Boswell and Johnson are two names that may well be placed together: a great artist and his great subject; indeed the name of the one ever recalls that of the other. If Boswell owes all the permanency of his fame to Johnson, Johnson owes not a little of his to Boswell. The finest and the wisest table-talk that English literature possesses has been preserved by the faithfullest and ablest of chroniclers. This volume attempts no new life of either. The author's aim has been to accomplish a pleasant and instructive picture of the great man of the Eighteenth Century – of his mind, his manners, his habits – his intercourse with, and influence upon, his friends, his companions, and his contemporaries.

J. F. Waller, LL. D was an Irish poet and editor and was editor of the Dublin University Magazine and Vice President of the Royal Irish Academy.