Quotes by Dr Johnson Trivia Quiz

Answer: the high road that leads him to England

One of his fellow guests, the Rev John Ogilvie, had spoken in praise of the "noble wild prospects" of the Scottish landscape. Johnson had a typical anti-Scottish put-down at the ready.

Although England and Scotland had been under the same crown for more than a century and a half, full political union was not much more than 50 years old. To many English, the Scots were still fairly foreign, and Johnson's jibe reflects a not uncommon English attitude to the "Scotsman on the make".

Answer: a dog's walking on his hinder legs

Well, you wouldn't expect a Tory Anglican like Johnson to favour women ministers of religion, would you?

Answer: belly

As Boswell points out, Johnson voiced different views at other times, notably in an attack on gluttony in No 206 of the "Rambler". But generally Johnson seems to have been a man who demanded both quality and quantity at mealtimes.

Answer: married

The man in question had apparently been notoriously unhappy in his first marriage, but had married again very soon after the death of his wife.

Answer: strike it out

Johnson was criticizing Dr William Robertson's History of Scotland and comparing it unfavourably with Oliver Goldsmith's Roman History. It is only fair to say that Johnson's views on Robertson were not shared by writers like Walpole, Hume, Burke and Gibbon; and, since Robertson was a Scot, Johnson may have been simply indulging his prejudices again.

Answer: getting money

Well, there are innocent and not so innocent ways of getting money; but Johnson's way of getting it was certainly commendable.

Answer: Patriotism

"But let it be considered," adds Boswell, "that he did not mean a real and generous love of our country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak for self-interest". In that case, patriotism is surely very often the first, not the last, refuge of scoundrels.

Answer: a good tavern or inn

They were dining in "an excellent inn" at the time. Hawkins, in his "Life of Johnson" (a rival to Boswell's), reports a similar saying: "I have heard him assert that a tavern chair was the height of human felicity." Johnson is traditionally supposed to have been a habitué of the Cheshire Cheese in Fleet Street.

In fact, there is no conclusive evidence that Johnson ever visited it, though it is certainly very close to where he lived, and a Victorian journalist called Cyrus Redding remembered speaking to old people who claimed to have met Johnson in the Cheese.

At all events, the pub has been a favourite haunt of many literary men, including Dickens, and is well worth a visit: when I was last there, they served Marston's Pedigree, a very tasty and deceptively powerful beer.

Answer: Questioning

Presumably Johnson wouldn't have welcomed a pub quiz night at the Cheshire Cheese!

Answer: fine clothes

Johnson seems to have been pretty slovenly in his dress.

Answer: idle

The discussion had been about whether dons at Oxford and Cambridge were overpaid or underpaid. "To be sure," said Johnson, "a man who has enough without teaching will probably not teach, for we would all be idle if we could."

Answer: for money

This may be untrue, but at all events it's unlikely that Johnson himself would ever have written anything if he hadn't needed money. He had to work hard at writing for much of his life, but never deceived himself or others about his motives.

Answer: "Come, my lad, and drink some beer!"

Johnson was guying the work of Thomas Warton. Warton was an Oxford don with a great knowledge of older English poetry: Johnson had a great respect for him as a critic and editor, but saw little merit in his attempts at verse.

Answer: hanged in a fortnight

William Dodd, a popular preacher, was convicted of forgery and hanged at Tyburn, in spite of a campaign (in which Johnson played a leading part) to get him reprieved. While imprisoned at Newgate, he delivered a sermon in the chapel entitled "The Convict's Address to his Unhappy Brethren", which had been written for him by Johnson.

It was suggested to Johnson that the sermon could not be Dodd's work, "because it had a great deal more force of mind in it than anything known to be his". Johnson replied, "Why should you think so? Depend upon it, Sir, etc."

Answer: London

Boswell felt that, if he lived in London, "the exquisite zest with which I relished it on occasional visits might go off, and I might grow tired of it." Johnson had no such fears.

Answer: an American

Johnson, a lifelong Tory, had no sympathy with what he called "the ridiculous claims of American usurpation."

Answer: brandy

In Johnson's view, a man could drown in claret before it would make him drunk. But "there are indeed few who can drink brandy. That is a power rather to be wished for than attained."

Answer: the Giant's Causeway

Boswell had proposed a tour to Ireland, but Johnson could not be persuaded. When Boswell asked "Is not the Giant's Causeway worth seeing?", this was his reply.

Answer: a dunce

Despite this, Mary Monckton (later Countess of Cork and Orrery) remained fond of Johnson. When he became too ill to go out, she often visited him with friends.

Answer: why he had defined a word wrongly in his dictionary

Johnson had defined "pastern" as "the knee of a horse". He could well afford to be humble for once: the reputation of his dictionary would not be affected by one or two minor mistakes.

Answer: quotation

So Fun Trivia members who compile quotation quizzes are doing a worthwhile job! Johnson's was the first English dictionary to illustrate the meanings of words with quotations from a variety of authors.

Answer: network

This definition is a famous example of what has been called "Johnsonese", i.e. a rather pompous Latinate way of talking about simple everyday things. But "net" is not an easy word to define simply, though I've heard an alternative definition that I rather like - "a lot of holes held together with string".

Answer: pleasure

Seward, who was nearly forty years younger than Johnson, was well known in literary circles and became a close friend of Johnson towards the end of his life.

Answer: the weather

Our weather continues to be a fascinating topic of conversation for us Brits today, maybe because it's so changeable.

Answer: marriage; celibacy

Nobody can ever accuse Johnson of raising unrealistic expectations in his readers!