work is illustrated, comprise portraits of most of Johnson's distinguished contemporaries, and of all his intimate associates, which have been engraved from the best available authorities. The scenes too, amid which his life was passed, are represented from contemporary sources, or occasionally from recent sketches made especially for this edition, while the illustrations of the more picturesque incidents of his career have been designed with a due regard to general accuracy.
These few explanations cannot be more appropriately closed than by the expression of the acknowledgments which we owe to Lewis Pocock, Esq., George James Squibb, Esq., and George Daniel, Esq., for the kindness and courtesy which they have severally shown in allowing us the freest access to their invaluable collections of Prints, Paintings, and other relics illustrative of the life and times of Samuel Johnson.