forgery and a gross imposition on the public," in which he threatens to resume his former attack, and to "reinforce the charge of plagiarism against the English poet, and to fix it upon him, by irrefragable conviction, in the face of the whole world."

By bringing forward this charge against Milton, which we need not say is without the smallest evidence or probability, he was in hopes of ingratiating himself with the zealots of the royalist party; but such was the infamy now attached to the character of Lauder, that even had the story been specious, the medium through which it had passed would alone have condemned it to neglect; accompanied, however, as it was with the most glaring marks of falsehood, and with an utter contempt of all decency, the detestation of the public. became so strongly marked, that he was obliged to quit his country, and to seek a refuge in the island of Barbadoes, where, after fruitlessly endeavouring to establish a school, he perished miserably poor, and the object of universal abhorrence.

The connection of Johnson with this violent and fraudulent character, the most unfortunate occurrence of his life, has given rise to much variety of opinion, to much severe accusation, and to some candid exculpations.

That the great moralist had imbibed many prejudices against Milton, and that these originated in, and were fostered by, the warmth of party zeal, cannot, by any impartial person, be denied. It must also be conceded, that this strong aversion to the politics of Milton made him unwilling to do justice to his poetical powers, without a species of qualification that nearly rendered nu gatory his previous applause: and even occasioned him to view the supposed discovery of what might lower the author of Paradise Lost in the public estimation, with some degree of com placency.

Beyond this step, I think, we are not warranted to proceed in the charge. No man than Johnson was a greater lover of truth, or more detested any approach to imposition; and his conduct, on the detection of Lauder, was such as fully evinced his utter abhorrence of the attempt. All that could be done to appease the manes of injured genius, he instantly performed, so far at least as the design of Lauder had a tendency to depreciate his moral and poetical worth; for I am sorry to say, as we shall hereafter perceive, that his dislike of Milton the politician was so inveterate, as never to leave his mind open to an unprejudiced discussion of his talents as a poet.

Three very different opinions on the scope and

66

intentions of our author in this temporary connection with Lauder, have within these few years been given to the world by Biographers of considerable celebrity. Mr. Boswell has declared that his friend was actuated by no other motives than an ardent curiosity and a love of truth, both which were gratified by the investigation which Lauder commenced.* Mr. Hayley, on the contrary, conceives, that, owing to his strong political bias, he had long entertained a species of malevolence towards the principles and even the talents of Milton; "prejudice against Milton in Lauder," he remarks, arose almost to madness; in Johnson it amounted only to a degree of malevolence, too commonly produced by political disagreement; it had induced him to cherish too eagerly a detractive deception, fabricated to sink an illustrious character, without allowing himself the due exercise of his keen understanding to investigate its falsehood, or to perceive its absurdity;" and further on he has well observed, that, "it should afford us an antidote against the poison of party rage in all literary discussions, ta observe, that by indulging it, a very strong and a very devout mind was hurried into the want of clear moral perception, and of true christian charity, in describing the conduct, and in scruti

Life of Johnson, vol. 1, p. 199.

nizing the motives, of Milton. It seems as if the good angel of this extraordinary poet had determined that his poetical renown should pass (like his virtue and his genius) through trials most wonderfully adapted to give it lustre; and hence (as imagination at least may please itself in supposing) might such enemies be combined against him, as the world, perhaps, never saw before in a similar confederacy. A base artificer of falsehood, and a magnanimous teacher of moral philosophy, united in a wild endeavour to diminish his reputation; but, like the rash assailants of Jupiter, in the fables of paganism, they only confirmed the pre-eminence they attacked with preposterous temerity. The philosopher, indeed, made an honourable retreat; and no candid mind will severely censure him for an ill-starred alliance, which, however clouded by: prejudice, he might originally form in compassion to indigence, and which he certainly ended by rejection of imposture."*

Severity of censure for this ill-starred alliance has, however, been very lately bestowed upon Johnson by a biographer of great learning and acumen; but in terms, I think, much too strong for the occasion, and unwarranted by the argu

* Life of Milton, 4to edition, p. 238, 242, 243,

ments brought forward to substantiate the accusation. When Dr. Symmons charges Johnson with "a notable and hardy contempt of truth;" when he asserts that he "survived the disgrace of his infamous alliance to enjoy the opportunity of attempting, with much deeper, though not more effectual wounds, the impassible reputation of Milton;" and concludes with declaring that "the delinquency of the libellous biographer is ill compensated by the merit of the monotonous and heavy-gaited morality of the sombre and dogmatic essayist;" he must be allowed, by every impartial reader, to have fallen into the very error which he had repeatedly reprobated in another, and to have adopted, with regard to the departed moralist, the language of prejudice and aversion.

No man indeed will or can succeed in attempting to fix upon the memory of Johnson the adoption of the arts of fraud and falsehood; for, to repeat the expression of his accuser, he will for ever remain impassible to efforts such as these. There is one part, however, of Dr. Symmons's observations on the conduct of Johnson towards Milton, which exhibits not only much acuteness of reasoning, but also some probability. In April + Life of Milton, 8vo, p. 559, 560, 566.