James Boswell - THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON - All 6 Volumes in One Edition

Et nova fictaque nuper habebunt verba fidem si

Græco fonte cadant, parce detorta. Quid autem

Cæcilio Plautoque dabit Romanus, ademptum

Virgilio Varioque? Ego cur, acquirere pauca

Si possum, invideor; cum lingua Catonis et Enni

Sermonem patrium ditaverit, et nova rerum

Nomina protulerit? Licuit semperque licebit

Signatum præsente notá producere nomen[655].’

Yet Johnson assured me, that he had not taken upon him to add more than four or five words to the English language, of his own formation[656]; and he was very much offended at the general licence, by no means ‘modestly taken’ in his time, not only to coin new words, but to use many words in senses quite different from their established meaning, and those frequently very fantastical[657].

[Page 222: Johnson’s influence on style. A.D. 1750.]

Sir Thomas Brown[658], whose life Johnson wrote, was remarkably fond of Anglo-Latian diction; and to his example we are to ascribe Johnson’s sometimes indulging himself in this kind of phraseology’. Johnson’s comprehension of mind was the mould for his language. Had his conceptions been narrower, his expression would have been easier. His sentences have a dignified march; and, it is certain, that his example has given a general elevation to the language of his country, for many of our best writers have approached very near to him; and, from the influence which he has had upon our composition, scarcely any thing is written now that is not better expressed than was usual before he appeared to lead the national taste.

[Page 223: Courtenay’s lines on Johnson’s school. Ætat 41.]

This circumstance, the truth of which must strike every critical reader, has been so happily enforced by Mr. Courtenay, in his Moral and Literary Character of Dr. Johnson , that I cannot prevail on myself to withhold it, notwithstanding his, perhaps, too great partiality for one of his friends:

‘By nature’s gifts ordain’d mankind to rule,

He, like a Titian, form’d his brilliant school;

And taught congenial spirits to excel,

While from his lips impressive wisdom fell.

Our boasted GOLDSMITH felt the sovereign sway:

From him deriv’d the sweet, yet nervous lay.

To Fame’s proud cliff he bade our Raphael rise;

Hence REYNOLDS’ pen with REYNOLDS’ pencil vies.

With Johnson’s flame melodious BURNEY glows,

While the grand strain in smoother cadence flows.

And you, MALONE, to critick learning dear.

Correct and elegant, refin’d though clear,

By studying him, acquir’d that classick taste,

Which high in Shakspeare’s fane thy statue plac’d.

Near Johnson STEEVENS stands, on scenick ground,

Acute, laborious, fertile, and profound.

Ingenious HAWKESWORTH to this school we owe.

And scarce the pupil from the tutor know.

Here early parts accomplish’d JONES sublimes,

And science blends with Asia’s lofty rhymes:

Harmonious JONES! who in his splendid strains

Sings Camdeo’s sports, on Agra’s flowery plains:

In Hindu fictions while we fondly trace

Love and the Muses, deck’d with Attick grace.

Amid these names can BOSWELL be forgot,

Scarce by North Britons now esteem’d a Scot[659]?

Who to the sage devoted from his youth,

Imbib’d from him the sacred love of truth;

The keen research, the exercise of mind,

And that best art, the art to know mankind.—

Nor was his energy confin’d alone

To friends around his philosophick throne;

Its influence wide improv’d our letter’d isle. And lucid vigour marked the general style : As Nile’s proud waves, swoln from their oozy bed. First o’er the neighbouring meads majestick spread; Till gathering force, they more and more expand. And with new virtue fertilise the land.’

Johnson’s language, however, must be allowed to be too masculine for the delicate gentleness of female writing. His ladies, therefore, seem strangely formal, even to ridicule; and are well denominated by the names which he has given them as Misella[660], Zozima, Properantia, Rhodoclia.

[Page 224: The styles of addison and Johnson. A.D. 1750.]

It has of late been the fashion to compare the style of Addison and Johnson, and to depreciate, I think very unjustly, the style of Addison as nerveless and feeble[661], because it has not the strength and energy of that of Johnson. Their prose may be balanced like the poetry of Dryden and Pope. Both are excellent, though in different ways. Addison writes with the ease of a gentleman. His readers fancy that a wise and accomplished companion is talking to them; so that he insinuates his sentiments and taste into their minds by an imperceptible influence. Johnson writes like a teacher. He dictates to his readers as if from an academical chair. They attend with awe and admiration; and his precepts are impressed upon them by his commanding eloquence. Addison’s style, like a light wine, pleases everybody from the first. Johnson’s, like a liquor of more body, seems too strong at first, but, by degrees, is highly relished; and such is the melody of his periods, so much do they captivate the ear, and seize upon the attention, that there is scarcely any writer, however inconsiderable, who does not aim, in some degree, at the same species of excellence. But let us not ungratefully undervalue that beautiful style, which has pleasingly conveyed to us much instruction and entertainment. Though comparatively weak, opposed to Johnson’s Herculean vigour, let us not call it positively feeble. Let us remember the character of his style, as given by Johnson himself[662]: ‘What he attempted, he performed; he is never feeble, and he did not wish to be energetick; 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[663]. 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[664].’

[Page 225: Boswell’s projected works. Ætat 41.]

[Page 226: The last Rambler. A.D. 1750.]

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 [665], 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.’ The concluding paper of his Rambler is at once dignified and pathetick. I cannot, however, but wish that he had not ended it with an unnecessary Greek verse, translated also into an English couplet[666]. It is too much like the conceit of those dramatick 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[667]’ 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 obtain in any other cause, if I can be numbered among the writers who have given ardour to virtue, and confidence to truth[668].’

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:

‘To DR. BIRCH.

‘Gough-square, May 12, 1750.

‘Knowing that you are now preparing to favour the publick with a new edition of Ralegh’s[669] 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 [670] has heard, the handwriting is Sir Walter’s. If you should find reason to conclude it genuine, it will be a kindness to the owner, a blind person[671], to recommend it to the booksellers. I am, Sir,