contemplated with wonder so stupendous a work achieved by one man,
while other countries had thought such undertakings fit only for whole
academies. Vast as his powers were, I cannot but think that his
imagination deceived him, when he supposed that by constant application
he might have performed the task in three years. Let the Preface be
attentively perused, in which is given, in a clear, strong, and glowing
style, a comprehensive, yet particular view of what he had done; and it
will be evident, that the time he employed upon it was comparatively
short. I am unwilling to swell my book with long quotations from what is
in every body's hands, and I believe there are few prose compositions in
the English language that are read with more delight, or are more
impressed upon the memory, than that preliminary discourse. One of its
excellencies has always struck me with peculiar admiration: I mean the
perspicuity with which he has expressed abstract scientifick notions. As
an instance of this, I shall quote the following sentence: 'When the
radical idea branches out into parallel ramifications, how can a
consecutive series be formed of senses in their own[849] nature
collateral?' We have here an example of what has been often said, and I
believe with justice, that there is for every thought a certain nice
adaptation of words which none other could equal, and which, when a man
has been so fortunate as to hit, he has attained, in that particular
case, the perfection of language.

[Page 292: The Preface to the Dictionary. A.D. 1755.]

The extensive reading which was absolutely necessary for the
accumulation of authorities, and which alone may account for Johnson's
retentive mind being enriched with a very large and various store of
knowledge and imagery, must have occupied several years. The Preface
furnishes an eminent instance of a double talent, of which Johnson was