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Bennet Langton
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James Grainger : Sugar Cane, The
'He spoke slightingly of Dyer's "Fleece".— "The subject, Sir, cannot be made poetical. How can a man write poetically of serges and druggets ? Yet you will hear many people talk to you gravely of that [italics] excellent [end italics] poem, "The Fleece." Having talked of Grainger's "Sugar-Cane", I mentioned to him Mr. Langton's having told me that this poem, when read in manuscript at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, had made all the assembled wits burst into a laugh, when, after much blank-verse pomp, the poet began a new paragraph thus: "Now, Muse, let's sing of [italics] rats [end italics]". And what increased the ridicule was, that one of the company, who slily overlooked the reader, perceived that the word had been originally [italics] mice [end italics], and had been altered to [italics] rats [end italics], as more dignified. This passage does not appear in the printed work. Dr. Grainger, or some of his friends, it should seem, having become sensible that introducing even [italics] Rats [end italics] in a grave poem might be liable to banter. He, however, could not bring himself to relinquish the idea; for they are thus, in a still more ludicrous manner, periphrastically exhibited in his poem as it now stands: "Nor with less waste the whisker'd vermin race, A countless clan, despoil the lowland cane." Johnson said, that Dr. Grainger was an agreeable man; a man who would do any good that was in his power. His translation of "Tibullus", he thought, was very well done; but "The Sugar Cane, a Poem," did not please him; for, he exclaimed, "What could he make of a sugar cane? One might as well write the 'Parsley Bed, a Poem ;' or ' The Cabbage Garden, a Poem'".'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Bennet Langton Manuscript: Unknown
Oliver Goldsmith : Traveller, The
'Langton. "There is not one bad line in that poem [Goldsmith's 'The Traveller']— no one of Dryden's careless verses." Sir Joshua. "I was glad to hear Charles Fox say, it was one of the finest poems in the English language." Langton. "Why were you glad? You surely had no doubt of this before." Johnson. "No ; the merit of 'The Traveller' is so well established, that Mr. Fox's praise cannot augment it, nor his censure diminish it." Sir Joshua. "But his friends may suspect they had too great a partiality for him".'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Bennet Langton Print: Unknown
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon :
'JOHNSON. "Sir William Temple was the first writer who gave cadence to English prose. Before his time they were careless of arrangement, and did not mind whether a sentence ended with an important word or an insignificant word, or with what part of speech it was concluded". Mr. Langton, who now had joined us, commended Clarendon. JOHNSON. "He is objected to for his parentheses, his involved clauses, and his want of harmony. But he is supported by his matter. It is, indeed, owing to a plethory of matter that his style is so faulty. Every [italics] substance [end italics], (smiling to Mr. Harris,) has so many [italics] accidents [end italics].--To be distinct, we must talk analytically. If we analyse language, we must speak of it grammatically; if we analyse argument, we must speak of it logically". GARRICK. "Of all the translations that ever were attempted, I think Elphinston's 'Martial' the most extraordinary. He consulted me upon it, who am a little of an epigrammatist myself, you know. I told him freely, 'You don't seem to have that turn.' I asked him if he was serious; and finding he was, I advised him against publishing. Why, his translation is more difficult to understand than the original. I thought him a man of some talents; but he seems crazy in this".'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Bennet Langton Print: Book
Clenardus : Greek Grammar
'[from the Johnsoniana imparted by Bennet Langton to Boswell in 1780] 'A gentleman, by no means deficient in literature, having discovered less acquaintance with one of the Classicks than Johnson expected, when the gentleman left the room, he observed, "You see, now, how little any body reads." Mr. Langton happening to mention his having read a good deal in Clenardus's Greek Grammar, "Why, Sir, (said he,) who is there in this town who knows any thing of Clenardus but you and I?" And upon Mr. Langton's mentioning that he had taken the pains to learn by heart the Epistle of St. Basil, which is given in that Grammar as a praxis, "Sir, (said he,) I never made such an effort to attain Greek."'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Bennet Langton Print: Book
Robert Dodsley : Cleone, a Tragedy
'[from the Johnsoniana imparted by Bennet Langton to Boswell in 1780] Mr. Langton, when a very young man, read Dodsley's "Cleone, a Tragedy", to him, not aware of his extreme impatience to be read to. As it went on he turned his face to the back of his chair, and put himself into various attitudes, which marked his uneasiness. At the end of an act, however, he said, "Come let's have some more, let's go into the slaughter-house again, Lanky. But I am afraid there is more blood than brains." Yet he afterwards said, "When I heard you read it, I thought higher of its power of language: when I read it myself, I was more sensible of its pathetick effect;" and then he paid it a compliment which many will think very extravagant. "Sir, (said he,) if Otway had written this play, no other of his pieces would have been remembered": Dodsley himself, upon this being repeated to him, said, "It was too much": it must be remembered, that Johnson always appeared not to be sufficiently sensible of the merit of Otway'.
