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The Adventurer was projected in the year 1752, by Dr. John Hawkesworth.He was partly induced to undertake the work by his admiration of theRambler, which had now ceased to appear, the style and sentiments ofwhich evidently, from his commencement, he made the models of hisimitation.
The first number was published on the seventh of November, 1752. Thequantity and price were the same as the Rambler, and also the days ofits appearance. He was joined in his labours by Dr. Johnson in 1753,whose first paper is dated March 3, of that year; and after itspublication Johnson applied to his friend, Dr. Joseph Warton, for hisassistance, which was afforded: and the writers then were, besides theprojector Dr. Hawkesworth, Dr. Johnson, Dr. Joseph Warton, Dr. Bathurst,Colman, Mrs. Chapone and the Hon. Hamilton Boyle, the accomplished sonof Lord Orrery [1].
Our business, however, in the present pages, does not lie with theAdventurer in general, but only with Dr. Johnson's contributions; whichamount to the number of twenty-nine, beginning with No. 34, and endingwith No. 138.
Much criticism has been employed in appropriating some of them, and thecarelessness of editors has overlooked several that have beensatisfactorily proved to be Johnson's own[2].
Mr. Boswell relies on internal evidence, which is unnecessary, since inDr. Warton's copy (and his authority on the subject will scarcely bedisputed) the following remark was found at the end: "The papers markedT were written by Mr. S. Johnson." Mrs. Anna Williams asserted that hedictated most of these to Dr. Bathurst, to whom he presented theprofits. The anecdote may well be believed from the usual benevolence ofJohnson and his well-known attachment to that amiable physician, whoseprofessional knowledge might undoubtedly have enabled him to offer hintsto Johnson in the progress of composition. Thus we may account for thereferences to recondite medical writers in No. 39, which so staggeredBoswell and Malone in pronouncing on the genuineness of this paper.Those who are familiar with Johnson's writings can have littlehesitation, we conceive, in recognising his style, and manner, andsentiments in those papers which are now published under his name. Theymay be considered as a continuation of the Rambler. The same subjectsare discussed; the interests of literature and of literary men, theemptiness of praise and the vanity of human wishes. The same intimateknowledge, of the town and its manners is displayed[3]; and occasionallywe are amused with humorous delineation of adventure and ofcharacter[4].
From the greater variety of its subjects, aided, perhaps, by a growingtaste for periodical literature, the sale of the Adventurer was greaterthan that of the Rambler on its first appearance. But still there werethose, who "talked of it as a catch-penny performance, carried on by aset of needy and obscure scribblers[5]." So slowly is a national tastefor letters diffused, and so hardly do works of sterling merit, whichdeal not in party-politics, nor exemplify their ethical discussions byholding out living chara