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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
To The Public in the Public Ledger (1760)
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By Johnson, Samuel

Samuel Johnson: Johnson on Demand

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To The Public in the Public Ledger (1760)1
The want which every man feels of another’s help is the original cause of coalition and society; and the institutions of


Page 411

society are less imperfect, in proportion as all wants are more easily supplied; and they are supplied more easily, as the general stock of the community is better known, and each man is more extensively informed of the occasions, abilities and possessions of the rest.
The speedy circulation of intelligence, and the mutual communication of proposals and designs, of desires to purchase, and of willingness to sell, is one of the great arts by which commerce is actuated and maintained. By this necessity of publication the news-papers are filled with advertisements, and the walls, in places of concourse, covered with proposals: bills of direction are given at every shop, and notices of sales and auctions scattered before houses or forced into the hands of passengers.
All these practices are convenient and beneficial; yet all these have proved insufficient, and many persons are daily at a loss to find out what they want.2 A general search, however advantageous, must be attended with such difficulty, and so much time and expence, as would render it almost impossible for any one to accomplish; unless the great variety of business, wants, schemes, proposals, orders, meetings, transactions, invitations, and amusements, continually set forth in the public papers and bills, are daily brought into one collected point of view.
Attempts have been made for this purpose, or perhaps rather meant by our Public Register Offices;3 but upon so confined a plan, however good the design, that the Enquirers could, at best, only learn a few registred particulars, merely relative to the narrow compass of the bills of mortality,4 and scarcely one in five hundred ever got the information he required.


Page 412

Nor could it be otherwise; for as all intelligence at these offices depended on their customers, and was registered at their expence, the design naturally became abortive for want of support from the proprietors, who, being able to give but little information of their own, could afford little aid to those who stood in need of their assistance.
From this universal emulation of forcing advertisements into notice through different papers, and by various other methods, it must necessarily follow, that intelligence, however copious, is confused; that as the number of particulars is greater, that which is sought will be less easily found. No single hand receives all bills; no single eye, peruses all news papers. Not only patience is wearied, but time is lost, and opportunity slips away. The advertisement of to-day is forgotten to-morrow, and fear of the expence will not allow it to be often repeated. The offices may be searched for more permanent registers; but they have failed so often that they are now less frequently visited.
Experience, therefore, has long shewn, that there is yet wanting a paper, which may serve as an index to all other papers and publications, and which will supply the deficiencies of each from all the rest, yet not render any of them useless; as, instead of giving the full account required, it will only show the paper or place in which the advertisement or public notice may be found. Of this index the next page exhibits a specimen, and a single specimen will demonstrate its utility.
By this Index, to our wants and desires, will be raised such a fund of intelligence and useful knowledge, relating to the trade, commerce, proposals, schemes and connexions of mankind, as may not improperly be called the bank of enquiry, which bringing all parties together, as it were in a center, will readily help them to whatever they require, and every man to see at one view as he sits at home in his chair, the various sollicitudes of the rest, and know where to avail himself of the wants of others, or to supply those of his own.
To leave nothing unattempted which may promote our scheme of general information, an office is erected in St.


Page 413

Paul’s Church-Yard, next door to the great toy-shop, in which is reposited the Public Ledger, where all papers of intelligence, published within the kingdom, with minutes of all advertisements, bills, proposals, schemes, designs, projects and notices, will be registered, in alphabetical order according to their subjects, and their dates, in such a manner that every enquirer, on paying three-pence for searching the office, may find whatever he can require; or be convinced that he requires what is no where to be found. And to render the purpose of advertising more complete and effectual than it has hitherto been, it is proposed that every advertisement inserted in the Public Ledger shall be also registered in the office with as many or as few particulars as the advertiser shall think proper; and that the expence of the whole for every advertisement of a moderate length, shall not exceed three shillings. So that by advertising in this paper, he that desires to conceal any part of his proposal from the public eye, may insert a short hint in the paper, and register a longer and more explicit account in the office and express his thoughts obscurely to those whom he does not wish to understand them, and more clearly and at large to others whose curiosity, or interest shall lead them to inspect the Public Register; the easy access to which, being so much more agreeable to the enquirer than a private application, will be another advantage in advertising peculiar to this paper.
But as registering alone has been found very ineffectual, it is proposed that nothing shall be registered in the books of the office, till it has been first advertised in the ledger. By the former of which it will be kept on record (unless desired to be withdrawn) and by the latter made known to the public as often as is necessary. And for the convenience of those who may want to consult the office from distant places, a sufficient number of clerks will give attendance from eight o’clock in the morning till six in the evening; who besides admitting every person to consult the Register at three-pence, as above-mentioned, will answer all letters with the utmost punctuality, on the receipt of one shilling for each; so that those who live


Page 414

in the most distant parts of the kingdom, may have access to the register, almost as easily as those who reside in London.
Thus much, however extensive, is only one part of our plan; yet the grand one, it must be confessed, and calculated for the real use of, perhaps, nine parts in ten of the nation; for the busy, and active, the curious, and circumspect, will all in their turn find some useful hint or reference to assist their various occasions. But that the man of leisure and retirement, who reads for pleasure and amusement, may also find his account in inspecting the Public Ledger, one part of it will be set aside for public occurrences, both foreign and domestic, in which, if we do not excel all other daily papers, we shall take care not to fall short of any.
We are unwilling to raise expectations which we may, perhaps, find ourselves unable to satisfy; and, therefore, have made no mention of criticism or literature, which yet we do not professedly exclude, nor shall we reject any political essays, that are apparently calculated for the public good. In a nation like ours, equally studious of knowledge, and of gain, he that neglects the sciences will be despised, even by many of those whom he may assist in commerce; and he that appears indifferent about national concerns will never have a clear title to the favour and esteem of the public, which is what we are most sollicitous to deserve.
The Proprietors.
Editorial Notes
1 This piece appeared on 12 January 1760 and was reprinted in the Universal Chronicle for 26 January–2 February 1760, preceded by a statement from the Crown granting William Faden a royal license for publishing the Ledger. The statement appears on p. 2 of the first issue of the Ledger.
2 Want: lack or need.
3 Henry Fielding and his brother operated the Universal Register Office, against which Bonnell Thornton touted the Public Register Office, founded in 1751. Both were brokerages for servants, or employment agencies (see Lance Bertelson, The Nonsense Club [1986], pp. 19, 28–29). The Ledger describes itself as “Printed for W. Bristow, publisher, at the Register-Office” (see p. 410, n. 2 above).
4 “Compass of the bills of mortality”: a district defined roughly by the 109 parishes in and around London (see OED, s.v. bill).
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Document Details
Document TitleTo The Public in the Public Ledger (1760)
AuthorJohnson, Samuel
Creation Date1760
Publ. DateN/A
Alt. TitleN/A
Contrib. AuthorN/A
ClassificationSubject: Newspaper; Subject: Journalism; Genre: Preface
PrinterN/A
PublisherWilliam Faden
Publ. PlaceLondon
VolumeSamuel Johnson: Johnson on Demand
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