THE

LIFE

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 NEAR HALF A CENTURY

DURING WHICH HE FLOURISHED.

BY JAMES BOSWELL, Esq.

Quò fit ut OMNIS
Voliva pateat veluti descripta tabella
VITA SENIS-

HORAT,

THE EIGHTH EDITION, REVISED AND AUGMENTED.

IN FOUR VOLUMES.

VOLUME THE FOURTH.

LONDON :

PRINTED FOR T. CADELL AND W. DAVIES, IN THE STRAND.

M.DCCC.XVI.

THE

L I F E

OF

SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL. D.

BEING disappointed in my hopes of meeting 1780. Johnson this year, so that I could hear none of his

Ætat. 71. admirable sayings, I shall compensate for this want by inserting a collection of them, for which I am indebted to my worthy friend Mr. Langton, whose kind communications have been separately interwoven in many parts of this work. Very few articles of this collection were committed to writing by himself, he not having that habit; which he regrets, and which those who know the numerous opportunities he had of gathering the rich fruits of Johnsonian wit and wisdom, must ever regret. I however found, in conversation with him, that a good store of JohnSONIANA was treasured in his mind; and I compared

l it to Herculaneum, or some old Roman field, which, when dug, fully rewards the labour employed. The authenticity of every article is unquestionable. For the expression, I, who wrote them down in his presence, am partly answerable.

“ Theocritus is not deserving of very high respect as a writer; as to the pastoral part, Virgil is very

B

VOL. IV.