Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. III. The Eighteenth Century: Addison to Blake
Charles Churchill (1731–1764)Description of Johnson (from The Ghost)
P
Vain idol of a scribbling crowd,
Whose very name inspires an awe,
Whose every word is sense and law;
(For what his greatness hath decreed,
Like laws of Persia and of Mede,
Sacred through all the realm of Wit,
Must never of repeal admit)
Who, cursing flattery, is the tool
Of every fawning, flattering fool;
Who wit with jealous eye surveys,
And sickens at another’s praise:
Who, proudly seiz’d of learning’s throne,
Now damns all learning but his own:
Who scorns those common wares to trade in,
Reas’ning, convincing, and persuading,
But makes each sentence current pass
With ‘puppy,’ ‘coxcomb,’ ‘scoundrel,’ ‘ass’:
(For ’tis with him a certain rule
That folly ’s proved when he calls ‘Fool!’)
Who to increase his native strength
Draws words six syllables in length,
With which, assisted with a frown
By way of club, he knocks us down:
His comrades’ terrors to beguile,
Grinn’d horribly a ghastly smile:
Features so horrid, were it light,
Would put the devil himself to flight.