Life of Mr Richard Savage
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Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709  – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...
's ''Life of Mr Richard Savage'' (1744), short title ''Life of Savage'' and full title ''An Account of the Life of Mr Richard Savage, Son of the Earl Rivers'', was the first major biography published by Johnson. It was released anonymously in 1744, and detailed the life of Richard Savage, a London poet and friend of Johnson who had died in 1743.Life of Mr Richard Savage
Literary Encyclopedia Accessed October 2006
The biography contains many details of Savage's account of his own life, including claims that he was the illegitimate child of a noble family that quickly disowned and abandoned him at birth. Savage had led a controversial life, and Johnson used the material to try to answer some wider
ethical Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...
questions. The text was later included in '' The Lives of the Poets'', published in 1779, and this work is attributed as one of the important steps for Johnson becoming a biographer in his later years. The biography was well received and was the source of early praise for Johnson. This praise has continued 200 years after its original publication, and it has been described as "one of the best short biographies in English".


Background

The ''Life of Savage'' was not Johnson's first biography. In 1740 he wrote short biographies of
Jean-Philippe Baratier Jean-Philippe Baratier (also ''Johann Philipp Baratier''; 19 January 1721 in Schwabach near Nuremberg – 5 October 1740) was a German scholar. A noted child prodigy of the 18th century, he published eleven works and authored a great quantity of ...
,
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, and
Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 (t ...
.Clingham p. 161 Before this time, between 1737 and 1739, Johnson was close to Savage. Savage was both a poet and a playwright, and Johnson was reported to enjoy spending time and discussing various topics with him, along with drinking and other merriment. However, that lifestyle could not continue, and Savage was encouraged by his friends to move to Bristol and clean up his life. He was unable to accomplish this which led to him being sent to debtors' prison and dying in 1743. Immediately after Savage died, various periodicals were printing biographical material on the dead poet.Lane p. 98
Edward Cave Edward Cave (27 February 1691 – 10 January 1754) was an English printer, editor and publisher. He coined the term "magazine" for a periodical, founding ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' in 1731, and was the first publisher to successfully fashio ...
, Johnson's publisher, encouraged Johnson to put together a life of his friend. Johnson began to collect as many letters and biographical details as he could and, with his extensive history with Savage, produced his work. Johnson dedicated a large portion of his time to the work, and was able to produce, as he claimed, "forty-eight of the printed octavo pages of the life of Savage at a sitting, but then I sat up all night."Lane p. 100 Johnson finished the work just before the Christmas of 1743 and was paid fifteen guineas. It was published anonymously and contained almost 200 pages. It was immediately successful, but it was not the financial success that Johnson or Cave wanted nor did it extend Johnson's reputation at the time. However, it did form an important beginning for Johnson as a biographer, and the work was later included in his ''
Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets ''Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets'' (1779–81), alternatively known by the shorter title ''Lives of the Poets'', is a work by Samuel Johnson comprising short biographies and critical appraisals of 52 poets, most of whom lived during th ...
'' series.


Life of Savage

Although the work is a biography, it was a partial version of Savage's life as told by a friend and contained many minor errors. In particular, Johnson accepted Savage's own story that he was a disowned bastard of a noble family, even though there was little evidence to be found. However, Johnson did not hide the flaws of his friend. Johnson exposed the many faults of Savage, but he always felt that Savage was ultimately wronged throughout his life and should ultimately be admired.


Critical response

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...
, Johnson's friend, told
James Boswell James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 (New Style, N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary the Englis ...
that "It seized his attention so strongly that, not being able to lay down the book till he had finished it, when he attempted to move, he found his arm totally benumbed."
Walter Jackson Bate Walter Jackson Bate (May 23, 1918 – July 26, 1999) was an American literary critic and biographer. He is known for Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography-winning biographies of Samuel Johnson (1978) and John Keats (1964).
writes that the ''Life of Savage'' "remains one of the innovative works in the history of biography". Margaret Lane writes that the ''Life of Savage'' "is still the most absorbing of all Johnson's brief biographies and its news value at the time made it compulsive reading."


Notes


References

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External links


The Life of Savage
ed. George Birkbeck Hill and Jack Lynch {{DEFAULTSORT:Life Of Mr Richard Savage 1744 books Biographies about writers English poetry Books by Samuel Johnson British biographies Works published anonymously