[9:] Ib., i, 100.
[10:] Life of Johnson, iii, 80-1.
[11:] Life of Johnson, iv, 340 et seq.
[12:] Miss Burney's Diary, i, 211.
[13:] Ib., i, 231.
[14:] Ib., i, 102.
[15:] Life of Johnson, ii, 268.
CHAPTER XIII
Four years of life remained to Boswell after the publication of the great biography. His death came at the due moment; he was not cut off in the midst of a great undertaking or in the course of an important development. It is inconceivable that, had he lived, he would have produced another biography which should be comparable to the 'Life of Johnson.' An autobiography he might indeed have written, but there is no sign that he was engaged upon such a work in the closing years, or that the idea had taken definite shape in his mind; his nature was rather that of the casual autobiographer, such as we find him in the 'Life' from time to time, and particularly in the 'Letters to Temple'; and it is doubtful whether his autobiography, if ever it had been written, would have added much to letters and diaries which were no doubt in existence, though not preserved for our eyes.[1] The RETROSPECT great labour of his life had been accomplished: and he was allowed a little time longer to see that it was approved by his own generation.