CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 159 



partment of Natural Science, most of which are very valuable, and 

 all peculiarly interesting and instructive. The friends of the 

 Institution, in al] quarters, are so peculiarly strenuous in its welfare, 

 and their exertions are so perseveringly directed to the collecting of 

 the natural curiosities of their respective neighbourhoods, that 

 from the contributions to the Museum, which are daily increasing, 

 and the liberal promises which the Society has received, there is 

 every probability that in a short space of time, a general collection 

 will be formed which shall exhibit at one glance to the scientific 

 stranger the varied natural treasures of this wide and most pro- 

 ductive district, and enable the Society to rival in usefulness and 

 extent the Natural History Societies of other places. 



Interested as we are in the success of all Scientific Institutions, 

 we shall from time to time present to our readers a summary of the 

 proceedings of this promising Society. 



CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



The Life of Samuel Johnson, L. L. D., by James Boswell, Esq. ; 

 to which are added Anecdotes by Hawkins, Piozzi, Murphy, 

 Tyers, Reynolds, Steevens, &c., and Notes by various hands. — 

 Vols. 5, 6, and 7- In ^^ volumes. Murray, Albemarle-street, 

 1835. 



However minute, almost ridiculously minute, Boswell has set 

 down the sayings and doings of the great lexicographer, his biogra- 

 phical memoir of one of the most eminent of English scholars will 

 always be a source of interest and instructive amusement. Boswell, 

 unlike first-rate literary men, had not the grand art of sifting the 

 corn from the chaff, — he was neither a man of genius nor of erudi- 

 tion ; like all unskilful writers he has dwelt on subjects of trifling 

 import, and given as much space to the most common-place parlance 

 as he has devoted to that more important part which relates to grand 

 conception, intellectual acumen, and profound learning. That he 

 was wholly devoid of good taste, too, is evident from the egotistical 

 manner by which almost every page is distinguished. With all its 

 faults, however, Boswell's diary will still be read, and if only for 

 the numerous anecdotes scattered through its pages, independently 

 of the great luminary of learning, whose virtues, errors, and weak- 

 nesses, it so glaringly exposes, it will continue to be read as long as 

 literary renown shall be cherished, or the English language shall 

 retain its present strength and purity. Although Boswell could not 

 attain distinction from his own abilities, he did not disdain to seek 

 it through the medium of others, and was content to play the grave- 



