sed, and Johnson, having tried in vain to earn a living in the Midlands by the use of his pen and his brains, decided to try his fate in the larger arena of London. On 2 March 1737, Johnson, accompanied by young Garrick, set out to cover the hundred miles or so to London. They could afford only one horse and used the old method of "riding and tying." For the next twenty-five years Johnson was to earn a precarious living in London with his pen. Earlier he had written to Edward Cave, the enterprising publisher who had founded the first periodical to use the title "Magazine," the monthly Gentleman's Magazine. The word means simply a storehouse, and at first Cave's periodical consisted mostly of reprinted pieces from other London journals. It was to continue publication from 1731 to 1907, an astonishingly long life. Johnson suggested that there were numerous improvements that could be made to it if he were to contribute. Cave did not reply to this cheeky letter, but, after Johnson approached him in London, he began to use Johnson's services as a writer and used them more and more as time went on; there are times when Johnson seems to have been virtually in editorial control of the journal. Johnson's long involvement with journalism is the most undeservedly neglected part of his career. He was one of its pioneers; after he joined Cave's staff, the Gentleman's was transformed into the prototype of the modern intellectual magazine, providing for the educated but not specialist reader a broad and thoughtful overview of events of current intellectual interest, reviewing important new books and printing origi...
