A Thesis Presented Tor the Damaris Blosser, A. B • 1947 Approved
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A COMPARISOI OF THE COIHIOH SENSE IDEALS OP DR. SAMUEL JOIDISOB AJID DR. BEl.JAJIUl FRABKLII A Thesis Presented tor the Degree of Master of Arts BY Damaris Blosser,.. A. B• ---- THE OHIO STATE UBIVERSI'l'Y 1947 Approved bf: TABLe OF CONTENTS Introduction PART OIIE--JOHMSOH AliD FRAIKLIB CONTRASTED Chapter 1. !!!!. Ethics .!IS R&lig1on RI. Johnson .!!!!!. Franklin Chapter 11. !!:!!, Political Op1niona .2! Johnson~ Franklin PAR'!' TWO--THE COJIJION SENSE OF JOHNSON AID FBAllKLII Chapter lll. Johnson ~ Franklin 2!! 14ucation Chapter lV. Johnson ,!!!!! Franklin 2!! !h!, Pursuit .2! Happ1neaa l. Oetting on in the World 2. Marriage and Women 3. Social Lite 4. Health Conclua1ona Source a Introduot ion Two of the moat fascinating personalities in the eighteenth century were Dr. Samuel Johnson, the English man of lettera, and Dr. Benjamin Franklin, the American philosopher and ac1entiat. Johneon, the •true-born Englishman", the unrivalled talker, the writer and lexicographer, come• to life in the pagea of hie incoq:>arable biographer, Boswell, and hia supreme capacity for human relat1oneh1p atill makee friend.a for him more than a century after hie death. Franklin, the genial American, the etateaman, the inventor, the writer, and toun:ler or the American auccees pattern, etlll spE':aka Sood aenae to hia readers from the pagee ot hie Autobiograpez, hie •Poor Richard'• Almanack", and other writing•. These men were tamoua in their own day for their sound common aenae, for their simplicity ot· manner, and their capacity for fr1endeh1p. Johnson was the advocate of Engliah Toryiam an1 Franklin the philosopher of the American Revolution, and although they presented direct oontraet in the concepta of polit1ca and a1ao of religion, they agreed or eupplemented. each other in the great realm of common aenae and how to live in the world. Johnson and Franklin were contemporaries. Although Franklin lived many 78'r• in London duri~ Johnaon's ree1denoe there, th97 2 never met. They had at least one famous acquaintance 1n ccmaon-- James Boswe·ll, that 1rrepress1ble celebrity hunter and recorder, who· missed the prize opportunity to bring Franklin and Johnson together. Boswell met Franklin in London in May, 1768, and found him Jolly and congenial. By failing to bring Johnson and Franklin together, the man who made Johnson his life-time hero m1esed hearing two ot the great men of his ti~e exchange views, talk and argue. Boswell probably never gues11ed what hi• failure coat Franklin and Johnson admirers. Perhaps Boswell, knowing Johnson's strong d1el1ke of Americana, feared to introduce Franklin to the staunch Tory and hie}l. churchman, but Boswell did not hellltate to introduce Johnson to ardent Whigs such as the rascally John Wilkes. This theeie alms to bring Franklin and Johnson together on paper and to show in their own worda how they clashed ard how they agreed, and to show in some measure what these men believed and what they lived by. The lives of Franklin and Johnaon were parallel in certain superficial ways. Franklin waa born in Boston in 1706, and Johnson in Lichfield, ~land, in 1709. Both were born into lower middle-class families. Franklin waa the eon of' a tallow-chandler, ani Johnson wae the eon of a bookseller. Both were largely sell-educated., and both rece1 ved honorary degrees from Oxford un1vere1ty. Johnson spent about 14 months at Pembroke college, Oxford., while Franklin had no college education. Both men were aelJ"-made. Both started their careera in journalisa. Franklin was a contributor to the Boston Courant, owned by his brother, Jamee, and Johnson wae a writer tor Cave's Gentleman• a Magazine. Both men roae f'rom bumble aoo1al orig1na and. poverty to social eminence and fimncial security. The parallel •Y be carried yet rurthe r. Johnaon and Franklin would have found. no co-on ground in formal religion or in politica, but both Johnson ant Franklin insisted on the righta and dignity of the individual man. Both men held that man•s first duty is to serve society, and. then look to the aalvation of his own soul. J:Soth men neld liberal and progressive viewa regarding the democratization of education ani the need of' making education ani newa accessible to all the people. Both men entertained modern 1deaa concerning the education of women, the partnership of marriage, am the promotion of a sound, middle- claaa morality. Both men were rugged individualiata and. argued tor the advantages of thrift, induat17, and the rights of property accumulated by thr1f't and induet17. Both men lived to benefit and improve the world. Am l:x>th men were em1nentl7 aocial with a genius tor f'riendl!lhip. Finally, both men em.bodied common sense. "Clear 7our mind of' cant,w cried Dr. Johnson, and •good senae 1• a thing all need•, 4 commented Franklin's "Poor Richard." Common sense waa the eolMnon meeting ground of the great .Englishman and the great American. 5 Chapter 1 fh!. Religion ~ Ethics RI., Johnson ~ franklin 8 All Christians, whether Papists or Protestants, agree in the eaaential articlea,n Dr. Samuel Johnson once remarked to .lames Boswell.1 Johnson however disagreed violently with many Christiana in matters of doctrine. The Great Bear of Kngliah lettera represented. the Church of England, while his .t'amoua .American contemporary, Dr. Benjamin Prankl1n, represented. the more mod.em, deistic religion. 'fhey presented as Yi Tid a contrast in their religious beliefs as they did in their personalities. Franklin wa.s buoyant of temperament, phy1icall7 aound, well adjusted emot1onally, and a perfect example of the •health7 mind" which the psychologist, William Jamea, described in The yar1et1ea S?I. Beligioue Experience• Johnllon, on the other hand, waa aomber, beset b7 physical ills and deformities, and tortured b)' the religious melancholy which James aaaociated. withthe "sick aoui.•2 Jamee d1acuaaed Tolsto7 aa one example ot the aiok aoul. He wrote: Religious melancboly ••• preaenta two characters. 11.rat it ia a well-marked caee ot anhedonia, of passive loea of appetite for all life's valuea; and second, lt ahowa how the altered and estranged aapect which tbe world aasuaed 1n consequence of this et1mulated Tolato7•a intellect to a gnawing, carking questioning and er.fort ror ph1loaoph1c relief .3 l J ..es Boswell, The Lite of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., ed. George Birlrbeok Bill, T6"vor.-; i":Y., Bigelow, Brown & Co., Undated) 1, p. 469. 2 William James, Tl'» Varietiee of Relifious EJtperience, (B.Y~, Longmana, Greene& Co., 19~5)p. '78- 5. 3.Ibid., p. 149. 6 In Johnaon•s caae, religious melancholy did not reault in a loss of appetite for all life'• valuea; instead be aougbt relief in the world of men, in fellowship, good talk, in reading and in religion, finding pleasure tb.e keener for ita rarity. Johnson clung to life tenaoioual7, and retained a tundamental robuatnesa of mind wb1ob enabled hi• to conquer m&IQ' of the alck fancies which threatened his san1t7. Joseph Wood Krutch described Johnson aa "a pessimist with an enormous seat for living.•4 If ever a man had reaaon to be a peaeimiat, it waa Johnson. Be waa the eon or a respectable but unaucoeastul tradesman. Aa a boy Johnson waa eet apart from h1a fellows by h1 a ungainly, overgrown f igtire, ecrof'ula and odd, jerky movements which auggeated st. Vitua dance. Bia eyesight was so weak he could not Join other boye in their gamea, and hia chief &111Uaement in winter waa being drawn about on the 1oe 'bJ' another lad. Bia unu.aual mental brilliance in school aet h1m apart from other boye aa a prodigy. When Johnaon attended Pembroke oollege at OX1'ord university, he waa eo poor that his toee atuak out of his ahoea. finally forced. hi• to quit Oxford after about 14 montha residence. Johnson's father left h1a aon nothing but debte. At 28, Johnaon, after failing as a aehoolmaeter, and with the responsibility of a wife to support, went to London with hie traged7, Irene, in his pocket. H• hoped for a literary oareer, but for a&1Q' yeara he 4 Joseph Wood Krutch, Samuel Johnson (R.Y.,Benry Holt,1944),p.l. 7 could earn a 11v1ng onl7 aa a journalist, a Grub street hack. During his earl7 7ears in London, Johnson described h1maelt' as ao poor that he more than once walked the atreeta all night beca~se he had no mone7 for a lodging. He wrote Raaaelaa in about a week, ruah1ng to finish it to pa7 for his mother• a doctor bills, and she died berore the book ••• nnished. Little wonder that he wrote in Raaselaa that "Human life la everywhere a state, in which much is to be endured, and little to be enjo7ed."5 In addition to the physical deformities, the ugly face and body, the weak sight and detective hearing with which nature had burdened Johnson, he waa tormented by an inherent melanchol7 which he believed he had inherited t'rom his father. While at Oxford, Johnson became ao mentally depressed he thought he waa going mad,. and consulted a phy"s1o1an for relief'. Sir John Hawkin.a, Johnson's rr1end. and biographer, wrote this statement on the subject: Bis own conjecture waa, that he derived it from hia rather ••• Under this perauaaion, he at the age of about 20, drew up a state or his case for the opinion of an eminent ph7sician in Staftord.ah1re, and from him received an answer, "That trom the symptoms therin described, he could think of nothing better of h1a dlaorder, than that it had a tendency to insanity; and without great care might possibly term1natg in the deprivation ot' his natural faculties." 5 S&muel Johnson, Raaaelaa, (Oxford, Clarendon Presa,1898),p.20.