merely by writing, 13. Some peculiar discouragements to which he is exposed, 13. His proper task is to instruct and entertain, 14. The difficulty of executing it with advantage, 14. Increase by the caprice and ill nature of his readers, 14. His acquisition of fame difficult, and his possession of it precarious, 139. The great difference between the productions of the same author accounted for, 141. Naturally fond of their own productions, 362. Many deluded by the vain hope of acquiring immortal reputation, v. 221. Their literary fame destined to various measures of duration, 223. vi. 35. Their being esteemed, principally owing to the influence of curiosity or pride, v. 224. Their proper rank and usefulness in society, 411. Characters of the manufacturers of literature, 32. As they grow more elegant become less intelligible, vii. 143. Difficulties they find in publishing their works, 222. The precarious fame of, 236. Who write on subjects which have been pre-occupied by great men generally sink, 265. Journal of an, 267. Seldom write their own lives, 405. Their lives full of incident, 406. Signs of knowing how a publication is received, 406. Writing their own lives recommended, 408. Their misfortune in not having their works understood by the readers, iii. 149. Not to be charged with plagiarism merely for similarity of sentiment, 213. Who communicate truth with success, among the first benefac tors to mankind, 213. Hints for them to attract the favour and notice of mankind, 215. No want of topick whilst mankind are mutable, 217. The present age an age of authors, 251. Want of patronage complained of, 253. Qualifications necessary for an, 254. Their importance to the welfare of the publick, 288. The good they do to mankind compared to a single drop in a shower of rain, 291. Who provide innocent amusement, may be considered as benefactors to life, 292. Their condition with regard to themselves, 295. Their expectation before publication considered, 296. The pleasure and difficulties of composition, 297. After all, the publick judgement frequently perverted from the merit of his work, 299. The merit of his works ascertained by the test of time which they have retained fame, ii. 77. A century the term fixed for the test of literary merit, 79. The genius of the age to be considered in order to fix the abilities of, 416. The expec. tation they form of the reception of their labours, 256. Should not promise more than they can perform, 319. May compile new works with old materials, 320. Some supposed to write for the sake of making sport for superior beings, viii. 47. No longer master of a book which he has given to the publick, ii. 333. Authority, the accidental prescriptions of it often confounded with the laws of nature, vi. 96. Authority, parental, frequently exerted with rigour, vi. 45. [The following Prayer was composed and used by Doctor Johnson previous to his receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, on Sunday, December 5. 1784.] ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father, I am now, as to human eyes it seems, about to commemorate, for the last time, the death of thy Son Jesus Christ our Saviour and Redeemer. Grant, O Lord, that my whole hope and confidence may be in his merits and thy mercy; enforce and accept my imperfect repentance; make this commemoration available to the confirmation of my faith, the establishment of my hope, and the enlargement of my charity; and make the death of thy Son Jesus Christ effectual to my redemption. Have mercy upon me, and pardon the multitude of my offences. Bless my friends; have mercy upon all men. Support me, by thy Holy Spirit, in the days of weakness, and at the hour of death; and receive me, at my death, to everlasting happiness, for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen. *He died the 13th following. INDEX. The Roman Numerals refer to the Volume, and the A. ABERBROTHICK, account of the town of, viii. 212. Of the ruins of the monastery there, 214. Aberdeen, account of, viii. 217. Dr. Johnson meets with an old acquaintance, Sir Alexander Gordon, .there, 217. Account of the King's College, 219. Account of the Marischal College, 220. Account of the Library, 220. The course of education there, 221. Account of the English chapel, 222. Abilities, the reward of, to be accepted when offered, and not sought for in another place, exemplified in the story of Gelaleddin of Bassora, vii. 300. Abouzaid, the dying advice of Morad his father to him, vi. 289. Absence, a destroyer of friendship, vii. 89. Abyssinia, preface to the translation of Father Lobo's voyage to, ii. 265. Academical education, one of Milton's objections to it, ix. 89. Acastus, an instance of the commanding influence of curiosity, vi. 60. Achilles, his address to a Grecian prince supplicating life, improper for a picture, vii. 180. Action (dramatick), the laws of it stated and remarked, vi. 97. Action (exercise), necessary to the health of the body, and the vigour of the mind, v. 81. 87. The source of cheerfulness and vivacity, 86: Action (in oratory), the want of, considered, vii. 361. Tends to no good in any part of oratory, 362. Actions, every man the best relater of his own, vii. 259. The injustice of judging of them by the event, iii. 218. Adam unparadised, a MS. supposed to be the embryo of Paradise Lost, viii. 3. Adams, Parson, of Fielding, not Edward, but William Young, xi. 341. Addison, Joseph, supposed to have taken the plan of his Dialogues on Medals from Dryden's Essay on Dramatick Poetry, ix. 322. His life, 1.74. Born at Milston, in Wiltshire, May 1. 1672, 74. The various schools at which he received instruction, 75. Cultivates an early friendship with Steele, 76. Lends 100%, to Steele, and reclaims it by an execution, 77. Entered at Oxford, 1687, 77. Account of his Latin poems, 78. Account of his English poems, 78. On being introduced by Congreve to Mr. Montague, becomes a courtier, 79. Obtains a pension of 3007. a year, that he might be enabled to travel, 80. Publishes his . travels, 82. Succeeds Mr. Locke as Commissioner of Appeals, as a reward for his poem The Battle of Blenheim, 83. Went to Hanover with Lord Halifax, 83. Made Under-secretary of State, 83. Writes the opera of Rosamond, 83. Assists Steele in writing the Tender Husband, 84. Goes to Ireland with Lord Wharton as Secretary, 84. Made Keeper of the Records in Birmingham's Tower, 84. The opposite characters of him and Wharton, 84. His reason for resolving not to remit any fees to his friends, 85. Wrote in the Tatler, 85. Wrote in the Spectators, 86. His tragedy of Cato brought on the stage, and supported both by the Whigs and Tories, 92. 95. Cato warmly attacked by Dennis, 95. Observations on his tragedy of Cato, 96. Other honours and enmities shewed to Cato, 97. Cato translated both into Italian and Latin, 97. Writes in the Guardian, 97. His signature in the Spectator and Guardian, 98. Declared by Steele to have been the author of the Drummer, with the story on which that comedy is founded, 99. Wrote several political pamphlets, 99. Appointed Secretary to the Regency, 101. In 1715 publishes the Freeholder, 102. Marries the Countess of Warwick, Aug. 2. 1716, 102. Secretary of State, 1717, but unfit for the place, and therefore resigns it, 103. Sir J. Hawkins's Defence of the Character he had given of Addison in his History of Musick against the author of the Biog. Brit. 104. Purposes writing a tragedy on the Death of Socrates, 104. Engages in his Defence of the Christian religion, 104. Had a design of writing an English dictionary, 105. His controversy with Steele on the Peerage Bill, 105. During his last illness sends for Gay, informs him that he had injured him, and promises, if he recovered, to recompence him, 109. Sends for the young Earl of Warwick, that he might see how a Christian ought to die, 109. Died June 17. 1719, 110. His character, 110. The course of his familiar day, 113. His literary character, 115. Account of his works, 117. Extracts from Dennis's Observations on Cato, 124. Considered as a critick, 141. Commended as a teacher of wisdom, 144. Character of his prose works, 144. A conversation with Pope on Tickell's translation of Homer, 274. Becomes a rival of Pope, xi. 95. Supposed to have been the translator of the Iliad, published under the name of Tickell, 99. His critical capacity remarked, v. 91. 140. 143. Admiration, and ignorance, their mutual and reciprocal operation, No. xlv. 129. No. xxxix. 116. No. xli. 123. Adventurer, No. xxxiv. iii. 109. 177. No. lxxxi. No. xcii. 203. No. cviii. 238. No. cxi. 244. No. cxx. 263. No. cvii. 232. No. cxv. 250. No. cxix. 257. No. cxxvi. 269. No. exxviii. 275. No. cxxxi. 282. No. cxxxvii. 288. No. cxxxviii. 295. Adversaries, the advantage of contending with illustrious ones, xii. 194. Adversity, a season fitted to convey the most salutary and useful instruction to the mind, vi. 58. The appointed instrument of promoting our virtue and happiness, 60.. Advertisements, on pompous and remarkable, vii. 160. Advice, good, too often disregarded, v. 97. The causes of this assigned, 98. Vanity often the apparent motive of giving it, 99. When most offensive and ineffectual, vi. 90.. Affability, the extensive influence of this amiable quality, vi. 2. Affectation, the vanity and folly of indulging it, iv. 131. 133. Wherein it properly differs from hypocrisy, 134. The great absurdity of it exposed in the character of Gelasimus, vi. 228. Afflictions, proper methods of obtaining consolation under them, iv. 113. 332. Inseparable from human life, vi. 268. The benefits of, 270.. Africa, progress of the discoveries made on that coast by the · Portuguese, ii. 217. Age, the present an age of authors, iii. 251. Agriculture, its extensive usefulness considered, vi. 28. Thoughts on, both ancient and modern, ii. 384. Productions of, alone sufficient for the support of an industrious people, 384. In high consideration in Egypt, 385. The many ancient writers on that subject, 388. The enrichment of England, 389. A proper subject for honorary rewards, 391. Superior to trade and manufactures, 392. Danger to be apprehended from the neglect of, 397. An art which government ought to protect, every proprietor of lands to practise, and every enquirer into nature to improve, 397. Account of, at Raasay, one of the Hebrides, viii. 279. Bad state of, at Ostig, in Sky, 301. The raising of the rents of estates in Scotland considered, 322. Ajut, his history, vi. 267. 276. Åkenside, Dr. Mark, his opinion of Dyer's Fleece, xi. 277. His life, 357. Son of a butcher at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, born 1721. Designed for a dissenting minister, but turns his mind to physick, 357. Pleasures of Imagination published, 1744, 358. Studies at Leyden, and becomes M. D. 1744, 358. An enthusiastick friend to liberty; and a lover of contradiction, 359. Practises physick at Northampton and Hampstead, 360. Set tles at London, 360. Allowed 300l. a year by Mr. D 360. By his writings obtains the name both of a scholar, 361. Died 1770, 361. Character of his wor Alabaster, Roxana, commended, ix. 87. |