[516] In the Universal Visiter, to which Johnson contributed, the mark which is affixed to some pieces unquestionably his, is also found subjoined to others, of which he certainly was not the author. The mark therefore will not ascertain the poems in question to have been written by him. They were probably the productions of Hawkesworth, who, it is believed, was afflicted with the gout. MALONE.
It is most unlikely that Johnson wrote such poor poems as these. I shall not easily be persuaded that the following lines are his:—
'Love warbles in the vocal groves,
And vegetation paints the plain.'
'And love and hate alike implore
The skies—"That Stella mourn no more."'
'The Winter's Walk' has two good lines, but these may have been supplied by Johnson. The lines to 'Lyce, an elderly Lady,' would, if written by him, have been taken as a satire on his wife.
[517] See post under Sept. 18, 1783.
[518] See Johnson's Works, vii. 4, 34.
[519] Boswell italicises conceits to shew that he is using it in the sense in which Johnson uses it in his criticism of Cowley:—'These conceits Addison calls mixed wit; that is, wit which consists of thoughts true in one sense of the expression and false in the other.' Ib. vii 35.
[520] Namby Pamby was the name given to Ambrose Philips by Pope Ib. viii. 395
[521] Malone most likely is meant. Mr. Croker says:—'Johnson has "indifferently" in the sense of "without concern" in his Dictionary, with this example from Shakespeare, "And I will look on death indifferently."' Johnson however here defines indifferently as in a neutral state; without wish or aversion; which is not the same as without concern. The passage, which is from Julius Caesar, i. 2, is not correctly given. It is—