Greeks from the cavern of Polypheme past,
When wisest, and greatest, Ulysses came last.
To his comrades contemptuous we see him look down,
On their wit and their worth with a general frown.
Since from Science' proud tree the rich fruit he receives,
Who could shake the whole trunk while they turned a few leaves.
His piety pure, his morality nice--
Protector of virtue, and terror of vice;
In these features Religion's firm champion displayed,
Shall make infidels fear for a modern crusade.
While th' inflammable temper, the positive tongue,
Too conscious of right for endurance of wrong:
We suffer from JOHNSON, contented to find,
That some notice we gain from so noble a mind;
And pardon our hurts, since so often we've found
The balm of instruction poured into the wound.
'Tis thus for its virtues the chemists extol
Pure rectified spirit, sublime alcohol;
From noxious putrescence, preservative pure,
A cordial in health, and in sickness a cure;
But exposed to the sun, taking fire at his rays,
Burns bright to the bottom, and ends in a blaze.

It is usual, I know not why, when a character is given, to begin with a
description of the person. That which contained the soul of Mr. Johnson
deserves to be particularly described. His stature was remarkably high,
and his limbs exceedingly large. His strength was more than common, I
believe, and his activity had been greater, I have heard, than such a
form gave one reason to expect. His features were strongly marked, and
his countenance particularly rugged; though the original complexion had
certainly been fair, a circumstance somewhat unusual. His sight was
near, and otherwise imperfect; yet his eyes, though of a light grey
colour, were so wild, so piercing, and at times so fierce, that fear was,
I believe, the first emotion in the hearts of all his beholders. His
mind was so comprehensive, that no language but that he used could have
expressed its contents; and so ponderous was his language, that
sentiments less lofty and less solid than his were would have been
encumbered, not adorned by it.

Mr. Johnson was not intentionally, however, a pompous converser; and
though he was accused of using big words, as they are called, it was only
when little ones would not express his meaning as clearly, or when,
perhaps, the elevation of the thought would have been disgraced by a
dress less superb. He used to say, "that the