Evidence: | 'Mrs. Thrale disputed with him on the merit of Prior. He attacked him powerfully ; said he wrote of love like a man who had never felt it: his love verses were college verses; and he repeated the song "Alexis shunn'd his fellow swains," &c. in so ludicrous a manner, as to make us all wonder how any one could have been pleased with such fantastical stuff. Mrs. Thrale stood to her gun with great courage, in defence of amorons ditties, which Johnson despised, till he at last silenced her by saying, "My dear Lady, talk no more of this. Nonsense can be defended but by nonsense."
Mrs. Thrale then praised Garrick's talents for light gay poetry ; and, as a specimen, repeated his song in "Florizel and Perdita," and dwelt with peculiar pleasure on this line:
"I'd smile with the simple, and feed with the poor."' |
||||||||||
Century: | 1700-1799 | ||||||||||
Date: | Until: 6 Oct 1769 | ||||||||||
Country: | England | ||||||||||
Time: | n/a | ||||||||||
Place: | n/a | ||||||||||
Type of Experience (Reader): |
|
||||||||||
Type of Experience (Listener): |
|
Reader: | Samuel Johnson |
Age | Adult (18-100+) |
Gender | Male |
Date of Birth | 18 Sep 1709 |
Socio-economic group: | Professional / academic / merchant / farmer |
Occupation: | writer |
Religion: | Anglican |
Country of origin: | England |
Country of experience: | England |
Listeners present if any: (e.g. family, servants,
friends, workmates) |
n/a |
Additional comments: | n/a |
Author: | Matthew Prior |
Title: | Alexis shunn'd his fellow swains |
Genre: | Poetry |
Form of Text: | Print: Unknown |
Publication details: | n/a |
Provenance: | unknown |
Record ID: | 21036 | |
Source - | ||
Author: | James Boswell | |
Editor: | R.W. Chapman | |
Title: | Life of Johnson | |
Place of Publication: | Oxford | |
Date of Publication: | 1980 | |
Vol: | n/a | |
Page: | 408 | |
Additional comments: | n/a |
Citation: | James Boswell, R.W. Chapman (ed.), Life of Johnson (Oxford, 1980), p. 408, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/reading/recorddetails2.php?id=21036, accessed: 26 April 2024 |
Originally published 1791. |
Reading Experience Database version 2.0. Page updated: 27th Apr 2016 3:15pm (GMT)