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of which was his acquiring a very large fortune, with great liberality. Johnson said of him, 'I respect Millar, sir; he has raised the price of literature.' The same praise may be justly given to Panckoucke, the eminent bookseller of Paris. Mr. Strahan's liberality, judgment, and success, are well known.

TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ., AT LANGTON, NEAR SPILSBY, LINCOLNSHIRE

'SIR,-It has been long observed, that men do not suspect faults which they do not commit; your own elegance of manners, and punctuality of complaisance, did not suffer you to impute to me that negligence of which I was guilty, and which I have not since atoned. I received both your letters, and received them with pleasure proportionate to the esteem which so short an acquaintance strongly impressed, and which I hope to confirm by nearer knowledge, though I am afraid that gratification will be for a time withheld.

'I have, indeed, published my book, of which I beg to know your father's judgment, and yours; and I have now stayed long enough to watch its progress in the world. It has, you see, no patrons, and, I think, has yet had no opponents, except the critics of the coffee-house, whose outcries are soon dispersed into the air, and are thought on no more: from this, therefore, I am at liberty, and think of taking the opportunity of this interval to make an excursion, and why not then into Lincolnshire? or, to mention a stronger attraction, why not to dear Mr. Langton? I will give the true reason, which I know you will approve: I have a mother more than eighty years old, who has counted the days to the publication of my book, in hopes of seeing me; and to her, if I can disengage myself here, I resolve to go.

'As I know, dear sir, that to delay my visit for a reason like this will not deprive me of your esteem, I beg it may not lessen your kindness. I have very seldom received an offer of friendship which I so earnestly desire to cultivate and

1 'His Dictionary.'

mature. I shall rejoice to hear from you till I can see you, and will see you as soon as I can; for when the duty that calls me to Lichfield is discharged, my inclination will carry me to Langton. I shall delight to hear the ocean roar, or see the stars twinkle, in the company of men to whom Nature does not spread her volumes or utter her voice in vain.

'Do not, dear sir, make the slowness of this letter a precedent for delay, or imagine that I approved the incivility that I have committed; for I have known you enough to love you, and sincerely to wish a farther knowledge; and I assure you, once more, that to live in a house that contains such a father, and such a son, will be accounted a very uncommon degree of pleasure by, dear sir, your most obliged and most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.

'May 6, 1755.'

TO THE REV. MR. THOMAS WARTON

'DEAR SIR,-I am grieved that you should think me capable of neglecting your letters, and beg you will never admit any such suspicion again. I purpose to come down next week, if you shall be there; or any other week that shall be more agreeable to you. Therefore let me know. I can stay this visit but a week, but intend to make preparations for a longer stay next time; being resolved not to lose sight of the University. How goes Apollonius? Don't let him be forgotten. Some things of this kind must be done to keep us up. Pay my compliments to Mr. Wise, and all my other friends. I think to come to Kettel Hall.—I am, sir, your most affectionate, etc., SAM. JOHNSON.

'[London,] May 13, 1755.'

TO THE SAME

'DEAR SIR,-It is strange how many things will happen to intercept every pleasure, though it [be] only that of two

1 'A translation of Apollonius Rhodius was now intended by Mr. Warton.'

2 [Kettel Hall is an ancient tenement, built about the year 1615 by Dr. Ralph Kettel, President of Trinity College, for the accommodation of Commoners of that Society. It adjoins the College; and was a few years ago converted into a private house.-M.]

friends meeting together. I have promised myself every day to inform you when you might expect me at Oxford, and have not been able to fix a time. The time, however, is, I think, at last come; and I promise myself to repose in Kettel Hall one of the first nights of the next week. I am afraid my stay with you cannot be long; but what is the inference? We must endeavour to make it cheerful. I wish your brother could meet us, that we might go and drink tea with Mr. Wise in a body. I hope he will be at Oxford, or at his nest of British and Saxon antiquities.1 I shall expect to see Spenser finished, and many other things begun. Dodsley is gone to visit the Dutch. The Dictionary sells well. The rest of the world goes on as it did.-Dear sir, your most affectionate, etc. SAM. JOHNSON.

"[London,] June 10, 1755.'

TO THE REV. MR. THOMAS WARTON

'DEAR SIR,-To talk of coming to you, and not yet come, has an air of trifling which I would not willingly have among you; and which, I believe, you will not willingly impute to me, when I have told you that, since my promise, two of our partners 2 are dead, and that I was solicited to suspend my excursion till we could recover from our confusion.

'I have not laid aside my purpose; for every day makes me more impatient of staying from you. But death, you know, hears not supplications, nor pays any regard to the convenience of mortals. I hope now to see you next week; but next week is but another name for to-morrow, which has been noted for promising and deceiving.-I am, etc., 'SAM. JOHNSON.

"[London,] June 24, 1755.'

TO THE SAME

'DEAR SIR,-I told you that among the manuscripts are some things of Sir Thomas More. I beg you to pass an hour in looking on them, and procure a transcript of the ten or twenty first lines of each, to be compared with what I have;

1 'At Ellsfield, a village three miles from Oxford. ? 'Booksellers concerned in his Dictionary,

that I may know whether they are yet published. The manuscripts are these:

3.

'Catalogue of Bodl. мs. page 122, f. 3, Sir Thomas More. '1. Fall of angels. 2. Creation and fall of mankind. Determination of the Trinity for the rescue of mankind. 4. Five lectures of our Saviour's passion. 5. Of the institution of the sacrament, three lectures. 6. How to receive the blessed body of our Lord sacramentally. 7. Neomenia, the new moon. 8. De tristitia, tædio, pavore, et oratione Christi ante captionem ejus.

'Catalogue, page 154. Life of Sir Thomas More. Qu. Whether Roper's? Page 363. De resignatione Magni Sigilli in manus Regis per D. Thomam Morum. Page 364. Mori Defensio Moria.

'If you procure the young gentleman in the library to write out what you think fit to be written, I will send to Mr. Prince the bookseller to pay him what you think proper.

'Be pleased to make my compliments to Mr. Wise, and all my friends.—I am, sir, your affectionate, etc.,

"[London,] Aug. 7, 1755.'

'SAM. JOHNSON.

The Dictionary, with a Grammar and History of the English Language, being now at length published, in two volumes folio, the world contemplated with wonder so stupendous a work achieved by one man, while other countries had thought such undertakings fit only for whole academies. Vast as his powers were, I cannot but think that his imagination deceived him when he supposed that by constant application he might have performed the task in three years. Let the Preface be attentively perused, in which is given, in a clear, strong, and glowing style, a comprehensive yet particular view of what he had done; and it will be evident that the time he employed upon it was comparatively short. I am unwilling to swell my book with long quotations from what is in every

body's hands, and I believe there are few prose compositions in the English language that are read with more delight, or are more impressed upon the memory, than that preliminary discourse. One of its excellences has always struck me with peculiar admiration; I mean the perspicuity with which he has expressed abstract scientific notions. As an instance of this I shall quote the following sentence: 'When the radical idea branches out into parallel ramifications, how can a consecutive series be formed of senses in their own nature collateral?' We have here an example of what has been often said, and I believe with justice, that there is for every thought a certain nice adaptation of words which none other could equal, and which when a man has been so fortunate as to hit, he has attained, in that particular case, the perfection of language.

The extensive reading which was absolutely necessary for the accumulation of authorities, and which alone may account for Johnson's retentive mind being enriched with a very large and various store of knowledge and imagery, must have occupied several years. The preface furnishes an eminent instance of a double talent, of which Johnson was fully conscious. Sir Joshua Reynolds heard him say, 'There are two things which I am confident I can do very well: one is an introduction to any literary work, stating what it is to contain, and how it should be executed in the most perfect manner; the other is a conclusion, showing from various causes why the execution has not been equal to what the author promised to himself and to the public.'

How should puny scribblers be abashed and diş

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