Johnson Papers Online
  • Search
  • Browse
  • My YDJ
    • Private Groups
  • Resources
    • User Guide
    • FAQ
    • Genres
    • Additional Resources
  • About
    • Overview & Editorial Board
    • Collections
    • Publishers
    • News & Updates
RegisterLog In
Multi Doc Viewing Close
CancelOk

Login Required

A personal account is required to access tags, annotations, bookmarks, and all of the other features associated with the My YDJ.

Username: (email address)
Password:
Forgot password?
Log In
  • Register for a personal YDJ account
  • Need help? Contact us
Not registered?
Register for your My YDJ account
Login
Cancel

Your subscription has expired.

Click here to renew your subscription

Once your subscription is renewed, you will receive a new activation code that must be entered before you can log in again

Close
Next Document > < Previous DocumentReturnSome Remarks on the Progress of Learning Since ...
You must login to do that
Cancel
You must login to do that
Cancel
You must login to do that
Cancel
You must login to do that
Cancel
Save to my libraryClose
Some Remarks on the Progress of Learning Since the Reformation
-or-
Cancel Save
Print Close
(Max. 10 Pages at a time)


By checking this box, I agree to all terms and conditions governing print and/or download of material from this archive.
CancelPrint
Export Annotation Close
CancelExport
Annotation Close
Cancel
Export Citation Close
CancelExport
Citation Close
Cancel
Close
CancelOk
Report Close
Please provide the text of your complaint for the selected annotation


CancelReport
/ -1
Johnson Papers Online
Back to Search
Works of Samuel Johnson
Back to Search
Table of Contents
  • Audiet Pugnas vitio Parentum / Rara Juventus. Hor: Young men—the few who are left after the crimes of their fathers—will hear of battles. [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Bonae leges ex malis moribus proveniunt: Good laws spring from bad habits [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Malos tueri haud tutum: Save a thief from the gallows and he’ll cut your throat [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Quis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam Praemia si tollas?: For who embraces virtue herself, if you take away the reward? [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Adjecere bonae paulo plus artis Athenae: Kind Athens Added a Little More Skill [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Mea nec Falernae Temperant Vites, neque Formiani Pocula Colles: Neither Falernian vines nor Formian hills mellow my cups [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Scheme for the Classes of a Grammar School
  • Advertisement for the School at Edial
  • Observations on Common Sense
  • Preface to the 1738 Volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine
  • Letter to the Gentleman's Magazine on Political Journalism
  • Appeal to the Publick
  • To the Reader. [Gentleman’s Magazine]
  • Considerations on the case of Dr T.—s Sermons abridg’d by Mr Cave
  • The Jests of Hierocles
  • Preface to the 1741 Volume of the Gentleman's Magazine
  • Review of An Account of the Conduct of the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough
  • Proposals for Printing, by Subscription, the Two First Volumes of Bibliotheca Harleiana
  • An Account of the Harleian Library
  • Notice in Volume Two of Catalogus Bibliothecae Harleianae
  • Proposals for Printing, by Subscription, the Harleian Miscellany with An Account of this Undertaking
  • Introduction to the Harleian Miscellany: An Essay on the Origin and Importance of Small Tracts and Fugitive Pieces
  • Preface to the 1742 Volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine
  • Dedication for Robert James's Medicinal Dictionary
  • Preface to the 1743 Volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine
  • PROPOSALS For Printing every Fortnight, (Price Sixpence) THE PUBLISHER: CONTAINING MISCELLANIES In PROSE and VERSE. Collected by J. CROKATT, Bookseller.
  • Proposals for Printing Anchitell Grey's Debates
  • Some Remarks on the Progress of Learning Since the Reformation
  • Proposals for Printing by Subscription Hugonis Grotii Adamus Exul
  • Postscript to Lauder’s Essay on Milton’s Use and Imitation of the Moderns
  • A Letter to the Reverend Mr. Douglas
  • Preface to The Preceptor
  • The signification of WORDS how varied
  • Letter Concerning the Benefit Performance of Comus for Milton's Granddaughter
  • Proposals for printing by subscription, Essays in Verse and Prose.
  • Notice of The life of Harriot Stuart
  • Dedication to The Female Quixote
  • Dedication to Memoirs of Maximilian de Bethune, Duke of Sully
  • Dedication to Philander
  • Dedication to The Greek Theatre of Father Brumoy
  • Dedication to Henrietta, 2nd Ed.
  • Proposals for Printing by Subscription The Original Works of Mrs. Charlotte Lennox
  • Letter to the Daily Advertiser concerning James Crokatt
  • Preface to A General Index of the First Twenty Volumes of the Gentleman's Magazine
  • Preface to the 1753 Volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine
  • An Account of an Attempt to Ascertain the Longitude by Sea, by an Exact Theory of the Variation of the Magnetical Needle
  • Dedication and Preface to An Introduction to the Game of Draughts (1756)
  • Dedication to An Introduction to Geometry (1767)
  • Preface to Richard Rolt, A New Dictionary of Trade and Commerce
  • Reflections on the Present State of Literature
  • TO THE PUBLIC
  • Review of John Armstrong, The History of the Island of Minorca (1756)
  • Review of Stephen White, Collateral Bee-Boxes (1756)
  • Review of Thomas Birch, The History of the Royal Society, vols. 1–2 (1756)
  • Review of Arthur Murphy, The Gray’s-Inn Journal, 2 vols. (1756)
  • Review of Joseph Warton, An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Pope (1756)
  • Review of James Hampton, The General History of Polybius (1756)
  • Review of Thomas Blackwell, Memoirs of the Court of Augustus (1753–56)
  • Review of Alexander Russell, The Natural History of Aleppo (1756)
  • Review of Four Letters from Newton to Bentley (1756)
  • Review of William Borlase, Observations on the Islands of Scilly (1756)
  • Review of Archibald Bower, Affidavit (1756); John Douglas, Six Letters and Review of Mr. Bower’s Answer (1757); and John Douglas, Bower and Tillemont Compared (1757)
  • Review of Francis Home, Experiments on Bleaching (1756)
  • Review of Stephen Hales, An Account of a Useful Discovery (1756)
  • Review of Charles Lucas, An Essay on Waters (1756)
  • Review of Robert Keith, A Large New Catalogue of the Bishops (1756)
  • Review of Patrick Browne, The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica (1756)
  • Review of Charles Parkin, An Impartial Account of the Invasion under William Duke of Normandy (1756)
  • Review of A Scheme for Preventing a Further Increase of the National Debt (1756)
  • Review of Conferences and Treaties (1756)
  • Review of Philosophical Transactions (1756)
  • Review of Richard Lovett, The Subtil Medium Prov’d (1756)
  • Review of Benjamin Hoadley and Benjamin Wilson, Observations on a Series of Electrical Experiments (1756)
  • Review of Johann Georg Keyssler, Travels (1756)
  • Review of Elizabeth Harrison, Miscellanies (1756)
  • Review of Jonas Hanway, A Journal of Eight Days Journey (1757)
  • Review of Jonas Hanway, A Journal of Eight Days Journey, Second Edition (1757)
  • Reply to a Letter from Jonas Hanway in the Gazetteer (1757)
  • Review of Samuel Bever, The Cadet (1756)
  • Review of the Test and Con-Test (1756)
  • Review of William Whitehead, Elegies (1757)
  • Review of A Letter to a Gentleman in the Country on the Death of Admiral Byng (1757)
  • Preliminary Discourse in the London Chronicle
  • Advertisement for Francis Barber in the Daily Advertiser
  • "Dedication to John Lindsay, Evangelical History of Our Lord Jesus Christ Harmonized
  • Introduction to the Universal Chronicle (1758)
  • Of the Duty of a Journalist (1758)
  • Advertisement Against Unauthorized Reprints of the Idler (1759)
  • Advertisement for the Public Ledger in the Universal Chronicle (1760)
  • To The Public in the Public Ledger (1760)
  • The Weekly Correspondent Number I [Public Ledger]
  • The Weekly Correspondent Number II [Public Ledger]
  • The Weekly Correspondent Number III [Public Ledger]
  • Preface to J. Elmer, Tables of Weights and Prices
  • From The Italian Library Containing an Account of the Lives and Works of the most valuable authors of Italy (1757)
  • Proposals for Printing by Subscription, Le Poesie di Giuseppe Baretti (1758)
  • Dedication to A Dictionary of the English and Italian Languages (1760)
  • Preface to Easy Phraseology, for the Use of Young Ladies Who Intend to Learn the Colloquial Part of the Italian Language (1775)
  • Advertisement [For The World Displayed]
  • Introduction (1759) [From The World Displayed]
  • Advertisement for Pilgrim's Progress
  • Letter I. [Daily Gazetteer]
  • Letter II. [Daily Gazetteer]
  • Letter III. [Daily Gazetteer]
  • Letter to the Society of Arts (26 February 1760)
  • Letter to the Society of Arts (8 December 1760)
  • Address of the Painter’s, Sculptors, &Architects to George III (1761)
  • Preface to A Catalogue of the Pictures, Sculptures, Models, Drawings, Prints, &c Exhibited by the Society of Artists of Great-Britain at the Great Room in Spring Gardens Charing Cross May the 17th Anno 1762 Being the Third year of their Exhibition (1762)
  • Review of William Tytler, Historical and Critical Enquiry into the Evidence Produced … Against Mary Queen of Scots
  • Contributions to John Kennedy, A Complete System of Astronomical Chronology, Unfolding the Scriptures
  • Proposals and Advertisement [for Anna Williams, Miscellanies in Prose and Verse] (1762)
  • Advertisement [for Anna Williams, Miscellanies in Prose and Verse] (1766)
  • Dedication to Jerusalem Delivered (1763)
  • Dedication to The Works of Metastasio (1767)
  • Dedication to Cyrus: A Tragedy (1768)
  • Review of Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller
  • Dedication for Thomas Percy, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
  • 23 Sept. 1765 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 1–4 Oct. 1765. [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 20 Nov. 1765. [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 19 Dec. 1765. [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 24 December 1765 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 3 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 8 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 14 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 23 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 23 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 13 March 1769 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 1 October 1774 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 4 October 1774 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 13 October 1774 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 4 September 1780 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 4 September 1780 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 5 Sept. 1780 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • Dedication for George Adams, A Treatise Describing and Explaining the Construction and Use of New Celestial and Terrestrial Globes
  • Dedication to John Gwynn, London and Westminster Improved
  • Preface to Alexander MacBean, A Dictionary of Ancient Geography
  • Meditation on a Pudding
  • Hereford Infirmary Appeal
  • Dedication for A General History of Music (1776)
  • From A General History of Music, Vol. II (1782)
  • Dedication to An Account of the Musical Performance . . . in Commemoration of Handel (1785)
  • Advertisement for the Spectator
  • Dedication to Zachary Pearce, A Commentary, with Notes, on the Four Evangelists and the Acts of the Apostles
  • Letter of 16 May 1777
  • The Petition of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London, in Common Council Assembled, Friday 6 June 1777
  • Letter to Lord Bathurst, the Lord Chancellor, 8 June 1777
  • Letter to William Murray, First Earl of Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice, Wednesday, 11 June 1777
  • Petition of Mrs. Mary Dodd to the Queen
  • Dodd’s Letter to the King, Sunday, 22 June 1777
  • Petition of William Dodd to the King, Monday, 23 June 1777
  • Dodd’s Last Solemn Declaration, Wednesday, 25 June 1777
  • Johnson’s Observations on the Propriety of Pardoning William Dodd, Wednesday, 25 June 1777
  • Introduction and Conclusion to Occasional Papers (1777)
  • Proposal for Printing William Shaw, An Analysis of the Scotch Celtic Language
  • Dedication to Sir Joshua Reynolds, Seven Discourses
  • Preface to Thomas Maurice, Oedipus Tyrannus
  • The Case of Collier v. Flint
  • Translation of Sallust, De Bello Catilinario
  • General Rules of the Essex Head Club
  • On the Character and Duty of an Academick
< Previous document Next document >
© 2023
Some Remarks on the Progress of Learning Since the Reformation
    • Export Citation
    • Export Annotation

By Johnson, Samuel

Samuel Johnson: Johnson on Demand

Image view
  • Print
  • Save
  • Share
  • Cite
Translation
Translation
/ 10
  • Print
  • Save
  • Share
  • Cite
AN ADDRESS TO THE PUBLICK IN SOME REMARKS ON THE PROGRESS OF LEARNING SINCE THE REFORMATION (1746)
[Editorial Introduction]
Mario de Calasio (1550–1620), a Franciscan scholar from Calascio, near L’Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy, devoted his life to compiling a massive dictionary and concordance of the Hebrew language. His vast work was published posthumously in Rome in 1620. One hundred and twenty-five years later—14 March 1745—the Reverend William Romaine (1717–95), a student of Hebrew at Oxford from 1731 to 1737, issued proposals for a new edition, with corrections and additions. Although he did not share the perfectionism of the Oxford Methodists, Romaine was, like John Wesley and George Whitefield, an evangelical Anglican clergyman. He was also influenced by the theories of John Hutchinson (1674–1737), who believed that biblical Hebrew is God-given and contains spiritual mysteries in the structure of its vocabulary and grammar. It is unsurprising, therefore, that Romaine devoted his Oxford lectures (1739) to refuting William Warburton’s Divine Legation of Moses (1738–41), which argued against the presence of spiritual meaning in the language of the Bible (paradoxically, because the spirit was present to the biblical authors). Romaine’s belief in the spiritual meaning of Hebrew also explains his interest in revising and augmenting Calasio’s great work with its preface on the divine origin of Hebrew, which he calls the mother of all languages,1 its lists of cognates in Arabic and Chaldaic for each Hebrew word, and its concordance linking each meaning to multiple biblical passages.
Romaine published the first two volumes of the revised Calasio on 29 April 1747, the third volume in 1748, and the fourth in 1749. Although we have not scrupulously compared Romaine’s edition with the original, it does not appear that Romaine made a great many changes to Calasio’s work. The project, however, is vast and learned, and merely correcting it must have required great labor. It certainly required a large outlay of money on the part of the publishers for paper and for typesetting in multiple


Page 130

alphabets, including a new Hebrew font by William Caslon. After Romaine’s proposals for the edition were published in mid-March 1745,2 the booksellers backing the project—including several associated with Johnson—Thomas Osborne, Andrew Millar, James Hodges, and Robert Dodsley—carried out an advertising campaign for subscriptions in the newspapers. By the spring of 1746, however, the booksellers changed tactics, probably feeling that it was necessary to ramp up their promotional activities because of light sales. On 23 May, they published Some Remarks on the Progress of Learning Since the Reformation, a twenty-two-page pamphlet which reprints the proposals for the dictionary and concordance, preceded by a ten-page essay by Romaine,3 preceded in turn by a ten-page introductory essay by an anonymous “stranger to the editor, and a friend to learning.” To further the illusion that the essay was disinterested, the names of the booksellers were omitted from the imprint. Only Mary Cooper, Dodsley’s close associate and the leading trade publisher of her day, had her name on the title page.
Although the introductory essay might have been written at any time after the publication of Romaine’s proposals in mid-March until early May 1746, it is likely that it was written close to the date of publication. That would place its composition very close to 30 April 1746, the date on which Johnson finished his “Short Scheme for Compiling a New Dictionary of the English Language,” the first draft of his Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language. Johnson’s involvement with Dodsley, established by this time, and the subject of the essay—a clear interest of Johnson’s, as his work on the Harleian materials shows (see pp. 74–106 above)—provide circumstantial evidence that Johnson was the author. In addition, the rhetorical strategies, syntax, and diction of the introductory essay are consistent with those in Johnson’s writing of about the same time. Although the absence of external evidence makes this attribution tentative, we are largely persuaded that the work is Johnson’s.4 We note a few verbal parallels with works known to be by Johnson, although we know these do not provide conclusive evidence of authorship. The text below is from the first and only edition. We have made a few emendations to correct obvious typographical errors and noted them in the apparatus.


Page 131

Some Remarks on the Progress of Learning
Since the Reformation; Especially with regard to the
Hebrew. Occasion’d by the perusal of the Rev. Mr.
Romaine’s proposal for reprinting the Dictionary and
Concordance of F. Marius de Calasio, with large additions
and emendations. In an address to the publick. By a
stranger to the editor, and a friend to learning.
An Address to the Publick.
From the time at which the martyrs of the Reformation obtained for us by their sufferings the great privilege of enquiry and disputation, the English have been eminent for that ardour of curiosity,1 and that zeal for improvement, which is the most apparent and striking characteristic of extensive capacity, and generous dispositions. The laity, no longer condemn’d to listen with idolatrous reverence to doctrines of which they durst not require an explanation, have endeavour’d to enlighten their own minds by study; and the clergy no longer endeavouring to entrench their dignity within penal statutes, or to obtain influence and authority by the mere power of oppressing those who would not be convinced, have, by their own advances in knowledge, taught the rest of the world its importance and use: they have set themselves at the head of honest and impartial enquirers, have with zeal and diligence clear’d the ground before them, and through the dark mazes of controversy, have led the way to the summits of truth.
The writings of the English have now obtained from the rest of the world that regard which will never fail to be shewn in time to judgment and genius; they are now translated into foreign languages, and considered as the most authentic records of learning; nor is there any nation from which ignorance and barbarity have begun to retire, which do not mention with reverence the heroes produced by this island, for


Page 132

the deliverance of mankind from the slavery in which they had been held so long by the tyranny of error. To the praise of valour, which was always allowed us, is now added the reputation of more difficult, more laborious, and more useful enter-prizes, excursions into the untrodden desarts of nature, and descents into the unfathomable profundities of science.2 The English have left no part of the creation unexamin’d, from the planets of the sky to the fossils of the mine, they have started new enquiries from new discoveries, and one experiment has given occasion to another; every year has produced its wonders, and the world has been long accustom’d to look upon this country as the birth-place of knowledge, and expect from it by every favourable wind, new hints for the advancement of science.
This surely is a praise, of which, at a time when we may be said to boast a generation of patriots, when almost every man endeavours to be distinguished by his zeal for the public prosperity,3 and when an attention to national honour seems to be the fashionable principle, it may be hoped we shall not easily suffer our country to be deprived. It may be expected, that while we are so anxiously diligent to secure property, and to deliver down our liberties and our privileges to posterity, unviolated and unimpaired, we may likewise extend our care to more valuable advantages, and hand to them the lamp of science unextinguished, that lamp without which they will find little advantage from the other benefits which they shall receive from us, without which they will not be able to watch their properties, which in the dark may easily be invaded, and without which, they will be perpetually liable to wander through the spacious fields of liberty into the boundless wilds of licentiousness and folly.4
It has been observ’d, that the only way to preserve knowledge is to increase it, and that he who does not go forward is losing ground: a remark which may be applied to the learning


Page 133

of a nation, as well as that of individuals; and therefore it is requisite, that, in order to secure our reputation from that decay into which it will necessarily fall, from the instant in which it shall be at a stand, some of those whose studies qualify them to take a view of the whole extent of science, and whose eminence of station make them the superintendants of literature, should enquire in what parts of knowledge the nation is yet defective; what enquiries have been carried to their utmost length, and begin to degenerate from useful truths into trivial curiosities; and what studies begin to languish by the accidental revolutions of taste,5 or the want of necessary encouragement; and to direct that curiosity which cannot wholly be at rest, to those objects on which it may be most usefully employ’d: to divert the attention of the public from questions which deserve no longer any new regard, to subjects that are either more important, or more susceptible of improvement, which have not yet been considered among us, or of which the consideration has been without reason laid aside, and which, though not yet exhausted, begin to be forgotten.
Every hint of this kind, by whomsoever it is given, must be acknowledged an act of useful service to the public, and cannot but be receiv’d with candour by all those who desire the promotion of knowledge, or who consider learning as accessary to the increase of virtue, and the real prosperity of mankind. Though the writer of this paper, therefore, may not be supposed to have any claim to be number’d among those by whom the taste of nations is to be regulated, or the public enquiries directed; yet, he hopes that whoever he be, his intention will not be censured, when he endeavours to remind his countrymen of some omissions which it seems time for them to supply, and points out to them a path to honour which they have for many years neglected, though their progenitors have travelled it with success, and though there has been


Page 134

not much danger of being interrupted by rivals, or debarred by opponents.
The study of the Hebrew learning, which had made some advances among us in the reign of King James the First, was, by the patronage of the illustrious Laud,6 so much animated and increased, that it became the general object of emulation; nor was there any part of knowledge for many years, more ardently or more happily cultivated among us: he that aspired to preferment in the church, thought it necessary to give testimonies of his skill in the original text of those scriptures which he undertook to explain. The same zeal for this important study, diffus’d itself by the example of the clergy among the different sects of the dissenters; and men of all partiesa and all denominations united their hands inb the great labour of clearing the obscurities of the sacredc writings, and removing the difficulties which hindered the attainment of that tongue, in which the world was first informed of the history of its periods, and the purposes of its Creator.
But the munificence of Laud was ended by his death, and his piety might perhaps lose part of its influence, by the calumnies with which his enemies endeavoured to justify the cruelty of his persecution: yet the study of Hebrew continued to flourish for some time among us, because it had gathered too much strength to be easily blasted, and it could only be discouraged by the slow method of silent disregard, since no objection could be formed against it, and it was never pretended to be either hurtful or useless; but it met with the fortune of that virtue which it promotes, the fortune to starve with honour, and to be always praised but rarely recompensed.
Thus, in a short time, that kind of learning which had so


Page 135

long flourished began to contract its branches, and to bear fruit no longer, and in time for want of culture withered away. And from the Restoration, we had for many years very few among the clergy, and perhaps scarce any among the laity, who attained reputation by skill in Hebrew, other than arose from a comparison with men totally ignorant, among whom that would naturally appear prodigious, which in other times had scarce been regarded.
How this lethargy first stole upon us may be easily conceived, but how it should continue so long is difficult to discover. Nothing, surely, can be more apparent, than that those studies are most carefully to be prosecuted, by which the most important truths are discovered, and what attainment can come into competition with those which the study of the Hebrew can afford? The knowledge of the primaeval state of the world, the gradations of creative power, the dispensations of eternal wisdom, the decrees of universal sovereignty, and the precepts of invariable goodness.
By what strange concurrence of causes it could come to pass, that men whose sole employment was to explain and apply the scriptures, to enforce the influence; and diffuse their doctrines, could so long neglect the only method of obtaining a rational confidence in their own interpretations, and so long forget to learn what they are to deliver to others; how our prelates could omit to exhort those whom they ordain’d, to apply themselves with diligence to this important study; or how the laity, amidst all their pretences to freedom of thought, could omit the only study which can entitle them to reason upon some of those questions which best deserve their examination, it may not be now of any use to enquire: it is sufficient that we begin to discover our mistake, that the study of Hebrew begins again to revive in our seminaries of learning, and that none who are desirous of understanding the Holy Scriptures, appear any longer inclin’d to repose an implicit confidence in versions and commentaries.
But it is not sufficient that this disposition is found in our universities, or that it prevails among the more advanced and enlightened students, it must descend lower to be generally


Page 136

beneficial, and be propagated in those schools or academies where our youth are first instructed, and where the first rudiments of literature are delivered; for it is very well known with what difficulty men are usually induced to perplex their minds with minute particulars, or to descend to the elements of a language, of which they have not been taught the first rules at an age generally appropriated to grammatical studies. If it be therefore expected that this ardour should not die away, and that the study of the scriptures should become universal, it ought to be our care, that what we intend to last long should be deeply imprinted, and that the child should be habituated to those studies which are to constitute the fame and the happiness of the man.
But this is not the only method of advancing the Hebrew literature, which must be followed by us if we in earnest desire its promotion; care must be taken to distinguish those who have already shewn their proficiency, and by whose instructions and example we are to expect the studies of others to be directed, and their emulation to be incited. For how can it be supposed that our youth will apply themselves to that kind of knowledge which they find useless in the persuit of those advantages which are consider’d too often as the great ends of life, and which they see unable to procure to those who excel in them, any Improvement of their fortune, or any regard from those to whom the disposal of preferments and honours are entrusted by the public.
From the same principle arises the necessity of proper encouragement to every work which is intended to contribute to the facility and extension of Hebrew literature: for if no encouragement be given to this learning in its infancy, how must it ever arise to that strength and magnitude which is desired and expected; and since the study of this language has so long been dormant that there are not, perhaps, among us great numbers to whom Hebrew books are familiar, this encouragement must be in a great measure obtained from men who desire to promote the advances of others,d to see their


Page 137

own defects supplied by those who are to succeed them, and to confer on posterity those advantages which have been too long wanting to the present age.
The attempt to reprint the Dictionary and Concordance of F. Marius de Calasio, which has given occasion to many of these observations, makes it proper to call upon all those who are desirous of encreasing either their own knowledge, or that of others, and to be distinguish’d either as masters or patrons of Hebrew literature, to contribute their assistance by all the means which may be in their hands, by subscribing and soliciting subscriptions, by diffusing the reputation of the work among those who are not yet acquainted with its value, and by giving those commendations to the editor, which his learning and industry shall be founde to deserve.
The account of this work which the English editor has given is so copious and exact, that it would be of little use to bestow any new praises of Calasio, or to attempt any farther illustration of his design, which those who are in any degree versed in this kind of learning know to be of the utmost importance, and those who have arrived at that degree of proficiency, which enables them to judge of such performances, have not denied to be executed with success, which no other writers of the same kind havef been found to attain.
To publish therefore a work of this kind, and by multiplying its copies, to make it accessible to every student, is undoubtedly to promote in the most effectual manner, the knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures, and therefore the reimpression which is now propos’d, may be consider’d as a very valuable addition to the stores of knowledge, and a publick benefaction to the candidates of learning. But this, like other benefactions, can be receiv’d only from liberality and patronage; for tho’ it may be expected that many will purchase it for their own use, yet the burden of the expence must be in part born by those who are willing to advance the proficiency of others, as the number of those who apply themselves to Hebrew


Page 138

is not yet very great, and among young men there cannot be supposed to be many who can purchase such costly volumes: and surely it would be the subject of very sharp and lasting regret, if a design so important and useful should miscarry, or if the work should, for want of encouragement, be executed with loss or disadvantage to those who have undertaken it; if the first attempt to give new lights to this study should be repress’d, or if the spirit and perseverance necessary to it should, instead of finding that reward which they must be allowed to deserve, produce only disappointment and vexation, and impair those fortunes which they might with great reason be expected to encrease.
The publication of this work is the first remarkable and expensive effect of the revival of the Hebrew literature among us, and it ought surely to be the general wish and endeavour, that this first effort may succeed happily, and that its success may raise the hopes and animate the courage of others to the like undertakings. Those who themselves desire to excel in these studies, will doubtless promote this work for their own advantage; those who have the care of others ought to supply them with the assistance which the volumes will afford, as an encouragement to their application; those who think the honour of their country increas’d by the fame of letters, ought to support a design which will at once display and promote our literary greatness; and those whose wish is to advance true religion, may, with great propriety, contribute to an attempt which tends immediately to the more exact knowledge of that language in which the Divine Will was publish’d to mankind.
P.S. As it is not possible to give a more full and distinct account of this work than has already been publish’d by the editor, I have here subjoin’d his proposal.


Page 139

Editorial Notes
1 Concordantiae Sacrorum Bibliorum Hebraicorum, 4 vols. (1690), I.sig. b2r.
2 There was also a Latin version of the proposals (undated), comprised in a single folio sheet, with an address by Romaine Eruditio Lectori.
3 This essay translates Romaine’s address in the Latin version of the proposals and makes some additional claims of support from the universities.
4 See O M Brack, Jr., and Robert DeMaria, Jr., “Some Remarks on the Progress of Learning: A New Preface by Samuel Johnson,” New Rambler, No. E VI (2002–3), 61–74. A possible competitor for this attribution is Robert Lowth, an accomplished Hebraist, who, like Romaine, wrote answers to Warburton’s Divine Legation, and who, like Johnson, worked on Dodsley’s Preceptor. We find, however, that the style and rhetoric of “Some Remarks” are closer to Johnson’s than Lowth’s in obvious ways.
1 SJ used the phrase “ardour of curiosity” in his Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth (1745), Yale, VII.11.
2 Science: knowledge.
3 Cf. SJ’s definition of patriotism in Dictionary: “zeal for one’s country.”
4 In Dictionary, SJ defines licentiousness as “boundless liberty” (sense 5).
5 Cf. “intellectual revolutions,” Proposals for Printing . . . Catalogus Bibliothecae Harleianae, p. 80 above.
6 William Laud (1573–1645), Archbishop of Canterbury, Chancellor of Oxford University, and an exemplum in SJ’s Vanity of Human Wishes, ll. 165–74.
a parties emend] partiess
b hands in emend] handsin
c sacred emend] sacerd
d others emend] otehrs
e found emend] fouud
f have emend] has
Transcription
/ 0
  • Print
  • Save
  • Share
  • Cite
           
Document Details
Document TitleSome Remarks on the Progress of Learning Since the Reformation
AuthorJohnson, Samuel
Creation Date1746
Publ. DateN/A
Alt. TitleN/A
Contrib. AuthorCalasio, Mario de
ClassificationSubject: William Romaine; Subject: Hebrew Bible; Subject: Learning; Genre: Proposal; Genre: Preface
PrinterN/A
PublisherMary Cooper
Publ. PlaceLondon
VolumeSamuel Johnson: Johnson on Demand
Tags
Annotations
Bookmarks
AN ADDRESS TO THE PUBL...
Copy this link: Hide
[Editorial Introduction]
Copy this link: Hide
Some Remarks on the Pr...
Copy this link: Hide
An Address to the Publ...
Copy this link: Hide
Editorial Notes
Copy this link: Hide

  • Yale
  • Terms & Conditions
    |
  • Privacy Policy & Data Protection
    |
  • Contact
    |
  • Accesssibility
    |
  • (C) 2014 Yale University