ADVERTISEMENT TO THE NINTH EDITION. IN Mr. BOSWELL'S ADVERTISEMENT to the first edition of this work, he laments the death of some of Dr. JOHNSON's friends, "to whom it would have been most interesting." Since that period, which Mr. BOSWELL himself did not long survive, the grave has closed upon almost the whole of the eminent and affectionate friends who delighted to cherish the memory of JOHNSON, and were accustomed to derive pleasure from the recollection of those colloquial scenes which Mr. BoswELL has so accurately delineated. At the present time, not above four or five are liv ing who had any personal knowledge of Dr. Johnson or of those whose names occurred in the first edition of his life, as his then surviving friends and companions. It became necessary, therefore, in preparing this edition for the press, to follow the example of Mr. MALONE, the last editor, and insert notices of the deaths of the principal charac ters. Mr. MALONE has said, probably with great justice, that, highly as the work is now estimated, "it will be still more valued by posterity a century hence, when all the actors in the scene shall be numbered with the dead." From the Second Edition, the last which Mr. Boswell lived to superintend, Mr. MALONE continued to revise and improve the work as far as the sixth, published a few months before his death. To that edition, the present Editor, at Mr. MĀLONE'S request, contributed a few notes and corrections; and has now added many more, as well as some additional particulars that may be found useful in illustrating those passages which, in the lapse of time, are becoming obscure. In this undertaking, the Editor had to lament the death of the Authour's youngest son, Mr. JAMES BOSWELL, who inherited all his father's veneration for Dr. JOHNSON, and contributed many ingenious notes to the preceding edition. He died in February last, a very few weeks before that fatal event which deprived the world of his elder brother, Sir ALEXANDER BOSWELL, Bart. The many passages in this work, in which the cause of Sir ALEXANDER'S untimely death is discussed, cannot fail to be now read with additional interest. June 24, 1822. ALEX. CHALMERS. A CHRONOLOGICAL CATALOGUE OF THE PROSE WORKS* OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. [N. B. To those which he himself acknowledged is added acknowl. To those which may be fully believed to be his from internal evidence, is added intern. evid.] 1735. ABRIDGEMENT and translation of Lobo's Voyage to Abyssinia. acknowl. 1738. Part of a translation of Father Paul Sarpi's History of the Council of Trent. acknowl. [N. B. As this work, after some sheets were printed, suddenly stopped, I know not whether any part of it is now to be found.] FOR THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. Preface, intern. evid. Life of Father Paul, acknowl. 1739. A complete vindication of the Licenser of the Stage from the malicious and scandalous aspersions of Mr. Brooke, authour of Gustavus Vasa, acknowl. 1740. Marmor Norfolsciense: or, an Essay on an ancient prophetical inscription in monkish rhyme, lately discovered near Lynne in Norfolk: by PROBUS BRITANNICUS. acknowl. FOR THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. Life of Boerhaave. acknowl. Address to the Reader. intern. evid. Appeal to the publick in behalf of the Editor. intern. evid. Considerations on the case of Dr. Trapp's Sermons; a plausible attempt to prove that an authour's work may be abridged without injuring his property, acknowl. FOR THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. Preface. intern. evid. Life of Admiral Drake. acknowl. ⚫ I do not here include his Pcetical Works; for, excepting his Latin Translation of Pope's Messiah, his London, and his Vanity of Human Wishes imitated from Juvenal; his Prologue on the opening of Drury Lane Theatre by Mr. Garrick, and his Irene, a Tragedy, they are very numerous, and in general short; and I have promised a complete edition of them, in which I shall with the utmost care ascertain their authenticity, and illustrate them with notes and various readings. 1741. 1742. Life of Admiral Blake, acknowl. Life of Philip Barretier. acknowl. FOR THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. Preface, intern. evid. A free translation of the Jests of Hierocles, with an introduction. intern. evid. Debate on the Humble Petition and Advice of the Rump Parliament to Cromwell in 1657, to assume the Title of King; abridged, methodized, and digested. intern. evid. Translation of Abbe Guyon's Dissertation on the Amazons. intern. evid. Translation of Fontenelle's Panegyrick on Dr. Morin. intern. evid. FOR THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. Preface. intern. evid. Essay on the Account of the Conduct of the Duchess of An account of the life of Peter Burman. acknowl. The Life of Sydenham, afterwards prefixed to Dr. Swan's Proposals for printing Bibliotheca Harleiana, or a Cata- Abridgement, entitled Foreign History. intern, evid. Essay on the Description of China from the French of 1743, Dedication to Dr. Mead of Dr. James's Medicinal Dictionary, intern, evid. FOR THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. Preface. intern. evid. Parliamentary Debates under the name of Debates in the Considerations on the Dispute between Crousaz and A Letter, announcing that the Life of Mr. Savage was speedily to be published by a person who was favoured with his confidence. intern. evid. Advertisement for Osborne concerning the Harleian Catalogue. intern. evid. 1744. Life of Richard Savage. acknorel. Preface to the Harleian Miscellany, acknowl. FOR THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. Preface. intern. evid. 1745. Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth, with remarks on Sir T. H.'s (Sir Thomas Hanmer's) Edition of Shakspeare, and proposals for a new Edition of that Poet. acknowl. 1747. Plan for a dictionary of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE, addressed to Philip Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield. acknowl. FOR THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. 1748. Life of Roscommon. acknowl. Foreign History, November. intern. evid. FOR MR. DODSLEY'S PREceptor. Preface. acknowl. Vision of Theodore the Hermit. acknowl. 1750. The RAMBLER, the first Paper of which was published 1751. Life of Cheynel, in the Miscellany called "The Student." Letter for Lauder, addressed to the Reverend Dr. John [This is a mistake. The last number of the Rambler appeared on the 14th of March, three days before Mrs. Johnson died. See vol. i. p. 195. MALONE.] |