Yet it may be said, that
though not a great, he was a good Greek scholar. Dr. Charles Burney, the
younger, who is universally acknowledged by the best judges to be one
of the few men of this age who are very eminent for their skill in that
noble language, has assured me, that Johnson could give a Greek word for
almost every English one; and that although not sufficiently conversant
in the niceties of the language, he upon some occasions discovered,
even in these, a considerable degree of critical acumen. Mr. Dalzel,
Professor of Greek at Edinburgh, whose skill in it is unquestionable,
mentioned to me, in very liberal terms, the impression which was
made upon him by Johnson, in a conversation which they had in London
concerning that language. As Johnson, therefore, was undoubtedly one of
the first Latin scholars in modern times, let us not deny to his fame
some additional splendour from Greek.
The ludicrous imitators of Johnson's style are innumerable. Their
general method is to accumulate hard words, without considering, that,
although he was fond of introducing them occasionally, there is not a
single sentence in all his writings where they are crowded together, as
in the first verse of the following imaginary Ode by him to Mrs.
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