is eager to know his private opinions, his course of study, the
particularities of his conduct, and, above all, whether he pursued the
wisdom which he recommends, and practised the virtue which his writings
inspire. A principle of gratitude is awakened in every generous mind.
For the entertainment and instruction which genius and diligence have
provided for the world, men of refined and sensible tempers are ready to
pay their tribute of praise, and even to form a posthumous friendship
with the author.

In reviewing the life of such a writer, there is, besides, a rule of
justice to which the public have an undoubted claim. Fond admiration and
partial friendship should not be suffered to represent his virtues with
exaggeration; nor should malignity be allowed, under a specious
disguise, to magnify mere defects, the usual failings of human nature,
into vice or gross deformity. The lights and shades of the character
should be given; and if this be done with a strict regard to truth, a
just estimate of Dr. Johnson will afford a lesson, perhaps, as valuable
as the moral doctrine that speaks with energy in every page of his
works.

The present writer enjoyed the conversation and friendship of that
excellent man more than thirty years. He thought it an honour to be so
connected, and to this hour he reflects on his loss with regret; but
regret, he knows, has secret bribes, by which the judgment may be
influenced, and partial affection may be carried beyond the bounds of
truth. In the present case, however, nothing needs to be disguised, and
exaggerated praise is unnecessary. It is an observation of the younger
Pliny, in his epistle to his friend Tacitus, that history ought never to
magnify matters of fact, because worthy actions require nothing but the
truth: "nam nec historia debet egredi veritatem, et honeste factis