The Life of Samuel Johnson, vol 1 | Page 2

FACSIMILE OF A LETTER OF JOHNSON relating to
Rasselas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VOL. I, p. 340.
4. SAMUEL JOHNSON, from the Portrait painted by Sir Joshua
Reynolds, 1756 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VOL. I, p. 392.
5. SAMUEL JOHNSON, after the Bust by
Nollekens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece to VOL. II.
6. FACSIMILE OF JOHNSON'S HANDWRITING IN HIS 54TH
YEAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VOL. II, to follow Frontispiece.
7. SAMUEL JOHNSON, after the Painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds,
1770 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece to VOL. III.
8. FACSIMILE OF THE ROUND ROBIN ADDRESSED TO DR.
JOHNSON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VOL. III, p. 82.
9. OPIE'S PORTRAIT OF JOHNSON, from the Engraving in the
Common Room of University College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VOL. III,
to face p. 245.
10. FACSIMILE OF DR. JOHNSON'S HANDWRITING A MONTH
BEFORE HIS DEATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VOL. IV, to face p.
377.
11. JAMES BOSWELL OF AUCHINLECK, Esq., from the painting
by Sir Joshua Reynolds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece to VOL.
V.
12. FACSIMILE OF BOSWELL'S HANDWRITING, 1792, from a
Letter in the Bodleian Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VOL. V, to follow
Frontispiece.
13. MAP OF JOHNSON AND BOSWELL'S TOUR THROUGH
SCOTLAND AND THE HEBRIDES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VOL. V,

to face p. 5.
14. CHART OF JOHNSON'S
CONTEMPORARIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece to VOL.
VI.

PREFACE.
Fielding, it is said, drank confusion to the man who invented the fifth
act of a play. He who has edited an extensive work, and has concluded
his labours by the preparation of a copious index, might well be
pardoned, if he omitted to include the inventor of the Preface among
the benefactors of mankind. The long and arduous task that years
before he had set himself to do is done, and the last thing that he desires
is to talk about it. Liberty is what he asks for, liberty to range for a time
wherever he pleases in the wide and fair fields of literature. Yet with
this longing for freedom comes a touch of regret and a doubt lest the
'fresh woods and pastures new' may never wear the friendly and
familiar face of the plot of ground within whose narrower confines he
has so long been labouring, and whose every corner he knows so well.
May-be he finds hope in the thought that should his new world seem
strange to him and uncomfortable, ere long he may be called back to
his old task, and in the preparation of a second edition find the quiet
and the peace of mind that are often found alone in 'old use and wont.'
With me the preparation of these volumes has, indeed, been the work of
many years. Boswell's Life of Johnson I read for the first time in my
boyhood, when I was too young for it to lay any hold on me. When I
entered Pembroke College, Oxford, though I loved to think that
Johnson had been there before me, yet I cannot call to mind that I ever
opened the pages of Boswell. By a happy chance I was turned to the
study of the literature of the eighteenth century. Every week we were
required by the rules of the College to turn into Latin, or what we
called Latin, a passage from The Spectator. Many a happy minute
slipped by while, in forgetfulness of my task, I read on and on in its
enchanting pages. It was always with a sigh that at last I tore myself

away, and sat resolutely down to write bad Latin instead of reading
good English. From Addison in the course of