The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-03-07
BOZZY AGAIN.
II n LAP Dog Then He Was .
Mighty Self Sacrificing One.

" " lap DVH. tUPU Nv WV -
Mighty Self Sacrificing One.
To THE EuiToR OF THE SUN-Sir: A
SrN editorial Is very wonderful in its
workings when in the midst q: ~ ccH-
timeter hysteria caused by war zones
and things that grand aud great voice
can again he heard to say. sir. you
do not see your way through the ques-
ton" or "Slr, this Is sorry stuf,' or
Sir. h. who tires of London is tired
Of life. for in London there IL all that
life affords.
Indeed. when a SrN article can
awaken memories of the 'obcdicnt and
humble Sam Johnson all IS not lost
quite, And whether Boswell was a
lap dog. a foot slave and a sot,' as
one of your correspondents believes. or
whether he was an eminent Scotch gem
tlcman who had access to the mdnprs
Of lords. as another avows. what mat
ter is it"
lie did more To- save" his friend Tor
posterity than Sir Joshua Reynolds
could do in Ave attempts. But this
Johnson himself explained once when
he said Sir. Sir Josnua's art can Illus
trate, but II csnnOt teach"
BOswelIs hook tCaChcs-it teaches
that nothing matters much except man /;
that literature is not q confession that
wv Et'hA NfN'AVl4 wv NbNih llNb E'll'
INTO comparative o~bsouritv In spite OF
his 'Rassclas,' in spite OF his London"
In spite NJ his Vanity OF Human
Wishes a postcrity not had the
privilege to live again and again with
him in the garre. at Cough Square,
in the sitting room at Rol' Court, at
the Mitrc. at Mrs. Tnralc's, at the
club. IN short wherever Bozzy recorded
The doings and sayings Of The Man.
~ --- - - a- I'll. 49,
the best OF his own books could not do /.
and. as Macaulay says. while the mem
Dry OF other authors Is kept alive by
their works, the memory OF Johnson
keeps his works alive"
Austin Dobson In his incompatible
eighteenth Century vignettes' says.
who now reads johnson? II n. pieases
RS most FOR iormit.ve Or sleeping pill.
In his own age a classic. In ours a
great curiosity in mis- W. age the
greatest brain cell in all England. in
ours merely the greatest controversial
st of all times in his W age over
shadowinG his contemporaries, in ours
o~vershadowed by them.
Yet this man comes down to us after
one hundred and thirty years az clear
and crystalline as II he died but the
day before Yesterday.
why he still remains the most pic
turesque character OF eighteenth CEN
tury London no one has ever aatisfac-
torily explained. not even Carlyle and
Macaulay, his critics Croker and Hill,
his editors, or Boswell and Hawkins,
his biographies.
Victor Hugo says:
The grave is a crucihl. The Earth
thrown on a man cleanses NJ name. and
allows 1t not 10 pass forth TIL purified.
The grave can only deprive Johnson
II his occasional Inconsistency. his
strange ~pretudiceS, his stubborn rover
ence for the past and the traditional
order. lie does not need IS help TO
establish the fact that he was a. full
Of good deeds as Of good sayings. that
he was honest. brave and sympathetic
for those In want. that he never stopped
10 a low act nor 10 one which caused
him to lose that dignity born " high
thinking and moral doing
II is a coincidence that this Socrates
OF Fleet street should have had his Memo
phon. one Of your correspondents me
Of the lap dog Roswell says dc7re-
cating.y that he fitted from Voltaire
and Paine 20 Johnson because success
was his gaine and that Johnson spou-
sored him in circles that otherwis. would
have been closed to him Also that
Boswell was born a lap dog
Let US see. After Boswell is admitted
to the club, after he is vouched for Al
Streathdm, after he visits Litcunelt
and meets the hest minds OF the day.
does he, lap dog Ike. fo-sake John
sons lap az he had ouel FOR another
Assuredly not Rather docs his .rfitua-
tion and love FOR Johnson become moro
intense.
And when, alas, Johnson passes away.
does this lap dog. as a born lap dog
would, seek 4 new master No. he
suffers the sting OF poverty IN Lon
don and consecrates hts sober moments
TO one before whom ne had no other
God.
He Gruhs from Malone from iIav-
kiuS. from any ono ~ tho Old c-owl
whom he might meet. tina. 10 may
prosecute a work fo- 'hc sake ~ nor
%nctuating the memory ~ q man NJ.
loved beyond anything Iu the world
II lap dogs are -cl'-si.r1rcluE -
they are martyrs to q cause. D., : A
characteristic never before credited
them with.
| truss your ar'i u which seems
20 have revived interest In yoI- omen
forum for the Great LeNi'oCrtphor. viii
ne the means - hr.usIu= to Light letters
and from other .lohuso,tar- ',r.
10 Is" tHe words - L"slio Siepher.
"ther' are few whom. vhcn an has
Samuel Johnson PULP Commas.
NtW York, March s