in a certain body called a House of Commons; they went much farther: they attempted to prove, and they succeeded, 12 that in theory it ought to be so, from the particular nature of a House of Commons, as an immediate representative of the people, whether 18 the old records had delivered this oracle or not

13

BURKE. On Conciliation with America.

1 La mayor parte. principalmente sobre. istrates; cf. R., § 212. dative pronoun. 6 en lo tocante á. 7 Translate that those ... should insist (imperfect subjunctive). . . and should prove. argumentos. 9 Omit. 10 se reconocía. 11 Translate: as one residing in, como el que reside en. 12 and, etc. lo que consiguieron.

2 Turned primarily on : versaron (giraron) 8 Translate the right to (de) elect the mag4 orden (f.). 5 Use para or the mere

8

por

8

We are not sure that1 there is2 in the whole history of the human intellect so strange a phenomenon3 as this book. Many of the greatest men that ever lived have written biography. Boswell was one of the smallest men that ever lived, and he has beaten them all. He was, if we are to give any credit to his own account or to the united testimony of all who knew him, a man of the meanest and feeblest intellect. Johnson described him as a fellow who had missed his only chance of immortality by not having been alive when the Dunciad was written Beauclerk used his name as a proverbial expression for a bore. He was the laughing-stock of the whole of that brilliant society which has owed to him the greater part of

5

its fame. He was always laying himself at the feet of some eminent man, and begging to be spit upon and trampled upon. He was always earning' some ridiculous nickname, and then "binding it as a crown unto him," not merely in metaphor, but literally. He exhibited himself at the Shakspeare Jubilee, to all the crowd which filled Stratfordon-Avon, with a placard round his hat bearing the inscription of Corsica Boswell.

MACAULAY.-Croker's Edition of Boswell's "Life of Johnson."

4 los ha vencido á todos. 5 Place the 7 Reflexive.

6 que se le escupiese.

verb before its subject.
8 unto him: use the dative pronoun se reinforced by á sí.
9 Definite article; R., § 487.

9

In his Tour he proclaimed to all the world that at1 Edinburgh he was known by the appellation of Paoli Boswell. Servile and impertinent, shallow and pedantic, a bigot and a snob; bloated with family pride, and eternally blustering about the dignity of a born gentleman, yet2 stooping to be a3 tale-bearer, an3 eavesdropper, a common butt in the taverns of London; so curious, to know everybody who was talked about,* that, Tory and High-Churchman as he was,5 he manoeuvred, we have been told," for an introduction to Tom Paine; so vain of the most childish distinctions, that when he had been to court, he drove to the office where his book was printing without changing his clothes, and summoned all the printer's devils to admire his new ruffles and sword; such was this man, and such he was content and proud to be. Everything which another

9

man would have hidden, everything the publication of which 10 would have made another man hang himself," was matter of gay and clamorous exultation to his weak and discased mind.

1 en.

2 no obstante.

se nos

8 Place

MACAULAY.-Croker's Edition of Boswell's "Life of Johnson." 3 Omit; cf. R., § 218. 4 who, etc.: de quien se hablaba. 5 Translate: although (a) Tory, etc. 6 ha dicho. 7 Translate: to be introduced (presentar). the superlative after its noun. 9 sin cambiar de traje. thing, etc.; translate: everything which upon being published, todo lo que á ser publicado. 11 Place the dependent infinitive next to the auxiliary.

10 every

10

2

What silly things1 he said, what bitter retorts he provoked; how at one place he was troubled with evil presentiments which came to nothing; how at another place, on waking from a drunken doze, he read the prayer book and took a hair of the dog that had bitten him; how he went to see men hanged3 and came away maudlin; how he added five hundred pounds to the fortune of one of his babies because she was not scared at Johnson's ugly face; how he was frightened out of his wits at sea, and how the sailors quieted him as they would have quieted a child; how tipsy he was at Lady Cork's one evening, and how much his merriment annoyed the ladies; how impertinent he was to the Duchess of Argyle, and with what stately contempt she put down his impertinence; how Colonel Macleod sneered to his face at his impudent obtrusiveness; how his father and the very wife of his bosom laughed and fretted at1 his fooleries; all these things he proclaimed to all the world,

as if they had been subjects for pride and ostentatious rejoicing.

8 to

MACAULAY. Croker's Edition of Boswell's "Life of Johnson." 1 ¡Qué cosas tan necias! 2 Omit, or use en; cf. R., § 531. see, etc.: á ver colgar á unos hombres; cf. R., § 1211.

4 de.

11

All the caprices of his temper, all the illusions of his vanity, all his hypochondriac whimsies, all his castles in the air, he displayed with a cool self-complacency, a perfect unconsciousness that1 he was making a fool of himself, to which it is impossible to find a parallel in the whole history of mankind. He has used many people ill; but assuredly he has used nobody so ill as himself.

2

That such a man should have written one of the best books in the world is strange enough. But this is not all. Many people who have conducted themselves foolishly in active life, and whose conversation has indicated no superior powers of mind, have left us valuable works. Goldsmith was very justly described by one of his3 contemporaries as an inspired idiot, and by another as a being "Who wrote like an angel, and talked like poor Poll." La Fontaine was in society a mere simpleton. His blunders would not come in amiss among the stories of Hierocles. But these men attained literary eminence in spite of their weaknesses. Boswell attained it by reason of his weaknesses. If he had not been a great fool, he would never have been a great writer.

MACAULAY.

4

Croker's Edition of Boswell's "Life of Johnson." 1 á que; cf. R., § 1416. 2 harto raro. 3 un contemporáneo suyo. 4 Translate: would be in their proper place, estarían muy en su lugar.

22