The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 20, No. 572, October 20, 1832

The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 20, Issue 572, October 20, 1832, by Various
E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Gregory Margo, and Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders

Johnson's mother was a woman of distinguished understanding and piety; and to her must be ascribed those early impressions of religion upon the mind of her son, from which the world afterwards derived so much benefit. Johnson was the elder of two sons, the younger of whom died in his infancy.
Of Johnson's childhood at Lichfield it would not be difficult to assemble many interesting particulars: from his listening to Dr. Sacheverel, when he was but three years old; his being first taught to read English by Dame Oliver, a widow who kept a school for young children in Lichfield, and who gave him a present of gingerbread, and said he was the best scholar she ever had; to his arrival in London with the unfinished tragedy of Irene in his pocket, and the prospect of a slender engagement with Cave of the Gentleman's Magazine . One thing is certain, that however unpromising were Johnson's early days at Lichfield, he ever retained a warm affection for his native city, and which, by a sudden apostrophe, under the word Lich , he introduces with reverence into his immortal work, the ENGLISH DICTIONARY: Salve magna parens. (Boswell.) His last visit was in his 75th year when he writes to Boswell:— I came to Lichfield, and found every body glad enough to see me.
The annexed view is of the date 1785, being from the first volume of the Gentleman's Magazine for that year. The building to the extreme left is part of the market-cross, erected by dean Denton, but replaced some years since by a light brick building. The church is that of St. Mary, one of the three parishes into which Lichfield is divided: it is a modern structure, of the year 1717, and upon the site of the original church, said to have been founded in the year 885. In the extreme distance of the Engraving is seen the Guild or Town Hall, a neat stone edifice, adorned with the city arms, a bas-relief of the cathedral, &c.