...mock patriotism of the Whig opposition. Johnson's taste did not extend to its verse. James Thomson's ''Liberty, when it first appeared, I tried to read,...again, and therefore will not hazard either praise or censure.'102 Yet this did not condone the Hanoverian regime in stifling criticism by the Licensing...

...vein and race. Two words used excessively by Sir William Temple; race is an adaptation of a French word, which '. . . applied to wines, in its primitive sense, means the flavour of the soil' (Johnson, 'Life of Thomson', who notes Temple's use of the term in 'An Essay upon the Ancient and Modern...

...impossible to make critical progress without summarizing large chunks of the poem. Johnson's comment ("Liberty, when it first appeared, I tried to read, and soon desisted. I have never tried again") continues to be persuasive.5" But it is worthwhile, before beginning an extended reading of the poem,...

...rewriting such "low" passages: "They are, I think, improved in general; yet I know not whether they have not lost part of what Temple calls their 'race';...its primitive sense, means the flavour of the soil." 28 Autumn is certainly less earthy for its loss of rural language. Thomson's poetic discourse on work,...

...well-known author of The Seasons, Johnson did not mind exposing his own defects. Of Liberty, he wrote, when it first appeared, I tried to read, and soon...again, and therefore will not hazard either praise or censured Johnson also had the gift of making his view of some of the poets only too clear. He dismissed...

...knowledge and opened hin proepecta. They are, I think, improved in general ; yet I know not whether they have not lost part of what Temple calls their race...its primitive sense, means the flavour of the soil." There is a valuable bibliographical note by COL. CUNNINGHAM on the various editions of Thomson's Seasons...

...Cowley or Pope; if a particular work made no appeal to him, he said so: on Thomson's Liberty, he wrote: 'When it first appeared, I tried to read, and soon...therefore will not hazard either praise or censure.' When he came to include the Life of Savage in the collection it was characteristic of him that he hazarded...

...artificial prescriptions of the stage. He was a * Dr. Johnson says ear cathedra, " Liberty, when it (u : l appeared, I tried to read, and soon desisted. I have...therefore will not hazard either praise or censure." The old Tory would not expose himself to the tempration of praising the son of a Presbyterian minister,...

...memoir of James Thomson may with equal truth be applied to the writings of William Cullen Bryant : " wide sea of misery, Or the mariner, worn and wan, Never thus could voyage on Bay and nig Lyttleton, in the Prologue to his posthumous play, that his works contained * No line which, dying,...

...stage. He was a »Dr. John«on «ays tx cathedra. "Liberty, when it first appeared, I tried to rend, and soon desisted. I have never tried again, and therefore will not hnznrd either praise or cen«ure." The old Tory would not expose Mmself to the tempration of praisine...