from the translation of Pope's Messiah,

Vallis aromaticas fundit Saronica nubes,

evinces that he could be pleased without elegance in a mode of
composition, of which elegance is the chief recommendation. If we wished
to impress foreigners with a favourable opinion of the taste which our
countrymen have formed for the most perfect productions of the Roman
muse, we should send them, not to the pages of Johnson, but rather to
those of Milton, Gray, Warton, and some of yet more recent date.

It was the chance of Johnson to fall upon an age that rated his great
abilities at their full value. His laboriousness had the appearance of
something stupendous, when there were many literary but few very learned
men. His vigour of intellect imposed upon the multitude an opinion of
his wisdom, from the solemn air and oracular tone in which he uniformly
addressed them. He would have been of less consequence in the days of
Elizabeth or of Cromwell.

FOOTNOTES:
[1] Bull's Fifth Sermon.
[2] In a note to Johnson's Works, 8vo. Edition, 1810, it is said that
this is rendered improbable by the account given of Colson, by
Davies, in his life of Garrick, which was certainly written under
Dr. Johnson's inspection, and, what relates to Colson, probably from
Johnson's confirmation.
[3] Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. v. p. 696. [4] Nichols's Literary
Anecdotes, vol. v, p. 15
[5] Ibid. vol. viii.
[6] Warburton's Letters, 8vo. Edit. p. 369.