is univerfally esteemed, because it was not to be found in the immediate object of the ingenious writer's pen; for in truth, from a man fo ftill and fo tame, as to be contented to pafs many years as the domeftick companion of a fuperannuated lord and lady, converfation could no more be expected, than from a Chinese mandarin on a chimney-piece, or the fantastick figures on a gilt leather skreen.

If authority be required, let us appeal to Plutarch, the prince of ancient biographers. OurE ταῖς ἐπιφανεσάταις πράξεσι πάντως ἔνεσι δήλωσις ἀρετῆς ἢ κακίας, ἀλλὰ πρᾶγμα βραχὺ πολλάκις, καὶ ῥῆμα, και παι διά τις ἔμφασιν ἤθους ἐποίησεν μᾶλλον ἢ μάχαι μυριόνεκροι, παρατάξεις αἱ μέγισαι, και πολιορκία πόλεων. "Nor is it always in the most diftinguished atchievements that men's virtues or vices may be best difcerned; but very often an action of fmall note, a fhort saying, or a jeft, fhall distinguish a perfon's real character more than the greateft fieges, or the most important battles"."

To this may be added the fentiments of the very man whofe life I am about to exhibit, "The business of the biographer is often to pafs flightly over thofe performances and incidents which produce vulgar greatnefs, to lead the thoughts into domeftick privacies, and difplay the minute details of daily life, where exteriour appendages are caft aside, and men excel each other. only by prudence and by virtue. The account of Thuanus is with great propriety faid by its

5 Plutarch's Life of Alexander, Langhorne's Translation.

authour

authour to have been written, that it might lay open to pofterity the private and familiar character of that man, cujus ingenium et candorem ex ipfius fcriptis Junt olim femper miraturi, whofe candour and genius will to the end of time be by his writings preserved in admiration,

"There are many invisible circumstances, which whether we read as enquirers after natural or moral knowledge, whether we intend to enlarge our science, or increase our virtue, are more important than publick occurrences. Thus Salluft, the great master of nature, has not for- · got in his account of Catiline to remark, that his walk was now quick, and again flow, as an indication of a mind revolving with violent commotion. Thus the ftory of Melancthon affords a striking lecture on the value of time, by informing us, that when he had made an appointment, he expected not only the hour, but the minute to be fixed, that the day might not run out in the idlenefs of fufpence, and all the plans and enterprises of De Wit are now of lefs importance to the world than that part of his perfonal character, which represents him as careful of his health, and negligent of his life.

"But biography has often been allotted to writers, who seem very little acquainted with the nature of their task, or very negligent about the performance. They rarely afford any other account than might be collected from publick papers, but imagine themselves writing a life, when they exhibit a chronological series of actions or preferments; and have fo little regard to the manners or

behaviour of their heroes, that more knowledge may be gained of a man's real character, by a fhort converfation with one of his fervants, than from a formal and ftudied narrative, begun with his pedigree, and ended with his funeral.

"There are indeed, fome natural reasons why these narratives are often written by fuch as were not likely to give much inftruction or delight, and why most accounts of particular persons are barren and useless. If a life be delayed till interest and envy are at an end, we may hope for impartiality, but must expect little intelligence; for the incidents which give excellence to biography are of a volatile and evanefcent kind, fuch as foon efcape the memory, and are tranfmitted by tradition. We know how few can pourtray a living acquaintance, except by his most prominent and obfervable particularities, and the groffer features of his mind; and it may be eafily imagined how much of this little knowledge may be loft in imparting it, and how foon a fucceffion of copies will lofe all refemblance of the original"."

I am fully aware of the objections which may be made to the minuteness on fome occafions of my detail of Johnson's conversation, and how happily it is adapted for the petty exercise of ri dicule, by men of fuperficial understanding, and ludicrous fancy; but I remain firm and confident in my opinion, that minute particulars are frequently characteristick, and always amufing, when they relate to a distinguished man. I am therefore

Rambler, No. 60.

exceedingly

exceedingly unwilling that any thing, however flight, which my illuftrious friend thought it worth his while to express, with any degree of point, should perish, For this almoft fuperftitious reverence, I have found very old and venerable authority, quoted by our great modern prelate, Secker, in whofe tenth fermon there is the following paffage :

"Rabbi David Kimchi, a noted Jewish Commentator, who lived about five hundred years ago, explains that paffage in the first Pfalm, His leaf alfo fhall not wither, from Rabbins yet older than himself, thus: That even the idle talk, fo he expreffes it, of a good man ought to be regarded; the | most superfluous things he faith are always of fome value. And other ancient authours have the fame phrase, nearly in the fame fenfe.”

Of one thing I am certain, that confidering how highly the small portion which we have of the table-talk and other anecdotes of our celebrated writers is valued, and how earneftly it is regretted that we have not more, I am justified in preferving rather too many of Johnson's fayings, than too few; especially as from the diverfity of dispositions it cannot be known with certainty beforehand, whether what may seem trifling to fome, and perhaps to the collector himself, may not be most agreeable to many; and the greater number that an authour can please in any degree, the more pleasure does there arife to a benevolent mind.

To those who are weak enough to think this a degrading task, and the time and labour which have been devoted to it mifemployed, I fhall content myself with oppofing the authority of the

greatest

greatest man of any age, JULIUS CAESAR, of whom Bacon obferves, that " in his book of Apothegms which he collected, we fee that he esteemed it more honour to make himself but a pair of tables, to take the wife and pithy words of others, than to have every word of his own to be made an apothegm or an oracle"."

Having faid thus much by way of introduction, I commit the following pages to the candour of the publick.

SAMUEL JOHNSON was born at Lichfield, in Staffordshire, on the 18th of September, N. S. 1709; and his initiation into the Chriftian church was not delayed; for his baptifm is recorded, in the register of St. Mary's parish in that city, to have been performed on the day of his birth: His father is there ftiled Gentleman, a circumftance of which an ignorant panegyrift has praised him for not being proud; when the truth is, that the appellation of Gentleman, though now loft in the indifcriminate affumption of Efquire, was commonly taken by thofe who could not boast of gentility. His father was Michael Johnson, a native of Derbyshire, of obscure extraction, who settled in Lichfield as a bookfeller and ftationer. His mother was Sarah Ford, defcendéd of an ancient race of substantial yeomanry in Warwickshire, They were well advanced in years when they married, and never had more than two children, both fons; Samuel, their first born, who lived to be the

7 Bacon's Advancement of Learning, Book I.

illustrious