Tag: samuel johnson

a very fine cat indeed

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johnson house and hodge the cat

Look what I got in the mail last week! A couple of years ago, on a cold gloomy December afternoon, I did a drawing in London’s Gough Square off Fleet Street, one of my favourite spots in the city, of the statue of Hodge, Dr. Samuel Johnson’s beloved cat. Johnson’s house, now a musuem, is in the background. For those of you who don’t know, Samuel Johnson wrote the first comprehensive dictionary of the English language, he made lots of quotes that he knew would make popular pub quiz questions two hundred years later, and his life was chronicled by his friend James Boswell. The kind folk at Johnson’s House (who also let me do some sketching there last winter) have turned my drawing into a card which you can buy at the Johnson’s House Musuem in London (all proceeds benefit the musuem). This is a great place and offers an interesting and relaxing look at Johnson’s life in mid-eighteenth century London.

So if you are in London and would like to buy one of these cards, please visit Dr. Johnson’s House at 17 Gough Square, and why not have a look around?

Dr. Johnson’s House official site

Previous sketches at Johnson’s House (“For there is in London all that life can afford”)

for there is in london all that life can afford

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dr johnson's house, gough square

While back in London I was fortunate enough to sketch at the house of Dr. Samuel Johnson, in Gough Square (off Fleet Street). The doctor himself wasn’t home, having died a couple of centuries ago or so, but the very nice curator Stephanie gave me a cup of tea and a tour of the house. I love this area and all its history and Johnson’s House is a jewel. He was the archetypal Londoner (well, he was from Staffordshire) from whom we get many famous quiz-night quotations, his most well-known being that one about being tired of London (let’s not forget he said it before the invention of the Northern Line). Beyond his famous dictionary and his appearance in Blackadder as Robbie Coltrane, many people don’t actually know much about him. I certainly learned a lot more about Johnson, and he was a very interesting man, and quite ahead of his time. I enjoyed being brought back into the eighteenth century learning the stories behind regular household objects. For example, his very thin chair (sketched above) – Dr Johnson was a pretty portly man, but apparently he would sit on it backwards and lean his arms on the back while watching cock fights down at his local pub (as you did).

gough square

i sketched this - johnson's cat hodges with the house in the background - a couple of years ago

That’s the dictionary up there on the left, first edition print. Not the original manuscript, but still pretty cool to be in the vicinity of this famous (if Scot-mocking) book, so I had to sketch that too.

If you happen to be in London, head down to the Fleet Street area, and visit Dr Johnson’s House in Gough Square. You’ll really like it. and then, go and explore the narrow lanes and old pubs of the area. As Johnson himself said,  “Sir, if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares, but must survey the innumerable little lanes and courts.” And he was right an’ all.

Website of Dr. Johnson’s House