But LOVAT'S fate[523] indifferently we view,
True to no King, to no _religion_ true:
No _fair_ forgets the _ruin_ he has done;
No _child_ laments the _tyrant_ of his _son_;
No _tory_ pities, thinking what he was;
No _whig_ compassions, _for he left the cause_;
The _brave_ regret not, for he was not brave;
The _honest_ mourn not, knowing him a knave[524]!'
[Page 181: A Prologue by Johnson. AEtat 38.]
This year his old pupil and friend, David Garrick, having become joint
patentee and manager of Drury-lane theatre, Johnson honoured his opening
of it with a Prologue[525],[*] which for just and manly dramatick
criticism, on the whole range of the English stage, as well as for
poetical excellence[526], is unrivalled. Like the celebrated Epilogue to
the _Distressed Mother_,[527] it was, during the season, often called for
by the audience. The most striking and brilliant passages of it have
been so often repeated, and are so well recollected by all the lovers of
the drama and of poetry, that it would be superfluous to point them out.
In the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for December this year, he inserted an
'Ode on Winter,' which is, I think, an admirable specimen of his genius
for lyrick poetry[528].
[Page 182: The Plan of the Dictionary. A.D. 1747.]
But the year 1747 is distinguished as the epoch, when Johnson's arduous
and important work, his DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, was
announced to the world, by the publication of its Plan or _Prospectus_.
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