I have taken the opportunity of correcting several mistakes pointed out by friendly critics. In response to the suggestion of the reviewer in _The Times Literary Supplement_ I have also added brief notes on the Birthplace and on the Gough Square house; of the latter a new photograph has been made. S. C. R. _May 1919._ CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE vii JOHNSON'S WORLD 1 THE BOY _School Days_ 3 _Oxford and after_ 9 THE ADVENTURER IN LITERATURE _Johnson comes to London_ 18 _The Great Lexicographer_ 25 _The Great Cham of Literature_ 33 THE MAN _Johnson's Household_ 43 _His daily Life_ 53 _His Clubs_ 62 THE SOCIAL FRIEND _Enter Boswell_ 70 _More about Boswell_ 78 _David Garrick_ 87 _Oliver Goldsmith_ 94 _Sir Joshua Reynolds_ 103 _Bennet Langton and Topham Beauclerk_ 110 _Mrs Thrale_ 115 _Fanny Burney_ 124 THE TRAVELLER _The Tour to the Hebrides_ 127 _Lesser Journeys_ 141 THE TRUE-BORN ENGLISHMAN 149 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 156 ILLUSTRATIONS SAMUEL JOHNSON FRONTISPIECE (from an engraving after the portrait by Reynolds) TO FACE PAGE JOHNSON'S BIRTHPLACE AT LICHFIELD 4 (from an engraving by Edward Finden after the drawing by C. Stanfield) TITLE-PAGE OF _The Gentleman's Magazine_, March, 1738 22 JOHNSON'S HOUSE IN GOUGH SQUARE 28 JAMES BOSWELL 70 (from an engraving by Finden after the sketch by G. Langton) A PIT CHECK, GOODMAN'S FIELDS THEATRE} } 88 DRURY LANE THEATRE } DAVID GARRICK 92 (from the portrait by Robert Edge Pine) OLIVER GOLDSMITH 96 (from an engraving after the portrait by Reynolds) JOHNSON AND GOLDSMITH OUTSIDE FILBY'S SHOP 100 (from a drawing by W. M. Thackeray in the _North British Review_, 1864) SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS 104 (from an engraving after the portrait by himself) MRS THRALE 116 (from an engraving after the portrait by Reynolds) MRS THRALE'S BREAKFAST-TABLE 120 (from an engraving after I. Cruikshanks, 1791) FANNY BURNEY 124 (from an engraving after the portrait by E. F. Burney)