...improperly and barbarously of the phrase "noble Gentleman," because either word included the sense of both.7 There are, indeed, some natural reasons why these...prominent and observable particularities, and the grosser features of his mind; and it may be easily imagined how much of this little knowledge may be 6. Preface,...

...servants, than from a formal and studied narrative begun with his pedigree and ended with his funeral. ... If a life be delayed till interest and envy are at...the memory, and are rarely transmitted by tradition. "—Rambler, No. 60. Duane's footprints in the sands are not so frequent and so clearly impressed for...

...course, does not suffer untimely death, but it is the genre most sensitive to the question of timing: If a life be delayed till interest and envy are at...prominent and observable particularities, and the grosser features of his mind; and it may be easily imagined how much of this little knowledge may be lost in...

...while the clay of human life is still malleable. He writes in Rambler 60: "If a life [ie, a biography] be delayed till interest and envy are at an end, we...the memory, and are rarely transmitted by tradition" (in, 31^). Thus biography, in order to be successful, actually has to take account of "political" interest,...

...unreliable human memory could be as a preservative of the past for nourishing the biographer's art: "If a life be delayed till interest and envy are at...memory, and are rarely transmitted by tradition." His statement in Rambler 60 turned out to be unusually prophetic about the fate of his friend's reputation....

...to Addison, he explicitly requires that a life should be written shortly after the person's death: If a Life be delayed till interest and envy are at...soon escape the memory, and are rarely transmitted by tradition.13 Yet, if the biographer writes from personal knowledge, he should not conceal faults and...

...delayed till all interest and envy are at an end, and all motive to calumny or flattery are suppressed, we may hope for impartiality, but must expect little...the memory, and are rarely transmitted by tradition. To Johnson, biography is a great leveler. The high and the low, the great and the small, make their...

...the day might not run out in the idleness of suspense; and all the plans and enterprises of De Wit are now of less importance to the world than that...evanescent kind, such as soon escape the memory, and are transmitted by tradition. We know how few can portray a living acquaintance, except by his most prominent...

...accounts of particular persons are barren and useless. If a life be delayed till interest and envy are at end, we may hope for impartiality, but must expect...rarely transmitted by tradition. We know how few can pour tray a living acquaintance, except by his most prominent and observable particularities, and the...