editor, who can imagine that he is restoring poetry, while he is amusing himself with alterations like these ; For This is the serjeant, Who like a good and hardy soldier fought; This is the sergeant, who Like a right good and hardy soldier fought. For Dismay'd not this Our captains Macbeth and Banquo ?—Yes; Dismay'd not this Our captains brave Macbeth and Banquo?-Yes. Such harmless industry may, surely, be forgiven, if it cannot be praised: may he therefore never want a monosyllable, who can use it with such wonderful dexterity. Rumpatur quisquis rumpitur invidia! The rest of this edition I have not read, but, from the little that I have seen, think it not dangerous to declare that, in my opinion, its pomp recommends it more than its accuracy. There is no distinction made between the ancient reading, and the innovations of the editor; there is no reason given for any of the alterations which are made; the emendations of former critics are adopted without any acknowledgement, and few of the difficulties are removed which have hitherto embarrassed the readers of Shakespeare. 1 I would not however be thought to insult the editor, nor to censure him with too much petulance, for having failed in little things, of whom I have been told, that he excels in greater. But I may without indecency observe, that no man should attempt to teach others what he has never learned himself; and that those who, like Themistocles, have studied the arts of policy, and can teach a small state how to grow great, should, like him, disdain to labour in trifles, and consider petty accomplishments as below their ambition *. * To this article, when first printed, Dr. Johnson affixed Proposals for a new edition of Shakespeare. These he afterwards dilated into the larger Prospectus. C. NOTES. P. 4. 1. 13. Lord Orrery, in a letter to Dr. Birch, mentions this as one of the very few inaccuracies in this admirable address, the laurel not being barren in any sense, but bearing fruits and flowers. Boswell's Life, vol. i. p. 160. Edit. 1804. C. P. 30. The "Plan of an English Dictionary" was written in the year 1747. C. P. 67. 1. ult. Dr. Johnson's Dictionary was published on the fifteenth day of April 1755, in two vols. folio, price £.4. 10s. bound. The booksellers who engaged in this National Work were the Knaptons, Longman, Hitch & Co. Millar, and Dodsley. C. P. S3. 1. 23. assigned:] "Quærit quod nusquam est gentium, reperit tamen, Plauti Pseudolus, Act. I. Sc. iv. STEEVENS. P. 197.1. ult. Dr. Nugent's Translation was published in 1771, 2 vols. Svo. by T. Davies. This article, which was first inserted in Dr. Johnson's Works by Sir John Hawkins, I am unwilling to disturb, although it has very little of the Doctor's manner. It is not noticed by Mr. Boswell in his "Chronological Catalogue" of Dr. Johnson's Prose Works. C. P. 203. Preliminary Discourse to the London Chronicle.] Dr. Johnson received the humble reward of a guinea from Mr.Dodsley for this composition. C. P. 208. 1. ult. add, which appeared in the first volume, 1759. P. 235. Preceptor.] Published in 1748, by Dodsley. P. 264. I. ult. add note. Of this preface, Mr. Boswell informs us that Dr Johnson said he never saw Rolt, and never read the book. "The booksellers wanted a preface to a Dictionary of Trade and Commerce. I knew very well what such a dictionary should be, and I wrote a preface accordingly." This may be believed; but the book is a most wretched farrago of articles plundered without acknowledgment, or judgment, which, indeed, was the case with most of Rolt's compilations. C. P. 270. Essay on Epitaphs.] This was one of the numerous small pieces Dr. Johnson wrote for the Gentleman's Magazine, and appeared there in 1740. P. 281. Observations on the State of Affairs in 1756.] Published first in the Literary Magazine, No IV. from July 15, to August 15, 1756. This periodical work was published by Richardson in Paternoster-Row, but was discontinued about two years after. Dr. Johnson wrote many articles, which have been enumerated by Mr. Boswell, and there are others which I should be inclined to attribute to him from internal evidence. C. END OF THE THIRD VOLUME. Printed by NICHOLS, SON, and BENTLEY, |