delineator of his character, "in anybody else saying a fine
saying, or doing a great deed. He would rejoice over it, and talk
about it for days; and whether it was a thing nobly said or done
by a little child, or by a veteran statesman, it gave him equal
pleasure. He delighted in humanity doing well on any occasion and
in any manner." (10)

"No quality," said Dr. Johnson, "will get a man more friends than
a sincere admiration of the qualities of others. It indicates
generosity of nature, frankness, cordiality, and cheerful
recognition of merit." It was to the sincere--it might almost be
said the reverential--admiration of Johnson by Boswell, that we
owe one of the best biographies ever written. One is disposed to
think that there must have been some genuine good qualities in
Boswell to have been attracted by such a man as Johnson, and to
have kept faithful to his worship in spite of rebuffs and
snubbings innumerable. Macaulay speaks of Boswell as an
altogether contemptible person--as a coxcomb and a bore--weak,
vain, pushing, curious, garrulous; and without wit, humour, or
eloquence. But Carlyle is doubtless more just in his
characterisation of the biographer, in whom--vain and foolish
though he was in many respects--he sees a man penetrated by the
old reverent feeling of discipleship, full of love and admiration
for true wisdom and excellence. Without such qualities, Carlyle
insists, the 'Life of Johnson' never could have been written.
"Boswell wrote a good book," he says, "because he had a heart and
an eye to discern wisdom, and an utterance to render it forth;
because of his free insight, his lively talent, and, above all, of
his love and childlike openmindedness."