Page:The Poetical Works of Samuel Johnson.pdf/4



THERE is not perhaps in the whole annals of literature, a life which has afforded more events for the detail of the biographer, than that of the very extraordinary character, which is the subject of the following memoirs, As it is natural that the merits and demerits, personal and literary, of a man so eminently distinguished in the departments of biography and criticism as Johnson, should attract the notice and call forth the exertions of numerous writers; it is not to be accounted singular, that besides several slight sketches of his life taken by unknown authors, both favourable and copious narratives should have been presented to the world by Sir John Hawkins, Mr. Boswell, Mr. Tyers, Mrs. Piozzi, Dr. Towers, and Mr. Arthur Murphy; who from their intimate acquaintance with him, were enabled to write from personal knowledge. These several writers, by representing his character in different lights, contrasting his virtues with his faults, and displaying in a variety of anecdotes and incidents, the strength of his mind and the poignancy of his wit, have greatly contributed to the instruction and entertainment of those who are particularly inclined to the reading of biography. Amongst the number specified, the