Cunningham notices that this is a favourite word with Johnson. In the Life of Cowley,
' whatever he writes is polluted with some conceit' ;
in the 'Idler,' N0. 82, he talks of polluting a canvas with deformity; in his 'Tour to the Hebrides,' of polluting the table with slices of cheese. Pope
'polluted his will with female resentment,'
and in his own will Johnson bequeaths a soul to God,
'polluted with many sins.'