Page:Johnsonian Miscellanies II.djvu/367

 by Thomas Tyers.

��* In every work regard the writer's end ; For none can compass more than they intend 1 .'

It looks forwards and backwards almost at the same time. Like the nightingale in Strada, 'it hits imperfect accents here and there V Hawkesworth, one of the Johnsonian school 3, upon being asked, whether Johnson was a happy man, by a gentleman who had been just introduced to him, and wanted to know every thing about him, confessed, that he looked upon him as a most miserable being. The moment of enquiry was probably about the time he lost his wife, and sent for Hawkesworth, in the most earnest

manner, to come and give him consolation and his company 4.

' And skreen me from the ills of life ! ' is the conclusion of his sombrous poem on November 5. In happier moments (for who is

��1 * Since none,' &c.

Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 255.

2 Addison, in The Giiardian, No. 119, describes how in Strada's Pro lusions ' Claudian had chosen for his subject the famous contest between the nightingale and the lutanist, which every one is acquainted with, especially since Mr. Phillips has so finely improved that hint in one of his Pastorals.' In this Pastoral (No. v) is found the line :

1 And adds in sweetness what she wants in strength.'

3 ' Hawkesworth was Johnson's closest imitator.' Life, i. 252, Courte- nay, in his Lines on Johnson, says :

' By nature's gifts ordain'd man kind to rule,

He, like a Titian, form'd his brilliant school.

Ingenious Hawkesworth to this

school we owe, And scarce the pupil from the

tutor know.'

In this school he places also Gold smith, Reynolds, Burney, Malone, Steevens, Jones and Bos well. Life, i. 222. All of Johnson's school, ac

��cording to Reynolds, 'were distin guished for a love of truth and ac curacy, which they would not have possessed in the same degree if they had not been acquainted with John son.' 16. iii. 230. See ante, ii. 227.

4 ' He deposited the remains of Mrs. Johnson in the church of Brom ley, in Kent, to which he was probably led by the residence of his friend Hawkesworth at that place.' Life, i. 241 ; ante, i. 399.

5 The Winter's Walk is the name of the poem. ' It is remarkable, that in this first edition of The Winter's Walk, the concluding line is much more Johnsonian than it was after wards printed ; for in subsequent editions, after praying Stella to " snatch him to her arms," he says,

" And shield me from the ills of

life."

Whereas in the first edition it is " And hide me from the sight of

life." ' Life, i. 179. The Winter's Walk, I feel sure, is not by Johnson, though he may have supplied Hawkesworth, who probably wrote it, with a line or two. Ib. p. 178, n. 2.

not

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