Happy had it then been for the oppressed, if the designs of Henry had
slept in his bosom, and surely more happy for the oppressors.' Johnson's
_Works_, v. 219. See _ante_, ii. 478.
[783] 'The author himself,' wrote Gibbon (_Misc. Works_, i. 220), 'is
the best judge of his own performance; no one has so deeply meditated on
the subject; no one is so sincerely interested in the event.'
[784] Mickle, speaking in the third person as the Translator, says:--
'He is happy to be enabled to add Dr. Johnson to the number of those
whose kindness for the man, and good wishes for the Translation, call
for his sincerest gratitude.' Mickle's _Lusiad_, p. ccxxv.
[785] A brief record, it should seem, is given, _ante_, iii. 37.
[786] See _ante_, iii. 106, 214.
[787] The author of _Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Dr, Johnson_
says (p. 153) that it was Johnson who determined Shaw to undertake this
work. 'Sir,' he said, 'if you give the world a vocabulary of that
language, while the island of Great Britain stands in the Atlantic Ocean
your name will be mentioned.' On p. 156 is a letter by Johnson
introducing Shaw to a friend.
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