...well-appointed drawingroom. But Johnson would not rise from his desk. ' Of Congreve's plays,' he says, ' I cannot speak distinctly; for since I inspected them...with very little of nature and not much of life.' Then follows an admirable critical summary of Congreve's peculiar merits in comedy. This magnanimous...

...shall for that purpose single out the following passage: "Congreve has merit of the highest kind; he is an original writer, who borrowed neither the models of his plot nor the manner of his dialogue." (p. 270). Modern criticism fully bears out the correctness of this judgment. So Dudley H. Miles, The...

...important particulars (as regards language, etc.) 1 For instance, in writing of Congreve, Johnson says, ' Of his plays I cannot speak distinctly; for since...inspected them many years have passed, but what remains in my memory is ..." and a critical account follows. A nineteenth-century writer, even of the same...

...as a Dramatilt is finely expreffed. " Congreve, fays the Doctor, has merit of the higheft kind; he is an original writer, who borrowed neither the models...plot, nor the manner of his dialogue. Of his plays 1 cannot fpeak diftinctly ; for fince I infpected them many years have paffed ; but what remains upon...

...characters." Congrevr, ai a dramatic writer, however^rlands very high in he efte:m of Johnfon, " he is an original writer, who borrowed neither the models of his plot, nor the rnaftner of tis dialogue'*— this is a oanifcft contiacli£tioil cf the f ajfaje before referred (o.—...