to them by adherents of modern schools. His most
ambitious work, Irene, can be read by men in whom a
sense of duty has been abnormally developed. Among
the two hundred and odd essays of the Rambler, there is
a fair proportion which will deserve, but will hardly
obtain, respectful attention. Rasselas, one of the philo-
sophical tales popular in the last century, gives the essence
of much of the Rambler in a different form, and to these
may be added the essay upon Soame Jenyns, which
deals with the same absorbing question of human happi-
ness. The political pamphlets, and the Journey to the
Hebrides, have a certain historical interest; but are
otherwise readable only in particular passages. Much of
his criticism is pretty nearly obsolete; but the child
of his old age -- the Lives of the Poets -- a book in which
criticism and biography are combined, is an admirable
performance in spite of serious defects. It is the work
that best reflects his mind, and intelligent readers who
have once made its acquaintance, will be apt to turn it
into a familiar companion.

If it is easy to assign the causes which limited the
quantity of Johnson's work, it is more curious to inquire
what was the quality which once gained for it so much
authority, and which now seems to have so far lost its
savour. The peculiar style which is associated with
Johnson's name must count for something in both
processes. The mannerism is strongly marked, and of
course offensive; for by "mannerism," as I understand
the word, is meant the repetition of certain forms of
language in obedience to blind habit and without re-
ference to their propriety in the particular case. John-
son's sentences seem to be contorted, as his gigantic
limbs used to twitch, by a kind of mechanical spasmodic

-167-