I read Boswell’s London journals on the advice of a (much) older acquaintance, then moved on to The Life of Johnson, and it probably was the root of changes I’ve made in my life and some adventures I’ve had since. It is really a travesty that these works are not more widely emphasized in the public schools of North America.

Justin
Niagara on the Lake, Ontario

My favorite quote from Boswell’s Journey to the Hebrides is, in describing the horrible boat trip they had from Skye, I believe, back to the main island, used Johnson’s later comment that “Being in a boat is like being in prison with the added possibility of drowning!” I have used that many times. I am also always amazed at the mind that could take on the task of writing a dictionary, the first in English I think, as a one-man project, by a man who was doing so very much more.

I was particularly interested in the idea put forth by Jeffrey Meyers that Johnson had Turrets syndrome. I, myself, have cerebral palsy (CP), which is a different sort of neurological disorder, but one that also effects the way a person moves through the world.

I can’t help but wonder if that particular condition contributed to Johnson’s fear of madness and the demons of Hell, especially since, in the 18th century, he would not have had the benefit of a medical diagnosis to explain what was happening with his body.

Having come to think of Scotland as the original British colony, I’m wondering what the wholehearted joke on the Scots being helpless about being Scots and Johnson’s
willingness to mock them for it was about – being the man who stands up for the truth of things and all. I recognize there is a loop of mockery that seems passed / passes from the English about the Scots and the Scots about the English, endlessly, but it seems Johnston wound Bosswell into self- mockery. True?

I suffer from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and early on I learned that Samuel Johnson is our patron saint. To my understanding some of his repetitive behaviors were more OCD than Tourette’s. OCD is the “doubting disease” and many of us record things excessively – if only in our minds. The fact that he recorded “all the words” in a dictionary does not surprise me.

Great show!

I’m sure Mr. Meyers’s book is well worth the read, and I will certainly buy it.

However, I would also highly recommend Walter J Bate’s biography (mentioned briefly during the show).

Bate wrote biographies of Johnson and Keats that are among the finest biographies I’ve ever read (after Boswell’s, of course).

It’s refreshing to hear a show about a REAL conservative — and conservative he was. But what puny and insignificant dwarfs today’s “cultural conservatives” seem when compared to Samuel Johnson.

On the Institutionalization of “infamy”

Having gone on record that Johnson has noted Familiarity’s thing, and Boswell has applied it TO Johnson himself, “losing respect after you get to know a persons ways”(prox) had to re-search Johnson’s and came up with still another. vis,

IMHO, nothing, Johnson has written can be more appropriately set down as the wisest writing for the current age:

“No. 30. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1758.

The desires of man increase with his acquisitions; every step which he
advances brings something within his view, which he did not see before,
and which, as soon as he sees it, he begins to want. Where necessity
ends, curiosity begins; and no sooner are we supplied with every thing
that nature can demand, than we sit down to contrive artificial
appetites….

To write news in its perfection requires such a combination of
qualities, that a man completely fitted for the task is not always to be
found. In Sir Henry Wotton’s jocular definition, _An ambassador_ is said
to be _a man of virtue sent abroad to tell lies for the advantage of his
country_; a news-writer is _a man without virtue, who writes lies at
home for his own profit_. To these compositions is required neither
genius nor knowledge, neither industry nor sprightliness; but contempt
of shame and indifference to truth are absolutely necessary. He who by a
long familiarity with infamy has obtained these qualities, may
confidently tell to-day what he intends to contradict to-morrow; he may
affirm fearlessly what he knows that he shall be obliged to recant, and
may write letters from Amsterdam or Dresden to himself.

In a time of war the nation is always of one mind, eager to hear
something good of themselves and ill of the enemy. At this time the task
of news-writers is easy: they have nothing to do but to tell that a
battle is expected, and afterwards that a battle has been fought, in
which we and our friends, whether conquering or conquered, did all, and
our enemies did nothing.

Scarcely any thing awakens attention like a tale of cruelty. The writer
of news never fails in the intermission of action to tell how the
enemies murdered children and ravished virgins; and, if the scene of
action be somewhat distant, scalps half the inhabitants of a province.

Among the calamities of war may be justly numbered the diminution of the
love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates, and credulity
encourages. A peace will equally leave the warriour and relater of wars
destitute of employment; and I know not whether more is to be dreaded
from streets filled with soldiers accustomed to plunder, or from garrets
filled with scribblers accustomed to lie.”

http://www.fullbooks.com/The-Works-of-Samuel-Johnson-in-Nine-Volumesx14285.html part 5 of 9

This was a great episode – really enjoyed it, thanks Tom! Oh, and it’s great to hear Jack on the show during the week instead of just on the Friday week in review.

Listeners wishing to pursue their interest in Johnson may subscribe to the Johnsonian News Letter by writing to the News Letter at 6 Prowitt Street, Norwalk, CT 06855-1220 or phoning 1-800-331-3601. Rates are $12 per year (2 issues).

Listeners who want to read what Johnson wrote can purchase volumes of the Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson, published by Yale University Press:

I. Diaries, Prayers, Annals
II. The Idler and the Adventurer
III-V. The Rambler
VI. Poems
VII-VIII. Johnson on Shakespeare
IX. A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
X. Political Writings
XI-XIII Parliamentary Debates (forthcoming)
XIV Sermons
XV A Voyage to Abyssinia
XVI Rasselas and Other Tales
XVII A Commentary on Mr. Pope’s Principles of Morality
XVIII Johnson on the English Language
XIX-XX Early Biographies and Miscellaneous Writings (forthcoming)
XXI-XXIII Lives of the Poets (forthcoming)

Samuel Johnson looks good for 300. He doesn’t look a day over 280. The gramatically correct way of saying it is the tricentennial of the birth of Samuel Johnson. Shame on NPR for using trendy expressions rather than gramatically correct ones, especially when it literally means that Samuel Johnson has lived 300 years.