Johnson in 1763, and conceived an immense
admiration for him. In numerous visits to London, and in their tour to the
Hebrides together, he noted Johnson's speech and actions, and, in 1791,
published his life, which has already been characterized as the greatest
biography ever written. Its value is manifold; not only is it a faithful
portrait of the great writer, but, in the detailed record of his life, we
have the wit, dogmatism, and learning of his hero, as expressing and
illustrating the history of the age, quite as fully as the published works
of Johnson. In return for this most valuable contribution to history and
literature, the critics, one and all, have taxed their ingenuity to find
strong words of ridicule and contempt for Boswell, and have done him great
injustice. Because he bowed before the genius of Johnson, he was not a
toady, nor a fool; at the worst, he was a fanatic, and a not always wise
champion. Johnson was his king, and his loyalty was unqualified.
_Horace Walpole_, the Right Honorable, and afterwards Earl of Orford,
1717-1797: he was a wit, a satirist, and a most accomplished writer, who,
notwithstanding, affected to despise literary fame.
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