vince to enter upon a criticism of the Preface; but we cannot help remarking that many passages combine true criticism with great eloquence. How sublimely true is the following sentence: "The stream of time, which is continually washing the dissoluble fabrics of other poets, passes without injury by the adamant of Shakespeare."

In 1759 another great sorrow of his life befell him. His mother died. He was unable to go to see her. Perhaps it was the want of money? This we know at least for certain, that not long before this he was in monetary difficulties; that his friend Richardson became surety; and actually lent the great Lexicographer a few guineas to deliver him from arrest; that he borrowed a few guineas from his printer to send to his dying mother, and that with them he sent this last sad farewell pathetic letter :—

"Dear Honoured Mother,

"Neither your condition nor your character make it fit for me to say much. You have been the best mother, and I believe the best woman in the world. I thank you for your

indulgence to me, and beg forgiveness for all that I have done ill, and of all that I have omitted to do well. God grant you his Holy Spirit, and receive you to everlasting happiness, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. Lord Jesus receive your spirit.

"I am, dear, dear Mother,

"Your dutiful Son,

"SAMUEL JOHNSON."

To defray the expenses of his mother's funeral, and pay some small debts of hers, during the evenings of a week he wrote a book which he sold to the publishers for an hundred pounds. Doubtless the rapidity with which JOHNSON wrote the story of "Rassalas" must be accounted for by the fact that many of the subjects "which are eagerly discussed, are known to have greatly interested, and even to have agitated" his own mind for many years. "The Efficacy of Pilgrimage; The state of Departed Souls; The Probability of the Reappearance of the Dead, and the Danger of Insanity." The last indeed, was an apprehension which

haunted his whole life.

He writes thus: "Of the uncertainties in our

present state, the most dreadful and alarming is the uncertain continuance of reason." It is all but certain that JOHNSON'S dread of insanity gave rise to the character of the mad Astronomer in "Rassalas." Indeed, JOHNSON believed in the universality of insanity. He says: "If we speak with rigorous exactness, no human mind is in its right state. All power of fancy over reason is a degree of insanity."

He ascribes the mental derangement of the Astronomer, to the indulgence of the imagination in the shades of solitude. In that sentence there is much reason to believe that JOHNSON was describing what he had himself experienced, and we believe this to be the reason why he hated solitude and loved society, why he hated what he called "the gloomy calm of idle vacancy."

His next work of any literary importance was his "Journey to the Western Isles," which appeared in the beginning of 1775. The book was anticipated with great curiosity by the English nation, who looked upon Scotland as a semi-savage country. Indeed, it is only within the last half

century that Scotland appeared to the well-to-do Englishman otherwise than as a sporting field, where he came annually to grouse shooting and deer stalking. In Scotland itself the book was looked forward to with much anxiety, as Scotchmen knew his prejudice against their country. How was he to treat their nation? What was he to say of Presbyterianism, and Ossian, of Highland superstition, and of Highland scenery ? After great expectations the book at last appeared -a very unpretentious little volume, ably and eloquently written, but withal disappointing. He had little new to tell. He had gone to the Western Islands a quarter of a century too late to see an antiquated and patriarchal people. The last remnant of feudal times had passed with the battle of Culloden, and JOHNSON himself says"We came thither too late to see what we expected, a people of peculiar appearance, and a system of antiquated life." "The Highlanders are fast losing their distinction, and hastening to mingle with the general community." He was greatly struck, however, with their piety, virtue, and hospitality. The

book was read with great avidity. As many as four thousand copies were sold during the first week, and set agoing an innumerable number of tongues and pens, from the Highland chieftain to the London hack. The book gave an immense impetus to the cultivation of the soil, and to the planting of trees throughout the Highlands.

His next great work, which had a considerable effect on the literary world, was "The Lives of the Poets," published in 1777. Until "The Lives of the Poets" appeared, biography was, with few exceptions, confined to warriors and statesmen. But JOHNSON maintained that a nation received its chief glory from her men of letters, and therefore held that literature had a right to a place in history: "Not to name the school or the masters of men of literature is a kind of historical fraud, by which honest fame is injuriously diminished."

His "Lives" caused much discussion and research as to the merits of our national poets. Of all JOHNSON'S works, this perhaps is the best, and that by which he is best known to posterity. His three best "Lives" are Milton, Dryden, and