The Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 4 | Page 8

part of mankind exercises against the rest, to furnish
insults and sarcasms. Every art has its dialect, uncouth and ungrateful
to all whom custom has not reconciled to its sound, and which
therefore becomes ridiculous by a slight misapplication, or unnecessary
repetition.
The general reproach with which ignorance revenges the
superciliousness of learning, is that of pedantry; a censure which every
man incurs, who has at any time the misfortune to talk to those who
cannot understand him, and by which the modest and timorous are
sometimes frighted from the display of their acquisitions, and the
exertion of their powers.
The name of a pedant is so formidable to young men when they first
sally from their colleges, and is so liberally scattered by those who
mean to boast their elegance of education, easiness of manners, and
knowledge of the world, that it seems to require particular
consideration; since, perhaps, if it were once understood, many a heart
might be freed from painful apprehensions, and many a tongue
delivered from restraint.
Pedantry is the unseasonable ostentation of learning. It may be
discovered either in the choice of a subject, or in the manner of treating
it. He is undoubtedly guilty of pedantry, who, when he has made
himself master of some abstruse and uncultivated part of knowledge,
obtrudes his remarks and discoveries upon those whom he believes
unable to judge of his proficiency, and from whom, as he cannot fear
contradiction, he cannot properly expect applause.
To this error the student is sometimes betrayed by the natural
recurrence of the mind to its common employment, by the pleasure
which every man receives from the recollection of pleasing images, and
the desire of dwelling upon topicks, on which he knows himself able to
speak with justness. But because we are seldom so far prejudiced in

favour of each other, as to search out for palliations, this failure of
politeness is imputed always to vanity; and the harmless collegiate,
who, perhaps, intended entertainment and instruction, or at worst only
spoke without sufficient reflection upon the character of his hearers, is
censured as arrogant or overbearing, and eager to extend his renown, in
contempt of the convenience of society and the laws of conversation.
All discourse of which others cannot partake, is not only an irksome
usurpation of the time devoted to pleasure and entertainment, but what
never fails to excite very keen resentment, an insolent assertion of
superiority, and a triumph over less enlightened understandings. The
pedant is, therefore, not only heard with weariness, but malignity; and
those who conceive themselves insulted by his knowledge, never fail to
tell with acrimony how injudiciously it was exerted.
To avoid this dangerous imputation, scholars sometimes divest
themselves with too much haste of their academical formality, and in
their endeavours to accommodate their notions and their style to
common conceptions, talk rather of any thing than of that which they
understand, and sink into insipidity of sentiment and meanness of
expression.
There prevails among men of letters an opinion, that all appearance of
science is particularly hateful to women; and that therefore, whoever
desires to be well received in female assemblies, must qualify himself
by a total rejection of all that is serious, rational, or important; must
consider argument or criticism, as perpetually interdicted; and devote
all his attention to trifles, and all his eloquence to compliment.
Students often form their notions of the present generation from the
writings of the past, and are not very early informed of those changes
which the gradual diffusion of knowledge, or the sudden caprice of
fashion, produces in the world. Whatever might be the state of female
literature in the last century, there is now no longer any danger lest the
scholar should want an adequate audience at the tea-table; and whoever
thinks it necessary to regulate his conversation by antiquated rules, will
be rather despised for his futility than caressed for his politeness.
To talk intentionally in a manner above the comprehension of those
whom we address, is unquestionable pedantry; but surely complaisance
requires, that no man should, without proof, conclude his company
incapable of following him to the highest elevation of his fancy, or the

utmost extent of his knowledge. It is always safer to err in favour of
others than of ourselves, and therefore we seldom hazard much by
endeavouring to excel.
It ought at least to be the care of learning, when she quits her exaltation,
to descend with dignity. Nothing is more despicable than the airiness
and jocularity of a man bred to severe science, and solitary meditation.
To trifle agreeably is a secret which schools cannot impart; that gay
negligence and vivacious levity, which charm down resistance
whenever they appear, are never attainable by him who, having spent
his first years among the dust