’He thus characterised an ingenious writer of his acquaintance:  “Sir, he is an enthusiast by rule[117]."’

’He may hold up that SHIELD against all his enemies;’—­was an observation on Homer, in reference to his description of the shield of Achilles, made by Mrs. Fitzherbert, wife to his friend Mr. Fitzherbert of Derbyshire, and respected by Dr. Johnson as a very fine one[118].  He had in general a very high opinion of that lady’s understanding.’

’An observation of Bathurst’s may be mentioned, which Johnson repeated, appearing to acknowledge it to be well founded, namely, it was somewhat remarkable how seldom, on occasion of coming into the company of any new person, one felt any wish or inclination to see him again[119].’

This year the Reverend Dr. Franklin[120] having published a translation of Lucian, inscribed to him the Demonax thus:—­

’To DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON, the Demonax of the present age, this piece is inscribed by a sincere admirer of his respectable[121] talents,

‘THE TRANSLATOR.’

Though upon a particular comparison of Demonax and Johnson, there does not seem to be a great deal of similarity between them, this Dedication is a just compliment from the general character given by Lucian of the ancient Sage, ’[Greek:  ariston on oida ego philosophon genomenon], the best philosopher whom I have ever seen or known.’

1781:  AETAT. 72.—­In 1781 Johnson at last completed his Lives of the Poets, of which he gives this account:  ’Some time in March I finished the Lives of the Poets, which I wrote in my usual way, dilatorily and hastily, unwilling to work, and working with vigour and haste[122].’  In a memorandum previous to this, he says of them:  ’Written, I hope, in such a manner as may tend to the promotion of piety[123].’

This is the work which of all Dr. Johnson’s writings will perhaps be read most generally, and with most pleasure.  Philology and biography[124] were his favourite pursuits, and those who lived most in intimacy with him, heard him upon all occasions, when there was a proper opportunity, take delight in expatiating upon the various merits of the English Poets:  upon the niceties of their characters, and the events of their progress through the world which they contributed to illuminate.  His mind was so full of that kind of information, and it was so well arranged in his memory, that in performing what he had undertaken in this way, he had little more to do than to put his thoughts upon paper, exhibiting first each Poet’s life, and then subjoining a critical examination of his genius and works.  But when he began to write, the subject swelled in such a manner, that instead of prefaces to each poet, of no more than a few pages, as he had originally intended[125], he produced an ample, rich, and most entertaining view of them in every respect.  In this he resembled Quintilian, who tells us, that in the composition of his Institutions of Oratory[126], Latius se tamen aperiente materia, plus quam imponebatur oneris sponte suscepi. The booksellers, justly sensible of the great additional value of the copy-right, presented him with another hundred pounds, over and above two hundred, for which his agreement was to furnish such prefaces as he thought fit[127].