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The Scottish Enlightenment

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  • Key
    People
    • James Adams
    • James Craig
    • Alexander Geddes
    • Henry Raeburn
    • John Ainslie
    • William Creech
    • John Home
    • Allan Ramsay
    • James Beattie
    • George Drummond
    • David Hume
    • William Shaw
    • Hugh Blair
    • Gilbert Elliot
    • Samuel Johnson
    • Thomas Sheridan
    • William Brodie
    • Adam Ferguson
    • Malcolm Laing
    • John Sinclair
    • James Burnett
    • Robert Fergusson
    • Henry Mackenzie
    • Adam Smith
    • Alexander Carlyle
    • Archibald Grant
    • James Macpherson
    • James Thomson
    • James Adams (1737-1802)
    • John Ainslie (1745-1828)
    • James Beattie (1735-1803)
    • Hugh Blair (1718-1800)
    • William Brodie, known as Deacon Brodie, (1746-1788)
    • James Burnett, Lord Monboddo (1714-1799)
    • Alexander Carlyle (1722-1805)
    • James Craig (1739-1795)
    • William Creech (1745-1815)
    • George Drummond (1687-1766)
    • Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto (1722-1777)
    • Adam Ferguson (1723-1816)
    • Robert Fergusson (1750-1774)
    • Sir Archibald Grant (1696-1778)
    • Alexander Geddes (1737-1802)
    • John Home (1722-1808)
    • David Hume (1711-1776)
    • Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
    • Malcolm Laing (1762-1818)
    • Henry Mackenzie (1745-1831)
    • James Macpherson (1736-1796)
    • Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823)
    • Allan Ramsay (1713-1784)
    • William Shaw (1749-1831)
    • Thomas Sheridan (1719-1788)
    • Sir John Sinclair (1754–1835)
    • Adam Smith (1723-1790)
    • James Thomson (1700-1748)
  • Town
    Planning
    • Source 1: A proposal for keeping the streets clean, 1734-5
    • Source 2: Proposals for improving the city of Edinburgh, 1752
    • Source 3: Proposals for improving the city of Edinburgh, 1752
    • Source 4: James Craig’s design for the New Town, 1768
    • Source 5: Map showing the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh, 1780
    • Source 6: James Craig’s proposal for improving the eastern approach to the Old Town, 1786
    • Source 7: Description of Edinburgh from the Statistical Account of Scotland, 1791-1799
  • Encyclopaedia
    Britannica
    • Source 1: Title page to volume 1 of the first edition.
    • Source 2: Agriculture, volume 1 A-B, page 40
    • Source 3: Agriculture Plate IV, volume 1 A-B, page 41
    • Source 4: Mechanics, volume 1 M-Z, page 38
    • Source 5: Mechanics, volume 1 M-Z, plate CV
    • Source 6: Camelus or Camel, volume 1 A-B, page 13
    • Source 7: Bactrianus or Bactrian Camel, volume 1 A-B, Plate EIX
    • Source 8: Caricature of Andrew Bell and William Smellie by John Kay
  • Scotticisms
    • Source 1 : A list of Scotticisms by David Hume, first printed 1752
    • Source 2 : Lectures on the art of speaking English, 1761
    • Source 3 : A society for promoting the reading and speaking of English, 1761
    • Source 4 : Observations on the Scottish dialect by Sir John Sinclair, 1782
    • Source 5 : Teaching correct English to the young, 1799
    • Source 6 : The richness of the Scots language, 1792
    • Source 7 : In support of the Scots language, 1799
  • Statistical
    Account
    • Source 1: Sir John Sinclair’s description of compiling the ‘Statistical Account’
    • Source 2: Sir John Sinclair’s discussion of the term ‘statistics’
    • Source 3: Part of the report for the Parish of Monymusk
    • Source 4: Part of the report for the Parish of Wick
    • Source 5: Statistical table for the Parish of Culross
    • Source 6: Report for the Parish of East Kilbride
    • Source 7: Report for the Parish of Smailholm
  • Ossian
    • Source 1: Preface to ‘Fragments of ancient poetry’, 1760
    • Source 2: Preface to ‘Fingal’, 1761
    • Source 3: Letter from David Hume, 1763
    • Source 4: Samuel Johnson’s opinion of the poems, 1775
    • Source 5: An enquiry into the authenticity of the poems, 1781
    • Source 6: ‘Poems of Ossian’ edited by Malcolm Laing, 1805
    • Source 7: Highland Society of Scotland report, 1805
  • Clubs and
    Societies
    • Source 1: List of members of the Select Society
    • Source 2: Questions debated by the Select Society
    • Source 3: The aims of the Edinburgh Society
    • Source 4: A description of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, 1754
    • Source 5: Members of the Cape Club
    • Source 6: An account of the Cape Club
    • Source 7: Extract from the Highland Society of London Minute Book, 1784
    • Women and the Enlightenment
  • Resources
    • Gallery

Key People

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Samuel Johnson was an author and lexicographer, or dictionary compiler, born in Lichfield in Staffordshire. He is best known for his ‘Dictionary of the English language’ (1755). It became the standard text on the English language soon after its publication, and Johnson came to be regarded as a leading authority on the English language. He became popularly known by the nickname ‘Dictionary Johnson’.

Scottish journey with James Boswell

In 1773, Johnson made a journey around Scotland with his friend and biographer James Boswell, an Edinburgh advocate. Starting from Edinburgh, they travelled up the east coast to Inverness via St Andrews and Aberdeen, then to Skye, Iona, Mull and Glasgow, before returning to Edinburgh.

Both travellers produced accounts of their journey. James Boswell wrote the ‘Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides’ (1785) and Johnson ‘A journey to the Western Isles of Scotland’ (1775).

Questioned Ossian authenticity

Johnson was critical of the Ossian poems edited by James Macpherson. Johnson questioned whether the poems were authentic. He did not believe that they were translations of ancient Gaelic pieces as Macpherson claimed, and suggested that Macpherson might have composed them himself.

Image: ‘Samuel Johnson’, after John Opie, 1783-1784. By courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
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