Johnson, Samuel (1), an English divine, and a learned but violent writer against popery in the roign of James II, was born in Warwickshire in 1649. He studied at St. Raid's School and at Trinity CoUege, Cam- bridge. In 1670 he obtained the living of Corrmgham, Essex, but continued to reside in London, and mingled much in politics. He was a friend of Essex, and chap- lain to lord William Russell, and advocated the succes- sion of the duke of York. He was a decided opponent of king James II and of his schemes to introduce popery as the religion of the state, and attacked Dr. Hickes (q. v.), the upholder of passive obedience, in a pamphlet entitled Julian the Apostate. He woidd have gone fur- ther had not the death of his protector, lord Russell, obliged him to become more prudent, and to keep his Julian's Arts to undermine Christianity unpubUshed. For having written the former work he was summoned before judge Jeffries, and of course condemned to a heavy fine. Unable to pay the fine, he was imprisoned, and during his confinement wrote A n humble and hearty Address to all Protestants in the preserd Army, intended to provoke a rebellion against king James II. He was now put in the pillory in Palace Yard, at Charing Cross, whipped, and fined, after being degraded from orders. After the Revolution of 1688, William III caused the verdict to be reversed, and gave him an indemnity. He died in 1703. His writings were collected and publish- ed under the style Works (2d ed. Lond. 1713, fol.). See Biographia Britannica ; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Genercde, xxvi, 791 ; Debarj', Hist. Ch. of Engl, from James II to 1717, p. 70 ; AUibone, Diet. Engl, and Amer. Authors, ii, 971. (E de P.)
Johnson, Samuel (2), D.D., an American divine, was born at Guilford, Conn., Oct. 14, 1696, and passed A.B. in 1714 at Yale College, then situated at Saybrook. On the removal of Yale to New Haven he became one of its tutors, and in 1720 pastor of the Congregational Church, West Haven. Determined to change his eccle- siastical relations, he went to England, and received episcopal ordination in 1723. He then visited Oxford and Cambridge, where he was made A.M., and returned to America. Upon his arrival he entered on the mis- sion of Stratford, Conn., and formed the acquaintance of William Burnet, son of the bishop of Salisbury. Hie
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ministerial duties were iw\v consitlerably increasetl, and his pen warmly engaged for some years in defence of episcopacy. In 1743 he was made D.D. by the Uni- versity of Oxford. In 1744 he was api)ointed president of King's College, New York, in which office he contin- ued till 1754, when he returned to Stratford, where he spent a tranquil and digniticd old age, cliiotly in literary labor. In 174(5 lie issued .1 .Si/s/im of Jfnralit;/. and in 1752 .1 Compemliiim <if L<>;jlr, Af(t(ipfi;/sirs. aiid Ethics, and other theological and miscellaneous treatises after this date. He died Jan. G, 1772. — Sprague, Annals, y, b-2 ; Allibone, Diet. Emj. and A m. A nth. ii, 971. (E. de P.)
Johnson, Samuel (3), LL.D., one of the most distinguisiied literary men of the eighteenth century, was born at Liclitield September 18, 1709. His early education was acquired in his native town. In 1728 he was entered at Pembroke College, Oxford, but, in consequence of the want of means, did not remain long enough to obtain his degree. In 1731 his father died insolvent. In the same j^ear he went to Bosworth as usher of a school. He soon became disgusted with the drudgery of teaching, and preferred to support him- self bjr working for bookseUers in Birmingham. In 1736 he married Mrs. Porter, the widow of a mercer, who brought him £800. Failing in an effort to estab- lish an academj', he repaired in 1737 to London, accom- panied by his celebrated pupil David Garrick. He now devoted himself entirely to literary labor. His first production which attracted notice was his London, a poem in imitation of the third satire of Juvenal. Hav- ing entered into an engagement with the Gentleman's Magazine, he published the parliamentary debates, which, being then a breach of privilege, came out under the fiction of Debates in the Senate of Lilliput. These obtained great celebrity on account of their extraordi- nary eloquence, and were almost exclusively the prod- uct of his own invention. The works which were now produced were celebrated beyond measure, and will ever be regarded as extraordinary monuments both of vigor and originality in thuiking, and of great though pon- derous ]iower of expression.
But Dr. Johnson had excellencies far superior to mere literary accomplishments. He was truly a devout man, and he possessed a vigor and independence of mind ■which enabled him to scorn the ridicule and silence the opposition of wits and worldlings to serious religion. He often recurred in after life to the impression made upon his tender imagination by his m^>ther's example and instruction. While a student at Oxford these im- pressions were revived and intensified, according to his own account, by the careful study of Law's Serious Call, in consequence of which he was incited to a devout and holy life. Serious and pious meditations and resolu- tions had been earlj' familiar to his mind. The pious gratitude with which he acknowledged mercies upon every occasion, the humble submission Avhich he breathes when it is the will of his heavenly Father to try him with affliction, show how seriously the mind of Johnson had been impressed with a sense of religion.