hit the middle tone between a dull
chronicle and a rhetorical declamation; three times did I compose the
first chapter, and twice the second and third, before I was tolerably
satisfied with their effect.' See _ante_, p. 36, note 1.

[1184] _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, vol. i. chap. iv.
BOSWELL.

[1185] Macaulay (_Essays_, ed. 1874, iv. 157) gives a yet better example
of her Johnsonian style, though, as I have shewn (_ante_, p. 223, note
5), he is wrong in saying that Johnson's hand can be seen.

[1186] _Cecilia_, Book. vii. chap. i. [v.] BOSWELL.

[1187] The passage which I quote is taken from that gentleman's
_Elements of Orthoepy_; containing a distinct View of the whole Analogy
of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE, so far as relates to _Pronunciation, Accent,
and Quantity_, London, 1784. I beg leave to offer my particular
acknowledgements to the authour of a work of uncommon merit and great
utility. I know no book which contains, in the same compass, more
learning, polite literature, sound sense, accuracy of arrangement, and
perspicuity of expression. BOSWELL.

[1188] That collection was presented to Dr. Johnson, I believe by its
authours; and I heard him speak very well of it. BOSWELL. _The Mirror_
was published in 1779-80; by 1793 it reached its ninth edition. For an
account of it see Appendix DD. to Forbes's _Beattie_. Henry Mackenzie,
the author of _The Man of Feeling_, was the chief contributor as well as
the conductor of the paper. He is given as the author of No. 16 in
Lynam's edition, p. 1.

[1189] The name of Vicesimus Knox is now scarcely known. Yet so late as
1824 his collected _Works_ were published in seven octavo volumes. The
editor says of his _Essays_ (i. iii):--'In no department of the _Belles
Lettres_ has any publication, excepting the _Spectator_, been so
extensively circulated. It has been translated into most of the European
languages.' See _ante_, i. 222, note 1; iii. 13, note 3; and iv. 330.

[1190] _Lucretius_, iii. 6.

[1191] It were to be wished, that he had imitated that great man in
every respect, and had not followed the example of Dr. Adam Smith
[_ante_, iii. 13, note 1] in ungraciously attacking his venerable _Alma
Mater_ Oxford. It must, however, be observed, that he is much less to
blame than Smith: he only objects to certain particulars; Smith to the
whole institution; though indebted for much of his learning to an
exhibition which he enjoyed for many years at Baliol College.