28 JOHNSON. 



not do more than I have done myself." He then folded 

 the paper up and sent it off. 



The great work, however, upon which he was about 

 this time constantly engaged was his 'Dictionary/ of which 

 the first announcement was made in 1747, a year or more 

 after he had been at work upon it ; and the final publi- 

 cation in two volumes folio, with an elaborate Preface 

 and Grammar, took place in 1755. The Prospectus had 

 been inscribed to Lord Chesterfield, then (1747) Secre- 

 tary of State, and had received, when shewed him in 

 manuscript, that able and accomplished person's high 

 approval. It should seem that Johnson had called upon 

 him afterwards and been refused admittance, a thing far 

 from inexplicable when the person happened to be a 

 Cabinet Minister in a laborious department. He had 

 probably not courted his further acquaintance by invita- 

 tions, but quarrel there was not any between the parties ; 

 and when the ' Dictionary' was on the point of appearing, 

 Lord Chesterfield wrote two witty and highly laudatory 

 papers upon it in the ' World,' strongly but delicately re- 

 commending the expected work to all readers and all 

 purchasers. Johnson's pride took fire, and he wrote 

 that letter which is so well known, and has been so much 

 admired for its indignant and sarcastic tone, but wliich, 

 everything considered, is to be reckoned among the 

 outrages committed by the irritability of the literary 

 temperament. Nor can anything be more humbling, if 

 it be not even ridiculous enough at once to bring the 

 sublime of the epistle down to a very ordinary level, 

 than the unhappy Note which Mr. Boswell's candour and 

 love of accuracy has subjoined, that Johnson once con- 

 fessed to Mr. Langton his having received ten pounds 



