The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dr. Johnson's Works: Life, Poems, and
Tales, Volume 1, by Samuel Johnson

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Title: Dr. Johnson's Works: Life, Poems, and Tales, Volume 1
The Works Of Samuel Johnson, Ll.D., In Nine Volumes

Author: Samuel Johnson

Release Date: January 25, 2004 [EBook #10835]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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DR. JOHNSON'S WORKS.

LIFE, POEMS, AND TALES.

THE

WORKS

OF

SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D.

IN NINE VOLUMES.

VOLUME THE FIRST.

MDCCCXXV

ADVERTISEMENT.

It may be asserted, without a partial panegyric of the object of our
praise, that the works of no single author in the wide range of British
literature, not excepting, perhaps, even Addison, contain a richer and
more varied fund of rational entertainment and sound instruction than
those of Dr. Johnson. A correct edition of his works must, therefore, be
an acceptable contribution to the mass of national literature. That the
present edition has, perhaps, fairer claims on public approbation than
most preceding ones, we feel ourselves justified in asserting, without
envious detraction of those who have gone before us. It has been our
wish and diligent endeavour to give as accurate a text as possible, to
which we have subjoined notes, where elucidation seemed to be required.
They have been collected with care, and will prove our impartiality by
their occasional censures of the faults and failings of the writer whose
works it is our office to illustrate, and our more common and more
grateful task to praise. Though, being diffused over a wide space, they
appear less numerous than they really are, it has been our incessant
care to abstain from that method of redundant annotation, which tends to
display the ingenuity or mental resources of an editor, much more than
to illustrate the original writer. Notes have been chiefly introduced
for the purpose of guarding our readers against some political sophisms,
or to correct some hasty error. But happily, in the writings to which we
have devoted our time and attention, the