A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Johnson, Samuel (political writer)

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Johnson, Samuel (1649-1703).—Political writer, sometimes called "the Whig" to distinguish him from his great namesake. Of humble extraction, he was ed. at St. Paul's School and Camb., and took orders. He attacked James II. in Julian the Apostate (1682), and was imprisoned. He continued, however, his attacks on the Government by pamphlets, and did much to influence the public mind in favour of the Revolution. Dryden gave him a place in Absalom and Achitophel as "Benjochanan." After the Revolution he received a pension, but considered himself insufficiently rewarded by a Deanery, which he declined.