Review by Reade from Johnsonian Gleanings.

Review from Johnson's Lives of the Poets:.

Review from Johnson's Lives:
He was not one of those writers whom experience improves, and ..who, observing their own faults, become gradually correct. His poem, on the Last Day, his first great performance, has an equability and propriety, which he afterwards either never endeavoured or never attained. Many paragraphs are noble, and few are mean, yet the whole is languid ; the plan is too much extended, and a succession of images divides and weakens the general conception: but the great reason why the reader is disappointed is, that the thought of the Last Day makes every man more than poetical, by spreading over his mind a general obscurity of sacred horrour, that oppresses distinction, and disdains expression.

Review by Samuel Johnson in his Life of Dryden.

From a biography of editor Pieter Burman by Johnson in the Gentleman's Magazine (1742):
"His abilities, which would probably have enabled him to have excelled
in any kind of learning, were chiefly employed, as his station
required, on polite literature, in which he arrived at very uncommon
knowledge; which, however, appears rather from judicious compilations,
than original productions. His style is lively and masculine, but not
without harshness and constraint, nor, perhaps, always polished to
that purity, which some writers have attained. He was at least
instrumental to the instruction of mankind, by the publication of many
valuable performances, which lay neglected by the greatest part of the
learned world; and, if reputation be estimated by usefulness, he may
claim a higher degree in the ranks of learning, than some others of
happier elocution, or more vigorous imagination."

Review form the Works of Samuel Johnson.

Harry B. Smith's listing of this copy in his Sentimental Llibrary.

"He [SJ] said the best book ever written upon good breeding grew up at the little court of Urbino -- Il Cortegiano by Castiglione." Boswell's Journal for October, 1773.

JOHNSON. "Why, who are before him [Goldsmith]?" BOSWELL. "Hume,—Robertson, or the foppery of Dalrymple." BOSWELL. "Will you not admit the superiority of Robertson, in whose History we find such penetration—such painting?" JOHNSON. "Sir, you must consider how that penetration and that painting are employed. It is not history, it is imagination. He who describes what he never saw, draws from fancy. Robertson paints minds as Sir Joshua paints faces in a history-piece: he imagines an heroick countenance. You must look upon Robertson's work as romance, and try it by that standard. History it is not. --Life of Johnson

And elsewhere: "I would say to Robertson what an old tutor of a college said to one of his pupils: 'Read over your compositions, and where ever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.'"

“…I well remember, the flattering notice he [Dr. Johnson] took of a lady present, on her saying that she was inclined to estimate the morality of every person according as they liked or disliked Clarissa Harlowe. He was a great admirer of Richardson's works in general, but of Clarissa he always spoke with the highest enthusiastic praise. He used to say, that it was the first Book in the world for the knowledge it displays of the human Heart.” –Miss Reynolds {Sir Joshua's sister], quoted in Johnsonian Miscellanies.

' Sir, there is more knowledge of the heart in one letter of Richardson's than in all Tom Jones.' --Life of Johnson

Though he [Johnson] had no taste for painting, he admired much the manner in which Sir Joshua Reynolds treated of his art, in his Discourses to the Royal Academy. He observed one day of a passage in them, ‘I think I might as well have said this myself:’ and once when Mr. Langton was sitting by him, he read one of them very eagerly, and expressed himself thus:—‘Very well, Master Reynolds; very well, indeed. But it will not be understood.’ --quoted by Boswell in Life of Johnson

Regarding Rapin as a critic:

Many of those who have determined with great boldness upon the various degrees of literary merit, may be justly suspected of having passed sentence, as Seneca remarks of Claudius,

Una tantum parte audita,
Sape et nulla,

without much knowledge of the cause before them: for it will not easily be imagined of Langbaine, Borrichius, or Rapin, that they had very accurately perused all the books which they praise or censure; or that, even if nature and learning had qualified them for judges, they could read for ever with the attention necessary to just criticism. Such performances, however, are not wholly without their use; for they are commonly just echoes to the voice of fame, and transmit the general suffrage of mankind when they have no particular motives to suppress it. --Johnson, in Rambler, Number 98.

Perhaps it would not be easy to find any authour, except Homer, who invented so much as Shakespeare, who so much advanced the studies which he cultivated, or effused so much novelty upon his age or country. The form, the characters, the language, and the shows of the English drama are his… --Johnson, in the Preface to this edition.

One of his greatest though of his earliest works is the Essay on Criticism, which if he had written nothing else would have placed him among the first criticks and the first poets, as it exhibits every mode of excellence that can embellish or dignify didactick composition, selection of matter, novelty of arrangement, justness of precept, splendour of illustration, and propriety of digression. I know not whether it be pleasing to consider that he produced this piece at twenty, and never afterwards excelled it: he that delights himself with observing that such powers may be so soon attained, cannot but grieve to think that life was ever after at a stand…

To the praises which have been accumulated on The Rape of the Lock by readers of every class, from the critick to the waiting-maid, it is difficult to make any addition…

I suppose many readers of the English Iliad, when they have been touched with some unexpected beauty of the lighter kind, have tried to enjoy it in the original, where, alas! it was not to be found. Homer doubtless owes to his translator many Ovidian graces not exactly suitable to his character; but to have added can be no great crime if nothing be taken away. Elegance is surely to be desired if it be not gained at the expence of dignity. A hero would wish to be loved as well as to be reverenced…

Pope had, in proportions very nicely adjusted to each other, all the qualities that constitute genius. He had Invention, by which new trains of events are show more formed and new scenes of imagery displayed, as in The Rape of the Lock, and by which extrinsick and adventitious embellishments and illustrations are connected with a known subject, as in theEssay on Criticism; he had Imagination, which strongly impresses on the writer's mind and enables him to convey to the reader the various forms of nature, incidents of life, and energies of passion, as in his Eloisa, Windsor Forest, and the Ethick Epistles; he had Judgement, which selects from life or nature what the present purpose requires, and, by separating the essence of things from its concomitants, often makes the representation more powerful than the reality; and he had colours of language always before him ready to decorate his matter with every grace of elegant expression, as when he accommodates his diction to the wonderful multiplicity of Homer's sentiments and descriptions…

After all this it is surely superfluous to answer the question that has once been asked, Whether Pope was a poet? otherwise than by asking in return, If Pope be not a poet, where is poetry to be found? –Johnson, in Lives of the Poets show less

THIS appears to be one of the books which will long do honour to the present age. It has been by some remarker observed, that no man ever grew immortal by a translation ; and undoubtedly translations into the prose of a living language must be laid aside whenever the language changes, because the matter being always to be found in the original, contributes nothing to the preservation of the form superinduced by the translator. But such versions may last long, though they can scarcely last always; and there is reason to believe that this will grow in reputation while the English tongue continues in its present state.

The great difficulty of a translator is to preserve the native form of his language, and the unconstrained manner of an original writer. This Mr. Hampton seems to have attained in a degree of which there are few examples. His book has the dignity of antiquity, and the easy flow of a modern composition.

It were, perhaps, to be desired that he had illustrated with notes an author which must have many difficulties to an English reader, and particularly that he had explained the ancient art of war; but these omissions may be easily supplied by an inferior hand from the antiquaries and commentators. To note omissions where there is so much performed, would be invidious, and to commend is unnecessary where the excellence of the work may be more easily and effectually shown by exhibiting a specimen. – Johnson in the Literary Magazine, 1756.

"I am happy to mention another instance which I discovered of his SEEKING AFTER a man of merit. Soon after the Honourable Daines Barrington had published his excellent Observations on the Statutes, Johnson waited on that worthy and learned gentleman; and, having told him his name, courteously said, ‘I have read your book, Sir, with great pleasure, and wish to be better known to you.’ Thus began an acquaintance, which was continued with mutual regard as long as Johnson lived. " From Boswell's Life of Johnson, Chapter 32

“None but the first names can stand unassisted against the attacks of time ; and if men, raised to reputation by accident or caprice, have nothing but their names engraved on their tombs, there is danger lest in a few years the inscription require an interpreter. Thus have their expectations been disappointed, who honoured Picus of Mirandola with this pompous epitaph:
Hic situs est Picus MIRANDOLA, caetera norunt
Et Tagus et Ganges, forsan et Antipodes.
His name, then celebrated in the remotest corners of the earth, is now almost forgotten ; and his works, then studied, admired, and applauded, are now mouldering in obscurity.” --Johnson, On Epitaphs

"The Sacred Poems, however, deserve particular regard; they were the work of Waller's declining life, of those hours in which he looked upon the fame and the folly of the time past with the sentiments which his great predecessor, Petrarch, bequeathed to posterity, upon his review of that love and poetry which have given him immortality." --Johnson, in the Lives of the Poets, Edmund Waller.

“It is superfluous to tell your royal highness that GEOMETRY is the primary and fundamental art of life ; that its effects are extended through the principal operations of human skill ; that it conducts the soldier in the field, and the seaman in the ocean ; that it gives strength to the fortress, and elegance to the palace.”
--from the Dedication to the Duke of York, written by Johnson.

‘…the man, who is asked by an authour, what he thinks of his work, is put to the torture, and is not obliged to speak the truth; so that what he says is not considered as his opinion; yet he has said it, and cannot retract it; and this authour, when mankind are hunting him with a cannister at his tail, can say, “I would not have published, had not Johnson, or Reynolds, or Musgrave, or some other good judge, commended the work.” Yet I consider it as a very difficult question in conscience, whether one should advise a man not to publish a work, if profit be his object; for the man may say, “Had it not been for you, I should have had the money.” Now you cannot be sure; for you have only your own opinion, and the publick may think very differently.’ Johnson, speaking at a dinner party including both Reynolds and Musgrave, quoted by Boswell in Life of Johnson.

The Reverend Mr. Zachariah Mudge, Prebendary of Exeter, and Vicar of St. Andrew's in Plymouth, a man equally eminent for his virtues and abilities, and at once beloved as a companion and reverenced as a pastor. He had the general curiosity to which no kind of knowledge is indifferent or superfluous; and that general benevolence by which no order of men is hated or despised.

His principles both of thought and action were great and comprehensive. By a solicitous examination of objections, and judicious comparison of opposite arguments, he attained what inquiry never gives but to industry and perspicuity, a firm and unshaken settlement of conviction. But his firmness was without asperity; for, knowing with how much difficulty truth was sometimes found, he did not wonder that many missed it.

The general course of his life was determined by his profession; he studied the sacred volumes in the original languages ; with what diligence and success his Notes upon the Psalms give sufficient evidence. He once endeavoured, to add the knowledge of Arabic to that of Hebrew; but finding his thoughts too much diverted from other studies, after some time desisted from his purpose.

His discharge of parochial duties was exemplary. How his Sermons were composed may be learned from the excellent volume which he has given to the public; but how they were delivered, can be known only to those that heard them ; for as he appeared in the pulpit, words will not easily describe him. His delivery, show more though unconstrained, was not negligent; and though forcible, was not turbulent: disdaining anxious nicety of emphasis, and laboured artifice of action, it captivated the hearer by its natural dignity, it roused the sluggish, and fixed the volatile, and detained the mind upon the subject, without directing it to the speaker.

The grandeur and solemnity of the preacher did not intrude upon his general behaviour. At the table of his friends he was a companion communicative and attentive, of unaffected manners, of manly cheerfulness, willing to please, and easy to be pleased. His acquaintance was universally solicited, and his presence obstructed no enjoyment which religion did not forbid. Though studious he was popular; though argumentative he was modest; though inflexible he was candid; and though metaphysical, yet orthodox. –Johnson in the London Chronicle, May 2, 1769, quoted by Boswell in Life of Johnson. show less

“’There is, perhaps, more knowledge circulated in the French language than in any other. There is more original knowledge in English.' 'But the French,' said I [Boswell], 'have the art of accommodating literature.' JOHNSON. 'Yes, sir; we have no such book as Moreri's Dictionary.'" --Boswell in The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides

Dr. Henry More, of Cambridge, he did not much affect: he was a platonist, and, in Johnson's opinion, a visionary. He would frequently cite from him, and laugh at, a passage to this effect:—'At the consummation of all things, it shall come to pass, that eternity shall shake hands with opacity.' –Sir John Hawkins in The Life of Samuel Johnson

Johnson on Jeremiah Markland, one of the editors: 'I remember,' writes Mrs. Piozzi (Anec. p. 252), ' when lamentation was made of the neglect shown to Jeremiah Markland, a great philologist, as some one ventured to call him: " He is a scholar undoubtedly, Sir," replied Dr. Johnson, "but remember that he would run from the world, and that it is not the world's business to run after him. I hate a fellow whom pride, or cowardice, or laziness drives into a corner, and does nothing when he is there but sit and growl; let him come out as I do, and bark." '

BOSWELL : " Surely, Sir, Mr. Mason's ' Elfrida ' is a fine poem : at least you will allow there are some good passages in it." JOHNSON : " There are now and then some good imitations of Milton's bad manner." I often wondered at his [Johnson's] low estimation of the writings of Gray and Mason. –Boswell, Life of Johnson

“Percy’s attention to poetry has given grace and splendour to his studies of antiquity. A mere antiquarian is a rugged being.” Johnson, in a letter to Boswell, included in Life of Johnson

Mattaire's account of the Stephani is a heavy book. He seems to have been a puzzle-headed man, with a large share of scholarship, but with little geometry or logick in his head, without method, and possessed of little genius. He wrote Latin verses from time to time, and published a set in his old age, which he called ' Senilia ;' in which he shews so little learning or taste in writing, as to make Carteret a dactyl'. Boswell, Life of Johnson

“…As for the female politician, her notions about government have been sufficiently trumpeted by herself. It has been reported, but whether in print or no I cannot tell, that in a dispute with this political lady, Johnson once said—‘ You are to recollect, madam, that there is a monarchy in heaven.’ Mrs. Macaulay : ‘ If I thought so, sir, I should never wish to go there.’ True it is, that our philosopher's exhibition of this lady's principles and conduct was a rich classical treat, of which I much regret that I can present to my readers nothing more than the concluding circumstance, — with which it now appears to be high time that this narrative also should be brought to a conclusion. After much of the Doctor's sportiveness and play of wit, at the lady's expense, it must be owned, Beauclerk called out—‘ Come, come, Doctor, take care what you say, and don't be too saucy about Mrs. Macaulay; for if you do, I shall find means of setting her upon you as soon as we return, and she will comb your wig for you pretty handsomely.’ Johnson. ‘ Well, sir, and pray by what means do you propose to achieve this notable exploit of yours, Mr. Beauclerk?’ Beauclerk. ‘ Oh ! I’ll soon tell you that, Doctor. You can't deny that it's now a full fortnight since Mrs. M. made you a present of her history; and to my certain knowledge it still remains in your study without one of the leaves being cut open ; which is such a contempt of the lady's genius and abilities, show more that, should I acquaint her with it, as perhaps I shall, I wouldn't be in your place, Doctor, for a good deal, I assure you.’ Johnson, sub-laughing all the while at this threat—‘ Why, in the first place, sir, I am so far from denying your allegations, that I freely confess, before this company, that they are perfectly true and correct. The work of Mrs. Macaulay is indeed in the situation that you have described. But in the second place, sir, I may safely, I believe, defy all your oratorical powers so far to work upon that lady's vanity as to induce her to believe it possible, that I could hare suffered her writings to lie by me so long, without once gratifying myself by a perusal of them. However, pray try, Mr. Beauclerk : I beg you will try, sir, as soon as you think proper; and then we shall see whether you will soonest bring the lady about my ears, or about your own, sir.’” --R.N. Turner, “Account of Dr. Johnson’s Visit to Cambridge” in New Monthly Magazine (Vol. X, No. 59, December, 1818) show less

Mr. Lucas has just been with me. He has compelled me to read his tragedy, which is but a poor performance, and yet may perhaps put money into his pocket; it contains nothing immoral or indecent, and therefore, we may very reasonably wish it success. – Letter to Dr. Taylor, May 3, 1777

His Majesty [George III] then talked of the controversy between [Bishop William] Warburton and Lowth, which he seemed to have read, and asked Johnson what he thought of it. Johnson answered, ‘ Warburton has most general, most scholastic learning : Lowth is the more correct scholar. I do not know which of them calls names best.' The King was pleased to say he was of the same opinion : adding, ' You do not think, then, Dr. Johnson, that there was much argument in the case?' Johnson said, he did not think there was. 'Why, truly,' said the King, 'when once it comes to calling names, argument is pretty well at an end.' --Boswell, Life of Johnson