...concluding his ' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,' that Johnson wrote at Easter 1781, "Some time in March I finished the ' Lives of the Poets,' which...unwilling to work and working with vigour and haste." JOHNSON'S FITNESS FOR THE WORK. Johnson possessed eminent qualifications for writing such Lives. A...

...Johnson at last completed his " Lives of the Poets," of which he gives this account : — " Some time n both editions of Sir John liaste." In a memorandum previous to this, he says of them : — " Written, I hope, in such a manner...

...works of any importance belonging to this time of his kingship. Some time in March 1781, he writes, 'I finished the Lives of the Poets, which I wrote...unwilling to work and working with vigour and haste.' Meanwhile, his social circle began to be sadly invaded and broken. Goldsmith died in 1774, Garrick...

...Jan. 13, 1781. I FORGOT my prayer and resolutions, till two days ago I found this paper. Some time in March I finished the Lives of. the Poets, which I wrote in mv usual way, dilatorily and hastily, unwilling to work, and working with vigour and haste. On Wednesday...

...pleted in March, 1781. Altogether it employed him for nearly four years. " I wrote it," he says, " in my usual way, dilatorily and hastily, unwilling to work, and working with vigour and haste." The moral purpose to be served by his Lives was always present to his mind, and he hoped they " had...

...to the other Lives. He had got the whole finished by Easter, 1781, having written, as he tells us, ' in my usual way, dilatorily and hastily, unwilling to work, and working with vigour and haste.' The result was a rough biographical history of English poetry during the ages of Dryden and Pope.1...

...most characteristic work, not finished until 1781, and ' which I wrote,' as he himself tells us, ' in my usual way, dilatorily and hastily, unwilling to work and working with vigour and haste,' we have Johnson mellowed by years, Johnson in his ripeness and plenitude, treating the subject which...

...1781 Johnson at last completed his Lives of the Poets, of which he gives this account : 'Some time in March I finished the Lives of the Poets, which...unwilling to work, and working with vigour and haste V In a memorandum previous to this, he says of them : 'Written, I hope, in such a manner as may tend...

...desire of giving useful pleasure.' ' Some time in March' he notes in his ' Meditations' for 1781, ' I finished the " Lives of the Poets," which I wrote...unwilling to work, and working with vigour and haste.' In a memorandum previous to this he says of them : ' written I hope, in such a manner as may tend to...

...saw the light in 1779, but the remaining six not until 1781. ' Some time in March,' wrote Johnson, ' I finished the Lives of the Poets, which I wrote in...dilatorily and hastily, unwilling to work, and working with vigor and haste' (Life 4. 34). Johnson expected to be attacked for his opinions. He said, ' I would...