The Life of Samuel Johnson

In 1750, Johnson begins another of his most famous projects: founding the periodical The Rambler. His essays for the magazine are wide-ranging in subject matter and philosophical in tone, presenting Johnson as a “majestick teacher of moral and religious wisdom” (143). Johnson models The Rambler on such previous publications as The Tatler and The Spectator, which were very popular with the public but had ceased publication by this time. Johnson publishes The Rambler every Tuesday and Friday until 1752. He writes most of the essays himself except for a handful which he commissions from other authors, usually writing “in haste as the moment pressed, without even being read over by him before they were printed” (145).

Boswell muses on the anomaly between this speed of composition and the thoughtful, considered tone of the essays. He explains that Johnson made rough notes before writing the essays, and he shares several of these to give the reader some insight into Johnson’s working methods. Boswell sees The Rambler as a major part of Johnson’s career, filled with “astonishing force and vivacity of mind” (152) and combining moral “instruction” and “noble sentiment” with “amusement” and wit.

The discussion of The Rambler leads Boswell to embark on a defense of Johnson’s style of writing. This is a key example of one of Boswell’s purposes in writing the Life: to defend Johnson’s reputation as a great writer and provide critical analysis of his style and works. Although some consider it “turgid” and verbose, Boswell insists that the majesty and elevated character of Johnson’s diction reflect the profundity of his thought; Johnson always finds just the right word for what he wants to express. Johnson’s style is “masculine,” “formal,” full of “strength and energy” and “Herculean vigour” (161) and tending to Latin-influenced word choices, reflecting his background in the classics. Boswell upholds the neoclassical literary ideals that Johnson represented, even though literary fashion is changing in the 1790s.

In 1751, Johnson becomes involved in a small literary controversy when he lends support to William Lauder, a Scottish schoolmaster who writes pamphlets arguing that the poet John Milton borrowed many of his ideas from other poets. When it turns out that Lauder’s research is a forgery, Johnson withdraws his support. Boswell, in his turn, demonstrates that Johnson had the highest respect for Milton as a poet. Throughout the Life, Boswell is concerned to show that Johnson continued the best traditions of English literature and fits into the pantheon of great authors such as Shakespeare and Milton.

Soon after The Rambler ceases publication in 1752, Tetty dies, causing great grief to Johnson. Prayers and letters Johnson writes after the death testify to his great love for his wife, and Boswell insists that the love “was of the most ardent kind” (171). Francis Barber, a Black man and Johnson’s “faithful […] servant” (170) who enters his service shortly after Tetty’s death, later conveys to Boswell the depth of his employer’s sorrow at that time. Johnson is visited by many friends during this time. This episode serves to emphasize the emotional side of Johnson, in contrast to the intellectual and combative side that was so often displayed in his conversations.