Johnson, Samuel

Johnson, Samuel (1709-84), writer, b. Lichfield, Staffordshire, England.

Samuel Johnson was the son of a poor bookseller.

He went to Oxford University but had to leave through lack of money and became a school master.

After a time, he married and moved to London and began to make his living by writing. At first he wrote articles in The Gentleman's Magazine and other journals, and also some poems.

By 1755 he was already well known and then he became famous for his Dictionary of the English Language. No better dictionary was produced for over a century.

King George III awarded him £300 a year and from this time on he had no need to worry about money.

More is known about Johnson than about any other writer of his time because James Boswell wrote a famous book about him, The Life of Samuel Johnson.

He was a huge, untidy man with an uncombed wig and wrinkled stockings, and he liked most of all good food and talking with his friends. He was witty and wise but sometimes rude and overbearing. Yet he was generous to friends and strangers and often put pennies in the hands of homeless children sleeping in the streets.

Many of his sayings are still remembered and quoted such as, 'It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives.'

See also Peter Martin Samuel Johnson