JOHH80NIAKA. 



237 



WarbnrJon is a superior critic to 

 Theobald ?" Johnson: "O, sir, 

 he 'd make two-and-fifty Theobalds 

 cut into slices. The worst of War- 

 burton is, that he has a rage for 

 saying something, when there's 

 nothing to be said." Burney : "Have 

 you seen the letters which War- 

 burton has written in answer to a 

 pamphlet addressed To the Most 

 Impudent Man alive ?" Johnson : 

 " No, sir." Burney : " It is supposed 

 to be written by Mallet." The 

 controversy at this time raged be- 

 tween the friends of Pope and Bol- 

 ingbroke ; and Warburton and 

 Mallet were the leaders of the seve- 

 ral parties. Mr. Burney asked him 

 then if he had seen Warburton's 

 book against Bolingbroke's philo- 

 sophy ? Johnson : " No, sir, I have 

 never read Bolingbroke's impiety, 

 and therefore am not interested 

 about its confutation." 



Sir Thomas Robinson sitting with 

 Johnson, said, that the King of 

 Prussia valued himself upon three 

 things : upon being a hero, a 

 musician, and an author. Johnson : 

 " Pretty well, sir, for one man. As 

 to his being an author, I have not 

 looked at his poetry ; but his prose 

 is poor stuff : he writes just as you 

 may suppose Voltaire's footboy to 

 do, who had been his amanuensis. 

 He has such parts as the valet 

 might have, and about as much of 

 the colouring of the style as might 

 be got by transcribing his works." 

 When Boswell was at Ferney, he 

 repeated this to Voltaire, in order 

 to reconcile him somewhat to John- 

 son, whom he, in affecting the Eng- 

 lish mode of expression, had pre- 

 viously characterized as " a super- 

 stitious dog;" but after hc.-iriu^ 

 such a criticism on Frederick the 

 Great, with whom he was then on 

 bad terms, he exclaimed, " An 

 honest fellow !" 



Upon this contemptuous animad- 

 version on the King of Prussia, 

 Boswell observed to Johnson, " It 



would seem then, sir, that much 

 less parts are necessary to make a 

 king than to make an author ; for 

 the king of Prussia is confessedly 

 the greatest king now in Europe, 

 yet you think he makes a very poor 

 figure as an author." 



Of Burke he said, " It was com- 

 monly observed, he spoke too often 

 in Parliament; but nobody could 

 say he did nof speak well, though 

 too frequently, and too familiarly." 



Talking of Tacitus, Boswell 

 hazarded an opinion, that with all 

 his merit for penetration, shrewd- 

 ness of judgment, and terseness of 

 expression, he was too compact, too 

 much broken into hints, as it were, 

 and therefore too difficult to be un- 

 derstood. Dr. Johnson sanctioned 

 this opinion. " Tacitus, sir, seems 

 to me rather to have made notes 

 for a historical work, than to have 

 written a history." 



He said, " Burnet's History of his 

 own Times is very entertaining: 

 the style, indeed, is mere chit-chat. 

 I do not believe that Burnet inten- 

 tionally lied ; but he was so much, 

 prejudiced, that he took no pains 

 to find out the truth. He was like 

 a man who resolves to regulate his 

 time by a certain watch, but will 

 not inquire whether the watch is 

 right or not." 



Goldsmith being mentioned 

 Johnson : " It is amazing how 

 little Goldsmith knows : he seldom 

 comes where he is not more igno- 

 rant than any one else." Sir Joshua 

 Eeynolds: "Yet there is no man 

 whose company is more liked." 

 Johnson: "To be sure, sir, when 

 people find a man of the most dis- 

 tinguished abilities as a writer, their 

 inferior while he is with them, it 

 must be highly gratifying to them. 

 What Goldsmith comically says of 

 himself, is very true he always 

 gets the better when he argues 

 alone ; meaning, that he is master 

 of a subject in his study, and can 

 write well upon it; but when he 



