TESTIMONIES. HE last in many things, Johnson was the last genuine ΤΗ Tory; the last of Englishmen who, with strong voice and wholly believing heart, preached the Doctrine of Standing still; who, without selfishness or slavishness, reverenced the existing Powers, and could assert the privileges of rank, though himself poor, neglected and plebeian; who had heart-devoutness with heart-hatred of cant, was orthodox-religious with his eyes open; and in all things and everywhere spoke out in plain English, from a soul wherein Jesuitism could find no harbour, and with the front and tone not of a diplomatist but of a man. -CARLYLE. It is but just to say that our intimate acquaintance with what he would himself have called the anfractuosities of his intellect and of his temper serves only to strengthen our conviction that he was both a great and a good man. -MACAULAY. His failings may well be forgiven for the sake of his virtues. His defects were spots in the sun. His piety, his kind affections, and the goodness of his heart present an example worthy of imitation. MURPHY. He is justly to be called a man of letters of the first class, and the greatest power in English letters during the eighteenth century; and in his Lives of the Poets we have him mellowed by years, Johnson in his ripeness treating the subject which he loved best and knew best.. The reproach conveyed in the phrase 'Johnsonese English' must not mislead us. It is aimed at his words, not at his structure. In Johnson's prose the words are often pompous and long, but the structure is always plain and modern. His utterances on party are the utterances of a great and original man. The more we study him, the higher will be our esteem for the power of his mind, the width of his interests, the largeness of his knowledge, the freshness, the fearlessness and strength of his judgments. The higher, too, will be our esteem for his character. * On the whole, we have in him a fine and admirable type, worthy to be kept in view for ever, of the ancient and inbred integrity, piety, good nature and good humour of the English people.-MATTHEW ARNOLD. A tremendous companion.-GEORGE GARRICK. People are apt to forget under what Boswellian stimulus the great doctor uttered many hasty things; things no more indicative of the depths of his character than the phosphoric gleaming of the sea, when struck at night, is indicative of a radical corruption of nature.-THACKERAY. His notions rose up like the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus, all ready clothed, and in bright armour, ready for battle. Of his erudition the world has been the judge, and we who produce each a score of his sayings, as proofs of that wit which in him was inexhaustible, resemble travellers who, having visited Delhi or Golconda, bring home each a handful of oriental pearl, to evince the riches of the Great Mogul.-MRS. Piozzi. It is unfortunate for Johnson that his particularities and frailties can be more distinctly traced than his good and amiable exertions. Could the many bounties he studiously concealed, the many acts of humanity he performed in private, be displayed with equal circumstantiality, his defects would be so far lost in the blaze of his virtues that the latter only would be regarded. - STEEVENS. The conversation of Johnson is strong and clear, and may be compared to an antique statue, whose every vein and muscle is distinct and bold. -DR. PERCY. One of the most nervous, most perspicuous, most concise, nost harmonious writers I know. A learned diction improves by time.-SHENSTONE. |