...self-sufficient signified, the key not to public history but to history as such. According to Samuel Johnson, "[T]he business of the biographer is often to pass...produce vulgar greatness, to lead the thoughts into domestick privacies, and display the minute details of daily life, where exterior appendages are cast...

...been their learning, integrity, and piety. But this notion arises from false measures of excellence and dignity, and must be eradicated by considering...uncorrupted reason, what is of most use is of most value. [7] It is, indeed, not improper to take honest advantages of prejudice, and to gain attention by a...

...and usefulness of biography" for October 13, 1750, sixteen years before the moment Thrale records — "is often to pass slightly over those performances...produce vulgar greatness, to lead the thoughts into domestick privacies, and display the minute details of daily life, where exterior appendages are cast...

...usefulness of biography" for October 13,1750, sixteen years before the moment Thrale records—"is often to pass slightly over those performances and...produce vulgar greatness, to lead the thoughts into domestick privacies, and display the minute details of daily life, where exterior appendages are cast...

...been their learning, integrity, and piety. But this notion arises from false measures of excellence and dignity, and must be eradicated by considering,...attention by a celebrated name; but the business of a biographer is often to pass slightly over those performances and incidents, which produce vulgar...

...authentic detail than the hero of the best of all biographies, Dr Johnson himself: The business of a biographer is often to pass slightly over those performances...produce vulgar greatness, to lead the thoughts into domestick privacies, and display the minute details of daily life, where exterior appendages are cast...