As you cannot fail to be reminded if you go to my home town of Lichfield in Staffordhire, Dr. Samuel Johnson is that city’s most famous son.
His birthplace is now a modest but handsomely restored townhouse museum adjoining the market square. The museum is worth visting because it emphasises Johnson as the wisecracking man of letters, a prototype of Oscar Wilde without the scandal.
The depth of the patience, scholarship and organisational abilities needed to compile his lasting achievement, the first English dictionary, is hard to imagine. The dictionary appeared in 1755 in two large folio volumes. He made use of six copyists but it is essentially a one-man work. Whilst nowadays we can Wiki any word or concept under the sun, Johnson had to make use of his extensive reading and what must have been a phenomenal memory.
A reproduction of the opus is available on a lecturn on the top floor of the musuem and can be consulted at leisure (the real thing is safely protected behind glass doors).
Using some of language Johnson preserved, we might say that Johnson is portrayed as a robust figure and looks like a bit of a bellygod. It’s a safe bet that his diet consisted on much more than just oats . He was clearly a gifted textman who had little time for politicians or priestcraft – in other words the good Doctor was no ninnyhammer.
GLOSSARY FOR THE ABOVE – MINI SELECTION JOHNSONIAN WISDOM:
bellygod – a glutton; one who makes a God of his belly
ninnyhammer – a simpleton
oats – a grain, which in England is generally given to horses but in Scotland supports the people.
politician – a man of artiface, one of deep contrivance
priestcraft – religious frauds
textman – a man ready in the quotation of texts
