SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709– 1784) was the leading literary scholar and critic of his time. A writer of vigor, power, passion, and profundity, he helped to shape and define the Augustan Age.
JAMES BOSWELL was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1740. He attended the University of Glasgow and is now considered one of the greatest biographers in the history of Western literature. He died in 1795.
ALLAN MASSIE is a novelist, essayist, and critic whose books include The Dark Ages Trilogy and History of Edinburgh.