[476] In the Plan (Works, v. 9), Johnson noticed the difference of the pronunciation of great. 'Some words have two sounds which may be equally admitted as being equally defensible by authority. Thus great is differently used:—
'For Swift and him despised the farce of state,
The sober follies of the wise and great.'—POPE.
'As if misfortune made the throne her seat,
And none could be unhappy but the great.'—ROWE.
In the Preface to the Dictionary (Works, v. 25), Johnson says that 'the vowels are capriciously pronounced, and differently modified by accident or affectation, not only in every province, but in every mouth.' Swift gives both rhymes within ten lines:—
'My lord and he are grown so great—
Always together, tête-à -tête.'
* * * * *
'You, Mr. Dean, frequent the great, Inform us, will the emperor treat?'
Swift's Works (1803), x. 110.
[477] 'Dr. Henry More, of Cambridge, Johnson did not much affect; he was a Platonist, and, in Johnson's opinion, a visionary. He would frequently cite from him, and laugh at, a passage to this effect:—"At the consummation of all things, it shall come to pass that eternity shall shake hands with opacity"' Hawkins's Johnson, p. 543.
[478] See post, April 17, 1778, and May 19, 1784.
[479] See ante, i. 240, and ii. 105.