Johnson, Samuel. A distinguished English writer and lexicographer. Was born in Liehfield, England, 1709. He was educated in his father's library and at Oxford. After a varied and precarious early career, he slowly gained foremost place in the literature of his day. Among many noted works the most useful was his "Dictionary." In 1759 he wrote his celebrated romance of "Rasselas, which he composed in the evenings of one week in order to defray the funeral expenses of his mother. He died at London, 1784. His remains were interred in Westminster Abbey, and his statue was placed in St. Paul's Cathedral. Among his works are "Lives of the Poets," "The Rambler," and "The Vanity of Human Wishes."

---