tive of
Derbyshire, of obscure extraction, settled as a bookseller and
stationer. He was diligent in business, and not only "kept shop" at
home, but, on market days, frequented several towns in the
neighbourhood,[2] some of which were at a considerable distance from
Lichfield. "At that time booksellers' shops in the provincial towns of
England were very rare, so that there was not one even in Birmingham,
in which town old Mr. Johnson used to open a shop every market-day. He
was a pretty good Latin scholar, and a citizen so creditable as to be
made one of the magistrates of Lichfield; and, being a man of good
sense and skill in his trade, he acquired a reasonable share of
wealth, of which, however, he afterwards lost the greatest part, by
engaging unsuccessfully in the manufacture of parchment."[3] This
failure is attributed to the dishonesty of a servant; but it is
observable in connexion with an incident in Dr. Johnson's literary
history, which has not escaped the keen eye of Mr. Croker, the
ingenious annotator of Boswell's _Life_ of the great lexicographer.[4]

[2] To show the great estimation in which the father of our
great moralist was held, we may quote a letter, dated
"Trentham, St. Peter's Day, 1716," written by the Rev.
George Plaxton, then chaplain to Lord Gower:--"Johnson,
the Lichfield librarian, is now here. He propagates
learning all over this diocese, and advanceth knowledge to
its just height. All the clergy here are his pupils, and
suck all they have from him; Allen cannot make a warrant
without his precedent, nor our quondam John Evans draw a
recognizance _sine directione Michaelis_."--_Gent. Mag.
Oct. 1791_.

[3] Boswell, vol. i. p. 14.

[4] Johnson, in his Dictionary, defines EXCISE "a hateful tax,
levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the _common
judges_ of property, but by _wretches_ hired by those to
whom excise is paid;" and, in the _Idler_ (No. 65) he
calls a _commissioner of excise_ "one of the _lowest_ of
all human beings." This violence of language seems so
little reasonable, that the editor was induced to suspect
some cause of _personal animosity_; this mention of the
trade in parchment (an _excisable_ article) afforded a
clue, which has led to the confirmation of that suspicion.
In the records of the Excise Bo