fore they had been awkwardly interwoven.

Courtenay's _Review_ did not go unnoticed at the time, though for
obvious reasons it was given less attention by the reviewers than the
more notorious Johnsoniana. Extracts from the poem were printed in
several magazines. The reviewers were almost unanimous in damning the
poem's inelegance, unevenness, and lack of harmony, but reserved
praise for the sentiments and candor.[17] Chesterfield's apologist in
William Hayley's _Two Dialogues; Containing a Comparative View of the
Lives, Characters, and Writings of Philip, the Late Earl of
Chesterfield, and Dr. Samuel Johnson_ (1787) protested that Courtenay
was too kind to Johnson. The severest indictment of the Review came
from the anonymous author of _A Poetical Epistle from the Ghost of Dr.
Johnson_, mentioned earlier, who charged Courtenay with poor taste and
with belaboring the obvious by proving that Johnson was "not quite
destitute of brains."[18]

The greatest champion of the _Review_ was, of course, Boswell. The
_Life_ is sprinkled with quotations from the third edition, 118 lines
in all, mostly from Courtenay's commendatory verses. In view of the
many published attacks on Johnson, Boswell must have appreciated
Courtenay's sentiments all the more. Doubtless Courtenay's warm praise
of the _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_ also found favor with
Boswell.[19] Perhaps Boswell's final and least partial judgment of the
_Review_ was expressed in his letter to James Abercrombie of
Philadelphia dated 11 June 1792. He sent Abercrombie a copy of the
poem, commenting that "though I except to several passages, you will
find some very good writing."[20]

Courtenay's _Review_, together with several other little known
_memorabilia_ concerning Johnson, stimulated one of the most energetic
and splenetic literary controversies of the late eighteenth century.
In addition, the _Review_ and pieces like it aroused a considerable
amount of useful, if vitriolic, discussion about the art of biography.

University of Iowa

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION

[1] See _DNB_.

[2] For the information about Courtenay's election, I am indebted to
Professor James M. Osborn of Yale University. Boswell gives no precise
date for Courtenay's entry into the Club. His first reference to
Courtenay's membership occurs in his journal entry of 19 January 1790.
See _Private Papers of James Boswell_, ed. Geoffrey Scott and
Frederick A. Pottle (Privately Printed, 1