ABSTRACT
At the time of instituting the club in Ivy-lane, Johnson had projected the Rambler. The title was most probably suggested by the Wanderer; a poem which he mentions, with warmest praise, in the Life of Savage.1 With the same spirit of independence with which he wished to live, it was now his pride to write. He communicated his plan to none of his friends: he desired no assistance, relying entirely on his own fund, and the protection of the Divine Being, which he implored in a solemn form of prayer, composed by himself for the occasion. [quotes prayer. See Boswell, Life, i. 203.]
Having invoked the special protection of Heaven, and by that act of piety fortified his mind, he began the great work of the Rambler. The first number was published on Tuesday, March the 20th, 1750; and from that time was continued regularly every Tuesday and Saturday for the space of two years, when it finally closed on Saturday, March 14, 1752. As it began with motives of piety, so it appears, that the same religious spirit glowed with unabating ardour to the last. His conclusion is: [quotes final paragraph of Rambler No. 208. See above, No. 7.] The whole number of Essays, amounted to two hundred and eight. Addison’s, in the Spectator, are more in number, but not half in point of quantity: Addison was not bound to publish on stated days; he could
watch the ebb and flow of his genius, and send his paper to the press when his own taste was satisfied. Johnson’s case was very different. He wrote singly and alone. In the whole progress of the work he did not receive more than ten essays. This was a scanty contribution. For the rest, the author has described his situation: [quotes ‘He that condemns himself’ to ‘examine or reduce’, from Rambler No. 208. See above, No. 7.] Of this excellent production the number sold on each day did not amount to five hundred: of course the bookseller, who paid the author four guineas a week, did not carry on a successful trade. His generosity and perseverance deserve to be commended; and happily, when the collection appeared in volumes, were amply rewarded. Johnson lived to see his labours flourish in a tenth edition.2 His posterity, as an ingenious French writer has said on a similar occasion, began in his lifetime….
