Editing Samuel Johnson (section)

===Early career===
Little is known about Johnson's life between the end of 1729 and 1731. It is likely that he lived with his parents. He experienced bouts of mental anguish and physical pain during years of illness;<ref name="Bate p. 127">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=127}}</ref> his tics and gesticulations associated with Tourette syndrome became more noticeable and were often commented upon.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wiltshire|1991|p=24}}</ref> By 1731 Johnson's father was deeply in debt and had lost much of his standing in Lichfield. Johnson hoped to obtain the position of a [[Schoolmaster#Usher|school usher]], which became available at Stourbridge Grammar School, but since he did not have a degree, his application was passed over on 6 September 1731.<ref name="Bate p. 127"/> At about this time, Johnson's father became ill and developed an "inflammatory fever" which led to his death in December 1731 when Johnson was twenty-two.<ref name="Bate p. 129">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=129}}</ref>  Devastated by his father's death, Johnson sought to atone for an occasion he did not go with his father to sell books. Johnson stood for a "considerable time bareheaded in the rain" in the spot his father's stall used to be. After the publication of Boswell's ''Life of Samuel Johnson,'' a statue was erected in that spot.<ref name="Boswell"/>

Johnson eventually found employment as [[wikt:undermaster|undermaster]] at a school in [[Market Bosworth]], run by Sir [[Wolstan Dixie, 4th Baronet|Wolstan Dixie]], who allowed Johnson to teach without a degree.<ref>{{Harvnb|Boswell|1986|pp=130–131}}</ref> Johnson was treated as a servant,<ref>{{Harvnb|Hopewell|1950|p= 53}}</ref> and considered teaching boring, but nonetheless found pleasure in it. After an argument with Dixie he left the school, and by June 1732 he had returned home.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|pp=131–132}}</ref>

Johnson continued to look for a position at a Lichfield school. After being turned down for a job at Ashbourne School, he spent time with his friend Edmund Hector, who was living in the home of the publisher [[Thomas Warren]]. At the time, Warren was starting his ''[[Birmingham Journal (eighteenth century)|Birmingham Journal]]'', and he enlisted Johnson's help.<ref name="Bate p. 134">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=134}}</ref> This connection with Warren grew, and Johnson proposed a translation of [[Jerónimo Lobo]]'s account of the [[Ethiopian Empire|Abyssinians]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Boswell|1986|pp=137–138}}</ref> Johnson read Abbé Joachim Le Grand's French translations, and thought that a shorter version might be "useful and profitable".<ref name="Bate p. 138">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=138}}</ref> Instead of writing the work himself, he dictated to Hector, who then took the copy to the printer and made any corrections. Johnson's ''A Voyage to Abyssinia'' was published a year later.<ref name="Bate p. 138"/> He returned to Lichfield in February 1734, and began an annotated edition of [[Poliziano]]'s Latin poems, along with a history of Latin poetry from [[Petrarch]] to Poliziano; a ''Proposal'' was soon printed, but a lack of funds halted the project.<ref>{{Harvnb|Boswell|1986|pp=140–141}}</ref>
[[File:Mrs. Samuel Johnson (by Vereist).jpg|thumb|upright|Elizabeth "Tetty" Porter, Johnson's wife]]
Johnson remained with his close friend Harry Porter during a terminal illness,<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=144}}</ref> which ended in Porter's death on 3 September 1734. Porter's wife [[Elizabeth Johnson (1689–1752)|Elizabeth (née Jervis)]] (otherwise known as "Tetty") was now a widow at the age of 45, with three children.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=143}}</ref> Some months later, Johnson began to court her. [[William Shaw (Gaelic scholar)|William Shaw]], a friend and biographer of Johnson, claims that "the first advances probably proceeded from her, as her attachment to Johnson was in opposition to the advice and desire of all her relations,"<ref>{{Harvnb|Boswell|1969|p=88}}</ref> Johnson was inexperienced in such relationships, but the well-to-do widow encouraged him and promised to provide for him with her substantial savings.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=145}}</ref> They married on 9 July 1735, at [[St Werburgh's Church, Derby|St Werburgh's Church]] in [[Derby]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=147}}</ref> The Porter family did not approve of the match, partly because of the difference in their ages: Johnson was 25 and Elizabeth was 46. Elizabeth's marriage to Johnson so disgusted her son Jervis that he severed all relations with her.<ref name="Wain p. 65">{{Harvnb|Wain|1974|p=65}}</ref> However, her daughter Lucy accepted Johnson from the start, and her other son, Joseph, later came to accept the marriage.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=146}}</ref>

[[File:Edial Hall School.jpg|thumb|[[Edial Hall School]]]]
In June 1735, while working as a tutor for the children of Thomas Whitby, a local Staffordshire gentleman, Johnson had applied for the position of headmaster at [[Solihull School]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|pp=153–154}}</ref> Although Johnson's friend [[Gilbert Walmisley]] gave his support, Johnson was passed over because the school's directors thought he was "a very haughty, ill-natured gent, and that he has such a way of distorting his face (which though he can't help) the gents think it may affect some lads".<ref name="Bate p. 154">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=154}}</ref> With Walmisley's encouragement, Johnson decided that he could be a successful teacher if he ran his own school.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=153}}</ref> In the autumn of 1735, Johnson opened [[Edial Hall School]] as a private academy at [[Edial]], near Lichfield. He had only three pupils: Lawrence Offley, George Garrick, and the 18-year-old [[David Garrick]], who later became one of the most famous actors of his day.<ref name="Bate p. 154"/> The venture was unsuccessful and cost Tetty a substantial portion of her fortune. Instead of trying to keep the failing school going, Johnson began to write his first major work, the historical tragedy ''[[Irene (play)|Irene]]''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=156}}</ref> Biographer Robert DeMaria believed that Tourette syndrome likely made public occupations like schoolmaster or tutor almost impossible for Johnson. This may have led Johnson to "the invisible occupation of authorship".<ref name="Demaria pp. 5-6"/>

Johnson left for London with his former pupil David Garrick on 2 March 1737, the day Johnson's brother died. He was penniless and pessimistic about their travel, but fortunately for them, Garrick had connections in London, and the two were able to stay with his distant relative, Richard Norris.<ref name="Bate p. 16465">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|pp=164–165}}</ref> Johnson soon moved to [[Greenwich]] near the Golden Hart Tavern to finish ''Irene''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Boswell|1986|pp=168–169}}</ref> On 12 July 1737 he wrote to [[Edward Cave]] with a proposal for a translation of [[Paolo Sarpi]]'s ''The History of the Council of Trent'' (1619), which Cave did not accept until months later.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wain|1974|p=81}}; {{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=169}}</ref> In October 1737 Johnson brought his wife to London, and he found employment with Cave as a writer for ''[[The Gentleman's Magazine]]''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Boswell|1986|pp=169–170}}</ref> His assignments for the magazine and other publishers during this time were "almost unparalleled in range and variety," and "so numerous, so varied and scattered" that "Johnson himself could not make a complete list".<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1955|p=14}}</ref>

[[File:Johnson London 01.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Title page of ''London'' second edition]]
In May 1738 his first major work, the poem ''[[London (1738 poem)|London]]'', was published anonymously.<ref name="Lynch p. 5">{{Harvnb|Lynch|2003|p= 5}}</ref> Based on [[Juvenal]]'s [[Satires of Juvenal#Satire III: There is no Room in Roma for a Roman|Satire III]], it describes the character Thales leaving for Wales to escape the problems of London,<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=172}}</ref> which is portrayed as a place of crime, corruption, and poverty. Johnson could not bring himself to regard the poem as earning him any merit as a poet.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1955|p=18}}</ref> Alexander Pope said that the author "will soon be déterré" (unearthed, dug up), but this would not happen until 15 years later.<ref name="Lynch p. 5"/>

In August, Johnson's lack of an [[Master of Arts|MA degree]] from Oxford or Cambridge led to his being denied a position as master of the Appleby Grammar School. In an effort to end such rejections, Pope asked [[John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower|Lord Gower]] to use his influence to have a degree awarded to Johnson.<ref name="Watkins p.25">{{Harvnb|Watkins|1960|p=25}}</ref> Gower petitioned Oxford for an honorary degree to be awarded to Johnson, but was told that it was "too much to be asked".<ref name="Bate p. 182">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=182}}</ref> Gower then asked a friend of [[Jonathan Swift]] to plead with Swift to use his influence at [[Trinity College Dublin]] to have a master's degree awarded to Johnson, in the hope that this could then be used to justify an MA from Oxford,<ref name="Bate p. 182"/> but these efforts were again in vain, and unforthcoming.<ref>{{Harvnb|Watkins|1960|pp=25–26}}</ref>

Between 1737 and 1739, Johnson befriended poet [[Richard Savage (poet)|Richard Savage]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Watkins|1960|p=51}}</ref> Feeling guilty of living almost entirely on Tetty's money, Johnson stopped living with her and spent his time with Savage. They were poor and would stay in taverns or sleep in "night-cellars". Some nights they would roam the streets until dawn because they had no money.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|pp=178–179}}</ref> During this period, Johnson and Savage worked as [[Grub Street]] writers who anonymously supplied publishers with on-demand material. In his ''Dictionary,'' Johnson defined "grub street" as "the name of a street in Moorfields in London, much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems, whence any mean production is called ''grubstreet."'' Savage's friends tried to help him by attempting to persuade him to move to Wales, but Savage ended up in Bristol and again fell into debt. He was committed to debtors' prison and died in 1743. A year later, Johnson wrote ''[[Life of Mr Richard Savage]]'' (1744), a "moving" work which, in the words of the biographer and critic [[Walter Jackson Bate]], "remains one of the innovative works in the history of biography".<ref>{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|pp=180–181}}</ref>