The following table, imperfect though it must necessarily be, shows how large a part of his life he passed outside 'the first turnpike-gate,' and beyond the smoke of London:--
1709-1736. The first twenty-seven years of his life he spent in small country towns or villages--Lichfield, Stourbridge, Oxford, Market-Bosworth, Birmingham. So late as 1781 Lichfield did not contain 4,000 inhabitants (Harwood's History of Lichfield, p. 380); eight years later it was reckoned that a little over 8,000 people dwelt in Oxford (Parker's Early History of Oxford, ed. 1885, p. 229). In 1732 or 1733 Birmingham, when Johnson first went to live there, had not, I suppose, a population of 10,000. Its growth was wonderfully rapid. Between 1770 and 1797 its inhabitants increased from 30,000 to nearly 80,000 (Birmingham Directory for 1780, p. xx, and A Brief History of Birmingham, p. 8).
1736-7. The first eighteen months of his married life he lived quite in the country at Edial, two miles from Lichfield. Ante, i. 97.
1737. He was twenty-eight years old when he removed to London. Ante, i. 110.
1739. He paid a visit to Appleby in Leicestershire and to Ashbourn. Ante, i. 82, 133 note 1.
1754. Oxford. July and August, about five weeks. Ante, i. 270, note 5.
1759. Oxford. July, length of visit not mentioned. Ante, i. 347.
1761-2. Lichfield. Winter, a visit of five days. Ante, i. 370.
1762. In the summer of this year his pension was granted, and he henceforth had the means of travelling. Ante, i. 372.
A trip to Devonshire, from Aug. 16 to Sept. 26; six weeks. Ante, i. 377.
Oxford. December. 'I am going for a few days or weeks to Oxford.' Letter of Dec. 21, 1762. Croker's Boswell, p. 129.
1763. Harwich. August, a few days. Ante, i. 464.
Oxford. October, length of visit not mentioned. A letter dated Oxford, Oct. 27 [1763]. Croker's Boswell, p. 161.
1764. Langton in Lincolnshire, part of January and February. Ante, i. 476.
Easton Maudit in Northamptonshire, part of June, July, and August. Croker's Boswell, p. 166, note, and ante, i. 486.
Oxford, October. Letter to Mr. Strahan dated Oxford, Oct. 24, 1764. Post, Addenda to vol. v.
Either this year or the next Johnson made the acquaintance of the Thrales. For the next seventeen years he had 'an apartment appropriated to him in the Thrales' villa at Streatham' (ante, i. 493), a handsome house that stood in a small park. Streatham was a quiet country-village, separated by wide commons from London, on one of which a highwayman had been hanged who had there robbed Mr. Thrale (ante, iii. 239, note 2). According to Mrs. Piozzi Johnson commonly spent the middle of the week at their house, coming on the Monday night and returning to his own home on the Saturday (post, iv. 169, note 3). Miss Burney, in 1778, describes him 'as living almost wholly at Streatham' (ante, i. 493, note 3). No doubt she was speaking chiefly of the summer half of the year, for in the winter time the Thrales would be often in their town house, where he also had his apartment. Mr. Strahan complained of his being at Streatham 'in a great measure absorbed from the society of his old friends' (ante, iii. 225). He used to call it 'my home' (ante, i. 493, note 3).
1765. Cambridge, early in the year; a short visit. Ante, i. 487.
Brighton, autumn; a short visit. Piozzi's Anec. p. 126, and Piozzi Letters, i. 1.
1766. Streatham, summer and autumn; more than three months. Ante, ii. 25, and Pr. and Med. p. 71.
Oxford, autumn; a month. Ante, ii. 25.
1767. Lichfield, summer and autumn; 'near six months.' Ante, ii. 30, and Piozzi Letters, i. 4, 5.
1768. Oxford, spring; several weeks. Piozzi Letters, i. 6-15.
Townmalling in Kent, September; apparently a short visit. Pr. and Med. p. 81.
1769. Oxford, from at least May 18 to July 7. Piozzi Letters, i. 19-23, and ante, ii. 67.
Lichfield and Ashbourn, August; a short visit. Piozzi Letters, i. 24, and ante, ii. 67.
Brighton, part of August and September; some weeks. Ante, ii. 68, 70, and Croker's Boswell, p. 198, letter dated 'Brighthelmstone. August 26, 1769.'
1770. Lichfield and Ashbourn, apparently whole of July. Piozzi Letters, i. 26-32.
1771. Lichfield and Ashbourn, from June 20 to after Aug. 5. Ante, ii. 141, 142, and Piozzi Letters, i. 36-54.
1772. Lichfield and Ashbourn, from about Oct. 15 to early in December. Piozzi Letters, i. 55-69.
1773. Oxford, April; a hurried visit. Ante, ii. 235, note 2.
Tour to Scotland from Aug. 6 to Nov. 26. Ante, ii. 265, 268.
Oxford, part of November and December. Ante, ii. 268.
1774. Tour to North Wales (Derbyshire, Chester, Conway, Anglesey, Snowdon, Shrewsbury, Worcester, Birmingham, Oxford, Beaconsfield) from July 5 to Sept. 30. Ante, ii. 285, and post, v. 427.
1775. Oxford, March; a short visit. Piozzi Letters, i. 212.
Oxford, Lichfield, Ashbourn, from end of May till some time in August. Ante, ii. 381, and Piozzi Letters, i. 223-301.
Brighton; apparently a brief visit in September. Croker's Boswell, p. 459.
A tour to Paris (going by Calais and Rouen and returning by Compiegne, St.