James Boswell
A Life of Johnson
Samuel Johnson was born in Lichfield in
1709 and died in London in 1784 aged 75.
He came from a modestly middle-class
background, but his father’s bookselling
business failed and his Oxford education
was abruptly terminated for want of funds.
In spite of this, he became the greatest
English scholar and man of letters of his
day, a man of enormous learning but
equally a man who loved life in all its variety.
Having married, in 1735, Mrs Elizabeth
Porter, a widow almost twice his age, and
having had little success in running a
school with only three students, Johnson
moved to London—accompanied by his
pupil David Garrick. Both found fame in the
capital, Garrick more rapidly as the greatest
actor of his time, and both remained
lifelong friends. Johnson’s literary career
began humbly enough, producing hackwork
for various journals, but it was the
publication of his Dictionary in 1755 which
really set the seal on his reputation. The
Dictionary was the result of nine years’
labour, in conditions of some poverty, and
in the teeth of the terrible depressions
which frequently afflicted him.
In 1762 Johnson was granted a crown pension; in 1763 he met James Boswell, so
that from this time we have the full and
wonderfully vivid account of his life given by
the latter. Johnson’s acquaintance was wide
and included such eminent men as Sir
Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke, Oliver
Goldsmith and Charles Fox: all were
members of the Literary Club founded in
1764. Other of Johnson’s works include his
poem The Vanity of Human Wishes, his
edition of Shakespeare, A Journey to the
Western Islands of Scotland, The Lives of
the English Poets and Rasselas, Prince of
Abyssinia.
Johnson was a man of huge personality—almost terrifying to behold, with his scarred
face, massive frame and eccentricities of
word and movement. He could be a loyal
friend and a formidable opponent; he loved
to talk and held in thrall a large circle of
admirers who contradicted him at their
peril. He had read voraciously and could talk
on almost any topic; his politics were Tory,
yet he abhorred slavery, condemned the
English treatment of the Irish and attacked
religious complacency—perhaps because
his faith in the divine was coloured by a
profound terror of death. His generosity to the poor and willingness to provide a home
for some of those who had enjoyed little
worldly success are touching testimonies to
his deep humanity. It was, above all,
Johnson’s love of society, conversation and
friendship which gave Boswell the material
for his biography—described by Macaulay
as the best ever written.
James Boswell (1740–1795) was born in
Edinburgh and studied law, but was really
more interested in travel, writing and
politics—not to mention what he would have called the ‘dissipation’ of his London
life. His Journals give an extraordinarily
lively and intimate impression of this
excitable, enthusiastic and energetically
philandering character. His Life of Samuel
Johnson, published in 1791, took him many
years to compile and was mainly based on
the extensive conversations and travels he
enjoyed with his subject, for whom he had
an affection bordering on worship.
Notes by Perry Keenlyside
The music on this CD is taken from the NAXOS catalogue
HANDEL Famous Organ Concertos
8.550069
Johann Aratore, organ
Handel Festival Chamber Orchestra
John Tinge, conductor
