Samuel Johnson.

Rogers, P., Pp. ix + 116 (Past Masters). Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Paperbound 4.99[pounds].

THIS excellent little book is the best introduction to Johnson at present available. Every student should read it and take note of it. There is a considerable amount of scholarship distilled into a small compass, and a high degree of critical sensitivity displayed in acute observations and incidental comments. Not a word is wasted, and every sentence contributes to the enlargement of the reader's understanding.

Johnson is encountered by few British schoolchildren, and is often missed by our undergraduates. The general public is perhaps …