Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/685

 SAMUEL JOHNSON 665 soon after his accession to the management of Drui-y Lane theatre, undertook to bring it out. It was acted for nine successive nights, before tolerably large and highly respectable audi- ences, and was received with a good share of favor. The author's profits amounted to 200, and the copyright brought him another 100, making together a larger amount than he had hitherto received on any one occasion. On March 20, 1750, Johnson issued the first num- ber of the "Rambler." Its authorship was not publicly confessed, but it was readily iden- tified by all who knew anything of Johnson's style, nor did he affect any great secrecy in the matter. Its merits were generally con- fessed, and for two years the semi-weekly is- sues were continued without omission. John- son was the sole author of all but eight of the 208 numbers. At the same time he was chief- ly occupied with his dictionary, then rapidly approaching its completion. During this por- tion of his life his mind was remarkably vig- orous and fruitful, and its vast accumulations were thrown off in profusion and with great facility. The "Rambler," though coldly re- ceived as a periodical, immediately became popular when collected into volumes. About this period Johnson was concerned in an at- tempt to prove Milton guilty of a wholesale pla- giarism in his " Paradise Lost." One Lander, a Scotch schoolmaster, pretended to have found a large share of the best portions of Milton's great poem among the works of the modern Latin poets ; his proofs of this grave charge were embodied in a pamphlet, to which John- son was induced to write a preface and post- script, thus by implication approving the whole production. But Lauder's pretended quota- tions from the modern Latin poets were found to be either taken from Hogg's Latin version of " Paradise Lost," or pure forgeries. Johnson was deeply chagrined, and at once acknowl- edged his own error, and compelled Lauder to publicly confess his falsehood. That Johnson highly appreciated Milton's genius, he about this time gave a practical demonstration. " Comus " was to be produced at Drury Lane theatre for the benefit of Milton's granddaugh- ter, then living in London in poverty. John- son entered into the arrangement with zeal, and wrote the prologue for the occasion, which was spoken by Garrick. Early in 1752 John- son's wife died. Notwithstanding the dis- parity ot their ages, his early affection had only changed into a settled esteem. At her bedside lie was convulsed with grief, and yet while she lay a corpse awaiting burial he com- posed a funeral sermon to be spoken over her remains. His published " Prayers and Medita- tions" indicate his feeling. He prayed that, if agreeable to the will of God, he might be favored with her guardianship, and with in- timations of her presence, " by appearances, impulses, dreams, or in any other manner agreeable to the divine government." In 1752 Johnson engaged with Dr. Hawkesworth in the publication of the "Adventurer," a series of periodical essays on the plan of the " Ram- bler." Of these 140 numbers appeared, 29 of which were written by Dr. Johnson. The dic- tionary was completed in 1755. Lord Ches- terfield, who had received the "Plan" with great coolness, now wrote two laudatory let- ters in " The World," shortly before the work was printed. But Johnson rejected these tardy advances, and the dictionary was issued without a dedication. The original preface was at once a characteristic and a highly valu- able essay. The merits of Johnson's diction- ary are too well known to require any state- ment in this place. It first brought order out of the chaos of the language ; and though it has been generally superseded by later com- pilations, yet the fundamental excellences of all modern dictionaries of the English lan- guage have their elements in that work. It greatly enhanced its author's reputation, but he was still compelled to labor unremittingly for the means of daily subsistence. He pub- lished at this time a large number of reviews in Newbery's " Literary Magazine." The pro- posal for an edition of Shakespeare made some years before, but not prosecuted, was renewed and a subscription opened, but the work still lingered on his hands through nine years. He next engaged with the publishers of the " Uni- versal Chronicle," a weekly newspaper, to fur- nish a series of miscellaneous essays, and the "Idler" appeared in regular order for two successive years, beginning in April, 1758. Of its 103 numbers Johnson wrote all but 12. In the spring of 1759 appeared his most celebra- ted work, "Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia,' which he wrote in the evenings of one week, and sent to the printer as first written, receiv- ing for it 100, out of which he paid the ex- penses of his mother's funeral. But if John- son's literary labors had failed to provide him a competence, they had procured for him a greatly advanced social position, and secured him a large circle of admirers. His constitu- tional indolence had however become positive- ly morbid, and he indulged in idleness just as far as his immediate necessities would allow. He seldom went abroad, lay in bed till past noon, and spent the rest of the day in promis- cuous conversations with whosoever called upon him ; or moped in morbid melancholy if left to himself, which, however, was not often the case. To his guests he devoted a large share of each afternoon, meanwhile regaling himself with his favorite tea, with which he solaced both his earlier and his later hours. Among his personal associates at this period were Richardson, Garrick, Reynolds, Warton, Baretti, Arthur Murphy, Dr. Charles Burney, Dr. (afterward Bishop) Percy, Bennet Langton, and Topham Beauclerk. He was all this time domiciled at Gough square, where he had passed the greater portion of the years of his residence in London. Here, before the de- cease of his wife, he had begun to gather about