Defining the World The Extraordinary Story of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary

Excerpted fromDefining the Worldby Henry Hitchings. Copyright 2005 by Henry Hitchings. Published in October 2005 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. All rights reserved. ADVENTUROUS 1. He that is inclined to adventures; and, consequently, bold, daring, courageous 2. Applied to things; that which is full of hazard; which requires courage; dangerous On 15 april 1755 the first great dictionary of English was published. Samuel Johnson's giantDictionary of the English Languagewas an audacious attempt to tame his unruly native tongue. In more than 42,000 carefully constructed entries, Johnson had mapped the contours of the language, combining huge erudition with a steely wit and remarkable clarity of thought. In doing so, Johnson had fashioned the most important British cultural monument of the eighteenth century. Its two folio volumes tell us more about the society of this periodlustily commercial, cultivated but energetic, politically volatile yet eager for consensusthan any other work. They document the copious vitality of English and its literature, and Johnson's spiritby turns humorous, ethical and perceptivepresides over every page. The appearance of theDictionarymarked the end of a heroic ordeal. Johnson had begun work on it full of bluff confidence; he thought he would get the job done in less than three years. It was not long, however, before he began to buckle beneath the magnitude of the task. His labours were absorbing, yet painful; he would eventually characterize them as a mixture of 'anxious diligence' and 'persevering activity'. When the trials of compilation overtook him, so too did the black despondency that blighted his adult life. Johnson had to wrestle not only with the complexities of the English language but also, as we shall see, with the pangs of personal tragedy. Although a tirelessly productive author, Johnson considered himself disgracefully lazybelieving that only Presto, a dog belonging to his friend Hester Thrale, might truly be thought lazier. His diaries are full of self-recrimination: assurances that he will work harder, along with detailed schedules to ensure that he do so. His schemes of work suggest at once a schoolboy's hunger for self-improvement and a schoolboy's slender acquaintance with the realities of what can actually be achieved. Yet if Johnson's self-flagellating self-encouragement is striking, so are his working habitshardly those of a diligent professional. 'Whoever thinks of going to bed before twelve o'clock is a scoundrel,' he was wont to claim. His nights were as often spent in jovial company as in the prison house of learning. It is surprising, given Johnson's oscillation between sociability and melancholia, that theDictionaryever got written at all. Surprising, too, that it is so good. Johnson's ability to complete the job despite the distractions he faced affords us a crucial insight into his character: the methods he employed, the means he used to deal with his depressions and disappointments, suggest the very essence of his working mind, the special character of his achievement. TheDictionarycaptures, and to some degree pre-empts, its age's passion for organization. The ambitious ordering of the arts was reflected in a vast range of manuals, taxonomies and historiesof painting, of poetry, of music, and of the nation. At the same time the desire to 'stage' knowledgefor both entertainment and public benefitwas evident at festivals such as the Shakespeare Jubilee, and in assembly rooms, theatres, lecture halls or new institutions such as the British Museum and the Royal Academy. 1 Like the colossalEncyclop&amHitchings, Henry is the author of 'Defining the World The Extraordinary Story of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary', published 2005 under ISBN 9780374113025 and ISBN 0374113025.