{"id":199,"date":"2009-11-19T14:09:54","date_gmt":"2009-11-19T18:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hydeblog\/?p=199"},"modified":"2010-03-08T13:17:26","modified_gmt":"2010-03-08T17:17:26","slug":"if-you-cant-say-something-nice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hydeblog\/2009\/11\/19\/if-you-cant-say-something-nice\/","title":{"rendered":"If you can’t say something nice…"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don’t know much about this little clipping I found in the back of a copy of Mrs. Piozzi’s Anecdotes<\/a>, but I think it’s safe to say the author was not a fan of Johnson.<\/p>\n

Character of Dr. Johnson, Written After His Death<\/p>\n

A Bard, whom Apollo had never inspir’d;
\nA Courtier, who scribbled just as he was hir’d;
\nA Critic, thro’ caprice and prejudice blind,
\nAnd virtuous, because to no vices inclin’d;
\nAn implicit Believer, because he ne’er doubted,
\nAnd a Writer, because he could not live without it.
\nIn conduct a Bear, conversation a Clown,
\nA Friend to no country excepting his own.
\nAn Author inflated with pride and bombast;
\nA Bigot, in trammels confin’d to the last;
\nA Dupe to the Church, and a slave to the Priest:
\nIn learning a Pedant, in manners a Beast.<\/p>\n

\"Public<\/p>\n

UPDATE 03\/08\/10<\/p>\n

My thanks to Professor James Woolley of Lafayette College for suggesting that this poem is perhaps an imitation of a 1731 blast aimed at Sir Robert Walpole (questionably attributed to Jonathan Swift). <\/p>\n

With favour and fortune fastidiously blest,
\nHe’s loud in his laugh, and he’s coarse in his jest;
\nOf favour and fortune unmerited, vain,
\nA sharper in trifles, a dupe in the main;
\nAchieving of no thing, still promising wonders.
\nBy dint of experience improving in blunders;
\nOppressing true merit, exalting the base.
\nAnd sell1ng his country to purchase his place;
\nA jobber of stocks by retailing false news;
\nA prater at court in the style of the stews ;
\nOf virtue and worth by profession a giber;
\nOf juries and senates the bully and briber.
\nThough I name not the wretch, you all know who I mean\u2014
\nTis the cur-dog of Britain, and spaniel of Spain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don’t know much about this little clipping I found in the back of a copy of Mrs. Piozzi’s Anecdotes, but I think it’s safe to say the author was not a fan of Johnson. Character of Dr. Johnson, Written After His Death A Bard, whom Apollo had never inspir’d; A Courtier, who scribbled just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":245,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[769],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-john-overholt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hydeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hydeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hydeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hydeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/245"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hydeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hydeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hydeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions\/217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hydeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hydeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hydeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}