at the oar. He did not always give his opinion unconditionally of the pieces he had even perused, and was competent to decide upon x . He did not choose to have his sentiments generally known ; for there was a great eagerness, especially in those who had not the pole-star of judgment to direct them, to be taught what to think or say on literary performances. c What does Johnson say of such a book ? ' was the question of every day. Besides, he did not want to increase the number of his enemies, which his decisions and criticisms had created him ; for he was generally willing to retain his friends, to whom, and their works, he bestowed sometimes too much praise, and recommended be yond their worth, or perhaps his own esteem. But affection knows no bounds. Shall this pen find a place in the present page to mention, that a shameless Aristophanes had an intention of taking him off upon the stage, as the Rehearsal does the great Dryden 2 ? When it came to the notice of our exasperated man of learning, he conveyed such threats of vengeance and personal punishment to the mimic, that he was glad to proceed no farther 3 . The reverence of the public for his character afterwards, which was increasing every year, would not have suffered him to be the object of theatrical ridicule. Like Fame in Virgil, vires acquirit eundo 4 . In the year 1738 he wrote the Life of Father Paul, and published proposals for a translation of his History of the Council of Trent, by subscription : but it did not go on 5 . Mr. Urban even yet hopes to recover some sheets of this translation, that were in a box under St. John's Gate ; more certainly once
1 * JOHNSON. " My judgment I Macaulay, after saying that he
have found is no certain rule as to ' admires no historians much except
the sale of a book." BOSWELL. Herodotus, Thucydides and Tacitus,'
" Pray, Sir, have you been much continues ; ' Perhaps, in his way,
plagued with authors sending you a very peculiar way, I might add
their works to revise?" JOHNSON. Fra Paolo. ... He is my favourite
" No, Sir ; I have been thought a modern historian. His subject did
sour, surly fellow.'" Life, iv. 121. not admit of vivid painting; but,
See ante, i. 332. what he did, he did better than any-
2 , Life^ ii. 168 ; Works, vii. 272. body.' Trevelyan's Macaulay, ed.
3 The mimic was Foote. Ante,\. 1877, ii. 270, 285. 'That incom- 4 2 4- parable historian,' Gibbon called
4 Aeneid, iv. 175. him. Misc. Works, iv. 551.
5 Life, i. 107, 135, 139.
placed
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