That his labour in composing this work was not severe, may be inferred from the variety of literary employments in which, during its progress, he found time and inclination to engage: among which we may select for mention the imitation of Juvenal’s tenth satire, entitled Vanity of Human Wishes, and the periodical paper called the Rambler, which was published twice a week, from March 20, 1750, to March 17, 1752. Of the whole series, according to Boswell, only four papers, and a part of a fifth, were contributed by other pens: and it is remarkable, considering the general gravity of the subjects, and the elaboration of the style, that most of them were struck off at a heat, when constitutional indolence could procrastinate no longer, without even being read over before they were printed. The circulation of the work was small; for its merits, which lie chiefly in moral instruction and literary criticism, were of too grave a cast to ensure favour: the lighter parts, and the attempts at humour, are the least successful. But its popularity increased as the author’s fame rose, and fashion recommended his grandiloquent style; and before his death it went through numerous editions in a collected form. In 1756 he issued proposals for an edition of Shakspeare, a scheme which he had contemplated as long back as 1745, when he published Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth. He promised to complete it before Christmas, 1757, but it did not appear until October, 1765. Imperfectly versed in the antiquities, literature, and language of the Elizabethan era, the source from which almost all valuable comment on our early dramatists has been drawn, he has done little to elucidate difficulties or correct errors. His preface has been esteemed among the most valuable of his critical essays. But the perusal of his notes, and especially of his summary criticisms on the several plays, will confirm Garrick’s judgment as to his sensibility, and show that he wanted that delicate perception and deep knowledge of the workings of the passions which were necessary to the adequate fulfilment of his most difficult task.