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 9 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. THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL. D. 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 Prayers and Meditations, p. 190. B VOL. IV. |