The Dictionary
Memory and composition were then central to education. Yet Johnson’s mental
strength and acute verbal sense were exceptional. He composed in Latin or English
in his head, writing down poems when complete. The quotations in the Dictionary
were recalled from his wide reading, often in unliterary subjects such as travel,
manufacturing, agriculture and chemistry. His writing is weighty and trenchant. He
examined ideas critically, considering their true meaning, relation to principles and
practical consequences. His principles were Anglican and Tory, opposing American
independence in Taxation No Tyranny,unlike his friend Burke. Yet he attacked
British injustice, as towards Ireland, and would drink ‘to the next insurrection of the
Negroes in the West Indies’. He disliked Americans because they owned slaves.
Johnson’s prose, and heroic personality, are illustrated by a passage from his letter
to Lord Chesterfield, from whom he had sought help in his early struggles on the
Dictionary. Chester field now tried to associate himself with the completed work.
Seven years, My Lord, have now passed since I waited in your outward rooms or was
repulsed from your door, during which time I have been pushing on my work through
difficulties of which it is useless to complain, and have brought it at last to the verge of
publication without one act of assistance, one word of encouragement or one smile of
favour. Such treatment I did not expect, for I never had a patron before .... Is not a
patro n,My Lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the
water and when he has reached ground encumbers him with help? The notice which you
have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been
delayed till I am indifferent and cannot enjoy it, till I am solitary and cannot impart it,
till I am known and do not want it.
There was no established Dictionary before Johnson, and an authority was
needed to standardize spelling, to distinguish clearly between senses, and to rule on
usage. He carried out the task, with secretarial help, in nine years; in which he also
wrote the whole of two journals,The Rambler and The Idler;Irene,a tragedy; the
poems London and The Vanity of Human Wishes, and a philosophical tale,Rasselas.
The definitions established the authority of the Dictionary. Believing that ‘the chief
glory of any people arises from its authors’, Johnson illustrated senses by 114,000
quotations gathered from authors since Sidney.
When first I collected these authorities, I was desirous that every quotation should be
useful to some other end than the illustration of a word; I therefore extracted from
philosophers principles of science; from historians remarkable facts; from chemists
complete processes; from divines striking exhortations; and from poets beautiful
descriptions. Such is design, while it is yet at a distance from execution. When the timeTHE AGE OF JOHNSON 213The definition for ‘lexicographer’ in Dr
Johnson’s Dictionary(1755).