But it is probable that at this period, whatever
uneasiness he may have endured, he laid the foundation of much future
eminence by application to his studies.
Being now again totally unoccupied, he was invited by Mr. Hector to
pass some time with him at Birmingham, as his guest, at the house of
Mr. Warren, with whom Mr. Hector lodged and boarded. Mr. Warren was the
first established bookseller in Birmingham, and was very attentive to
Johnson, who he soon found could be of much service to him in his trade,
by his knowledge of literature; and he even obtained the assistance of
his pen in furnishing some numbers of a periodical Essay printed in the
newspaper, of which Warren was proprietor. After very diligent inquiry,
I have not been able to recover those early specimens of that particular
mode of writing by which Johnson afterwards so greatly distinguished
himself.
He continued to live as Mr. Hector's guest for about six months, and
then hired lodgings in another part of the town, finding himself as well
situated at Birmingham as he supposed he could be any where, while he
had no settled plan of life, and very scanty means of subsistence.
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