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Samuel Johnson (1649 - 1703), political writer, sometimes called "the Whig" to distinguish him from...

Samuel Johnson (1649 - 1703), political writer, sometimes called "the Whig" to distinguish him from the later acclaimed author and lexicographer of the same name. Of humble extraction, he was educated at St. Paul's School and Trinity College, Cambridge, and took orders. He attacked James II in Julian the Apostate (1682), and was illegally deprived of his orders, flogged and imprisoned. He continued, however, his attacks on the Government by pamphlets, and did much to influence the public mind in favour of the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688. Dryden gave him a place in Absalom and Achitophel as "Benjochanan." After the Revolution he was restored to his orders and received a pension, but considered himself insufficiently rewarded by a Deanery, which he declined. He was married for many years, suffered from many illnesses. This article incorporates public domain text from: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J. M. Dent & sons; New York, E. P. Dutton.