Samuel Johnson Quotes
As manners make laws, so manners likewise repeal them.
Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784, English Writer & Lexicographer, Quoted in Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Women and The Alphabet, 1881
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
There was a social custom amongst the wealthy women of early American society where if they were moving to a new town, they would present their cards to the established female residents, who would then visit the newcomer at her home. Dolley Madison, anxious to bring some social civilization to Washington, still a rough swamp area, went out of her way to visit all comers and the Cabinet (Department) wives then did the same. However, as the government and Washington grew, this became more and more difficult, and subsequent first ladies wanted more of their privacy and time devoted to family. As America grew in importance, more counties sent ambassadors to Washington, and their wives all expected to be visited and invited. See {620648} for more on the “obligations” of a first lady and cabinet wives.
There was a social custom amongst the wealthy women of early American society where if they were moving to a new town, they would present their cards to the established female residents, who would then visit the newcomer at her home. Dolley Madison, anxious to bring some social civilization to Washington, still a rough swamp area, went out of her way to visit all comers and the Cabinet (Department) wives then did the same. However, as the government and Washington grew, this became more and more difficult, and subsequent first ladies wanted more of their privacy and time devoted to family. See {620647} for more.
For earlier similar sentiments see Plato and William D'Avenant {312586}.
This was written shortly before he assumed the crown.
Samuel Johnson, often referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. Religiously, he was a devout Anglican, and politically a committed Tory. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes Johnson as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history". He is the subject of James Boswell's The Life of Samuel Johnson, described by Walter Jackson Bate as "the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature".
