Sharp, Dr John (d. 1792), archdeacon of Northumberland: 256
Sharp, Samuel (1700?–78), surgeon; author of A Treatise on the Operations of Surgery(1739), thefirst monographinEnglishonthe subject; fellowof the Royal Society (1749); surgeon at Guy’s Hospital (1733–57); published his tour memoirs as Letters from Italy (1766), admired by S.J.; acquaintance of Voltaire; implemented numerous improvements in surgical technique and equipment: 191, 546
Sharpe, Dr Gregory (1713–71), Church of England clergyman and author; vicar of All Saints, Birling, near Maidstone (1743–56); vicar of Purton, Wilts. (1761); chaplain to George III (1762–71); author of the Rise and Fall of the Holy City and Temple of Jerusalem (1765) and the Origin and Structure of the Greek Tongue (1767); translated Aristophanes for Charlotte Lennox’s edition of Greek theatre; fellow and the director of the Society of Antiquaries when he died: 328
Shaw, Cuthbert (1739–71), poet; performed as an actor in Samuel Foote’s The Minor (Haymarket, 1760); author of The Race (1765), asatire in the spirit of the Scriblerians, and A Monody to the Memory of a Young Lady (1768); editor of the Middlesex Journal and dabbler in opposition politics: 280 and n. a
Shaw, DrThomas (1694–1751), African traveller: 825
Shaw, Revd William (1749–1831), Gaelic grammarian and lexicographer; S.J. his friend and mentor; author of An Analysis of the Gaelic Language (1778) and A Galic and English Dictionary (2 vols., 1780); joined S.J. in his scepticism of the authenticity of Macpherson’s ‘Ossianic’ poems in An Enquiry into the Authenticity of the Poems Ascribed to Ossian (1781): 16, 576, 577, 639, 901
Shebbeare, Dr John (1709–88), physician and political writer; Tory; author of the novels The Marriage Act (1754) and Lydia (1755); seditious satirist criticizing the Hanoverian succession in a series of ‘letters’, beginning with Letters on the English Nation (1755); feuded with Ralph Griffiths and Smollett; presented a pension by George III; made few friends and many enemies for his uncompromising, vitriolic style: 825, 881
Shelburne, William Petty, 2nd Earl of, afterwards 1st Marquis of Lansdowne (1737–1805), prime minister (1782); Pittite; aide-de-camp to George III (1760); first lord at the Board of Trade (1763); Secretary of State for the South (1766–8, 1782); subsequently joined Rockingham and Grenville in opposition; knight of the Garter (1782); first lord of the Treasury (1782); career effectively over at forty-five after tendering his resignation from the Treasury: 666, 861, 869, 919 n. a
Shenstone, William (1714–63), writer; alumnus of Pembroke College, Oxford; author of The School-Mistress (1742); friend of the poets James Thomson and Richard Graves; contributor to the Gentleman’s Magazine; poems took on an increasingly reclusive and melancholic tone; admired by S.J., Hazlitt and Burns: 46, 505 and nn.b andc, 886
Sheridan, Charles Francis (1750–1806), author and politician; brother of R. B. Sheridan; established a reputation with his History of the Late Revolution in Sweden (1778); Irish MP (1776–90) on the favour of Sir Robert Tilson Deane; under-secretary in the military department of the Chief Secretary’s office in Dublin (1782); much paler shadow of his younger brother: 677
Sheridan, Frances (1724–66), novelist and playwright; mother of Charles and R. B. Sheridan; wife of Thomas Sheridan; admired by S.J. and J.B.; author of the sentimental novel Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph (1761) and the comedy The Discovery, staged by Garrick at Drury Lane (1763): 191 and n. c, 206–7
Sheridan, Mrs R. B., see Linley, Elizabeth Ann
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley (1751–1816), playwright and politician; author of the plays The Rivals (1775), The School for Scandal (1778) and The Critic (1779); mocked sentimental comedy; manager of Drury Lane (1776); member of the Literary Club (1777); under-secretary to Fox in the Northern Department (1782); opposed the Act of Union (1799); receiver-general of the Duchy of Cornwall (1804); treasurer of the navy (1806); Privy Councillor (1806); comedies have remained consistently popular and admired: 191, 252, 398, 582, 583
Sheridan, Thomas (1719–88), actor and orthoepist; edgy friendship with Garrick; united the Aungier Street and Smock Alley theatres in Dublin, taking over their united management (1745–54); successful actor in Dublin and London, acting at Drury Lane and Covent Garden; edited Swift and provided a biography of the author, his godfather (1784); increasingly tense relationship with his son, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, over personal relations and his management of Drury Lane: 199, 200, 205–6, 209 and n. a, 238, 305, 328, 345, 346, 398, 433 n. b, 434, 520, 583, 697, 727, 797, 814, 858, 877, 882, 885, 938,945
Sherlock, Dr William (1641?-!707), dean of St Paul’s: 657, 929 n. a, 936
Sherwin, John Keyse (i75i?-9o), designer and engraver; won the gold medal of the Royal Society for a historical picture (1772); historical engraver to the King (1785); talented but vain: 580
Shiels, Robert (d. 1753), compiler; Jacobite; one of the six amanuenses on S.J.’s Dictionary; principal compiler of Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland, to the Time of Dean Swift (5 vols., 1753); wrote several poems after the manner of James Thomson: 106–7, 133, 534 and n. a, 538, 583–4
Shipley, Dr Jonathan (1714–88), bishop of St Asaph (1770); Whig; latitudinarian; dean of Winchester and rector of Chilbolton, Hampshire (1760); bishop of Llandaff (1769); held in high favour by Rockingham and Shelburne; friend of S.J., Burke and Reynolds; member of the Literary Club: 252, 659, 898
Shuckford, Dr Samuel (d. 1754), prebendary of Canterbury: 936
Siam, king of; embassies from and to Lewis XIV: 705
Sibbald, Sir Robert (1641–1722), Scottish physician and antiquary: 646–7
Siddons, Mrs Sarah (1755–1831), actress; sister of John Philip Kemble; established her fame and popularity at Bath (1778–82) before moving to Sheridan’s Drury Lane; a cultural icon by the mid-1780s; the definitive Lady Macbeth; collaborated with James Boaden to produce Memoirs of Mrs Siddons (1827); the most famous actress of her era: 896
Sidney, or Sydney, Algernon (1622–83), political writer; defender of the regicide; servant of Cromwell; author of Court Maxims (1665-6) and Discourses Concerning Government (1681-3); executed for his treasonable association with Monmouth: 372
Sidney, Sir Philip (1554–86), author and courtier; diplomat charged with negotiating a Protestant league; author of the sonnet sequence Astrophil and Stella, the critical Defence of Poetry and the epic romance Arcadia; died prematurely after a wound sustained in battle: 593
Simco, John (fl. 1786): 1000 n.c
Simpson, Charles (1732–96), town clerk of Lichfield: 971 n. a
Simpson, Joseph (1721-c. 1773), Lichfield friend of S.J.: 185–6, 256, 533
Simpson, Revd Mr (fl. 1766–78), of Lincoln: 268, 717
Simpson, Stephen (1700?-74), father of the above: 48
Simpson, Thomas (1710–61), mathematician; contributor to the Gentleman’s Magazine (1736-8); author of the Doctrine and Application of Fluxions (1750) and Mathematical Dissertations (1743); prolific writer; assistant to the chief master of mathematics at the newly formed Royal Military Academy at Woolwich (1743–61): 187 n. b
Sinclair, Sir John (1754–1835), ist Baronet; agricultural improver, politician and codifier of ‘useful knowledge’; compiled the Statistical Account of Scotland (21 vols.); launched the British Wool Society (1791) and helped to establish the Board of Agriculture, becoming its president (until 1798); proposed a scheme to codify useful knowledge under the five heads of agriculture, health, political economy, finance and religion, publishing the Code of Health (4 vols., 1807) and the Code of Agriculture (1817): 840
‘Sixteen-string Jack’, see Rann, John
Skene, Sir John (1543?-1617), Lord Curriehill; clerk register and compiler of Regiam Majestatem: 747 n. a
Skinner, Stephen (1623–67), physician and philologist; treatises published posthumously as Etymologicon Linguce Anglicanae (1671); influence on S.J. acknowledged in his preface to the Dictionary: 106
Slater, Philip (fl. 1776), the druggist: 555
Smalbroke, Dr Richard (c. 1716–180
5), chancellor of the diocese of Lichfield: 78
Smalridge, Dr George (1663–1719), bishop of Bristol (1714); Tory preacher; chaplain-in-ordinary to Queen Anne (1710); dean of Carlisle (1711); referred to by Swift as ‘the famous Dr Smalridge’; helped secure early appointments of Atterbury but friendship later cooled: 657
Smart, Christopher (1722–71), poet; editor and principal writer of The Midwife (1750–53); most commended for the poems A Song to David, the Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the Fasts and Festivals of the Church of England and Jubilate agno, all written while in a private madhouse at Bethnal Green (1757–63); translated Horace (4 vols., 1767); poet of substantial achievement as well as revolutionary vision: 165, 211, 446, 865 n. a, 870
Smart, Mrs (d. 1809), wife of the above: 962 n. a
Smith, Adam (1723–90), moral philosopher and political economist; close intellectual alliance and friendship with Hume; pivotal figure in the Scottish Enlightenment; professor of logic at Glasgow University (1751–64); author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776); rector of Glasgow University (1787); commissioner of Customs in Edinburgh (1778): 44, 226, 252, 495, 525 n. a, 585, 702–3, 775 andn. b, 867, 983 n. b
Smith, Captain (fl. 1778), General Hall’s aide-de-camp at Warley Camp: 719
Smith, Edmund (1672–1710), poet and playwright; ode on the death of Edward Pococke and elegy on John Philips both greatly admired by S.J.; best known for the tragedy Phaedra and Hippolitus (1707); associated with Addison and his Whig circle; reverenced by S.J. in his Life as a poet who attained high reputation without much labour purely through the possession of ‘uncommon abilities’: 48, 668
Smith, Henry (1756?–89): 810 and n. 1020
Smith, John (1657–1726), Lord Chief Baronof Exchequer: 850 n. a
Smith, Mr (fl. 1770), of Bishop’s Stortford: 320
Smith, Revd Lawrence (c. 1716–1800), vicar of Southill, Beds.: 833, 945
‘Smith, S.’, name assumed by S.J.in 1734: 54
Smollett, Tobias (1721–71), writer; medical practitioner; reputation established through three major novels –Roderick Random (1748), Peregrine Pickle(1751) and Humphry Clinker (1771) – employing picaresque and epistolary modes; author of the Complete History of England (4 vols., 1758); editor of The Briton and the Critical Review (until 1763); considerable influence on Dickens; friend and colleague of Goldsmith; edited the Works of Voltaire (1761–5): 536, 651
Socrates (469–399bc), ancient Greek philosopher; judicially Murdered on charges of religious innovation and the corruption of Athenian youth: 121–2, 206 n. b, 275, 603 n. a, 667, 786, 808
Sodor and Man, bishop of, seeRichmond, DrRichard
Solander, Dr Daniel Charles (1736?–82), botanist; secretary and librarian to Sir Joseph Banks; fellow of the Royal Society (1764); keeper of the natural history collections in the British Museum (1773); responsible for much of the scientific Content of the first editionof theHortus Kewensis; catalogued the natural history specimens in the British Museum (1763): 336, 339
Somers, John Somers, Baron (1651–1716), lawyer and politician; Solicitor-General (1689); recorder of Gloucester (1689); Attorney General (1692); Lord Keeper of the Great Seal (1693); Privy Councillor (1693); Lord Chancellor (1697); president of the Royal Society (1698–1703); member of the Kit-Cat Club; patron of the arts, receiving dedications from Swift and Addison; Lord President of the Council (1708): 433 n. b
Somerset, or Sommerset, James (fl. 1772), slave; left the service of his master in England, after arriving from Virginia, and refused to return; case brought into focus the collision of colonial and domestic laws regarding slavery; verdict by Lord Mansfield had the effect of questioning the legality of slavery: 638
Somerville, James Somerville, 12th Baron (1698–1765): 790 and n. a
South, Dr Robert (1634–1716), Church of England clergyman and theologian; chaplain to James, Duke of York, brother of Charles II (1667); canon of Christ Church (1670); rector of Islip in Oxfordshire (1678); hopes for a bishopric dashed by the Glorious Revolution: 313, 657
Southwell, Edward (fl. 1761): 194
Southwell, ThomasSouthwell,2ndBaron (d. 1766): S.J.’s friendin1752: 133, 728, 861
Spence, Joseph (1699–1768); anecdotist and friend of Pope: 245, 767, 798
Spencer, George John Spencer, 2nd Earl, see Althorp, Viscount
Spenser, Edmund (1552?–99), poet and administrator in Ireland; author of The Shepheardes Calendar (1579) and The Faerie Queen (1589/90, 2nd edn 1596), a monumental work in English literary history pioneering the Spenserian stanza and synthesizing a range of archaic modes and registers; secretary to the Lord Deputy of Ireland (1580); commissioner for musters in Co. Kildare (1583–5); significant political writer, publishing A View of the Present State of Ireland (1596): 86, 150 and n. c,151 n. b, 158, 387, 995
Spottiswoode, John, of Spottiswoode (d. 1805), solicitor: 699 and n. b, 700, 702
Sprat, Dr Thomas (1635–1713), bishop of Rochester (1684); fellow of the Royal Society (1663); author of The History of the Royal Society (i66j); rector of Uffington in Lincolnshire (1670); royal chaplain (1676); canon of the Chapel Royal at Windsor (1681); dean of Westminster (1683); theology heavily influenced by Hooker: 936
Stanhope, James Stanhope, ist Earl (1673–1721), army officer, diplomat and Whig politician; founder member of the Kit-Cat Club; Major-General (1708); Lieutenant General (1709); successful campaigns in Spain ended disastrously at Brihuega (171 o); Secretary of State in the Southern Department (1714–18); Privy Councillor (1714); Secretary of State in the Northern Department (1718); helped secure Britain’s ruling dynasty and consolidate European peace through diplomatic negotiations (1716–21): 93
Stanhope, Philip (c. 1732–68), Chesterfield’s natural son: 144 n. a, 946–7
Stanton, Samuel (d. 1797), manager of a company of country actors: 512–13
Stanyan, Abraham (1669?–1732), diplomatist: 716
Statius, Publius Papinius (c. AD 40-c. 96); Roman poet, author of Silvae and the Thebaid: 137
Staunton, Sir George Leonard (1737–1801), physician and diplomatist; friend of S.J.; Attorney General for Grenada (1779); fellow of the Royal Society (1787); principal secretary to Lord Macartney’s embassy to China (1792): 196, 938
Steele, Joshua (1700–91), plantation owner and writer on prosody; author of An Essay towards Establishing the Melody and Measure of Speech, to be Expressed and Perpetuated by Peculiar Symbols (1775); sheriff of his parish, a member of the council, and judge in Barbados, home of his plantation: 437 and n. b
Steele, Sir Richard (1672–1729), writer and politician; playwright of the comedy The Tender Husband (1 jo 5); member of the Kit-Cat Club and associate of Addison; editor of the London Gazette (1707); founder of The Tatler (1709); co-founder, with Addison, of The Spectator (ijii): surveyor of the royal stables at Hampton Court (1714); governor of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (1714); master of the new print culture: 99 n. b, 316 n. a, 503, 536, 791–2, 814
Steele, Thomas (fl. 1803), joint secretary of the Treasury, Paymaster-General of the Forces: 83
Steevens, George (1736–1800), literary editor and scholar; fellow of the Royal Society (1767); fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (1767); member of the Literary Club (1774); editor of Shakespeare and acknowledged collaborator on S.J.’s second edition of the Works (1773), as well as the so-called Johnson-Steevens Shakespeare (1785); widely unpopular for his hoaxes and feuds, but a friend and important colleague for S.J.: 124, 252, 292, 315, 319, 322, 369, 407, 408, 433, 572, 626, 715, 731, 783, 942, 943, 1042 n. 501, 1046 n. 623, 1053 n. 801, 1057 n. 904, 1064 n. 1090, 1067 n. 1154, 1071 n. 1276
Stephani, the, French family of scholars and printers: 661, 764, 989 n. a
Stepney, George (1663–1707), diplomatist; the most well-known diplomat of William III’s reign; charge d’affaires at Berlin (1692); secretary at Vienna (1693); commissary and deputy to Saxony (1693-4); minister to Hesse-Cassel (1694-5) and Saxony (1
695); and envoy-extraordinary to Cologne and Mainz (1695-6), Hesse-Cassel, the Palatinate and Treves (Trier) (1695-7), Saxony (1698), Prussia (1698-9) and again to the Palatinate (1701); envoy-extraordinary (1701-5) and then envoy-extraordinary and plenipotentiary (1705-6) at Vienna: 782 n. a
Sterne, Laurence (1713–68), writer and Church of England clergyman; author of Tristram Shandy (9 vols., 1759–67) and A Sentimental Journey (1768); heralded variously as the pioneer of the ‘anti-novel’, ‘stream of consciousness’ and the ‘eccentric’; inspired more by Cervantes, Rabelais and Montaigne than by British novelists: 353 and n. b, 378, 780 n. a, 823, 1015, 1043 n. 558
Stewart, Francis, one of S.J.’s dictionary assistants: 106, 749
Stewart, George (d. 1745), bookseller of Edinburgh; father of the preceding: 106
Stewart, Mrs, sister of Francis Stewart: 751, 907, 909
Stewart, Sir Annesley (1725–1801), of Ramalton, 6th Baronet: 807
Still, Dr John (i543?–i6o8), bishop of Bath and Wells (1593); canon of Westminster (1573); archdeacon of Sudbury in Suffolk (1577); vice-chancellor of Cambridge University (1575, re-elected 1592); often erroneously identified as the author of Gammer Gurton’s Needle: 1000 n. a
Stillingfleet, Benjamin (1702–71), botanist and writer; author of Miscellaneous Tracts (1759), a work that gave the Linnaean system of botanical classification greater exposure; cultivated interest in music, publishing Principles and Power of Harmony (1771); anecdote about his dress habit at formal evening assemblies is said to have given rise, indirectly, to word ‘bluestocking’: 823 and n. a
Stinton, Dr George (1730–83), chaplain to Archbishop Secker: 674, 778
Stockdale, John (i749?–i8i4), publisher in London: 179 n. a
Stockdale, Revd Percival (1736–1811), writer; translated Tasso (1770); friend of S.J.; editor of the Critical Review and the Universal Magazine (1771); author of a defence of Pope (1778) and an Essay on Misanthropy (1783); passed over in favour of S.J. for the Lives of the English Poets project: 319, 339
The Life of Samuel Johnson Page 176