Life of Johnson, Volume 6 | Page 8

n. 2). The Proposal, I have no doubt, was either written, or
at all events revised, by Johnson. It is quite in his style. It may be
assumed that it is in Bathurst's handwriting.
II.
_An apologetical letter about some work that was passing through the
press; undated, but probably written about the years 1753-5_.[In the
possession of Mr. Frederick Barker.]
'DEAR SIR,
'What you tell me I am ashamed never to have thought on--I wish I had
known it sooner--Send me back the last sheet; and the last copy for
correction. If you will promise me henceforward to print a sheet a day,
I will promise you to endeavour that you shall have every day a sheet to

print, beginning next Tuesday.
'I am Sir, Your most, &c.
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
'To Mr. Strahan.'
In all likelihood Johnson is writing about the Dictionary. The absence
of a date, as I have already said, is strong evidence that the letter was
written comparatively early. As the first edition of the Dictionary was
in folio a sheet consisted of four pages. Johnson writing on April 3,
1753 says, 'I began the second vol. of my Dictionary, room being left in
the first for Preface, Grammar, and History, none of them yet begun'
(ante, i. 255). As the book was published on April 15, 1755 (ante, i.
290, n. 1), the printing must have gone on very rapidly, when a start
was once made. By copy he means his manuscript for printing.
III, IV.
Two undated letters about printing the Dictionary.[In the possession of
Mr. John Waller, 2, Artesian Road, Westbourne Grove.]
'DEAR SIR,
'I must desire you to add to your other civilities this one, to go to Mr.
Millar and represent to him the manner of going on, and inform him
that I know not how to manage. I pay three and twenty shillings a week
to my assistants, in each instance having much assistance from them,
but they tell me they shall be able to pull better in method, as indeed I
intend they shall. The Point is to get two Guineas.
'Sir, Your humble Servant, 'SAM. JOHNSON.' (Address on back.) 'To
Mr. Strahan.'
'SIR,
'I have often suspected that it is as you say, and have told Mr. Dodsley
of it. It proceeds from the haste of the amanuensis to get to the end of
his day's work. I have desired the passages to be clipped close, and then
perhaps for two or three leaves it is done. But since poor Stuart's time I
could never get that part of the work into regularity, and perhaps never
shall. I will try to take some more care but can promise nothing; when I
am told there is a sheet or two I order it away. You will find it

sometimes close; when I make up any myself, which never happens but
when I have nobody with me, I generally clip it close, but one cannot
always be on the watch.
'I am Sir, Your most, &c. 'SAM. JOHNSON.'
These letters refer to the printing of the Dictionary, of which Dodsley
and Millar were two among the proprietors, and Strahan the printer.
Francis Stuart or Stewart was one of Johnson's amanuenses (ante, i.
187). In 1779 Johnson paid his sister a guinea for an old pocket-book of
her brother's (ante, iii. 418), and wrote on April 8,1780 (ante, iii.
421):--'The memory of her brother is yet fresh in my mind; he was an
ingenious and worthy man.' In February 1784 he gave her another
guinea for a letter relating to himself that he had found in the
pocket-book (ante, iv. 262). A writer in the _Gent. Mag._ for 1799, p.
1171, who had been employed in Strahan's printing-works, says that
'Stewart was useful to Johnson in the explanation of low cant phrases;
all words relating to gambling and card-playing, such as _All-Fours_,
_Catch-honours_ [not in Johnson's Dictionary], Cribbage [merely
defined as _A game at cards_], were said to be Stewart's corrected by
the Doctor.' He adds that after the printing had gone on some time 'the
proprietors of the Dictionary paid Johnson through Mr. Strahan at the
rate of a guinea for every sheet of MS. copy delivered. The copy was
written upon quarto post, and in two columns each page. Johnson wrote
in his own hand the words and their explanation, and generally two or
three words in each column, leaving a space between each for the
authorities, which were pasted on as they were collected by the
different amanuenses employed: and in this mode the MS. was so
regular that the sheets of MS. which made a sheet of print could be very
exactly ascertained.' The same writer states that Stewart in a night
ramble in Edinburgh with some of his