|
 BOSWELL,
JAMES, the friend and biographer of Dr Samuel Johnson, was born at
Edinburgh, October 29, 1740.
The Boswells, or Bosvilles,
are supposed to have "come in with the Conquerer," and to have
migrated to Scotland in the reign of David I. (1124-53). The first man of
the family, ascertained by genealogists, was Robert Boseville, who figured
at the court of William the Lion, and became proprietor of some lands in
Berwickshire. Roger de Boswell, sixth in descent from this person, lived
in the reign of David II., and acquired lands in Fife. His descendant, Sir
John Boswell, who flourished in the end of the fourteenth or beginning of
the fifteenth century, acquired the lands of Balmuto in Fife, which was
afterwards the principal title of the family. David Boswell of Balmuto,
the eleventh representative of the family in succession, had, besides his
heir, Alexander, who succeeded to the family estates, a son named Thomas,
who became a servant of James IV., and was gifted by that monarch with the
lands of Auchinleck, in Ayrshire, which were then in the crown by
recognition. [Thomas Boswell is frequently mentioned in the Treasurer’s
books under the reign of James IV. On the 15th May, 1504, is an
entry, "Item, to Thomas Boswell, he laid downe in Leith to the
wife of the kingis innis, and to the boy rane the kingis hors, 18s."
On the 2nd August, is the following: "Item, for twa hidis
to be jakkis to Thomas Boswell and Watte Trumbull, agane the Raid
of Eskdale, (an expedition against the border thieves,) 56s." On the
1st of January, 1504-5, "Item, to Thomas Boswell and Pate
Sinclair to by thaim daunsing geir, 28s." Under December 31st,
1505, "Item, to 30 dosane of bellis for dansaris, delyverit to Thomas
Boswell, 4l, 10s." Mr. Pitcairn, from whose valuable
"Collection of Criminal Trials" these extracts are made, seems
to think that Thomas Boswell was a minstrel to King James: it is
perhaps as probable that he was chief of the royal train of James. If such
he really was, and if the biographer of Johnson had been aware of the
fact, he would have perhaps considered it a reason for moderating a little
his family pride – though we certainly must confess that there is not
altogether wanting some analogy between the profession of Laird Thomas and
Laird James.] The charters, one of which is dated in 1504, the other in
1505, bear that the lands were granted, "pro bono et gratuito
servitio nobis per dilectum nostrum familiarem Thomam Boswell impensis,"
– and "pro bono servitio, et pro singulari favore quem erga ipsum
thomam gerimus." The lands of Auchinleck had previously belonged to
the family of the same name. Thomas Boswell, first of Auchinleck, married
a daughter of Sir Hugh Campbell of Loudoun; and fell bravely fighting with
his master at Flodden. The estimation and quality of his descendants may
be exemplified by the dignity of the families into which they married in
succession. The following are the fathers of their respective brides: -
James Earl of Arran, who married the Princess Mary, daughter of king James
II., and was ancestor of the Hamilton family; Sir Robert Dalzell of Glenae,
ancestor of the Earls of Carnwath (the same gentleman had for his second
wife, a daughter of Lord Ochiltree;)Crawford and Kerse; Sir John Wallace
of Cairnhill (2nd wife, a daughter of Sir Archibald Stewart of
Blackhall); Cunningham of Glengarnock; Hamilton of Dalzell; Earl of
Kincardine; Colonel John Erskine, grandson of the lord treasurer Earl of
Mar.
James Boswell was the
eldest son of Alexander Boswell of Auchinleck, and of Euphemia Erskine.
[He had two brothers; John, a lieutenant in the army; David, a merchant of
Valencia in Spain.] The father was an advocate in good practice at the
Scottish bar; who was, in 1754, elevated to the bench, taking, on that
occasion, the designation of Lord Auchinleck. James Boswell, father of
Lord Auchinleck, had also been a Scottish barrister, and, as we learn from
Lord Kames, one of the best of his time; his wife was a daughter of
Alexander Bruce, second Earl of Kincardine, whose mother was Veronica, a
daughter of the noble house of Sommelsdyk in Holland. For an account of
Auchinleck, reference may be made to Johnson’s Journey to the Western
Islands.
The father of the
biographer was a stern and rigid Presbyterian, and a zealous supporter of
the House of Hanover: young Boswell, on the contrary, from his earliest
years, showed a disposition favourable to the high church and the family
of Stuart. Dr Johnson used to tell the following story of his biographer’s
early years, which Boswell has confessed to be literally true. "In
1745, Boswell was a fine boy, wore a white cockade, and prayed for King
James, till one of his uncles (General Cochran) gave him a shilling, on
condition that he would pray for King George, which he accordingly
did." "So you see," adds Boswell, who has himself preserved
the anecdote, "whigs of all ages are made in the same way."
He received the rudiments
of his education at the school of Mr James Mandell, in Edinburgh, a
teacher of considerable reputation, who gave elemental instruction to many
distinguished men. He afterwards went through a complete academical course
at the college of Edinburgh, where he formed an intimacy with Mr Temple of
Allardeen in Northumberland, afterwards vicar of St Gluvies in Cornwall,
and known in literary history for a well-written character of Gray, which
has been adopted both by Dr Johnson and Mason in their memoirs of that
poet. Mr Temple and several other young English gentlemen were
fellow-students of Boswell, and it is supposed that his intercourse with
them was the original and principal cause of that remarkable predilection
for English society and manners, which characterized him through life.
Boswell very early began to
show a taste for literary composition; in which he was encouraged by Lord
Somerville, of whose flattering kindness he ever preserved a grateful
recollection. His lively and sociable disposition, and passion for
distinguishing himself as a young man of parts and vivacity, also led him,
at a very early period of life, into the society of the actors in the
theatre, with one of whom, Mr David Ross, he maintained a friendship till
the death of that individual, in 1791, when Boswell attended as one of the
mourners at his funeral. While still at college, Lady Houston, sister of
Lord Cathcart, put under his care a comedy, entitled, "The Coquettes,
or the Gallant in the Closet," with a strict injunction that its
author should be concealed. Boswell exerted his interest among the players
to get this piece brought out upon the stage, and made himself further
conspicuous by writing the prologue, which was spoken by Mr Parsons. It
was condemned at the third performance, and not unjustly, for it was found
to be chiefly a bad translation of one of the worst plays of Corneille.
Such, however, was the fidelity of Boswell, that, though
universally believed to be the author, and consequently laughed at in the
most unmerciful manner, he never divulged the name of the fair writer, nor
was it known till she made the discovery herself.
After studying civil law
for some time at Edinburgh, Boswell went for one winter to pursue
the same study at Glasgow, where he, at the same time, attended the
lectures of Dr Adam Smith on moral philosophy and rhetoric. Here he
continued, as at Edinburgh, to adopt his companions chiefly from the class
of English students attending the university; one of whom, Mr Francis
Gentleman, on publishing an altered edition of Southern’s tragedy of
Oroonoko, inscribed it to Boswell, in a poetical epistle, which concludes
thus, in the person of his Muse:
"But where, with honest
pleasure, she can find,
Sense, taste, religion, and good nature joined,
There gladly will she raise her feeble voice,
Nor fear to tell that BOSWELL is her choice."
Inspired, by reading and
conversation, with an almost enthusiastic notion of London life, Boswell
paid his first visit to that metropolis in 1760, and his ardent
expectations were not disappointed. The society, amusements, and general
style of life which he found in the modern Babylon, and to which he was
introduced by the poet Derrick, were suited exactly to his taste and
temper. He had already given some specimens of a talent for writing
occasional essays and poetical jeux d’esprit, in periodical
works, and he therefore appeared before the wits of the metropolis as
entitled to some degree of attention. He was chiefly indebted, however,
for their friendship, to Alexander, Earl of Eglintoune, one of the most
amiable and accomplished noblemen of his time, who, being of the same
county, and from his earliest years acquainted with the family of
Auchinleck, insisted that young Boswell should have an apartment in his
house, and introduced him, as Boswell himself used to say, "into the
circle of the great, the gay, and the ingenious." Lord Eglintoune
carried his young friend along with him to Newmarket; an adventure which
seems to have made a strong impression on Boswell’s imagination,
as he celebrated it in a poem called "the Cub at Newmarket,"
which was published by Dodsley, in 1762, in 4to. The cub was
himself as appears from the following extract:
"Lord Eglintoune, who
loves, you know,
A little dash of whim or so,
By chance a curious cub had got,
On Scotia’s mountains newly caught."
In such terms was Boswell
content to speak of himself in print, even at this early period of life,
and, what adds to the absurdity of the whole affair, he could not rest
till he had read "the Cub at Newmarket" in manuscript to Edward
Duke of York, and obtained permission from his royal highness to dedicate
it to him.
It was the wish of Lord
Auchinleck that his son should apply himself to the law, a profession to
which two generations of the family had now been devoted, and in which
Lord Auchinleck thought that his own eminent situation would be of
advantage to the success of a third. Boswell himself, though, in obedience
to his father’s desire, he had studied civil law at the colleges of
Edinburgh and Glasgow, was exceedingly unwilling to consign himself to the
studious life of a barrister at Edinburgh, where at this time the general
tone of society was the very reverse of his own temperament, being (if we
are to believe Provost Creech) characterized by a degree of puritanical
reserve and decorum, not much removed from the rigid observances of the
preceding century, while only a very small circle of men of wit and
fashion—an oasis in the dreary waste—carried on a clandestine
existence, under the ban, as it were, of the rest of the world. Boswell
had already cast his eyes upon the situation of an officer in the
foot-guards, as calculated to afford him that indulgence in London
society, which he so much desired, while it was, at the same time, not
incompatible with his prospects as a Scottish country gentleman.
It was with some difficulty
that his father prevailed upon him to return to Scotland, and consult
about the choice of a profession. The old judge even took the trouble to
put his son through a regular course of instruction in the law, in the
hope of inspiring him with an attachment to it. But though he was brought
the length of standing his trials as a civilian before a committee of the
Faculty, he could not be prevailed upon to enter heartily into his father’s
views.
During part of the years
1761 and 1762, while confined to Edinburgh, and to this partial and
unwilling study of the law, he contrived to alleviate the irksomeness of
his situation by cultivating the society of the illustrious men who now
cast a kind of glory over Scotland and Scotsmen. Kames, Blair,
Robertson, Hume, and Dalrymple, though greatly his seniors, were pleased
to honour him with their friendship; more, perhaps, on account of his
worthy and dignified parent, than on his own. He also amused himself at
this time in contributing jeux d’esprit to "a Collection of
Original Poems by Scottish Gentlemen," of which two volumes were
successively published by Alexander Donaldson, an enterprising bookseller;
being an imitation of the "Miscellanies" of Dodsley. Several of
the pieces in this collection were noticed very favourably in the Critical
Review; and the whole is now valuable as a record of Scottish manners at a
particular era. Boswell’s pieces were distinguished only by his
initials. In one, he characterises himself saying, as to la
belle passion,
Boswell does women adore,
And never once means to deceive;
He’s in love with at least half a score,
If they’re serious, he laughs in his sleeve.
With regard to a more
prominent trait of his character, he adds—
— Boswell is modest
enough,
Himself not quite Phoebus he thinks,
* * * *
He has all the bright fancy
of youth,
With the judgment of forty and five;
In short to declare the plain truth,
There is no better fellow alive!
At this time, he cultivated
a particular intimacy with the Hon. Andrew Erskine, a younger brother of
the musical Earl of Kelly, and who might be said to possess wit by
inheritance, his father being remarkable for this property, (though not
for good sense,) while his mother was the daughter of Dr Pitcairne.
Erskine and Boswell were, in frivolity, Arcades ambo; or rather
there seemed to be a competition betwixt them, which should exhibit the
greater share of that quality. A correspondence, in which this contest
seems to be carried on, was published in 1763, and, as there was no
attempt to conceal names, the two letter-writers must have been regarded,
in that dull and decorous age, as little better than fools—fools for
writing in such a strain at all, but doubly fools for laying their folly
in such an unperishable shape before the world.
At the end of the year,
1762, Boswell, still retaining his wish to enter the guards, repaired once
more to London, to endeavour to obtain a commission. For this purpose he
carried recommendations to Charles Duke of Queensberry - the amiable
patron of Gay—who, he believed, was able to obtain for him what he
wished. Owing, however, (as is understood,) to the backwardness of Lord
Auchinleck to enforce his claims, his patrons put him off from time to
time, till he was again obliged to return to Scotland. At length, in the
spring of 1763, a compromise was made between the father and his son, the
latter agreeing to relinquish his favourite project, and resume the study
of the civil law for one winter at Utrecht, with the view of
ultimately entering the legal profession, on the condition that, after the
completion of his studies, he should be permitted to make what was then
called "the grand tour."
Boswell set out for this
purpose early in 1763; and, according to the recollection of an ancient
inhabitant of Glasgow, his appearance, in riding through that city, on his
way from Auchinleck, was as follows:—"A cocked hat, a brown wig,
brown coat, made in the court fashion, red vest, corduroy small clothes,
and long military-looking boots. He was on horseback, with his servant at
a most aristocratic distance behind, and presented a fine specimen of the
Scottish country gentleman of that day."—Edin. Lit. Jour. ii,
327.
In Boswell’s previous
visits to London, he had never had the good fortune to make the
acquaintance of Dr Samuel Johnson. He had now that pleasure. On the 16th
of May, as he himself takes care to inform us, while sitting in the
backshop of Thomas Davies, the bookseller, No. 8, Russell-street, Covent
Garden, Johnson came in, and Boswell was introduced, by Davies, as a young
gentleman "from Scotland." Owing to the antipathy of the
lexicographer to that country, his conversation with Boswell was not at
first of so cordial a description as at all to predicate the remarkable
friendship they afterwards formed. Boswell, however, by the vivacity of
his conversation, soon beguiled the doctor of his prejudices; and their
intimacy was confirmed by a visit which he soon after paid to Johnson at
his apartments in the Temple. During the few months which Boswell spent in
town before setting out for Utrecht, he applied himself assiduously to
cultivate this friendship, taking apartments in the Temple in order that
he might be the oftener in the company of the great man. Even at this
early period, he began that practice of noting down the conversation of
Johnson, which eventually enabled him to compose such a splendid monument
to their common memory.
He set out for Utrecht, in
August 1763, and, after studying for the winter under the celebrated
civilian Trotz, proceeded, according to the compact with his father, upon
the tour of Europe. In company with the Earl Marischal, whose acquaintance
he had formed, he travelled through Switzerland and Germany, visiting
Voltaire at Ferney, and Rousseau in the wilds of Neufchatel; men whom his
regard for the principles of religion might have taught him to avoid, if
his itch for the acquaintance of noted characters—one of the most
remarkable features of his character—had not forced him into their
presence. He afterwards crossed the Alps, and spent some time in visiting
the principal cities in Italy. Here he formed an acquaintance with Lord
Mountstuart, the eldest son of the Earl of Bute; to whom he afterwards
dedicated his law thesis on being admitted to the bar.
At this time, the
inhabitants of the small island of Corsica were engaged in their famous
struggle for liberty, against the Genoese, and Pasquale de Paoli, their
heroic leader, was, for the time, one of the most noted men in Europe.
Boswell, struck by an irrepressible curiosity regarding this person,
sailed to Corsica, in autumn 1765, and introduced himself to Paoli at his
palace, by means of a letter from Rousseau. He was received with much
distinction and kindness, and noted down a good deal of the very striking
conversation of the Corsican chief. After a residence of some weeks in the
island, during which he made himself acquainted with all its natural and
moral features, he returned through France, and arrived in London,
February 1766, his journey being hastened by intelligence of the death of
his mother. Dr Johnson received him, as he passed through London, with
renewed kindness and friendship.
Boswell now returned to
Scotland, and, agreeably to the treaty formed with Lord Auchinleck,
entered (July 26, 1766) as a member of the faculty of advocates. His
temper, however, was still too volatile for the studious pursuit of the
law, and he did not make that progress in his profession, which might have
been expected from the numerous advantages with which he commenced. The
Douglas cause was at this time pending, and Boswell, who was a warm
partizan of the young claimant, published (November 1767) a pamphlet,
entitled, "The Essence of the Douglas Cause," in answer to one,
entitled "Considerations on the Douglas Cause," in which a
strenuous effort had been made to prove the claimant an impostor. It is
said that Mr Boswell’s exertions on this occasion were of material
service in exciting a popular prepossession in favour of the doubtful
heir. This, however, was the most remarkable appearance made by Mr
Boswell, as a lawyer, if it can be called so.
His Corsican tour, and the
friendship of Paoli, had made a deep impression on Boswell’s mind. He
conceived that he had seen and made himself acquainted with what had been
seen and known by few; and he was perpetually talking of the islanders and
their chief. This mania, which was rather, perhaps, to be attributed to
his vain desire of showing himself off in connection with a subject of
popular talk, than any appreciation of the noble character of the Corsican
struggle, at length obtained him the nick-name of Paoli, or Paoli
Boswell. Resolving that the world at large should participate in what
he knew of Corsica, he published, in the spring of 1768, his account of
that island, which was printed in 8vo by the celebrated brothers, Foulis,
at Glasgow, and was well received. The sketches of the island and its
inhabitants, are lively and amusing; and his memoir of Paoli, which
follows the account of the island, is a spirited narrative of patriotic
deeds and sufferings. The work was translated into the German, Dutch,
French, and Italian languages, and every where infected its readers with
its own enthusiastic feeling in behalf of the oppressed islanders. Dr
Johnson thus expressed himself regarding it:—"Your journal is
curious and delightful; I know not whether I could name any narrative by
which curiosity is better excited or better gratified." On the other
hand, Johnson joined the rest of the world in thinking that the author
indulged too much personally in his enthusiasm upon the subject, and
advised him, in a letter, dated March 23, 1768, to "empty his head of
Corsica." Boswell was so vain of his book, as to pay a visit to
London, in the spring court vacation, chiefly for the purpose of seeking
Dr Johnson’s approbation more at large.
In the following winter, a
patent was obtained, for the first time, by Ross, the manager of the
Edinburgh theatre; but, nevertheless, a violent opposition was still
maintained against this public amusement by the more rigid portion of the
citizens. Ross, being anxious to appease his enemies, solicited Boswell to
write a prologue for the opening of the house, which request was readily
complied with. The verses were, as Lord Mansfield characterised them,
witty and conciliating; and their effect, being aided by friends properly
placed in different parts of the house, was instantaneous and most
triumphant; the tide of opposition was turned, the loudest plaudits were
given, and Ross at once entered upon a very prosperous career.
In 1769, Boswell paid a
visit to Ireland, where he spent six or seven weeks, chiefly at Dublin,
and enjoyed the society of Lord Charlemont, Dr Leland, Mr Flood, Dr
Macbride, and other eminent persons of that kingdom, not forgetting the
celebrated George Falconer, the friend of Swift and Chesterfield.
Viscount, afterwards Marquis Townshend, was then Lord Lieutenant, and the
congeniality of their dispositions united them in the closest friendship.
He enjoyed a great advantage in the union of one of his female cousins to
Mr Sibthorpe, of the county of Down, a gentleman of high influence, who
was the means of introducing him into much good society. Another female
cousin, Miss Margaret Montgomery, daughter of Mr Montgomery of Lainshaw,
accompanied him on the expedition; and not only added to his
satisfaction by her own delightful company, but caused him to be received
with much kindness by her numerous and respectable relations. This jaunt
was the means of converting Boswell from a resolution, which he appears to
have formed, to live a single life. He experienced so much pleasure from
the conversation of Miss Montgomery, that he was tempted to seek her
society for life in a matrimonial engagement. He had resolved, he said,
never to marry—had always protested, at least, that a large fortune
would be indispensable. He was now, however, impressed with so high an
opinion of her particular merit, that he would wave that consideration
altogether, provided she would wave his faults also, and accept him for
better for worse. Miss Montgomery, who was really an eligible match, being
related to the noble family of Eglintoune, while her father laid claim to
the dormant peerage of Lyle, acceded to his proposal with corresponding
frankness; and it was determined that they should be married at the end of
the year, after he should have paid one parting visit to London.
Before this visit was paid,
Mr Boswell was gratified in the highest degree, by the arrival of General
Paoli, who, having been forced to abandon his native island, in
consequence of the French invasion, had sought that refuge on the shores
of Britain, which has never yet been refused to the unfortunate of any
country. In autumn, 1769, General Paoli visited Scotland and Boswell; an
account of his progress through the country, with Boswell in his train, is
given in the Scots Magazine of the time. Both on this occasion, and on his
subsequent visit to London, Boswell attended the exiled patriot with an
obsequious fidelity, arising no doubt as much from his desire of appearing
in the company of a noted character, as from gratitude for former favours
of a similar kind. Among other persons to whom he introduced his Corsican
friend, was Dr Johnson; an entirely opposite being, in destiny and
character, but who, nevertheless, was at some pains to converse with the
unfortunate stranger—Boswell acting as interpreter. It would be curious
to know in what light Paoli, who was a high-minded man, beheld his
eccentric cicerone.
During the time of his
visit to London, September, 1769, the jubilee took place at Stratford, to
celebrate the birth of Shakspeare. As nearly all the literary, and many of
the fashionable persons of the day were collected at this solemnity,
Boswell entered into it with a great deal of spirit, and played, it is
said, many fantastic tricks, more suited to a carnival scene on the
continent, than to a sober festival in England. To pursue a contemporary
account, "One of the most remarkable masks upon this occasion was
James Boswell, Esq. in the dress of an armed Corsican chief. He entered
the amphitheatre about 12 o’clock. He wore a short, dark-coloured coat
of coarse cloth, scarlet waistcoat and breeches, and black spatterdashes;
his cap or bonnet was of black cloth; on the front of it was embroidered
in gold letters, Viva la liberta; and on one side of it was a
handsome blue feather and cockade, so that it had an elegant as well as a
warlike appearance. On the breast of his coat was sewed a Moor’s head,
the crest of Corsica, surrounded with branches of laurel. He had also a
cartridge-pouch, into which was stuck a stiletto, and on his left side a
pistol was hung upon the belt of his cartridge-pouch. He had a fusee slung
across his shoulder, wore no powder in his hair! but had it plaited
at full length with a knot of blue ribbons at the end of it. He had, by
way of staff, a very curious vine all of one piece, with a bird finely
carved upon it, emblematical of the sweet bard of Avon. He wore no mask;
saying, that it was not proper for a gallant Corsican. So soon as he came
into the room, he drew universal attention. The novelty of the Corsican
dress, its becoming appearance, and the character of that brave nation,
concurred to distinguish the armed Corsican chief. He was first accosted
by Mrs Garrick, with whom he had a good deal of conversation. Mr Boswell
danced both a minuet and a country dance with a very pretty Irish lady,
Mrs Sheldon, wife to captain Sheldon of the 38th regiment of foot, who was
dressed in a genteel domino, and before she danced, threw off her
mask." London Magazine, September, 1769, where there is a
portrait of the modern Xenophon in this strange guise. [Mr Croker has
mentioned, in his edition of the life of Johnson that on this occasion he
had the words "CORSICA BOSWELL" in a scroll of gilt letters
round his hat. But perhaps the above account somewhat invalidates the
statement. Boswell however, is known to have been ambitious of some such
prenomen as CORSICA, from an idea he entertained, that every man, aiming
at distinction, should be known by a soubriquet, derived from the thing or
place by which he had gained celebrity. He seems to have adopted this
fancy from the Roman fashion, of which Scipio Africanus is
an instance. Thus, he encouraged a proposal for calling Johnson by
the epithet DICTIONARY JOHNSON.]
On the 25th of November, he
was married, at Lainshaw, in Ayrshire, to Miss Montgomery, [It has already
been mentioned, that Boswell’s courtship took place, or at least
commenced in Ireland. I cannot help thinking that the following
composition, published in his name by his son, must have had a reference
to this transaction. It is stated by Sir Alexander to have been written to
an Irish air: -
O Larghan Clanbrassil, how
sweet is thy sound!
To my tender remembrance as Love’s sacred ground;
For there Marg’ret Caroline first charm’d my sight,
And fill’d my young heart with a flutt’ring delight.
When I thought her my own,
ah! too short seem’d the day,
For a jaunt to Downpatrick, or a trip on the sea;
To express what I felt then, all language were vain,
’Twas in truth what the poets have studied to feign.
But, too late, I found even
she could deceive,
And nothing was left but to sigh, weep, and rave;
Distracted, I flew from my dear native shore,
Resolved to see Larghan Clanbrassil no more.
Yet still in some moments enchanted I find
A ray of her fondness beams soft on my mind;
While thus in bless’d fancy my angel I see,
All the world is a Larghan Clanbrassil to me.]
and what is rather a
remarkable circumstance, his father was married on the same day, at
Edinburgh, to a second wife. With admirable sense, affection, and
generosity of heart, the wife of James Boswell possessed no common share
of wit and pleasantry. One of her bon mots is recorded by her husband.
Thinking that Johnson had too much influence over him, she said, with some
warmth, "I have seen many a bear led by a man, but I never before saw
a man led by a bear." Once, when Boswell was mounted upon a horse
which he had brought pretty low by riding the country for an
election, and was boasting that he was a horse of blood, "I
hope so," said she, drily, "for I am sure he has no
flesh." Her good-humoured husband kept a collection of her good
things, under the title of Uxoriana. Perhaps her best property was
her discretion as a housewife and a mother; a quality much needed on her
side of the house, since it was so deficient on that of her husband.
In a letter from Auchinleck, 23d August, 1773, Dr Johnson thus speaks of
her: "Mrs Boswell has the mien and manner of a gentlewoman, and such
a person and manner as could not in any place be either admired or
condemned. She is in a proper degree inferior to her husband; she cannot
rival him, nor can he ever be ashamed of her." She died in June,
1789, leaving two sons, Alexander and James, and three daughters,
Veronica, Euphemia, and Elizabeth.
For two or three years
after his marriage, Boswell appears to have lived a quiet professional
life at Edinburgh, paying only short occasional visits to London. In
autumn, 1773, Dr Johnson gratified him by coming to Edinburgh, and
proceeding in his company on a tour through the north of Scotland and the
Western Islands. On this occasion, Boswell kept a journal, as usual, of
every remarkable part of Dr Johnson’s conversation. The journey being
made rather late in the season, the two travellers encountered some
hardships, and a few dangers; but they were highly pleased with what they
saw, and the reception they every where met with; Boswell, for his own
part, declaring that he would not have missed the acquisition of so many
new and delightful ideas as he had gained by this means, for five hundred
pounds. Dr Johnson published an account of their trip, and the
observations he made during its progress, under the title of a
"Journey to the Western Islands;" and Boswell, after the death
of his friend, (1785), gave to the world the journal he had kept, as a
"Tour to the Hebrides," 1 volume 8vo. The latter is perhaps one
of the most entertaining works in the language, though only rendered so,
we must acknowledge, at the expense of the author’s dignity. It ran
through three editions during the first twelvemonth, and has since been
occasionally reprinted.
For many years after the
journey to the Hebrides, Boswell only enjoyed such snatches of Johnson’s
company and conversation, as he could obtain by occasional visits to
London, during the vacations of the Court of Session. Of these interviews,
however, he has preserved such ample and interesting records, as must make
us regret that he did not live entirely in London. It appears that, during
the whole period of his acquaintance with Johnson, he paid only a dozen
visits to London, and spent with him only a hundred and eighty days in
all; which, added to the time which they spent in their northern journey
between August 18th and November 23d, 1773, makes the whole period during
which the biographer enjoyed any intercourse with his subject, only two
hundred and seventy-six days, or one hundredth part of Johnson’s life.
The strangely vain and
eccentric conduct of Boswell had, long ere this period, rendered him
almost as notable a character as any of those whom he was so anxious to
see. His social and good-humoured character gained him universal
friendship; but this friendship was never attended with perfect respect.
Men of inferior qualifications despised the want of natural dignity, which
made him go about in attendance upon every great man, and from no higher
object in life than that of being the commemorator of their conversations.
It is lamentable to state that, among those who despised him, was his own
father; and even other relations, from whom respect might have been more
imperatively required, were fretted by his odd habits. "Old Lord
Auchinleck," says Sir Walter Scott, "was an able lawyer, a good
scholar, after the manner of Scotland, and highly valued his own
advantages as a man of good estate and ancient family, and, moreover, he
was a strict presbyterian and whig of the old Scottish cast." To this
character, his son presented a perfect contrast—a light-headed lawyer,
an aristocrat only in theory, an episcopalian, and a tory. But it was
chiefly with the unsettled and undignified conduct of his son, that the
old gentleman found fault. "There’s nae hope for Jamie, man,"
he said to a friend about the time of the journey to the Hebrides;
"Jamie’s gane clean gyte: What do ye think, man? he’s aff wi’
the land-louping scoundrel of a Corsican; and whase tail do ye think he
has pinned himself to now, man?" Here the old judge summoned up a
sneer of most sovereign contempt. "A dominie, man, (meaning
Johnson) an auld dominie, that keepit a schule, and ca’d it an
academy!" By the death of Lord Auchinleck, in 1782, Boswell was at
length freed from what he had always felt to be a most painful restraint,
and at the same time became possessed of his paternal estate.
Boswell’s mode of life,
his social indulgences, and his frequent desertion of business for the
sake of London literary society, tended greatly to embarrass his
circumstances; and he was induced to try if they could be repaired by
exertions in the world of politics. In 1784, when the people were in a
state of most alarming excitement in consequence of Mr Fox’s India Bill,
and the elevation of Mr Pitt, he wrote a pamphlet, entitled, "A
Letter to the People of Scotland, on the Present State of the
Nation." Of this work Dr Johnson has thus pronounced his approbation:—"I
am very much of your opinion, and, like you, feel great indignation at the
style in which the King is every day treated. Your paper contains very
considerable knowledge of history and of the constitution, very properly
produced and applied." The author endeavoured, by means of this
pamphlet, to obtain the favourable notice of Mr Pitt; but we are informed
that, though the youthful minister honoured the work with his approbation,
both on this occasion, and on several others, his efforts to procure an
introduction to political life were attended with a mortifying want of
success. He was, nevertheless, induced to appear once more as a
pamphleteer in 1785, when he published a second " Letter to the
People of Scotland," though upon an humbler theme, namely, "on
the alarming attempt to infringe the articles of Union, and introducing a
most pernicious innovation, by diminishing the numbers of time Lords of
Session." This proposal had been brought forward in the House of
Commons; the salaries of the judges were to be raised, and, that the
expense might not fall upon the country, their number was to be reduced to
ten. Boswell (to use a modern phrase) immediately commenced a vehement agitation
in Scotland, to oppose the bill; and among other measures which he
took for exciting public attention, published this letter. His chief
argument was, that the number of the judges was established immutably by
the act of union; an act which entered into the very constitution of
parliament itself, and how then could parliament touch it? He also showed
that the number of fifteen, which Buchanan had pronounced too small to form
a free or liberal institution, was little enough to avoid the character of
a tyrannical junto. He further argued the case in the following absurd,
but characteristic terms:—"Is a court of ten the same with a court
of fifteen? Is a two-legged animal the same with a four-legged animal? I
know nobody who will gravely defend that proposition, except one grotesque
philosopher, whom ludicrous fable represents as going about avowing his
hunger, and wagging his tail, fain to become cannibal, and eat his
deceased brethren." The agitation prevailed, and the court remained
as it had been, for another generation.
Boswell, whose practice at
the Scottish bar was never very great, had long wished to remove to the
English, in order that he might live entirely in London. His father’s
reluctance, however, had hitherto prevented him. Now that the old
gentleman was dead, he found it possible to follow his inclination, and
accordingly he began, from time to time, to keep his terms at the Inner
Temple. His resolution was thus sanctioned by a letter to him from Dr
Johnson, which exhibits at once a cautious and encouraging view of the
mode of life he proposed to enter upon:—"I remember, and entreat
you to remember, that virtus est vitium fugere; the first approach
to riches is security from poverty. The condition upon which you have my
consent to settle in London, is that your expense never exceeds your
annual income. Fixing this basis of security, you cannot be hurt, and you
may be very much advanced. The loss of your Scottish business, which is
all you can lose, is not to be reckoned any equivalent to the hopes and
possibilities that open here upon you. If you succeed, the question of
prudence is at an end; any body will think that done right which ends
happily; and though your expectations, of which I would not advise you to
talk too much, should not be totally answered, you can hardly fail to get
friends who will do for you all that your present situation allows you to
hope; and if, after a few years, you should return to Scotland, you will
return with a mind supplied by various conversations and many
opportunities of inquiry, with much knowledge and materials for reflection
and instruction."
At Hilary Term, 1786, he
was called to the English bar, and in the ensuing winter removed his
family to London. His first professional effort is said to have been of a
somewhat ominous character. A few of the idlers of Westminster Hall,
conspiring to quiz poor Bozzy, as he was familiarly called,
made up an imaginary case, full of all kinds of absurdities, which they
caused to be presented to him for his opinion. He, taking all for real,
returned a bona-fide note of judgment, which, while it almost
killed his friends with laughter, covered himself with ineffaceable
ridicule.
It is to be regretted that
this decisive step in life was not adopted by Boswell at an earlier
period, as thereby he might have rendered his Life of Johnson still more
valuable than it is. Johnson having died upwards of a year before his
removal, it was a step of little importance in a literary point of view;
nor did it turn out much better in respect of professional profit.
So early as 1781, when Mr
Burke was in power, that great man had endeavoured to procure an extension
of the government patronage towards Boswell. "We must do something
for you," he said, "for our own sakes," and recommended him
to General Conway for a vacant place, by a letter, in which his character
was drawn in glowing colours. The place was not obtained; but Boswell
declared that he valued the letter more. He was now enabled, by the
interest of Lord Lowther, to obtain the situation of Recorder of Carlisle;
a circumstance which produced the following
WORDS TO BE SET FOR A
RECORDER,
Boswell once flamed with
patriot zeal,
His bow was never bent;
Now he no public wrongs can feel
Till LOWTHER nods assent.
To seize the throne while
faction tries
And would the Prince command,
The TORY Boswell coolly cries,
My King’s in Westmoreland.
The latter verse is an
allusion to the famous Regency question; while, in the former, Boswell is
reminded of his zealous exertions in behalf of monarchy in the pamphlet on
the India Bill. It happening soon after that Dr John Douglas, a
fellow-countryman of Boswell’s, was made Bishop of Carlisle, a new and
happier epigram appeared:—
Of old, ere wise concord
united this isle,
Our neighbours of Scotland were foes at Carlisle;
But now what a change have we here on the Border,
When Douglas is Bishop and Boswell Recorder!
Finding this recordership,
at so great a distance from London, attended with many inconveniences,
Boswell, after holding it for about two years, resigned it.
It was well known at this
time that he was very anxious to get into parliament; and many wondered
that so sound a tory should not hare obtained a seat at the hands of some
great parliamentary proprietor. Perhaps this wonder may be explained by a
passage in his last Letter to the People of Scotland. "Though
ambitious," he says, "I am uncorrupted; and I envy not high
situations which are attained by the want of public virtue in men born
without it, or by the prostitution of public virtue in men born with it.
Though power, and wealth, and magnificence, may at first dazzle, and are,
I think, most desirable, no wise man will, upon sober reflection, envy a
situation which he feels he could not enjoy. My friend—my ‘Maecenas
stavis edite regibus’—Lord Mountstuart, flattered me once very highly
without intending it. ‘I would do any thing for you,’ he said, ‘but
bring you into parliament, for I could not be sure but you would oppose me
in something the very next day.’ His lordship judged well. Though I
should consider, with much attention, the opinion of such a friend before
taking my resolution, most certainly I should oppose him in any measure
which I was satisfied ought to be opposed. I cannot exist with pleasure,
if I have not an honest independence of mind and of conduct; for, though
no man loves good eating and drinking better than I do, I prefer the
broiled blade-bone of mutton and humble port of ‘downright Shippen,’
to all the luxury of all the statesmen who play the political game all
through."
He offered himself however,
as a candidate for Ayrshire, at the general election of 1790; but was
defeated by the interest of the minister, which was exerted for a more
pliant partizan. On this and all other proper occasions, he made no
scruple to avow himself a Tory and a royalist; saying, however, in the
words of his pamphlet just quoted, "I can drink, I can laugh, I can
converse, in perfect good humour, with Whigs, with Republicans, with
Dissenters, with Moravians, with Jews—they can do me no harm—my mind
is made up—my principles are fixed—but I would vote with Tories, and
pray with a Dean and Chapter.
If his success at the bar
and in the political world was not very splendid, he consoled himself, so
far as his own fancy was to be consoled, by the grateful task of preparing
for the press his magnum opus—the Life of Dr Johnson. This work
appeared in 1791, in two volumes, quarto, and was received with an avidity
suitable to its entertaining and valuable character. Besides a most minute
narrative of the literary and domestic life of Johnson, it contained notes
of all the remarkable expressions which the sage had ever uttered in Mr
Boswell’s presence, besides some similar records from other hands, and
an immense store of original letters. As decidedly the most faithful
biographical portraiture in existence, and referring to one of the most
illustrious names in literature, it is unquestionably the first book of
its class; and not only so, but there is no other biographical work at all
approaching to it in merit. While this is the praise deserved by the work,
it happens, rather uncommonly, that no similar degree of approbation can
be extended to the writer. Though a great work, it is only so by
accident, or rather through the persevering assiduity of the author in a
course which no man fit to produce a designedly great work could have
submitted to. It is only great, by a multiplication and agglomeration of
little efforts. The preparation of a second edition of the life of Dr
Johnson, was the last literary performance of Boswell, who died, May 19,
1795, at his house in Great Poland Street, London, in the 55th year of his
age; having been previously ill for five weeks of a disorder which had
commenced as an intermitting fever. He was buried at the family seat of
Auchinleck.
The character of Boswell is
so amply shadowed forth by the foregoing account of his life, that little
more need be said about it. That he was a good-natured social man,
possessed of considerable powers of imagination and humour, and well
acquainted with literature and the world of common life, is universally
acknowledged. He has been, at the same time, subjected to just ridicule
for his total want of that natural dignity by which men of the world
secure and maintain the respect of their fellow-creatures in the daily
business of life. He wanted this to such a degree, that even those
relations whose respect was most necessary, according to the laws of
nature, could scarcely extend it; and from the same cause, his
intellectual exertions, instead of shedding a lustre upon his name, have
proved rather a kind of blot in his pedigree. His unmanly obsequiousness
to great men—even though some of these were great only by the respect
due to talent—his simpleton drollery—his degrading employment as a
chronicler of private conversations—his mean tastes, among which was the
disgusting one of a fondness for seeing executions—and the half folly,
half vanity, with which he could tell the most delicate things, personal
to himself and his family, in print - have altogether conspired to
give him rather notoriety than true fame, and, though perhaps leaving him
affection, deprive him entirely of respect. It was a remarkable point in
the character of such a man, that, with powers of entertainment almost
equal to Shakspeare’s description of Yorick, he was subject to grievous
fits of melancholy in private. One of his works, not noticed in the
preceding narrative, was a series of papers under the title of "The
Hypochondriac," which appeared in the London Magazine for 1782, and
were intended to embody the varied feelings of a man subject to that
distemper.
Perhaps, it is only justice
to Boswell, after expressing the severe character which the world has
generally pronounced upon him, [Sir William Forbes, in his Life of
Beattie, thus speaks of Boswell: - "His warmth of heart towards his
friends was very great; and I have known few men who possessed a stronger
sense of piety, or more fervent devotion, (tinctured, no doubt, with a
little share of superstition, which had probably been in some degree
fostered by his habits of intimacy with Dr Johnson) perhaps not always
sufficient to regulate his imagination or direct his conduct, yet still
genuine, and founded both in his understanding and his heart. For Mr
Boswell I entertained a sincere regard, which he returned by the strongest
proof in his power to confer, by leaving me the guardian of his
children."] to give his own description and estimate of
himself, from his Tour to the Hebrides. "Think of a gentleman of
ancient blood, the pride of which was his predominant passion. He was then
in his 33d year, and had been about four years happily married: his
inclination was to be a soldier; but his father, a respectable judge, had
pressed him into the profession of the law. He had travelled a good deal,
and seen many varieties of human life. He had thought more than any body
supposed, and had a pretty good stock of general learning and knowledge.
He had all Dr Johnson’s principles, with some degree of relaxation. He
had rather too little than too much prudence; and, his imagination being
lively, he often said things, of which the effect was very different from
the intention. He resembled sometimes ‘the best-natured man with the
worst-natured muse.’ He cannot deny himself the vanity of finishing with
the encomium of Dr Johnson, whose friendly partiality to the companion of
his tour, represents him as one ‘whose acuteness would help any inquiry,
and whose gaiety of conversation, and civility of manners, are sufficient
to counteract the inconveniencies of travel, in countries less hospitable
than we have passed.’"
Boswelliana
The Commonplace Book of James Boswell
James Boswell
By W. Keith Leask (1896) (pdf)
Boswell's
Journal
Or a Tour of the Hebrides With Samuel Johnson, LL.D. now first published
from the original manuscript (1936) (pdf)
PUBLISHERS' NOTE
The story of the manuscripts of James' Boswell is one of the most
dramatic among all the tales of book and manuscript collecting, and the
manuscripts themselves are among the most valuable literary properties
ever discovered. For more than a century it was believed by scholars
that all Boswell’s papers had- been destroyed shortly after his death. A
few years ago, however, it became known that there existed in Malahide
Castle a large collection which had come down through the years by
inheritance to Lord Talbot de Malahide, Boswell’s great-great-grandson.
In 1927 Lord Talbot, who had previously declined to entertain any
suggestion of releasing the papers, agreed to sell the property,
including the publishing rights. The entire collection was acquired by
Lt.-Golonel Ralph H. Isham, who proceeded at once to arrange for
printing it privately in a limited edition.
The editing of the manuscripts was entrusted to Mr. Geoffrey Scott, and
after his death to Professor Frederick Pottle of Yale University, who is
everywhere recognized as a leading authority on the period of Johnson
and Boswell. The task of deciphering, arranging, and annotating the huge
collection, comprising more than a million words, proved to be the work
of years, and its progress has been followed with profound interest by
scholars and the public. The eighteen volumes of the limited edition
have appeared at irregular intervals, beginning in 1928; the nineteenth
and final volume, containing the index, is now in preparation.
When Colonel Isham acquired the Malahide collection, it was assumed that
it contained all of Boswell’s manuscripts that had been preserved. In
addition to a large number of very important letters by and to Boswell,
it included most of his journal, which he had kept intermittently for 37
years. But in spite of the richness of the material thus made available
to the world for the first time, it was a disappointment to discover
that there were some serious gaps in the journal. A few years later,
when the publication was already well under way, another extraordinary
treasure-trove came to light at Malahide Castle, when through a happy
accident an old croquet-box in an unused cupboard was found to contain
another large batch of Boswell papers. First in importance among the
documents—all of which are invaluable to students of the period—was the
original manuscript of the Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides.
Colonel Isham was able to acquire this second lot of manuscripts also,
and he arranged for the expansion of his privately printed edition to
include much of the new material. But the work had already proceeded
past the point at which the Hebridean Journal belonged chronologically;
in any event its bulk and the added expense would have increased the set
too far beyond the limits originally contemplated and promised to the
subscribers.
It is now known also that Sir William Forbes, Boswell’s executor,
carried off a considerable portion of his friend’s papers, and died
without restoring them to the heir. These papers, of whose existence the
public has only recently been informed, are now in the custody of a
Judicial Factor appointed by the Court of Session of Scotland, and will
remain inaccessible until their ownership has been determined.
The present publishers expect to issue, from time to time, additional
volumes containing more of the Boswell papers, but they determined that
the first book should be the hitherto unpublished Journal of a Tour to
the Hebrides. It is their privilege thus to make available one of the
great books of English literature in its original form, which, as it
here appears, differs materially from the previously printed text.
After more than 150 years, the Journal as Boswell wrote it is published,
Throughout the years of preparation the English and American publishers
have worked closely together and have had the invaluable help of both
Colonel Isham and Professor Pottle. The first edition is issued jointly
by the English and American publishers in a large-paper limited edition;
the first trade editions are issued separately by the publishers in
their respective countries on the same day. |
