is Chill And Lifeless Imbecility. The Story Cannot
Possibly Be Told In a Manner That Shall Make Less Impression On The Mind.
Before The Profound Observers Of The Present Race Repose Too Securely On
The Consciousness Of Their Superiority To Addison, Let Them Consider
His Remarks On Ovid, In which May Be Found Specimens Of Criticism
Sufficiently Subtile And Refined: Let Them Peruse, Likewise, His Essays
On Wit, And On The Pleasures Of Imagination, In which He Founds Art
On The Base Of Nature, And Draws The Principles Of Invention From
Dispositions Inherent In the Mind Of Man With Skill And Elegance[203],
Such As His Contemners Will Not Easily Attain. As A Describer Of Life And
Manners, He Must Be Allowed to Stand, Perhaps, The First Of The First
Rank. His Humour, Which, As Steele Observes, Is Peculiar To Himself, Is
So Happily Diffused as To Give The Grace Of Novelty To Domestick Scenes
And Daily Occurrences. He Never "Outsteps The Modesty Of Nature," Nor
Raises Merriment Or Wonder By The Violation Of Truth. His Figures Neither
Divert By Distortion, Nor Amaze By Aggravation. He Copies Life With So
Much Fidelity, That He Can Be Hardly Said To Invent; Yet His Exhibitions
Have An Air So Much Original, That It Is Difficult To Suppose Them Not
Merely The Product Of Imagination.
As A Teacher Of Wisdom, He May Be Confidently Followed. His Religion Has
Nothing in it Enthusiastick Or Superstitious: He Appears Neither Weakly
Credulous, Nor Wantonly Skeptical; His Morality Is Neither Dangerously
Lax, Nor Impracticably Rigid. All The Enchantment Of Fancy, And All The
Cogency Of Argument, Are Employed to Recommend To The Reader His Real
Interest, The Care Of Pleasing the Author Of His Being. Truth Is Shown
Sometimes As The Phantom Of A Vision; Sometimes Appears Half-Veiled in an
Allegory; Sometimes Attracts Regard In the Robes Of Fancy, And Sometimes
Steps Forth In the Confidence Of Reason. She Wears A Thousand Dresses,
And In all Is Pleasing.
"Mille Habet Ornatus, Mille Decenter Habet."
His Prose Is The Model Of The Middle Style; On Grave Subjects Not Formal,
On Light Occasions Not Grovelling, Pure Without Scrupulosity, And Exact
Without Apparent Elaboration; Always Equable, And Always Easy, Without
Glowing words Or Pointed sentences. Addison Never Deviates From His
Track To Snatch A Grace; He Seeks No Ambitious Ornaments, And Tries No
Hazardous Innovations. His Page Is Always Luminous, But Never Blazes In
Unexpected splendour.
It Was, Apparently, His Principal Endeavour To Avoid All Harshness
And Severity Of Diction; He Is, Therefore, Sometimes Verbose In his
Transitions And Connexions, And Sometimes Descends Too Much To The
Language Of Conversation; Yet If His Language Had Been Less Idiomatical,
It Might Have Lost Somewhat Of Its Genuine Anglicism. What He
Attempted, He Performed; He Is Never Feeble, And He Did Not Wish To Be
Energetick[204]; He Is Never Rapid, And He Never Stagnates. His Sentences
Have Neither Studied amplitude, Nor Affected brevity: His Periods, Though
Not Diligently Rounded, Are Voluble And Easy. Whoever Wishes To Attain An
English Style, Familiar But Not Coarse, And Elegant But Not Ostentatious,
Must Give His Days And Nights To The Volumes Of Addison.
[Footnote 154: Mr. Tyers Says, He Was Actually Laid Out For Dead, As Soon
As He Was Born. Addisoniana, Ii. 218.
A Writer, Who Signs Himself T.J. Informed dr. Birch, (Gen. Dict. I. 62.)
That Mr. Addison'S Mother Was Jane Gulstone, A Circumstance That Should
Not Have Been Omitted. Dr. Launcelot Addison Had By His Wife Six
Children: 1. Jane, Born April 23,1671. 2. Joseph, 1St May, 1672. 3.
Gulstone, In april, 1673. 4. Dorothy, In may, 1674. 5. Anne, In april,
1676; And 6. Launcelot, In 1680. Both Gulstone And Launcelot, Who Was A
Fellow Of Magdalen College, Oxford, Were Reputed to Be Very Well Skilled
In The Classicks, And In polite Literature. Dr. Addison'S Living at
Milston Was 120_L_. Per Annum; And After His Death His Son Joseph Was
Sued for Dilapidations By The Next Incumbent. The Writer Abovementioned
Informed dr. Birch, That "There Was A Tradition At Milston, That When At
School In the Country, (Probably At Ambrosebury,) Having committed some
Slight Fault, He Was So Afraid Of Being corrected for It, That He Ran
Away From His Father'S House, And Fled into The Fields, Where He Lived
Upon Fruits, And Took Up His Lodging in a Hollow Tree, Till, Upon The
Publication Of A Reward To Whoever Should Find Him, He Was Discovered and
Restored to His Parents." M.]
[Footnote 155: "At The Charter-House (Says Oldmixon, Who Was Personally
Acquainted with Addison, And As A Zealous Whig, Probably Encouraged by
Him) He Made Acquaintance With Two Persons, For Whom He Had Ever After An
Entire Friendship, Stephen Clay, Esq. Of The Inner Temple, Author Of The
Epistle In verse, From The Elector Of Bavaria To The French King after
The Battle Of Ramilies; And Sir Richard Steele, Whom He Served both With
His Pen And Purse." Hist. Of England, Xi. 632. M.]
[Footnote 156: Spence.]
[Footnote 157: This Fact Was Communicated to Johnson, In my Hearing, By A
Person Of Unquestionable Veracity, But Whose Name I Am Not At Liberty To
Mention. He Had It, As He Told Us, From Lady Primrose, To Whom Steele
Related it With Tears In his Eyes. The Late Dr. Stinton Confirmed it To
Me, By Saying, That He Had Heard It From Mr. Hooke, Author Of The Roman
History; And He, From Mr. Pope. H.
See In steele'S Epistolary Correspondence, 1809, Vol. I. Pp. 208, 356,
This Transaction Somewhat Differently Related. N.
The Compiler Of Addisoniana Is Of Opinion, That Addison'S Conduct On
This Occasion Was Dictated by The Kindest Motives; And That The Step
Apparently So Severe, Was Designed to Awaken Him, If Possible, To A Sense
Of The Impropriety Of His Mode And Habits Of Life. Ed.]
[Footnote 158: He Took The Degree Of M.A. Feb. 14, 1693. N.]
[Footnote 159: A Letter Which I Found Among Dr. Johnson'S Papers, Dated
In January, 1784, From A Lady In wiltshire, Contains A Discovery Of Some
Importance In literary History, Viz. That By The Initials H.S. Prefixed
To The Poem, We Are Not To Understand The Famous Dr. Henry Sacheverell,
Whose Trial Is The Most Remarkable Incident In his Life. The Information
Thus Communicated is, That The Verses In question Were Not An Address To
The Famous Dr. Sacheverell, But To A Very Ingenious Gentleman Of The Same
Name, Who Died young, Supposed to Be A Manksman, For That He Wrote The
History Of The Isle Of Man. That This Person Left His Papers To Mr.
Addison, And Had Formed a Plan Of A Tragedy Upon The Death Of Socrates,
The Lady Says, She Had This Information From A Mr. Stephens, Who Was A
Fellow Of Merton College, A Contemporary And Intimate With Mr. Addison In
Oxford, Who Died near Fifty Years Ago, A Prebendary Of Winchester. H.]
[Footnote 160: Spence.]
[Footnote 161: A Writer Already Mentioned, J.P. (Gen. Dict, _Ut Supra_,)
Asserts That His Acquaintance With Montague Commenced at Oxford: But For
This There Is No Foundation. Mr. Montague Was Bred at Trinity College,
Cambridge.]
[Footnote 162: Lord Somers, On This Poem Being presented to Him,
According to Tickell, Sent To Addison To Desire His Acquaintance.
According to Oldmixon, He Was Introduced to Him By Tonson. M.]
[Footnote 163: Spence.]
[Footnote 164: See Swift'S Libel On Dr. Delany. Addison'S Distress For
Money Commenced with The Death Of King william, Which Happened in march,
1702. In june, 1703, He Was At Rotterdam, And Seems Then To Have Done
With His _Squire_: For In that Month The Duke Of Somerset Wrote A Letter
To Old Jacob Tonson, (Of Which I Have A Copy,) Proposing that Addison
Should Be Tutor To His Son, (Who Was Then Going abroad.) "Neither
Lodging, Diet, Or Travelling," Says The Duke, "Shall Cost Him Sixpence:
And Over And Above That, My Son Shall Present Him, At The Year'S End,
With A Hundred guineas, As Long As He Is Pleased to Continue In that
Service." Mr. Addison Declined this _Magnificent_ Offer In these Words,
As Appears From Another Letter Of The Duke'S To Tonson: "As For The
Recompence That Is Proposed to Me, I Must Confess I Can By No Means See
My Account In it." M.]
[Footnote 165: In this Letter He Uses The Phrase _Classick Ground_, Which
Has Since Become So Common, But Never Had Been Employed before: It Was
Ridiculed by Some Of His Contemporary Writers (I Forget Which) As Very
Quaint And Affected. M.]
[Footnote 166: It Is Incorrect That Addison'S Stay In foreign Countries
Was But Short. He Went To Travel In 1700, And Did Not Return Till The
Latter End Of 1703; So That He Was Abroad Near
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