No. 4. Charities and hospitals.
The devotion of life or fortune to the succour of the poor, is a height of virtue, to which humanity has never risen by its own power.
Author Archives: Samuel Johnson
No. 3. Idler’s reason for writing.
Otia vitae Solamur cantu. STAT. It has long been the complaint of those who frequent the theatres, that all the …
No. 2. Invitation to correspondents.
Toto non quater anno Membranam.—HOR. Lib. ii. Sat. iii. 1. Many positions are often on the tongue, and seldom in …
No. 1. The Idler’s character.
Vacui sub umbra Lusimus.—Hor. Lib. i. Ode xxxii. 1. Those who attempt periodical essays seem to be often stopped in …
No. 138. The happiness and infelicity of writers.
If we apply to authors themselves for an account of their state, it will appear very little to deserve envy.
No. 137. Writers not a useless generation.
As man is a being very sparingly furnished with the power of prescience, he can provide for the future only by considering the past.
No. 131. Singularities censured.
In this censure of singularity, I have, therefore, no intention to subject reason or conscience to custom or example.
No. 128. Men differently employed unjustly censured by each other
Every man looks on the occupation or amusement of his neighbour as something below the dignity of our nature.
No. 126. Solitude not eligible.
There has always prevailed among mankind, a propensity to talk much of the delights of retirement.
No. 120. The miseries of life.
Ultima semper Expectanda dies homini: dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet. OVID. Met. Lib. iii. 135. But no frail …