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.
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