SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D.

TOGETHER WITH

A JOURNAL OF A TOUR TO THE HEBRIDES

BY JAMES BOSWELL

ΤΟ WHICH

A REPRINT OF THE first eDITION

ARE ADDED MR. BOSWELL'S CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS, ISSUED
IN 1792; THE VARIATIONS OF THE SECOND Edition, witH SOME
OF THE AUTHOR'S NOTES PREPARED FOR THE THIRD: THE WHOLE

EDITED WITH NEW NOTES BY

PERCY FITZGERALD, M.A., F.S.A.

IN THREE VOLUMES: VOL. III.

SECOND EDITION WITH A PREFACE BY THE EDITOR, AND A BOSWELL
BIBLIOGRAPHY BY

H. R. TEDDER, F.S. A.

LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD.

RUSKIN HOUSE, 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C. 1

THE LIFE

OF

SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D.

I SHALL here insert a few of Johnson's sayings, without the formality of dates, as they have no reference to any particular time or place.

"The more a man extends and varies his acquaintance the better." This, however, was meant with a just restriction; for, he on another occasion said to me, "Sir, a man may be so much of everything, that he is nothing of any thing."

"Raising the wages of day-labourers is wrong; for it does not make them live better, but only makes them idler, and idleness is a very bad thing for human nature."

"It is a very good custom to keep a journal for a man's own use e; he may write upon a card a day all that is necessary to be written, after he has had experience of life. At first there is a great deal to be written, because there is a great deal of novelty. But when once a man has settled his opinions, there is seldom much to be set down."

"There is nothing wonderful in the journal which we see Swift kept in London, for it contains slight topicks, and it might soon be written."

I praised the accuracy of an account book of a private person whom I mentioned. JOHNSON. "Keeping accounts, Sir, is of no use when a man is spending his own money, and has nobody to whom he is to account. You won't eat less beef to-day, because you have written down what it cost yesterday." I mentioned a lady who thought as he did, so that her husband could not get her

Cor. et Ad.-Line 19: For "private person" read "lady." Line 23: For " read "another."

VOL. III.

I