BRIEF ESSAYS 199 



be slow to admit that the " precise contrary " was 

 the truth ; yet it is a question not to be decided 

 offhand. Both were great men, unquestionably, 

 apart from their mere literary and scholastic accom- 

 plishments. Each made a profound impression by 

 virtue of his force of character, his weight and au- 

 thority as a person. As to which was the greater 

 moral, or literary, or political force, as embodied in 

 his works, it seems to me there can be but one 

 opinion. But the quantity of manhood each gave 

 evidence of in his life, and the quantity of genius 

 he gave evidence of in his books, — these of course 

 are two different questions. As regards the genius, 

 Carlyle ranks far above Johnson. 



Indeed, the intellectual equipment of the two 

 men, and the value of their contributions to litera- 

 ture, admit of hardly any comparison. But the 

 question still is of the man, not of the writer. 

 Which was the greater and more helpful force as a 

 human being ? which bore himself the more nobly 

 and victoriously through life ? — in short, which was 

 the greater man? Mr. Birrell seems to base his 

 conviction that Johnson was the greater upon the 

 latter's simple resignation and acceptance of the ills 

 of life: — 



" Johnson was a man of strong passions, unbend- 

 ing spirit, violent temper; as poor as a church 

 mouse and as proud as the proudest of church dig- 

 nitaries ; endowed with the strength of a coal-heaver, 

 the courage of a lion, and the tongue of Dean 

 Swift, he could knock down booksellers and sUence 



