James Boswell

“ A third Poet being resolved to out-write all his Predecessors, a few Years ago introduced three Children with great Success; and as I am informed a young Gentleman who is fully determined to break the most obdurate Heart, has a Tragedy by him where the first Person that appears on the Stage is an afflicted Widow, in her mourning Weeds, with half a dozen fatherless Children attending her, like those that usually hang about the Figure of Charity. Thus several Incidents that are beautiful in a good Writer become ridiculous by falling into the Hands of a bad one. ”

“ At any rate, the pamphlet was the production, not of one Englishman imbued with a hatred of all things Scots, but of three warmly patriotic Scotsmen.
Critical Strictures is the merest of trifles, but at least three reasons can be given for publishing a facsimile of it. Scholars on occasion need to be able to read all the productions of great authors no matter how trifling, and this one is excessively rare; so rare, indeed, that few of Boswell's editors have been able to get a sight of it. ”

“ In this Play the Author has introduced a Rebellion unparalleled in any History, Ancient or Modern. He raises his Rebellions as a skilful Gardener does his Mushrooms, in a Moment; and like an artful Nurse, he lulls in a Moment the fretful Child asleep. ”

“ This is no doubt a case where less is meant than meets the ear. The authors are merely saying that Mallet's play is badly constructed, and is so ridiculous generally that no one will know when the tragedy ends and the farce begins.
[D] (P. 21) "Though in general this Tragedy is colder than the most extreme Parts of Nova Zembla ..." This is perhaps the only passage in Critical Strictures that can be attributed with certainty to one of the three authors. The remark is Dempster's, and had been made some time before Elvira was presented; in fact, he had applied it originally to Johnson's Irene. ”

“ Mr. Malloch's original Profession ..." Garrick's epilogue to Elvira contains the following lines:
A single critick will not frown, look big,
Harmless and pliant as a single twig,
But crouded here they change, and 'tis not odd,
For twigs when bundled up, become a rod. ”

“ Malloch been included we had not now been tortured with his execrable Tragedy. Novelty of the same kind with this we have mentioned runs thro' the whole Play, almost every Scene being an Interview and a tête a tête. The King wants to see his Son, the Queen wants to see Elvira, Elvira wants to see the King, and so on thro' the Five Acts.
No new Thoughts or Sentiments are to be found in this Performance, we meet only with old ones absurdly expressed. Dryden said that Ben Johnson was every where to be traced in the Snow of the Ancients. ”

“ Pritchard should always elevate. Garrick give Strength and Majesty to the Scene. Let us soften at the keen Distress of a Belvidera; let our Souls rise with the Dignity of an Elizabeth; let us tremble at the wild Madness of a Lear; [F] but let us not Yawn at the Stupidity of uninteresting Characters.
FINIS
NOTES ON CRITICAL STRICTURES
[A] (P. 5) Advertisement. Johnson's dictum first appeared in the abridgment of his dictionary, 1756, under Alias, which he defined as "A Latin word signifying otherwise; as Mallet alias Mallock; that is, otherwise Mallock." ”

“ George Dempster, aged thirty, a Scots lawyer who by putting his fortune under severe strain had been elected Member of Parliament for the Forfar and Fife burghs, was in London in his official capacity. Andrew Erskine, aged twenty-two, younger son of an impoverished Scots earl, was waiting in London till the regiment in which he held a lieutenant's commission should be "broke," following the Peace. James Boswell, heir to the considerable estate of Auchinleck in Ayrshire, also aged twenty-two, had come to London in the previous November in an attempt to secure a commission in the Foot Guards. ”

“ After dinner Erskine produced a draft of their observations thrown into pamphlet size, they all three corrected it, Boswell copied it out, and they drove immediately in Lady Betty's coach to the shop of William Flexney, Churchill's publisher, and persuaded him to undertake the publication. ”

“ In the fifth Act we were melted with the Sight of two young Children which the King embraced, which the Prince embraced, which Elvira embraced. Mr. Addison in the 44th No. of the Spectator, has some Remarks so judicious and lively on the Practice of introducing Children on the Stage, that we must beg leave to transcribe the Passage.
"A disconsolate Mother with a Child in her Hand, has frequently drawn Compassion from the Audience, and has therefore gained a Place in several Tragedies ”

“ On 4 November 1762, in Hume's house in James's Court, Edinburgh. "Mr. Mallet has written bad Tragedies because he is deficient in the pathetic, and hence it is doubted if he is the Author of William and Margaret. Mr. Hume said he knew people who had seen it before Mallet was born. Erskine gave another proof, viz. that he has written Edwin and Emma, a Ballad in the same stile, not near so good." See Private Papers (as in the note preceding this) , i. 126-127, or the Limited Edition of Boswell's London Journal, 1762-1763, McGraw-Hill and Heinemann, 1951, p. ”

“ University of California, Los Angeles
The Society exists to make available inexpensive reprints (usually facsimile reproductions) of rare seventeenth and eighteenth century works. The editorial policy of the Society continues unchanged. As in the past, the editors welcome suggestions concerning publications. All income of the Society is devoted to defraying cost of publication and mailing. ”

“ Malloch may only mean to borrow, yet as he possesses no Fund of Original Genius from whence he can pay his Debts, borrowing, we are afraid is an inadequate Expression, the harsher one of stealing we must therefore, tho' reluctantly, substitute in its room. ”

“ JAMES BOSWELL, ANDREW ERSKINE, and GEORGE DEMPSTER: Critical Strictures on the New Tragedy of Elvira (1763) . Introduction by Frederick A. Pottle.
An Essay on the New Species of Writing Founded by Mr. Fielding (1751) . Introduction by James A. Work.
HENRY GALLY: A Critical Essay on Characteristic Writing (1725) . Introduction by Alexander Chorney.
[JOHN PHILLIPS] : Satyr Against Hypocrits (1655) . Introduction by Leon Howard.
Prefaces to Fiction. Selected and with an Introduction by Benjamin Boyce.
THOMAS TYERS: A Biographical Sketch of Dr. Samuel Johnson ( [1785] ) . ”

“ G.B. Hill and L.F. Powell, Clarendon Press, 6 vols., 1934-1950, i. 268. (Hereafter referred to as Life.)
[5] Douce MS 193, 93v, quoted with permission of the Curators of the Bodleian Library.
[6] LJ, pp. ”