sed erudition, would form an uncommon
specimen of criticism, which may be justly ridiculed, but
which none, except an exuberant genius, could have produced.
The most amusing work possible would be a real Warburton's
Shakspeare, which would contain not a single thought, and
scarcely an expression, of Shakspeare's!

[176] Had Johnson known as much as we do of Warburton's opinion of his
critical powers, it would have gone far to have cured his
amiable prejudice in favour of Warburton, who really was a
critic without taste, and who considered literature as some do
politics, merely as a party business. I shall give a
remarkable instance. When Johnson published his first critical
attempt on _Macbeth_, he commended the critical talents of
Warburton; and Warburton returned the compliment in the
preface to his Shakspeare, and distinguishes Johnson as "a man
of parts and genius." But, unluckily, Johnson afterwards
published his own edition; and, in his editorial capacity, his
public duty prevailed over his personal feelings: all this
went against Warburton; and the opinions he now formed of
Johnson were suddenly those of insolent contempt. In a letter
to Hurd, he writes: "Of _this Johnson_, you and I, I believe,
think alike!" And to another friend: "The remarks he makes, in
every page, on _my Commentaries_, are full of _insolence and
malignant reflections_, which, had they not in them _as much
folly as malignity_, I should have reason to be offended
with." He consoles himself, however, that Johnson's notes,
accompanying his own, will enable even "the trifling part of
the public" not to mistake in the comparison.--NICHOLS'S
"Literary Anecdotes," vol. v. p. 595.

And what became of Johnson's noble Preface to Shakspeare? Not
a word on that!--Warburton, who himself had written so many
spirited ones, perhaps did not like to read one finer than his
own,--so he passed it by! He travelled through Egypt, but held
his hands before his eyes at a pyramid!

[177] Thomas Edwards chiefly led the life of a literary student,
though he studied for the Bar at Lincoln's-Inn, and was
fully admitted a member thereof. He died unmarried at the age
of 58. He descended from