Macaulay's Life of Samuel Johnson

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-59) was a British historian and Whig politician who wrote extensively as an essayist on contemporary and historical socio-political subjects, and as a reviewer, but who is best remembered for his The History of England. The first two volumes of this work appeared in 1848, with the third and fourth volumes published in 1855. At his death he was working on the fifth volume, bringing his history down to the death of William III, and this was prepared for publication posthumously by his sister, Lady Trevelyan. Macauley's Life of Samuel Johnson was sent to the Encyclopædia Britannica in 1856, 25 years after he had published an article in the Edinburgh Review on Croker's edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson. This edition, published in 1903, which is edited by Charles Lane Hanson who also wrote the introduction and notes, includes both Macaulay's Life of Johnson in full and extracts from his earlier piece for the Edinburgh Review. With a frontispiece portrait of Samuel Johnson (1709-84), the celebrated English poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic, biographer and lexicographer, often referred to as Dr. Johnson.