Original Letter of the Rev. Matthew Henry. whether I went or flaid. A profpect of greater usefulness was it that turned the fcale; and, bleffed be God, I have not hitherto had reafon to fay I was deceived in the profpect. I made a vifit hither, and that drew me in. The cenfure I was likely to undergo was a confiderable obftacle; but your remove, not having any fecular advantage attending it, is pretty clear from that difficulty. The uncertainty of making provifion for them was another; but I should not have left them when I did, had I not been morally certain of Mr. Blackman's coming to them; but he changed his mind: how ever, at length they are well fixed, and to their fatisfaction. If you have the profpect of an agreeable fucceffor, your remove would be the cafier, especially that being near them you may frequent ly affift them. After all, the greatest difficulty, both in your cafe and mine, is mutual affection, and a lothnefs to do any thing that looks unkind to thofe that we love and are loved by. Nothing could answer that but majus bonum ecclefe; the argument which I remember Mr. How preffed me with when, in 1702, I was invited to Salters', Hall; yet that's the thing I fometimes reflect upon with regret, and cannot fo easily get over. But neither is this of fuch concern in your cafe, because you remove fo little a way. I pray God to direct you, and make your way plain, and your mind eafy. I beg your prayers for me, and reft, Sir, your moft obliged humble fervant, MATT. HENRY *. CHARACRTER of the PRESENT CELE- A cry celebrated and pious author among the Diffenters. He published a variety of religious tracts: but he is most diftinguifhed by a voluminous expofition of the Bible, in high eftimation among the more orthodox of his fect. 555 has enabled me to examine the extent of his understanding, to dive into the bottom of his heart, and obferve the peculiar mode of life he practifed. The place of his nativity, and the occupation of his parents, he was always very anxious to conceal; nor have I ever been able to glean, from any part of his converfation, where the former was, nor (except fome cafual intelligence which I have no better authority for than mere report, that his father is the keeper of an afylum for lunatics near Briflol) have I been able to collect in what stage of life the latter are. It is believed, however, that he is an Irishman, and was born about the year 1757.-During his education at fchool he was remarkable for his credulity in fpirits and other fupernatural appearances, as is evident from feveral of his accounts relating to fuch phænomena; but he does not feem to have been much diftinguished, in this earlier period of life, for any display of genius or depth of judgement. His Ichool exercifes attracted no extraordinary attention, nor was he patronised by the liberality of any particular families. Whether this proceeded from a want of penetration in the mafter on the one hand, and the poverty and remoteness of his country on the other, I am not able to determine: but more efpecially the latter, as the name of the country itself ftill remains an object of enquiry, and, until that point is cleared, it will be ufelefs to examine the caufe of fuch neglect in its inhabitants. His father had all along intended him for the church, but whether from his inability to support the expences of an univerfity education, or his averfion to its rules and principles, his fon would rev r have been e ducated at Oxford, had it not been for the generofity of Dr. T. The cir cumftance of his entrance at the univerfity, as it reflects much honour on his patron, I fhall here ftate at large. The above Dean happening to fall in company with him in a ftage-coach, difcovered fomething more than common in the acutenels of his remarks on ancient authors; s they were not univerfal, and fuch as the Dean had never met with be fore, he had great reafon to believe them genuine. Being yet unwilling to make too hafty conclufions, he examined him as minutely as decency would permit in a variety of abftrufe writers as weli ancient as modern. Upon finding him equally converfant in morality as phyfics, and on an enquiry into the if here of ite he 556 Character of the present Mr. Henderson. he occupied, he determined to fnatch him from the obfcurity he was then buried in, and hazard him, under the fanction of his own patronage, at the uni verfity; where accordingly he entered, at Pembroke college, April, 1781.-We are now come to the most important æra of his life, before which few circumftances either of his manners or abilities are known. His genius feems to have been naturally eccentric; the lownefs of his ftature, and the peculiarity of his drefs, attracted immediate attention from the whole univerfity; every perfon's curiofity was raifed to a very confiderable height. He was courted-spoken of— and applauded. The countenances of the company he came into were inftantly brightened at his appearance-they were fure of being entertained by the pleafantnefs of his ftories and the vivacity with which he related them. The ftudents feemed to vie, as it were, which fhould enjoy the most of his acquaint ance; nor was that confined to the junior part of the academifts only, but the heads of colleges and other doctors invited him with eagerness and pleasure. He was looked upon as a prodigy by fome, as a fool by others. Those to whom felf-intereft had obliged him to pay an implicit deference in his difputa. tions, faw in him a future genius to enlighten mankind: others, against whom he had maintained his arguments by the rougheft fophiftry and the fubtleft quib bles, were fo piqued with the acutenefs of his prevarication, which generally turned the laugh againft his adverfary, that they took every opportunity of condemning him as a pedant and a buffoon. His invitations becoming at length fo numerous, and the pleafure of prolong ing his company fo vifible in every coun tenance that he could not with any propriety reject their importunities, he attained by degrees a habit of fitting up, very late he could never think of moving till twelve or one o'clock; and I have frequently known him ftretch it out to three or four in the morning. This inverfion of nature cont.derably impaired his conftitution, and, perceiv ing in himself an inability to continue that vivacity and fignificance which he had hitherto fupported with univerfal eclat, he feems to have turned his mind to fome remedy. This, I have been informed from pretty good authority, was the original caufe of his exceflive drink ing, which, as it rendered him unfit for the fociety of those whofe duty it is to fet an example of frugality and tempe rance to the younger ftudents, confider ably leffened him alfo in the esteem of thofe fludents themselves. They began now to be fated with his dogmas. Few of them had any relish left for fuch peculiar wit: and those who could relish it wifhed to be released from its continued fimilarity. Idiofyncrafy has its moment -deviation from common usage can pleafe only while it is new. When that becomes a habit which at firft was only a whim, the admiration it excited begins immediately to wear off; what is familiar we are under no obligation to treat with more than common refpect. This was the cafe with Mr. Henderfon. The novelty of fuch a phænomenon in Oxford might be reasonably expected to have excited univerfal curiofity: but curiofity declines with the decline of novelty; and the former will exift no longer than the exiftence of the latter. Thus this remarkable genius, who for upwards of three years had been the common topic of converfation, was able to walk the streets without being pointed at, and enter into converfation without carrying the palm undifputed, for the fpace of one year and a half: if we except indeed the freshmen, whole curiosity was equal only to the novelty. Mr. Hender.on took the degree of B. A. Feb. 27, 1786; and left the univerfity, without having taken orders, a few weeks after. His well-known averfion to the ecclefiaftical line no perfon could ever fuggeft the realon of; and notwithstanding the repeated jemnonftrances of his father, who, as I mentioned before, was very eager for his entrance into the church, he could never be prevailed upon to quit the ftudy of phyfic, which he profecuted with great application. His college freaks were fuch as few men of his genius furnish us with an example of; whether he did it from an opinion that he could exalt his character by peculiarity (which certainly he flood in no need of), or from any other fecret, motive none but himself can tell. It feems he had a practice of faftening his door and concealing himself till twelve o'clock in the day, which he always took care to be exact in. It was in vain for any of his acquaintance to call upon him before this time; and it is reported that when Sir Joshua Reynolds and Mr. Burke vifited him one morning before this hour, he refufed admiflion, though he knew their voices very diftinctly. This was a firange whim, Strictures on Dr. Johnson's Critical Acumen. ̧ whim, and unworthy his judgement.- written any thing confiderable; but, if His name is fo well known already, that neither his own writings nor my fketch of him can render it inore familiar; in this I have attempted to difplay his abilities rather than familiarize his defects. If I may feem to have fpoken of him as what he once was only, let it be remembered, that, as he has left the univerfity, and few know what or where he is at prefent, we can only mention with certainty what has a reference to his refidence here; and relying on your GENT. MAG. July, 1786. 557. well-known affection, Mr. Urban, towards men of genius and learning for the publication, I doubt not but this flight though impartial trait of Mr. Hen derfon's character will prove an entertaining contribution to your valuable Mifcellany. Yours, &c. STRICTURES ON OXONIENSIS. DR. JOHNSON'S CRITICISM ON MILTON'S ·Fragili quærens illidere dentem Offendit folido. ver TILTON's fupreme pleafure, Dr. fary (Salmafius), fo renowned for criticifm, with vicious Latin. "He opens "his book with telling that he has used "perfona, which according to Milton "fignifies only a mask, in a fense. not "known to the Romans, by applying it "as we apply perfon. But as Nemefis "is always on the watch, it is memora "ble that he has enforced the charge of "folecifm by an expreffion in itself "grofsly foleciftical, when for one of "these fuppofed blunders he fays, Pro"pino te grammatiftis tuis vapulandum. "From vapulo, which has a pallive "fenfe, vapulandus can never be de"rived." Lives of English Poets. The malignity with which the penfioned author of Taxation no Tyranny has attacked the immortal friend of liberty and the people, has roufed the flumbering Nemefis, and the undertakes to fhew, by me her fecretary, that the Doctor's criticism is totally without foundation. We find vapulando et fomno pereo at the conclufion of the first act of Plautus's Curculio. In the fecond fcene of the fourth act of the Panulus, we have, Ut enim mihi vapulandum eft, tute corium fufferas. And in the Adelphi of Terence (a&t II. fc. 2.) we read, Ego vapulando, verberando ille, ufque ambo defeffi Tumus. This penfioned critic, finding the word gloriofifhmus in a paffage he quoted from Milton's Second Defence of the People, tells us in a note, that it may be "doubted whether gloriofiffimus be here "ufed with Milton's beafled purity. "Res gloriofa is an illuftrious thing "but Not always-for though we find, Icpuli nofiri honores quondam fuerunt rari et tenues, 358 Strictures on Dr. Johnson's Critical Acumen. That it is fometimes fo ufed cannot be denied; but, if there is proper authority for its being ufed otherwife, Milton will be juftified. In the Pfeudolus of Plautus (act II. fc. 3.) the Doctor might have found, Atque ego nunc me gloriofum faciam, &c. And in Valerius Maximus we read, Tarquinium Prifcum ad Romanum imperium occupandum fortuna in urbem noftram advexit: alienum, quod ortum Corintho faftiendum, quod mercatore Damarato genitum: erubefcendum, quod etiam exule. Cæterum tam profpero conditionis fuæ eventu induftriofum pro ignominiofo, pro invifo gloriofum reddidit. Dilatavit enim imperii fines, cultum Deorum novis facerdotiis auxit, numerum fenatus amplificavit, equeftrem ordinem uberiorem reliquir : quæque Jaudum ejus confummatio eft, præclaris virtutibus effecit, ne hæc civitas poeni rentiam ageret, quod regem a finitimis potius mutuaffet, quam de fuis legiffet. (Lib. III. cap. iv. ii.) Quod fi eum Dii immortales victoriis fuis perfrui passi effent, fofpes gloriofior patriæ mænia non intraffet. (Lib. III. cap. ii. 5.) Confpicua felicitatis Arpinam unicum; literarum gloriofiffimum contemptorem, five abundantiffimum fontem intuere velis. (Lib. II. cap. ii. 3.) five In the fragments of Petronius found at Traw in Dalmatia, the word is twice ufed, as it feems, in a good fense. Oves, quia lanâ ille nos gloriofos faciunt. (Ed. Bofch. Amftelod. 1677, p. 109.) Ut totus mihi populus benè imprecetur, ego gloriofus volo efferri, p. 156. The philofophic Boethius gives us a paffage that is directly in point. Sed cum plures gentes effe neceffe fit, ad quas fama hominis nequeat pervenire, fit, ut quem tu æftimnas gloriojum, proximâ parte terrarum videatur inglorius. (De Confol. Philofoph. lib. i. prof. 6.) And gloriofa, gloriofum, glorioffima, unius gloriofiffimus, and gloriofiffime, occur in the Codex, lib. i. tit. 1. I cannot but think that these are fufficient authorities for Milton's ufe of it. The word, as we have feen, was used in a good fenfe in the time of Tiberius, if not of Plautus; and it did not cease to be so used in the time of Juftinian. It feems not altogether impertinent to add, that Suetonius has, Non minus glorioi quam civilis animi (in vitâ Claudii, fect. 1.); and Valerius Maximus, Gloriofum militis fpiritum (lib. viii. c. 14); and that it would be difficult, as I apprehend, to give a folid reason why we may not fay, vir gloriofus, as well as gloriofus animus, or gloriofus fpiritus viri. Dr. Johnson has told us, that Salmafius, in his reply to Milton, (which was published by his fon in the year of the Reftoration) being probably moft in pain for his Latinity, endeavours in the beginning to defend his ufe of the word perfona: "But if I remember right,” fays the Doctor, "he mitfes a better au"thority than any that he has found, "that of Juvenal in his fourth fatire : -Quid agis cum dira et fædior omni Crimine perfona eli ?” But the old fcholiaft has, Non bome fed perfona; and he would not, I think, be much out of the way, who should affert, that the word perfona, in this place, anfwers to our word character. Qui de perfonis Horatianis fcripferunt, aiunt Manium fcurrilitate notiflimum Rome fuiffe. (Vet. Schol. in Hor. lib. i. fat. 3.) But the fatire would, I think, be heightened, if we confider the word in Juvenal as expreffive of rank and dig nity : Nil fuerit mi (inquit) cum uxoribus unquam alienis. Verum eft cum mimis; eft eum meretrickbus; unde Fama malum gravius, quam res trabit. Perfonam fatis eft, non illud quidquid ubique Officit, evitare? HOR. I Sat. i. 57% Perfona dignitatis eft nomen; fic Cicero dicit cffe qui fentiant philofopham indignam effe perfonâ. Cornelius Celius plenè fplendidam dicit perfonam; modo dicit perfonam præfertim vero honoratiorem. (axter, ad locum.) Hence undoubtedly the word parfon; which is now (fuch is the mutability of language!) aimoft a term of reproach. I have never feen Saimalius's Reply, and therefore do not know what autho rities, for his use of perfona, he may have t Strictures on Dr. Johnfon's Critical Acumen. have quoted; but, upon looking into Ainfworth has given two inftances in which he thought perfona was used for perfon; and yet it may be queftioned whether either of them fully answers his purpose. Profpicias-ecqua pacifica perfona defideretur, an in bellatore fint omnia. (Cic. ad Attic. viii. 12.) Heroica perfone Medea et Atreus. (Cic. de Nat. Deor. lib. iii. 29.) I fee no reason why the word may not be interpreted character in both places. At first fight one is ftruck with the following paffage as an unexceptionable proof of this word in Salmafius's fenfe: Qui illam Perfam, arque omnes Perfas, atque omnes perfonas, Malè Dii omnes perdant. PLAUTI Perfa. And yet it is poffible, after all, that the author meant no more than the dramatis perfona. Seneca will, however, furnish us with a paffage that will undeniably prove that Milton was miftaken if he meant to infinuate that perjona was never applied as we apply the word person. In meâ tamen perfonâ non pro te dolet. (Confol. ad Helviam, c. xvii) It is clear that Milton has not faid that perfona fignifies only a mask. His words are, Quid enim, quæfo, est parricidium in perfona regis admittere, quid in perJona regis quæ unquam Latinitas fic Jocuta eft? nifi a iquem nobis forè Pfeudophilippum narras, qui perfonam regis indutus nelcio quid parricioit apud Angios patraverit; quod verbum verius opinione tuâ ex ore tibi exciditle puto. Tyrannus enim quafi hiftrionalis quidamn res, larvâ tantam et perfonâ regis, non verus rex eft. (Præt.) In perjoná regis does not neceffarily fignify in the king's perfon. Salmafius might have defended himself by faying, he only meant 559 in one of royal rank. And Milton may poffibly have intended no more than to exprefs his doubts whether parricidium admittere, in p. r. was good Latin for to commit a parricide on one of royal rank. Ne quid turpe in se admittere, is the language of Terence; but, Ne quid turpe in alio admittere, if fuch a paffage could be found, would, I fuppofe, be generally understood to fignify conniving at a crime, not committing it, or indeed fuffering under it. Ponas reponit Nemefis. MR. URBAN, CATUL. NEMESIUS. July 10. I AM furprized that none of your numerous correfpondents have made any obfervations on the contemptuous manner in which Dr. Johnson has fpoken of Pope's "Effay on Man." "The subject," he says," is perhaps not very proper for poetry, and the poet was not fufficiently mafter of his fubject; metaphyfical morality was a new study, and he was proud of his acquifitions; and, fuppofing himself mafter of great fecrets, was in hafte to teach what he had not learned. Never were penury of knowledge, and vulgarity of fentiment, fo happily difguifed. The reader feels his mind full, though he learns nothing; and, when he meets it in his new array, no longer knows the talk of his mother and his nurse. When these wonder-working founds fink into fenfe, and the doctrine of the Effay, difrobed of its ornaments, is left to the powers of its naked excellence, what fhall we discover? that we are, in comparifon with our Creatur, very weak and ignorant; that we do not uphold the chain of existence; and that we could not make one another with more fkill than we are made. We may learn yet more; that the arts of human life were copied from the inftinctive operations of other animals; that if the world be made for man, it may be faid tha man was made for geefe." Lives of English Poets, vol. IV. p. 200. What would Dr. Warburton have thought of thefe fevere farcasms on a poem which he fo highly commended, and on which he wrote fo laborious and learned a commentary? what can friend of Dr. Warburton's think, I mean the ingenious and acute Dr. Balguy who, in many paffages of his excellent treatife, intituled, "Divine Benevolence," has manifeftly copied the doctrines and reafonings of this very "Eflay |