"Seven years, my lord, have now passed, since I waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door." -JOHNSON's Letter to Lord Chesterfield, p. 145.

OF

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 NEARLY HALF A CENTURY DURING WHICH HE FLOURISHED.

BY JAMES BOSWELL, Esq.

A NEW EDITION,
ELUCIDATED BY COPIOUS NOTES,

AND ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS, VIEWS, AND CHARACTERISTIC DESIGNS,
ENGRAVED FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES.

IN FOUR VOLUMES. -VOL. I.

LONDON:

ROUTLEDGE, WARNE, AND ROUTLEDGE,

BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL.

NEW YORK: 129, GRAND STREET.

1865.

"After my death I wish no other herald,
No other speaker of my living actions,
To keep mine honour from corruption,
But such an honest chronicler as Griffith."1

SHAKSPEARE, Henry VIII.

1 See Dr. Johnson's letter to Mrs. Thrale, dated Ostick in Skie, September 30, 1773: "Boswell writes a regular Journal of our travels. which I think contains as much of what I say and do, as of all other occurrences together; for such a faithful chronicler is Griffith."BOSWELL.