JOHNSON BICENTENARY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 615, 18 September 1909, Page 5

JOHNSON BICENTENARY.

I ;; THE "PUBLIC ORATOR'S" TRIBUTE. | Ulj TolcErapb.-Prej. AMocfnUon.-CoDTrlchU .'; ■ <} •'■■■' London, Septembor IC. I > . Tho Earl of Rosobery inaugurated tho bi--5 centenary celebrations. of Dr. Samuel JohnP son's-birth, at Liohfield. His Lordship de- , livered a brilliant eulogy of the great lexicographer. '. : ■ .-■■■■-.■ j [Samuol Johnson was born on Soptember 18 f 17n at Lichfiold, in Staffordshire, England ~ where his-.father was a bookseller.-After five - years schooling in hia' native city, one at btourbndge, and tiro years' loitering at home, ■ he'etttored Pembroke College, Oxford,.in 1728, ' and whilst here producod a Latin version of the Messiah" (1731), whjoh won the applauso - of the whole university, as also of its author, ). Pope. After bitter struggles with poverty, he made himself a name, and in 1747 Dodsloy, with i four other firms, engaged him for J!1575 to t, compile his "Dictionary" (completed in 1755) I Other works that greatly added to hie reputation were the "Rambler"' (1750-52, the last num- .; bet appearing three days before his -wife's ■ death), "Idler" (1758-60), and "Kassolas" (1759), i which last, was written in the evenings of ono ' week, and brdught its author In 1762 ho received a pension of .£3OO, and thenceforth wrote comparatively little, the "Lives of the, Poets" (1770-81) being his only considerable work. In 1763 he met Boswell, and in 1765 made the acquaintance of. the Thrales, of whose family he came to be almost regarded ,as a member.] ' . . .