Page:Johnsonian Miscellanies I.djvu/392

 ��Essay on

��It is mortifying to pursue a man of merit through all his difficulties ; and yet this narrative must be, through many following years, the history of Genius and Virtue struggling with Adversity. Having lost the school at Appleby, Johnson was thrown back on the metropolis. Bred to no profession, without relations, friends, or interest, he was condemned to drudgery in the service of Cave, his only patron. In November 1738 was published a translation of Crousaz's Examen of Pope's Essay on Man ; ( containing a succinct View of the System of the Fatalists, and a Confutation of their Opinions ; with an Illustra tion of the Doctrine of Free Will ; and an Enquiry, what view Mr. Pope might have in touching upon the Leibnitzian Philo sophy, and Fatalism. By Mr. Crousaz, Professor of Philosophy and Mathematics at Lausanne.' This translation has been generally thought a production of Johnson's pen ; but it is now known, that Mrs. Elizabeth Carter has acknowledged it to be one of her early performances 1 . It is certain, however, that Johnson was eager to promote the publication. He considered the foreign philosopher as a man zealous in the cause of religion ; and with him he was willing to join against the system of the Fatalists, and the doctrine of Leibnitz 2 . It is well known that Warburton wrote a vindication of Mr. Pope 3 ; but there is reason to think, that Johnson conceived an early prejudice against the Essay on Man ; and what once took root in a mind like his, was not easily eradicated. His letter to

��Johnson if Swift had personally of fended him, and he told me he had not.' Life, v. 44.

'Johnson attributed the Tale of a Tub to Arbuthnot. He thought Swift not equal to it.' MS. note by Mr. Hussey. See post in Percy's Anecdotes.

1 Life, i. 137.

Her father wrote to her on June 25, 1738 : ' You mention Johnson ; but that is a name with which I am utterly unacquainted. Neither his scholastic, critical, or poetical character ever reached my ears. I a

��little suspect his judgment if he is very fond of Martial.' Memoirs of Mrs. Carter^ i. 39.

2 ' No, Sir ; Leibnitz was as paltry a fellow as I know.' Life, v. 287.

3 'The Rev. Mr. Strahan clearly recollects having been told by John son, that the King observed that Pope made Warburton a Bishop. " True, Sir, (said Johnson,) but War- burton did more for Pope ; he made him a Christian : " alluding, no doubt, to his ingenious Comments on the Essay on Man? Ib. ii. 37, n. I ; Works, viii. 289.

Cave

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