Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Preface
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Part I Life and works
- Part II Critical fortunes
- Part III Contexts
- Chapter 10 America
- Chapter 11 Anglicanism
- Chapter 12 Anthropology
- Chapter 13 Authorship
- Chapter 14 Biography
- Chapter 15 Book trade
- Chapter 16 Clubs
- Chapter 17 Conversation
- Chapter 18 Dictionaries
- Chapter 19 Domestic life
- Chapter 20 Education
- Chapter 21 Empire
- Chapter 22 Essays
- Chapter 23 Fiction
- Chapter 24 History
- Chapter 25 Journalism
- Chapter 26 Law
- Chapter 27 Literary criticism
- Chapter 28 London
- Chapter 29 Medicine
- Chapter 30 Mental health
- Chapter 31 Money
- Chapter 32 Nationalism
- Chapter 33 Philosophy
- Chapter 34 Poetry
- Chapter 35 Politics
- Chapter 36 Scholarship
- Chapter 37 Science and technology
- Chapter 38 Scotland
- Chapter 39 Sermons
- Chapter 40 Shakespeare
- Chapter 41 Slavery and abolition
- Chapter 42 Social hierarchy
- Chapter 43 Theatre
- Chapter 44 Travel
- Chapter 45 Visual arts
- Chapter 46 War
- Chapter 47 Women writers
- Further reading
- Index
- References
Chapter 36 - Scholarship
from Part III - Contexts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Preface
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Part I Life and works
- Part II Critical fortunes
- Part III Contexts
- Chapter 10 America
- Chapter 11 Anglicanism
- Chapter 12 Anthropology
- Chapter 13 Authorship
- Chapter 14 Biography
- Chapter 15 Book trade
- Chapter 16 Clubs
- Chapter 17 Conversation
- Chapter 18 Dictionaries
- Chapter 19 Domestic life
- Chapter 20 Education
- Chapter 21 Empire
- Chapter 22 Essays
- Chapter 23 Fiction
- Chapter 24 History
- Chapter 25 Journalism
- Chapter 26 Law
- Chapter 27 Literary criticism
- Chapter 28 London
- Chapter 29 Medicine
- Chapter 30 Mental health
- Chapter 31 Money
- Chapter 32 Nationalism
- Chapter 33 Philosophy
- Chapter 34 Poetry
- Chapter 35 Politics
- Chapter 36 Scholarship
- Chapter 37 Science and technology
- Chapter 38 Scotland
- Chapter 39 Sermons
- Chapter 40 Shakespeare
- Chapter 41 Slavery and abolition
- Chapter 42 Social hierarchy
- Chapter 43 Theatre
- Chapter 44 Travel
- Chapter 45 Visual arts
- Chapter 46 War
- Chapter 47 Women writers
- Further reading
- Index
- References
Summary
Scho′larship. n.s. [from scholar]
1. Learning; literature; knowledge.
It pitied my heart to think that a man of my master’s understanding, and great scholarship, who had a book of his own in print, should talk so outrageously. Pope.
When Samuel Johnson left Lichfield for London in 1737, he dreamed not of fame and fortune but of a reputation as a scholar. As Robert DeMaria writes, the young Johnson chose “his heroes from the … European scholar-poets,” including “Buchanan, Scaliger, Erasmus, Heinsius, and Burman” – all distinguished classicists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries – and he longed to join their ranks.
In the eighteenth century, the word scholarship meant proficiency in Greek and Latin – the modern languages were only just beginning to receive serious attention. But Johnson was well prepared for a career in classical studies. Sir John Hawkins noted that he “had through his life a propensity to Latin composition: he shewed it very early at school” (Hawkins, Life, p. 9). When he went to Pembroke College, Oxford, for a kind of admissions interview, his father “seemed very full of the merits of his son, and told the company he was a good scholar, and a poet, and wrote Latin verses.” But Johnson himself sat silent and failed to impress. In the course of conversation, though, “he suddenly struck in and quoted Macrobius” – a fairly obscure fifth-century grammarian – and the tutor knew at once he was dealing with a serious young man. “Thus,” writes Boswell, “he gave the first impression of that more extensive reading in which he had indulged himself” (Boswell, Life, 1:59).
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- Samuel Johnson in Context , pp. 312 - 319Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011