Evidence: | 'In this letter [to Boswell from Mr Mickle] he relates his having, while engaged in translating the "Lusiad", had a dispute of considerable length with Johnson, who, as usual, declaimed upon the misery and corruption of a sea life, and used this expression:--"It had been happy for the world, Sir, if your hero Gama, Prince Henry of Portugal, and Columbus, had never been born, or that their schemes had never gone farther than their own imaginations".
"This sentiment, (says Mr. Mickle,) which is to be found in his "Introduction to the World displayed", I, in my Dissertation prefixed to the "Lusiad", have controverted; and though authours are said to be bad judges of their own works, I am not ashamed to own to a friend, that that dissertation is my favourite above all that I ever attempted in prose. Next year, when the "Lusiad" was published, I waited on Dr. Johnson, who addressed me with one of his good-humoured smiles:--'Well, you have remembered our dispute about Prince Henry, and have cited me too. You have done your part very well indeed: you have made the best of your argument; but I am not convinced yet'."
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Century: | 1700-1799 | ||||||||||
Date: | Until: 31 Dec 1776 | ||||||||||
Country: | England | ||||||||||
Time: | n/a | ||||||||||
Place: | n/a | ||||||||||
Type of Experience (Reader): |
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Type of Experience (Listener): |
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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: | Luis Vaz de Camoens |
Title: | Lusiads |
Genre: | Poetry |
Form of Text: | Print: Book |
Publication details: | translated from the Portuguese by William Julius Mickle, 1776 |
Provenance: | unknown |
Record ID: | 22292 | |
Source - | ||
Author: | James Boswell | |
Editor: | R.W. Chapman | |
Title: | Life of Johnson | |
Place of Publication: | Oxford | |
Date of Publication: | 1980 | |
Vol: | n/a | |
Page: | 1258 | |
Additional comments: | n/a |
Citation: | James Boswell, R.W. Chapman (ed.), Life of Johnson (Oxford, 1980), p. 1258, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/reading/recorddetails2.php?id=22292, accessed: 25 April 2024 |
Originally published 1791. |
Reading Experience Database version 2.0. Page updated: 27th Apr 2016 3:15pm (GMT)