mentioning Wilkes in a very offensive way, he calls him, "my gay friend." Wilkes, indeed, he contrives all through to represent in a most unpleasant light, and no better specimen could be furnished of his ingenious art of embroiling people than his reporting Dr. Percy's speech, that about the Lion-that is Johnson-and the goats, meaning Wilkes, lying down together. He contrived, too, without intending it, to further depreciate his "gay friend," by awkwardly introducing him as "a Mr. Wilkes," a note being supplied in the "Corrections," dele "a."

How careful his revision was will be seen by other specimens. Johnson had taken leave of him, saying, "Get you gone, in a curious mode of inviting him to stay." It now stands "Get you gone in." A droll mistake is his describing Johnson as "pronouncing a triumphant apotheosis on Pope," which he fitly altered to "eulogium." Talking with Johnson and old General Oglethorpe, the former said, "Pray, General, give us an account of the siege of Bender," which properly is corrected to "Belgrade." It seems curious what should have put Bender into Boswell's head. But a few evenings before he had told Johnson he intended to write a history of Sweden, and he had not yet "emptied his head" of Charles XII. and the siege of Bender.

It is incredible with what bad taste Boswell introduced the names of ladies of high rank of his acquaintance, and the instances of their good nature to him, which he seems to hint were due to his own irresistible attractions. One of these was Lady Diana Beauclerk--the divorced Lady Bolingbroke and wife of his friend. He tells the public that "he had a playful Bett with her," and then introduces his venerable friend discoursing on her in a way that none of her friends could mistake for a moment :-" While we were alone, I endeavoured, as well as I could, to apologise for a lady who had been divorced from her husband by Act of Parliament. I said that he had used her very ill, and that the gentleman on whose account she was divorced had gained her heart while thus unhappily situated. Seduced, perhaps, by the charms of the lady in question, I thus attempted to palliate what I was sensible could not be justified; for when I had finished my harangue, my venerable friend gave me a proper check :-' My dear sir, never accustom your mind to mingle virtue and vice. The woman's a- -and there's an end on't.'" Boswell

prints the offensive word in full.

Beauclerk was dead when this appeared. Boswell appears, nowever,

to have tried to soften the matter by awkwardly introducing a compli ment in his " Corrections." "After 'me,' read 'I sat in a state of anxiety which even the charming society of Lady Di Beauclerk could not dissipate.'" So with the account of the lady of his acquaintance who maintained that "conjugal obligations were reciprocal." strange conversation certainly points to the Honourable Mrs. Stuart, who must have recognised herself.

This

In his capital criticism on Garrick's "Archer," which embodies a true and valuable principle of acting, Johnson objects, "The gentleman should break through the footman;" but originally it was, "should break out through the footman." "Harris is a sound, solid scholar," stood originally "a sound, sullen scholar," which seems Johnsonissimus, especially as it is supported by the phrase that follows, "he does not like interlopers."

In his first edition he describes Johnson saying of a gentleman, “Mr. * * * * 's character is very short-he fills a chair. . . . Now, there is *** You praised that man with such disproportion that I was incited to attack him." In his correction Boswell gives the names in full, Long and Pepys, with elaborate compliments, adding that the first, who "only filled a chair," had told him of a kind and flattering speech of Johnson's about himself. It is evident that he had given offence. Again he reports Dr. Scott as relating that Blackstone composed his "Commentaries" with a bottle of port before him. This was not a very serious charge to make, but Dr. Scott, afterwards Lord Stowell, found that it was twisted into an insinuation of inebriety, and, being well acquainted with the family, wrote them his excuses. Boswell must have come in for some reproof, for we find him inserting after Blackstone, "a sober man," and after “bottle of port before him," this flourish, "and found his mind invigorated and supported by a temperate use of it' But it will be seen, that though he qualifies, he will not suppress.

Having mentioned "an evening society for the purposes of conversation," of which "we were all members," and at which nothing was given to eat, Johnson declared it would not last. The following passage, for some reason, is suppressed :-"The event proved the justice of Johnson's opinion as to the impracticability of getting people to meet when they know there is absolutely nothing to touch the palate; for this society, though held at the house of a person deservedly much esteemed, and composed of very eminent men, could not be preserved from decay."

Th

Most characteristic are the Scotticisms plentifully scattered through the work. "I also learnt some from Dr. Laurence," altered to "learnt" simply; "My friend will no doubt startle," changed to "be surprised: " and very commonly this form-"I suppose there is almost no language," changed to "we scarcely know of a language." Such, too, are phrases like the following: "Which, I should think," altered to "I believe; " "So shall I use it, in time coming," altered to hereafter; "I had taken a hearty dinner," altered to eaten." One pleasant paragraph he re-shaped twice. Speaking of the Scotch trees, he had written, "There are not a great many, to be sure: but I could have shown him more than two at Balmuto, from whence my ancestor came. In the grotto we saw a wonderful large lobster claw." In the second edition, "to be sure" is omitted, and there is added to the word Balmuto, "which now belongs to a branch of my family." But the description of the lobster claw was amended into the more dignified shape, "we saw a lobster claw wonderfully large." Somewhat elated by his ancestral feeling-for we can follow the workings of his transparent mind -it finally occurred to him, in the third edition, that there was a triviality in alluding to the "lobster claw" at all; it accordingly stands, "The grotto was ingeniously constructed." "We were a good deal drowsy," becomes "somewhat drowsy;" "We spoke none," "We had no conversation ;" and "fowls were catched,'' altered to "caught;" but "catch'd" still remains in many passages. A moor "in many places so wet," now becomes "soft;" "much liker," "much more like;" "Yes, sir, I believe you was; "I awaked," for "I awoke." Boswell uses a curious word, "dawling," which subsequent editors have altered to "dawdling." "Nothing," he wrote, "is more uneasy to the mind," which he changed to "painful;" "Were much thought of," becomes

were of considerable estimation; ""The presence of a stranger was no restraint," becomes "had" no restraint; and a curious testimony to his cagerness to be accurate is found in the alteration of "a gentleman we did not know," to "he" did not know. Many more specimens could be added. But these will suffice.

THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BOSWELL'S "LIFE OF JOHNSON."

It is now nearly a century since the appearance of Boswell's great work, during which period about a score of editors may be counted who have devoted their labours to the illustration and elucidation of this favourite book. A steady sale has all the time been going on of the ordinary "trade editions." Mr. Tedder, the librarian of the Athenæum Club, is the first who has prepared a complete view of the successive editions: a task which entailed much labour and research. This useful conspectus he has kindly allowed me to transfer to these pages from "The Bookseller," where it originally appeared.

"In 1785, Boswell produced the 'Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides.' It met with great success, and three editions appeared in that and the following year. It was revised by Malone, who afterwards read the manuscript of the 'Life,' and saw it partly through the press. In 1791, Dilly, of the Poultry, published the first edition of 'The Life,' &c. It is in a couple of well-printed quarto volumes, with a fairly good index and a few notes. A portrait of Johnson, with a facsimile of his writing, is prefixed. Seventeen hundred copies were printed. It was pirated at Dublin in 1792 in 3 vols. 8vo. The second edition, revised and augmented,' was issued in 1793, 3 vols. 8vo, by the same publisher and with the same title as the first edition, which was used in all the editions down to the ninth. While the second edition was passing through the press, many additional anecdotes and letters were received and inserted in an introduction and appendix. The index was enlarged. The numerous improvements were printed separately in quarto form (42 pp.) and sold at half-a-crown, under the title of The Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition of Mr. Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson.'