The Italian portion of this biography is based, apart from Baretti's own writings, upon the Life by Custodi prefixed to his Scritti scelti, inediti o rari di G. Baretti, and upon Piccioni's admirable researches, which embody and supplement practic ally all that is Of value in the work of his predecessors. The English portion of Baretti's life I have endeavoured to reconstruct, as far as possible, from the available literature of the period; and in a biography intended for English readers this portion has naturally been made the most prominent. Baretti 8 life in England is so closely connected with that of Johnson and his fiiends that the temptation to go over old ground and re-tell old stories is very strong, and I only hope that I may not be thought to have yielded to it too freely.