328 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Oct. 27. 1855. 



there, in May, 1774, his MSS., scarce books, deeds, grants, 

 pedigrees, drawings, prints, coins, and curiosities. An 

 account of the dispersion of the splendid collection of 

 " Honest Tom Martin of Palgrave " is given in Nichols's 

 Anecdotes of Bowyer, and Chalmers's Biographical Dic- 

 tionary.'] 



BOSWELL AND HIS EDITORS. 



(Vol. xii., p.. 304.) 



The Life of Samuel Johnson, by James Boswell, 

 esquire, is so admirable and instructive a, work, so 

 indispensable in every select library, that a short 

 account of the early editions of it may be desirable. 



The author had stated the object and plan of 

 his proposed publication in 1785, and the an- 

 nouncement is not devoid of interest. I therefore 

 repeat it. 



" Preparing for the press, in one volume quarto. The 

 Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. By James Boswell, 

 Esq. 



" Mr. Boswell has been collecting materials for this 

 work for more than twenty years, during which he was 

 honoured with the intimate friendship of Dr. Johnson ; 

 to whose memory he is ambitious to erect a literary 

 monument, worthy of so great an authour, and so excel- 

 lent a man. Dr. Johnson was well informed of his de- 

 sign, and obligingly communicated to him several curious 

 particulars. Witii these will be interwoven the most 

 authentick accounts that can be obtained from those who 

 knew him best ; many sketches of his conversation on a 

 multiplicity of subjects, with various persons, some of 

 them the most eminent of the age; a great number of 

 letters from him at different periods, and several original 

 pieces dictated by him to Mr. Boswell, distinguished by 

 that peculiar energy, which marked every emanation of 

 bis mind." 



In pursuance of this advertisement, to which ad- 

 ditions were made in the year 1786, he published 

 the work in 1791. It is dedicated to sir Joshua 

 Reynolds, and forms two quarto volumes. A 

 second edition, with additions, was published in 

 1793, in three volumes octavo, and was the last 

 which he superintended. He died in 1795. 



Mr. Malone, who had been intimate with Bos- 

 well for the last ten years of his life, then offered 

 his editorial services in behalf of the work ; and, 

 as Mr. Boswell the younger says, " in every suc- 

 cessive edition took the most unwearied pains to 

 render it as much as possible correct and perfect." 

 The third edition appeared in 1799 ; the fourth, 

 in 1804 ; the fifth, in 1807 ; and the sixth, in 1811. 

 Each of those editions contained additions, and 

 formed four volumes octavo. The sixth edition 

 was the last which Mr. Malone superintended. He 

 died in the following year. I subjoin the adver- 

 tisements of the fifth and sixth editions. The 

 advertisenient to the latter edition bespeaks its 

 character : 



" Advertisement to the Fifth Edition. 



" In this fifth edition some errours of the press, which had 



No. 313.] 



crept into the text and notes, in consequence of repeated im- 

 pressions, have been corrected. Two letters written by Dr, 

 Johnson, a»d seueraZ new notes, have been added; by which, 

 it is hoped, this valuable work is still further improved. 

 " January 1, 1807. E. M." 



"Advertisement to the Sixth Edition, 



" "Great pains have been taken to make this sixth edition ac- 

 curate, in point of typography. With this view the entire 

 work has been read over by the author^s second son, Jajie3 

 Boswell, of the Inner Temple, Esq. ; by which means many 

 errours of the press, occasioned by repeated impressions, have 

 been discovered. All these have been carefully amended. — 

 Several new notes and some letters have been added : and in 

 the Index, — a very useful appendage to a book containing 

 ,10 much miscellaneous and unconnected matter, — many new 

 articles have been inserted. 



" By these improvements, the present impression has been 

 rendered the amplest, and, it is hoped, will be found the most 

 correct edition of this valuable work, which has yet appeared. 



" Folby-Place, May 2, 1811. e. m." 



On the authority of this statement I attach 

 much value to the edition of 1811, and have chosen 

 it for my own collection. 



I should have been inclined to place by its side 

 the stereotype impression, in one volume, on which 

 Mr. Croker is said to have bestowed much care; 

 but as it does not contain the above advertise- 

 ments I suspect the edition of 1811 was not cou" 

 suited on that occasion. It should have been 

 adopted as the standard, both on account of its 

 additions and its superior correctness, and the 

 omission of the advertisements of 1807 and 18 IX 

 is an obvious defect. Boltoh CoENny. 



THE HAKP. 



(Vol. xii., p. 29.) 



In answer to your correspondent, who inquires 

 when the harp was first introduced into the En- 

 glish shield of arms, I send you the following ob- 

 servations of John Martin Leake, Esq., Garter, 

 which may be acceptable, as not only answering 

 his question, but as containing some remarks upon 

 its origin and use as a device for Ireland pre- 

 viously to its adoption as an armorial bearing, and 

 its connexion with the arms of Ireland. G. 



" King James is the first of our kings who bore the 

 harp for the arms of Ireland, which he placed in the third 

 quarter of the royal achievement of Great Britain, where 

 it has ever since continued, as may be seen upon his Great 

 Seal ; and this being the first instance, it will be proper 

 to make some inquiry when and why the harp was taken 

 for the arms of Ireland. 



" Tlie harp is supposed to have been an ancient device 

 for Ireland. Dr. Nicolson (Irish Library, p. 75., ed. 1736) 

 tells us, that Thomas, Earl of Pembroke, judiciously ob- 

 served to him, that the triangle on the Irish coins of King 

 John (as well as those of his son and grandson Henry III. 

 and Edward I.) was intended to represent a harp, whicl}; 

 is more fully impressed on the coins of his successor. 

 Mr. Simon, in his Essay of Irish Coins, objects to this 



