E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Johnson, Samuel, LL.D.
(b. Lichfield, September 18th, 1709; d. London, December 13th, 1784). “London” (1738); “The Life of Richard Savage” (1744); “Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Hamlet, with Remarks on Hanmer’s Edition of Shakespeare” (1745); “The Vanity of Human Wishes” (1749); “Irene” (1749); “Rasselas” (1759); “A Visit to the Hebrides” (1773); “Dictionary of the English Language” (1775); and “The Lives of the Poets” (1779–81); besides writing The Idler, a weekly essay in The Universal Chronicle (1758–60), and nearly the whole of The Rambler. His edition of Shakespeare appeared in 1765. See the “Lives” by Towers (1786), Hawkins (1787), Boswell (1791), Anderson (1795), and Russell (1847); also Carlyle’s “Essays;” Leslie Stephen’s monograph (1878); Matthew Arnold’s introduction to “The Lives of the Poets” (1879); Birkbeck Hill’s “Dr. Johnson, his Friends and his Critics” (1879); the same author’s edition of “Boswell’s Life of Johnson,” etc.
