all times expressed his thoughts with great force, and an elegant choice of language, the effect of which was aided by his having a loud voice, and a slow deliberate utterance. In him were united a most logical head with a most fertile imagination, which gave him an extraordinary advantage in arguing; for he could reason close or wide, as he saw best for the moment. Exulting in his intellectual strength and dexterity, he could, when he pleased, be the greatest sophist that ever contended in the lists of declamation; and, from a spirit of contradiction, and a delight in showing his powers, he would often maintain the wrong side with equal warmth and ingenuity; so that, a fancy, bound in by a most logical ratiocination.-His acquaintance was cultivated by the most polite and accurate men, so that his house was an university in less volume, whither they came, not so much for repose as study, and to examine and refine those grosser propositions which laziness and consent made current in conversation." Bayle's account of Menage may also be quoted as exceedingly applicable to the great subject of this work. "His illustrious friends erected a very glorious monument to him in the collection entitled Menagiana. Those who judge of things right will confess, that this collection is very proper to show the extent of genius and learning which was the character of Menage. And I may be bold to say, that the excellent works he published will not distinguish him from other learned men so advantageously as this. To publish books of great learning, to make Greek and Latin verses exceedingly well turned, is not a common talent, I own; neither is it extremely rare. It is incomparably more difficult to find men who can furnish discourse about an infinite number of things, and who can diversify them an hundred ways. How many authors are there, who are admired for their works, on account of the vast learning that is displayed in them, who are not able to sustain a conversation. Those who know Menage only by his books, might think he resembled those learned men but if you show the Menagiana, you distinguish him from them, and make him known by a talent which is given to very few learned men. There it appears that he was a man who spoke off-hand a thousand good things. His memory extended to what was ancient and modern; to the court and to the city; to the dead and to the living languages; to things serious and things jocose; in a word, to a thousand sorts of subjects. That which appeared a trifle to some readers of the Menagiana, who did not consider circumstances, caused admiration in other readers, who minded the difference between what a man speaks without preparation, and that which he prepares for the press. And, therefore, we cannot sufficiently commend the care which his illustrious friends took to erect a monument so capable of giving him immortal glory. They were not obliged to rectify what they had heard him say; for, in so doing, they had not been faithful historians of his conversation."-BOSWELL. when there was an audience, his real opinions could seldom be gathered from his talk; though when he was in company with a single friend, he would discuss a subject with genuine fairness: but he was too conscientious to make errour permanent and pernicious by deliberately writing it; and in all his numerous works he earnestly inculcated what appeared to him to be the truth; his piety being constant, and the ruling principle of all his conduct. Such was SAMUEL JOHNSON; a man whose talents, acquirements, and virtues were so extraordinary, that the more his character is considered, the more he will be regarded by the present age and by posterity with admiration and reverence. INDEX. ABERCROMBIE, James, esq. of Philadelphia, his communications concerning Dr. Johnson, vol. ii. p. 178. Abingdon, lord, bon mot of, iii. 386, n. Abington, Mrs. ii. 282. 284. 288. Abjuration, oath of, ii. 282, n. Absentees from their estates, how far justifiable, iii. 161, 162. Abyssinia. See Lobo, Rasselas. Academy, Royal, instituted, ii. 56. Action in publick speaking, ii. 182. Actors, i. 120, 121. 145; ii. 73. 200, 201. 353. 406; iii. 165; iv. 5. 219, 220. n. Adams, Miss, iv. 260. 266. Addison, Johnson's opinion of, i. 166. 333; ii. 302; iii. 37. 302. -Johnson's Life of, iv. 44. 81. Adey, Miss Mary, i. 12; ii. 408; iii. 364. Adventurer, Hawkesworth's, i. 151. 173. 188, 189, n. 193. Adultery, ii. 46. 212; iii. 309. Egri Ephemeris, Johnson's, iv. 347. Agar, W. E. esq. iii. 104, n. Agriculture, i. 235. Agutter, reverend Mr. his sermon on Johnson's death, iv. 385. Akenside's poetry, ii. 140; iii. 26. -his early friendship with Charles Townsend, iii. 2. Akerman, Mr. keeper of Newgate, character and anecdotes of, iii. 382, 383. Aleppo, Siege of, a tragedy, iii. 232, n. Alfred, i. 128. -his will, iv. 118. Allen, Mr. the printer, i. 369; iii. 240; iv. 318. 345. -Johnson's letter to, iv. 204. America and Americans, ii. 258. 275, 276, 277; iii. 183. 259; iv. 17. 73. Anderson, professor, at Glasgow, iii. 104. Angeloni's letters, iv. 98. Angels, iv. 265, n. Anthologia, iv. 351. Antiquities, study of, iii. 367. Arbuthnot, i. 333. Archæological Dictionary, Wilson's, iv. 145, n. Argyle, Archibald, duke of, iii. 61. Armorial bearings, as ancient as the siege of Thebes, ii. 152. Armstrong, Dr. i. 272, n. iii. 102. Arnold, Dr. on insanity, iii. 159. Articles, thirty-nine, ii. 83. 129. Ascham, Roger, Johnson's life of, i, 364. Ascham, extract from proposals for, i. 364, 365, n. -reverend Mr. iv. 283. Aston, Molly, i. 47; iii. 303; iv. 50, 51. -Mrs. her maiden sister, iii. 119. 365. Athol porridge, iv. 71. Atterbury, bishop, his funeral sermon on lady Cutts, iii. 205. Auchinleck, lord, (the author's father,) ii. 361. Author, the Young, (Johnson's poem,) i. 27. Authors, of deciding on their MSS. ii. 166; iii. 232. 283. 332. -respect due to them, iii. 276; iv. 98. See Books. -should put as much into their books as they will hold, ii. 203. Authorship, iii. 295. Bacon, Viscount St Alban, iii. 174. -his rules for conversation, iv. 213. Badcock, reverend Mr. iv. 374, n. Bagshaw, reverend Thomas, ii. 222, n. -Johnson's letters to, ii. 222; iv. 316. Baker, sir George, iv. 320. Ballads, (ancient) ii. 183. Balloons, iv. 323. Ballow, Thomas, esq. (the lawyer,) iii. 18. Baltick, Johnson's proposed expedition to the, iii. 121. Banks, sir Joseph's Epigram on his Goat, ii. 122. -his Voyages, ii. 125. Barber, Mr. Francis, i. 174, 175. 179. 271; ii. 52. 124; iv. 367. Barclay, Mr. the young author, i. 392. -one of Mr. Thrale's successors, iv. 102, n. Baretti, Joseph, i. 232. 275. 282; ii. 393; iv. 26. the first who received copy-money in Italy, iii. 146. his trial, ii. 76. Johnson's letters to him, i. 282. 289. 297. Barnard, Dr. Thomas, (lord bishop of Limerick,) ii. 270; iii. 70; iv. 100, n. Barretier, J. P. Johnson's Life of, i. 102. 104. Barrington, hon. Daines, iii. 279. Barrow, reverend Dr. his sermons, iv. 92, n. Barrowby, Dr. iv. 266. Barry, sir Edward, bart. M. D. his notion that pulsation occasions death by -James, esq. (the painter,) Johnson's letter to, iv. 179. -his paintings, iv. 201. Barter, the enthusiast, ii. 140. Bateman, Edward, tutor of Christ Church, his lectures, i. 43. Bath, Johnson's visit to, iii. 37. Bathurst, Dr. Richard, i. 132. 137. 180. 188. 191; iv. 23. 27. Baxter, Richard, his works, ii. 218; iv. 165. 202. William, his edition of Anacreon, iv. 148. 218. 241. Bayle's Dictionary, i. 333. Beattie, Dr. ii. 119. 123. 228; iv. 167. letter from Johnson to, iii. 384. Beauclerk, Topham, esq. i. 185; ii. 263; iii. 341. 345. 376; iv. 7, 8. 162. |