[Footnote 5: See ARS 216, x, n. 12. Professor Guffey offers parallels between _The Merry-Thought_ and _Hurlothrumbo_ in “Graffiti, Hurlo Thrumbo, and the Other Samuel Johnson,” _Forum: A Journal of the Humanities and Fine Arts_ 17 (1979): 35-47.] [Footnote 6: Michael Treadwell has demonstrated that the “trade publishers” of the eighteenth century, such as James Roberts, acted almost exclusively as binders and distributors of books and were therefore different in kind from the printers and booksellers, who were directly involved in the selection and production process. Roberts and the other “trade publishers” dealt almost exclusively in “works belonging to others,” and Treadwell singles out Roberts as the purest example. Despite putting his name to “literally thousands of works,” he never purchased any of the copyrights on works during his long career. See “London Trade Publishers, 1675-1750,” _Library_, 6th ser., 4 (1982): 99-134.] At the first level, _Hurlothrumbo: Or, The Super-Natural_ (1729) itself appears to be quite simply a parody, in this case of opera in the form of a work mixing dialogue and song in a manner similar to but much wilder than Gay’s _Beggar’s Opera_. Johnson’s apparent takeoff on the heroics of opera managed to include in its attack a commentary upon the absurdity of contemporary tragedy as well as some specific references to those works that aimed at the sublime. Lines like “This World is all a Dream, an Outside, a Dunghill pav’d with Diamonds” (48) seem to call the very nature of metaphor into question, especially when juxtaposed with other delirious lines such as “Rapture is the Egg of Love, hatched by a radiant Eye” (14) or by songs such as that sung by the king on contemplating the effects of swallowing gunpowder and brandy together: Then Lightning from the Nostrils flies. Swift Thunder-bolts from Anus, and the Mouth will break, With Sounds to pierce the Skies, and make the Earth to quake. (P. 42) _Hurlothrumbo_ may be mostly nonsense, but from the standpoint of literary history, it is highly significant nonsense. It represented a revolt against all dramatic conventions and shared a number of qualities with graffiti, including the sense of spontaneity.