Lexicographer as "a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge."
"Dictionaries," as Johnson himself wrote thirty years later, "are like watches, the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go true."
But what we chiefly have to remember is that Johnson was a pioneer. There was no good English dictionary in 1747. Johnson set to work single-handed, and produced a book which made its author supreme amongst the literary men of the time and itself remained a standard work for generations.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] The latter part of the definition was omitted by Johnson in the last edition which he passed for press.
The Great Cham of Literature
The Dictionary was Johnson's biggest literary adventure, but it was not the only one which occupied him in the years between 1747 and 1755. Even the great Lexicographer would have found it hard to do nothing but "beat the track of the alphabet" for eight years; for, as Boswell puts it, "his enlarged and lively mind could not be satisfied without more diversity of employment and the pleasure of animated relaxation."
There was another reason, too, which made it necessary for Johnson to write something besides definitions. 1500 guineas was not much on which to keep six assistants and himself for eight years. "When the expence of amanuenses and paper, and other articles are deducted, his clear profit was very inconsiderable." But Johnson, being a true adventurer, did not grumble. When Boswell said to him "I am sorry, Sir, you did not get more for your Dictionary," his answer was "I am sorry too. But it was very well. The booksellers are generous, liberal-minded men."
So, in 1749, Johnson offered to one of these booksellers, Mr James Dodsley, a poem called The Vanity of Human Wishes and received the sum of fifteen guineas.