I am ashamed to confess that until reading this engaging book, my assumptions about Samuel Johnson had been almost exclusively derived from the episode of Blackadder which covers the compilation of his famous dictionary.

I recently read a biography of John Buchan, and was moved to wonder where he found the time not merely to pursue, but to achieve considerable success in, several different careers (politician, barrister, writer). The same could equally validly be asked about Johnson. Henry Hitchings portrays a life in which every moment seems to have been crammed with literary engagement, whether reading classics, composing verse, spearheading critical consideration of William Shakespeare or reeling off screeds of journalism addressing almost any subject one might care to mention.

Now best remembered for his dictionary (one of the earliest to apply historical principles and to use illustrative quotations to demonstrate semantic shift), he had already established himself as a successful poet, and had had plays performed on the London stage before embarking on his lexicographical work. He was also one of the first scholars to attempt serious literary criticism of Shakespeare’s plays, which in his time were still generally lumped together with the works of other sixteenth and seventeenth century dramatists.

His portrayal by Robbie Coltrane in Blackadder is of someone perpetually annoyed (surly to bed, surly to rise), but that characterisation is contrary to the impression formed from Boswell’s account of his life, although that is far from a hagiography. He was a clubbable man, who enjoyed company, although he spent much of his life challenged by financial worries. Indeed, it was the need always to be mindful of where the next few pounds might be coming that fired his prolific literary exertions.

Henry Hitchings’s book takes the form of short chapters, each focusing on a specific aspect of Johnson’s life, and I was frequently reminded of Sarah Bakewell’s marvellous book on Montaigne, How To Live. Hitchings is, himself, an amusing writer, although I felt that he subsided into anachronous asides a little more often than was prudent. Still, he paints an entertaining picture of a talented and engaging man, that has prompted me to delve more widely into Johnson’s own works. ( )