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which had been done by others before him, only carries farther 

 an improvement which he did not begin, and adds to thofe fiores 

 which the induftry of others had begun to accumulate. This con- 

 fideration however will not always bear him out blamelefs ; fome 

 words he has adopted, for the adoption of v/hich he cannot plead 

 either neceffity or ufe, for he could have found at home words 

 of precifely the fame import and of not lefs dignity. But it is 

 contended that he has not oftcTi thus erred ; that on tlic whole 

 he has enriched the Englifii language, and that, therefore, he 

 deferves not merely impunity but praife. 



Besides thefe difcinguifliing features in the ftyle of Johnfon, 

 by which he has varied the ftyle of Englifii profe, there is another 

 equally prominent v/hich it ftiall fufEce barely to mention — the 

 frequent perfonification of virtues and vices, of habits and of 

 adions *. 



SuBSEquENT to Johnfon there does not feem to have occurred any 

 variation in the ftyle of Englifii profe, notwithftanding the immenfe 

 numbers of modern writers under whofe labours the prefs has 

 groaned. Of thefe the greater number have no peculiar charader 

 in compofition ; others have imitated, fome with more and fome 

 with lefs fuccefs, the ftyle of Johnfon ; and fome, as a Burke and 

 a f Reynolds, have rifen in fome inftances, perhaps, above him. 



Were 



• Thofe peculiarities of Johnfon's flyle are found to prevail mod in his Rambler. 

 His Idler is lefs ftrongly marked by them, and they are ftiU lefs ftrong in his Lives ; 

 a work by which, perhaps, his excellence as an Englifti profe writer is mofl fully 

 confirmed. 



f Sir Jofliua Reynolds in his Difcourfes to the Royal Academy. 



