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Works of Samuel Johnson
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Table of Contents
  • Audiet Pugnas vitio Parentum / Rara Juventus. Hor: Young men—the few who are left after the crimes of their fathers—will hear of battles. [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Bonae leges ex malis moribus proveniunt: Good laws spring from bad habits [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Malos tueri haud tutum: Save a thief from the gallows and he’ll cut your throat [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Quis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam Praemia si tollas?: For who embraces virtue herself, if you take away the reward? [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Adjecere bonae paulo plus artis Athenae: Kind Athens Added a Little More Skill [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Mea nec Falernae Temperant Vites, neque Formiani Pocula Colles: Neither Falernian vines nor Formian hills mellow my cups [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Scheme for the Classes of a Grammar School
  • Advertisement for the School at Edial
  • Observations on Common Sense
  • Preface to the 1738 Volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine
  • Letter to the Gentleman's Magazine on Political Journalism
  • Appeal to the Publick
  • To the Reader. [Gentleman’s Magazine]
  • Considerations on the case of Dr T.—s Sermons abridg’d by Mr Cave
  • The Jests of Hierocles
  • Preface to the 1741 Volume of the Gentleman's Magazine
  • Review of An Account of the Conduct of the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough
  • Proposals for Printing, by Subscription, the Two First Volumes of Bibliotheca Harleiana
  • An Account of the Harleian Library
  • Notice in Volume Two of Catalogus Bibliothecae Harleianae
  • Proposals for Printing, by Subscription, the Harleian Miscellany with An Account of this Undertaking
  • Introduction to the Harleian Miscellany: An Essay on the Origin and Importance of Small Tracts and Fugitive Pieces
  • Preface to the 1742 Volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine
  • Dedication for Robert James's Medicinal Dictionary
  • Preface to the 1743 Volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine
  • PROPOSALS For Printing every Fortnight, (Price Sixpence) THE PUBLISHER: CONTAINING MISCELLANIES In PROSE and VERSE. Collected by J. CROKATT, Bookseller.
  • Proposals for Printing Anchitell Grey's Debates
  • Some Remarks on the Progress of Learning Since the Reformation
  • Proposals for Printing by Subscription Hugonis Grotii Adamus Exul
  • Postscript to Lauder’s Essay on Milton’s Use and Imitation of the Moderns
  • A Letter to the Reverend Mr. Douglas
  • Preface to The Preceptor
  • The signification of WORDS how varied
  • Letter Concerning the Benefit Performance of Comus for Milton's Granddaughter
  • Proposals for printing by subscription, Essays in Verse and Prose.
  • Notice of The life of Harriot Stuart
  • Dedication to The Female Quixote
  • Dedication to Memoirs of Maximilian de Bethune, Duke of Sully
  • Dedication to Philander
  • Dedication to The Greek Theatre of Father Brumoy
  • Dedication to Henrietta, 2nd Ed.
  • Proposals for Printing by Subscription The Original Works of Mrs. Charlotte Lennox
  • Letter to the Daily Advertiser concerning James Crokatt
  • Preface to A General Index of the First Twenty Volumes of the Gentleman's Magazine
  • Preface to the 1753 Volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine
  • An Account of an Attempt to Ascertain the Longitude by Sea, by an Exact Theory of the Variation of the Magnetical Needle
  • Dedication and Preface to An Introduction to the Game of Draughts (1756)
  • Dedication to An Introduction to Geometry (1767)
  • Preface to Richard Rolt, A New Dictionary of Trade and Commerce
  • Reflections on the Present State of Literature
  • TO THE PUBLIC
  • Review of John Armstrong, The History of the Island of Minorca (1756)
  • Review of Stephen White, Collateral Bee-Boxes (1756)
  • Review of Thomas Birch, The History of the Royal Society, vols. 1–2 (1756)
  • Review of Arthur Murphy, The Gray’s-Inn Journal, 2 vols. (1756)
  • Review of Joseph Warton, An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Pope (1756)
  • Review of James Hampton, The General History of Polybius (1756)
  • Review of Thomas Blackwell, Memoirs of the Court of Augustus (1753–56)
  • Review of Alexander Russell, The Natural History of Aleppo (1756)
  • Review of Four Letters from Newton to Bentley (1756)
  • Review of William Borlase, Observations on the Islands of Scilly (1756)
  • Review of Archibald Bower, Affidavit (1756); John Douglas, Six Letters and Review of Mr. Bower’s Answer (1757); and John Douglas, Bower and Tillemont Compared (1757)
  • Review of Francis Home, Experiments on Bleaching (1756)
  • Review of Stephen Hales, An Account of a Useful Discovery (1756)
  • Review of Charles Lucas, An Essay on Waters (1756)
  • Review of Robert Keith, A Large New Catalogue of the Bishops (1756)
  • Review of Patrick Browne, The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica (1756)
  • Review of Charles Parkin, An Impartial Account of the Invasion under William Duke of Normandy (1756)
  • Review of A Scheme for Preventing a Further Increase of the National Debt (1756)
  • Review of Conferences and Treaties (1756)
  • Review of Philosophical Transactions (1756)
  • Review of Richard Lovett, The Subtil Medium Prov’d (1756)
  • Review of Benjamin Hoadley and Benjamin Wilson, Observations on a Series of Electrical Experiments (1756)
  • Review of Johann Georg Keyssler, Travels (1756)
  • Review of Elizabeth Harrison, Miscellanies (1756)
  • Review of Jonas Hanway, A Journal of Eight Days Journey (1757)
  • Review of Jonas Hanway, A Journal of Eight Days Journey, Second Edition (1757)
  • Reply to a Letter from Jonas Hanway in the Gazetteer (1757)
  • Review of Samuel Bever, The Cadet (1756)
  • Review of the Test and Con-Test (1756)
  • Review of William Whitehead, Elegies (1757)
  • Review of A Letter to a Gentleman in the Country on the Death of Admiral Byng (1757)
  • Preliminary Discourse in the London Chronicle
  • Advertisement for Francis Barber in the Daily Advertiser
  • "Dedication to John Lindsay, Evangelical History of Our Lord Jesus Christ Harmonized
  • Introduction to the Universal Chronicle (1758)
  • Of the Duty of a Journalist (1758)
  • Advertisement Against Unauthorized Reprints of the Idler (1759)
  • Advertisement for the Public Ledger in the Universal Chronicle (1760)
  • To The Public in the Public Ledger (1760)
  • The Weekly Correspondent Number I [Public Ledger]
  • The Weekly Correspondent Number II [Public Ledger]
  • The Weekly Correspondent Number III [Public Ledger]
  • Preface to J. Elmer, Tables of Weights and Prices
  • From The Italian Library Containing an Account of the Lives and Works of the most valuable authors of Italy (1757)
  • Proposals for Printing by Subscription, Le Poesie di Giuseppe Baretti (1758)
  • Dedication to A Dictionary of the English and Italian Languages (1760)
  • Preface to Easy Phraseology, for the Use of Young Ladies Who Intend to Learn the Colloquial Part of the Italian Language (1775)
  • Advertisement [For The World Displayed]
  • Introduction (1759) [From The World Displayed]
  • Advertisement for Pilgrim's Progress
  • Letter I. [Daily Gazetteer]
  • Letter II. [Daily Gazetteer]
  • Letter III. [Daily Gazetteer]
  • Letter to the Society of Arts (26 February 1760)
  • Letter to the Society of Arts (8 December 1760)
  • Address of the Painter’s, Sculptors, &Architects to George III (1761)
  • Preface to A Catalogue of the Pictures, Sculptures, Models, Drawings, Prints, &c Exhibited by the Society of Artists of Great-Britain at the Great Room in Spring Gardens Charing Cross May the 17th Anno 1762 Being the Third year of their Exhibition (1762)
  • Review of William Tytler, Historical and Critical Enquiry into the Evidence Produced … Against Mary Queen of Scots
  • Contributions to John Kennedy, A Complete System of Astronomical Chronology, Unfolding the Scriptures
  • Proposals and Advertisement [for Anna Williams, Miscellanies in Prose and Verse] (1762)
  • Advertisement [for Anna Williams, Miscellanies in Prose and Verse] (1766)
  • Dedication to Jerusalem Delivered (1763)
  • Dedication to The Works of Metastasio (1767)
  • Dedication to Cyrus: A Tragedy (1768)
  • Review of Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller
  • Dedication for Thomas Percy, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
  • 23 Sept. 1765 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 1–4 Oct. 1765. [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 20 Nov. 1765. [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 19 Dec. 1765. [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 24 December 1765 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 3 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 8 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 14 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 23 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 23 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 13 March 1769 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 1 October 1774 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 4 October 1774 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 13 October 1774 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 4 September 1780 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 4 September 1780 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 5 Sept. 1780 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • Dedication for George Adams, A Treatise Describing and Explaining the Construction and Use of New Celestial and Terrestrial Globes
  • Dedication to John Gwynn, London and Westminster Improved
  • Preface to Alexander MacBean, A Dictionary of Ancient Geography
  • Meditation on a Pudding
  • Hereford Infirmary Appeal
  • Dedication for A General History of Music (1776)
  • From A General History of Music, Vol. II (1782)
  • Dedication to An Account of the Musical Performance . . . in Commemoration of Handel (1785)
  • Advertisement for the Spectator
  • Dedication to Zachary Pearce, A Commentary, with Notes, on the Four Evangelists and the Acts of the Apostles
  • Letter of 16 May 1777
  • The Petition of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London, in Common Council Assembled, Friday 6 June 1777
  • Letter to Lord Bathurst, the Lord Chancellor, 8 June 1777
  • Letter to William Murray, First Earl of Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice, Wednesday, 11 June 1777
  • Petition of Mrs. Mary Dodd to the Queen
  • Dodd’s Letter to the King, Sunday, 22 June 1777
  • Petition of William Dodd to the King, Monday, 23 June 1777
  • Dodd’s Last Solemn Declaration, Wednesday, 25 June 1777
  • Johnson’s Observations on the Propriety of Pardoning William Dodd, Wednesday, 25 June 1777
  • Introduction and Conclusion to Occasional Papers (1777)
  • Proposal for Printing William Shaw, An Analysis of the Scotch Celtic Language
  • Dedication to Sir Joshua Reynolds, Seven Discourses
  • Preface to Thomas Maurice, Oedipus Tyrannus
  • The Case of Collier v. Flint
  • Translation of Sallust, De Bello Catilinario
  • General Rules of the Essex Head Club
  • On the Character and Duty of an Academick
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© 2023
Appeal to the Publick
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By Johnson, Samuel

Samuel Johnson: Johnson on Demand

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AN APPEAL TO THE PUBLICK (1739)
The following was the first item in the Gentleman’s Magazine for March 1739 (IX.111–12). Boswell attributed it to Johnson (Life, I.140), and Chalmers published it in the “seventh edition” of the Works (1823, XI.28–33).1
[APPEAL TO THE PUBLICK]
Men’ moveat cimex Pantilius? aut crucietaquod Vellicet absentem Demetrius? HOR.1Laudat, amat, cantat nostros mea Roma libellos, Meque sinus omnes, me manus omnis habet.Ecce rubet quidam, pallet, stupet, oscitat, odit. Hoc volo, nunc nobis carmina nostra placent.
MARTIAL2
It is plain from the conduct of writers of the first class, that they have esteemed it no derogation from their characters to defend themselves against the censures of ignorance, or the calumnies of envy.
It is not reasonable to suppose that they always judged their adversaries worthy of a formal confutation, but they


Page 39

concluded it not prudent to neglect the feeblest attacks; they knew that such men have often done hurt, who had not abilities to do good; that the weakest hand, if not timely disarm’d, may stab a hero in his sleep;3 that a worm, however small, may destroy a fleet in the acorn, and that citadels, which have defied armies, have been blown up by rats.
In imitation of these great examples, we think it not absolutely needless to vindicate ourselves from the virulent aspersions of the Craftsman and Common Sense, because their accusations, tho’ entirely groundless, and without the least proof, are urged with an air of confidence which the unwary may mistake for consciousness of truth.
In order to set the proceedings of these calumniators in a proper light, it is necessary to inform such of our readers as are unacquainted with the artifices of trade, that we originally incurr’d the displeasure of the greatest part of the booksellers by keeping this magazine wholly in our own hands, without admitting any of that fraternity into a share of the property. For nothing is more criminal in the opinion of many of them, than for an author to enjoy more advantage from his own works than they are disposed to allow him. This is a principle so well established among them, that we can produce some who threatned printers with their highest displeasure for their having dared to print books for those that wrote them.4
Hinc irae, hinc odia.5
This was the first ground of their animosity, which, for some time, proceeded no farther than private murmurs, and petty discouragements. At length determining to be no longer debarr’d


Page 40

from a share in so beneficial a project, a knot of them combined to seize our whole plan; and, without the least attempt to vary or improve it, began with the utmost vigour to print and circulate the London Magazine, with such success, that in a few years, while we were printing the fifth edition of some of our earliest numbers, they had SEVENTY THOUSAND of their books returned unsold upon their hands.6
It was then time to exert their utmost efforts to put a stop to our progress, and nothing was to be left unattempted that interest could suggest. It will be easily imagined that their influence among those of their own trade was greater than ours, and that their collections were therefore more industriously propagated by their brethren; but this being the natural consequence of such a relation, and therefore excusable, is only mentioned to shew the disadvantages against which we are obliged to struggle, and to convince the reader, that we who depend so entirely upon his approbation, shall omit nothing to deserve it.
They then had recourse to advertisements, in which they sometimes made faint attempts to be witty, and sometimes were content with being merely scurrilous; but finding that their attacks, while we had an opportunity of returning hostilities, generally procured them such treatment as very little contributed to their reputation, they came at last to a resolution of excluding us from the news-papers in which they have any influence; by this means they can at present insult us with impunity, and without the least danger of confutation.
Their last, and indeed their most artful expedient, has been to hire and incite the weekly journalists against us. The first weak attempt was made by the Universal Spectator,7 but this we took not the least notice of, as we did not imagine it would ever come to the knowledge of the publick.


Page 41

Whether there was then a confederacy between this journal and Common Sense’s, as at present between Common Sense and the Craftsman, or whether understandings of the same form receive at certain times the same impressions from the planets, I know not; but about that time war was likewise declared against us by the redoubted author of Common Sense;8 an adversary not so much to be dreaded for his abilities as for the title of his paper, behind which he has the art of sheltering himself in perfect security. He defeats all his enemies by calling them “Enemies to Common Sense,” and silences the strongest objections and the clearest reasonings, by assuring his readers that “they are contrary to Common Sense.”
I must confess, to the immortal honour of this great writer, that I can remember but two instances of a genius able to use a few syllables to such great and so various purposes. One is, the old man in Shadwel, who seems, by long time and experience to have attain’d to equal perfection with our author; for, “when a young fellow began to prate and be pert,” says he, “I silenced him with my old word, ‘Tace is Latin for a candle.’”9
The other, who seems yet more to resemble this writer, was one Goodman a horsestealer, who being asked, after having been found guilty by the jury, what he had to offer, to prevent sentence of death from being passed upon him, did not attempt to extenuate his crime, but entreated the judge to beware of hanging a Good-Man.
This writer we thought, however injudiciously, worthy, not indeed of a reply, but of some correction, and in our magazine


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for December, 1738, and the preface to the supplement, treated him in such a manner as he does not seem inclined to forget.1
From that time, losing all patience, he has exhausted his stores of scurrility upon us; but our readers will find, upon consulting the passages above-mention’d, that he has received too much provocation to be admitted as an impartial critick.
In our magazine of January p. 24, we made a remark upon the Craftsman, and in p. 3. drop’d some general observations upon the weekly writers, by which we did not expect to make them more our friends.2 Nor, indeed, did we imagine, that this would have inflamed Caleb to so high a degree. His resentment has risen so much above the provocation, that we cannot but impute it more to what he fears than what he has felt. He has seen the solecisms of his brother Common Sense exposed, and remembers that
——Tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet.3
He imagines that he shall soon fall under the same censure, and is willing that our criticisms shall appear rather the effects of our resentment than our judgment.
For this reason I suppose, (for I can find no other) he has join’d with Common Sense to charge us with partiality, and to recommend the London Magazine as drawn up with less regard to interest or party.4 A favour, which the authors of that collection


Page 43

have endeavoured to deserve from them by the most servile adulation.
But as we have a higher opinion of the candour of our readers, than to believe that they will condemn us without examination, or give up their right of judging for themselves, we are unconcern’d at this charge, tho’ the most atrocious and malignant that can be brought against us. We entreat only to be compared with our rivals, in full confidence, that not only our innocence, but our superiority will appear.


Page 44

Editorial Notes
1 See Bibliography, I.48.
a cruciet emend] crucier
1 Horace, Satires 1.10.78–79: “Should that bed bug Pantilius [a picky critic] bother me? Or Demetrius’s taunts behind my back torture me?” The passage concerns the folly of listening to poor critics and the importance of intelligent support.
2 Martial, Epigrams 6.60: “My Rome praises my little books, loves, recites them; I am in every pocket, every hand. Look, somebody turns red, turns pale, is dazed, yawns, is disgusted. This I want. Now my poems please me” (Epigrams, trans. D. R. Shackleton Bailey [1993], II.47).
3 See Life of Boerhaave, where SJ writes, “Those who cannot strike with force, can, however, poison their weapon, and, weak as they are, give mortal wounds, and bring a hero to the grave: so true is that observation, that many are able to do hurt, but few to do good” (Yale, XIX.35). See also SJ’s London:
The midnight murd’rer bursts the faithless bar;Invades the sacred hour of silent rest,And leaves, unseen, a dagger in your breast. (ll. 239–41)
4 In modern terms, self-publishing.
5 “Whence wrath, whence hatred.” Cf. Paulinus of Nola, Carmen VI, where luxury is described as the root of much evil: “Hinc odia hinc lites hinc fraus hinc livor et irae” (l. 244).
6 See p. 29, n. 2 above.
7 The Universal Spectator, published by Henry Baker, son-in-law of Daniel Defoe, first appeared on 12 October 1728 (Sullivan, pp. 346–49). The London Magazine advertised there, sometimes with derogatory remarks about the GM (e.g., 7 April 1739), but so did the GM. We have not located editorial remarks on the GM in the Universal Spectator.
8 Although the most famous contributors were Lyttelton and Chesterfield, the Irish playwright and Jacobite Charles Molloy was the principal author (Sullivan, p. 44). The Craftsman, an anti-Walpole paper begun in 1726, featured Bolingbroke and William Pulteney, first Earl of Bath (Sullivan, pp. 68–72). The two publications were united in their opposition to the GM.
9 Thomas Shadwell, The Virtuoso (1676), I.i.163–64, incorrectly recalled. The speaker is actually the much younger Sir Samuel Hearty who uses the expression four times in the play. Tace means “Be silent”; the expression “Tace is Latin for a candle” is a proverbial way of asking for silence. For SJ’s knowledge of the proverb and an analysis of this passage, see James Battersby, “A Proverbial Candle and Johnson’s Candlestick,” Johnsonian News Letter, 57.2 (September 2006), 29–39.
1 For the “correction” in December 1738, see p. 23 above. The “preface to the supplement” is SJ’s preface to volume VIII of the GM (1738), p. 28 above. The preface for each volume was published with the supplement in mid-January of the year following.
2 The “remark upon the Craftsman” (a critique of a piece by Caleb D’Anvers, the pseudonym of Nicholas Amhurst) is not by SJ, but for “general observations upon the weekly writers,” which are by SJ, see p. 33 above.
3 Horace, Epistles 1.18.84: “It concerns you when your neighbor’s wall is burning.”
4 In Craftsman 660 (3 March 1739), Amhurst wrote, “I readily concur with my worthy friend Common-Sense in recommending the London Magazine, in opposition to that farrago of nonsence and stupidity, the Gentleman’s Magazine; being very desirous that, if my writings are to be publish’d, or abridg’d, by any body but myself, they may be set in a fair and impartial light, which Dr. Urban and his Authors are not capable of doing.” Cf. Common Sense, 24 February 1739, “Postscript.” Amhurst’s remarks were reprinted in the London Magazine, IV (March 1739), 130.
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Document Details
Document TitleAppeal to the Publick
AuthorJohnson, Samuel
Creation Date1739
Publ. DateN/A
Alt. TitleN/A
Contrib. AuthorCave, Edward
ClassificationSubject: Periodical; Subject: Newspaper; Subject: Common Sense; Subject: Craftsman; Subject: Universal Spectator; Subject: London Magazine; Genre: Magazine controversy
PrinterN/A
PublisherEdward Cave
Publ. PlaceLondon
VolumeSamuel Johnson: Johnson on Demand
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