DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF JOHNSON'S WORKS.

Early in his youth Johnson gave several proofs of his poetical genius, but his first important work was a

1. Translation of Pope's Messiah into Latin Verse (1728). (See

Index, "Pope.") It was performed as a college exercise and published three years later in a Miscellany, its editor hoping that the version would "be no discredit to the excellent original." Pope, it is told, remarked that the translator left it "a question for posterity, whether his or mine be the original." At Birmingham Johnson wrote his first prose work, an

2. Abridgment and Translation of Lobo's Voyage to Abyssinia (1735), made, not from a Latin book, as Macaulay says, but from a French version of a Portuguese work (1659) by Lobo, a Jesuit missionary. The Preface is the earliest specimen of Johnson's characteristic style, and the book undoubtedly suggested not only the scene, but the name, of his subsequent Rasselas.

While employed on the Gentleman's Magazine, he published 3. London (1738), a short poem in heroic couplets (263 ll.), imitating the Third Satire of Juvenal (q.v., Index). The poet's imaginary friend, Thales, indignant at London life, is departing for Wales, and contrasts the pleasures of rural solitude with the dangers and corruption of the metropolis, imputed, in great part, to the Whig ministry (see ¶ 13). One line, which Johnson capitalized, is famous for its truth and terse

ness:

"Slow rises worth, by poverty depress'd."

His most important contributions to the Gentleman's Magazine were the reports of the

4. Parliamentary Debates (1740-3), described in ¶ 13. They were collected after his death (1787) as specimens of political eloquence.

5. The Life of Richard Savage (1744), with moral and critical observations, is, next to the Life of Pope, the longest of his biographical works. It throws much light on Johnson's own career, as well as upon the life of his Grub-Street contemporaries. (See below, no. 19.)

6. The Plan for a Dictionary of the English Language (1747), addressed to Lord Chesterfield, outlines and illustrates Johnson's scheme for its contents. While engaged in realizing his great design, he wrote

7. The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749), his most famous poem, an imitation of Juvenal's Tenth Satire. Like London, it is in heroic verse, but exceeds it by 105 lines, and is more elevated and pathetic. The futility of man's ambitious struggles for happiness is illustrated by examples from the careers of noted statesmen, warriors, churchmen, scholars, etc., the poem closing, however, with a statement of the true means for attaining happiness (see ¶ 20 and notes). In February, Garrick produced Johnson's

8. Irene (1749), a five-act tragedy, in blank verse,

written in 1737.

The action is based upon the passionate love of Mahomet the Great, first Sultan of the Turks, for a Greek captive, Irene. "The matchless fair has blessed him with compliance," just as his guards have detected a conspiracy against the throne. Its ringleader, the Grand Vizier, in his last moments upon the rack, accuses Irene of complicity. At the Sultan's command, his betrothed is led away to be strangled, and Mahomet, after the tardy disclosure of her innocence, is left to lament his fatal error.

9. The Rambler (1750-2) is described in ¶¶ 23-25, and List of Periodicals, p. xxx. After seven years of intermittent labor, Johnson completed his

10. Dictionary of the English Language (1755), with Preface, Grammar, and History of the Language, in two folio volumes. (See ¶¶ 27-29.) Six editions were published in

his lifetime, besides the Abridgment (1756). For an account of

11. The Idler (1758-60), see ¶ 30, and List of Periodicals, p. xxx. While writing these essays, Johnson published

12. Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia (1759), a short, didactic romance, similar in theme to no. 7. Rasselas and his sister Nekayah are confined, according to custom, in the "Happy Valley," where every conceivable desire may be gratified. Curious, however, to see the outside world, the prince and princess, with her attendant, Pekuah, and an old sage, Imlac, finally make their escape, and wander through the land. Their survey of mankind in many forms convinces them that human existence in general is miserable, and they ultimately return to the "Happy Valley." The story serves merely as the connecting thread of a series of moral disquisitions, but no attempt is made to solve the problem of life.

After a delay of nine years, Johnson issued his edition of 13. The Plays of William Shakespeare (1765), in eight volumes,

with notes, accounts of each play, and a celebrated Preface, containing a critical examination of the poet's works, a review of the labors of previous editors, and a statement of his method of annotation. Johnson's

14-17. Political Tracts (1770-5) are described in ¶¶ 43, 44, and List of Periodicals, p. xxx. They were published collectively in 1776, a year after the appearance of his

18. Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775), in which the descriptions of the country and its people are varied by entertaining reflections. His last and greatest work is 19. The Lives of the English Poets (1779-81), first published as biographical and critical prefaces to a collection of British poets (not edited by Johnson). The lives number fifty-two, and range from Cowley to Gray, including Milton, Dryden, Swift, Addison, and Pope, the last of which is the longest of Johnson's biographies. The Life of Savage (no. 5) is reprinted with practically no changes. (See ¶¶ 45-49.)

LIST OF PERIODICALS AND PAMPHLETS REFERRED TO IN THE LIFE OF JOHNSON.

Mar., 1750-Mar., 1752. (Semi-weekly.)

MACAULAY'S

LIFE OF JOHNSON.