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An essay by Samuel Johnson |
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A Letter To The Reverend Mr. Douglas,occasioned By His Vindication Of Milton |
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Title: A Letter To The Reverend Mr. Douglas,occasioned By His Vindication Of Milton Author: Samuel Johnson [More Titles by Johnson] To which are subjoined several curious original letters from the authors of the Universal History, Mr. Ainsworth, Mr. Mac-Laurin, &c. _Quem paenitet peccasse pene est innocens._ _Corpora magnanimo satis est prostrasse Leoni: --_Praetuli clementiam FIRST PRINTED THE YEAR 1751. PREFATORY OBSERVATIONS. Dr. Johnson no sooner discovered the iniquitous conduct and designs of Lauder, than he compelled him to confess and recant, in the following letter to the reverend Mr. Douglas, which he drew up for him: but scarcely had Lauder exhibited this sign of contrition, when he addressed an apology to the archbishop of Canterbury, soliciting his patronage for an edition of the very poets whose works he had so misapplied, and concluding his address in the following spirit: "As for the interpolations for which I am so highly blamed, when passion is subsided, and the minds of men can patiently attend to truth, I promise amply to replace them with passages equivalent in value, that are genuine, that the public may be convinced that it was rather passion and resentment, than a penury of evidence, the twentieth part of which has not yet been produced, that obliged me to make use of them." This did not satiate his malice: in 1752, he published the first volume of the proposed edition of the Latin poets, and in 1753, a second, accompanied with notes, both Latin and English, in a style of acrimonious scurrility, indicative almost of insanity. In 1754, he brought forward a pamphlet, entitled, King Charles vindicated from the charge of plagiarism, brought against him by Milton, and Milton himself convicted of forgery and gross imposition on the public. 8vo. In this work he exhausts every epithet of abuse, and utterly disclaims every statement made in his apology. It was reviewed, probably by Johnson, in the Gent. Mag. 1754, p. 97.--Ed.
Sir, Candour and tenderness are, in any relation, and on all occasions, eminently amiable; but when they are found in an adversary, and found so prevalent as to overpower that zeal which his cause excites, and that heat which naturally increases in the prosecution of argument, and which may be, in a great measure, justified by the love of truth, they certainly appear with particular advantages; and it is impossible not to envy those who possess the friendship of him, whom it is, even, some degree of good fortune to have known as an enemy. I will not so far dissemble my weakness, or my fault, as not to confess that my wish was to have passed undetected; but, since it has been my fortune to fail in my original design, to have the supposititious passages, which I have inserted in my quotations, made known to the world, and the shade which began to gather on the splendour of Milton totally dispersed, I cannot but count it an alleviation of my pain, that I have been defeated by a man who knows how to use advantages, with so much moderation, and can enjoy the honour of conquest, without the insolence of triumph. It was one of the maxims of the Spartans, not to press upon a flying army, and, therefore, their enemies were always ready to quit the field, because they knew the danger was only in opposing. The civility with which you have thought proper to treat me, when you had incontestable superiority, has inclined me to make your victory complete, without any further struggle, and not only publicly to acknowledge the truth of the charge which you have hitherto advanced, but to confess, without the least dissimulation, subterfuge, or concealment, every other interpolation I have made in those authors, which you have not yet had opportunity to examine. On the sincerity and punctuality of this confession, I am willing to depend for all the future regard of mankind, and cannot but indulge some hopes, that they, whom my offence has alienated from me, may, by this instance of ingenuity and repentance, be propitiated and reconciled. Whatever be the event, I shall, at least, have done all that can be done in reparation of my former injuries to Milton, to truth, and to mankind; and entreat that those who shall continue implacable, will examine their own hearts, whether they have not committed equal crimes, without equal proofs of sorrow, or equal acts of atonement[1]. [1] The interpolations are distinguished by inverted commas. The word "pandemonium," in the marginal notes of Citation 6. Essay, page 38. Annuit ipsa Dolo, malumque (heu! longa dolendi Citation 7. Essay, page 41. Ilia quidem fugiens, sparsis per terga capillis, Citation 8. Essay, page 42; the whole passage. "Quadrupedi pugnat quadrupes, volucrique volucris; Citation 9. Essay, page 43. "Vatibus antiquis numerantur lumine cassis," The above passage stands thus in Masenius, in one line: Tiresias caecus, Thamyrisque, et Daphnis, Homerus. N.B. The verse now cited is in Masenius's poems, but not in the Sarcotis. Citation 10. Essay, page 46. In medio, turmas inter provectus ovantes
Citation 1. Essay, page 55. Sacri tonantis hostis, exsul patriae Citation 2. Essay, page 58; the whole passage. --"Nam, me judice, Citation 4. Essay, page 61; the whole passage. "Innominata quaeque nominibus suis, Citation 5. Essay, page 63. Terrestris orbis rector! et princeps freti! Citation 6. Essay, _ibid_. Quod illud animal, tramite obliquo means, Citation 7. Essay, page 65; the whole passage. --"Nata deo! atque homine sata! Citation 8. Essay, page 66; the whole passage. "Rationis etenim omnino paritas exigit, Citation 9. Essay, _ibid_. Per sancta thalami sacra, per jus nominis Citation 10. Essay, page 67; the whole passage. "Tu namque soli numini contrarius, Citation 11. Essay, page 68; the whole passage. "Quod comedo, poto, gigno, diris subjacet."
Citation 6. Essay, page 88. O judex! nova me facies inopinaque terret;
Citation 3. Essay, page 104. Foedus in humanis fragili quod sanctius aevo! Citation 6. Essay, page 109. Coelestes animae! sublimia templa tenentes,
Essay, page 116. --Tu Psychephone Altered thus, --Tu Pyschephone!
Essay, page 117. _Mic._ Cur hue procaci veneris cursu refer? _Luc._ Quis non, relicta Tartari nigri domo,
Essay, page 119. Stygemque testor, et profunda Tartari,
Essay, page 124. Nec tamen aeternos obliti (absiste timere)
Essay, page 132. Tune, ait, imperio regere omnia solus; et una Essay, page 152. "Throni, dominationes, principatus, virtutes, potestates," is said to be a line borrowed by Milton from the title-page of Heywood's Hierarchy of Angels. But there are more words in Heywood's title; and, according to his own arrangement of his subjects, they should be read thus:-- "Seraphim, cherubim, throni, potestates, angeli, archangeli, principatus, dominationes." These are my interpolations, minutely traced without any arts of evasion. Whether from the passages that yet remain, any reader will be convinced of my general assertion, and allow, that Milton had recourse for assistance to any of the authors whose names I have mentioned, I shall not now be very diligent to inquire, for I had no particular pleasure in subverting the reputation of Milton, which I had myself once endeavoured to exalt[1]; and of which, the foundation had always remained untouched by me, had not my credit and my interest been blasted, or thought to be blasted, by the shade which it cast from its boundless elevation. About ten years ago, I published an edition of Dr. Johnston's translation of the Psalms, and having procured from the general assembly of the church of Scotland, a recommendation of its use to the lower classes of grammar schools, into which I had begun to introduce it, though not without much controversy and opposition, I thought it likely that I should, by annual publications, improve my little fortune, and be enabled to support myself in freedom from the miseries of indigence. But Mr. Pope, in his malevolence to Mr. Benson, who had distinguished himself by his fondness for the same version, destroyed all my hopes by a distich, in which he places Johnston in a contemptuous comparison with the author of Paradise Lost[2]. From this time, all my praises of Johnston became ridiculous, and I was censured, with great freedom, for forcing upon the schools an author whom Mr. Pope had mentioned only as a foil to a better poet. On this occasion, it was natural not to be pleased, and my resentment seeking to discharge itself somewhere, was unhappily directed against Milton. I resolved to attack his fame, and found some passages in cursory reading, which gave me hopes of stigmatizing him as a plagiary. The farther I carried my search, the more eager I grew for the discovery; and the more my hypothesis was opposed, the more I was heated with rage. The consequence of my blind passion, I need not relate; it has, by your detection, become apparent to mankind. Nor do I mention this provocation, as adequate to the fury which I have shown, but as a cause of anger, less shameful and reproachful than fractious malice, personal envy, or national jealousy. But for the violation of truth, I offer no excuse, because I well know, that nothing can excuse it. Nor will I aggravate my crime, by disingenuous palliations. I confess it, I repent it, and resolve, that my first offence shall be my last. More I cannot perform, and more, therefore, cannot be required. I entreat the pardon of all men, whom I have by any means induced to support, to countenance, or patronise my frauds, of which, I think myself obliged to declare, that not one of my friends was conscious. I hope to deserve, by better conduct, and more useful undertakings, that patronage which I have obtained from the most illustrious and venerable names by misrepresentation and delusion, and to appear hereafter in such a character, as shall give you no reason to regret that your name is frequently mentioned with that of, Reverend Sir, Your most humble servant, WILLIAM LAUDER. December 20, 1750. FOOTNOTES: [1] Virorum maximus--Joannes Miltonus--Poeta celeberrimus--non Angliae modo, soli natalis, verum generis humani ornamentum--cujus eximius liber, Anglicanis versibus conscriptus, vulgo Paradisus amissus, immortalis illud ingenii monumentum, cum ipsa fere aeternitate perennaturum est opus!--Hujus memoriam Anglorum primus, post tantum, proh dolor! ab tanti excessu poetae intervallum, statua eleganti in loco celeberrimo, coenobio Westmonasteriensi, posita, regum, principum, antistitum, illustriumque Angliae virorum caemeterio, vir ornatissimus, Gulielmus Benson prosecutus est. _Poetarum Scotorum Musae Sacrae, in praefatione, Edinb. 1739._ A character, as high and honourable as ever was bestowed upon him by the most sanguine of his admirers! and as this was my cool and sincere opinion of that wonderful man formerly, so I declare it to be the same still, and ever will be, notwithstanding all appearances to the contrary, occasioned merely by passion and resentment; which appear, however, by the Postscript to the Essay, to be so far from extending to the posterity of Milton, that I recommend his only remaining descendant, in the warmest terms, to the public. [2] On two unequal crutches propp'd he[2a] came; Milton's on this, on that _one_ Johnston's name. Dunciad, Book IV. [2a] _Benson_. This man endeavoured to raise himself to fame, by erecting monuments, striking coins, and procuring translations of Milton; and afterwards continued: by a great passion for Arthur Johnston, a Scots physician's version of the Psalms, of which he printed many fine editions. _Notes on the Dunciad_. No fewer than six different editions of that useful and valuable book, two in quarto, two in octavo, and two in a lesser form, now lie, like lumber, in the hand of Mr. Vaillant, bookseller, the effects of Mr. Pope's ill-natured criticism. One of these editions in quarto, illustrated with an interpretation and notes, after the manner of the classic authors _in usum Delphini_, was, by the worthy editor, anno 1741, inscribed to his Royal Highness Prince George, as a proper book for his instruction in principles of piety, as well as knowledge of the Latin tongue, when he should arrive at due maturity of age. To restore this book to credit was the cause that induced me to engage in this disagreeable controversy, rather than any design to depreciate the just reputation of Milton. [The end] GO TO TOP OF SCREEN |