"The command of the sheriff," says this writer, " to his officer, by word of mouth and without writing, is good; for it may be that neither the sheriff nor his officer can write or read." But not to dwell on these obscure times, when so very little authentic can be found concerning this commonwealth, let us come at once to the days of Henry VIII, when no less a revolution happened in the lesser than in the greater empire, for the literary government became absolute, together with the political, in the hands of one and the same monarch, who was himself a writer, and dictated, not only law, but common-sense too, to all his people, suffering no one to write or speak but according to his will and pleasure. After this king's demise the literary commonwealth was again separated from the political, for I do not find that his successor on the greater throne succeeded him likewise in the lesser. Nor did either of the two queens, as I can learn, pretend to any authority in this empire, in which the Salic law hath universally prevailed, fc though there have been some considerable subjects of the female sex in the literary commonwealth, I never remember to have read of a queen. It is not easy to say with any great exactness what form of government was preserved in this commonwealth during the reigns of Edward VI, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, for though there were some great men in those times, none of them seem to have affected the throne of wit; nay, Shakespeare, who flourished in the latter end of the last reign, and who seemed so justly qualified to enjoy this crown, never thought of challenging it. In the reign of James I the literary government was an aristocracy, for I do not choose to give it the evil name of oligarchy, though it consisted only of four, namely, Master William Shakespeare, Master Benjamin Jonson, Master John Fletcher, and Master Francis Beaumont. This quadrumvirate, as they introduced a new form of government, thought proper, according to Machiavel's advice, to introduce new names; they therefore called themselves "The Wits," a name which hath been affected since by the reigning monarchs in this empire. The last of this quadrumvirate enjoyed the government alone during his life; after which the troubles that shortly after ensued involved this lesser commonwealth in all the confusion and ruin of the greater, nor can anything be found of it with sufficient certainty till the "Wits," in the reign of Charles II, after many struggles among themselves for superiority, at last agreed to elect John Dryden to be their king. This King John had a very long reign, though a very unquiet one; for there were several pretenders to the throne of wit in his time, who formed very considerable parties against him, and gave him great uneasiness, of which his successor hath made mention in the following lines: Pride, folly, malice, against Dryden rose, In various shapes of parsons, critics, beaux.2 Besides which, his finances were in such disorder, that it is affirmed his treasury was more than once entirely empty. He died, nevertheless, in a good old age, possessed of the kingdom of Wit, and was succeeded by King Alexander, surnamed Pope. This prince enjoyed the crown many years, and is thought to have stretched the prerogative much further than his predecessor; he is said to have been extremely jealous of the affections of his subjects, and to have employed various spies, by whom if he was informed of the least suggestion against his title, he never failed of branding the accused person with the word "dunce" on his forehead in broad letters; after which the unhappy culprit was obliged to lay by his pen forever, for no bookseller would venture to print a word that he wrote. He did indeed put a total restraint on the liberty of the press; for no person durst read anything which was writ without his license and approbation; and this license he granted only to four during his reign, namely, to the celebrated Dr. Swift, to the ingenious Dr. Young, to Dr. Arbuthnot, and to one Mr. Gay, four of his principal courtiers and favorites. But without diving any deeper into his character, we must allow that King Alexander had great merit as a writer, and his title to the kingdom of Wit was better founded at least than his enemies have pretended. After the demise of King Alexander, the literary state relapsed again into democracy, or rather, indeed, into downright anarchy; of which, as well as of the consequences, I shall treat in a future paper. 'Pope's "Essay on Criticism," 1. 458. SAMUEL JOHNSON 1709-1784 66 Samuel Johnson was born at Lichfield in 1709. His father was a bookseller in that city. He received his early education at the free school under Mr. Hawkins. For about two years before going up to Oxford he was at Stourbridge School. From the university he returned to Lichfield, and became usher at a school. This task proving ungrateful, he turned to his first literary occupation as a translator. On his marriage, in 1736, he again attempted teaching, opening an academy near Lichfield, and in 1737 he and Garrick betook themselves together to London as candidates for the fame which awaited them. Johnson now began the struggle of a literary life, and continued it with ever increasing renown, but with uncertain pecuniary success, until in 1762 he received the grant of £300 a year from the Crown as the reward of his labors in the field of letters. The last twenty years of his life were passed in comparative ease, checkered only by the loss of friends and by the ill-health which beset his latter days. He died in 1784, and was buried with honor in Westminster Abbey, near to the monument of Shakespeare, and close beside the grave of Garrick. Johnson was the chief literary man of his time; he wrote poems, moral and controversial essays, and biographies. While he composed these, he also prepared his celebrated English Dictionary," which appeared in 1755. His best known works are two satires, in verse, written in imitation of Juvenal, "London," and the "Vanity of Human Wishes; moral essays, published in the "Rambler and the "Idler; Rasselas," which was written to defray the expense of his mother's funeral, and to pay her last debts. His edition of Shakespeare," and his Lives of the Poets " were his most important publications subsequent to the appearance of the “ Dictionary." His satires, his controversial works, his moral essays, and even his dictionary, were among the most popular works of their day, and were considered no less remarkable for beauty of style than for vigor of thought. The verdict of posterity has not altogether ratified the judgment of Johnson's contemporaries. His style, which was the source of his popularity, in the eighteenth century, injures his reputation with modern readers. His settled preference for words derived from Latin sources is opposed to modern taste, and frequently gives to his sentences an air of cumbrous pedantry. Moreover, his thoughts are more remarkable for their vigorous good sense than for their originality or profoundness. It is Johnson's great merit that he never wrote unless he had something to say, and that he could always express exactly what he meant to say in precise language. Few writers who have filled as many volumes have written as little that was not worth writing as Johnson. The essays given here are from the Rambler" and the Idler," respectively. 66 66 66 |