family, that his domeftic manners were far from amiable, and that he was neither a kind hufband nor an indulgent parent. But neither thefe nor thofe other qualities that rendered him both a bitter enemy and a railing difputant, could juftify the feverity of Johnfon's criticism on the above-mentioned poem, nor apologize for that harsh and groundless cenfure which clofes the first of his difcourfes on it, that it is a tragedy which ignorance has admired, and bigotry ' applauded.' The reflection on that enmity of Johnfon towards Milton, which I have above remarked, leads me to mention another inftance of it, which about this time fell under my obfervation. A man of the name of Lauder, a native of Scotland, and educated in the univerfity of Edinburgh, had, for reafons that will hereafter be given, conceived a hatred against the memory of Milton, and formed a fcheme to convict him of plagiarifm, by fhewing that he had inferted in the Paradife Loft whole paffages taken from the writings of fundry modern Latin poets, namely, Mafenius the jefuit, Taubman a German profeffor, the editor of Virgil, and joint editor with Gruter of Plautus, Staphorftius a Dutch divine, and other writers lefs known; and of this crime he attempted to prove him guilty, by publishing inftances in forged quotations, inferted from time to time in the Gentleman's Magazine,' which not being detected, he made additions to, and again published in a volume intitled An Effay on Milton's ufe of and imitation of the moderns in his Paradife Loft, dedicated to the Univerfities of Oxford and Cambridge, 8vo. 1750.' While the book was in the prefs, the proof fheets were fubmitted to the infpection of our club, by a member of it who had an intereft in its publication, and I could all along obferve that Johnfon feemed to approve, not only of the design but of the argument, and seemed to exult in a perfuafion, that the reputation of Milton was likely to fuffer by this difcovery. That he was not privy to the impofture I am well perfuaded, but that he wished well to the argument must be inferred from the preface, which indubitably was written by Johnson. The charges of plagiarifm contained in this production, Lauder has attempted to make out by citations to a very great number, from a Latin poem of Jacobus Mafenius a jefuit, intitled, Palæstra ligatæ eloquentiæ,' from the Adamus exul' of Grotius, the Triumphus Pacis' of Cafpar Staphorftius a Dutchman, from the Latin poems of Cafpar Barlæus, and the works of many other writers. For a time the world gave credit to them, and Milton's reputation was finking under them, till a clergyman of great worth, learning and industry, Mr. now Dr. John Douglas, prompted at first by mere curiofity, fet himself to find out and compare the parallel paffages, in the doing whereof he difcovered, that in a quotation from Staphorftius, Lauder had interpolated eight lines taken from a Latin tranflation of the Paradise Loft, by a man named Hogaus or Hog, and oppofed them to the paffage in the original, as evidence of Milton's plagiarifm. Proofs of the like fraud in paffages cited from Taubman and many others are produced by Dr. Douglas; but a fingle inftance of the kind would have been fufficient to blaft the credit of his adversary. Having made thefe difcoveries, Dr. Douglas communicated them to the world in a pamphlet intitled, 'Milton vindicated from the charge of plagiarifm, brought against him by Mr. Lauder, &c. 8vo. 1750.' Upon the publication thereof his book fellers called on Lauder for a juftification of themselves, and a confirmation of the charge; but he, with a degree of impudence not to be exceeded, acknowledged the interpolation of the books by him cited, and seemed to wonder at the folly of mankind in 'making fuch a rout about eighteen or twenty lines.' However, being a short time after convinced by Johnfon and others, that it would be more for his interest to make an ample confeffion of his guilt, than to set mankind at defiance, and ftigmatize them with folly; he did fo in a letter addreffed to Mr. Douglas, published in quarto, 1751, beginning thus: 'Candour and tenderness are in any relation, and ' on all occafions, eminently amiable; but when they ' are found in an adverfary, and found fo prevalent 'as to overpower that zeal which his caufe excites, and that heat which naturally increases in the profe'cution of argument, and which may be in a great 'measure juftified by the love of truth, they certainly appear with particular advantages; and it is im'poffible not to envy those who poffefs the friendship ' of him, whom it is even fome degree of good for'tune to have known as an enemy. I will not fo far diffemble my weakness, or my 'fault, as not to confefs, that my wifh was to have passed undetected; but fince it has been my fortune to fail in my original defign, to have the fuppofitious ' paffages T 3 paffages which I have inferted in my quotations 'made known to the world, and the fhade which began to gather on the fplendour of Milton totally difperfed, I cannot but count it an alleviation of my pain, that I have been defeated, by a man who knows how to ufe advantages with fo much mode⚫ration, and can enjoy the honour of conqueft with⚫ out the infolence of triumph. "It was one of the maxims of the Spartans, not to prefs upon a flying army, and therefore their enemies were always ready to quit the field, because they knew the danger was only in oppofing. The civility with which you have thought proper to treat me, when you had incontestable fuperiority, has inclined me to make your victory complete, without any further struggle, and not only publicly to acknowledge the truth of the charge which you have hitherto advanced, but to confefs, without the leaft diffimulation, fubterfuge, or concealment, every other interpolation I have made in thofe authors, which you have not yet had opportunity to examine. 'On the fincerity and punctuality of this confeffion, I am willing to depend for all the future regard of ⚫ mankind, and cannot but indulge fome hopes, that they whom my offence has alienated from me, may, by this inftance of ingenuity and repentance, be propitiated and reconciled. Whatever be the event, I fhall at least have done all that can be done in reparation of my former injuries to Milton, to truth, and to mankind, and entreat that thofe who fhall 'continue implacable, will examine their own hearts, 'whether they have not committed equal crimes without equal proofs of forrow, or equal acts of atonement.' Then Then follow the citations, fome of which appear to be gratuitous, that is to fay, fuch as had efcaped the detection of the author's adverfary. He then proceeds to affign the motive for his attempt to fubvert the reputation of Milton, in thefe words: 'About ten years ago, I published an edition of 'Dr. Johnston's Tranflation of the Pfalms, and having procured from the general affembly of the church ' of Scotland, a recommendation of its use to the lower claffes of grammar-fchools, into which I had begun to introduce it, though not without much 'controversy and oppofition, I thought it likely that 'I should, by annual publications, improve my little fortune, and be enabled to fupport myself in free'dom from the miseries of indigence. But Mr. Pope, ' in his malevolence to Mr. Benfon, who had diftinguished himself by his fondness for the fame ver'fion, destroyed all my hopes by a diftich *, in which 'he places Johnfton in a contemptuous comparison ⚫ with the author of Paradife Loft. From this time, all my praises of Johnston be'came ridiculous, and I was cenfured with great freedom, for forcing upon the fchools an author, 'whom Mr. Pope had mentioned only as a foil to a 'better poet. On this occafion, it was natural not to be pleased, and my refentment feeking to difcharge < itself somewhere, was unhappily directed against On two unequal crutches propt, he (Benson) came, Dunciad, book iv. line 109. |