PREFACE ONE day at Mrs. Thrale's, Johnson remarked, in an 'indulgent humor': 'I think there is no impropriety in a man's publishing as much as he chooses of any author, if he does not put the rest out of the way.' His words lend one perhaps the best excuse for a book of this kind. It is in the hope of putting the rest in the way that these selections have been gathered and edited; and enough will have been done, if they should prove the means of correcting some error of vision, or of helping to find life in that which has seemed dead. The introduction may appear at times too emphatic and opinionated, or too condensed and barren of illustration. But opinion often creates opinion in others, if only by reaction; and such passages as those on Johnson's style or his theory of criticism, or on the poetry of his time, may suggest to teachers various useful and agreeable studies in quest of illustration and evidence. Rasselas is unrepresented because it has been well edited in this series by Professor Emerson. The selections are entire, except the Life of Addison, from which the long quotation of Dennis's tedious remarks on Cato has been in large part omitted. No biographical sketch of Johnson beyond a chronological outline has seemed necessary. If a shorter account than Boswell's is desired, it may be found in Sir Leslie Stephen's Life of Johnson (English Men of Letters), or, shorter still, in his article in the Dictionary of National Biography. Macaulay may be read with interest, but not for Johnson's sake. 201003 The memory of Dr. G. Birkbeck Hill is, by his noble work as an editor and essayist, already inseparable from that of Boswell and Johnson, and cannot but be affectionately honored by every devoted reader of their works. No man will ever have done so much and so well as he to make their companionship accessible and familiar to those who need it and enjoy it. An editor of Johnson must henceforth be deeply in debt to him; and while it is easy to acknowledge definite borrowings, it is hard to measure or describe the inspiration and insight which one owes to his labors. I wish to thank Mr. A. Edward Newton for the portraits which accompany this edition; and Professor Lane Cooper for a careful criticism of the Introduction. Princeton, July 31, 1909. No. 14. The Difference between an Author's Writ- 71 No. 50. A virtuous Old Age always reverenced -No. 60. The Dignity and Usefulness of Biography No. 72. The Necessity of Good Humor 92 |