The Augustan Reprint Society
John Courtenay
A
POETICAL REVIEW
OF THE LITERARY
AND MORAL CHARACTER
OF THE LATE
SAMUEL JOHNSON
(1786)
Introduction by
Robert E. Kelley
PUBLICATION NUMBER 133
WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY
University of California, Los Angeles
1969
William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles
Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
David S. Rodes, University of California, Los Angeles
ADVISORY EDITORS
Richard C. Boys, University of Michigan
James L. Clifford, Columbia University
Ralph Cohen, University of Virginia
Vinton A. Dearing, University of California, Los Angeles
Arthur Friedman, University of Chicago
Louis A. Landa, Princeton University
Earl Miner, University of California, Los Angeles
Samuel H. Monk, University of Minnesota
Everett T. Moore, University of California, Los Angeles
Lawrence Clark Powell, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
James Sutherland, University College, London
H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los Angeles
Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY
Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Mary Kerbret, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
INTRODUCTION
The eighteenth century was an age addicted to gossiping about itsliterary figures. This addiction was nowhere better demonstrated thanby the countless reflections, sermons, poems, pamphlets, biographicalsketches, and biographies about Samuel Johnson. The most productivephase of this activity commenced almost immediately after Johnson'sdeath in December, 1784, and continued into the next century.
One item of Johnsoniana which seems to have been neglected, perhapsbecause Birkbeck Hill did not include it in his JohnsonianMiscellanies, is A Poetical Review of the Literary and MoralCharacter of the Late Samuel Johnson, L.L.D., with Notes. This poemof three hundred and four lines was written by John Courtenay(1741-1816). First published in the spring of 1786 by Charles Dilly,the poem went through three editions in the same year. Its popularitywas determined less by Courtenay's poetic talent than by publicinterest in the Johnsoniana that flooded the market. Courtenay'sliterary output, though scanty, was diverse; he wrote light verse,character sketches, and essays, including two controversial pieces insupport of the French Revolution.1 It is apparent, however, that forhim writing was hardly more than an avocation.
Despite his notoriety as a controversial member of Parliament, as afirst-rate wit, and as an intimate friend of Boswell, Courtenayremains a shadowy figure. References to him occur often in the lastvolumes of Boswell's journal, but