text: Samuel Johnson - Dr. Johnson | James Boswell .info
  Samuel Johnson - the great cham - lexicographer
  Born Sep 19, 1709 in Lichfield
  Died Dec 13, 1784 in London
  Critic, poet, essayist, biographer and lexicographer, and the subject of The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D..
  The greatest biography in the English language is widely accepted as being The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., written by James Boswell.1
  1. The biographical part of this article will not be much further expanded for the time being. Please refer to one of the many good sources for information on Johnson, particularly the The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. and the Wikipedia article on Johnson.
  Boswell had wanted to meet Johnson as early as 1760, during his first visit to London, and Samuel Derrick had promised to introduce Boswell to him. Derrick, however, did not keep his promise. When Boswell next came to London in Nov 1762 he was hoping that Thomas Sheridan could introduce him, but the former friends Sheridan and Johnson had had a fall-out. Then on Christmas Day 1762 he went to Thomas Davies' bookshop in the hope of meeting Johnson, but on this day had to contend himself with meeting Oliver Goldsmith and Robert Dodsley instead.
  Encouraged by Davies' words, Boswell,on May 24 went and called on Johnson in his lodgings - then in the Inner Temple - who received him "very courteously".2 Johnson even invited Boswell to stay after a few other companions who had been present took their leave, and the pair talked for some time about moral and religion - although Johnson probably did most of the talking, for as Boswell put it in his journal "I listened to this great Oracle with much satisfaction". On Boswell's request they parted with Johnson promising to visit Boswell at his lodgings some evening.
  The friendship between the two developed quickly from this point, and on July 14, less than two months after their first awkward meeting, Johnson - at the end of a long evening at the Mitre public house - "took me cordialy by the hand; & said My Dear Boswell! I do love you very much."3
  On the morning of Friday, August 5, Boswell embarked on his journey to Holland, which was followed by a Grand Tour of Europe. He did not set foot in England again until 1766. Johnson, who did not much enjoy travelling, accompanied Boswell on the Harwich Stage coach to see him off on the boat. The coach stopped for the night at Colchester, a stopover which was made memorable by this small anecdote:
  (This particular entry will be much expanded, but the expansion will follow the general chronological progress of this site. Furthermore the entire friendship between James Boswell and Samuel Johnson is well documented in The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.)
  1. See The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. and Boswell's London Journal 1762-1763
  2. Boswell's London Journal 1762-1763 entry May 24, 1763
  3. Boswell's London Journal 1762-1763 (2010 ed.) entry for Thursday, July 14, 1763
  4. Boswell's London Journal 1762-1763 (2010 ed.) entry for Friday, August 5, 1763. Note that this is not actually quoted from his journal, but from a draft of The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. quoted in the 2010 edition of Boswell's London Journal 1762-1763
  5. ibid. entry for Saturday, August 6, 1763
  Most of (Dr.) Samuel Johnson's own writings are widely available today, both in original 18th century editions as well as in numerous later reprints and revised editions. The same goes for Hester Thrale Piozzi's Anecdotes of Samuel Johnson and Boswell's The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., which are also both available for free as e-books from Project Gutenberg. A search for Samuel Johnson on AbeBooks.com will result in a lot of results.