Rostoefi's Johnson. Newly Edited by Roger Innen. Parts L-II. (Sir
Isaac Pitman and Sons. le net per part.)—This is a very handsome edition, in some respects superior to its predecessors, and generally worthy of its subject. The special feature is to be found in the illustrations. These two parts contain more than a hundred—the work is to be completed in twelve parts—and these are of distinctly good quality. The frontispiece to Part I. is a re- production of a mezzotint (Doughty, 1784) of the famous portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds. It is followed by a portrait of William Mason, the biographer of Gray, and by a representation of the house in Lichfield where Johnson was born (now converted into a Johnson Museum). The fourth is a portrait of Michael Johnson (the father). Further on we have Lichfield Grammar School, Oxford in the eighteenth century, Pembroke College, and various scenes and portraits. Among the portraits is a quite agreeable likeness of the widow Porter. These are the illustrations which one cares to see. The frontispiece of Part IL, a reproduction of "Dr. Johnson in Lord Chesterfield's Ante-room," by E. M. Ward, MA., seems to be less desirable. So to use a genre picture may be compared to interpolating a "short story" into a history of England.
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