But in the above line, "lash" is not "used absolutely and without modification." True: for Boileau is represented as lashing in honest strain. But Johnson would scarcely advance this argument in favour of the line. He who is so punctiliously correct in all his figures; who cannot endure the "deformity of a broken metaphor ;" and who on another occasion has so triumphantly observed, that it is difficult to paint in sound, or sing in colours. The seventh line is low; but the next clearly implies that Gay was generally lamented: lamented by all the worthy and (to adopt the Poet's tautology) the good: and this is no common lot;-no vulgar praise.* In the criticism on the concluding thought, I must concur;† but I conceive that a reasonable allowance for poetic licence, will repel the grammatical objections to the first eight lines.‡ Before I dismiss this celebrated epitaph, let me extract another passage from Johnson's observations; and contrast it with a sentiment which he has expressed elsewhere. "This Epitaph was probably written with an un "As little can be added to his character, by asserting that "he was lamented in his end."-JOHNS. CRIT. "The thought in the last line is so dark that few understand "it; and so harsh, when explained, that still fewer approve." + "The first eight lines have no grammar, &c.."-Ibid. Ibid. common degree of attention; yet it is not more " successfully executed than the rest: for it will not always happen that the success of a poet is proportionate to his labour. The same observation 66 may be extended to all works of imagination; "which are often influenced by causes wholly out of "the performer's power: by hints of which he per"ceives not the origin; by sudden elevations of "mind, which he cannot produce in himself; and "which sometimes rise, when he expects them "least."* The inconsistent passage, which I would compare with the above, occurs in the life of Gray; and is as follows: "He,” (Gray) had a notion that he could "not write but at certain times; or at happy mo"ments: a fantastic foppery, to which my kindness “for a man of learning and virtue, wishes him to ❝ have been superior."+ Intended for Sir ISAAC NEWTON. In Westmin ster-Abbey. ISAACUS NEWTONIUS: 'Quem Immortalem 'Testantur Tempus, Natura, Cælum: 'Hoc marmor fatetur. 'Nature, and Nature's laws, lay hid in night; * Johnson's Criticism. + Johnson's Life of Gray. In this Epitaph I do not consider "the opposi❝tion of Immortalis and Mortalis as a mere sound 66 "* or quibble;" any more than I look on the following passage in Cato's soliloquy to be so: "This in a moment brings me to an end; "But this informs me I shall never die." That which Addison adverts to, is the immortality of the soul. Whether Pope means the same, or only that kind of self-survivorship, which consists in posthumous celebrity, (a life to come, on which Cicero and Horace dwell, as an incentive to laudable actions,) in either case, "the opposition" is intelligible and striking. The former was probably the Poet's meaning. He meant that the vastness of Newton's enquiries proclaimed the immortality of the mind which undertook them; while the tomb admitted the corruptibility of the body, which that mind had once informed. Man as `flesh is mortal; he is immortal, as a creature into whom the Deity has inspired the breath of life. I agree, that in the verses, "the words night and light are too nearly allied;" but I do not consider the thought" as low, or "obvious."§ On the contrary, this comparison of the removal of intellectual darkness, by the creation of Newton's Spirit, *Johnson's Criticism. + Quem Immortalem testantur Tempus, Natura, Cœlum. Johnson's Criticism. § Ibid. to the prompt and brilliant effect of the yevow &ws* in the natural world, appears to me a sublime hyperbole; and a warrantable compliment, considering the wonderful man to whom it is applied. "Why part "of the Epitaph should be Latin, and part En"glish,"+ I cannot say. Perhaps because Latin is a learned language; and the deceased was a learned I will not insist that this is a good reason; but Johnson often, and confidently, resorts to many that are worse. man. On EDMUND Duke of Buckingham, who died in the 19th Year of his age.-1735. "If modest Youth, with cool reflection crown'd, And Chiefs or Sages, long to Britain giv'n, "Let there be light." + Johnson's Criticism. I have, in considering the Epitaph on Craggs, delivered my opinion of such a junction. I am This Epitaph I very much admire; and agrée with Warburton, in preferring it to the rest.* so far from concurring with Doctor Johnson, that "to crown with reflection is a mode of speech ap proaching to nonsense,"+ that I even doubt whether his assertion that it is so, falls short of being altogether nonsensical itself. His Dictionary informs me that to crown, is to adorn, to finish, to perfect, to complete. Thus to crown youth with reflection, is to render it perfect; by supplying the very attribute, in which it is commonly most deficient; and the want of which is a chief cause of its imperfection. Opening virtues blooming round, is not tautology; and the line in which these expressions are contained, strikes me as being entitled to approbation, "And every opening virtue blooming round." The youth of Buckingham is suggested by his virtues being in bud and his merit is figured by their number, and their bloom. The six following lines are, in my opinion, neither poor, nor prosaick ;* and the "This Epitaph, Mr. Warburton prefers to the rest." + Johnson's Criticism. + Johnson's Dictionary; where the following passage is extracted from South, as an authority: The crowning privilege of friendship, is constancy." If Johnson thinks that Constancy may crown Friendship, he may submit to Youth's being crowned with Reflection. Opening virtues blooming round, is something like tauto"logy." Johns. Crit. "The six following lines are poor and prosaick. Johns. Crit. |