Let us look
round upon the present time, and back upon the past; let us enquire to
whom the voice of mankind has decreed the wreath of poetry; let their
productions be examined, and their claims stated, and the pretensions of
Pope will be no more disputed.'
I remember once to have heard Johnson say, 'Sir, a thousand years may
elapse before there shall appear another man with a power of
versification equal to that of Pope.' That power must undoubtedly be
allowed its due share in enhancing the value of his captivating
composition.
Johnson, who had done liberal justice to Warburton in his edition of
_Shakspeare_[165], which was published during the life of that powerful
writer, with still greater liberality[166] took an opportunity, in the
Life of Pope, of paying the tribute due to him when he was no longer in
'high place,' but numbered with the dead[167].
It seems strange, that two such men as Johnson and Warburton, who lived
in the same age and country, should not only not have been in any degree
of intimacy, but been almost personally unacquainted. But such
instances, though we must wonder at them, are not rare.
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