Note 75 — AUTHORS AS SUPPRESSORS OF THEIR BOOKS.

It was observed by Scott of Amwell, a critic of the verbal school, but not without his soundness, and junior to Collins by nine years, that the Oriental Eclogues, which appeared in 1742, were “always possessed of considerable reputation,” till Johnson “having hinted that Collins, once in conversation with a friend, happened to term them his Irish Eclogues, those who form opinions not from their own reason or their own feelings, but from the hints of others,” caught the hint and circulated it. “That Collins,” he adds, “ever supposed his eclogues destitute of merit there is no reason to believe; but it is very probable, when his judgment was improved by experience, he might discover and be hurt by their faults, among which may possibly be found some few instances of inconsistence or absurdity.”