ve been lost apart from these
settings. It is the unseen hand of the artist Boswell that has wrought
them inseparably into this reciprocal effect.

The single scenes and pictures which Boswell has given us will all of
them bear close scrutiny for their precision, their economy of means,
their lifelikeness, their artistic effect. None was wrought more
beautifully, nor more ardently, than that of Johnson's interview with
the King. First we see the plain massive figure of the scholar amid the
elegant comfort of Buckingham House. He is intent on his book before the
fire. Then the approach of the King, lighted on his way by Mr. Barnard
with candles caught from a table; their entrance by a private door, with
Johnson's unconscious absorption, his sudden surprise, his starting up,
his dignity, the King's ease with him, their conversation, in which the
King courteously draws from Johnson knowledge of that in which Johnson
is expert, Johnson's manly bearing and voice throughout--all is set
forth with the unadorned vividness and permanent effect which seem
artless enough, but which are characteristic of only the greatest art.

Boswell's Life of Johnson is further a masterpiece of art in that it
exerts the vigorous energy of a masterpiece, an abundance of what, for
want of a better word, we call personality. It is Boswell's confessed
endeavor to add this quality to the others, because he perceived that
it was an essential quality of Johnson himself, and he more than once
laments his inability to transmit the full force and vitality of his
original. Besides artistic perception and skill it required in him
admiration and enthusiasm to seize this characteristic and impart it to
his work. His admiration he confesses unashamed: 'I said I worshipped
him . . . I cannot help worshipping him, he is so much superior to other
men.' He studied his subject intensely. 'During all the course of my
long intimacy with him, my respectful attention never abated.' Upon such
intensity and such ardor and enthusiasm depend the energy and animation
of his portrait.

But it exhibits other personal qualities than these, which, if less
often remarked, are at any rate unconsciously enjoyed. Boswell had
great social charm. His friends are agreed upon his liveliness and good
nature. Johnson called him 'clubbable,' 'the best traveling companion
in the world,' 'one Scotchman who is cheerful,' 'a man whom everybody
likes,' 'a man who I believe never left a house