2nd s. No 96., Oct. 31. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



341 



LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBERZX. 1857. 



DB. JOHNSON AND DR. MATT. 



According to Boswell (anno 1756), when Dr. 

 Johnson was contemplating a review of litera- 

 ture — 



" Dr. Adams suggested, that as Dr. Maty had just 

 then finished his Btbliotheque Britannique, which was a 

 well executed work, giving foreigners an account of 

 British publications, he might with great advantage as- 

 sume him as an assistant. ' He (said Johnson) the little 

 black dog! I'd throw him into the Thames.' The 

 scheme, however, was dropped." 



Dr. Maty (or Dr. Matthew Maty, the father, 

 for there are two), born 1718, died 1776, settled 

 in England in 1740, and was successively Secre- 

 tary of the Royal Society, and principal librarian 

 of the British Museum. Having occasion to look 

 through the Journal Britannique, the real name of 

 his periodical, which appeared in numbers from 

 1750 to 1755, I found what I suppose is the true 

 cause of Johnson's dislike of the editor. 



Mr. Croker suggested that it was to be traced 

 to Maty being the friend of Lord Chesterfield, 

 and afterwards his editor ; but this is hardly suf- 

 ficient. It is true that Maty and Lord Chester- 

 field were friends. Maty was the especial friend, 

 and Lord Chesterfield the pupil, of De Moivre, 

 who lived till 1754, and seems to have kept his 

 friend and his old pupils together in a kind of 

 clique. Maty, I find in the Journal, is very care- 

 ful to notice every work of one of De Moivre's 

 pupils. Lord Macclesfield was one of them, and 

 his association with Lord Chesterfield in forward- 

 ing the change of style may possibly be connected 

 with their youthful intimacy * as fellow pupils ; 

 Daval, who drew the bill, was a third pupil. 



But the cause of Johnson's dislike must have 

 lain in the review which was given of his Dic- 

 tionary. This review, though doing full justice to 

 the work, and making a very fair approximation 

 to the verdict of posterity, contains a passage or 

 two which could hardly have been palatable. As 

 follows : — 



" . . . et I'on pourrait souhaiter que dans des pieces 

 destinees h. I'instruction il eut daigne abaisser son vol. 

 Son style est pur, fort, et majestueux ; mais il abonde en 

 figures' et en antitheses, on y trouve souvent de I'enflure, 

 et presque toujours une affectation de symetrie, de ca- 

 dence, et d'obscurite." 



" Quand on voit sous les noms de Torys et des Whigs, 

 et dans quelques autres articles ^galement delicats, des 

 descriptions, qui certainement ne sauraient plaire h, ceux 

 qui s'interessent k I'Administration pr^sente, n'est-on pas 

 tent^ de reprocher h, I'Auteur, comme un second defaut, 

 la foiblesse qu'il a eue de faire connoitre ses principes de 

 politique et de religion ? " 



• Had Boswell known this, he would never have sup- 

 posed that Lord Chesterfield's picture of a respectable Mot- 

 tentot was intended for Lord Macclesfield. 



Nevertheless, it is difficult to know an author'a 

 style, unless his name be also known. Johnson 

 wrote a pamphlet on finding the longitude for 

 Zachariah Williams, under whose name it ap- 

 peared. Maty, in reviewing this pamphlet, which 

 was written in ordinary Johnsonese, says "Elle 

 est ecrite avec simplicite, et meme avec elegance." 



But the principal cause of offence must have 

 been the following : — 



" Dfes I'ann^e 1747, on put voir le plan qall se pro- 

 posait de remplir, dans une letti'e addressee a Mylord 

 Chesterfield. Les vues neuves et approfondies, que con- 

 tenoit ce projet, previnreut en faveur d'nn travail entre- 

 pris sous de tels auspices et dirig^ par de telles regies. 

 On a lieu d'etre surpris que cette pifece ne se trouve point 

 a la tite du dictionnaire, dont elle contenoit I'annonv'*. 

 Elle eut epargn^ h I'Auteur la composition d'une nouvele 

 preface, qui ne contient qu'en partie les inemes choses, e> 

 qu'on est tente de regarder comme destinee a faire perdre 

 de vue quelques unes des obligations, que M. Johnson 

 avoit contractees, et le M^cfene qu'il avoit choisi." 



Johnson had good right to be angry with this 

 affected innocence, and wilful suppression of the 

 circumstances of the attack on Lord Chesterfield, 

 and the allegations which that attack contained. 

 To be represented as sneaking out of acknow- 

 ledgment, when he had thrown it in the alleged 

 patron's face that he had been no patron at all ; 

 and this in a publication to be circulated among 

 those who could hardly hear of what had really 

 taken place, was enough to rouse a more lamb- 

 like son of Adam than Sam. Johnson. And as this 

 provocation was given in the number for July and 

 August, 1755, which could hardly have appeared 

 before October, and Johnson's ideas upon the 

 disposal of Dr. Maty's body were uttered before 

 the end of the year, we may even say that the 

 sentence was moderate, considering the quid and 

 the de quoque viro both. 



In speaking of the Journal Britannique, I may 

 note that a very rare Life of De Moivre, which I 

 have used elsewhere, written by Maty, is a re- 

 print from the number for September and Oc- 

 tober, 1755. It has an anecdote or two of Newton 

 which can be found nowhere else. And we learn 

 that De Moivre, to whom Newton used to send 

 questioners in his old age, as to one who knew 

 the Principia better than himself, once whispered 

 to a friend (Jiorresco referens), that he would 

 rather have been Moliere than Newton. 



A. De Mobgajt. 



POPIANA. 



Durgen. — I have lately met with a copy of the 

 Satire in which Ned Ward replied to Pope's at- 

 tack upon him in The Dunciad, — 



" Or ship'd with Ward to Ape and Monkey lands." 

 It is entitled Durgen, or, a Plain Satyr upon a 

 Pompous Satyrist : 



'* in trutinS. ponetur eadem." — Host 



