Dr Samuel Johnson

Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) earned a living as a journalist and critic – famously remarking “No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money” - whilst working on plays, poetry, biography and producing the first English Dictionary.

Today his aphorisms and his shambling, obsessive, melancholic character are perhaps better known than his writing.

In his Life of Johnson (1791) Boswell records many of the great scholar’s aphorisms and anecdotes, including Johnson’s celebrated refutation of Bishop Berkeley’s theory of the non-existence of matter by kicking a stone and saying, “I refute it thus.”

He also quotes Johnson remarking: “We proceed, because we have begun; we complete our design, that the labour may not be in vain.”

Dictionary Johnson
As writer and scholar Samuel Johnson helped consolidate the achievements of the English imagination.

From 1748 to 1758 Johnson lived in the large brick house at 17 Gough Square, where he welcomed a miscellany of guests and acolytes, including Oliver Goldsmith, David Garrick, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke, Lord Orrery and, most famously, James Boswell.

Here he produced The Rambler twice weekly in 1750 and compiled the bulk of the first Dictionary of the English Language.

Johnson had estimated the Dictionary would take him three years to complete. In fact, it took him nine years, working with six (mainly Scottish) assistants who laboured in the attic, standing at their writing desks to complete the manuscript of 2,300 pages.

The Dictionary was finally published in April 1775.

The Idler
In 1758 Samuel Johnson moved to 1 Inner Temple Lane where, over the following two years he produced The Idler - in the first issue of which he wrote ‘Every man is, or hopes to be, an idler.’ From 1776 until his death in 1784 Johnson lived at 8 Bolt Court.

17 Gough Square
17 Gough Square is the City of London’s oldest remaining residence. It is now a museum and contains much of interest, including a first edition of the Dictionary, Johnson's ‘gout’ chair from the Cock Tavern, engravings and paintings.

Opening Times
Open: May – Sept: Mon-Sat 11.00-17.30, Oct-Apr: Mon-Sat 11.00-17.00. Closed 24-26 Dec, 1 Jan, Good Friday and Public Holidays.

Underground: Chancery Lane (Central line), Blackfrairs and Temple (Circle & District lines.

Private guided sightseeing tours
The Word Travels offers private and group guided sightseeing tours, within and beyond London, throughout the year. For further details, please contact us

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