The Life of Samuel Johnson - James Boswell [27]
The copy-text for this edition is the third edition of 1799. Minor errors have been silently corrected, and certain aspects of presentation have been regularized when to do so posed no threat to meaning: specifically, un-spaced em dashes have been replaced by spaced en dashes; an em dash has been used to indicate names or parts of names omitted in the text; a two-em dash has been used to indicate omissions in passages of poetry; and punctuation after a word or phrase in italics has always been made roman. Unless otherwise indicated, footnotes in square brackets are Malone’s; other material in square brackets is Boswell’s, and material in curly brackets is editorial. Footnote reference numbers have been replaced by letters, to avoid confusion with endnote references.
A selection of the most substantial variants between the third edition of 1799 and the two earlier editions of 1793 and 1791 is given in Appendix 1. Appendix 2 contains a selection of the most interesting variants between the manuscript of the Life (currently being prepared for publication by Bruce Redford) and the text of the Life as printed.
THE
LIFE
OF
SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D.
COMPREHENDING
AN ACCOUNT OF HIS STUDIES
AND NUMEROUS WORKS,
IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER;
A SERIES OF HIS EPISTOLARY CORRESPONDENCE
AND CONVERSATIONS WITH MANY EMINENT PERSONS;
AND
VARIOUS ORIGINAL PIECES OF HIS COMPOSITION,
NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED:
THE WHOLE EXHIBITING A VIEW OF LITERATURE AND
LITERARY MEN IN GREAT-BRITAIN, FOR NEAR
HALF A CENTURY, DURING WHICH HE
FLOURISHED.
Br JAMES BOSWELL, Es2.
––––– 2nd fit Ut OMNIS
Voliva patcat veluti descripta tabtila
VITA SENIS.— HORAT.
THE THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND AUGMENTED.
IN FOUR VOLUMES.
VOLUME THE FIRST
LONDONi
PRINTED BY H. BALDWIN AND SON,
FOR CHARLES DILLY, IN THE POULTRY
MDCCXCIX.
DEDICATION. TO
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.
MY DEAR SIR, – Every liberal motive that can actuate an Authour in the dedication of his labours, concurs in directing me to you, as the person to whom the following Work should be inscribed.
If there be a pleasure in celebrating the distinguished merit of a contemporary, mixed with a certain degree of vanity not altogether inexcusable, in appearing fully sensible of it, where can I find one, in complimenting whom I can with more general approbation gratify those feelings? Your excellence not only in the Art over which you have long presided with unrivalled fame, but also in Philosophy and elegant Literature, is well known to the present, and will continue to be the admiration of future ages. Your equal and placid temper, your variety of conversation, your true politeness, by which you are so amiable in private society, and that enlarged hospitality which has long made your house a common centre of union for the great, the accomplished, the learned, and the ingenious; all these qualities I can, in perfect confidence of not being accused of flattery, ascribe to you.
If a man may indulge an honest pride, in having it known to the world, that he has been thought worthy of particular attention by a person of the first eminence in the age in which he lived, whose company has been universally courted, I am justified in availing myself of the usual privilege of a Dedication, when I mention that there has been a long and uninterrupted friendship between us.
If gratitude should be acknowledged for favours received, I have this opportunity, my dear Sir, most sincerely to thank you for the many happy hours which I owe to your kindness, – for the cordiality with which you have at all times been pleased to welcome me, – for the number of valuable acquaintances to whom you have introduced me, – for the nodes ccencBque Deüm,1 which I have enjoyed under your roof.
If a work should be inscribed to one who is master of the subject of it, and whose approbation, therefore, must ensure it credit and success, the Life of Or. Johnson is, with the greatest propriety, dedicated to Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was the intimate and beloved friend of that great man; the friend, whom he declared to be ‘the