P. 48, 1. 2. The Thrales. Mrs. Thrale (Piozzi's Anecdotes, p. 125) says they first met in 1764. Mr. Thrale sought an excuse for inviting him. Johnson dined with them every Thursday through the winter of 1764-1765, and in the autumn of 1765 followed them to Brighton. The correspondence between Johnson and Mrs. Thrale is published in part in Scoone's Four Centuries of English Letters.

21. Southwark. A district of London south of the Thames. Thrale's brewery was sold by Johnson, as executor of the estate, to Barclay, Perkins & Co., whose successors still carry on the business under the same firm name. It is one of the largest breweries in London. The buildings, which occupy twelve acres, are situated on Park Street near the famous St. Saviour's Church and not far from London Bridge.

22. Streatham Common. A suburban district a few miles south of London.

P. 49, 1. 20. Bath and Brighton were in the eighteenth century the two most fashionable watering-places in England. Brighton, on the south coast, is still flourishing; but Bath, in Somersetshire, has lost much of its former vogue. A delightful account of Bath in the fulness of its glory is given in Goldsmith's interesting Life of Richard Nash, commonly known as "Beau Nash," who was master of ceremonies there. Read Monsieur Beaucaire, by Booth Tarkington.

23. Fleet Street is one of the busiest streets in the centre of London, and runs from Ludgate Circus to the Strand and then westward.

P. 50, 1. 8. An old lady named Williams. Of her Johnson wrote: " Thirty years and more she had been my companion, and her death has left me very desolate." Hawkins (Life of

Johnson, p. 558) says that "she had not only cheered him in his solitude, and helped him to pass with comfort those hours which otherwise would have been irksome to him, but had relieved him from domestic cares, regulated and watched over the expenses of his house." "Had she had," wrote Johnson, "good humor and prompt elocution, her universal curiosity and comprehensive knowledge would have made her the delight of all that knew her.". Piozzi Letters, Vol. II., p. 311. "When she grew peevish in her old age and last sickness, he was forced to bribe the maid to stay with her by a secret stipulation of half-a-crown a week over her wages." Boswell.

P. 51, 1. 3. The Mitre Tavern was in Mitre Court, just off Fleet Street, and there Johnson and many other literary men were wont to gather.

13. To torment him and live upon him. And it may be added, to furnish objects for his overflowing charity and affection. Johnson once said: "If I did not assist them no one else would, and they must be lost from want." Mrs. Thrale writes: "If, however, I ventured to blame their ingratitude, and condemn their conduct, he would instantly set about softening the one and justifying the other; and finished commonly by telling me, that I knew not how to make allowances for situations I never experienced." She also states that he loved the poor as she never saw any one else love them, with an earnest desire to make them happy. He proposed to allow himself a hundred pounds a year out of the three hundred of his pension; but she could never discover that he really spent upon himself more than seventy or at most eighty pounds. In contrast to Macaulay's clever but rather superficial picture, compare what Carlyle says on the same subject. See Appendix, pp. 179–181.

P. 52, 1. 6. The Celtic region. That part of Scotland where a Celtic language, the Erse, was spoken. Celtic languages are still spoken also in parts of Wales, Ireland, and Brittany.

Johnson made a profound impression on the natives. "He was long remembered amongst the lower orders of Hebrideans by the title of Sassenach More, the big Englishman."-Walter Scott. From the Isle of Skye Johnson wrote: "The hospitality of this remote region is like that of the Golden Age. We have found ourselves treated at every house as if we came to confer a benefit.” — Piozzi Letters, Vol. I., p. 155.

P. 53, 1. 3. Presbyterian polity and ritual. The Reformation in Scotland had mainly taken the Calvinistic form, owing to the work of the great John Knox, and the Presbyterian Church was established. From the accession of James I. to the throne of England, down to the expulsion of James II., the Stuart kings had constantly endeavored to force the Episcopalian polity upon the Scotch Calvinists. In this they were met by the "Covenanters," as the adherents of the Presbytery were called, and the struggle went on with varying fortunes till the Covenanters, by taking the side of William and Mary, secured the reëstablishment of the Presbytery. At the Union of England and Scotland (1707) Presbyterianism was definitely recognized as the established religion of the northern kingdom. Read Old Mortality, by Walter Scott.

6. Berwickshire and East Lothian are districts in the south of Scotland.

8. Lord Mansfield, William Murray (1705-1793). A great British jurist. He became Lord Chief Justice and Baron Mans

His judicial

field in 1756, and Earl of Mansfield in 1776. decisions were notoriously severe. Horace Walpole speaks of him as one, "who never felt pity and never relented unless terrified," and as one "who hated the popular party as much as he loved severity."

23. Macpherson, James (1738-1796) obtained a remarkable notoriety by his alleged discovery of the " Poems of Ossian" in the Erse language. These he claimed to have translated. In 1762 he published Fingal, an Epic Poem in Six Books, and the following year Temora, an Epic Poem in Eight Books. They created a great sensation, were translated into every modern European language, and gave rise to a fierce controversy. Critics demanded a sight of the originals, but Macpherson never gratified them.

P. 54, 1. 2. Johnson reiterated the charge of forgery in the following letter:

"MR. JAMES MACPHERSON :

"I received your foolish and impudent letter. Any violence offered me I shall do my best to repel; and what I cannot do for myself, the law shall do for me. I hope I shall never be deterred from detecting what I think a cheat, by the menaces of a ruffian.

"What would you have me retract? I thought your book an imposture; I think it an imposture still. For this opinion I have given my reasons to the publick, which I here dare you to refute. Your rage I defy. Your abilities, since your Homer, are not so formidable, and what I hear of your morals, inclines me to pay regard not to what you say, but to what you shall prove. You may print this if you will.

"SAM. JOHNSON."

24. Kenricks, Campbells, MacNicols, and Hendersons. Obscure writers who would now be entirely forgotten had they not attacked Johnson.

P. 55, 1. 7.

Maxime, si tu vis, cupio contendere tecum." "O greatest one, if you are willing, I desire to contend with you."

20. Bentley, Richard (1662-1742). England's greatest classical scholar. His famous Dissertation on the Epistles of Phalaris was the first attempt to apply the principles of historical criticism to the authenticity of ancient writings. In Macaulay's Life of Francis Atterbury (Encyclopædia Britannica) is a very entertaining account of the famous discussion on Phalaris and of Bentley's part in it. The "apothegm" in full is, "It is a maxim with me that no man was ever written out of reputation but by himself.". - Monk's Life of Bentley, p. 90.

P. 56, l. 14. Taxation no Tyranny. This was intended to offset the effect of the great Whig orations, such as Burke's Conciliation with America. The pamphlet, however, was better than Macaulay will allow. "Johnson's sentiments towards his fellow subjects in America have never, so far as I know, been rightly stated. It was not because they fought for liberty that he had come to dislike them. A man who, bursting forth with generous indignation has said: The Irish are in a most unnatural state; for we see the minority prevailing over the majority,' was not likely to wish that our plantations should be tyrannically governed. The man who, in company with some grave men at Oxford, gave as his toast, 'Here's to the next insurrection of the negroes in the West Indies,' was not likely to condemn insurrection in general. The key to his feelings is