Young Age
Johnson was well-known for his extraordinary intelligence, as well as his pride and laziness, from a young age. In 1717, he enrolled at Lichfield Grammar School. The headmaster of the school, John Hunter, was a wise but cruel man who “never taught a boy in his life—he whipped and they learned. “. Even decades later, when the young boy saw a photo of the poet Anna Seward and her grandfather Hunter, he trembled because he was so terrified of this regime.
He made two friends in school who remained close to him all of his life: Edmund Hector, who would go on to become a surgeon, and John Taylor, who would go on to become a prebendary of Westminster and a justice of the peace for Ashbourne. In 1726, Johnson traveled to Stourbridge, Worcestershire, to see his affluent cousin Reverend Cornelius Ford. Ford may have served as a role model for Johnson, but Johnson was more attracted to Ford’s sociability and scholarship than his excess (he is believed to be one in William Hogarth’s 1733 painting A Midnight Modern Conversation, of the men shown enjoying themselves).
Early Age Writings
In 1738, Johnson began a protracted relationship with The Gentleman’s Magazine, widely regarded as the first modern magazine. Soon after, he began to contribute prose and poetry, including odes to the magazine’s editor Edward Cave and another author, the well-educated Elizabeth Carter. The fact that another Johnson was concurrently working on the same project prevented Johnson from translating The History of the Council of Trent by the Venetian Paolo Sarpi. However, The Gentleman’s Magazine published his early biographies of British admirals, European scholars, and medical experts in addition to his biography of Sarpi, which was written as the introduction to that work.
His first significant poem, London, and A Compleat Vindication of the Licensers of the Stage were among the satirical works he published in 1738 and 1739 that targeted Sir Robert Walpole’s government and even the Hanoverian monarchy. A “copy” of that piece can be found in Juvenal’s third satire, London. (Imitation, in a loose sense, is the adaptation of a previous poet’s themes and style to current events. Before leaving the dishonest city for Wales, Thales laments the general decline of London (and English) life, which is exemplified by vices like masquerades, atheism, the excise tax, and the ease with which foreign nations can transgress “English honor” without repercussion.
The poem’s most famous line and the only one written in capital letters is “SLOW RISES WORTH, BY POVERTY DEPRESSED,” which can be interpreted as Johnson’s motto at this point. When the poem first appeared in 1738 under a false name, Pope was led to believe the author would be “déterré” (unearthed). Pope undoubtedly admired Johnson’s politics and poetry, and he also made fruitless attempts to win Johnson’s support by securing patronage. The Hanover family and Walpole are made fun of by Marmor Norfolciense. In A Complete Vindication of the Licensers of the Stage, the government’s Stage Licensing Act of 1737—which prohibited the performance of Henry Brooke’s play Gustavus Vasa—is ironically defended. being performed in 1739 because it attacked the English king and his prime minister using a Swedish analogy and demanded the lord chamberlain’s approval of all new plays. The final two works highlight the literary influence of Irish author Jonathan Swift.
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