...good by telling the whole truth'; but at another time he said, ' If a man is to write A Panegyric, he may keep vices out of sight; but if he professes...write A Life, he must represent it really as it was. ... It would produce an instructive caution to avoid drinking, when it was seen that even the learning...

...at Edinburgh, I well remember that Dr. Johnson maintained, that 'If a man is to write A Panegyrick, he may keep vices out of sight; but if he professes...to avoid drinking, when it was seen, that even the learnmg and genius of Parnell could be debased by it.' And in the Hebrides he maintained, as appears...

...at Edinburgh, I well remember that Dr. Johnson maintained, that "If a man is to write A Panegyrick, he may keep vices out of sight; but if he professes to write A Life, he muft represent it really as it was"; and when I objected to the danger of telling that Parnell drank...

...might be known to others, including his official biographer. He often told Boswell that if a writer "professes to write A Life, he must represent it really as it was," but despite this repealed view of biography as the full truth, including peculiarities and vices, he...

...ignored. But Johnson was not always consistenr: on another occasion he was said to remark: '1f a man is to write A Life, he must represent it really as it was . . .', warts and alL But again, Johnson might well have drawn a distinction between conduct and work;...

...approved of frankness: 'If a man is to write a Panegyrick he may keep vices out of sight', he commented, 'but if he professes to write a life, he must represent it as it really was'.7 Carlyle, defending what was regarded by some as a shockingly disloyal life of Sir...

...man is to write A Panegyrick" said Dr. Johnson, " he may keep vices out of sight ; but if he proposes to write A Life, he must represent it really as it was." Mr. Henley comes forward with a claim which we respect, a claim to do a public service. We owe him...