Excerpt from Life and Conversations of Dr. Samuel Johnson: Founded Chiefly Upon Boswell Boswell's life or johnson not only holds an un disputed place among the classical achievements of English Literature, but belongs to that group within the classical group which may be distinguished as con sisting of works both well-reputed and read, the other classics being well-reputed and unopened. No one who has this book is content to have it on his shelves, a mere respectability in calf-gilt - one of Charles Lamb's favourite aversions, a book which no gentleman's library should be without. If it is on his shelves, it is often on his table. It is handled with fond familiarity, and taken down from time to time to be dipped into or consulted. It belongs to the intimate circle: is neither a grand acquaintance, nor a poor relation. It is a book which he quotes in conversa tion; and when sympathetic listeners are at hand he will now and then read from it passage after passage, laughing over and over again at the well-known quips and retorts, as if they were novelties. He is intolerant of people who do not share his admiration for the dear old Doctor - thin liberals whooscorn Johnson's toryism, prim rationalists who despise his superstition, and literati reared under modern in uences who are amazed at his want of poetic insight. From all such unsympathetic minds he turns impatientlyviii prefa ce. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."