Samuel Johnson was the first English author to practise criticism as a major literary genre. He did so in writings that are pungent and direct, with a force of argument and a sweep of generalisation that still speak to us vividly. And yet for all that his criticism is not easily understood. The voice is stentorian and unmistakable, but the words reflect not only his personality, but the age in which he felt so confidently at home. Johnson's criticism, in fact, offers a unique point of entry into the imagination of a lost literary age.