dated Nov. 28, and Dec. 5, 1754; not so much to prepare the public for the appearance of so great and important a work, as tacitly to solicit a Dedication of the Dictionary to himself; which apparent civility, Johnson treated with merited disdain; and said, I have sailed a long and painful voyage round the world of the English Language and does he now send out two Cockboats to tow me into harbour?" Johnson was not to be caught with the lure thrown out by his Lordship; he remembered with indignation, that he had in vain sought Chesterfield's patronage; that he had dedicated the Plan of his Dictionary to him, in the year 1747, and that he had been neglected by that nobleman during the Compilation of his great and masterly work a lasting monument of labor and learning; partaking of the fallabilities of human nature, but unrivalled in the annals of literary productions. Chesterfield's Essays seemed to call for some acknowledgement, and the following Letter was penned in consequence : it is Johnson" all over." To the Right Honorable The Earl of Chesterfield. My Lord, Feb: 1755. I have been lately informed, by the proprietors of the World, that two Papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the public, were written by your Lordship. To be so distinguished is an honor which, being very little accustomed to favors from the great, I know not well how to receive, or in what terms to acknowledge. When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your Lordship, I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the enchantment of your address; and could not forbear to wish, that I might boast myself le vainqueur du vainqueur de la terre; that I might obtain that regard for which I saw the world contending. But I found my attendance so little encouraged, that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me to continue it. When I had once addressed your Lordship in public, I had exhausted all the art of pleasing, which a retired and uncourtly scholar can possess. I had done all that I could; and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever so little. Seven years, my Lord, have now passed, since I waited in your outward room, or was repulsed from your door; during which time I have been pushing on my work through difficulties, of which it is useless to complain, and have brought it, at last, to the verge of publication, without one act of assistance, one word of encouragement, or one smile of favor. Such treatment I did not expect for I never had a Patron before. The Shepherd in Virgil grew acquainted with Love, and found him a native of the rocks. Is not a Patron, my Lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for Life in the water and when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labors, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received; or to be unwilling that the public should considder me as owing that to a Patron, which Providence has enabled me to do for myself, Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to any favorer of learning, I shall not be disappointed, though I should conclude it if less be possible with less; for I have been long wakened from that dream of hope, in which I once boasted myself with so much exultation, My Lord, Your Lordship's most humble and most obedient servant, SAMUEL JOHNSON. Byron b. 1788; d. 1824. See Byron and Scott contrasted, by Hazlitt, after IV Lecture. An Address to the Ocean. CLXXIX. Roll on, Thou deep and dark blue Ocean roll! He sinks into Thy depths with bubbling groan, Without a grave, unknelled, (a) uncoffined, and unknown. (a) Unknelled, zonder doodklok gelui. CLXXX. His steps are not upon Thy paths Thy fields Are not a spoil for him Thou dost arise And shake him from Thee; the vile strength he wields His petty hope in some near port or bay, And dashest him again to earth CLXXXI. there let him lay! The armaments which thunder-strike the walls Of Lord of Thee, and arbiter of war CLXXXII; Thy shores are empires-changed in all, save Thee Assyria, Greece, Rome, Carthage, what are they! Thy waters wasted them while they were free, And many a tyrant since! their shores obey The stranger, slave, or savage; their decay Has dried up realms to deserts: not so Thou Unchangeable! save to Thy wild waves play Time writes no wrinkle on Thy azure brow; Such as creation's dawn beheld, Thou rollest now. CLXXXIII. Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form Calm, or convulsed; in breeze, or gale, or storm; Dark-heaving — boundless, endless, and sublime — (a) The Spanish Armada became a prey to the Seas on two different occasions, in 1588; and the Prizes of Trafalgar were scattered by the Winds, through Admiral Collingwood's neglecting Lord Nelson's orders to bring the Fleet to ancho, in 1805. Trafalgar is here accented contrary to good usage; Canning has preserved the proper accent in O price, his conquering Country grived to pay Ulm and Trafalgar. Of the Invisible! even from out Thy slime The monsters of the deep are made; each zone Obeys Thee; Thou goest forth➡dread, fathomless, alone! CLXXXIV. And I have loved Thee, Ocean! and my joy Of youthful sports, was, on thy breast to be Borne, like thy bubbles, onward: from a boy I wantoned with thy breakers; they, to me, Were a delight; and if the freshening Sea Made them a terror, 'twas a pleasing fear; For I was, as it were, a Child of Thee And trusted to thy billows, far and near And laid my hand upon Thy mane — as I do here. BYRON's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto IV. Francis Bacon b. 1561; d. 1626. a talent for Human intellect seems divided into two great classes discovery, and a talent for the acquisition of knowledge. In the latter class instances are to be found, within the observation of most persons, where elastic powers of the mind have exceeded. all belief; so much so, as in some cases to have procured for them the appellation of " walking Encyclopedias." But a talent for discovery, which in order of intellect ranks the highest, is of a different kind; for we seldom see any great proficiency made in any one department of discovery, but by men wholly absorbed in that pursuit, and almost totally unacquainted with the other fields of science. If occasionally these two talents be combined, Nature seems to ordain such instances rather to excite humility than emulation; and, on examination, it will appear, that he who imitates an Aristotle, or a Bacon, in the intellectual, or a Cyrus, or an Alexander, in the political world, generally suffers disappointment in the individual, and brings destruction upon his species. If Parts allure thee, think how Bacon shined MS. POPE'S Essay on Man. On Study and Books. Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness, and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is Read not to contradict in the judgement and disposition of business: for expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those who are learned. To spend too much time in Studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament is affectation; to make judgement wholly by their rules is the humor of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience; for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by Study; and Studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn Studies, simple men admire, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some Books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some Books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some Books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled Books are like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man; Conference a ready man; and Writing an exact man: and, therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. Histories make men wise, Poets witty, the Mathematics subtle; Natural-philosophy deep; Moral grave; Logic and Rhetoric able to contend; "Abeunt studia in mores"; nay, their is no stand or impediment in the Wit, but may be wrought out by fit Studies like as diseases of the Body may have appropriate exercises; Bowling is good for the stone and reins; Shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle Walking for the stomach; Riding for the head; and the like so, if a man's Wits be wandering, let him study the Mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again; if his Wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the Schoolmen; if he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call upon one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him |