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==Biography==
==Biography==
===Early life and education===
===Early life and education===
Born on 18 September 1709 (New Style) to Michael Johnson, a bookseller, and his wife, Sarah Ford,<ref name="Bate p. 5">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=5}}</ref> Samuel Johnson often claimed that he grew up in poverty. Since both families had money, it is uncertain what happened between Michael and Sarah's marriage and the birth of Samuel just three years later to provoke such a change in fortune.<ref name="Lane p. 1314">{{Harvnb|Lane|1975|pp=13–14}}</ref> Johnson was born in the home above his father's bookshop in Lichfield, Staffordshire and,<ref name="Bate p. 5"/> because his mother Sarah was 40 when she gave birth, a "man-midwife" and surgeon of "great reputation" named George Hector was brought in to assist.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lane|1975|pp=15–16}}</ref> He did not cry and, with doubts surrounding the newborn's health, his aunt claimed "that she would not have picked such a poor creature up in the street".<ref name = "Watkins p.25"/> As it was feared the baby might die, the vicar of St Mary's was summoned to perform a baptism.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lane|1975|p=16}}</ref> Two godfathers were chosen: Samuel Swynfen, a physician and graduate of Pembroke College, Oxford, and Richard Wakefield, a lawyer, coroner, and Lichfield town clerk.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|pp=5–6}}</ref>
Johnson's health improved and he was put to wet-nurse with Joan Marklew. He soon contracted scrofula,<ref name="Lane pp. 16-17">{{Harvnb|Lane|1975|pp=16–17}}</ref> known at that time as the "King's Evil" because it was thought royalty could cure it. Sir John Floyer, former physician to Charles II of England|Charles II, recommended that the young Johnson should receive the " scrofula|royal touch ",<ref name="Lane p. 18">{{Harvnb|Lane|1975|p=18}}</ref> which he received from Queen Anne on 30 March 1712. However, the ritual was ineffective, and an operation was performed that left him with permanent scars across his face and body.<ref name="Lane pp. 19-20">{{Harvnb|Lane|1975|pp=19–20}}</ref> With the birth of Johnson's brother, Nathaniel, a few months later, Michael was unable to keep on top of the debts he had accumulated over the years, and his family was no longer able to live in the style to which it had been accustomed.<ref name="Lane pp. 20-21">{{Harvnb|Lane|1975|pp=20–21}}</ref>
{{quote box|quoted=yes|width=25em|align=left|quote=When he was a child in petticoats, and had learned to read, Mrs Johnson one morning put the common prayer-book into his hands, pointed to the collect for the day, and said, 'Sam, you must get this by heart.' She went up stairs, leaving him to study it: But by the time she had reached the second floor, she heard him following her. 'What's the matter?' said she. 'I can say it,' he replied; and repeated it distinctly, though he could not have read it over more than twice.<ref>{{Harvnb|Boswell|1986|p=38}}</ref>
|source=Boswell's ''Life of Samuel Johnson''}}
Johnson demonstrated signs of great intelligence as a child, and his parents, to his later disgust, would show off his "newly acquired accomplishments".<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|pp=18–19}}</ref> His education began at the age of three, and came from his mother who had him memorise and recite passages from the Book of Common Prayer .<ref name="Bate p. 21">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=21}}</ref> When Johnson turned four, he was sent to a nearby school, and, when he reached the age of six, he was sent to a retired shoemaker to continue his education.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lane|1975|pp=25–26}}</ref> A year later, Johnson was sent to Lichfield Grammar School, where he excelled in Latin.<ref name="Lane p. 26">{{Harvnb|Lane|1975|p= 26}}</ref> During this time, Johnson started to exhibit the tics that would influence how people viewed him in his later years, and which formed the basis for the posthumous diagnosis of Tourette syndrome .<ref name="Demaria pp. 5-6">{{Harvnb|DeMaria|1994|pp=5–6}}</ref> He excelled at his studies and was promoted to the upper school at the age of nine.<ref name="Lane p. 26"/> During this time, he befriended Edmund Hector, nephew of his "man-midwife" George Hector, and John Taylor, with whom he remained in contact for the rest of his life.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=23, 31}}</ref>
At the age of 16, Johnson was given the opportunity to stay with his cousins, the Fords, at Pedmore, Worcestershire.<ref name="Lane p. 29">{{Harvnb|Lane|1975|p=29}}</ref> There he became a close friend of Cornelius Ford, who employed his knowledge of the classics to tutor Johnson while he was not attending school.<ref name="Wain p. 32">{{Harvnb|Wain|1974|p=32}}</ref> Ford was a successful, well-connected academic, but was also a notorious alcoholic whose excesses contributed to his death six years after Johnson's visit.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lane|1975|p=30}}</ref> Having spent six months with his cousins, Johnson returned to Lichfield, but Mr. Hunter, the headmaster, "angered by the impertinence of this long absence", refused to allow him to continue at the grammar school.<ref name="Lane p. 33">{{Harvnb|Lane|1975|p=33}}</ref> Unable to return to Lichfield Grammar School, Johnson was enrolled into the King Edward VI grammar school at Stourbridge.<ref name="Wain p. 32"/> Because the school was located near Pedmore, Johnson was able to spend more time with the Fords, and he began to write poems and verse translations.<ref name="Lane p. 33"/> However, he spent only six months at Stourbridge before returning once again to his parents' home in Lichfield.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=61}}</ref>
During this time, Johnson's future was uncertain as his father was deeply in debt.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lane|1975|p=34}}</ref> To earn money, Johnson began to stitch books for his father, and it is possible that Johnson spent most of his time in his father's bookshop reading various works and building his literary knowledge. They remained in poverty until Sarah Johnson's cousin, Elizabeth Harriotts, died in February 1728 and left enough money to send Johnson to college.<ref name="Bate p. 87"/> On 31 October 1728, a few weeks after he turned 19, Johnson entered Pembroke College, Oxford.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lane|1975|p=39}}</ref> The inheritance did not cover all of his expenses at Pembroke, but Andrew Corbet, a friend and fellow student at Pembroke, offered to make up the deficit.<ref name="Bate p. 88">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=88}}</ref>
Johnson made friends at Pembroke and read much. In later life, he told stories of his idleness.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|pp=90–100}}. Bate also comments that Johnson's standard of effort was very high, so high that Johnson said he had never known a man to study hard.</ref> He was later asked by his tutor to produce a Latin translation of Alexander Pope 's ''Messiah'' as a Christmas exercise.<ref>{{Harvnb|Boswell|1986|pp=91–92}}</ref> Johnson completed half of the translation in one afternoon and the rest the following morning. Although the poem brought him praise, it did not bring the material benefit he had hoped for.<ref name="Bate p. 92">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=92}}</ref> The poem later appeared in ''Miscellany of Poems'' (1731), edited by John Husbands, a Pembroke tutor, and is the earliest surviving publication of any of Johnson's writings. Johnson spent the rest of his time studying, even over the Christmas vacation. He drafted a "plan of study" called "Adversaria", which was left unfinished, and used his time to learn French while working on his knowledge of Greek.<ref name="Bate p. 9394">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|pp=93–94}}</ref>
After thirteen months, a shortage of funds forced Johnson to leave Oxford without a degree, and he returned to Lichfield.<ref name="Bate p. 87">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=87}}</ref> Towards the end of Johnson's stay at Oxford his tutor, Jorden, left Pembroke and was replaced by William Adams (master)|William Adams . He enjoyed Adams as a tutor, but by December, Johnson was already a quarter behind in his student fees, and he was forced to return home. He left behind many books that he had borrowed from his father because he could not afford to transport them and as a symbolic gesture in that he hoped to return to his studies soon.<ref name="Bate p. 106107">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|pp=106–107}}</ref>
He eventually received a degree: just before the publication of his ''Dictionary'' in 1755, Oxford University awarded Johnson the degree of Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|Master of Arts .<ref>{{Harvnb|Lane|1975|pp=128–129}}</ref> He was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1765 by Trinity College Dublin and in 1775 by Oxford University.<ref name="Bate Achievement p. 36">{{Harvnb|Bate|1955|p=36}}</ref> In 1776, he returned to Pembroke with Boswell and toured the college with his previous tutor Adams, who was then its Master. He used that visit to recount his time at the college, his early career, and to express his later fondness for Jorden.<ref name="Bate p. 99">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=99}}</ref>
==The Dictionary==
==The Dictionary==