I have been obsessed with these long-winded entries in reference volumes written and edited by gentlemen-scholars, all of whom probably memorized Ovid and Cicero in their youth. Reading these entries is my favorite waste of time and I have cost my company tens of thousands of dollars in lost productivity by reading these on the clock.>The ‘Rambler’ had probably a more lasting success than any other imitation of the ‘Spectator,’ though its rare modern readers will generally consider it as a proof of the amazing appetite of Johnson's public for solid sermonising. Omitting its clumsy attempts at occasional levity, it may be granted that in its ponderous sentences lie buried a great mass of strong sense and an impressive and characteristic view of life. From this time Johnson became accepted as an imposing moralist. >en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Johnson,_Samuel_(1709-1784)?useskin=monobook>3. Elegies. These are lost with the exception of some fragments, but there are imitations of them by the Roman poets, the most celebrated of which is the "De Coma Berenices" of Catullus. If we may believe the Roman critics, Callimachus was the greatest among the elegiac poets (Quintil. x. 1. § 58), and Ovid, Propertius, and Catullus took Callimachus for their model in this species of poetry. We have mention of several more poetical productions, but all of them have perished except a few fragments, and however much we may lament their loss on account of the information we might have derived from them, we have very little reason to regret their loss as specimens of poetry. Among them we may mention, 1. The Αἴτια, an epic poem in four books on the causes of the various mythical stories, religious ceremonies, and other customs. The work is often referred to, and was paraphrased by Marianus; but the paraphrase is lost, and of the original we have only a few fragments. 2. An epic poem entitled Ἑκάλη, which was the name of an old woman who had received Theseus hospitably when he went out to fight against the Marathonian bull. This work was likewise paraphrased by Marianus, and we still possess some fragments of the original. The works entitled Γαλάτεια and Γλαῦκος were in all probability likewise epic poems. It appears that there was scarcely any kind of poetry in which Callimachus did not try his strength, for he is said to have written comedies, tragedies, iambic, and choliambic poems. Respecting his poem Ibis see Apollonius Rhodius.>en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_Greek_and_Roman_Biography_and_Mythology/Callimachus_2.?useskin=monobook
>>23816410>[Johnson] read a great deal in a desultory fashion, and said afterwards (Boswell, Letters, p. 34) that he knew as much at eighteen as he did at fifty-two.me
>>23816434>People who leant Johnson books complained that he spilled food on tea on it, visitors to his house were shocked by how he used books as coasters, doorstops and to prop up wobbling furniture. Even his way of reading, pulling the books open, cracking their spines and peering in (his eyesight never being great) was detrimental to them. Boswell reports that he once visited Johnson who was ‘dusting’ his books by vigorously banging them together. People did not like him borrowing their books, Garrick upset Johnson greatly by refusing to lend him his folio Shakespeares.
>>23816410How do you feel about Burton's Anatomy? It seems like a pioneer of this genre in some ways.
>>23816410The Classical Journal edited by A J Valpy 1810-1829 40 vols.?The Pamphleteer edited by A J Valpy The Gentleman's Magazine or Monthly Intelligencer 1731-1735The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle editor Sylvanus Urban, Gent. 1736-1833The European Magazine, and London Review vols. 1-86Available on line at Internet Archives. Happy reading.
>>23816410>After Porter's death Johnson married Mrs. Porter, 9 July 1735. It was, as he told Beauclerk, ‘a love marriage on both sides,’ and, though outsiders mocked, the strength of Johnson's affection was unsurpassable. Though his face was scarred, his ‘huge structure of bones … hideously striking, his head wigless, ‘his gesticulations grotesque,’ Mrs. Porter at once recognised him as the ‘most sensible man’ she had ever seen. She was twenty years his senior. Her appearance is chiefly known from Garrick's comic descriptions to Boswell and Mrs. Piozzi. She was, he told Boswell, fat, with red painted cheeks, fantastic dress, and affected manners. Mrs. Piozzi, however, to whom he described her as a ‘little painted puppet,’ saw a picture of her at Lichfield, ‘very pretty,’ and, according to her daughter, ‘very like.’ The pair rode from Birmingham to be married at St. Werburgh's Church, Derby, and on the way Johnson showed his bride, by refusing to alter his pace at her bidding, that he would not be treated like a dog, which she had learnt from ‘the old romances’ to be the correct mode of behaving to lovers.
>>23820934>and on the way Johnson showed his bride, by refusing to alter his pace at her bidding, that he would not be treated like a dog, which she had learnt from ‘the old romances’ to be the correct mode of behaving to lovers.kek, based
Johnson was so fucking based it's unreal. Boswell's biography is worth reading just for the accounts of him roasting people.
>>23818002I classify The Anatomy of Melancholy alongside Tristram Shandy and arguably Ulysses as fiction that you can pick up from anywhere and enjoy reading.Likewise, Addison and Steele's The Spectator, The Rambler, The Idler, and all the other eighteenth century periodicals are enjoyable to read simply for the author's command of English prose.>>23819441Thank you. I prefer HTML to Archive PDFs but more is better.
>>23816410You probably know this OP, but just in case you don't, enjoy. Have a good night whoever reads this post <3>https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/
