THE

LIFE

SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL. D.

COMPREHENDING

AN ACCOUNT OF HIS
STUDIES AND NUMEROUS WORKS,

IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER;

A SERIES OF HIS
EPISTOLARY CORRESPONDENCE AND CONVERSATIONS

WITH MANY EMINENT PERSONS;

· AND VARIOUS

ORIGINAL PIECES OF HIS COMPOSITION,

NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED;

The WHOLE EXHIBITING
A View of Literature and Literary Men in Great Britain

FOR NEAR HALF A CENTURY DURING WHICH HE FLOURISHED.

BY JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

WITH COPIOUS NOTES AND BIOGRAPHICAL ILLUSTRATIONS,

BY MALONE.

IN FOUR VOLUMES.

VOL. IV.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. RICHARDSON AND CO.; G. OFFOR; THOMAS TEGG;

W. SHARPE AND SON; G. WALKER; R. DOBSON;
ROBINSON AND CO.; J. EVANS AND SONS; J. JONES; AND J. JOHNSON,
ALSO, J. CARFRAE, AND J. SUTHERLAND, EDINBURGH;

AND R. GRIFFIN AND CO. GLASGOW.

1823.

C. Whittingham, College House, Chiswick.

THE

LIFE

OF

SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL. D.

This year the Reverend Dr. Franklin having published a translation of “ Lucian,” inscribed to him the Demonax thus:

“ To DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON, the Demonax of the present age, this piece is inscribed by a sincere admirer of his respectable talents,

“ THE TRANSLATOR."

Though upon a particular comparison of Demonax and Johnson, there does not seem to be a great deal of similarity between them, this Dedication is a just compliment from the general character given by Lucian of the ancient Sage, “ aplotov wv oida eyw pilooopwv yevojevov, the best philosopher whom I have ever seen or known.”

In 1781, Johnson at last completed his “Lives of the Poets,” of which he gives this account: “ Some time in March I finished the · Lives of the Poets,' which I wrote in my usual way, dilatorily and hastily, unwilling to work, and working with vigour and haste'.” In a memorandum previous to this, he says of them: “ Written, I

'Prayers and Meditations, p. 190.

VOL. IV.