Note 1234 — THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. (continued 7)

Boswell in his Hebrides (post, v. 53) says that Johnson, starting northwards on his tour, left in a drawer in Boswell's house 'one volume of a pretty full and curious Diary of his Life, of which I have,' he continues, 'a few fragments.' The other volume, we may conjecture, Johnson took with him, for Boswell had seen both, and apparently seen them only once. He mentions (ante, i. 27) that these 'few fragments' had been transferred to him by the residuary legatee (Francis Barber). One large fragment, which was published after Barber's death, he could never have seen, for he never quotes from it (ante, i. 35, note 1).