Note 1034 — THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. (continued 6)

Lord Mahon (War of the Succession in Spain, Appendix, p. 131) proves that a Captain Carleton really served. 'It is not impossible,' he says, 'that the MS. may have been intrusted to De Foe for the purpose of correction or revision...The Memoirs are most strongly marked with internal proofs of authenticity.' Lockhart (Life of Scott, iii. 84) says:—'It seems to be now pretty generally believed that Carleton's Memoirs were among the numberless fabrications of De Foe; but in this case (if the fact indeed be so), as in that of his Cavalier, he no doubt had before him the rude journal of some officer.' Dr. Burton (Reign of Queen Anne ii. 173) says that MSS. in the British Museum disprove 'the possibility of De Foe's authorship.'