DIEB XIII DECESSIT IDIB DECEMBR ANN CHRIST cIo Iocc LXXXIIII SEPVLT IN AED SANCT PETR WESTMONASTERIENS XIII KAL IANVAR ANN CHRIST cIo Iocc LXXXV AMICI ET SODALES LITTERARII PECVNIA CONLATA H M FACIVND CVRAVER.
On a scroll in his hand are the following words: [Greek: ENMAKARESSIPONONANTAXIOSEIHAMOIBH].
On one side of the Monument--- FACIEBAT JOHANNES BACON SCVLPTOR ANN. CHRIST. M.DCC.-LXXXXV.
The Subscription for this monument, which cost eleven hundred guineas, was begun by the LITERARY CLUB. MALONE. See Appendix I.
[1283] '"Laetus sum laudari me," inquit Hector, opinor apud Naevium, "abs te, pater, a laudato viro."' Cicero, Ep. ad Fam. xv. 6.
[1284] To prevent any misconception on this subject, Mr. Malone, by whom these lines were obligingly communicated, requests me to add the following remark:--
'In justice to the late Mr. Flood, now himself wanting, and highly meriting, an epitaph from his country, to which his transcendent talents did the highest honour, as well as the most important service; it should be observed that these lines were by no means intended as a regular monumental inscription for Dr. Johnson. Had he undertaken to write an appropriated and discriminative epitaph for that excellent and extraordinary man, those who knew Mr. Flood's vigour of mind, will have no doubt that he would have produced one worthy of his illustrious subject. But the fact was merely this: In Dec. 1789, after a large subscription had been made for Dr. Johnson's monument, to which Mr. Flood liberally contributed, Mr. Malone happened to call on him at his house, in Berners-street, and the conversation turning on the proposed monument, Mr. Malone maintained that the epitaph, by whomsoever it should be written, ought to be in Latin. Mr. Flood thought differently. The next morning, in the postscript to a note on another subject, he mentioned that he continued of the same opinion as on the preceding day, and subjoined the lines above given.' BOSWELL. Cowper also composed an epitaph for Johnson--though not one of much merit. See Southey's Cowper, v. 119.
[1285] As I do not see any reason to give a different character of my illustrious friend now, from what I formerly gave, the greatest part of the sketch of him in my Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, is here adopted. BOSWELL.
[1286] See ante, i. 41.
[1287] For his fox-hunting see ante, i. 446, note I.
[1288] Lucretius, i. 72.
[1289] See ante, i. 406.
[1290] 'He was always indulgent to the young, he never attacked the unassuming, nor meant to terrify the diffident.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary ii. 343.
[1291] In the Olla Podrida, a collection of Essays published at Oxford, there is an admirable paper upon the character of Johnson, written by the Reverend Dr. Home, the last excellent Bishop of Norwich. The following passage is eminently happy: 'To reject wisdom, because the person of him who communicates it is uncouth, and his manners are inelegant;--what is it, but to throw away a pine-apple, and assign for a reason the roughness of its coat?' BOSWELL. The Olla Podrida was published in weekly numbers in 1787 8. Boswell's quotation is from No. 13.
[1292] 'The English Dictionary was written ... amidst inconvenience distraction, in sickness and in sorrow.' Preface to Johnson's Dictionary, Works, v. 51.
[1293] 'For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.' Luke, xii. 48.
[1294] 'If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.' I Corinthians, xv. 19.
[1295] See ante, ii. 262, note 2.
[1296] Though a perfect resemblance of Johnson is not to be found in any age, parts of his character are admirably expressed by Clarendon in drawing that of Lord Falkland, whom the noble and masterly historian describes at his seat near Oxford;--'Such an immenseness of wit, such a solidity of judgement, so infinite a fancy, bound in by a most logical ratiocination.--His acquaintance was cultivated by the most polite and accurate men, so that his house was an University in less volume, whither they came, not so much for repose as study, and to examine and refine those grosser propositions, which laziness and consent made current in conversation.'
Bayle's account of Menage may also be quoted as exceedingly applicable to the great subject of this work:--'His illustrious friends erected a very glorious monument to him in the collection entitled Menagiana. Those who judge of things aright, will confess that this collection is very proper to shew the extent of genius and learning which was the character of Menage. And I may be bold to say, that the excellent works he published will not distinguish him from other learned men so advantageously as this. To publish books of great learning, to make Greek and Latin verses exceedingly well turned, is not a common talent, I own; neither is it extremely rare, It is incomparably more difficult to find men who can furnish discourse about an infinite number of things, and who can diversify them an hundred ways.