hakespeare came out,
and his last great work was the _Lives of the Poets_, in 10 vols.
(1779-81). He had in 1775 _pub._ his _Journey to the Western Isles of
Scotland_, an account of a tour made in the company of Boswell. His last
years were darkened by the loss of friends such as Goldsmith and Thrale,
and by an estrangement from Mrs. T., on her marriage with Piozzi, an
Italian musician. Notwithstanding a lifelong and morbid fear of death,
his last illness was borne with fortitude and calmness, soothed by the
pious attentions of Reynolds and Burke, and he _d._ peacefully on
December 13, 1784. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, and a monument in
St. Paul's was erected by the "club." Statues of him were also erected in
Lichfield and Uttoxeter. He had received from Oxf. and Dublin the degree
of LL.D.

Though of rough and domineering manners, J. had the tenderest of hearts,
and his house was for years the home of several persons, such as Mrs.
Williams and Levett, the surgeon, who had no claim upon him but their
helplessness and friendlessness. As Goldsmith aptly said, he "had nothing
of the bear but his skin." His outstanding qualities were honesty and
courage, and these characterise all his works. Though disfigured by
prejudice and, as regards matters of fact, in many parts superseded, they
remain, as has been said, "some excellent, all worthy and genuine works;"
and he will ever stand one of the greatest and most honourable figures in
the history of English literature. Boswell's marvellous _Life_ has made
J.'s bodily appearance, dress, and manners more familiar to posterity
than those of any other man--the large, unwieldy form, the face seamed
with scrofula, the purblind eyes, the spasmodic movements, the sonorous
voice, even the brown suit, metal buttons, black worsted stockings, and
bushy wig, the conversation so full of matter, strength, sense, wit, and
prejudice, superior in force and sparkle to the sounding, but often
wearisome periods of his written style. Of his works the two most
important are the _Dictionary_, which, long superseded from a
philological point of view, made an epoch in the history of the language,
and the _Lives of the Poets_, many of them deformed by prejudice and
singularly inadequate criticism, others, almost perfect in their kind,
and the whole written in a style less pompous and more natural and lively
than his earlier works.

SUMMARY.--_B._ 1709, _ed._ Oxf., usher and hack writer, starts aca