Poetry must have been great enough before that Time to have deserv'd
what is here said of him. His Acquaintance with _Ben Johnson_ began with
a remarkable piece of Humanity and good Nature; Mr. _Johnson_, who was
at that Time altogether unknown to the World, had offer'd one of his
Plays to the Players, in order to have it Acted; and the Persons into
whose Hands it was put, after having turn'd it carelessly and
superciliously over, were just upon returning it to him with an
ill-natur'd Answer, that it would be of no service to their Company,
when _Shakespear_ luckily cast his Eye upon it, and found something so
well in it as to engage him first to read it through, and afterwards to
recommend Mr. _Johnson_ and his Writings to the Publick. After this they
were profess'd Friends; tho' I don't know whether the other ever made
him an equal return of Gentleness and Sincerity. _Ben_ was naturally
Proud and Insolent, and in the Days of his Reputation did so far take
upon him the Supremacy in Wit, that he could not but look with an evil
Eye upon any one that seem'd to stand in Competition with him. And if at
times he has affected to commend him, it has always been with some
Reserve, insinuating his Uncorrectness, a careless manner of Writing,
and want of Judgment; the Praise of seldom altering or blotting out what
he writ, which was given him by the Players who were the first
Publishers of his Works after his Death, was what _Johnson_ could not
bear; he thought it impossible, perhaps, for another Man to strike out
the greatest Thoughts in the finest Expression, and to reach those
Excellencies of Poetry with the Ease of a first Imagination, which
himself with infinite Labour and Study could but hardly attain to.
_Johnson_ was certainly a very good Scholar, and in that had the
advantage of _Shakespear_; tho' at the same time I believe it must be
allow'd, that what Nature gave the latter, was more than a Ballance for
what Books had given the former; and the Judgment of a great Man upon
this occasion was, I think, very just and proper. In a Conversation