On this day in 1762, Samuel Johnson and Sir Joshua Reynolds departed on their six-week trip to Devonshire, an excursion that has proven rich in Johnsonia. The holiday was made possible by the impoverished and very Tory Johnson having recently received a government pension from the ruling Whigs. This was the Party which had suffered Johnson's widely-quoted definition of "pension" in the Dictionary: "An allowance made to anyone without an equivalent [equal value of work]. In England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country." Supporting definitions establish "pensioner" as "a slave of state hired by a stipend to obey his master" and "Whig" as "the name of a faction" -- as opposed to "Tory," defined as "one who adheres to the ancient constitution of the State and the apolitical hierarchy of the Church of England ... FULL STORY »
