JOHNSON. 



255 



ft-How, settled at Birmingham. Here he wrote essays 

 tor one of the .journals, and translated from the 

 French father Lobe's Travels in Abyssinia. Return- 

 ing to Lichfield, he published proposals for the repub- 

 lication of the poems of Politian, with a life, and a 

 history of modern Latin poetry, which prospectus was 

 but little attended to. Disappointed in this scheme, 

 he offered his services to Cave, as a contributor to the 

 Gentleman's Magazine, which, however, was but a 

 slight step towards a maintenance ; and, in 1735, he 

 sought to improve his condition by a marriage with 

 Mrs Porter, the widow of a mercer. Her fortune of 

 80O was a dowry of some moment to a suitor in the 

 situation of Johnson ; and the fact of her being twice 

 his own age, and possessed of no pretension to per- 

 sonal attraction, renders his subsequent description of 

 this union as a " love match on both sides " the more 

 extraordinary. He now took a large house at Edial, 

 with a view to take pupils and boarders, but the plan 

 did not succeed; and, after a year's trial, he resolved 

 to seek his fortune in London, in company with one 

 of his few pupils, the celebrated David Garrick. In 

 March, 1737, the two adventurers accordingly arrived 

 in the metropolis, Johnson with his unfinished tragedy 

 of Irene in his pocket, and with little to depend 

 upon but his slender engagement with Cave. At 

 this time he became acquainted with the reckless 

 and unfortunate Savage, and in some respects his 

 personal conduct was unfavourably affected by the 

 intimacy; but from irregularity of this nature he was 

 soon recovered by his deeply-grounded religious and 

 moral principles. His first literary production, which 

 attracted notice in the metropolis, was his London, 

 a Poem, in imitation of the third satire of Juvenal. 

 He soon after made an attempt to obtain a Dublin 

 degree of M. A., through a recommendation to Swift, 

 in order to obtain the mastership of a free grammar- 

 school in Leicestershire, but could not succeed. Fail- 

 ing in this attempt, his engagement in the Gentleman's 

 Magazine led to a new exercise of his powers in the 

 composition of parliamentary debates, which, being 

 then deemed a breach of privilege, were published 

 under the fiction of Debates in the Senate of Lilliput. 

 The extraordinary eloquence displayed in these pro- 

 ductions was almost exclusively the product of his 

 own invention ; but it is probable that he adhered 

 more faithfully to the tenor of the arguments of the 

 real speakers than to their language. He however 

 confesses himself, that he " took care the Whig dogs 

 should not have the best of it." His attachment to 

 the Jacobites was also further manifested by the 

 composition of a humorous pamphlet, in 1739, en- 

 titled the Marmor Norfolciense , consisting of a sup- 

 posed ancient prophecy, in Latin monkish rhymes. 

 For some years longer, the Gentleman's Magazine 

 received the chief of his attention. For this miscel- 

 lany, he composed several excellent biographical 

 articles, and, in 1744, published his celebrated Life 

 of Savage separately. In 1747, after a number of 

 abortive projects, he sent out his plans for an English 

 Dictionary, in an admirably composed pamphlet, 

 addressed to the earl of Chesterfield, who, however, 

 concerned himself very little in the success of the 

 undertaking. The time that he could spare from this 

 compilation, which has been justly accounted a won- 

 derful exertion of industry, was allotted to various 

 literary avocations. In the same year, he furnished 

 Garrick with his admirable prologue, on the opening 

 of Drury-lane theatre; and, in 1749, published another 

 admired imitation of Juvenal, which he entitled the 

 Vanity of Human Wishes. In the same year, his 

 tragedy of Irene was produced at Drury-lane theatre, 

 under the auspices of Garrick. It was performed 

 thirteen nights with but moderate applause, and 

 Johnson, satisfied that he was not formed to excel in 



the drama, wisely gave up the endeavour. In March, 

 1750, appeared tl.e first paper of the Rambler, the 

 gravity of the tone of which, notwithstanding its 

 acuteness of observation, richness of illustration, and 

 dignity of expression, prevented it from obtaining a 

 wide circulation as a periodical paper, although, 

 when collected into volumes, the author himself lived 

 to see it reach a tenth edition. A short time before 

 the appearance of the Rambler, half deluded by his 

 political dislike of Milton, he hastily adopted the 

 imposture of Lander, in his attempt to fix the charge 

 of plagiarism on that great poet. When undeceived, 

 however, he insisted upon Lauders signing a formal 

 recantation, and, possibly as some atonement, wrote a 

 prologue to Comus, when acted for the benefit of 

 Milton's grand-daughter. In the year 1755 was pub- 

 lished his long expected Dictionary, to which his 

 name appeared with the degree of M. A., obtained 

 from the university of Oxford, by the good offices of 

 Mr Warton. The approaching publication of this 

 work lord Chesterfield had favourably announced, 

 some months before, in two papers of the World ; 

 but Johnson, conscious of having received no sort of 

 support or encouragement from that nobleman dur- 

 ing its progress, addressed to him a well-known let- 

 ter, replete with pointed sarcasm and manly disdain. 

 The Dictionary was received by the public with very 

 general applause ; and although its neglect of the 

 northern etymologies, and the defects rendered appar- 

 ent by more recent research, have somewhat lessened 

 its original reputation, it still remains the leading 

 work of the kind in the English language. In its 

 progress, however, this great work had done nothing 

 beyond merely supporting him ; and it'appears, from 

 an arrest for a very trifling sum, in the year subse- 

 quent to its publication, that his necessities continued 

 undiminished. An edition of Shakspeare, the Idler, 

 with occasional contributions for a literary magazine, 

 formed the desultory occupation of several succeeding 

 years. In 1759, he wrote his celebrated romance 

 of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, which fine perform- 

 ance he composed in the evenings of one week, in or- 

 der to defray the funeral expenses of his aged mother. 

 At length, in 1762, the Bute administration granted 

 him a pension of .300 per annum, which he accept- 

 ed, after a short struggle against the reception of a 

 favour from the house of Hanover. His own sarcas- 

 tic definition of the word pensioner, in the Dictionary, 

 was naturally enough quoted upon this occasion ; but 

 the sterling and acknowledged merits of the man 

 formed a satisfactory apology. His advanced repu- 

 tation and amended circumstances now considerably 

 enlarged his acquaintance, and he became member of 

 a weekly club, in Gerrard-street, Soho, composed of 

 the most eminent men of talents of the day, and also 

 commenced that intercourse with the Thrale family 

 which produced him so much social enjoyment. In 

 1765 appeared his long-promised edition of Shak- 

 speare, which was ushered in by an admirable pre- 

 face ; but the work itself did not altogether answer 

 public expectation, owing principally to the super- 

 ficial acquaintance of the commentator with the writ- 

 ings of the age in which Shakspeare flourished. 

 In 1770, although his pension was given without 

 conditions, his attachment to the monarchical side in 

 general politics, led him to compose a pamphlet, en- 

 titled the False Alarm, in favour of the resolution of 

 the house of commons in the affair of Wilkes that 

 expulsion implied incapacity of re-election. This 

 production was followed by Thoughts on the late 

 Transactions in Falkland's Island, against the conduct 

 of Spain in regard to that unprofitable possession ; 

 the Patriot, written on the era of the general election, 

 in 1774 , and Taxation no Tyranny, a more considera- 

 ble effort, which made its appearance in 1775, against 



