| LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. (1780-DEC. 13, 1784) APPENDICES: A. ALTERCATION BETWEEN DR. JOHNSON AND DEAN BARNARD. B. JOHNSON AND PRIESTLEY. C. THE CLUB IN IVY-LANE. D. THE ESSEX HEAD CLUB. E.MISS BURNEY'S ACCOUNT OF JOHNSON'S LAST DAYS. F. NOTES ON JOHNSON'S WILL, ETC. G. NOTES ON BOSWELL'S NOTE. H. NOTES ON BOSWELL'S NOTE. I. PARR'S EPITAPH ON JOHNSON. FOOTNOTES. |
Being disappointed in my hopes of meeting Johnson this year,so that I could hear none of his admirable sayings, I shallcompensate for this want[1] by inserting acollection of them, for which I am indebted to my worthy friendMr. Langton, whose kind communications have been separatelyinterwoven in many parts of this work. Very few articles of thiscollection were committed to writing by himself, he not havingthat habit; which he regrets, and which those who know thenumerous opportunities he had of gathering the rich fruits ofJohnsonian wit and wisdom, must ever regret. I howeverfound, in conversations with him, that a good store ofJohnsoniana treasured in his mind[2]; and I compared it toHerculaneum, or some old Roman field, which when dug, fullyrewards the labour employed. The authenticity of every article isunquestionable. For the expression, I, who wrote them down in hispresence, am partly answerable.
'Theocritus is not deserving of very high respect as a writer;as to the pastoral part, Virgil is very evidently superiour. Hewrote when there had been a larger influx of knowledge into theworld than when Theocritus lived. Theocritus does not abound indescription, though living in a beautiful country: the mannerspainted are coarse and gross. Virgil has much more description,more sentiment, more of Nature, and more of a