152 Biography. 



Mr. Roscoe; the Life of Burke, by Dr. Bissettj 

 and the Life of Milton, by Mr. Haley, claim a 

 distinction in this class of modern writings, which 

 demands particular notice. \ 



The Life of Dr. Johnson, by Mr. Boswell, is- 

 a curious and singular specimen of biography. 

 Perhaps no character was ever so fully displayed 

 in its alternate exhibitions of greatness and little- 

 ness as the illustrious subject of this work. Mr. 

 Boswell, in the compilation, had in view as a 

 model, the Memoirs of Gray, by Mr. Mason } 

 but in the opinion of the best judges, the biogra- 

 pher of Johnson, with all his vanity and weak- 

 ness, greatly exceeds Air. Mason in the quantity, 

 the variety, and the richness of his materials. In 

 favour of this plan of biographical composition 

 much may be said. Had we memoirs of this ample 

 and minute kind of every great benefactor to the in- 

 terests of science, literature and virtue, they would 

 form a most curious, and, in some respects, an inva- 

 luable treasure. But it may well be questioned 

 whether dragging into public view, and placing on 

 permanent record, the occasional follies, the tem- 

 porary mistakes, and every unguarded sally of 

 merriment or passion, into which a great mind 

 may be led, ought to be approved or encouraged. 

 To delineate a character faithfully in its leading 

 features, whether great and honourable, or other- 

 wise, is the duty of every good biographer; but 

 to crowd the pages of an eminently wise and vir- 



j Works intended to do honour to learned and ingenious men, by collect- 

 ing their wise and witty sayings, and giving familiar details of their con- 

 duct, were compiled many centuries anterior to the eighteenth. The 

 earliest work of this kind now extant is the Memorabilia of Xenophon. 

 Wolfius, in his Causaboniana, tells us that the first of the books in ana, was 

 that compiled in honuur of the great Scaliger, and called Scaligerana, 

 drawn from the papers of Vassant and Vertunian, who took the 

 whole from the mouth of that celebrated scholar. In later times works of 

 this nature have wonderfully multiplied. Monthly Review. 



