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Literary Topics
302. Anonymity; Secrecy
Boswell: "Supposing the person who wrote Junius
were asked whether he was the authour, might he deny it?"
Johnson: "I don't know what to say to this. If you were
sure that he wrote Junius, would you, if he denied
it, think as well of him afterwards? Yet it may be urged, that
what a man has no right to ask, you may refuse to communicate;
and there is no other effectual mode of preserving a secret, and
an 
important secret, the discovery of
which may be very hurtful
to you, but a flat denial; for if you are silent, or hesitate,
or evade, it will be held equivalent to a confession. But stay,
Sir; here is another case. Supposing the authour had told me
confidentially that he had written Junius, and I were
asked if he had, I should hold myself at liberty to deny it, as
being under a previous promise, express or implied, to conceal
it. Now what I ought to do for the authour, may I not do for
myself?"
Boswell: Life
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400. Anonymity; Secrecy
"Junius burst into notice with a blaze of impudence which has
rarely glared upon the world before, and drew the rabble after
him, as a monster makes a show. When he had provided for his
safety, by impenetrable secrecy, he had nothing to combat but
truth and justice, enemies whom he knows to be feeble in the
dark. Being then at liberty to indulge himself in all the
immunities of invisibility; out of reach of danger, he has been
bold; out of the reach of shame, he has been confident."
Johnson: Thoughts on the Late
Transactions Respecting Falkland's Islands
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673. Anonymity; Literary Property
On his knowledge of the status of some sermons he had ghost-
written for others: "I have been paid for them, and have no
right to inquire about them."
Sir John Hawkins: The Life Of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
Link
1,291. Anonymity
"It is indeed not easy for any man to write upon literature or
common life so as not to make himself known to those with whom he
familiarly converses, and who are acquainted with his track of
study, his favourite topicks, his peculiar notions, and his
habitual phrases."
Johnson: Addison (Lives of the Poets)
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