REV. MR. DOUGLAS. Conjugi, sponsi sponsæque jugalia sacra! CITATION VI. Essay, page 109. numen! hova Existens, celebrabo tuas, memorique sonabo O miris mirande modis! ter maxime rerum! INTERPOLATION IN FOX. Essay, page 116. Tu Psychephone Hypocrisis esto, hoc sub Francisci pallio. Tu Psychephone! INTERPOLATION IN QUINTIANUS. Mic. Cur huc procaci veneris cursu refer? Veniret? Illic summa tenebrarum lues, INTERPOLATION IN BEZA. Essay, page 119. Stygemque testor, et profunda Tartari, INTERPOLATION IN FLETCHER. Essay, page 124. Nec tamen æternos obliti (absiste timere) For facile, the word voluve was substituted in the Nec fas; non sic deficimus, nec talia tecum Ne dubita, numquam fractis hæc pectora num- Et Stygiis mutet radiantia lumina flammis. INTERPOLATIONS IN TAUBMAN. † alter Filius iste tuus, qui se tibi subjicit ultro, Essay, page 152, Throni, dominationes, principatus, virtutes, potestates, is said to be a line borrowed by Milton from the titlepage of Heywood's "Hierarchy of Angels." But there are more words in Heywood's title; and, according to his own arrangement of his subjects, they should be read thus: Seraphim, cherubim, throni, potestates, angeli, archangeli, principatus, dominationes. These are my interpolations, minutely traced without any arts of evasion. Whether from the passages that yet remain, any reader will be convinced of my general assertion, and allow that Milton had recourse for assistance to any of the authors whose names I have mentioned, I shall not now be very diligent to inquire, for I had no particular pleasure in subverting the reputation of Milton, which I had myself once endeavoured to exalt ;* and of which, the foundation had al Virorum maximus-JOANNES MILTONUS-Poeta celeberrimus-non Anglia modo, soli natalis, verum generis humani ornamentum-cujus eximius liber, Anglicanis versibus conscriptus, vulgo PARADISUS AMISSUS, immortalis illud ingenii monumentum, cum ipsa ferè eternitate perennaturum est opus-Hujus memoriam Anglorum primus, post tantum, pro dolor! ab tanti excessu poetæ intervallum, statua eleganti in loco celeberrimo,cœnobio Westmonasteriensi, posita, regum, principum, antistitum, illustriumque Angliæ virorum come terio, vir ornatissimus, Gulielmus Benson prosecutus est. Poetarum Scotorum Musa Sacræ in præfatione, Edinb. 1739. A character, as high and honourable as ever was bestowed upon him by the most sanguine of his admirers", ways remained untouched by me, had not my credit and my interest been blasted, or thought to be blasted, by the shade which it cast from its boundless elevation. About ten years ago, I published an edition of Dr. Johnston's translation of the "Psalms," and having procured from the general assembly of the church of Scotland, a recommendation of its use to the lower classes of grammar-schools, into which I had begun to introduce it, though not without much controversy and opposition; I thought it likely that I should, by annual publications, improve my little fortune, and be enabled to support myself in freedom from the miseries of indigence. But Mr. Pope, in his malevolence to Mr. Benson, who had distinguished himself by his fondness for the same version, destroyed all my hopes by a distich, in which he places Johnston in a contemptuous comparison with the author of "Paradise Lost."* it, and resolve, that my first offence shall be my December 20th, 1750. TESTIMONIES CONCERNING MR. LAUDER. Edinb. May 22d, 1734. From this time all my praises of Johnston became ridiculous, and I was censured with great freedom, for forcing upon the schools, an author whom Mr. Pope had mentioned only as a foil to a better poet. On this occasion, it was natural not to be pleased, and my resentment THESE are certifying, that Mr. William Lauder seeking to discharge itself somewhere, was un- passed his course at this university, to the genehappily directed against Milton. I resolved to ral satisfaction of these masters, under whom he attack his fame, and found some passages in studied. That he has applied himself particu cursory reading, which gave me hopes of stigma-larly to the study of humanity* ever since. That tising him as a plagiary. The farther I carried my search the more eager I grew for the discovery, and the more my hypothesis was opposed, the more I was heated with rage. The consequence of my blind passion, I need not relate; it has, by your detection, become apparent to mankind. Nor do I mention this provocation as adequate to the fury which I have shown, but as a cause of anger, less shameful and reproachful than fractious malice, personal envy, or national jealousy. But for the violation of truth, I offer no excuse, because I well know that nothing can excuse it. Nor will I aggravate my crime, by disingenuous palliations. I confess it, I repent and as this was my cool and sincere opinion of that wonderful man formerly, so I declare it to be the same still, and ever will be, notwithstanding all appearances to the contrary, occasioned merely by passion and resentment; which appear, however, by the Postscript to the Essay, to be so far from extending to the posterity of Milton, that I recommend his only remaining descendant, in the warmest terms, to the public. *On two unequal crutches propp'd he came, MILTON'S on this, on that one JOHNSTON's name. Dunciad, Book IV. Benson. This man endeavoured to raise himself to fame, by erecting monuments, striking coins, and procuring translations of Milton; and afterwards by a great passion for Arthur Johnston, a Scots Physician's, version of the Psalms, of which he printed many fine editions. Notes on the Dunciad. No fewer than six different editions of that useful and valuable book, two in quarto, two in octavo, and two in a lesser form, now lie like lumber in the hand of Mr. Vaillant, bookseller, the effects of Mr. Pope's ill-natured criticism. One of these editions in quarto, illustrated with an interpretation and notes, after the manner of the classic authors in usum Delphini, was by the worthy editor, anno 1741, inscribed to his Royal Highness Prince George, as a proper book for his instruction in principles of piety, as well as knowledge of the Latin tongue, when he should arrive at due maturity of age. To restore this book to credit, was the cause that induced me to engage in this disagreeable controversy, rather than any design to depreciate the just reputation of Milton. for several years past, he has taught with success, students in the Humanity Class, who were recommended to him by the professor thereof. And lastly, has taught that class himself, during the indisposition, and since the death of its late professor; and therefore is, in our opinion, a fit person to teach Humanity in any school or college whatever. J. GOWDIE, S. S. T. MATT. CRAUFURD, S. S. T. et Hist. Ec. Pr. Reg. ROBERT STUART, Ph. Nat. Pr. CHARLES MACKY, Hist. P. A Letter from the Rev. Mr. Patrick Cuming, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, and Regius Professor of Church History in the University there, to the Rev. Mr. Blair, Rector of the Grammar-School at Dundee. D. B.-Upon a public advertisement in the newspapers, of the vacancy of a master's place in your school, Mr. William Lauder, a friend of mine, proposes to set up for a candidate, and goes over for that purpose. He has long taught the given such proofs of his mastery in that lanLatin with great approbation in this place, and guage, that the best judges do upon all occasions recommend him as one who is qualified in the best manner. He has taught young boys and young gentlemen, with great success; nor did I ever hear of any complaint of him from either parents or children. I beg leave to recommend him to you as my friend; what friendship you So the Latin tongue is called in Scotland, from the Latin phrase, classis humaniorum literarum, the class or form where that language is taught. TESTIMONIES CONCERNING MR. LAUDER. show him, I will look upon as a very great act of friendship to me, of which he and I will retain the most grateful sense, if he is so happy as to be preferred. I persuade myself, you will find him ready at all times to be advised by you, as I have found him. Indeed, if justice had been done him, he should long ago have been advanced for his merit. I ever am, D. B., your most affectionate, humble servant, Edinb. Nov. 13th, 1742. PATRICK CUMING. A Letter from Mr. Mac-Laurin, late Professor of Mathe- I know him to SIR,-Though unacquainted, I take the liberty of giving you this trouble, from the desire I have always had to see Mr. Lauder provided in a manner suited to his talent. have made uncommon progress in classical learning, to have taught it with success, and never heard there could be any complaint against his method of teaching. I am, indeed, a stranger to the reasons of his want of success on former occasions. But after conversing with him, I have ground to hope, that he will be always advised by you, for whom he professes great esteem, and will be useful under you. I am, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant, COLIN MAC-Laurin. College of Edinburgh, Nov. 30th, 1742. A Letter from the Authors of the "Universal History," to Mr. Lauder. London, August 12th, 1741. LEARNED SIR,-When we so gladly took the first opportunity of reviving the memory and merit of your incomparable Johnston, in the first volume of our "Universal History," our chief aim was to excite some generous Mecenas to favour the world with a new edition of a poem which we had long since beheld with no small concern, buried, as it were, by some unaccount ble fatality, into an almost total oblivion: whilst others of that kind, none of them superior, many vastly inferior, to it, rode unjustly, as we thought, triumphant over his silent grave. And it is with great satisfaction that we have seen our endeavours so happily crowned in the edition you soon after gave of it at Edinburgh, in your learned and judicious vindication of excellent author, and more particularly by the just deference which your learned and pious convocation has been pleased to pay to that admirable version. your We have had since then, the pleasure to see your worthy example followed here, in the se in the choice and variety of his metre, it is as We have likewise since seen what your oppo- vants, the thor of the Latin and English Dictionary, to Mr. Lauveral beautiful editions of the honourable Mr. A Letter from the learned Mr. Robert Ainsworth, Auder. Auditor Benson, with his critical notes upon work. LEARNED AND WORTHY SIR,-These wait on It was, indeed, the farthest from our thoughts, to enter into the merit of the controversy be- you to thank you for the honour you have done a tween your two great poets, Johnston and Bu-person equally unknown as undeserving, in your chanan; neither were we so partial to either as valuable present, which I did not receive till not to see, that each had their shades as well as several weeks after it was sent; and since I relights; so that, if the latter has been more happy ceived it my eyes have been so bad, and my mites into your treasury of critical notes on his We beg leave to subscribe ourselves, Sir, &c. hand so unstable, that I have been forced to | poet, you will permit us to cast the following defer my duty, as desirous to thank you with my own hand. I congratulate to your nation the just honour ascribed to it by its neighbours and more distant countries, in having bred two such excellent poets as your Buchanan and Johnston, whom to name is to commend; but am concerned for their honour at home, who being committed together, seem to me both to suffer a diminution, whilst justice is done to neither. But at the same time I highly approve your nation's piety in bringing into your schools sacred instead of profane poesy, and heartily wish that ours, and all christian governments, would follow your example herein. If a mixture of utile dulci be the best composition in poetry, (which is too evident to need the judg ment of the nicest critic in the art,) surely the utile so transcendently excels in the sacred hymns, that a christian must deny his name that doth not acknowledge it: and if the dulce seem not equally to excel, it must be from a vitiated taste of those who read them in their original, and in others at second-hand from translations. For the manner of writing in the East and West are widely distant, and which to a paraphrast must render his task exceeding difficult, as requiring a perfect knowledge in two languages, wherein the idioms and graces of speech, caused by the diversity of their religion, laws, customs, &c. are as remote as the inhabitants, wherein notwithstanding your poets have succeeded to admiration. Your main contest seems to me, when stript of persons, whether the easy or sublime in poesy be preferable; if so, Non opis est nostræ tantam componere litem: nor think I it in your case material to be decided. Both these have their particular excellences and graces, and youth ought to be taught wherein (which the matter ought chiefly to determine) the one hath place, and where the other. Now since the hymns of David, Moses, and other divine poets intermixed with them, (infinitely excelling those of Callimachus, Alcæus, Sappho, Anacreon, and all others,) abound in both these virtues, and both your poets are acknowledged to be very happy in paraphrasing them, it is my opinion both of them, without giving the least preference to either, should be read alternately in your schools, as the tutor shall direct. Pardon, learned Sir, this scribble to my age and weakness, both which are very great, and command me wherein I may serve you, as, learned Sir, your obliged, thankful, and obedient ser vant, ROBERT AINSWORTH. Spitalfields, Sept. 1741. A Letter from the Authors of the "Universal History," to Mr. Auditor Benson. SIR, It is with no small pleasure that we see Dr. Johnston's translation of the Psalms revived in so elegant a manner, and adorned with such a just and learned display of its inimitable beauties. As we flatter ourselves that the character we gave it in our first volume of the "Universal History," did in some measure contribute to it, we hope, that in justice to that great Dr. Isaac Watts, D. D. in his late Book, entitled "The Improvement of the Mind," Lond. 1741, p. 114. Upon the whole survey of things, it is my opinion, that for almost all boys who learn this tongue, [the Latin,] it would be much safer to be taught Latin poesy (as soon, and as far as they can need it) from those excellent translations of David's Psalms, which are given us by Buchanan in the various measures of Horace; and the lower classes had better read Dr. Johnston's translation of those Psalms, another elegant writer of the Scots nation, instead of Ovid's Epistles; for he has turned the same Psalms, perhaps with greater elegancy, into elegiac verse, whereof the learned W. Benson, Esq. has lately published a new edition; and I hear that these Psalms are honoured with an increasing use in the schools of Holland and Scotland. A stanza, or a couplet of those writers would now and then stick upon the minds of youth, and would furnish them infinitely better with pious and moral thoughts, and do something towards making them good men and christians. An act of the Commission of the General Assembly of the grammar 13th of November, 1740, post meridiem. A petition having been presented to the late General Assembly, by Mr. William Lauder, Teacher of Humanity in Edinburgh, craving, That Dr. Arthur Johnston's Latin Paraphrase on the Psalms of David, and Mr. Robert Boyd, of Trochrig, his Hecatombe Christiana, may be recommended to be taught in all schools; and the assembly having appointed a committee of their number to take the desire of the aforesaid petition into their consideration, and report to the Commission: the said committee offered their opinion, that the Commission should grant the desire of the said petition, and recommend the said Dr. Johnston's Paraphrase to be taught in the lower classes of the schools, and Mr. George Buchanan's Paraphrase on the Psalms, together with Mr. Robert Boyd of Trochrig's Hecatombe Christiana in the higher classes of schools, and Humanity-classes in universities. The Commission having heard the said report, unanimously approved thereof, and did, and hereby do, recommend accordingly. Extracted by WILLIAM GRANT,* Cl. Ecl. Sc * This honourable gentleman is now his Majesty' Advocate for Scotland. A letter from the learned Mr. Abraham Gronovius, Se- | ceps, a quo aliquando Britannici regni majestas cretary to the University of Leyden, to Mr. Lauder, concerning the Adamus Ersul of Grotius. Clarissimo Viro, Wilhelmo Laudero, Abrahamus Gronovius, S. P. D. Postquam binæ literæ tuæ ad me perlata fuerunt, duas editiones carminum H. Grotii, viri vere summi, excussi; verùm ab utraque tragœdiam, quam Adamum Exsulem inscripsit & závu, abesse deprehendi; neque ullum ejusdem exemplar, quamvis tres editiones exstare adnotaveram, ullibi offendere potui, adeo ut spe, quam vorabam desiderio tuo satisfaciendi, me prorsus excidisse existimarem. Verùm nuperrime fortè contigit, ut primam! Tragadia Grotiana editionem Haga, An. 1601, publicatam, beneficio amicissimi mihi viri nactus fuerim, ejusque decem priores paginas, quibus præter chorum actus primus comprehenditur, a Jacobo meo, optima spei adolescente, transcriptas nunc ad te mitto. Vale vir doctissime, meque ut facis amare perge. Dabam Lugd. Bat. A. D. IV. Eid. Sept. A. D. MDCCXLVI. et populi salus pendebunt! Interim tibi, eruditissime vir, atque etiam politissimo D. Caveo, pro muneribus literariis, quæ per nobilissimum Lawsonium ad me curâstis, magno opere me obstrictum agnosco, eademque summa cum voluptate a me perlecta sunt. Filius meus te plurimùm salutat. Vale, doctissime vir, meisque verbis D. Ca- A. D. MDCCXLVII. POSTSCRIPT And now my character is placed above all suspicion of fraud by authentic documents, I will make bold at last to pull off the mask, and declare sincerely the true motive that induced me to interpolate a few lines into some of the authors quoted by me in my Essay on Milton, which was this: Knowing the prepossession in favour of Milton, how deeply it was rooted in many, I was willing to make trial, if the partial admirers of that author would admit a translation A second letter from the same gentleman to Mr. Lauder, of his own words to pass for his sense, or exhibit on the same subject. his meaning; which I thought they would not: Clarissime atque Eruditissime Vir! nor was I mistaken in my conjecture, forasmuch as several gentlemen, seemingly persons of judgPosteaquam tandem Jacobus meus residuam ment and learning, assured me, they humbly partem, quam desiderabas, Tragedia Groliana conceived I had not proved my point, and that transcripserat, ut eâ diutius careres, committere Milton might have written as he has done supnolui: quod autem citius illam ad finem perdu-posing he had never seen these authors, or they cere non potuerit, obstiterunt variæ occupationes, had never existed. Such is the force of prejuquibus districtus fuit. Nam præter scholastica dice! This exactly confirms the judicious obserstudia, quibus strenuè incubuit, ipsi componenda vation of the excellent moralist and poet: orat oratio, qua rudimenta linguæ Græcæ Latinæque deponeret, eamque, quod vehementer lætor, venustè, et quidem stilo ligato, composuit, et in magna auditorum corona pronuntiavit. Quod autem ad exemplar ipsum, quo Adamus Exsul comprehenditur, spectat, id lubens, si meum foret, ad te perferri curarem, verùm illud a clarissimo possessore tanti æstimatur, ut persuasum habeam me istud minimè ab ipso impetraturum: et sanè sacra carmina Grotii adeò rarò obvia sunt, ut eorundem examplar apud ipsos remonstrantium ecclesiastas frustra quæ siverim. Opus ipsum inscriptum est HENRICO BORBONIO, PRINCIPI CONDEO; et forma libri est in quarto, ut nullo pacto literis includi possit. Ceterùm, pro splendidissima et Magna Britanniæ principe, cui meritò dicata est, digna editione Psalmorum, ex versione metrica omnium ferè poëtarum principis JOHNSTONI maximas tibi grates habet agitque Jacobus. Utinam illustrissimus Bensonus in usum serenissimi principis, atque ingeniorum in altiora surgentium, eâdem formâ iisdemque typis exarari juberet divinos illos Ciceronis de Officiis libros, dignos sane, quos diurnâ nocturnâque manu versaret prin Though Gronovius here mentions only three editions of this noble and curious performance, the Adamus Ersul of Grotius; yet it appears from the catalogue of his works, that no fewer than four have been printed, two in quarto, and two in octavo, in the years 1601, 1608, and 1635; two having been made, one in quarto, the other octavo, Anno 1601. Pravo favore labi mortales solent, Et pro judicio dum stant erroris sui, Ad pœnitendum rebus manifestis agi. For had I designed (as the vindicator of Milton supposes) to impose a trick on the public, and I would never have drawn lines from Hog's procure credit to my assertions by an imposture, translation of Milton, a book common at every sale, I had almost said at every stall, nor ascribed them to authors so easily attained: I would have gone another way to work, by translating forty or fifty lines, and assigning them to an author, the world expire at the general conflagration. whose works possibly might not be found till My imposing therefore on the public in general, instead of a few obstinate persons, (for whose sake alone the stratagem was designed,) is the only thing culpaple in my conduct, for which again I most humbly ask pardon: and that this and this only, was, as no other could be, my design, no one I think can doubt, from the account I have just now given; and whether that shall leave every impartial mind to determine. was so criminal, as it has been represented, I The person here meant was the learned and worthy Dr. Isaac Lawson, late physician to the English army in Flanders by whom Mr. Gronovius did me the honour to transmit to me two or three acts of the Adamus Ersul of Grotius, transcribed by his son Mr. Jaines. The truth of this particular consists perfectly well with the knowledge of the Doctor's brother John Lawson, Esq, counsellor at law; who also had the same thing lately con firmed to him by Mr. Gronovius himself in Holland. |