Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Johnson, Samuel

JOHNSON, SAMUEL, an English lexicographer; born in Litchfield, England, Sept. 18, 1709. He completed his education at Pembroke College, Oxford; and in 1732 taught school at Market Bosworth. In 1735 he married Mrs. Porter of Birmingham who possessed $4,000 and with this capital Johnson started a school at Edial, near Litchfield, obtaining only three scholars, one of whom was David Garrick. It was at this time that he began his tragedy &ldquo;Irene.&rdquo; In 1737 he set out for the metropolis, accompanied by Garrick. On fixing his residence in London he formed a connection with Cave, the publisher of the &ldquo;Gentleman's Magazine,&rdquo; his principal employment being the reports of the parliamentary debates. It was during this period that he formed a friendship for Richard Savage whom he immortalized in a biographical sketch. In 1749 appeared his &ldquo;Vanity of Human Wishes,&rdquo; an imitation of Juvenal's 10th satire. In 1750 he commenced his &ldquo;Rambler,&rdquo; a periodical paper, which was continued till 1752. About the period of his relinquishing the &ldquo;Rambler,&rdquo; he lost his wife, a circumstance which greatly affected him, as appears from his &ldquo;Meditations,&rdquo; and the sermon which he wrote on her death. In 1755 appeared his &ldquo;Dictionary,&rdquo; which, instead of three, had occupied eight years. Lord Chesterfield endeavored to assist it by writing t w o papers in its favor in the &ldquo;World&rdquo;; but, as he had hitherto neglected the author, Johnson treated him with contempt. In 1758 he began the &ldquo;Idler,&rdquo; which was published in a weekly newspaper. On the death of his mother, in 1759, he wrote the romance of &ldquo;Rasselas,&rdquo; to defray the expenses of her funeral, and to pay her debts. In 1762 George III. granted him a pension. In 1763, Boswell, his future biographer,

was introduced to him, a circumstance to which we owe the most minute account of a man's life and character that has ever been written. In 1773 he went on a tour with Boswell to the W. islands of Scotland, of which journey he shortly afterward published an account, which occasioned a difference between him and Macpherson, relative to the poems of Ossian. In 1779 he began his &ldquo;Lives of the British Poets,&rdquo; which was the last of his literary labors. He died in England, Dec. 13, 1784.