Materials printed in this volume follow the original texts in all important respects; no attempt has been made to modernize spelling, punctuation, or capitalization, but typographical errors have been silently corrected. Lengthy extracts from Johnson’s works have been omitted as clearly indicated in the text.
The following abbreviations have been used throughout:
Boswell, Life: James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D., third edition, 1799; for the reader’s convenience page references are given to the edition by G.Birkbeck Hill and L.F.Powell, Clarendon Press, 1934–50.
Johnsonian Miscellanies: Johnsonian Miscellanies, ed. G.Birkbeck Hill, Clarendon Press, 1897.
Journey: Samuel Johnson, A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (with Boswell’s Tour to the Hebrides), ed. R.W.Chapman, Oxford University Press, 1924.
Lives: Lives of the English Poets by Samuel Johnson, LL.D., ed. G.Birkbeck Hill, Clarendon Press, 1905.
Letters: The Letters of Samuel Johnson, ed. R.W.Chapman, Clarendon Press, 1952.
Poems: Samuel Johnson, Poems, ed. E.L.McAdam with George Milne, Yale University Press, 1964.
Shakespeare: Johnson on Shakespeare, ed. Arthur Sherbo, Yale University Press, 1968.