a dictionary of the English language, in two folio
volumes. The sum which they agreed to pay him was only fifteen hundred
guineas; and out of this sum he had to pay several poor men of letters
who assisted him in the humbler parts of his task.

Johnson had flattered himself that he should have completed his
dictionary by the end of 1750, but it was not till 1755 that he at
length gave his huge volumes to the world. During the seven years
which he passed in the drudgery of penning definitions and marking
quotations for transcription, he sought for relaxation in literary
labor of a more agreeable kind. In 1749 he published the "Vanity of
Human Wishes," an excellent imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal.
It is, in truth, not easy to say whether the palm belongs to the
ancient or to the modern poet.

About a year after the representation of "Irene" he began to publish a
series of short essays on morals, manners, and literature. This
species of composition had been brought into fashion by the success of
_The Tattler_, and by the still more brilliant success of _The
Spectator_. A crowd of small writers had vainly attempted to rival
Addison. _The Lay Monastery_, _The Censor_, _The Freethinker_, _The
Plain-Dealer_, _The Champion_, and other works of the same kind, had
had their short day. None of them had obtained a permanent place in
our literature, and they are now to be found only in the libraries of
the curious. At length Johnson undertook the adventure in which so
many aspirants had failed. In the thirty-sixth year after the
appearance of the last number of _The Spectator_ appeared the first
number of _The Rambler_. From March, 1750, to March, 1752, this paper
continued to come out every Tuesday and Saturday.

From the first _The Rambler_ was enthusiastically admired by a few
eminent men. Richardson, when only five numbers had appeared, pronounced
it equal if not superior to _The Spectator_. Young and Hartley expressed
their approbation not less warmly. Bubb Dodington, among whose faults
indifference to the claims of genius and learning cannot be reckoned,
solicited the acquaintance of the writer. In consequence probably of the
good offices of Dodington, who was then the confidential adviser of
Prince Frederick, two of his Royal Highness's gentlemen carried a
gracious message to the printing-office, and ordered seven copies for
Leicester House.

The last _Rambler_ was written in a sad and gloomy hour. Mrs. Johnson