Samuel Johnson (1649 - 1703), political writer, sometimes called "the Whig" to distinguish him from his great namesake, the author and lexiographer. Of humble extraction, he was educated at St. Paul's School and Cambridge, and took orders. He attacked James II. in Julian the Apostate (1682), and was imprisoned. He continued, however, his attacks on the Government by pamphlets, and did much to influence the public mind in favour of the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688. Dryden gave him a place in Absalom and Achitophel as "Benjochanan." After the Revolution he received a pension, but considered himself insufficiently rewarded by a Deanery, which he declined.

This article is originally from A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.