JOHNSON, Boswell's Life of. Boswell's 'Life of Johnson) is one of the world's greatest biographies. Apart from its intrinsic literary worth, it is of historical importance in that it marks a culminating point in the general de velopment of biography. From the time of Plutarch, and before, writers had been striving to set forth and follow proper methods of life writing. Boswell summed up and exemplified all the precepts of past method and gave to the world a model of biography. It is not going too far to say that, since the publication of the (Life of Johnson' in May 1791, all worth while biographies have followed, as far as possible, the general method employed by Boswell; that they have been, in short, mere variants of the 'Johnson.) It may be seen, therefore, that Bos well's work was both a culmination and an in novation.
In addition to its importance as a landmark in the general history of biography, the (Life of Johnson) is one of the few classic English lives. Many critics of high rank pronounce it the greatest in the language. Although it is undoubtedly true that the (Life) has exerted a greater influence upon the course of English biography than has any other single work, it may yet be questioned whether, from every point of view, it may be classed as the greatest of such works in the language. There is no doubt that it is one of the four or five greatest; that only such works as Lockhart's 'Life of Scott,' Trevelyan's 'Life of Macaulay,' Froude's (Life of Carlyle' and Allen's (Life of Phillips Brooks' may be put in the same class with it.
The biography is affected by certain limita tions under which Boswell worked. In the first place, he did not meet Johnson until 16 May 1763, when the sage was nearly 54 years old. In consequence, about one-fifth of the 'Life' is concerned with the 54 years; the re mainder with the 21 years during which Bos well knew Johnson. It was not the struggling and obscure, but the retired and famous John son that Boswell knew and recorded. Croker calculated that Boswell met Johnson on 276 days, including the period of the tour to the Hebrides — a time sufficiently brief, indeed, to enable one to write one of the most intimate biographies in existence. Furthermore, Bos well was a man of strong prejudices; he dis liked to have Johnson show attention to others and could scarcely brook being outshone in any company. It is to his prejudices that we must lay the account for his attitude in the 'Life' toward such people as Sir John Hawkins, Mrs. Piozzi and Oliver Goldsmith.
The greatness of Boswell's work is the joint result of the subject, the biographer and the plan. Johnson was, perhaps, England's greatest literary dictator and possessed an individuality more interesting than anything he ever wrote. In the sum of his qualities and characteristics, he was a type of the English race. Boswell had the qualities requisite to a faithful delinea tion of such a subject. He combined strict re gard for truth with intense devotion to his task, unsparing zeal in the face of stern rebuffs, will ing sacrifice of his own dignity—whenever such seemed necessary, and a dramatic instinct keener almost than that possessed by any other biographer. The plan followed in the 'Life) is autobiographical: as far as he was able, Bos well allowed Johnson to reveal himself by means of conversation, letters and extracts from other written and printed documents. In addition, he included letters written to Johnson and the opinions of Johnson's contemporaries, with the result, to adapt the words of Carlyle, that he showed °what and how produced was Johnson's effect on society; what and how produced was the effect of society on him." Boswell never made the mistake of lapsing into sheer adula tion: °I profess," he plainly asserted, to write, not his panegyric, which must be all praise, but his life; which, great and good as he was, must not be supposed to be entirely perfect." Bos
well says that he followed the plan adopted by the Rev. William Mason in the 'Life of Thomas Gray.' One has but to read Mason's dull and colorless work to appreciate the triumph of Bos well's genius; to learn, in fact, of how little comparative importance is mere plan apart from actual genius for writing biography. It is true that Boswell employed no methods that had not been used by biographers as far back as Plutarch; indeed, he refers to Plutarch as "the prince of ancient biographers," and any reader can determine for himself how much Boswell took to heart Plutarch's statement that it is not °always in the most distinguished achievements that men's virtues or vices may be best discerned; but very often an action of small note, a short saying, or a jest, shall dis tinguish a person's real character more than the greatest sieges or the most important bat tles." In the matter of recording conversation, and of representing events dramatically, Bos well has had no superior among biographers. The 'Life' portrays Johnson from many an gles and vindicates the proud assertion made by Boswell in a letter to William Temple: °I am absolutely certain that my mode of biog raphy, which gives not only a history of John son's visible progress through the world, and of his publications, but a view of his mind in his letters and conversations, is the most perfect that can be conceived, and will be more of a Life than any work that has yet appeared." "What we want in a biography," wrote Wil liam Ewart Gladstone in his Quarterly Review article on Trevelyan's (Life of Macaulay,' °and what, despite the etymology of the title, we very seldom find, is life. To fulfil its idea, it must have in it the essential quality of move ment. . . . Neither love . . . nor for getfulness of self will make a thoroughly good biography, without this subtle gift of imparting life. By this it was that Boswell established himself as the prince of all biographers." Gladstone has but voiced the general sentiment of a century and a quarter. What the biog rapher saw and heard and knew he recorded faithfully; Johnson lives and moves and speaks in our presence. Boswell was wise enough, however, to do more than merely record facts; he interpreted, and his artistic interpretation of Johnson, while ever subject to the censure of being only can aspect of the truth seen from one particular point of view," has survived the dou ble test of time and criticisth, and has earned the palm which is awarded only to true artistry. One sure evidence of Boswell's skill in grada tion and in creating the illusion that one has always known Johnson is the fact that few readers ever notice that almost the whole of the book deals with the last 21 years of the sub ject's life. Limitations the work may have; supplemented as it may be, however, by read ings from Mrs. Piozzi's (Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson,' Fanny Burney's 'Diary,' the (Life' by Sir John Hawkins, or from any other of the numerous lives, sketches and critical articles that have accumulated during more than a cen tury. Boswell's Johnson is the Johnson that the world knows, the only Johnson that the world is likely to know intimately as long as the English language endures and men main tain an interest vigorous personalities of English literature. Those who would actually know Johnson and obtain ea view of literature and literary men in Great Britain for near half a century during which he flourished,* must go directly to Boswell's great work. For it, there can be no substitute. For a discussion of the place of Boswell's work in the development of biography consult Dunn's English Biography' (ch. 5).