Samuel Johnson

Description

This volume in the 21st-Century Oxford Authors series offers students an authoritative, comprehensive selection of the work of Samuel Johnson (1709-1784). Accompanied by full scholarly apparatus, the edition enables students to study Johnson's work in the order in which it was written, and, wherever possible, using the text of the first published version.

The volume presents a selection of Johnson's most important writings, drawn from all periods of his life. It reflects almost completely the range of literary forms in which Johnson wrote, including poetic translation, biographical sketches, literary criticism, and letters. It includes a broad selection from The Rambler (1750â1752) and The Idler (1758â1760), along with the travel narrative A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775), and a selection from The Lives of the Poets (1781). David Womersleyâs introduction explores how Johnsonâs mastery of style enabled him to adopt various personae, sometimes simultaneously, in order to communicate through many different genres and registers. Johnson is shown to be an active participant in the philosophical and social currents of his time. This selection reveals an author driven by deeply-held principles, concerned with how the ethical, political, and affective dimensions of language go beyond vocabulary and reach into the lives of its users.

Explanatory notes and commentary are included to enhance the study, understanding, and enjoyment of these works, and the edition includes an Introduction to the life of Johnson, and a Chronology.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chronology
Note on the Texts
Part I: Early Poetry and Prose to 1750
Translation of Horace, Odes, I.xxii (pre-1725)
Translation of Horace, Epode, II (prob. 1726)
Translation of Horace, Odes, II.xiv (prob. 1726)
Translation of Horace, Odes, II.xx (prob. 1726)
'Festina Lente' (prob. late 1726)
'The Young Author' (1729)
'Annals' (1734) - from birth to 1719
Letter to Cave, 25 November, 1734
'Preface' to Lobo's Voyage to Abyssinia (1 February, 1735)
Letter to Cave, 12 July, 1737
London (12 May, 1738)
'Debates in the Senate of Magna Lilliputia' (June, 1738)
'A Prayer on my Birth-Day' (7 September, 1738)
'On Gay's Epitaph' (October, 1738)
'Life of Boerhaave' (January, 1739)
A Compleat Vindication of the Licensers of the Stage (May, 1739)
'Prologue' to Lethe (April, 1740)
'An Epitaph on Claudy Philips, a Musician' (September, 1740)
'On Epitaphs' (December, 1740)
Review of the Memoirs of the Duchess of Marlborough (March, 1742)
Proposal for the Harleian Miscellany (November, 1742)
Letter to Edward Cave, autumn 1743
Life of Savage (11 February, 1744)
Introduction to the Harleian Miscellany (April, 1744)
'To Miss -, on her playing upon the harpsichord' (1746?)
Prologue Spoken by Mr Garrick at the Opening of the Theatre in Drury-Lane (September, 1747)
'The Vision of Theodore' (7 April, 1748)
The Vanity of Human Wishes (9 January, 1749)
'The Vanity of Wealth' (February, 1750)
Part II: 'Dictionary' Johnson
The Rambler (1750-1752): 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 39, 41, 45, 47, 49, 60, 63, 64, 70,71, 72, 73, 76, 77, 79, 85, 87, 90, 93, 101, 106, 108, 113, 114, 115, 121, 129, 134, 135, 137, 142, 146, 148, 151, 156, 158, 159, 161, 165, 167, 168, 170, 171, 176, 181, 183, 184, 188, 191, 196, 207, 208
'Life of Cheynel' (July, 1751)
Sermon . . . for the Funeral of his Wife (prob. March, 1752)
'Prayers Composed on the Death of My Wife' (24 April-6 May 1752)
The Adventurer (1752-1754): 39, 45, 50, 67, 69, 84, 85, 95, 99, 102, 107, 111, 119, 126, 137, 138
Diary entries, 22, 23, and 29 April, 1753
Letter to Thomas Warton, 16 July, 1754
'Preface' to the Dictionary of the English Language (15 April, 1755)
Letter to the Earl of Chesterfield, 7 February, 1755
Letter to Bennet Langton, 6 May, 1755
Letter to Miss Hill Boothby, 31 December, 1755
Letter to Miss Hill Boothby, 8 January, 1756
Letter to Samuel Richardson, 16 March, 1756
'Introduction to the Political State of Great Britain' (15 May, 1756)
Review of Warton, Essay on the Writings and Genius of Pope (15 May, 1756)
Review of Blackwell, Memoirs of the Court of Augustus (15 May, 1756)
'Observations on the Present State of Affairs' (15 August, 1756)
Review of Hanway, An Essay on Tea (15 May, 1757)
Review of Jenyns, Free Inquiry (15 May, 1757)
'Of the Duty of a Journalist' (8 April, 1758)
The Idler (8 April 1758-1760): 1, 5, 10, 17, [22], 22, 23, 27, 30, 31, 32, 36, 38, 40, 41, 44, 48, 49, 50, 51, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 65, 66, 72, 81, 84, 88, 94, 100, 103
Letter to Sarah Johnson, 20 January, 1759
Letter to William Strahan, 20 January, 1759
Letter to Lucy Porter, 23 January, 1759
Diary entry and prayer, 23 January, 1759
Rasselas (26 June, 1759)
'The Bravery of the English Common Soldiers' (January, 1760)
Review of Tytler's Mary Queen of Scots (October, 1760)
Part III: The Great Cham of Literature
Letter to Baretti, 10 June, 1761
Letter to Boswell, 8 December, 1763
Diary entry, 21 April, 1764
'A Reply to Impromptu Verses by Baretti' (1765?)
Preface to The Plays of Shakespeare (10 October, 1765)
Diary entry, 1 January, 1766
'The Fountains' (1 April, 1766)
Letter to Boswell, 9 September, 1769
The False Alarm (16 January, 1770)
Prayer on Easter Day, 31 March, 1771
'Parodies of Percy's Hermit of Warkworth' (prob. summer 1771)
'????? ???????' (12 December, 1772)
Letter to Boswell, 24 February, 1773
Diary entry, 22 July, 1773
Diary entry, 25 July, 1774
The Patriot (12 October, 1774)
Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (18 January, 1775) - selection
Letter to James Macpherson, 20 January, 1775
Taxation No Tyranny (8 March, 1775)
Diary entry, 14 April, 1775
'To Mrs Thrale on her Thirty-Fifth Birthday' (presented 24 January, 1776)
Diary entry for Easter Day, 7 April, 1776
'Lines on Thomas Warton's Poems' (early 1777?)
Diary entry, 28 March, 1777
'Prologue' to Hugh Kelly's A Word to the Wise (29 May, 1777)
Letter to William Dodd, 26 June, 1777
Letter to Richard Farmer, 22 July, 1777
'An Extempore Elegy' (1778?)
'A Short Song of Congratulation' (August, 1780)
Lives of the Poets (1781)
Letter to Thomas Lawrence, 17 January, 1782
Diary entry, 20 January, 1782
Letter to Thomas Lawrence, 1 May, 1782
Letter to Boswell, 7 September, 1782
'On the Death of Dr Robert Levet' (August, 1783)
Correspondence with Mrs. Thrale, 2-8 July, 1784
Letter to Lord Thurlow, 9 September, 1784
Translation of Horace, Odes, IV.vii (November, 1784)
Diary entry, 5 December, 1784
Appendices
Appendix A: Johnson's prayer on beginning The Rambler.
Appendix B: Johnson's revisions to The Rambler, no. 1.
Appendix C: Bonnell Thornton's parody of The Rambler.
Notes
Texts Arranged by Genre
Index of Short Titles
Index of First Lines
Index of Persons
Index of Subjects