Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), was an English writer, lexicographer, and critic. He was awarded an M. A. degree by Oxford University in 1755 and honorary doctorates by Trinity College Dublin in 1765 and by Oxford University in 1775. Johnson wrote poetry, biographies, essays, and pamphlets. His masterpiece is A Dictionary of the English Language (1755). He also wrote such famous works as Lives of Poets (1781) andThe Vanity of Human Wishes (1749).