this town?" "By my literary labours," was the answer. Wilcox, staring at
him, shook his head: "By your literary labours! You had better buy a
porter's knot." Johnson used to tell this anecdote to Mr. Nichols: but
he said, "Wilcox was one of my best friends, and he meant well." In
fact, Johnson, while employed in Gray's inn, may be said to have carried
a porter's knot. He paused occasionally to peruse the book that came to
his hand. Osborne thought that such curiosity tended to nothing but
delay, and objected to it with all the pride and insolence of a man who
knew that he paid daily wages. In the dispute that of course ensued,
Osborne, with that roughness which was natural to him, enforced his
argument by giving the lie. Johnson seized a folio, and knocked the
bookseller down. This story has been related as an instance of Johnson's
ferocity; but merit cannot always take the spurns of the unworthy with a
patient spirit[k].

That the history of an author must be found in his works is, in general,
a true observation; and was never more apparent than in the present
narrative. Every aera of Johnson's life is fixed by his writings. In
1744, he published the life of Savage; and then projected a new edition
of Shakespeare. As a prelude to that design, he published, in 1745,
Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth, with remarks on
sir Thomas Hanmer's edition; to which were prefixed, Proposals for a new
Edition of Shakespeare, with a specimen. Of this pamphlet, Warburton, in
the preface to Shakespeare, has given his opinion: "As to all those
things, which have been published under the title of essays, remarks,
observations, &c. on Shakespeare, if you except some critical notes on
Macbeth, given as a specimen of a projected edition, and written, as
appears, by a man of parts and genius, the rest are absolutely below a
serious notice." But the attention of the public was not excited; there
was no friend to promote a subscription; and the project died to revive