THREE of the essays in Dr. Johnson’s Idler were written by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and the collection would not have suffered either in style or interest had the number been indefinitely increased. He is better known, however, for his “Discourses” before the Royal Academy than he is as a miscellaneous writer. He was born in Devonshire, England, July 16th, 1723. His father, a clergyman and schoolmaster, trained him so carefully that his scholarship does not suffer by comparison with that of the greatest “wits” of his time. Most of these, including Dr. Johnson, Garrick, and Goldsmith, became his friends after he had settled in London, where he went in 1766 to begin work as a portrait painter. Except the years spent abroad in study, he lived the rest of his life in London, growing in celebrity as an artist until his death February 23d, 1792. He was one of the most famous of modern portrait painters. He helped to organize the Royal Academy, and in 1768 became its first president. Among his most notable paintings are portraits of Johnson, Garrick, Goldsmith, Sterne, and Mrs. Siddons.