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===''A Dictionary of the English Language''===

===''A Dictionary of the English Language''===

In 1746, a group of publishers approached Johnson about creating an authoritative dictionary of the English language;<ref name="Lynch p. 5"/> a contract with William Strahan and associates, worth 1,500 guineas, was signed on the morning of 18 June 1746.<ref name="Hitchings">{{Harvnb|Hitchings|2005|p=54}}</ref> Johnson claimed that he could finish the project in three years. In comparison, the Académie Française had forty scholars spending forty years to complete its dictionary, which prompted Johnson to claim, "This is the proportion. Let me see; forty times forty is sixteen hundred. As three to sixteen hundred, so is the proportion of an Englishman to a Frenchman".<ref name="Lynch p. 5"/> Although he did not succeed in completing the work in three years, he did manage to finish it in nine, justifying his boast.<ref name="Lynch p. 5"/> According to Bate, the ''Dictionary'' "easily ranks as one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship, and probably the greatest ever performed by one individual who laboured under anything like the disadvantages in a comparable length of time".<ref name="Bate240">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=240}}</ref> However, others, such as Thomas Babington Macaulay who described Johnson as "a wretched etymologist," have criticised Johnson's dictionary.<ref>Winchester 2003, p.33</ref>

In 1746, a group of publishers approached Johnson about creating an authoritative dictionary of the English language;<ref name="Lynch p. 5"/> a contract with William Strahan and associates, worth 1,500 guineas, was signed on the morning of 18 June 1746.<ref name="Hitchings">{{Harvnb|Hitchings|2005|p=54}}</ref> Johnson claimed that he could finish the project in three years. In comparison, the Académie Française had forty scholars spending forty years to complete its dictionary, which prompted Johnson to claim, "This is the proportion. Let me see; forty times forty is sixteen hundred. As three to sixteen hundred, so is the proportion of an Englishman to a Frenchman".<ref name="Lynch p. 5"/> Although he did not succeed in completing the work in three years, he did manage to finish it in nine, justifying his boast.<ref name="Lynch p. 5"/> According to Bate, the ''Dictionary'' "easily ranks as one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship, and probably the greatest ever performed by one individual who laboured under anything like the disadvantages in a comparable length of time".<ref name="Bate240"/> However, others, such as Thomas Babington Macaulay who described Johnson as "a wretched etymologist," have criticised Johnson's dictionary.<ref>Winchester 2003, p.33</ref>

Johnson's dictionary was not the first, nor was it unique. It was, however, the most commonly used and imitated for the 150 years between its first publication and the completion of the '' Oxford English Dictionary '' in 1928. Other dictionaries, such as Nathan Bailey 's ''Dictionarium Britannicum'', included more words,<ref name="Lynch p. 1"/> and in the 150 years preceding Johnson's dictionary about twenty other general-purpose monolingual "English" dictionaries had been produced.<ref name="Lynch p. 2">{{Harvnb|Lynch|2003|p=2}}</ref> However, there was open dissatisfaction with the dictionaries of the period. In 1741, David Hume claimed: "The Elegance and Propriety of Stile have been very much neglected among us. We have no Dictionary of our Language, and scarce a tolerable Grammar".<ref name="Lynch p. 4">{{Harvnb|Lynch|2003|p=4}}</ref> Johnson's ''Dictionary'' offers insights into the 18th century and "a faithful record of the language people used".<ref name="Lynch p. 1"/> It is more than a reference book; it is a work of literature.<ref name="Lynch p. 2"/>

Johnson's dictionary was not the first, nor was it unique. It was, however, the most commonly used and imitated for the 150 years between its first publication and the completion of the '' Oxford English Dictionary '' in 1928. Other dictionaries, such as Nathan Bailey 's ''Dictionarium Britannicum'', included more words,<ref name="Lynch p. 1"/> and in the 150 years preceding Johnson's dictionary about twenty other general-purpose monolingual "English" dictionaries had been produced.<ref name="Lynch p. 2">{{Harvnb|Lynch|2003|p=2}}</ref> However, there was open dissatisfaction with the dictionaries of the period. In 1741, David Hume claimed: "The Elegance and Propriety of Stile have been very much neglected among us. We have no Dictionary of our Language, and scarce a tolerable Grammar".<ref name="Lynch p. 4">{{Harvnb|Lynch|2003|p=4}}</ref> Johnson's ''Dictionary'' offers insights into the 18th century and "a faithful record of the language people used".<ref name="Lynch p. 1"/> It is more than a reference book; it is a work of literature.<ref name="Lynch p. 2"/>