Life of Johnson, Volume 4 1780-1784 — Text and Context

Literary Judgments and Comparative Criticism

Early in the volume, Boswell records Johnson's verdict on Theocritus and Callimachus. Johnson ranks Virgil above Theocritus, noting that Virgil wrote 'when there had been a larger influx of knowledge into the world.' He praises Theocritus's handling of the Argonaut episode but faults him for not seeing that the brothers have 'the advantage in their argument over his Argonaut heroes.' Callimachus is dismissed as 'a writer of little excellence,' valuable only for 'Rites and Mythology.' These judgments reveal Johnson's criteria: moral coherence, historical progress of knowledge, and narrative logic. The reader sees Johnson as a critic who weighs arguments within a poem as if they were real disputes.

Boswell's Defensive Biography

Boswell interrupts the narrative to defend his treatment of Johnson's private penitence. He insists that Johnson's 'offending, and his repenting, were distinct and separate,' and that no 'false principle of commutation' excused his sins. The biographer calls this 'the most difficult and dangerous part of my biographical work,' balancing 'regard to truth,—to my friend,—and to the interests of virtue and religion.' He compares his frankness to Johnson's own record of Addison and Parnell's intemperance. This passage is crucial for understanding Boswell's method: he anticipates criticism and justifies his inclusion of Johnson's spiritual struggles as morally instructive rather than sensational.

The Final Illness: Medical Details and Literary Quotations

Boswell does not intend 'a very minute detail' of Johnson's last days, yet he provides a precise account of the physicians—Heberden, Brocklesby, Warren, Butter—who attended without fees. Johnson, 'with his usual resolute defiance of pain,' cut himself when he thought the surgeon 'had done it too tenderly.' The narrative interweaves medical fact with literary quotation: Johnson recites Macbeth's lines about a 'mind diseas'd,' and Dr. Brocklesby replies with the same play. Later, Brocklesby quotes Juvenal's 'Orandum est, ut sit mens sana in corpore sano.' These exchanges show Johnson, even in decline, engaging with literature as a living resource for expressing his condition.

Appendices and Editorial Apparatus

The volume includes nine appendices, ranging from an 'Altercation between Dr. Johnson and Dean Barnard' to 'Miss Burney's Account of Johnson's Last Days' and 'Parr's Epitaph on Johnson.' These supplements extend the biographical record beyond Boswell's own observations. The editor, George Birkbeck Hill, adds footnotes that annotate Boswell's text. The reader of this digital edition thus encounters multiple layers: Johnson's words, Boswell's framing, Hill's scholarly apparatus, and the Project Gutenberg paratext. This layered structure invites a reading that moves between the main narrative and the supporting documents, each offering a different perspective on Johnson's character and reputation.

As you read Volume 4, pay attention to how Boswell shifts between anecdote, apology, and documentation. The volume is less a continuous story than a mosaic of sources—Langton's recollections, Johnson's prayers, physicians' reports, and literary allusions. The appendices reward those who seek alternative viewpoints, especially Miss Burney's firsthand account. Boswell's anxiety about his own method is part of the subject; his defensive notes are as revealing as the events they describe.