He has no dis|coveries, no secret anecdotes, no occasional controversy, no sudden flashes of wit and humour, no private conversation, and no new facts to embellish his work. ![]() To comply with that request is the design of this essay, which the writer under|takes with a trembling hand. They wished to have a more concise, and, for that reason, perhaps a more satisfactory account, such as may exhibit a just picture of the man, and keep him the principal figure in the fore ground of his own picture. John|son, and in the account of his own life to leave him hardly visible. The prodigious variety of foreign matter, introduced into that performance, seemed to overload the memory of Dr. The proprietors of Johnson's Works thought the life, which they prefixed to their former edition, too unwieldy for re|publication. No literary character everĮxcited so much attention and, when the press has teemed with anecdotes, apophthegms, essays, and publications of every kind, what occasion now for a new tract on the same threadbare subject? The plain truth shall be the answer. Johnson kept the public mind in agitation beyond all former example. ![]() This rule the present biographer promises shall guide his pen throughout the following narrative. ![]() Nam nec historia debet egredi veritatem, et honeste factis veritas sufficit. It is an observation of the younger Pliny, in his Epistle to his Friend of Tacitus, that history ought never to magnify matters of fact, because worthy actions require nothing but the truth. In the present case, however, nothing needs to be disguised, and exaggerated praise is unnecessary. He thought it an honour to be so connected, and to this hour he reflects on his loss with regret: but regret, he knows, has secret bribes, by which the judgement may be influenced, and partial affection may be carried beyond the bounds of truth. The present writer enjoyed the conversation and friendship of that excellent man more than thirty years. Johnson will afford a lesson per|hapsĪs valuable as the moral doctrine that speaks with energy in every page of his works. The lights and shades of the character should be given and, if this be done with a strict regard to truth, a just esti|mate of Dr. Fond ad|miration and partial friendship should not be suffered to represent his virtues with exaggera|tion nor should malignity be allowed, under a specious disguise, to magnify mere defects, the usual failings of human nature, into vice or gross deformity. ![]() In reviewing the life of such a writer, there is, besides, a rule of justice to which the publick have an undoubted claim. For the entertainment and instruction which genius and diligence have provided for the world, men of refined and sensible tempers are ready to pay their tribute of praise, and even to form a posthumous friendship with the author. A principle of gratitude is awakened in every generous mind. Curiosity is excited and the admirer of his works is eager to know his private opinions, his course of study, the particularities of his conduct, and, above all, whether he pursued the wisdom which he re|commends, and practised the virtue which his writings inspire. The circumstances that at|tended him, the features of his private cha|racter, his conversation, and the means by which he rose to eminence, become the fa|vourite The Reader wishes to know as much as possible of the Author. WHEN the works of a great Writer, who has bequeathed to posterity a lasting legacy, are presented to the world, it is naturally expected, that some account of his life should accompany the edition. Page AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND GENIUS OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D.
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