With Volume 7, The Age of Johnson continues its tradition of publishing a collection of essays on a single subject with five essays on "Samuel Johnson and Jacobitism." This collection consists of an exchange between Howard Erskine-Hill and J. C. D. Clark, on one side of the topic, and Donald Greene and Thomas Curley, on the other. The fifth contribution, Howard Weinbrot's review essay of J. C. D. Clark's book on the politics of Samuel Johnson, is not directly involved in the exchange, but I have included it with the other essays as a convenience to our readers. Another essay in Volume 7, Jayne Elizabeth Lewis's study of Mary, Queen of the Scots and the "Casket Letters" controversy in the eighteenth century, is also related to the issue of Jacobitism. To permit the unusual length of this exchange, this volume contains fewer book reviews than is customary for The Age of Johnson; there will be an enlarged review section in our next volume. Volume 8 will also include a further exchange among the participants on the topic of "Samuel Johnson and Jacobitism."
The editor gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the Department of English and the School of Arts and Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania.
Paul J. Korshin
Philadelphia
April 1995