66 JOHNSON. 



frett, and Yalden, the worst in the collection, and of 

 whose works none ought to have been inserted, except 

 Pomfrett's 'Choice/ and perhaps a few passages of 

 Blackmore's ' Creation/ though nothing can be more 

 exaggerated than Johnson's praise of that poem, as 

 " transmitting him to posterity among the first favourites 

 of the English Muse."* The omission of Goldsmith in 

 this collection is wholly beyond one's comprehension ; 

 whether we regard the interests of the booksellers, or the 

 taste and the friendship of the biographer who had 

 caused the insertion of Blackmore and Yalden. These 

 prefaces, excepting that of Savage, the criticism on Pope's 

 ' Epitaphs/ and one or two similar pieces, were all written 

 towards the end of his life : the first half being published 

 when he was seventy, and the remainder when he was 

 seventy-two years of age. 



The merit of this work is very great, whether we 

 regard the matter or the style for the composition is 

 far more easy and natural, far less pompous and stately, 

 and the diction both more picturesque and more simple 

 than in any other of his writings. The measured period, 

 the balance of sentences, and the difiuseness arising from 

 this desire of symmetry, is still in a good degree retained ; 

 but it is far less constant, and therefore palls less on the 

 appetite than in any of his former works. 



The narrative has no great merit, either in respect of 

 the composition, or in the fulness of its details: conse- 



* It must be admitted, indeed, that Addison ('Spectator/ No. 339,) 

 had described this poem as " executed with great mastery," and as 

 " one of the noblest productions of English verse," but he plainly 

 was seduced by what he also mentions, its excellent intention, and 

 its usefulness in a religious view. 



