… and the Family in England, 1680-1780 (University of California Press, 1996), p. 209. Definitions of ‘gentleman’ in Dr Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language , first published in 1755, captured this societal change. The leading … that was now adapted to the relationships between a trader or professional and his clients and business contacts. Samuel Richardson (1689-1761), middling-sort himself, advised readers of his Familiar Letters of 1741, written as a …