194] A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



gree, and this circumstance has been lamented by some of his bio- 

 graphers, but perhaps in the life of no other individual has the 

 truth of the old adage, " Necessity is the mother of invention/' 

 been better demonstrated than in that of Samuel Johnson ; his 

 poverty therefore was an advantage to that community of which he 

 became an ornament. 



Soon after his return to Lichfield in 1731, his father died, leav- 

 ing a small property scarcely sufficient for the maintenance of the 

 widow. Thus left afloat on the great ocean of life without any re- 

 source but his classical acquirements, he in the 23d year of his age 

 obtained the place of Usher at the grammar-school in Bosworth, 

 Leicestershire. In this situation he continued but a few months ; 

 for indignant at the insolence of Sir Wolstan Dixie, the patron of 

 the institution, he left Bosworth, and went to Birmingham on a visit 

 to Mr. Hector, his former school-fellow, and then an eminent sur- 

 geon in that town. He continued an inmate in the house of Mr. 

 Hector about six months, and under that hospitable roof commenced 

 his literary career by a translation of Father Lobe's Voyage to 

 Abyssinia, for which he received five guineas from the publisher. 



In February 1734, Mr. Johnson returned to Lichfield, where in 

 August following he issued proposals for publishing the Poems of 

 Politian, &c. with his Life, by the editor. The book was to be 

 printed in thirty sheets octavo, price five shillings, but this project 

 was relinquished for want of encouragement. This failure in his 

 first attempt as a professed author, for the translation of Lobo's 

 Voyage was anonymous, was in consequence of the unestablished 

 claim of a literary adventurer. Nor was his birth-place a well- 

 chosen place for the early public efforts of his genius, for many 

 learned and accomplished residents doubtless thought themselves 

 equal if not superior in literary attainments to so young a man, 

 and probably considered his proposals a mere effusion of vanity. 



After this disappointment, Mr. Johnson offered his assistance to 

 Mr. Cave, the proprietor of the Gentleman's Magazine. In an ano- 

 nymous letter to Mr. Cave, dated Nov. 25, 1734, he offers to sup- 

 ply that publisher with original poems and inscriptions, &c. and 

 concludes by saying, " Your letter, by being directed to S. Smith, 

 to be left at the Castle, in Birmingham, Warwickshire, will reach 

 your humble servant." This letter was immediately answered by 

 Mr. Cave, who engaged our author as a contributor to his miscel- 

 lany. The remuneration paid monthly is unknown, but doubtless 

 it was insufficient for the maintenance of an individual. 



