234 
) O H 
Is very little fhow of literature in his Ramblers; and in the 
paffage where he quotes Ariftotle, he has not correctly 
given the meaning of the original. But this was merely 
the refult of hafte and inattention; neither is he fo to be 
meafured ; for he had fo many parts and properties of 
fcholarfhip about him, that you can only fairly review him 
as a man of general knowledge. As a poet, his tranfla- 
tions of Juvenal gave him a name in the world, and gained 
him the applaufe of Pope. He was a writer of tragedy; 
but his Irene gives him no confpicuous rank in that de¬ 
partment. As an efi'ayilt, he merits more confideration ; 
his Ramblers are in every body’s hands; about them opi¬ 
nions vary, and I rather belive the Ryle of thefe effays is 
not now confidered as a good model; this he corrected in 
his more advanced age, as may be ieen in the Lives of the 
Poets, where his diCtion, though occafionally elaborate 
and highly metaphorical, is not nearly fo inflated and pon¬ 
derous as his Ramblers. He was an acute and able critic. 
The enthufiaRic admirer of Milton, and the friend of Gray, 
will have fomething to complain of; but criticifm is a talk 
which no man executes to every man’s fatisfaftion. His 
feleffion of a certain paffage in the Mourning Bride of 
Congreve, which he extols fo rapturoufly, is certainly a 
moll unfortunate fample ; but, unlefs the overfights of a 
critic are lefs .pardonable than thofe of other men, we may 
pafs this over in a work of merit, which abounds in beau¬ 
ties far more prominent than its defeCts, and much more 
pleafing to contemplate. In works profefiedly of fancy 
he is not very copious; yet in his Raflelas we have much 
to admire, and enough to make us wilh for more. It 
is the work of an illuminated mind, and offers many 
■wife and deep reflections, clothed in beautiful and harmo¬ 
nious diCtion. We are not indeed familiar with fuch per- 
fonages as Johnfon has imagined for the characters of his 
fable; but, if we are not exceedingly interefted in their 
ftory, we are infinitely gratified with their converfation and 
remarks. In conclufion, Johnfon’s Era was not wanting 
in men to be diftinguifhed for their talents; yet, if one 
was to be feleCted out of the firft great literary characters 
of the time, I believe all voices would concur in naming 
him. Let me here inl'ert the following lines, defcriptive 
of his character, though not long fince written by me, and 
to be found in a public print: 
Herculean ftrength and a Stentorian voice, 
Of wit a fund, of words a countlefs choice ; 
In learning rather various than profound : 
In truth intrepid, in religion found. 
A trembling form and a diftorted fight, 
But firm in judgment and in genius bright; 
In controverfy feldom known to fpare, 
But humble as the publican in prayer ; 
To more, than merited his kindnefs, kind. 
And, though in manners har(h, of friendly mind; 
Deep ting’d with melancholy’s blackelt (hade, 
And though prepar’d to die, of death afraid ; 
Such Johnfon was: of him with juftice vain, 
When will this nation fee his like again ? 
JOHN'SON, a county of the American States, North 
Carolina, in Newbern diftrid, bounded fouth-eaft by 
Glafgow, north by Franklin and Wayne counties, and 
fouth by Sampfon. It contains 3634 inhabitants, of whom 
j 329 are flaves. 
JOHN'SON, a town of Virginia: thirty-three miles 
north-welt of Richmond. 
JOIIN'SON’s BOROUGH, a poll-town of New Jerfey, 
ten miles from Suffex court-houle. 
JOHN'SON FORT, in South Carolina, lies on the 
north-eaft fide of James’s Ifland, and fouth of the city of 
Charleftown. It Hands at the entrance of the harbour, 
and is guarded by 120 men. 
JOHN'SON FORT, in North Carolina, Hands on the 
weflern bank of Cape-Fear river, oppofite to the ifland on 
the fea-coalt whole fouthern point is Cape-Fear. 
J O H 
JOHN'SON’s LANDING-PLACE, is on Ozyongwon- 
gyeh Creek, about four miles ealtward of Fort Niagara. 
JOHN'SON’s POINT, a cape on the fouth-welt coaft 
of the ifland of Antigua. Lat. 17. 10. N. Ion. 61. 35. W. 
JOHNSO'NIA, f. in botany. See Callicarpa. 
JOHN'STON, (Arthur), a phyfician, diflinguilhed as a 
modern Latin poet, was born in 1587 at Calkieben, near 
Aberdeen, the feat of his family. He probably received 
the earlier part of his education at Aberdeen; after which, 
being deflined to the medical profeflion, he went for fur¬ 
ther inftruCtion to the continent, and made fome Hay at 
Padua, where he took the degree of M. D. in 1610. He 
vifited moft of the countries of Europe, and fettled in 
"France, where he obtained great reputation for his Latin 
verfes. It appears from fome of his poems, that Mechlin 
was for fome time his place of rcfidence. That he re¬ 
mained abroad twenty-four years, as aflerted in the Life 
prefixed to Benfon’s edition of his Pfalms, can fcarcely be 
true; fince, in a poem Ad Medicos Regios, he mentions 
having been nominated king’s phyfician by James I. and 
Continued in the fame poH by Charles. He was at one 
time reCtor of the univerfity of Aberdeen ; but the cir- 
cumfkances of his life, with their dates, have been very 
imperfectly recorded. His biographer above-mentioned 
takes it for granted, from a fpecimen of his verfion of the 
Pfalms, printed at London in 1633, and dedicated to arch- 
bifliop Laud, that he was perluaded by that prelate (who 
vifited Scotland in that year with king Charles) to'take 
up his abode in London. He died in 1641 at Oxford, 
upon a vifit to a daughter married to a clergyman of the 
church of England. He had been twice married, and was 
father of thirteen children. Arthur Johnfton publilhed a 
collection of Latin poems, entitled Ddicice Pottarum Scoto- 
rum /tujus JEvi illujlrium, in which are a number of his own, 
under the title of Parerga, Epigrammata , and Mufa Aulicte. 
He is belt known, however, by his Latin verfion of the 
Pfalms of David, firfl printed entire in 1637, and many 
times reprinted. They are almofl entirely compofed in 
elegiac verfe, and have met with great commendation for 
the purity of their flyle, and the concifenefs and fidelity 
with which the ideas of the originals are expreffed. John- 
llon verfifies like one to whom claiTicai phra'eology was 
perfectly familiar, but who had no nice tafle of propriety 
in the application of it; nor will he fufiain that compari- 
fon with Buchanan, in point of variety and true poetical 
powers, which his admirers have ventured to propofe. 
Ilis verfior., however, has been much read ; and Auditor 
Benfon thought it worth while to print an edition in 1741, 
8vo. in upon the model of the Delphin clafiics, with in-' 
terpretation, arguments, notes, &c. for the ule of the pre- 
fent king when prince. Johnlton alfo tranftated Solomon’s 
Song into Latin elegiacs, and publifhed it in 1633 with a 
dedication to king Charles : this work was reprinted by 
Ruddiman at Edinburgh in 1710. Vita Arturi JohnJioni, 
Benfon. 
JOHN'STON (John), an eminent naturalifl, was born 
at Sambter in Great Poland, in the year 1603. In 1611 
he was lent by his father, Simon Johnlton, adefcendant of 
the family of Craigburn, in Scotland, to Oilrog for his 
education, where he remained till 1614, when he was re¬ 
moved toBerton on the Oder. In 1617 he lolt his father, 
and the year following his mother, in confequence of 
which his relations brought him back to Poland ; and in 
1619 he was placed at Thorn, where he continued his 
Rudies with new ardour. Three years after, that is, in 
1622, he went over to England, and thence to Scotland, 
but was prevented by various obRacles from carrying his 
defign into execution. The plague prevailed then in Po¬ 
land ; and, to avoid the contagion, he was obliged for 
fome time to retire to a foreR. Soon after, count Kurtz- 
bach entruRed to him the education of his two fons, with 
whom he reiided at Leflino till 1628. In the year follow¬ 
ing he repaired to Frarieker, where he Rudied medicine. 
In the beginning of the year 1630 he went to Leyden, 
where 
