Skip to content
Shawords

Quote#Wisdom

Johnson's style was grand and Gibbon’s elegant; the stateliness of…

Quote byGeorge Colman the Younger · 1762–1836

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Random Records (1830), vol. 1, p. 122.

English (original)

Johnson's style was grand and Gibbon’s elegant; the stateliness of the former was sometimes pedantic, and the polish of the latter was occasionally finical. Johnson marched to kettle-drums and trumpets. Gibbon moved to flutes and hautboys. Johnson hewed passages through the Alps, while Gibbon levelled walks through parks and gardens.

— George Colman the Younger

More from George Colman the Younger