productive of greater happiness? I believe it will not be easy to exemplify (except in some few instances) the morose and prejudiced descriptions of Dr. Johnson; and he himself could not but be conscious of their fallacy. Nay, I am persuaded, that many of these complaints. are to be regarded only as the bursts of pride, and the affected mimicry of distresses which were never felt. While he pompously displayed the pretended obstructions in the paths of learning, he, at the same time, gratified his own vanity, by manifesting that he had overcome them, either by his perseverance, his genius, or his abilities. And yet how industriously he would intimidate others from entering the same path, may be seen from the following quotations :

*********** "The first apperance of excellence unites multitudes against it, unexpected opposition rises up on every fide; the celebrated and the obscure join in the confederacy, subtilty furnishes arms to impudence, and invention leads on credulity.

"The hazards of those that aspire to eminence,

eminence, would be much diminished if they had none but acknowledged rivals to encounter. Their enemies would then be few, and what is yet of greater importance, would be known. But what caution is sufficient to ward off the blows of invisible assailants, or what force can stand against unintermitted attacks, and a continual succession of enemies? Yet such is the state of the world, that no sooner can any man emerge from the crowd, and fix the eyes of the public upon him, than he stands as a mark to the arrows of lurking calumny, and receives in the tumult of hostility, from distant and from nameless hands, wounds not always easy to be cured.

"When any man has endeavoured to deserve distinction, he will be surprised to hear himself censured where he would not expect to have been named; he will find the utmost acrimony of malice among those whom he never could have offended. Nothing is too gross, or too refined, too cruel, or too trifling to be practised; very little regard is had to the rules of honourable hostility, but every weapon

is

is accounted lawful, and those that cannot make a thrust at life, are content to keep themselves in play with petty malevolence to tease with feeble blows and impotent disturbance."-(No. 144.)

What a depraved picture is this of human nature! In what a world of guilt and infamy do we exist! Where shall we seek for friendship where all are false; where shall we repose our griefs where none are virtuous? Alas! How may the most exalted intellect be corrupted by a pernicious indulgence of rancorous prejudices?

Where is the youth that, captivated by Johnsonian eloquence, and impressed with the conviction of those scenes he beholds so glowingly depicted, would not resolve within himself to treat mankind as a band of robbers, or of mercenaries; as a society of fawning, cringing, false and malevolent wretches; as a set of beings devoid of principle, of humanity, or of justice; bounteous only to deceive; and humble only to destroy; affecting virtues which they do not possess, and perpetrating crimes which they pretend

to

to abhor. Would he not become a misanthrope to avoid the infection, or plunge in guilt to render himself a fit companion. Is this a moralist to be trusted, or ought we, as rational beings, to confide ourselves to the direction of that man, who consults his own mind, which is darkened by obstinate prepossessions, rather than the book of nature, which is open to every eye; or the volume of truth, which is never inscrutable to those who industirously seek it?

In the same manner, it may be asked, whether a Student, charmed with the eloquence and misled by the assertions of Johnson, would not, with disgust, abandon his studies, and lament, in the secret confidence of his own heart, the gross barbarity, and the diabolical machinations of his depraved countrymen. Confident of the certain consequence of all his endeavours to improve, instruct, or to amuse mankind, he would remain in painful inactivity, and feel no desire to rouse his mind from its lethargy. Ease is always preferable to pain; and the impulse must indeed be very great, which

would

would induce a man to forfeit the quiet indolence of obscurity, only to endure all the attacks of the fury passions, excited by his endeavours to promote virtue, or improve knowledge.* And these are the fatal events to be apprehended, as Dr. Johnson would persuade us; but happily his admonitions, or his prognostics, have been little regarded, as we still possess our Poets, our Historians, and our Critics; so certain it is that all writings are valuable only in proportion as they are true, and that in the same proportion will they ever affect the mind.

It

*It is hardly reasonable to suppose that a man impressed with the conviction of the certain and absolute inefficacy of all his endeavours to meliorate, or improve the condition of human nature, would pursue those endeavours with ardor, or would pursue them at all. Upon the supposition that every author writes to be believed, it is manifest that Dr. Johnson may, from the obvious nature of his compositions, produce infinite evil in society, and plunge the youthful mind in a state of the most hateful suspicion with regard to his fellow creatures. The invariable gloominess of this author, and his perverse descriptions of human nature rendered his essays so disgusting to the late Lord Orford, that he could never bear to read them, but concluded from their very nature that Johnson must have had a bad heart. The truth of this assertion I will not venture to discuss, but I fear his feelings could not on many occasions have been the most enviable.