University of Virginia Library

When Johnson's idolaters are hard pressed concerning his injustice in those fallacious though able pages;—when they are reminded that he there tells us the perusal of Milton's Paradise Lost is a task, and never a pleasure;—reminded also of his avowed contempt of that exquisite Poem, the Lycidas;— of his declaration that Dryden's absurd Ode on the death of Mrs Anne Killegrew, written in Cowley's worst manner, is the noblest Ode in this language;—of his disdain of Gray as a lyric poet; of the superior respect he pays to Yalden, Blackmore, and Pomfret;—When these things are urged, his adorers seek to acquit him of wilful misrepresentation by alledging that he wanted ear for lyric numbers, and taste for the higher graces of Poetry:—but it is impossible so to believe, when we recollect that even his prose abounds with poetic efflorescence, metaphoric conception, and harmonious cadence, which in the highest degree adorn it, without diminishing its strength. We must look for the source of his injustice in the envy of his temper. When Garrick was named a candidate for admission into the Literary Club, Dr Johnson told Mr Thrale he would black-ball him. “Who, Sir? Mr Garrick! Companion “of your youth! your acknowledged friend!”—“Why, “Sir, I love my little David better than any, or all of his flatterers “love him; but surely we ought to sit in a society like “ours, ‘unelbow'd by a Gamester, Pimp, or Player.” See Supplement to Dr Johnson's Letters, published by Mrs Piozzi.