Samuel Johnson's early life

Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 smaller| [O.S. 7 September] ndash 13 December 1784) was an English author. Johnson was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire. His early years were dominated by his eagerness to learn, the various experiences with his family members, his eventual attempt at college, and finally trying to settle down into a career.

After attending Pembroke College, Oxford for a year before he was forced to leave due to lack of funds. He tried to work as a teacher, but was unable to find a long lasting position. He tried to start his own school, and when this failed, he moved to London, where he began writing essays for "The Gentleman's Magazine". He began his career as a Grub Street journalist and made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, novelist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. His early works include the biography "The Life of Richard Savage" and the poem "London".

Parents

Johnson's parents were Michael Johnson, a bookseller, and his wife, Sarah Ford.Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=5] Michael was the first bookseller of "reputation" in the community, having opened a parchment factory which produced book bindings. Little is known about Michael Johnson's past, or what his background was. He and his brothers were apprenticed as booksellers, and his father, William Johnson, was called a "yeoman" and a "gentleman" in the Stationers' Company records, but there is little evidence to suggest that William Johnson was from nobility. [Harvnb|Lane|1975|pp=10–11] William Johnson was the first Johnson to move to Lichfield, Staffordshire and died shortly after the move. Michael Johnson, after leaving his apprenticeship at 24, followed his father's footsteps and became a book seller on Sadler Street, Lichfield. Three years after, Michael Johnson became warden of a charity known as the Conduit Lands Trust, and shortly afterwards he was made churchwarden of the St Mary's church. [Harvnb|Lane|1975|p=12]

At the age of 29 Michael Johnson had planned to marry a local woman named Mary Neild, but she had broken off the engagement. [Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=12] Twenty years later, in 1706, he married Sarah Ford, daughter of Cornelius Ford, from a middle-class milling and farming family; he was 49 and she 37. Although both families had money, Samuel Johnson often claimed that he grew up in poverty. It is uncertain what happened between Michael Johnson and Sarah's marriage and the birth of Samuel just three years later to provoke such a change in fortune, but Michael Johnson quickly became overwhelmed with debt and was unable to recover from it during the remainder of his life.Harvnb|Lane|1975|pp=13–14]

Childhood

Johnson was born in Lichfield at 4:00 pm on Wednesday, 18 September 1709 at the family home above his father's bookshop, near Market Square in Lichfield, across from St Mary's Church. His mother was 40 when she gave birth, a matter for sufficient concern that George Hector, a "man-midwife" and a surgeon of "great reputation", was brought in to assist during the birth. [Harvnb|Lane|1975|pp=15–16] The baby was named Samuel, after Sarah's brother Samuel Ford. He did not cry and, with doubts surrounding the newborn's health, his aunt claimed "that she would not have picked such a poor creature up in the street". As it was feared the baby might die, the vicar of St Mary's was summoned to perform a baptism. [Harvnb|Lane|1975|p=16] Two godfathers were chosen: Samuel Swynfen, a physician and graduate of Pembroke College, and Richard Wakefield, a lawyer, coroner, and Lichfield town clerk. [Harvnb|Bate|1977|pp=5–6]

Johnson's health improved and he was placed in the nursing care of Joan Marklew. During this period he contracted what is believed to have been scrofula,Harvnb|Lane|1975|pp=16–17] known at that time as the "King's Evil". Sir John Floyer, a former physician to Charles II, recommended that the young Johnson should receive the "royal touch",Harvnb|Lane|1975|p=18] which he received from Queen Anne on 30 March 1712 at St James's Palace. Johnson was given a ribbon in memory of the event, which he claimed to have worn for the rest of his life. However, the ritual was ineffective and an operation was performed that left him with permanent scarring across his face and body.Harvnb|Lane|1975|pp=19–20] Sarah later gave birth to a second boy, Nathaniel, which put financial strain on the family. Michael was unable to keep on top of the debts he had accumulated over the years, and his family was no longer able to maintain the lifestyle it had previously enjoyed.Harvnb|Lane|1975|pp=20–21]

On 2 March 1737, penniless, Johnson left for London with his former pupil David Garrick. To make things worse, Johnson received word that his brother had died on the day they left. However, their prospects were not completely hopeless, as Garrick was set to inherit a large sum the next year. Also, Garrick had connections in London, and the two would stay with his distant relative, Richard Norris, who lived on Exeter Street.Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=164–165] Johnson did not stay there long, and set out for Greenwich near the Golden Hart Tavern to finish "Irene". [Harvnb|Boswell|1986|pp=168–169] During that time, he wrote to Cave on 12 July 1737 and proposed a translation for Paolo Sarpi's "The History of the Council of Trent" (1619), which Cave did not accept until months later. [Harvnb|Wain|1974|p=81; Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=169 ]

Johnson started working on the translation of Sarpi before Cave approved, and returned home to his wife during this time. In all, he managed to write between four hundred and eight hundred pages of text with corresponding commentary before he stopped working on it in April 1739. [Harvnb|Demaria|1994|pp=45–46] In October 1737, Johnson brought his wife to London; they first lived at Woodstock Street and then moved to 6 Castle Street. Soon, Johnson found employment with Cave, and wrote for his "The Gentleman's Magazine". [Harvnb|Boswell|1986|pp=169–170] His work for the magazine and other publishers during this time "is almost unparalleled in range and variety", and "so numerous, so varied and scattered" that "Johnson himself could not make a complete list". [Harvnb|Bate|1955|p=14]

In May 1738, his first major work, a poem called "London", was published anonymously.Harvnb|Lynch|2003|p= 5] The work was based on Juvenal's and describes the character Thales's leaving for Wales to escape the problems of London. [Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=172] In particular, the poem describes how London is a place of crime, corruption, and the neglect of the poor. Johnson could not bring himself to regard the poem as granting him any merit as a poet; [Harvnb|Bate|1955|p=18] however, Alexander Pope claimed that the author "will soon be déterré" (brought to light, become well known), although it did not immediately happen.

In August, Johnson was denied a position as master of the Appleby Grammar School because a Masters degree from Oxford or Cambridge was required. To ensure that he would not suffer rejection again, Pope asked John Gower, a man with influence in the Appleby community, to have a degree awarded to Johnson.Harvnb|Watkins|1960|p=25] Gower attempted to have a degree awarded to Johnson from Oxford, but he was told that it was "too much to be asked."Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=182] Gower then wrote to a friend of Jonathan Swift to persuade him to use his influence at the University of Dublin to have a masters awarded to Johnson, which could then be used to justify a masters awarded to Johnson from Oxford. However, Swift refused to act on Johnson's behalf. [Harvnb|Watkins|1960|pp=25–26] Regardless of Swift's motivation in not acting on Johnson's behalf, or how Johnson reacted to Swift's actions, it is known that Johnson then after refused to appreciate Swift as a poet, writer, or a satirist, with one exception: Swift's "Tale of a Tub", to which Johnson doubted Swift's authorship. [Harvnb|Watkins|1960|pp=26–27]

Between 1737 and 1739, Johnson became close to Richard Savage. [Harvnb|Watkins|1960|p=51] Feeling guilty for his own poverty, Johnson stopped living with his wife and spent time with Savage. [Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=178] Together, they would roam the streets at night without enough money to stay in taverns or sleep in "night-cellars".Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=179] Savage was both a poet and a playwright, and Johnson was reported to enjoy spending time and discussing various topics with him, along with drinking and other merriment. However, poverty eventually caught up with Savage, and Pope, along with Savage's other friends, gave him an "annual pension" in return for him agreeing to move to Wales. Savage ended up in Bristol however, and once again fell into debt by reliving his former London lifestyle. He was soon in debtor's prison and died in 1743.Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=181] A year later, Johnson wrote "Life of Mr Richard Savage" (1744) at Edward Cave's prompting. It was a "moving" work that, according to Walter Jackson Bate, "remains one of the innovative works in the history of biography". [Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=180]

Early works

Johnson's early works and early life are neglected because James Boswell, in his "Life of Samuel Johnson", did not meet him until the last third of his life, so Boswell was never able to write a full account of Johnson's early years. In particular, Boswell ignored Johnson's early politics and political writings. During the 1730's, Johnson was concerned with Sir Robert Walpole's political administration. [Harvnb|Greene|2000|p=xxi]

His poem "London" , is an early version of Johnson's ethics and morality combined his political attacks on Walpole and London life. [Harvnb|Folkenflik|1997|p=106] Johnson compares London to the Roman Empire in its decline and blames moral and political corruption for its fall. [Harvnb|Weinbrot|1997|p=46] Although Johnson did not start his literary criticism career until later, "London" is an example of what Johnson thought poetry should be: it is youthful and joyous, but it also relies on simple language and easy to understand imagery. [Harvnb|Greene|1989|pp=28, 35]

His "Life of Savage" was not Johnson's first biography. Instead, Savage was the topic of his fourth biography and followed biographies of Jean-Philippe Baratier, Robert Blake, and Francis Drake.Harvnb|Clingham|1997|p=161] It was also not the only biography on Savage that appeared immediately following his death. However, the "Life of Savage" was Johnson's first widely known biography, it was the most popular biography on Savage, and it contained Johnson's ideas on what a biography should be. [Harvnb|Lane|1975|p=39]

The book did contain some factual inaccuracies, particularly those surrounding Savage's claiming that he was the illegitimate child of a nobleman. However, it was successful in its partial analysis of Savage's poetry and portraying insights into Savage's personality. This is not to say that it brought immediate fame or income to Johnson or to Cave, which, for all of its literary achievements, it did not. [Harvnb|Lane|1975|p=100] It did provide Johnson with a small income which was vital to him at this time. More importantly, the work helped to mold Johnson into a biographical career and the work was later included in his "Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets" series.

Notes

References

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