Classicly

The difficulty of writing good biographies is so great that comparatively few great biographies have been written. All the world is familiar with the unique biography of Johnson by Boswell. It has excited hearty laughter, while it has imparted valuable information. Lockhart’s Life of Scott and Lady Holland’s Life of Sydney Smith, fill almost a unique place in biographical literature. G. Otto Trevelyan’s Life of Lord Macaulay and Hallam Tennyson’s Life of his father are among the more recent and valuable illustrations of the biographical literature of modern times.