The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides: With Samuel Johnson, L. L. D

Excerpt from The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides: With Samuel Johnson, L. L. D

"The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides" was the first portion of his "Life of Dr. Johnson" that Mr. Boswell gave to the public. It appeared in the autumn of 1785, about nine months after the death of Johnson, and two editions were exhausted within a twelvemonth. A third was issued in August, 1786, and this was the last which the author lived to revise. His death, "unexpected by his friends, and the subject of universal regret," says his affectionate literary associate, Malone, took place on the 19th of May, 1795.

The Journal could hardly fail to gain immediate popularity. Both the subject and the plan of the Work were attractive. No author, perhaps, ever stood higher with his contemporaries, or was regarded with greater interest as a man, than Johnson. His writings were in all hands, and his Dictionary was looked upon as a national triumph. Garrick's epigram, that one Englishman had, in the contest for philological honours, beat forty Frenchmen, was the key-note to a whole chorus of acclamations. Then, the personal character and peculiarities of Johnson - his sturdy independence, his strong prejudices, his dogmatism, his unrivalled dexterity and power in argument, his very figure, as Boswell has observed, were all, more or less, known to the great mass of readers, from the Land's-End to the Hebrides. Fragments of his conversation, including some of his weighty and pungent remarks, his witty sarcasms and lively personal sallies, had got abroad, and public curiosity was strongly excited regarding the daily life, habits, and opinions of the great literary dictator.

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