The Life of Samuel Johnson, vol 1 | Page 5

its source a
reference or an allusion. I have examined, moreover, all the minor
writings which are attributed to him by Boswell, but which are not for
the most part included in his collected works. In some cases I have
ventured to set my judgment against Boswell's, and have refused to
admit that Johnson was the author of the feeble pieces which were
fathered on him. Once or twice in the course of my reading I have come
upon essays which had escaped the notice of his biographer, but which
bear the marks of his workmanship. To these I have given a reference.
While the minute examination that I have so often had to make of
Boswell's narrative has done nothing but strengthen my trust in his
statements and my admiration of his laborious truthfulness, yet in one
respect I have not found him so accurate as I had expected. 'I have,' he
says, 'been extremely careful as to the exactness of my quotations[8].'
Though in preparing his manuscript he referred in each case 'to the

originals,' yet he did not, I conjecture, examine them once more in
revising his proof-sheets. At all events he has allowed errors to slip in.
These I have pointed out in my notes, for in every case where I could I
have, I believe, verified his quotations.
I have not thought that it was my duty as an editor to attempt to refute
or even to criticise Johnson's arguments. The story is told that when
Peter the Great was on his travels and far from his country, some
members of the Russian Council of State in St. Petersburgh ventured to
withstand what was known to be his wish. His walking-stick was laid
upon the table, and silence at once fell upon all. In like manner, before
that editor who should trouble himself and his readers with attempting
to refute Johnson's arguments, paradoxical as they often were, should
be placed Reynolds's portrait of that 'labouring working mind[9].' It
might make him reflect that if the mighty reasoner could rise up and
meet him face to face, he would be sure, on which ever side the right
might be, even if at first his pistol missed fire to knock him down with
the butt-end of it[10]. I have attempted therefore not to criticise but to
illustrate Johnson's statements. I have compared them with the opinions
of the more eminent men among his contemporaries, and with his own
as they are contained in other parts of his Life, and in his writings. It is
in his written works that his real opinion can be most surely found. 'He
owned he sometimes talked for victory; he was too conscientious to
make error permanent and pernicious by deliberately writing it[11].'
My numerous extracts from the eleven volumes of his collected works
will, I trust, not only give a truer insight into the nature of the man, but
also will show the greatness of the author to a generation of readers
who have wandered into widely different paths.
In my attempts to trace the quotations of which both Johnson and
Boswell were somewhat lavish, I have not in every case been
successful, though I have received liberal assistance from more than
one friend. In one case my long search was rewarded by the discovery
that Boswell was quoting himself. That I have lighted upon the
beautiful lines which Johnson quoted when he saw the Highland girl
singing at her wheel[12], and have found out who was 'one Giffard,' or
rather Gifford, 'a parson,' is to me a source of just triumph. I have not

known many happier hours than the one in which in the Library of the
British Museum my patient investigation was rewarded and I perused
Contemplation.
Fifteen hitherto unpublished letters of Johnson[13]; his college
composition in Latin prose[14]; a long extract from his manuscript
diary[15]; a suppressed passage in his Journey to the Western
Islands[16]; Boswell's letters of acceptance of the office of Secretary
for Foreign Correspondence to the Royal Academy[17]; the proposal
for the publication of a Geographical Dictionary issued by Johnson's
beloved friend, Dr. Bathurst[18]; and Mr. Recorder Longley's record of
his conversation with Johnson on Greek metres[19], will, I trust, throw
some lustre on this edition.
In many notes I have been able to clear up statements in the text which
were not fully understood even by the author, or were left intentionally
dark by him, or have become obscure through lapse of time. I would
particularly refer to the light that I have thrown on Johnson's engaging
in politics with William Gerard Hamilton[20], and on Burke's 'talk of
retiring[21].' In many other notes I have established Boswell's accuracy
against attacks which had been made on it apparently with success. It
was with much pleasure that