' JOHNSON. 'A few of them are good; but we have one
book of that kind better than any of them; Selden's _Table-talk_. As to
original literature, the French have a couple of tragick poets who go
round the world, Racine and Corneille, and one comick poet, Moliere.'
BOSWELL. 'They have Fenelon.' JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, _Telemachus_ is pretty
well.' BOSWELL. 'And Voltaire, Sir.' JOHNSON. 'He has not stood his
trial yet. And what makes Voltaire chiefly circulate is collection; such
as his _Universal History_.' BOSWELL. 'What do you say to the Bishop of
Meaux?' JOHNSON. 'Sir, nobody reads him[843].' He would not allow
Massilon and Bourdaloue to go round the world. In general, however, he
gave the French much praise for their industry.
He asked me whether he had mentioned, in any of the papers of the
_Rambler_, the description in Virgil of the entrance into Hell, with an
application to the press; 'for (said he) I do not much remember them.' I
told him, 'No.' Upon which he repeated it:--
'Vestibulum ante ipsum, primisque in faucibus orci,
Luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;
Pallentesque habitant Morbi, tristisque Senectus,
Et metus, et malesuada Fames, et turpis Egestas,
Terribiles visu formae; Lethumque, Laborque[844].'
'Now, (said he) almost all these apply exactly to an authour: all these
are the concomitants of a printing-house.
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