Happy Birthday, Sam

Today is an important day in Lichfield: we are marking the 300th anniversary of the birth of the city's most famous son, Samuel Johnson.

Johnson is best known for his compilation of the first truly comprehensive English Dictionary. It was published in 1755, after a decade of work. For each word, he offers an etymology (where the word comes from), a definition (what the word means) and then some examples of the use of the word in literature. It was an extraordinary achievement, and all the better for the flashes of humour to be found in it. To take only the most obvious examples: he defines oats, for example, as a cereal 'which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people'. A patron (he himself having had traumatic personal experience of patronage in the production of the dictionary) he suggests is 'commonly a wretch, who supports with insolence and is paid with flattery'. As for a 'lexicographer' (ie, a compiler of dictionaries) -- he describes him self-deprecatingly as 'a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original and detailing the signification of words'.

He was a devout Christian believer -- but one who (to judge from the tone of his prayers in particular) struggled with a profound sense of his own unworthiness. It doesn't sound as if he ever achieved much sense of assurance that he was accepted and loved by God. But his faith was nevertheless lively and sincere. Here is the very last of his recorded prayers:
Almighty and most merciful Father, grant that my hope and confidence may be in Jesu’s merits and thy mercy. Confirm my faith, stablish my hope, enlarge my charity, pardon my offences, and receive me at my death to everlasting happiness; for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen

Our celebration of the anniversary began last Sunday, when BBC Radio 4's 'Sunday Worship' was broadcast live from Lichfield Cathedral -- an act of worship in which our Cathedral Chamber Choir sang a setting of that prayer, and in which my colleague Wealands Bell, the Canon Precentor, delivered a fine homily combining some glimpses into Johnson's life and faith with some reflections on the following day's feast of Holy Cross. A recording of the service is available for two more days on iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnds.

The celebrations continue this weekend. Tonight there is a 'son et lumiere' in the city Market Square, with images projected (I believe) onto the exterior walls of the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum. Tomorrow, in addition to the annual wreath laying and cake-cutting (also in the Market Place, at his statue) at midday, and the Johnson Dinner in the evening, there is a small commemoration at 3.30pm at Speakers' Corner, Lichfield: there will be a brief costume drama by Intimate Theatre, followed by some short speeches by (among others) the President of the Johnson Society. On Sunday, the Bishop of London will preach at a special evensong in the Cathedral at 3.30pm, in the presence of members of the Johnson Society.

Johnson had numerous character flaws, of which he himself was all too well aware. But a capacity to celebrate the good things in life was not one of them, and we will be attempting to do him justice this weekend!