James Boswell’s The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) is often considered to be one of the finest pieces of biographical writing in the English language. Samuel Johnson was an English poet, essayist, and lexicographer who produced a pioneering and influential Dictionary of the English Language. However, he is less well-known today for his writings than as the biographical subject for Boswell, a lawyer from Scotland who first met Johnson in 1763. During their 21-year friendship, Boswell recorded many of Johnson’s sayings and activities using a self-invented form of shorthand. He eventually worked these notes into the massive biography which he published seven years after Johnson’s death.

Later research has shown that Boswell took liberties with some of Johnson’s quotations and censored important incidents from his biography. However, the level of detail included in the work makes it a valuable resource on Johnson and the 18th century.

The Life takes the shape of a loosely structured narrative which might be compared to a scrapbook or collage of reminiscences. Using a mixture of narration, stretches of dialogue, and letters, Boswell portrays Johnson as a literary man and witty conversationalist in London society. About a third of the way through the book, Boswell enters Johnson’s life and takes an active role in the events depicted.

The book is valuable as a chronicle of the complex friendship of Johnson and Boswell, two men of different ages and backgrounds who share a deep intellectual affinity. Their conversations cover such varied topics as religion, politics, law, literature, and morality. The book as a whole testifies to the evolving phenomenon of celebrity, as shown in Boswell’s obsession to give the public all the available information about Johnson.

In addition to his intellectual circle of friends—including actor David Garrick, playwright Oliver Goldsmith, political philosopher Edmund Burke, and painter Sir Joshua Reynolds—the book also highlights how Johnson gave charitable help to people. These include the blind woman Anna Williams and Francis Barber, a Black man from Jamaica who becomes Johnson’s valet and heir. These episodes provide a more personal picture of Johnson’s life and interests.

There are no chapter divisions in the Life, but page headings announcing the month and year being covered and Johnson’s age at the time provide some orientation for the reader. This guide refers to the unabridged edition, Life of Johnson, edited by R.W. Chapman and published by Oxford University Press.

Summary

Johnson is born in 1709 in Lichfield, England; his parents belong to the middle class and are both “well advanced in years” (27) when Johnson is born. Johnson is often sick as a child and has scrofula (a form of tuberculosis), which affects the appearance of his face and causes weak eyesight, something that will affect him for the rest of his life. However, he also quickly begins to show signs of exceptional intelligence, memorizing some of the contents of the Book of Common Prayer. Johnson excels in school and begins to write poems and translations from Latin verse when he is 16. However, his academic future remains in doubt because his father, a bookseller, is deeply in debt.

Johnson enrolls at Oxford University in 1728, where he hones his skill in Greek and Latin and in writing poetry. However, after three years at university, Johnson runs out of money and is forced to return home without a degree.

Back home in Lichfield, Johnson goes through a period of physical and mental anguish. He tries to become a schoolteacher but is rejected because he does not have a degree. When he is finally accepted as a teaching assistant, he is soon forced to leave the school after an argument with the headmaster. With the help of his friend Thomas Warren, a book publisher, Johnson begins producing translated and annotated books.

After Warren’s death, Johnson marries his widow, Elizabeth, who is 20 years his senior. Johnson continues to support his new family with his translation work and with tutoring the children of local prominent families. In 1735, Johnson opens a private school which fails soon after, taking with it a significant portion of Elizabeth’s fortune. However, one of Johnson’s students, David Garrick, travels to London to become an actor. He invites Johnson to join him there and helps him secure work writing for The Gentleman’s Magazine.

Johnson’s contributions to the magazine include an allegorical poem, London, which earns him praise and comparisons to England’s leading poet, Alexander Pope. Around this time Johnson also finishes a play, the historical tragedy Irene, which Garrick eventually produces on the stage in 1749. Johnson’s reputation as a brilliant writer grows by leaps and bounds, and he makes the acquaintance of many of the famous intellectuals of the time, including David Hume, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Oliver Goldsmith. He also earns the reputation of an eccentric, due to the tics that are probably symptoms of Tourette syndrome, and has periods of depression.

Boswell explains his intention to depict Johnson’s complete life, and so does not shy away from writing about his illness as well as some of the more ludicrous or less flattering aspects of his personality. He says he did not set out to write only praise about Johnson, but to show the entirety of his life, the good and the bad.

In 1746, some publishers pitch to Johnson the idea of writing a complete dictionary of the English language. Johnson surprises them by saying that he wants to complete the book on his own instead of with a team of scholars. Johnson works on the Dictionary for eight years with the help of a small secretarial staff, and it is finally published in 1755.

In anticipation of the publication of the Dictionary, Oxford University awards Johnson an honorary degree. In addition, when George III accedes to the British throne, he awards Johnson a pension which allows him to live comfortably for the rest of his life. In return, Johnson writes occasional pamphlets supporting the government’s side in controversial political topics. During this period Johnson also publishes the allegorical novel Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, and The Rambler, a collection of his magazine essays.

Boswell meets Johnson in 1763, and they form an instant friendship. Boswell sees Johnson whenever he is in London on business, and the two men enjoy frequent conversation and meals together, often in the presence of the other members of the Literary Club which Johnson forms in 1764. In 1773, Johnson travels to Scotland to visit Boswell at home, and the two men take a tour of the country which is recounted in two separate works by Boswell and Johnson.

By the 1770s, Johnson is showing signs of deteriorating health but continues to work; his later productions include an annotated edition of the works of Shakespeare and the ten-volume Lives of the English Poets. In 1783, Johnson has a stroke and momentarily loses his ability to speak, although he is still able to write about his Melancholy and Fear of Death. Johnson dies on December 13, 1784, and Boswell concludes the book by expressing his view that Johnson’s works and reputation will endure.