for answer, with a grunt, 'I came as faft as I could.' Upon which the Duke calmly faid, 'Cadogan, I would not for a thousand pounds have that fellow's temper." Advertisement to fecond Edit. p. xv. xvi. The honour of a Nation greatly depends on its literary characters; and, befides gratifying curiosity, it is of fome importance, that the little which can generally be collected of their own lives, fhould be fairly and honeftly reported. It is true, Johnfon's are rare; and a Boswell, who could patiently act the humble fervant, the beft part of his life, for the purpose of furnishing the memoirs of an author by profeffion, is a phenomenon in literature; it is a felicity that all, who have deferved well of the Public, are not to expect. Their works will speak for themselves, and pofterity will perhaps do juftice to their merit; in other refpects, they labour under peculiar disadvantages, and muft abide the common fate. National prejudice, private pique, and the jealoufy of contemporary wits may rudely affail them, and often, in direct proportion to their merit, they become objects of calumny and reproach; fuch a procedure, however common, neither promotes the interefts of virtue, nor contributes to the happiness of fociety. It is the vice of little minds, and a scandal to the republic of letters. A great character, in worthy fituations, is an object of virtuous contemplation; but that minuteness of Anecdote, that oftentatious difplay of trifles, which we fometimes meet with, is a vicious indulgence of inquifitive impertinence; a flagrant breach of private confidence, and and an infringement of the rules of good breeding. 'Tis like intruding on the facred privacy of beauty to expose her in ungracious fituations. What is the world wiser or better for being told, that Semiramis loved a game at romps; that Alexander the Great had the hiccough; the Czar Peter on his travels took a pinch of fnuff and fneezed; or that the Author of the Rambler paired his own nails, or performed any other of the petty offices common to his kind?* Such puerilities might answer an end in the hands of honeft Joe Miller, and ferve as decorations to a jestbook; but are a difgrace to the pages of history, which should exhibit finished portraits of life for inftruction, not a useless farago of caricatures. The retailer of what are called good things treads on a flippery furface, and should do it with judgment and referve. Wit, particularly of the colloquial kind, is a fort of mental electricity, fudden in its effect, and evanefcent in its nature. Many things tell well enough in a private circle, where all are on the gape, prepared for the broad grin, and the prejudice in your favour; which, abftracted from local affimilations, cut but a forry figure upon paper. Witness the numerous collections of repartees, and bon mots, from Seutonius's twelve Cæfars, to Bofwell's Memoirs of Johnson inclufive. The fportive flippances of converfation, the little triumphs of petulance, or casual ebullitions of spleen, may pass for the moment, and, when the laugh is excited, have fully answered their end; but when indulged to the - prejudice * Vide Addenda, p. 49, (a) New Anecdotes of Johnson. prejudice of a deferving member of fociety, and obtruded as hiftorical defignations of character, they fhew a pitiful ambition in the fool that uses them, and, except to expose him, are unworthy of record. To apply Mr. Bofwell's own ftory-" I would not for a thousand pounds have that fellow's temper." Whether Mr. Bofwell comes properly within this defcription, every reader will determine for himself; but fuch were the reflections which occurred to the writer of thefe pages on perufal of that elaborate production. Of the very many emipent characters mentioned in the courfe of thofe volumes, there is fcarcely one, but firft or laft, is prefented in a difadvantageous light, and marked with fome comparative draw-back, as a foil to heighten and fet off the confequence of his illuftrious friend. It was an unneceffary proftitution of applaufe; Dr. Johnfon was fufficient in himself; admitting the facts, there would have been a merit in retrenchment. The hades of his own character, if not wholly concealed, might have been softened, and thrown into the background, without injury to any; his weakneffes could not be improved by comparisons, and his excellencies tood in no need of fuch invidious fupport. De mortuis nihil nifi bonum, fays the adage; Dr. Johnson's reading, De mortuis nihil nifi verum, is not clearly an amendment; bonum implies verum. Biographers are not upon their oath, and if in nothing but the truth is to be underftood the whole truth, it involves an impoffibility; for the truth in toto can never be obtained; obtained; and after all, if the whole truth were within compafs, a great part would be nugatory and ridiculous; the straining after which is but a vain prodigality of time, and an affected parade of impartiality to no end. We have proofs and precedents enow conftantly before us, and need no monitor to fhew what little things are great men. Mr. Bofwell's Life of Johnfon derives importance from the fubject, and has been generally read; on the fame account it will find its way into the repofitories of learning. We envy not his honours, and only wifh he had pruned away certain morbid excrefcencies, and, with a little more circumfpection, made choice of his ground; it would have been more of a piece with his pompous declarations, and precluded the neceffity of an antidote, confequently the present attempt. The writer of thefe fheets is confcious he has need of many apologies; but his intentions are pure; he feeks not to tear the well-earned laurels from the brows of any man; it would be an idle conceit, equally illiberal and abfurd. His only aim is to fet in a proper point of view, and do justice to, what he conceives, an injured character; the character of a good man, which he cannot fuppofe in any light to be properly a fubject of obloquy or contempt. He for a time hoped he should have been fpared the friendly office, and has to regret it was not taken up by abler hands. |