Epitaphium in Thomam Hanmer, Baronettum page 344 Paraphrafe of the above, by Dr. Johnfon Imitation of the Style of **** Burlefque of fome Lines of Lopes de Vega Tranflation of fome Lines at the end of Baretti's Eafy Phrafeology ib. ib. 359 AN WHEN the works of a great Writer, who has bequeathed to pofterity a lafting legacy, are prefented to the world, it is naturally expected, that fome account of his life fhould accompany the edition. The Reader wishes to know as much as poffible of the Author. The circumftances that attended him, the features of his private character, his converfation, and the means by which he rofe to eminence, become the favourite objects of VOL. I. enquiry. B enquiry. Curiofity is excited; and the admirer of his works is eager to know his private opinions, his courfe of ftudy, the particularities of his conduct, and, above all, whether he pursued the wifdom which he recommends, and practifed the virtue which his writings infpire. A principle of gratitude is awakened in every generous mind. For the entertainment and inftruction which genius and diligence have provided for the world, men of refined and fenfible tempers are ready to pay their tribute of praise, and even to form a pofthumous friendship with the author. In reviewing the life of fuch a writer, there is, besides, a rule of juftice to which the publick have an undoubted claim. Fond admiration and partial friendship should not be fuffered to reprefent his virtues with exaggeration; nor fhould malignity be allowed, under a fpecious disguife, to magnify mere defects, the ufual failings of human nature, into vice or grofs deformity. The lights and fhades of the character fhould be given; and, if this be done with a strict regard to truth, a just estimate of Dr. Johnson will afford a leffon perhaps as valuable as the moral doctrine that fpeaks with energy in every page of his works. The prefent writer enjoyed the converfation and friendship of that excellent man more than thirty years. He thought it an honour to be fo connected, and to this hour he reflects on his lofs with regret but regret, he knows, has fecret bribes, by which the judgement may be influenced, and partial affection may be carried beyond the bounds of truth. In the prefent cafe, however, nothing needs to be disguised, and exaggerated praise is unneceffary. It is an obfervation of the younger Pliny, in his Epiftle to his Friend Tacitus, that history ought never to magnify matters of fact, becaufe worthy actions require nothing but the truth. Nam nec hiftoria debet egredi veritatem, et honefte factis veritas fufficit. This rule the prefent biographer promises shall guide his pen throughout the following nar rative. It may be faid, the death of Dr. Johnfon kept the public mind in agitation beyond all former example. No literary character ever excited fo much attention; and, when the press has teemed with anecdotes, apophthegms, effays, and publications of every kind, what occafion now for a new tract on the fame threadbare fubject? The plain truth shall be the answer. The proprietors of Johnfon's Works thought the life, which they prefixed to their former edition, too unwieldy for republication. The prodigious variety of foreign matter, introduced into that performance, feemed to overload the memory of Dr. Johnfon, and in the account of his own life to leave him hardly vifible. They wished to have a more concise, and, for that reason, perhaps a more fatisfactory account, fuch as may exhibit a juft picture of the man, and keep him the principal figure in the fore ground of his own picture. To comply with that requeft is the defign of this effay, which the writer undertakes with a trembling hand. He has no difcoveries, no fecret anecdotes, no occafional controverfy, no fudden flashes of wit and humour, no private converfation, and no new facts, to embellish his work. Every thing has been gleaned. Dr. Johnson faid of himfelf, "I am not uncandid, nor fevere: I "fome |