a Wiew 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; AND R. GRIFFIN AND CO. GLASGOW. 1823. 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, αριστον ων οιδα εγω φιλοσοφων γενομενον, 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 |