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Thomas Warton's "Observations on the 'Faerie Queene' of Spenser", Samuel Johnson's "History of the English Language," and Warton's History of English Poetry": reciprocal indebtedness?

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From: Philological Quarterly
Date: 19950622
Author:DeMaria, Robert, Jr.; Kolb, Gwin J.

Literary scholars Thomas Warton and Samuel Johnson may have referred extensively to each other's works when they wrote separate treatises on the English language and the history of English literature. Warton's 'Observations on the Faerie Queene of Spenser' contains a historical note on early English authors, and these authors received the same treatment in Johnson's preface to his 'Dictionary of the English Language.' A few decades after, Warton quoted and borrowed from the dictionary for his 'History of English Poetry.'

Several commentators have discussed in varying detail the long, ...

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