ich saves him from the accusation is the marvellous display of
mental acuteness and a perfect mastery of the French language. The
thought in his productions is as ephemeral as that in a morning
newspaper; but his composition will serve to this day as a model of
the possibilities of the French tongue. In this respect he is
unrivalled.

Popular conceptions of Voltaire are in some respects erroneous. He is
regarded as an arch infidel and bitter foe of religion. On the
contrary, he was always a deist. He never assails "The Sermon on the
Mount," nor can one who reads him carefully believe that there would
not have been a subtle sympathy between him and the best religious
minds of later days. He never mocked men who lived good lives, nor
opposed with any bitterness those who were the friends of liberty of
conscience.

[Signature of the author.]

SAMUEL JOHNSON[5]

[Footnote 5: Extracts reprinted from Harper's Magazine by
permission of Messrs. Harper & Brothers.]

By LORD MACAULAY

(1709-1784)

[Illustration: Samuel Johnson.]

Samuel Johnson, one of the most eminent English writers of the
eighteenth century, was the son of Michael Johnson, who was, at the
beginning of that century, a magistrate of Lichfield, and a bookseller
of great note in the Midland Counties. Michael's abilities and
attainments seem to have been considerable. He was so well acquainted
with the contents of the volumes which he exposed to sale, that the
country rectors of Staffordshire and Worcestershire thought him an
oracle on points of learning. Between him and the clergy, indeed,
there was a strong religious and political sympathy. He was a zealous
churchman, and, though he qualified himself for municipal office by
taking the oaths to the sovereigns in possession, was to the last a
Jacobite in heart. At his house, a house which is still pointed out to
every traveller who visits Lichfield, Samuel was born, on September
18, 1709. In the child the physical, intellectual, and moral
peculiarities which afterward distinguished the man were plainly
discernible: great muscular strength accompanied by much awkwardness
and many infirmities; great quickness of parts, with a morbid
propensity to sloth and procrastination; a kind and generous heart,
with a gloomy and irritable temper.[6] He had inherited from his
ancestors a scrofulous taint, which it was beyond the power of
medicine to remove. His parents were weak enough to bel