New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-08-01

phen The Lives of the Poets" could wait and.
as it has happened. Mr.. Waugh's recent edition
has proved an excellent one. on the other hand,
only DR.. Hill could have prepared these Mis-
ceanies" He has wreaked upon them the en-
thusiasm of a lifetime and the erudition Of one
who was born to be Johnson's editor. We do
not say biographer for obvious reasons yet 1t
IS no Injustice to Boswell to say that DR.. Hill
has redoubled, nay, has quadruped, his value.
Before our modern scholar took hold OF the
Life" and the Letters" they were both elo-
ouent but so to say both Incomplete and OBJ
scure DR.. Hill has Illuminated them. extended
them, purged them of error made them anew,
and now his "Mscellanies" round out the story
Of Johnson's personality
1t is in their portraiture Of Johnson that all DIR.
HIS volumes count. 1t Is not unnatural 10
accept them first as mines of anecdote, and no
ono is TO be blamed for delving In them for sheer
amusement. When you can revel in book ny
opening ii at random it is pardonable il you Tor
get the final purpose of its general drift But we
be,iev, that posterity will thank Or. Hill chief
" for the secure emergence from his pages of
n noble character whose human traits we can
grasp firmly and permanently. The VIII passes
the moral force remains. and Johnson wouid
not be half the man that he is If literature rech
oned with him only as with sayer OF amusing
things No matter how much virtue those dicta
NAV have carried there was more OF the spirit
Of human fellowship in Johnson's silent self. in
his strength, his fidelity, his nfeXible honesty
and courage There is a delightful agreement
between the numerous writer's upon whom Or.
Hill has drawn for his fragments of personalia.
Many of his contemporaries thought the Doctor
rude but not one of them throws discredit upon
the essential things of his character. Sometimes,
too they supplement one another in way very
serviceable to the modern reader. There Is, for
example the subject of Johnson's boorishness.
Stories Of it are endless. Joseph Cradock one
of DR.. Hills minor Witnesses, records that one
of DR.. Johnson's rudest speeches was to POM
pous gentleman coming out of Lichiield Cathe-
oral who said, DR.. Johnson. we have had
most excellent discourse to-day! That may be-
said Johnson; but. it is impossible that you
should know it,"
The truth is that Johnson's manner sprang
almost invariably from an honest conviction re-
garding the person who stood before him. He
was pretern lturally quick at reading countc-
nances, he could divine the wise man or the
fool with scarce effort. and if he spoke
agely TO the latter he was certainly urbane to
the other Sincerity is rarely amiable in The
opinion of those who adversely feel its weight.
and Johnson was one Of the most sincere fig
uros in English history. And to balance Mr..
Cradock's anecdOte We have Hannah M0res
notes on her beloved friend. When she first met
him. at Sir Joshua's house. she expected to find
bim-as the painter had warned her-in one Of
his moods of silence and sadness, but he
cnrigbtlv and gracious the whole evening long.
Again and again the lady shows that when he
felt the occasion was worthy of it he could be
the very pink of courtesy and good manners.
Miss More left one irresistible vignette of the
doctor "Who do you think" she wrote to one
Of her sisters lis my principal ccerone at OK
ford? Only Dr. Johnson! And we do 50 gallant
Il about! You cannot imagine with what delight