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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
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  • To the Reader. [Gentleman’s Magazine]
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  • 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
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  • 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)
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  • Review of A Scheme for Preventing a Further Increase of the National Debt (1756)
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  • Review of Samuel Bever, The Cadet (1756)
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  • Review of A Letter to a Gentleman in the Country on the Death of Admiral Byng (1757)
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  • "Dedication to John Lindsay, Evangelical History of Our Lord Jesus Christ Harmonized
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  • Of the Duty of a Journalist (1758)
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  • 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)
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  • 13 March 1769 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
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  • 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
Dedication for George Adams, A Treatise Describing and Explaining the Construction and Use of New Celestial and Terrestrial Globes
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By Johnson, Samuel

Samuel Johnson: Johnson on Demand

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DEDICATION FOR GEORGE ADAMS, A TREATISE DESCRIBING AND EXPLAINING THE CONSTRUCTION AND USE OF NEW CELESTIAL AND TERRESTRIAL GLOBES (1766)
[Editorial Introduction]
George Adams (1709–72), Johnson’s exact coeval, was mathematical instrument maker to George III.1 There is no evidence that Johnson knew Adams, but his shop at what is now 60 Fleet Street was less than a block away from Johnson’s residence at 7 Johnson’s Court. Hawkins says that Adams gave Johnson “a very curious meteorological instrument” in payment for the dedication (Life, p. 236). The purpose of Adams’s book was to launch his new eighteen- and twelve-inch globes, which he touted as advances over previous designs. As he says in his preface, “The globes now offered to the public, are a construction new and peculiar, being contrived to solve the various phenomena of the earth and heavens, in a more easy and natural manner than hitherto published, being so suspended that the student may elevate the south pole; a thing impracticable in the use of common globes” (p. viii). He also highlights the “agreement” between the two globes, which enables users to understand the positions of various heavenly bodies as they appear from various places on earth.
There has never been any doubt of Johnson’s authorship of the dedication.2 It appeared in the thirteen subsequent editions of Adams’s book published before the death of George III, including five before Johnson’s death, but was never revised (Bibliography, II.1146–56). This dedication was the second of six that Johnson wrote to King George. He also addressed the sovereign on behalf of the Society of Artists and petitioned him on behalf of William Dodd.3


Page 521

To the King.
Sir,
It is the privilege of real greatness not to be afraid of diminution by condescending to the notice of little things; and I therefore can boldly solicite the patronage of Your Majesty to the humble labours by which I have endeavoured to improve the instruments of science, and make the globes on which the earth and sky are delineated less defective in their construction, and less difficult in their use.
Geography is in a peculiar manner the science of princes. When a private student revolves the terraqueous globe, he beholds a succession of countries in which he has no more interest than in the imaginary regions of Jupiter and Saturn. But Your Majesty must contemplate the scientifick picture with other sentiments, and consider, as oceans and continents are rolling before you, how large a part of mankind is now waiting on your determinations, and may receive benefits or suffer evils, as your influence is extended or withdrawn.
The provinces which Your Majesty’s arms have added to your dominions, make no inconsiderable part of the orb allotted to human beings. Your power is acknowledged by nations whose names we know not yet how to write, and whose boundaries we cannot yet describe. But Your Majesty’s lenity and beneficence give us reason to expect the time when science shall be advanced by the diffusion of happiness; when the desarts1 of America shall become pervious2 and safe, when those who are now restrained by fear shall be attracted by reverence; and multitudes who now range the woods for prey, and live at the mercy of winds and seasons, shall by the paternal care of Your Majesty enjoy the plenty of cultivated lands, the pleasures of society, the security of law, and the light of revelation.
I am, Sir, Your Majesty’s most humble, most obedient, and most dutiful, subject and servant,
George Adams.


Page 522

Editorial Notes
1 We rely on ODNB for biographical information in this headnote.
2 See Hazen, pp. 1–5; Bibliography, II.1147; Life, II.44.
3 See above, pp. 215, 470, and 484, and below, pp. 522, 542, 548, 556, and 576.
1 Desarts: “Wild; waste; solitary; uninhabited; uncultivated; untilled” (Dictionary, s.v. desert); cf. SJ’s “Observations on the Present State of Affairs”: “The forests and desarts of America are without land-marks” (Yale, X.189).
2 Pervious: “Admitting passage” (Dictionary, sense 1).
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Document Details
Document TitleDedication for George Adams, A Treatise Describing and Explaining the Construction and Use of New Celestial and Terrestrial Globes
AuthorJohnson, Samuel
Creation Date1766
Publ. DateN/A
Alt. TitleN/A
Contrib. AuthorAdams, George
ClassificationSubject: George IIIgeography; Subject: Globes; Subject: Geography; Genre: Dedication
PrinterN/A
PublisherN/A
Publ. PlaceN/A
VolumeSamuel Johnson: Johnson on Demand
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DEDICATION FOR GEORGE ...
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[Editorial Introduction]
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To the King.
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