It is rather extraordinary that none of Dr. Johnson's biographers appear
to have been aware that the prospectus of Cibber's _Lives_ was furnished
by Johnson. In Mr. Croker's last edition of _Boswell_ there is a long
note (see Edit. 1848, p. 818.) on the claim of Theophilus Cibber to the
authorship of the _Lives_, or a participation in it: but though he
remarks that the plan on which these _Lives_ are written is
substantially the same as that which Johnson long after adopted in his
own work, his attention does not seem to have been directed to the
prospectus of Cibber's _Lives_. As, however, this prospectus was not
adopted as a preface to the work, but merely appeared in the newspapers
and periodicals of the day, it is the less surprising that it has
hitherto remained unnoticed. The internal evidence is decisive; and, as
it has never, that I am aware of, been reprinted, and is of great
interest in connexion with Johnson's own _Lives of the Poets_, of which
admirable work it may be considered to have "cast the shadows before,"
at the distance of nearly thirty years, I trust, though rather long, it
may claim insertion in "N. & Q." It is extracted from a London newspaper
of the 20th February, 1753.