Samuel Johnson, with the help of a band of Scottish copyists working in the attic of his house, just off Fleet Street in London, produced in 1755 one of the first English Dictionaries. The project took six years to complete. Johnson was a noted English writer, but he was also a noted conversationalist, as James Boswell demonstrated to the world, in his The Life of Samuel Johnson, first published in 1791.
If you are wondering why Samuel Johnson is appearing on a constitutional law blog, it is because law, and constitutional law in particular, does not do well without some sense of style that lends to the gritty words of law and of justice an occasional spark of deeper insight, of humor, or of irony. Johnson had a gift for wry and insightful commentary. In his dictionary he offered these among his definitions:
1) Lexicographer - a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words.
2) Oats - a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.
3) Patron - commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery.
4) Pension - An allowance made to one without an equivalent. In England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country.
5) Tory - a cant term, derived, I suppose from an Irish word signifying a savage.
Johnson was the master of the pithy aphorism. Here are a few, often with considerable philosophical insight, to help make your weekend more enjoyable. Download samuel_johnson.doc
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