[Illustration]
In the large corner house, on the right of the Engraving, SAMUEL
JOHNSON was born on the 18th of September, N.S. 1709. We learn from
Boswell, that the house was built by Johnson's father, and that the
two fronts, towards Market and Broad Market-street stood upon waste
land of the Corporation of Lichfield, under a forty years lease; this
expired in 1767, when on the 15th of August, "at a common hall of the
bailiffs and citizens, it was ordered, (and that without any
solicitation,) that a lease should be granted to Samuel Johnson,
Doctor of Laws, of the incroachments at his house, for the term of
ninety-nine years, at the old rent, which was five shillings. Of
which, as town clerk, Mr. Simpson had the honour and pleasure of
informing him, and that he was desired to accept it, without paying
any fine on the occasion, which lease was afterwards granted, and the
doctor died possessed of this property."[1]
[1] Note to Boswell's Life of Johnson, 2nd edition, vol. iii.
p. 646.
In the above house, the doctor's father Michael Johnson, a native of
Derbyshire, of obscure extraction, settled as a bookseller and
stationer. He was diligent in business, and not only "kept shop" at
home, but, on market days, frequented several towns in the
neighbourhood,[2] some of which were at a considerable distance from
Lichfield. "At that time booksellers' shops in the provincial towns of
England were very rare, so that there was not one even in Birmingham,
in which town old Mr. Johnson used to open a shop every market-day. He
was a pretty good Latin scholar, and a citizen so creditable as to be
made one of the magistrates of Lichfield; and, being a man of good
sense and skill in his trade, he acquired a reasonable share of
wealth, of which, however, he afterwards lost the greatest part, by
engaging unsuccessfully in the manufacture of parchment."[3] This
failure is attributed to the dishonesty of a servant; but it is
observable in connexion with an incident in Dr. Johnson's literary
history, which has not escaped the keen eye of Mr. Croker, the
ingenious annotator of Boswell's _Life_ of the great lexicographer.[4]
[2] To show the great estimation in which the father of our
great moralist was held, we may quote a letter, dated
"Trentham, St. Peter's Day, 1716," written by the Rev.
George Plaxton, then chaplain to Lord Gower:--"Johnson,
the Lichfield librarian, is now here. He propagates
learning all over this diocese, and advanceth knowledge to
its just height. All the clergy here are his pupils, and
suck all they have from him; Allen cannot make a warrant
without his precedent, nor our quondam John Evans draw a
recognizance _sine directione Michaelis_."--_Gent. Mag.
Oct. 1791_.
[3] Boswell, vol. i. p. 14.
[4] Johnson, in his Dictionary, defines EXCISE "a hateful tax,
levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the _common
judges_ of property, but by _wretches_ hired by those to
whom excise is paid;" and, in the _Idler_ (No. 65) he
calls a _commissioner of excise_ "one of the _lowest_ of
all human beings." This violence of language seems so
little reasonable, that the editor was induced to suspect
some cause of _personal animosity_; this mention of the
trade in parchment (an _excisable_ article) afforded a
clue, which has led to the confirmation of that suspicion.
In the records of the Excise Board is to be found the
following letter, addressed to the supervisor of excise at
Lichfield:--"July 27, 1725--The commissioners received
yours of the 22nd instant; and since the justices would
not give judgment against Mr. Michael Johnson, the
_tanner_, notwithstanding the facts were fairly against
him, the board direct that the next time he offends, you
do not lay an information against him, but send an
affidavit of the fact, that he may be prosecuted in the
Exchequer." It does not appear whether he offended again,
but here is sufficient cause of his son's animosity
against commissioners of excise, and of the allusion in
the Dictionary to the _special_ jurisdiction under which
that revenue is administered. The reluctance of the
justices to convict will not appear unnatural, when it is
recollected that Mr. Johnson was, _this very year_, chief
magistrate of the city.--_Note to Boswell, by Croker_,
vol. i.
Johnson's mother was a woman of distinguished understanding and piety;
and to her must be ascribed those early impressions of religion upon
the mind of her son, from which the world afterwards derived so much
benefit. Johnson was the elder of two sons, the younger of whom died
in his infancy.
Of Johnson's childhood at Lichfield it would not be difficult to
assemble many interesting particulars: from his listening to Dr.
Sacheverel, when he was but three years old; his being first taught to
read English by Dame Oliver, a widow who kept a school for young
children in Lichfield, and who gave him a present of gingerbread, and
said he was the best scholar she ever had; to his arrival in London
with the unfinished tragedy of _Irene_ in his pocket, and the prospect
of a slender engagement with Cave of the _Gentleman's Magazine_. One
thing is certain, that however unpromising were Johnson's early days
at Lichfield, he ever retained a warm affection for his native city,
and which, by a sudden apostrophe, under the word _Lich_, he
introduces with reverence into his immortal work, the ENGLISH
DICTIONARY: _Salve magna parens. (Boswell.)_ His last visit was in his
75th year when he writes to Boswell:--"I came to Lichfield, and found
every body glad enough to see me."
The annexed view is of the date 1785, being from the first volume of
the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for that year. The building to the extreme
left is part of the market-cross, erected by dean Denton, but replaced
some years since by a light brick building. The church is that of St.
Mary, one of the three parishes into which Lichfield is divided: it is
a modern structure, of the year 1717, and upon the site of the
original church, said to have been founded in the year 885. In the
extreme distance of the Engraving is seen the Guild or Town Hall, a
neat stone edifice, adorned with the city arms, a bas-relief of the
cathedral, &c.
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