Читать книгу Macaulay's Life of Samuel Johnson, with a Selection from his Essay on Johnson - Baron Thomas Babington Macaulay Macaulay - Страница 8

Table of Contents

The book to which we naturally turn first to see whether Macaulay knows his subject is Boswell's Life of Johnson; not the edition in six volumes by Dr. George B. Hill, scholarly as it is, but some such edition as Mr. Mowbray Morris's, published by the Macmillan Company in one volume. When we read Boswell the first time, to get his conception of his hero, we do not care to loiter on every page for notes, interesting and instructive as they may be after the first rapid reading. This single volume is so cheap that no one need hesitate to buy it; then he may mark it up as much as he pleases and enjoy his own book. The conscientious student need not feel obliged to read every word of every episode, but may feel perfectly free to skip whatever does not appeal to him, perfectly certain that before he has turned ten pages he will stumble on something worth while.

The book which will do more than all others to illuminate the life and character of Macaulay is The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay, written by his nephew, G. Otto Trevelyan. Harper & Brothers, the publishers, have bound the two volumes in one which is so inexpensive that every school library may easily afford it. Some critics think this Life ranks with Boswell's Johnson. It certainly is one of the most readable biographies in the English language. Other useful books are numerous, but among them all Carlyle's essay in reply to Macaulay's Essay on Boswell's Life of Johnson stands out first.