Dr Johnson
Sir: This generation's uncritical adulation of Samuel Johnson seems to have reached a new peak of frenzy on the occasion of his bicentenary. Is there not a danger that it will eventually provoke an equally intem- perate reaction?
Johnson was a genuine great man. But he was not always wise, always just, or always a good writer. He was not wise when he lent his authority to support George III's American policy, from the evil consequences of which we still suffer. He was not just when he savagely rejected Mrs Thrale for marrying Piozzi. And he was not a good writer when he wrote:
Let observation, with extensive view Survey mankind from China to Peru
— which Coleridge paraphrased as 'Let ob- servation, with extensive observation, ob- serve mankind extensively.'
D. Watkins
'Firmoune, Laleston, Bridgend, Mid-Glamorgan
Previous page
