Graffiti, Hurlo Thrumbo, and the Other Samuel Johnson," _Forum:
A Journal of the Humanities and Fine Arts_ 17 (1979): 35-47.]

[Footnote 6: Michael Treadwell has demonstrated that the "trade
publishers" of the eighteenth century, such as James Roberts, acted
almost exclusively as binders and distributors of books and were
therefore different in kind from the printers and booksellers, who
were directly involved in the selection and production process.
Roberts and the other "trade publishers" dealt almost exclusively in
"works belonging to others," and Treadwell singles out Roberts as
the purest example. Despite putting his name to "literally thousands
of works," he never purchased any of the copyrights on works during
his long career. See "London Trade Publishers, 1675-1750,"
_Library_, 6th ser., 4 (1982): 99-134.]

At the first level, _Hurlothrumbo: Or, The Super-Natural_ (1729) itself
appears to be quite simply a parody, in this case of opera in the form
of a work mixing dialogue and song in a manner similar to but much
wilder than Gay's _Beggar's Opera_. Johnson's apparent takeoff on the
heroics of opera managed to include in its attack a commentary upon the
absurdity of contemporary tragedy as well as some specific references to
those works that aimed at the sublime. Lines like "This World is all a
Dream, an Outside, a Dunghill pav'd with Diamonds" (48) seem to call the
very nature of metaphor into question, especially when juxtaposed with
other delirious lines such as "Rapture is the Egg of Love, hatched
by a radiant Eye" (14) or by songs such as that sung by the king on
contemplating the effects of swallowing gunpowder and brandy together:

Then Lightning from the Nostrils flies.
Swift Thunder-bolts from Anus, and the Mouth will break,
With Sounds to pierce the Skies, and make the Earth to quake.
(P. 42)

_Hurlothrumbo_ may be mostly nonsense, but from the standpoint of
literary history, it is highly significant nonsense. It represented a
revolt against all dramatic conventions and shared a number of qualities
with graffiti, including the sense of spontaneity.

Had Johnson's intention been something as relatively uncomplicated as
literary parody he would have achieved some minor fame in a century
which could boast any number of geniuses who had specialized in deriding
the pretentiousness of the more established literary forms, p