times expressed his thoughts with great force, and an elegant choice of language, the effect of which was aided by his having a loud voice and a slow deliberate utterance. In him were united a most logical head with a most fertile imagination, which gave him an extraordinary advantage in arguing: for he could reason close or wide, as he saw best for the moment. Exulting in his intellectual strength and dexterity, he could, when he pleased, be the greatest sophist that ever contended in the lists of declamation; and, from a spirit of contradiction and a delight in shewing his powers, he would often maintain the wrong side with equal warmth and ingenuity; so that, when there was an audience, his real opinions and consent made current in conversation." Bayle's account of Menage may also be quoted as exceedingly applicable to the great subject of this work. "His illustrious friends erected a very glorious monument to him in the collection entitled Menagiana. Those who judge of things aright, will confess that this collection is very proper to shew the extent of genius and learning which was the character of Menage. And I may be bold to say, that the excellent works he published will not distinguish him from other learned men so advantageously as this. To publish books of great learning, to make Greek and Latin verses exceedingly well turned, is not a common talent, I own; neither is it extremely rare. It is incomparably more difficult to find men who can furnish discourse about an infinite number of things, and who can diversify them an hundred ways. How many authors are there who are admired for their works, on account of the vast learning that is displayed in them, who are not able to sustain a conversation. Those who know Menage only by his books, might could seldom be gathered from his talk; though when he was in company with a single friend, he would discuss a subject with genuine fairness; but he was too conscientious to make error permanent and pernicious by deliberately writing it; and, in all his numerous works he earnestly inculcated what appeared to him to be the truth; his piety being constant, and the ruling principle of all his conduct. Such was SAMUEL JOHNSON, a man whose talents, acquirements, and virtues, were so extraordinary, that the his character is considered, the more he will be regarded by the present age, and by posterity, with admiration and reverence. more think he resembled those learned men; but if you shew the MENAGIANA, you distinguish him from them, and make him known by a talent which is given to very few learned men. There it appears that he was a man who spoke offhand a thousand good things. His memory extended to what was ancient and modern; to the court and to the city; to the dead and to the living languages; to things serious and things jocose; in a word, to a thousand sorts of subjects. That which appeared a trifle to some readers of the Menagiana, who did not consider circumstances, caused admiration in other readers, who minded the difference between what a man speaks without preparation, and that which he prepares for the press. And, therefore, we cannot sufficiently commend the care which his illustrious friends took to erect a monument so capable of giving him immortal glory. They were not obliged to rectify what they had heard him say; for, in so doing, they had not been faithful historians of his conversation." B. INDEX ABERCROMBIE, JAMES, of Philadelphia, 248, Abernethy, Dr., Life of, in "Biographia, Britan- Abington, Mrs., Johnson attends her benefit, 292, Abreu, Marquis of, 118 "Adversaria," specimen of Johnson's, 67 420 Abyssinia, voyage to, by Lobo, translated by Akenside, Mark, 120; criticized by Johnson, Johnson, 23, 24, 354 Academia della Crusca, 99, 151 Academy, French, 61, 99, 10011. Academy, Royal, origin of, 122 Academy, Royal Irish, transactions of quoted, 675 Adam, Robert and James, 294; "Works in Adamites, the, 266 Adams, Dr., Master of Pembroke College, 686n. 40n. Adams, Mr.; Johnson writes dedication for his Addison, Joseph, 59n., 103, 120, 268, 339n., 556, "Address of the Painters to George III. on his "Address to the Reader," by Johnson, 44 231, 364; extracts from Johnson's Life of, 548 Alberti, Leandro, 302 Aldrich, Rev. Mr., of Clerkenwell, 137 Allen, Edmund, printer, Johnson's landlord in 61 Angel, Mr., asks Johnson to write him a preface, Arbuthnot, Dr., 311; praised by Johnson, 144 Argyle, Archibald Duke of, 61, 635; suit against Aristotle, 64n.; his doctrine of the purpose of Adey, Mary, of Lichfield, 347, 516; letter to Argenson, Mr., visited by Johnson, 318 Argyle, Duchess of, 80 tragedy discussed, 367; saying of, quoted, Barnard, Dr., Bishop of Killaloe, 164, 287, 564; Aristarchus, Greville's praise of, 642 Arnaud, 491 Arnold, Thomas, M.D., his "Observations on Articles, Thirty-nine, petition against subscription "Art of Living in London," by Johnson, 30 Ashbourne, Johnson stays at, 22, 404, 418, 419, Aston, Molly, 22, 347, 548; epigram on, by Aston, Mrs., 347, 349, 516; her illness, 403, 435 Aston, Sir Thomas, 22, 31n. Athol, Earl of, tortured, 174 Athol porridge, 557 Atterbury, Bishop, his sermons, 442, 450 BACON, LORD, 72, 229; Johnson on, 429; Bagshaw, Rev. Mr., Johnson's letters to, 269, 661 Banks, Mr., of Dorsetshire, 46 Banks, Sir Joseph, 165, 224, 225n., 420n., 498, 499, Bannatine, George, 121 Barbauld, Mrs, see Aikin, Anna Letitia Barclay, A., "The Ship of Fools," 92 attack on Johnson, 171 Baretti, Joseph, 86, 92, 1742., 195, 316, 340, 353, tells anecdote of Johnson, 30n.; Johnson calls Barnard, Dr., Dean of Kerry, 446 Barnes, Joshua, his Maccaronic verses, 465 Barrow, Dr., his sermon quoted, 566n. Barry, Mr., exhibition of pictures by, 612; letter Barter, Mr., 232 "Bastard, The," a poem, 54 Bate, Rev. Henry, the "fighting parson," 639%. Bathurst, Dr. Richard, 62, 77, 78n., 83, 84,537; death of, 79n., 128 Bathurst, Lord, 48, 491, 512, 545 Baxter, Richard, 267; his "Anacreon," collated Bayle, Pierre, his "Dictionary," praised by well, to Johnson, 692n. Beattie, Dr. J., 243, 269, 272, 565, 652, 653; in- 597 Beauclerk, Lady Di, 261, 281; her bet with Bos- Beauclerk, Lord Sidney, 8τη. his library sold, 566; letter to, from Johnson, |