I’m trying to read a compilation of Samuel Johnson’s The Rambler essays. I read a lot of books about the Eighteenth century, but not so many actually written during that period. That occurred to me while I was writing my last post about the James Boswell reading guide. So I decided to remedy that and bought a collection of essays by one of the century’s greatest writers: Samuel Johnson. I’m not making the progress I would like. He’s a tough read.
Interesting fellow, Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) was always going to be at or near the top of my list: he was the subject of James Boswell’s ground breaking biography, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791). He’s a really fascinating man. He was both slovenly in his dress and habits, afflicted by a condition like Tourette’s, he was kind-hearted to London’s poor and distressed, his brain was wired to enable him to compose in his head and speak and write with fearsome speed and wit, and his company and conversation was sought after by writers, artists, actors, aristocrats and politicians.
Samuel Johnson: The writer
His literary accomplishments are many, including the first modern dictionary of the English language (using quotations to illustrate usage), published in 1755. In 1759 he wrote the philosophical novel Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (the same year as Voltaire’s Candide, and with a similar plot!), in 1775 he published his A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, (a more serious account of the journey he made around Scotland with James Boswell) and from 1779 to 1781 he published his Lives of the Poets.
Samuel Johnson’s ‘The Rambler’ essays
Between 1750 and 1752 Samuel Johnson wrote 208 essays in a series called The Rambler. They were published anonymously in London in a single news sheet, a standalone pamphlet – not part of a newspaper – and sold for two pence. They were published every Tuesday and Saturday. Some anecdotes about Johnson and The Rambler:
- He was a famous procrastinator who put off work until the last minute. No problem for him though since he could compose a whole essay in his head and then write it down, hand it to an errand boy who would run it round to the printer. No first and second drafts or proof reading for him!
- He even procrastinated over what to call the essay series. When finally there was no more time to decide, he finally chose The Rambler. There’s nothing more behind the name, apparently.
- Boswell includes a lot of background to Johnson and The Rambler in the entries for 1750 in his Life of Samuel Johnson.
- He wrote these essays at the same time he was putting together his famous Dictionary, which took nine years, 1746-1755. This was an incredible feat of brainpower, resolve and creativity.
- Johnson wrote all the essays himself apart from a small handful. Other authors included Samuel Richardson, one of the founders of earliest English novel and Bluestocking Hester Mulso.
Buying The Rambler essays
I remember seeing a volume of collected Rambler essays a couple of years ago on Ebay, but I never bought it. They’re not rare and they’re inexpensive. I found a copy, ordered it and the postie delivered to me a book entitled, The Rambler And The Idler, The Adventurer, The Connoisseur. This is a volume dating from 1876, containing essays by Johnson (The Rambler and The Idler) and by John Hawkesworth (The Adventurer) and George Colman the Elder and Bonnell Thornton (The Connoisseur).
It’s a great big book, in tatty condition, gold embossed blue boards heavily frayed at the corners, it’s loose across its pages, but the bindings themselves are still tight. Published by Scots publisher William P Nimmo a century and a half ago, it’s now dirty and could do with a wash, but it’s precisely what I was looking for. It cost: £14.99 incl P&P.
“Great!” I say to myself. “Let’s get a taste of the real Eighteenth century.”
Reading a Samuel Johnson Rambler Essay
First night I lay in bed with my book-reading torch pointing at Rambler Essay Number 1: Difficulty of the first address. Practice of the epick poets. Convenience of periodical performances (pubd: Tuesday, 20 March, 1750.)
When you read a Rambler essay you’ll encounter a Latin quote (which he translates)
Cur tamen hoc potius libeat decurrere campo,
Per quem magnus equos Auruncæ flexit alumnus,
Si vacat, et placidi rationem admittitis, edam.
Juv. Sat. i. 19
Translation
Why to expatiate in this beaten field,
Why arms, oft us’d in vain, I mean to wield;
If time permit, and candour will attend,
Some satisfaction this essay may lend.
Yep, that’s a taste of things to come. It gets tougher from then on. The sentences are thick with long words. Here’s the first paragraph:
The difficulty of the first address on any new occasion, is felt by every man in his transactions with the world, and confessed by the settled and regular forms of salutation which necessity has introduced into all languages. Judgment was wearied with the perplexity of being forced upon choice, where there was no motive to preference; and it was found convenient that some easy method of introduction should be established, which, if it wanted the allurement of novelty, might enjoy the security of prescription.
‘Reading The Rambler’ Challenge
I didn’t get far reading that essay. I read and re-read each sentence and paragraph. And very quickly lost track of what was being said. It doesn’t help reading at night, at the end of the day, in the dark, while I’m laying horizontal. All factors inlined to make me drop off. So, I tried reading the next afternoon after work, in the daylight, sitting upright at the dining room table. That was no better.
I know there are lots of factors that hinder my comprehension. I tend not to read whole books, or even chapters, I mostly use my book collection as a reference library, therefore I’m out of practice at reading literary texts. I spend my days at work bashing away at the internet and reading short passages. I also write comms for a living and that’s a different kind of writing altogether.
I’m giving myself six months to practice reading Rambler essays. I’ll update this blog in January 2027.
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