FOR THE DEFENCE 1769-1774

101 786

FOR THE DEFENCE

S769--/774

EDITED BY WlIXIAM K. WlMSATT, JR.

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH

AND FREDERICK A. POTTLE

STERLING PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH

YALE UNIVERSITY

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NEW YORK TORONTO LONDON

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WALTER JACKSON BATE, PH.D., Professor of English, Harvard University
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guages and Literature, and Master of Timothy Dwight College, Yale University
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LJLD^ Chairman of the Board of Trustees, National Library of Scotland
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History)

SIR JAMES FERGUSSON OP KILKERRAIST, BT^ Keeper of the Records of Scotland
ABTHUR A. HOUGHTON, JR., Lrrr.D., L.H.D., LL.D., New York Gty
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of Horace Walpole's Correspondence

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HEZVKX PET**, DK.BS L., Sterling Professor of French, Yale University
L, F. POWELL, M.A., D-LTTT,, FJL.S.L., F.LJL, Sometime Librarian of the Taylor Institu-
tion, Keriser of Hill's Edition of Boswell's "Life of Johnson**

SXK SYDNEY C ROBERTS, M.A., LL.D., Sometime Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge
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University of Oxford

CHAUNCEY B. TWKBR, rn.D., LITT.D., L.H.D., Sterling Professor Emeritus of English
Literature, and Keeper of Rare Books in the University Library, Yale University

The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell will consist of two inde-
pendent but parallel series. One, the "research" edition, will give a complete text of
BoswelFs journals, diaries, and memoranda; of his correspondence; and of "The Life
of Johnson," from the original manuscript' the whole running to at least thirty vol-
umes. It will preserve the spelling and capitalization of the original documents, and
will be provided with extensive scholarly annotation. A large group of editors and a
permanent office staff are engaged in this comprehensive undertaking, the first volume
of which may appear in t?6o. The other, the reading or "trade" edition, will select
from the total mass of papers those portions that appear likely to be of general interest,
and will present them in modern spelling and with appropriate annotation. The pub-
lishers may also issue limited de luxe printings of the trade volumes, with extra
illustrations and special editorial matter, but in no case will the trade volumes or the
de luxe printing include matter from EoswelFs archives that will not also appear in
the research edition.

The present volume is the seventh of the trade edition.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION by William K. Wimsatt, Jr. ix

TEXT OP Boswett for the Defence, ^69-1774 i
APPENDIX A. The Last Speech, Confession, and Dying Words of John

Reid 343

APPENDIX B. The Scottish Courts and Legal System 350

INDEX 359

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The Grassmarket and West Bow, Edinburgh, on an execution day. Etch-
ing after a water-colour by James Skene, from an original in the
Edinburgh Central Public Library. (No executions took place in the
Grassmarket after 1784; Skene's view was published in 1829 and is
undoubtedly reconstructed from memory.) ii

Map of Edinburgh in 1 765 . Redrawn by Harold EL Faye

Map of Edinburgh and Environs, about 1767. Redrawn by Harold K. Faye

pages. 398 -

William Murray, first Earl of Mansfield (1705-1793), from an oil paint-
ing by John Singleton Copley, 1783, in the National Portrait Gallery,
London Facing page 78

The House of Lords in 1742, from an engraving (1749) by John Pine.
From an original in the Yale Universily Art Gallery.

Facing page 114

The room is the Parliament Chamber or White Chamber of the old
Palace of Westminster; the wall-hangings are a famous set of tapes-

vii

viii List of Illustrations

tries representing the dispersal of the Spanish Armada, a gift to
Queen Elizabeth I from the States of Holland. The Speaker and
Members of the House of Commons are in attendance, probably to
hear the Royal Assent to a bill. George n is seated on the throne,
surrounded by Privy Councillors and sons of peers. The woolsack
would normally be just in front of the steps of the throne, but has
apparently been removed, as it would be today if the Sovereign were
present. A little further to the front is the clerks' table. The benches
along the walls and across the centre are occupied by spiritual and
temporal peers, the former on the left The bar (a waist-high wooden
partition, barely visible) divides the peers (seated) from the Mem-
bers of the House of Commons (standing) ; the Speaker, in his gown,
stands on a low platform in the centre.

A song by Goldsmith, originally intended for inclusion in She Stoops to
Conquer; with heading written by James Boswell. From the original
in the Yale University library Facing page 2 08

The Tolbooth, Edinburgh, engraved from a painting by Alexander Nas-
myth. From an original in the Edinburgh Central Public Library

Facing page 236

Thomas Miller (1717-1789), Lord Justice-Clerk; later Lord President
and baronet From an oil painting reputedly by Sir Joshua Reynolds,
sold at Christie's in 1927. Photograph courtesy of the Frick Art Refer-
ence Library Facing page 322

Map of London, about 1772. Redrawn by Harold K. Faye

pages 402.405

INTRODUCTION

1

The immediately preceding volume of this series ended with BoswdTs
happy wedding in November 1 769. The present volume ends in Sep-
tember 1 774 with the hanging of a client and his burial. The contrast
in feeling between these events has a more than superficial relation to
the course of Boswell's life and the evolution of his character during
this period. The first five years of BoswelPs married life present the
spectacle of a man moving through a climacteric. The sobering and
maturing effects of a prudent marriage show the first signs of giving
way before the return of older, more radical impulses of extravagance
and their attendant penalties. The change is not rapid or violent but
it is none the less certain.

To describe the contents of the present volume in more external
terms: It gives us in succession the model young husband and profes-
sional man, the adventurer returning to literary associations and the
ways of the southern metropolis, and then the Scots advocate in a sum-
mer session energetic conversationalist, steady drinker, and an-
guished pleader of a desperate cause. We have, in short, Boswell the
"Benedict," Boswell at the Club, Boswell Agonistes.

Marriage was a good thing for Boswell. The main accent of his
new life is surely that of domestic felicity. He experiences a very com-
fortable kind of affection for his wife, a warm glow of devotion, a de-
gree, even, of uxoriousness. He is content with a state of relative
retirement from the literary world, with a nearly uninterrupted resi-
dence in Scotland. It is a period of sustained application to professional
labours. Boswell being admitted to plead in the Church court and
moving into a larger and more handsome house in ChesseTs Buildings
during the spring of 1770, Boswell bowling southward through the
historic and scenic country-side into Northumberland with his wife
on a post-chaise jaunt in August 1 771, Boswell at Auchinleck in Octo-
ber getting lessons from his father in election law and the pruning of
trees, is a picture of the solid citizen busy about his wholesome con-
cerns the steady "young" laird of Auchinleck, the industrious and

x Introduction

ambitious advocate, the attentive and companionable spouse, the duti-
ful son. The first two years of his married life stand out as a time of
extraordinary serenity, the steadiest and most cheerful period of his
whole life.

During the next three years he was to suffer certain kinds of dis-
tress; but at the same time he would have the great satisfaction of
commencing father of a family. After the loss of an infant son during
the summer following his marriage, in the spring of the fourth year,
1773, was born his first daughter and darling, Veronica, and in the
spring of the fifth year, his scarcely less beloved second daughter,
Euphemia. These little girls were to provide the brighter moments of
many a Journal sequence in the years immediately ahead.

But contentment is a matter which is on the whole difficult to docu-
ment. Boswell in the state of euphoria which we have been describing
was such a man as for his own sake we might retrospectively wish him
to have continued to be, but such as would scarcely have given us the
ensuing years of his exciting Journals or the great Life of Johnson.
One of the effects of Boswell's preoccupation with his marriage and
his profession was that for a while he wrote almost nothing about him-
self for about two years, scarcely more than a few pages of Journal
notes. Surely there is some connexion to be noted between a degree of
unhappiness, or at least of restlessness, on Boswell's part and his usual
habit of self-recording. It is no doubt our good fortune that certain
strains of dissonance, the effects in part of former bad habits and mis-
taken decisions, were never entirely suspended and were soon to grow
stronger again. The difference of opinion with his father over the
entail of the Auchinleck estate (really a dispute over Boswell's fitness
to preserve the property and traditions of the family) had broken out
as recently as the summer before his marriage. It was now somewhat
intensified by his father's disappointment in the marriage and by the
simultaneous appearance of a stepmother. And all along, Boswell's
old discontent with the "narrow" society of the northern metropolis
never entirely went to sleep. He acknowledged in himself recurrent
moments of distinct uneasiness.

In the spring of 1772, with the justification of an appeal to plead
before the House of Lords, he made his first return to London, and as
he set out on this jaunt, he began his first fully written Journal since

Introduction xi

the month before his marriage. He had now the slightly agitating but
exhilarating experience of re-exploration, re-initiation, into old fa-
vourite ways old streets, old taverns, old friends and their homes,
old habits. He recovered a way of life which had been familiar, but
never so securely and habitually his own as not to be capable of such
renewal and refreshment. The habit of good spirits which had pre-
vailed during the past two years seems to have gone along with him
for the space of this jaunt and even to have been heightened to a special
pitch. It was with the fullest relish of which he was capable that he
experienced such moments as the first meeting with his revered friend
Samuel Johnson or his Easter mass at the Sardinian minister's chapel.
*The sound of his feet upon the timber steps was weighty and well
announced his approach. He had on an old purple cloth suit and a
large whitish wig. He embraced me with a robust sincerity of friend-
ship, saying, *I am glad to see thee, I am glad to see thee.'" "I was . . .
conducted by a person in the Ambassador's livery to a seat just before
the organ and fronting the altar. The solemnity of high mass, the
music, the wax lights, and the odour of the frankincense made a de-
lightful impression upon me. I was divinely happy." Perhaps the most
blissful hour of all came when he got invited to a party with Dr. John-
son and Goldsmith at General Oglethorpe's. "I felt a completion of
happiness. I just sat and hugged myself in my own mind." "Nothing
was wanting but my dearest wife to go home to, and a better fortune
in the mean time to make her live as she deserves." During this visit
to London not only did Boswell manage to avoid "deviating from
fidelity" to his 'Valuable spouse" but, after an initially risky experi-
ment of engaging in conversations with streetwalkers, he very sensi-
bly resolved to refrain from this indulgence, and with a minor excep-
tion he managed to keep his resolution.

On his second trip to London, during the spring of 1 773, he was re-
ceived into the Club of the most celebrated politicians and litterateurs.
In August of the same year Samuel Johnson came up to Edinburgh,
and he and Boswell went off on a golden tour to the Hebrides, re-
corded by Boswell in a Journal that would one day be a marvellous
and famous book. That book lies necessarily outside the text of the
present volume, but the importance of the Hebrides episode in this
phase of ihe mind and life of Boswell can scarcely be over-estimated.

xii Introduction

During these years Boswell's earlier connexion with London and with
Johnson became a confirmed allegiance. These were the years when
he formed a plan, fell into a pattern, of the yearly return to London,
the regular visits which during the whole decade of the 1 770*5 and un-
til the death of Samuel Johnson in 1784 gave him the elaborate rec-
ords of Johnson's conversation which are the glory of the Life. From
the Journal of 1772, for example, he later pulled page after page of
rich materials to be used directly as copy. Recovered only within re-
cent years, these portions of the Journal are a special boast and revela-
tion of the present volume.

Two London figures who chiefly share with Johnson the focus of
BoswelTs attention during this period are Garrick and Goldsmith.
BosweU's appreciation of being admitted to the friendship of the great
actor and manager had been enthusiastic and steady from the earliest
encounters, through the Stratford Shakespeare Jubilee in the autumn
before his marriage, and even through the quiet time while he re-
mained at home working hard. The first awakening and exchange of
literary letters, of Edinburgh and London theatrical gossip, in the
spring of 1 771-, is with Garrick. And BoswelTs chief literary exercises,
the dedication of an Edinburgh edition of Shakespeare and three es-
says on the art of acting in The London Magazine, are centred upon
the same glamorous figure. He cherished as one of his best memories
of the London trip of 1772 a morning when he walked with Garrick
along the Thames near the Adelphi and was fortunate enough to hear
him burst into an animated recital of a speech from Macbeth. On the
Hebrides tour, after Shakespearian quotations by Johnson and Bos-
well on the blasted heath near Forres and amid the ruins of Macbeth's
castle at Inverness ("A raven perched upon one of the chimney
tops") , one of the first things Boswell did was to write an account of
the experience in a letter back to Garrick in London leaving out of
course Johnson's growls about a mere "player" and his unwillingness
to get subscriptions or lend old plays.

The relation to Goldsmith is not so even. It is a striking, a some-
what disconcerting fact that Boswell during the first years of their
acquaintance had under-estimated the struggling author, had per-
haps felt he could patronize him. The comic view of Goldsmith as the
awkwardly over-eager and humiliated conversationalist, the habitual

Introduction xiii

perpetrator of Irish bulls, continues to the very end of the record. At
the same time, with Goldsmith's sudden theatrical triumph in She
Stoops to Conquer, BoswelFs enthusiasm for him had blazed. From
Edinburgh, just before hurrying south at the end of March 1 773, he
wrote the now celebrated letter linking the new play with the birth of
his own little girl Veronica and inviting the equally celebrated reply
"as if in repartee." Then, a little more than a year later, the friend-
ship is terminated by Goldsmith's death of a "fever." Boswell learns
of the event, apparently from the newspapers, and sits down to me-
morialize his feelings and re-establish connexions with his literary
friends in long-neglected letters to Langton and Garrick. A little later,
in a communication to The London Magazine, he gives the world a
song which had been dropped (because an actress could not sing)
from the text of She Stoops to Conquer. He takes it from the only sur-
viving copy (which thanks to his good habit as a collector he pos-
sesses), in Goldsmith's hand.

To Boswell, far away from all his London associations, kept at
home that spring season by the need for attending to business and by
the approaching confinement of his wife, the news of Goldsmith's
death was a sad blow. But already, at least as early as November 1 773,
immediately after his three-months' sprint of qui vive during the
Hebrides tour, a strong reassertion of the darker side of his mind had
begun. As he saw Johnson into the coach for London and turned back
towards Edinburgh and his professional duties, he had relaxed into a
gradually complicating mood of depression. The habit of heavy drink-
ing which had set in shortly after his becoming an advocate in 1766
now began to increase its hold during a year of malaise and distrac-
tion, of more than usually discouraging courtroom experiences, of
emerging political differences with his father. Boswell was keeping
up steady convivial habits during the sessions of Court. He had by
now taken to rather frequent social gaming.

Above all, it was the burden of his legal undertakings which gave
the distinctive shade to Boswell's returning hypochondria. We may
suppose that the civil causes which formed the staple of his employ-
ment and which are noted year after year in his Consultation Book
were not very exciting to him and seldom enlisted his sympathy very
deeply. Even the more spectacular appeal against Hastie the ejected

xiv Introduction

schoolmaster of Campbeltown, which brought Boswell to London and
before Lord Mansfield in the House of Lords in the spring of 1 772,
seems to have been for him mainly an opportunity to travel and the
occasion of his making a distinguished appearance, displaying his
now fairly confident powers of legal oratory. Hastie himself must have
been a coarse enough, a selfish and even brutal fellow (perhaps Bos-
well had never even seen this client), and when the decision against
him had been pronounced, Boswell apparently suffered no particular
pang. It was off with his wig and gown and away to a party and con-
gratulations for his effort. The great occasion, the more or less facti-
tious reason and climax of a trip to London, had come off and served
its purpose.

BoswelTs emotion was always much the opposite of this in the
criminal causes which he argued before the Court of Justiciary in
Edinburgh. During these years he seems to have become a kind of self-
appointed public defender. He acquired a distinct reputation as a man
who would take on, become ardently concerned in, the causes of com-
mon criminals, the unfortunate, the desperate, the clearly guilty and
imminently threatened with the pains of law. He was badly hurting
his chances for professional advancement by his keenness in a kind of
endeavour which was shunned by his brother advocates, those who
were on their way to becoming MP.'s, Lords of Session, or Barons of
Exchequer. The criminal causes of BoswelTs first few years as ad-
vocate of Hay the soldier, hanged for implication in a drunken
assault and the robbery of a watch, of Raybould the forger, also duly
hanged were paralleled with increasing frequency during the bad
year after the Hebrides tour. Such causes were not relatively numer-
ous in BoswelTs total practice, but they stand out in his brief Journals
of the period, in extended newspaper accounts, which he himself often
wrote, and in masses of legal papers which at least in a few instances
he preserved. A forger who obstinately refused to confess, a pair of
young scoundrels who murdered a poor rag-gatherer at night in his
cottage on a heath, a half-crazed man, excited by the insults of a mob,
who ran out of his house and stabbed his best friend, a sheep-stealer or
a horse thief, a group of "meal" rioters, another group of burglars and
arsonists, a couple of young girls, sisters, who in some kind of drunken
brawl pushed over a woman shopkeeper and killed her such were

Introduction xv

the clients, in their various degrees of guilt, who engaged BoswelTs
sympathy most warmly, elicited his most strenuous endeavours, his
repeated visits to prison and consultations, his all-day and all-night
marathon exertions in the courtroom, his further visits as they awaited
execution, his Bible readings with them, his exhortations to repent-
ance.

And then we come to the summer of 1 774, with its crowded activi-
ties, recorded by Boswell in a Journal which he begins on 14 June,
the day of the opening of the session. For two solid months during
this busy season of the Scottish metropolis, the daily affairs of the ses-
sion (the court appearances, the drafting of legal papers, the appoint-
ments, the consultations) alternate and mingle with the no less regu-
lar, the feverishly regular, social engagements. Business merges with
pleasure, almost daily intemperance follows hard upon recovery from
the day before. We hurry along without pause through the assorted
agitation of parties with his cousins and his friends, the judges, advo-
cates, "writers," doctors, clergymen and military men, their ladies
and their daughters, who make up the thronging, the bustling and
talkative society of which Boswell is a part These are the ordinary
matters which fill his Journal.

But a little less than half way through the summer begins the
extraordinary record of the struggle for the life of John Reid the
sheep-stealer. This occupies the best part of BoswelTs mind and effort
for seven weeks an$ makes the sombre conclusion of our volume. Reid
had been Boswell's first criminal client, by court appointment, in the
autumn of 1 766, and with the help of his friend Andrew Crosbie, Bos-
well had saved Reid's life. But now Crosbie refused to be involved a
second time. Against a formidable array of Crown witnesses and the
suave, complacent reasoning of the Lord Advocate, Boswell adduced
a single witness, a scarcely relevant forlorn hope, and threw into the
balance his own flourishes of oratory. The nearly inevitable verdict
and sentence led to a second phase of the episode, drawn out and ago-
nized, as Boswell worked frantically by various means, prudent and
imprudent, for a pardon or a commutation of sentence. (He gained an
illusory reprieve, while the King and his advisers awaited the ruthless
report of the Justice-Clerk.) At the start of the affair Boswell had said
he would write of Reid only apart from his Journal, in his Register of

xvi Introduction

Criminal Trials. But the uncouth tormented figure of the sheep-
stealer in the Tolbooth succeeded before the end in usurping a much
larger place in his sympathy and imagination than he had antici-
pated. No other client that he ever had came even close to filling so
many pages of the Journal with the accumulating discoveries of a
story not only macabre and poignant but precise, intricate, and puz-
zling. The case of John Reid is much like a modern psychologically
oriented detective story, especially as we are now able to fill it out
with the relevant letters, petitions, and broadsides preserved in Bos-
well's collection. Boswell pursues the narrative, gives us the horrid
picture, to the last movement on the ladder, the last words, hardly un-
derstood: "Mine is an unjust [a just?] sentence." That night he sits
by his fire, with a friend and a bottle of claret, nursing himself
through a misery of nervous shock.

n

We have Samuel Johnson's advice to Boswell on how to keep a
journal, delivered in the very swim of events during BoswelTs London
visit of 1773. **The great thing ... is the state of your own mind;
and you ought to write down everything that you can. . . . Write
immediately while the impression is fresh." (Aristotle to Menander
on how to get a laugh, to the tadpole on how to become a frog.) This
advice can scarcely have seemed novel to Boswell, yet one part of it
was impressive enough for him to repeat it in his tfournal more than
a year later. "Mr. Johnson said that the great thing was to register the
state of my mind."

If we wish to understand why some of BoswelTs narrations, even
some of the most seemingly routine or perfunctory sketches of the
shape of a given day, have their own interest and carry us on easily
to the next day and the next, it is because Boswell is always talking
about how his days and nights felt to him. It is always a cardinal point
with him to be searching for happiness, to keep testing himself to see
if he is finding it, to take his own emotional temperature, to look for-
ward to his opportunities, and backward to estimate his successes and
his failures. He tries hard to state his feelings explicitly. He is busy
also arranging the details of his narrative to intimate the shades of

Introduction xvii

feeling. ("The state of my mind must be gathered from the little cir-
cumstances inserted in my Journal.") The great days of London life
when he hugs himself for joy, certain skilfully managed Edinburgh
days of just enough work, just enough sociability, just the right kind
and amount of food and the warming wine carefully "sucked," and on
the contrary the days of madness and rampaging, of gross boldness, of
violence and intemperance in convivial life, in drinking, in making
love, and the subsequent days of oppressive melancholy and desola-
tion these stand forth conspicuously enough in the record. At the
same time he is attentive to the days of quieter tone, the intermediate
values. "I rose from the table quite cool, and several of us drank tea
with the ladies. This was an inoffensive day." "We three drank a bot-
tle of claret each, which just cheered me.*'

Under the simple rubric of "feeling" we might be tempted to con-
clude that we were placing Boswell accurately as a typical man of his
country and his era. Certain distinctions, however, ought to be made.

The story of Boswell is the story of man's disobedience and its
fruit as that fruit grew ripe in the experience of a man who lived both
marvellously in accord, and marvellously at variance, with the lif e of
his contemporaries. Sing, terrestrial muse. . . . The literary mind of
the age would have had the story, if not heavenly poetic or majesti-
cally grand, at any rate reasonably smooth and elegant or purely
tender and pathetic. As a precocious Eton schoolboy, about a decade
later than the events recorded in this book, would write in his Addi-
sonian essay: the poet Chaucer "lived in a period little favourable to
simplicity in poetry, and several meannesses occur throughout his
work. . . . The state of equipoise between horror and laughter which
the mind must here experience may be ranked among its most un-
pleasing sensations." There was one part of BoswelTs mind which was
largely in rapport with the prevailing taste of the age. "When Fancy
from its bud scarce peeped, And life's sweet matins rung," he wrote in
a youthful poem, and he defended the lines in his Journal: "I think
them two beautiful allusions." His favourite image for what delights
him in verbal composition is the edible sweet the delicious "pine-
apple," the "dessert of rich flavour." Among his most frequent terms
of praise for the conversation of Samuel Johnson are "majestic,"
"musical," "melodious."

xviii Introduction

Such expressions, however, do not bring us very close to the true
imaginative principle in Boswell. For BoswelFs verbal art, his actual
dealing with human life and feeling, is above all realistic and to
that extent it is low rather than lofty, plain, even in a sense "ugly,"
rather than "beautiful." One of the books that Boswell was reading
with considerable interest and taking notes from during the year 1 771
was his countryman Henry Mackenzie's new novel The Man of Feel-
ing. How typical of BoswelFs artistic mind is his comment on a cer-
tain scene of elevated sentiment between Mackenzie's hero and a lady
of the town! "Harley's behaviour to the courtesan is quite unnatural.
. . . All her speech too is far beyond nature." Boswell not only knew
what he was talking about in the sense of his being an expert wit-
ness but in this instance he was writing with critical shrewdness.
Let us observe, furthermore, that realism in the portrayal of hu-
man feelings involves, almost inevitably, a kind of impurity, a traffic
with the mixed or complicated (for feelings seldom occur pure or sim-
ple) . And next that there is a special kind of reflective or aesthetic
feeling an accent of realization which arises just out of the ten-
sion of the primary or immediate life feelings; so that paradoxically
the most sensitive realism is in effect always more than realism.

It is difficult to illustrate this part of our aesthetic from Boswell's
theoretical utterances. But the illustration is scarcely avoidable once
we turn to his performance. Surely the most extraordinary thing
about his experience and his management of feeling, in his life and in
his Journals, is his capacity (defying the good taste of his age) to
entertain the jostling opposites in alternation, in conjunction: good
and evil, prudence and rashness, and all their attendant range of
pleasure and pain, delight and woe. One of the accents of aesthetic
realization that arises from such conflict, a major one, is the laugh-
able. The principle of "incongruity" expounded by so many theorists
of this subject applies with peculiar force to Boswell at many mo-
ments to BoswelL, in March 1772, standing before the bar of the
House of Lords, Boswell recording of himself: " * My Lords,' said I, *I
speak with warmth for this schoolmaster who is accused of too much
severity. I speak from gratitude, for I am sensible that if I had not been
very severely beat by my master, I should not have been able to make
even the weak defence which I now make. . . . ' Lord Mansfield

Introduction xix

smiled." Boswell for the defence: comic mode. A second major accent
is, with Boswell, not quite the classic counterpart or full tragic op-
posite of the laughable, but rather a near neighbour living in certain
interestingly uneasy relationships. At the level of simple transforma-
tion: almost any kind of pang at all, any internal commotion, may be
enjoyable and may be deliberately sought and deliberately nursed in
memory. "There is a pleasure in being to a certain degree agitated by
events." Thus his repeated interviews with condemned men, his exe-
cutions, and his funerals. And then at a further depth of internalify
appears his curiously flickering and detached, both complacent and
assured, self-awareness on such occasions. His tortured and unselfish
engagement in behalf of a doomed client merges with a quite satis-
factory consciousness of his own role as eloquent defender and a pro-
longed exploitation of his opportunity as observer. "I was in a kind
of agitation, which is not without something agreeable, in an odd way
of feeling. ... I enjoyed the applause." "I said, *I suppose, John,
you know that the executioner is down in the hall." . . . Two o'clock
struck. I said, with a solemn tone, There's two o'clock.' " Boswell for
the defence: quasi-tragic mode.

Such are his experiences in partisanship and sympathy. But an
even more central theme of the Journals is the daily endurance of his
own most personal and immediate version of the human tragicomedy.
One of the most constant things that Boswell knows is the vibration
between indulgence and remorse or their near simultaneity and
union. "Drinking never fails to make me ill-bred. ... I recollect
having felt much warmth of heart, fertility of fancy, and joyous com-
placency mingled in a sort of delirium. . . . My wife was waiting
all the time, drowsy and anxious." Sometimes the awareness is more
tired and casual. In those nonce reflections, incidental and effortless
observations, after a day or after a supper, of which the Journals are
so full, often there appears a kind of puzzled estimate of dissatisfac-
tion, its causes, its feeble remedies. "After every enjoyment comes
weariness or disgust." "Our grave reflections on the vanity of life
are part of the farce like the grave ridiculous in comedy for,
after making them, we take a jovial bottle as if we never had thought."

We ask the question, inevitably, how is this frank, this prideful,
at moments even exultant record not offensive? What is the quality or

xx Introduction

degree of BoswelTs awareness of evil? Does he really understand what
he is? Does he enjoy the kind of perspective needed to shape such ex-
periences as he endures into a record that commands our serious re-
gard?

We have to acknowledge that this record proceeds throughout
upon a kind of perception which is demonstrated in the expression.
It is not a record or a confession by accident. When Bos well joins with
the very jury at a tavern in a species of celebration on the coffin of
John Rei4, there is, it is true, no embarrassment. "I was in such a
frame as to think myself an Edmund Burke." Still it is Boswell him-
self who has acknowledged and joined these impressions for us. An-
other sensibility might well have screened, might well have bowdler-
ized and simplified bidding for a higher degree of propriety, of the
supposed tragic, pathetic, or sublime. The endless naivete of Boswell,
his profoundly childlike mentality, comes in here as a force in the
self-dramatization. If only the writer have the accuracy, the courage,
to portray his childlikeness! Childlikeness directly displayed is not
like what leaks out unhappily around the edges of the dishonest at-
tempt at self-concealment. Let us add that Boswell almost never, per-
haps never for any extended stretch, writes in complete ignorance or
moral obtuseness. Even the exuberant whoring passages of his early
Journals are likely to have their edging of apology, of rueful humour,
their introspective accent, their partly foreseen and dreaded after-
math of remorse. The awareness of evil perhaps seldom or never
reaches degrees of great reflective intensity. Still Boswell has a sense
of evil a feeling of it, the kind of painful impression which John-
son, after a day of fatiguing hospitality at Aberdeen, acknowledged in
the words: "Sensation is sensation.'*

The analogy between Boswell and the sentimental hero of his day
the rake with the heart of gold in the picaresque or comic epic novel,
is too striking to be resisted. Doubtless Boswell himself felt the resem-
blance, and he must have felt some special distress in the realization
that his own true story could not end like the fiction of Tom Jones.
("Such a cloud of hypochondria. . . . I wish it may not press upon
me in my old age.") The sentimental novels were a species of hagiog-
raphy. They presented the rake as the hero of the new morality of
the good heart Boswell himself exemplifies that morality, but no

Introduction xxi

author ever took less pains to glorify his hero than Boswell in his auto-
biography, less pains to make his readers like that hero.

Boswell and his Journal sometimes today do encounter the criti-
cism that it is difficult to like Boswell. Hie question is hardly more
relevant than a question whether we can like Hamlet or Heathcliff.
Boswell writes a true story beyond question and this is one un-
doubted source of its peculiar power. (In real life no doubt he did care
very much whether he was liked. He tried hard to be liked.) At the
same time, in the detachment of his writing, in the subtle ranges and
conflicts of feeling which he manages, in his firmness of detail and in
the purity of his verbal style in his general artistry as a journalist
Boswell projects himself as a figure of unique fictive significance.
If we know what we are about as we read and respond to this extra-
ordinary saga of self-portrayal, we shall hardly stop to wonder
whether we do like Boswell, whether we ought to like him. (The very
possibility of puzzlement is a clue to the situation.) In part no doubt
we will like him. Who can fail to like the lover of Margaret Mont-
gomerie, the patient correspondent of the neurotic Temple, the friend
of Paoli, the devotee and biographer of Johnson, the desperate oppo-
nent of the Justice-Clerk, the counsel for the defence of the abandoned
John Reid? At the same time there will doubtless be many respects in
which we find it very difficult to like him, Why should we not admit
this? What kind of purity, of whitewash, do we look for in the protag-
onists of our most impressive stories? The correct response to Boswell
is to value the man through the artist, the artist in the man.

DOCUMENTATION

A. The principal documents used in their entirety to make the
text of this book:

1. Manuscript Journal in London, 14 March to 20 April 1772:
"Journal of my Jaunt to London, Spring 1772": bound quarto note-
book with leather back and marbled board covers, 235 pages and a
title page, 7^ by 6 inches, originally numbered by Boswell 1186,
189-237, 338-347, though continuous; but his pp. 159-164, 181-184
are missing.

2. Manuscript Journal in London, 30 March to 13 April 1 773: in

xxii Introduction

a wrapper endorsed by BoswelL, "Journal in London, 1 773," 57 num-
bered quarto pages, written on leaves torn from a notebook, 7^ by 6|
inches.

3. Manuscript Journal in Edinburgh, 14 June to 21 September
1774, in two notebooks: (i) bound octavo notebook with marbled
paper back and covers, 14 June to 2 September, 147 numbered pages,
7 hy 4f inches; the first three pages are filled by an unfinished "Re-
view" of the period from 22 November 1773 to *4 J" 116 *774; (2)
bound octavo notebook with leather back and marbled covers, [2 Sep-
tember] to 26 December, 188 numbered pages, 7% 6 by 4%e inches;
the text of the present volume ends with p. 72 of this notebook.

B. Other Boswellian documents quoted more or less extensively to
supplement the Journals of i 772 and 1 773:

1. Notes for London Journal, 22 April to 15 May 1 772 : 5 unpaged
quarto leaves, both sides written on, loose, about 9 by 7! inches.

2. Notes for London Journal, [11 April] to 15 May 1773; con-
tained in the same wrapper as the Journal for 30 March to 13 April,
12 unpaged folio and quarto leaves, both sides written on, loose, rang-
ing in size from 1 2 % 6 by 7 J to 9%e by 7^ inches.

3. Manuscript of the Life of Johnson, passages Jor 30 April, i, 7,
and 10 May i 773: 12 quarto leaves, rectos numbered by Boswell 393,
398-401, 411412, 414, 417420, some with additions on verso,
roughly 9! by 8J inches, unbound.

C Brief Notes for Journals, mainly in Edinburgh, for the period
1772-1774, drawn upon in various ways for the editorial narratives
and. the annotation. These are partly in the hand of BoswelTs clerk
John Lawrie. They consist of seven sequences, as follows: Notes on
General Paoli's visit to Scotland, 4, [9, 10, 1 1 ] September 1 771 ; Notes
for Journal in Edinburgh, i January to 13 March 1772; 3 August
1772 to 27 January 1773; 16 February to 29 March 1773; 15 May to
14 August 1773; 20 December 1773 to 15 March 1774; 11 April to 6
May 1774.

D. The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. The Tour (18 August
to 11 November 1773) published in part by Boswell in 1 785 was de-
rived from a main manuscript of 314 octavo leaves, originally paged
by Boswell 1-674 (78 pages are missing) and from some further
leaves of notes corresponding to the beginning and end of the episode.
This is another book; it is bypassed rather than embraced in the pres-

Introduction xxiii

ent volume; but it is drawn upon in various ways for the editorial
narratives, the annotation, and the Introduction.

E. Upwards of 245 letters, sent or received by Boswell between 25
November 1 769 and 2 October 1 774, and 14 letters sent or received by
Mrs. Boswell. BoswelTs letters to William Johnson Temple for this
period are in the Pierpont Morgan Library. The manuscripts of his
letters to Samuel Johnson for this period have not been recovered
with a single exception, that for 3 March 1 772, now in the Hyde Col-
lection, Somerville, New Jersey. BoswelTs letter to Goldsmith, the
only one he is known to have written to him, and his letters of 26
August 1771 and i March 1773 to Percy and of 22 November 1773
to Henry Thrale and of 1 1 April 1 774 to Garrick are also in the Hyde
Collection. Other letters not at Yale which have been quoted in whole
or in part may be noted as follows: Boswell to James Beattie, 27 July
1 771, in King's College Library, University of Aberdeen; Lord Hailes
to Boswell, c. 2 December 1771, in the possession of Sir Charles Mark
Dalrymple of Newhailes, Bt; Boswell to John Johnston of Grange, 20
October 1771 and 9 May 1 772, in the possession of the Misses Carlyle
of Waterbeck, Dumfriesshire; Boswell to Bennet Langton, 10 April
1774, in the British Museum; Boswell to Percy, 16 April 1773, from
the collection of Roger W. Barrett; Boswell to Thrale, 13 May 1774,
in the Murdock Collection in the Harvard College Library. The cor-
respondence between Boswell and W. J. Mickle is preserved partly at
Yale but mainly among the Mickle papers in the care of Professor
A. J. M. Ellis; it appeared in part in The Universal Magazine during
1809. Unless the contrary is stated, all other letters by Boswell are
printed from manuscripts in the collection at Yale; these, except for
the letters to John Johnston of Grange, are copies, in several hands.
BosweU's signature is added, in square brackets, to the copied letters.
Letters sent and received by Boswell are quoted extensively through-
out the editorial narratives. Nine letters by him and fourteen to him
are presented in their entirety. Of these the most important are: Bos-
well to Johnson, 3 March 1772; Johnson to Boswell, 15 March 1772;
Boswell to Garrick, 10 September 1772; Boswell to Goldsmith, 29
March 1773; Goldsmith to Boswell, 4 April 1773. BosweU's Register
of Letters, now at Yale, is useful for fixing dates when Boswell sent
and received letters and for its listing of letters now lost

xxiv Introduction

to 10 October 1774. These include such items as letters between other
persons, BoswelTs reading notes, verses by Boswell. They have been
used in various ways in the editorial narratives and the annotation;
and 5 letters, all having to do with the John Reid case of 1774, have
been presented in their entirety.

G. Legal papers relating to the trial, sentencing, reprieve, and ex-
ecution of John Reid for sheep-stealing, i August to 21 September
1 774, in three groups:

1. Those relating to the trial and sentencing preserved in Bos-
weirs own archives: (a) report of the trial, i August 1774: 14 folio
leaves, 28 sides written on; in BoswelTs hand to the bottom of p. 27,
where, after the heading, "My Charge," the remainder is written by
John Lawrie; (b) "Copy. Declaration of John Reid, 23 March 774" :
2 folio leaves, 3 sides written on, in an unidentified hand; (c) report
of a portion of BoswelTs opening plea for Reid: 2 folio leaves, 2 sides
written on, in Lawrie's hand; (d) "Defences for John Reid": 2 folio
leaves, 2 sides written on, in Lawrie's hand; (e) indictment of John
Reid, with list of witnesses and list of names from which the jury was
to be chosen: 6 printed quarto pages; (f) "On John Reid's Verdict":
marginal notes, in BoswelTs hand, on 5 of 6 printed pages of a legal
petition dated 26 July 1 774.

2. Official records of the trial: the Indictment, Declaration, Ver-
dict, Sentence, and other documents relating to the trial preserved in
the Scottish Record Office Justiciary Records, Books of Adjournal
1 773-1 774, Series D, voL 38, i August 1 774; and Processes 1 774, Trial
of John Reid.

3. Papers relating to the reprieve, preserved in the Public Record
Office, Scottish Entry Book, Criminal, H.0. 104/1, pp. 140-142: three
letters.

Extensive quotations from these three sets of papers are inserted
in the editorial narratives and the annotation under the dates in ques-
tion; and two documents, the Indictment of Reid and his Declaration,
are quoted in their entirety.

BoswelFs collection concerning Reid contains also four printed
broadsides, two of which (including one written by Boswell himself)
are presented in their entirety.

H. Published works of James Boswell: A few miscellaneous publi-
cations, chiefly essays and communications appearing in The London

Introduction xxv

Chronicle and The London Magazine for the period 1769-17/4, are
drawn upon in various ways in the editorial narratives and the annota-
tion; and one letter by Boswell, signed "A Royalist'* and published in
The London Chronicle for 17-20 September 1774, is presented in its
entirety.

Two of the Journals published in the present volume (those for 14
March to 20 April 1772 and 14 June to 21 September 1774) and the
Journal Notes and Condensed Journals for i January to 13 March
1772, 22 April to 11 May 1772, and 16 February to 29 March 1773
were published in 1930 by Frederick A. Pottle in the ninth volume of
the Private Papers of James Boswell from Maldhide Castle in the Col-
lection of Lt. -Colonel Ralph Heyward Isham^ a limited edition of 570
copies. The third Journal published in the present volume (that for
30 March to 13 April 1773) and the Condensed Journal for 11 April
to 15 May 1 773 were published by Geoffrey Scott in 1929 in the sixth
volume of the same edition of the Private Papers. Mrs. BoswelTs letter
to her husband of 7 February 1 770 was published by Professor Pottle
in 1930 in the eighth volume of the same edition. BoswelTs letters to
Temple and some of his other letters were published in Professor C. B.
Tinker's Letters of James Boswell^ Clarendon Press, 1924; and most
of Boswell's letters to Temple had been published even earlier in Let-
ters of James Boswell Addressed to the Rev. W. J. Temple [ed. Sir
Philip Francis], 1857, reprinted by Thomas Seccombe in 1908. Bos-
well's letters to Johnson (in part) and Johnson's to Boswell were first
published by Boswell himself in his Life of Johnson, 1791, the most
authoritative edition of which is that of G. B. Hill (1887), revised by
L. F. Powell, 1934-1950. The most recent and authoritative edition
of Johnson's letters is The tetters of Samuel Johnson, by R. W. Chap-
man, Oxford, 1952. The greater part of the manuscript of Boswell's
Journal ofaTour to the Hebrides was published by Frederick A. Pottle
and Charles H. Bennett in 1936. BoswelTs Notes on Dr. Johnson's visit
in Edinburgh, 14 to 17 August 1773, on which the first part of his
Tour is partly based, were published by Geoffrey Scott and Professor
Pottle in the sixth and ninth volumes of the Private Papers of James
BoswelL

The spelling, capitalization, and punctuation of both manuscripts
and previously printed material have been brought close to modern

xxvi Introduction

Abbreviations and contractions have been expanded. All quotations
have been standardized in the same fashion. The standard of spelling
for all but proper names is The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1956).
For place names F. H. Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, J. G.
Bartholomew's Survey Gazetteer of the British Isles, and London Past
and Present by Peter Cunningham and H. B. Wheatley have been
followed. Family names have been brought into conformity with the
usage of The Dictionary of National Biography, Mrs. Margaret
Stuart's Scottish Family History, G. E. Cokayne's Complete Baron-
etage and Complete Peerage, Sir James Balf our Paul's Scots Peerage,
and various other special books of reference. Names of speakers in con-
versations cast dramatically, whether supplied by Boswell or by the
editors, are put in small capitals without distinction. A few clear in-
advertencies have been put right without notice. Square brackets in-
dicate words added where the manuscript shows no defect, but where
for one reason or another the editors have made an insertion; angular
brackets indicate reconstruction of words lost through defects in the
manuscript, where the reconstruction is not entirely certain.

The editorial narratives of this volume draw upon the correspond-
ence of Boswell, his condensed Journals and Journal Notes, his publi-
cations, and various other minor sources to tell the story of his life
for the period that comes between his marriage in November 1769
and his first return to London in the spring of 1772, and thereafter
for the extended periods which come between the London Journals of
1772 and 1773 and between the second of these and the Edinburgh
Journal for the summer of 1774. Shorter editorial summaries help to
complete the London Journals of 1772 and 1773 an ^ appear also at
various places in the account of the case of John Reid. The annotation
of the Journals and letters attempts to provide essential information
when it is available and occasionally to add sidelights upon the char-
acter of a person or event. But complete annotation has been reserved
for the research edition. The index of the volume is intended not only
as a finding tool but as a supplement to the annotation; we have some-
times reserved for the index the Christian names, professions, and
titles of persons mentioned by Boswell only casually.

Both the textual editing and the annotation of this volume owe
much to earlier works of scholarship already mentioned: the edition

Introduction xxvii

of the Private Papers of James Boswell by Geoffrey Scott and F. A.
Pottle, that of the Tour to the Hebrides by F. A. Pottle and C. H. Ben-
nett, that of BoswelTs Letters by C. B. Tinker, the great edition of the
Life of Johnson by G. B. Hill as revised by L. F. Powell, and the edi-
tion of the Letters of Samuel Johnson by R. W. Chapman. To these
titles should be added Professor Pottle's The Literary Career of James
Boswell) Esq., 1929, the catalogue of the Private Papers of James Bos-
well by F. A. Pottle and Marion S. Pottle, 1931, and A Catalogue of
Papers relating to Boswell . . . found at Fettercairn House^ by
Claude Colleer Abbott, 1936. A considerable amount of unpublished
preliminary work has also been available. More than twenty years
ago (1936-1937) the writer of this Introduction prepared in two type-
script volumes, as a class exercise in the Yale Graduate School, an
editing of BoswelTs London Journal and Notes, 14 March to 15 May
1772. At the same time A. Stuart Pitt prepared a similar editing of
BoswelTs London Journal and Notes, 13 March to 15 May 1 773. And
in 1939 John Murray presented to the Faculty of the Yale Graduate
School his doctoral dissertation in four typescript volumes, James Bos-
well in Edinburgh^ an editing of BoswelTs Journal Notes in Edin-
burgh for the years 1 771-1 774, with elaborate attention to the institu-
tions and customs of the city and to BoswelTs literary and legal career.
In 1955 Mary E. Dukeshire presented as her doctoral dissertation an
editing of Selected Correspondences of James Boswell^ 1770-* 773. In
1952, Charles McC. Weis presented as his doctoral dissertation The
Correspondence of James Boswell and Sir David Dalrymple, and in
the same year Frank Brady presented The Political Career of James
Boswell^ Esq. In 1954 Charles N. Fifer presented in two volumes Let-
ters between James Boswell and Six Members of the Club. In 1953
Marshall Waingrow began the task of transcribing and editing the
manuscript of BoswelTs Life of Johnson. Meanwhile, Dr. Charles H.
Bennett had gone ahead with a systematic and nearly exhaustive an-
notation of BoswelTs Journals from the point (June 1 774) where John
Murray's dissertation had left off. Using such of the foregoing ma-
terials as were available and others resulting from his own researches,
Professor Pottle more than eighteen years ago completed a text and a
set of notes for a reading edition of the three Journals printed in this
volume. Then the recovery of further papers from Malahide Castle

xxviii Introduction

and of other documents and the release of those that had been re-
covered at Fettercairn House necessitated the planning of a quite
different series of volumes, with extensive revision of the earlier
editing.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The plan of this volume, though the editors themselves are re-
sponsible for the general layout and the details, has benefited consid-
erably from the advice of the Editorial Committee. Mr. Herman W.
Liebert assumed the special responsibility of providing the artist with
material for the maps, and Dr. Robert F. Metzdorf was not only chief
technical assistant at every stage but also the principal collector of the
illustrations. Mr. John Gates, special assistant in the Boswell Office
during the summer of 1958, typed almost the entire manuscript and
executed a number of assignments in research; Mr. Anthony Moore,
'59, Bursary aide in the Boswell Office, 1957-1959, helped in various
ways. Miss Harriet Chidester, principal secretary in the Boswell
Office during the period of the book's production, not only typed parts
of the manuscript but verified the normalizing and preparation of
the whole for the printer and in addition made numerous special con-
tributions through her skill in the transcription of Boswellian docu-
ments and her mastery of the files. Mr. Norman Chodikoff Charles,
*59, assistant in the Boswell Office during the summer of 1959, per-
formed tasks of research and helped in proof-reading the book. The
index was compiled by Miss Delight Ansley.

Proof for this volume was read not only by the members of the
Editorial Committee and the office staff but by several members of
the Advisory Committee Professor Bergin, Professor Brooks, Pro-
fessor Clifford, Sir James Fergusson, Professor Ireland, Dr. Malcolm,
and Dr. Powell.

We gratefully acknowledge various kinds of learned assistance
from the following friends: David Baxandall, William Beattie,
Frank Brady, James L. Clifford, N. S. Curnow, P. B. Daghlian, Chris-
topher S. A. Dobson, the Edinburgh Central Library, Olof von Feilit-
zen, Sir James Fergusson, C. Beecher Hogan, Mrs. Henry W. Howell,
R. E. Hutchison, Mr. and Mrs. Donald F. Hyde, Ronald Ireland,
George M. Kahrl, Helge Kokeritz, George Lam, W. S. Lewis, Mrs.

Introduction xxix

Joyce T. McCombe (formerly Lady Talbot de Malahide) , C. A. Mal-
colm, Roy M. Mersky, Charles S. Minto, Ernest C. Mossner, Henri
Peyre, Mrs. Marion S. Pottle, Konstantin Reichardt, Philip Ritter-
bush, L. W. Sharp, Brooks Shepard, Robert Smith, Warren H. Smith,
G. H. Spencer, G. W. Stone, T. W. Strachan, Alexander Victor, Mar-
shall Waingrow, Ralph Walker, Rene Wellek, Robert Williams.

W.K.W., Jr.
Yale University, New Haven

18 May 1959

BOSWELL FOR THE DEFENCE

/ felt a completion of happiness. I just sat and hugged myself in my own
mind. Here I am in London, at the house of General Oglethorpe, who intro-
duced himself to me just because I had distinguished myself; and here is Mr.
Johnson, whose character is so vast; here is Dr. Goldsmith, so distinguished
in literature. Words cannot describe our feelings. The finer parts are lost,
as the down upon a plum; the radiance of light cannot be painted.

[iO APRIX, 1772]

ft was now about eight in the evening, and gloom came upon me. I went
home and found my wife no comforter, as she thought I had carried my 'zeal
for John too far, might hurt my own character and interest by it 9 and as she
thought him guilty. I was so affrighted that I started every now and then
and durst hardly rise from my chair at the fireside. [21 SEPTEMBER

u for tne <*2/e[ence
f 7 69- f 7 74

CALENDAR OF BOSWELL'S LIFE TO NOVEMBER 1769. 1740. Boswell was
born at Edinburgh on 29 October, eldest son of Alexander Bos well, the
head of an ancient landed family in the shire of Ayr, and a judge in
the Supreme Courts of Session and of Justiciary in Scotland, enjoying
by virtue of this position the title Lord Auchinleck. Boswell's mother,
Euphemia Erskine, was descended from the Earls of Mar and the
Earls of Lennox and through the latter from James II of Scotland.

1753-1759- Boswell went through the regular arts course at the
College of Edinburgh and then studied law at the University during
the session of 1 758-1 759. About that time, however, he began to show
a special interest in the literary and theatrical life of the city and was,
apparently for that reason, in 1 759 removed by his father to the Uni-
versity of Glasgow where he again very quickly succeeded in form-
ing theatrical friendships.

1 760. In the spring, Boswell rairaway to London and made the ex-
periment, exceedingly dangerous to his legal and political prospects,
of becoming for a short time a Roman Catholic. He was reconverted
under the tutelage of his father's Ayrshire neighbour the Earl of
Eglinton and systematically introduced "into the circles of the great,
the gay, and the ingenious."

1 762 . In July he passed the civil law examination at Edinburgh. La
the autumn he returned with his father's permission to London and
attempted by influence to obtain the commission in the Foot Guards
which his father refused to purchase. During the months of this first
extended stay in London, Boswell wrote his first long stretch of Jour-
nal. Towards the end, he met and became a friend of Samuel John-
son. (Boswell's Journal was discovered in 1930 by Professor C. Colleer
Abbott at Fettercairn House and in 1950 published under the title

2 BoswelPs Life to November 1769

BoswelFs London Journal, 176217631 the first volume of the present
series, by the McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., of New York and
William Heinemann, Ltd., in London.)

1763. Having failed to secure his commission, Boswell now
yielded to his father's desire and agreed to become a lawyer; he
crossed the Channel to Utrecht in August and spent an unhappily
ascetic year in Holland applying himself to the study of civil law.
Near the end, a relaxation of moral rigour and an interest in a Dutch
girl of noble family, Belle de Zuylen (Zelide), revived his spirits.
(His Journal for the period was in large part lost soon after, but the
story, constructed from his memoranda and letters, has been pub-
lished as the second volume of the present series, Boswell in Holland^
1 763-1 764^ 1 952, by the same publishers.)

1764. In June Boswell started on his Grand Tour, the reward ex-
torted from his father for the completion of his legal studies. His first
travelling companion was the veteran Scots Jacobite and diplomat in
the service of Prussia, George Keith, Earl Marischal of Scotland. After
visiting a number of the German courts but failing to meet Frederick
the Great, Boswell entered Switzerland, where he enjoyed the
triumph of intimate conversations with Rousseau and Voltaire. (Bos-
well on the Grand Tour: Germany and Switzerland^ 1764, appeared
in 1954, the fourth 1 volume in the present series.)

1 765. In January Boswell went over the Alps to Italy, where he
continued with equal zest his usual pursuit of women and of im-
portant personalities. He hob-nobbed with the English political exile
John Wilkes, and he travelled with the Earl of Bute's eldest son, Lord
Mountstuart The most serious amour of his continental sojourn oc-
curred in Siena, with the wife of the "Capitano" or mayor of the city,
Girolama Piccolomini. In October and November he visited revolu-
tionary Corsica and achieved the friendship of the warrior leader
Pasquale de Paoli. From Corsica he travelled to Genoa and then
through France to Paris. (Boswell on the Grand Tour: Italy , Corsica^
and France^ 1765-1 7 66 , appeared in 1955, the fifth volume of this
series.)

1766. In January at Paris Boswell read in a newspaper that his
mother had died. He hurried homeward, stopping briefly at London,
1 The third was Portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds, published in 1952.

BoswelPs Life to November 1 769 3

and arrived in Edinburgh about 7 March. During the next few
months his experiments in gallantry became even more complicated
than before, while at the same time he began to look more and more
seriously towards marriage. A feverish interest in a gardener's
daughter at Auchinleck soon gave way to a much deeper entangle-
ment with a "dark" mistress, a "Circe,'* Mrs. Dodds, first encountered
during a visit in May to the watering village of Moffat. At Edinburgh
in late July he printed his Latin thesis on a title of the Roman Civil
Law, Concerning Legacies of Household Furniture (De supellectile
legato) , and having gone through the formality of defending it before
the Faculty of Advocates, he was admitted advocate. Before the
autumn circuit court at Glasgow, and then at Edinburgh with his
friend Andrew Crosbie, Boswell successfully, if precariously, de-
fended his first criminal client, John Reid, in a trial on the capital
charge of sheep-stealing. He settled in now to spending busy winters
and summers at Edinburgh during the sessions of court. He enjoyed
a professional success which he realized, uncomfortably, was due in
some measure to the presence of his father on the bench.

1767. The year was marked by the continuation, rupture, and
renewal of his affair with Mrs. Dodds, by the respectable courtship
of Catherine Blair, an Ayrshire "Heiress" or "Princess," his father's
candidate, and by his spectacular participation as publicist and vol-
unteer advocate in the celebrated "cause" concerning the succession
to the estate of Douglas. Boswell published a poem, an allegorical
fiction (Dorando) , two polemical pamphlets, and an edition of Lady
Jane Douglas's Letters in support of young Douglas, who suffered a
temporary defeat in July of this year by a decision of the Court of
Session. In December Mrs. Dodds presented him with a daughter,
SaUy.

1768. Early in February Boswell renewed relations with Mrs.
Dodds, was a few days later (though without connexion between the
events) formally rejected by Miss Blair, and about the middle of the
month published through Messrs. Dilly in London his first widely
successful book, begun about a year earlier, his Account of Corsica.
Having thus established his position as a man of letters, he set out in
March on a three-months' trip to London, complicated by a brief ex-
cursion to Oxford for the purpose of seeing Samuel Johnson. In

4 BoswelVs Life to November 1 769

August a new marital prospect appeared, an Irish heiress sixteen
years old, Mary Ann Boyd, visiting in Ayrshire at the home of Bos-
well's cousin Margaret Montgomerie.

1 769. The year began auspiciously when in February the House
of Lords reversed the decision of the Court of Session against Douglas,
and Boswell led the Edinburgh mob which broke windows in the
houses of his father and other judges who refused to acknowledge the
event by "illumination.'* At the end of April Boswell in company
with Miss Montgomerie went on a trip of conquest to Dublin, the
home of the Irish heiress. The result was a new revelation or the con-
firmation of an old suspicion, a conquest by his travelling companion:
by 25 July he and Margaret Montgomerie were formally engaged. At
the end of August he set out for a last bachelor jaunt, partly in order
that the London doctors might "clear his constitution." The trip in-
cluded a sortie in September to Garrick's Shakespeare Jubilee at Strat-
ford-on-Avon, where he made his celebrated appearance at the masked
ball as an armed Corsican Chief. On 10 November Samuel Johnson
came in from Streatham to London with him and saw him into the
post-chaise which was to carry him on his road to Scotland and his
marriage a fortnight later. (The events of the three and a half years
between BoswelPs return to Scotland from Paris in the winter of 1 766
and his marriage in the autumn of 1 769 are told in Boswell in Search
of a Wife> 1766-17691 which appeared in 1956, the sixth volume in
the present series.)

4769-4772

BOSWELL'S LIFE FROM HIS MARRIAGE TO HIS JAUNT TO LONDON IN
1772. Boswell was married to his cousin Margaret Montgomerie, his
"valuable friend," his "lady," the woman whom he had "preferred to
all others for her real merit," on Saturday 25 November 1769, at the
seat of her family, Lainshaw, in the shire of Ayr. On the same day, or
a few days earlier, at Edinburgh, BoswelFs father, nearly four years
a widower, was married again, to another cousin, Elizabeth Boswell
of Balmuto.

The younger BoswelTs bride wore a white (or silver) dress which
he had apparently brought up from London, and from Edinburgh to
Lainshaw on the day of the wedding. At a late dinner that afternoon,
not only the bride but Boswell himself was dressed in white. The
wedding-ring was a plain gold band, for a slender finger. BoswelTs
distinguished client and friend Douglas of Douglas was present and
put his name as witness to the marriage contract, which had been
witnessed in London by Samuel Johnson and Pasquale de Paoli.

"I wish you could steal out of Edinburgh when nobody can
suspect where you are going," Peggie Montgomerie had written,
"and let the ceremony be put over as privately as possible, as I would
like to remain in the country till you thought it necessary for me to
come to town." Court was in session at Edinburgh; it is likely that his
wife came back with him immediately in a letter three days before
the marriage she had written: "Be you positive to take me with you."
Lord Auchinleck's grudging acceptance of his niece (neither richly
dowered nor brilliantly connected) , his habitual loggerheads with his
son, his severe, sarcastic, and chilling manner, the passionate resent-
ment of Boswell at the second marriage and all it might threaten for
the family succession, made it unthinkable that Boswell could resume
residence under his father's roof. In London, Samuel Johnson had
strongly advised against this. In his last letter to his sweetheart "as
a young lady," two days before the marriage, Boswell wrote: "I can-
not think of our coming to my father's house. It would be mixing gall

6 BoswelPs Life., November i j6Q-March 1 772

with my honey. We shall concert what to do when we meet." The
first two months of his domestic life remain almost invisible to us.
He receives congratulations, both serious and jocular. The friends of
his early days, Erskine and Temple, add expressions of commiseration
on the marriage of his father. "I was very sorry that your father had
felt a tingling in his veins and had done the most foolish thing that an
old man can do." "Do not allow your father's marriage to affect your
spirits. . . . Cultivate your stepmother's good opinion. . . . If your
father should be provoked or inveigled to leave his estate past you,
think what would be your situation, what would be Mrs. BoswelTs,
what would be your children's! "

The first letter known to survive from the hand of Boswell after his
marriage is one addressed to his wife early in February of the new
year. A brother-in-law of Mrs. BoswelTs died, and after the visit to
Lainshaw for the funeral, Boswell returned alone to Edinburgh a week
ahead of his wife.

"I am anxious on account of the cold which you had when I left
you. I am afraid your rising so early and taking so kind a charge of
me, when setting out, may have done you harm. Pray take care of
yourself. You have always been my steady friend. Consider that your
being well and happy is absolutely necessary to make me so. ... Be-
lieve me, my dearest, the short absence which I have now suffered has
convinced me still more feelingly than before how much I love you,
what real happiness it is to me to enjoy your company, and how ill
I can do without you. . . . It is a common observation that we never
value sufficiently any happiness till we are deprived of it. It is lucky if
a short separation has the same effect on both our minds that the long
and melancholy parting by death has on the survivor. . . .

'Tomorrow I dine with Mr. Hugh Maxwell 2 in our new house. I
shall please myself with the prospect of our happiness in it. . . . My
family affairs go on very well. I keep an exact account, as I know you
will make a strict inquiry into my administration."

And she wrote on the same day, answering another letter he had
written the day before:

* A cousin of BoswelTs, a "writer," that is to say, a law-agent or solicitor. Many
of BoswelTs acquaintances to be encountered in this volume will be writers.

BosweWs Life, November i^dQ-March 1772 7

"How much am I indebted to my kindest, dearest friend for the
relief his friendly letter gave me! I dare say you can figure my distress,
and may therefore judge how agreeable it was to receive good accounts
when I was so apprehensive of the contrary. I thank God for his good-
ness to me and pray for his friendship and protection to My Dearest
Life. . . . I am sorry your father has been indisposed. Is it the cold or
his old complaint?" 8

The new house is no doubt the "house in the Cowgate near the
Excise office," at which Boswell receives letters during March and
April. No doubt a modest house, in that modest neighbourhood. They
did not stay there long, but moved, the last week in May, to a more
commodious place in the newest and finest residential development in
Edinburgh, Chessel's Land, or Chessel's Buildings, in the Canongate.
In the same month Boswell became a church lawyer, being admitted
to practice at the Bar of the General Assembly. One of his closest pro-
fessional friends, John MacLaurin, 4 lay leader of the popular party in
the Assembly, sent him a witty celebration of the event in verse: The
Moderator's Advice to James Boswell^ Esq. . . . to the tune of "A
Bumper, Squire Jones' 9 in "The Provoked Wife"

Sure great is the folly

In him whom Paoli

His friendship permitted to share

To go for a guinea

(Dear Boswell, what mean ye?)
To plead at so scurvy a bar. . . .

Boswell had been able to clear over eighty guineas during a winter
term even in his first year at the bar (1766-1767). He had his clerk
come to hrm every morning at six and could dictate to him in a pinch
forty folio pages in a day. We can fill in without much trouble a pic-

3 A suppression of urine, probably due to an enlarged prostate. The affliction
had first appeared about four years earlier, when at the Ogilvy murder trial (see
below, p. 29271. 8) Lord Auchinleck had sat nine hours without rising. One
severe attack had occurred on the second day of January 1768. On the present
occasion he had a cold.
* See below, p. 209/1. 2.

8 BosweWs Life, November ii6$-March 1772

tore of the young advocate during his first winter of married life as
a man "kept very throng," a man of affairs, thriving, extremely busy
very much absorbed also in domestic felicity. He passes through a
phase of his career marked so successfully by marital devotion, so-
briety, and business that the record all but completely escapes being
written.

One legal cause in which Boswell was engaged at this time was
characteristic of involvements which during the next few years would
become both more frequent and more intense. A merchant in Ayr
named William Harris had been arrested in the summer of 1 768 on
a charge of wholesale forging of the notes of the Thistle Banking Com-
pany in Glasgow. After lying in prison at Ayr and Edinburgh for
about fifteen months, he had shortly before BoswelTs marriage es-
caped from the Edinburgh Tolbooth but had been recaptured and put
in irons. A statement by the gaoler concerning this phase of his im-
prisonment records that Boswell visited him and gave him a guinea.
In February he attempted to strangle himself. The "Petition and
Complaint" brought against Harris early in 1769 by the Glasgow
bankers in conjunction with the Lord Advocate resulted in an ex-
tended trial during February 1 770 before the Court of Session. He was
found guilty by a decreet of 10 March and remitted to the Court of
Justiciary. He feigned madness at his criminal trial on 24 April but
was pronounced sane and again found guilty. In a letter of 31 May
to his close friend the philosophic Edinburgh writer and "worthy
country gentleman" John Johnston of Grange, Boswell describes the
final scenes:

"I visited Harris the evening before he was executed, and insisted
to know from him as a dying man the truth as to his accomplices. He
persisted in what I told you and added something stronger. ... I
can hardly believe him. I saw him hanged yesterday. He seemed very
penitent and not at all frightened. He suffered great pain to all ap-
pearance. I was much shocked and am still gloomy,"

We get other glimpses of BoswelTs mind during this period
through his correspondence with Temple, his old classmate at the
University of Edinburgh and his closest friend, now rector of the small
parish of Mamhead in Devonshire. Boswell had paid a visit there,

BoswelFs Life, November i j6g-March i 772 9

going down from London, during the autumn before his marriage,
had formed or at least had expressed in his Journal a better opinion of
Mrs. Temple than he had earlier entertained, and had stood godfather
to Temple's first son. Temple was the correspondent to whom Boswell
had spread out the most unexpurgated pageant of his adventurous
heart during his years in search of a wife. It will be readily conceived
that the new Boswell no longer had quite so much to say to Temple,
nor so much gusto of introspection and lover's torment to say it with.
Temple himself during these years is increasingly a doleful and ver-
bose correspondent, full to the brim with his own frustrations, his pro-
vincial seclusion, his poverty, his growing family, his abortive literary
hopes and projects (to write a history of Venice, of Florence, of Rome,
to translate some Italian book of travels) . He sends frequent requests
to Boswell, or to David Hume through Boswell, for advice on what
books he ought to read, in what order, what he ought to try to write.
He sends other requests, unhappy pleas, to Boswell to use influence
with somebody to get him a better place, a chaplainship at Turin,
Venice, or Florence. Nevertheless, Temple stands always high in Bos-
well's esteem, and he succeeds in writing paragraphs of kindly, if
sometimes rather officious, insight into BoswelTs affairs, of warm
friendly and "sacerdotal" advice. On 15 December, the same day that
he wrote his letter of congratulation to Boswell, Temple had written
also to Mrs. Boswell:

"My DEAR MADAM, I hope you will pardon the liberty I take in
addressing you in this familiar and affectionate manner. . . . Indeed
I do not know a more valuable man than Mr. BoswelL No man has a
better heart, no man has better principles, no man has a nicer sense
of honour. ... If anybody can make my friend happy, I think you
must be the person. Your easiness of temper and equal flow of spirits
will keep him in good humour, check his flights when he soars too
high, and gently agitate and exhilarate him when he inclines towards
melancholy and gloomy reflections. Your own prudence will tell you
how necessary it is that he should live upon a friendly footing with his
father and even his stepmother."

When Boswell resumes his correspondence with Temple during
the spring of 1770, such messages, such themes (mingled with much

10 BoswelFs Life, November if6&-March 1772

more about Hume on studying history, about Temple's own dilemma

and discontent) pass repeatedly back and forth.

"Why do you still distress yourself about your father's marriage?
You know at all adventures you would not have lived with him, his
wife can have no children, and I suppose he will leave her a very mod-
erate jointure. Take my advice then, live in a friendly and familiar
manner with them and make yourself easy." TEMPLE, 26 April.

"Well do I know that I have the seeds of the same discontent. But
I strive to bury them." BOSWELL, 7 May.

"Women at forty seldom conceive; if they do, it is often fatal to
them. . . . Does Mrs. Boswell engross you entirely? Can the gay,
the volatile Boswell, whom hardly variety itself could satiate, confine
himself to one object? Have you no expedition in your head, no essay
in prose, no epistle in verse? or do you begin to think it your chief
merit to be a good husband and a good lawyer? Throw yourself out
upon paper, let me know all the movements of your heart!" TEM-
PLE, c. 26 May.

"My father is come to town and never looked better in his life.
Honest man, he really is, I believe, very fond of me; and we are at
present on very good terms. I behave with prudence towards the per-
son who has occasioned so much uneasiness. I do not as yet see any
appearance of her multiplying." BOSWELL, 19 June.

Both Temple and Boswell were approaching fatherhood that sum-
mer, Boswell for the first time (legitimately), Temple for the second,
and Temple strained at the leash towards the moment of escape when
he could contrive a trip to the North first to Gainslaw, near Ber-
wick, where he felt he had family business to superintend ("Good
God! how my father has managed my little fortune!") and then, in
a bolder dash, even farther. "As soon as my wife is a week delivered,
I set out for the North; I hope the first or second Sunday in August. I
trust soon after to see you at Edinburgh. ..." Temple's wife was
safely delivered of a son on the 2Oth of July, and on the 6th of August
Temple set out On the soth he wrote: "Pray tell me how Mrs. Bos-
well is and when you wish me to come. Are you a father yet?"

BoswelVs Life, November iiGg-March 1772 11

But Boswell had been less fortunate. His son, born on 28 August,
after Mrs. Boswell had suffered two days of "illness and real danger,"
died within two hours. We have his note the next day to Johnston of
Grange ("Pray come to me directly") and a letter to Temple: "I am
very glad you are so near me. ... I have much need of your com-
fort." And this is followed by an exchange in which incidental ref-
erences to a certain philosopher of Edinburgh chime appropriately
enough with an inquiry into the origins of parental feeling.

"You ought not, you cannot feel much for what you have lost.
People of reflection love their children not so much from instinct as
from a knowledge and esteem of their good and amiable qualities.
Think then no more of your misfortune and trust that Providence will
be more favourable to you upon another occasion. ... Is Mr. Hume
now at Edinburgh?" TEMPLE, 4 September.

"The consolation of hearing from you and the prospect of seeing
you soon do me more good than your philosophical consideration on
the death of my child. I grant you that there is no reason for our hav-
ing an affection for an infant which, as it is not properly a rational
being, can have no qualities to engage us; yet Nature has given us
such an instinctive fondness that being deprived of an infant gives us
real distress. I have experienced this; and there is no arguing against
it. ...

"Mr. Hume is just now at Sir Gilbert Elliot's country seat. He will
be here again in ten days. . . . My wife will be in her drawing-room
next week, if it please God to continue to favour her. My dear friend!
how happy will it make me to have you under my roof and enjoy with
you some invaluable hours of elegant friendship and classical social-
ity." BOSWELL, 6 September.

Temple came during the third week of September and stayed
about a week. As he retreated again to the South, he and Boswell wrote
echoing portraits of BoswelTs felicity in his wife:

"How can I express with what regret I parted from you! I had not
passed a week so happily a long time. I shall always remember with
pleasure and gratitude the sensible, the lively conversation of Mrs.
Boswell (let me call her your excellent wife), and her tender atten-

12 BoswelFs Life y November ifdg-March 1772

tion about me. O fortunate nimium si bona, etc. 6 If you are not the
happiest of mortals, it will be your own fault. Never did I see such a
command of temper, such amiable sensibility. It is absolute cruelty
and tyranny to give that woman the least room for uneasiness. De-
pend upon it, you will always be in the wrong; she loves you too well
ever to give you unnecessary pain. Continue to love her, to respect
her, and thank God daily for having given you, for preserving to you,
so excellent a wife. Tell her I wish her every satisfaction this world
can afford. . . .

"Make my respectful compliments to Mr. Hume." TEMPLE,
30 September.

"You cannot say too much to me of my wife. How dare you quote
to me sua si bona norint? I am fully sensible of my happiness in being
married to so excellent a woman, so sensible a mistress of a family, so
agreeable a companion, and above all so affectionate and peculiarly
proper helpmate for me. I own I am not so much on my guard against
fits of passion or gloom as I ought to be; but that is really owing to her
great goodness. There is something childish in it I confess. I ought
not to indulge such fits. It is like a child that lets itself fall purposely,
to have the pleasure of being tenderly raised up again by those who are
fond of it. I shall endeavour to be better. Upon the whole, I do believe
I make her very happy. God bless and preserve her." BOSWELL, 6
October.

And Boswell announces that they intend to set out on Monday for
Ayrshire. They would stay part of the time with her sister at Lain-
shaw, and part at Auchinleck. It would be their second return to Lain-
shaw since the marriage, their first to Auchinleck, to BoswelTs father
and the other person.

In spite of the loss of their first child, in spite of strained relations
with the household of Lord Auchinleck, in spite of Mrs. BoswelTs un-
certain health during the next year, this period must have been a very
successful and happy one in the lives of Boswell and his wife. There
is little to indicate that the tenor of their existence did not remain
relatively unruffled for another year and a half. During the winter

9 "O happy farmers! did they but know their blessings!" (O forfunatos nimium,
$ua si bona norint, agricolas! Virgil, Georgics II. 458-459) ,

BoswelUs Life, November if6g-March 1772 13

of 1 771 they moved once more, this time into a smallish flat which be-
longed to the philosopher David Hume and had formerly been his
home, in James's Court, in the Lawnmarket. It is perhaps significant
that the letters of Temple during this year, though they continue in
frequency and length and are increasingly full of his own literary and
domestic problems ("My wife's questions indeed and the petulance
and squalls of my children often interrupt me and distract my atten-
tion"), at the same time tell us somewhat less than before about the
troubles of Boswell. BoswelTs side of the correspondence for this period
is lost. And he was keeping no Journal. A few happy and sunlit pic-
tures of the Boswells on vacation are preserved in letters from Boswell
to Johnston of Grange. Immediately after a swing into Ayrshire, on
22 May 1771:

"My wife and I had a very good journey west. I left her at Trees-
bank with her sister 6 and went by myself to Auchinleck, where I was
four nights. I then accompanied my father on the Western Circuit. I
passed six days at Inveraray, without seeing a shower; and being in
perfect good health I fully saw the whole of that plape, which is truly
a magnificent seat. It has all the highland wild grandeur, and a vast
addition from art. I have written a pretty good description of it, which
you shall see. I then came on the Circuit to Glasgow, where I passed
two days, and then returned to Treesbank, where I remained two
nights comfortably and quietly; and then my wife and I, with a little
daughter of Treesbank, came into Edinburgh.

"I am now in my house in James's Court, which we find large
enough for us, very convenient, and exceedingly healthful and pleas-
ant. My wife is very fond of it. Her jaunt to the country has done her
great good, made her fatter, and given her a much stronger look than
when we parted. . . .

"I am immersed in General Assembly business, having no less
than five causes before that venerable court and being in expectation
of a sixth. I am engaged on different sides both for and against patron-
age. But you know I am to have no opinion. I am only to speak in the
person of others. So that the judgements of the Assembly do not affect
me.

o Mary Montgomerie. She was the second wife of James Campbell of Treesbank,
an elderly cousin of BoswelTs.

14 BoswelFs Life, November j6^-March 1772

But let them say or let them do,
It's aw ane to me,
If I but get into my pouch
A braw swingeing fee, etc."

Again, in late August, Boswell took his wife for a week's jaunt to
the South writing a journal-style letter which he put into Grange's
hand on his return to Edinburgh. "We dined at Norton and got to
Cornhill at night, so that we slept the very first night in old England."
Onward, the next day, past country-seat and castle, they drove pleas-
antly, past

"... the bridge at Coldstream, the ancient castle on the English
side . . . Flodden Field, Milf ord Plain, the finest sheep-ground and
hunting-ground that can be imagined, and several seats whose names
the post-boys could not tell. We had fine weather, and my travelling
companion was delighted with ihe quick, lively motion of driving
post."

In September and October Boswell made another pilgrimage and
a retreat with his father at Auchinleck. His purposes were bucolic and
legal education that is, to allow his father to instruct him in the
care of the estate and in Scots law and antiquities. Lord Hailes's letter
of 23 September, forwarded by Mrs. Boswell from Edinburgh, urges
Boswell to attend carefully to all that his father has to say about the
law. "Everything that you hear you ought to commit to writing."
BoswelPs letter to Grange (20 October 1771) describes the sober and
diligent life of the pupil.

"The complaint 7 which I had is quite removed by sober regular
living, country air, and exercise. I have been serving an apprentice-
ship with my father in the art of pruning, and I hope in time to be a
skilful and diligent guardian of the trees here. My father has been as
good as his word in giving me a college upon the election law of Scot-
land, mixed with its antiquities, which illustrate it in an entertaining
manner, and without which one cannot have a full and clear knowl-
edge of it. My father just dictated to me a system, which I took down

7 Possibly a return of the malaria which he had contracted in Corsica and had
suffered from again in the autumn of 1766.

BosweWs Life, November if6g-March 1772 15

in writing, and which will be a valuable collection.* I can say with
truth that I have been employing my time to good purpose."

Still this stay at his father's house was a retreat, a separation and priva-
tion. Apparently his wife had come with him on the visit to Auchin-
leck in October of 1 770, but on the second visit to the West, in May of
this year, she had pointedly remained with her sister at Treesbank.
And now:

"I must tell you that I have suffered much more than anybody
would imagine, on account of so long a separation from my wife. You
know, my worthy friend, with what uncommon affection and true
happiness she and I live together. To be deprived of that inestimable
blessing for day after day and week after week (for so I have counted
the time though it is not four weeks yet since I left her) has seriously
distressed me. I have been seized with fits of impatience and my heart
has fluttered like a bird confined in a cage, and I have had the most
anxious apprehensions about her, while my strong imagination has
in the silence and solitude of night presented to me such dreary
thoughts as are the more afflicting that we can have no certainty but
they may be realized. Thank God, she is in much better health than
when I left her."

Boswell's parallel account to Temple is lost, but we have Temple's
commentary:

"I think you were very right in passing part of your vacation with
your father, but am sorry my prudent friend did not accompany you.
So manifest a proof of dislike and irreverence cannot serve any good
purpose. . . . Pray desire her to learn a little dissimulation, or to give
it a more honourable name, a little Christian charity and forgiveness.
... If you think I have said too much, do not show this part of my
letter."

We may suppose that the effect of these words upon Boswell was some-
what muffled by the volume of Temple's own complaints: "It grieves

8 Boswell's manuscript of his father's "Observations on the Election Law of Scot-
land" is owned by Mrs. Joyce T. McCombe (formerly Lady Talbot de Mala-
hide); it is deposited in the National library of Scotland. The text was pri-
vately printed at Edinburgh in 1825.

1 6 BoswelPs Life, November i jS^-March 1 772

me, my dear friend, to say it, but in my desponding hours I am some-
times inclined to suspect that you do not feel for me as I think I would
for you in my situation. . . . Indeed, I begin to experience some of
the symptoms of age before I am well a man. My nerves already trem-
ble, as you must perceive by my handwriting."

And all this while, what of Boswell the man of letters, the man of
travels, the friend of Johnson, of Garrick, of Goldsmith, of Paoli?
What of Corsica Boswell? BoswelPs inevitable return to the world of
these associations would not of course be an entirely unprepared erup-
tion. It would have been difficult for him to cease altogether at this
stage of his career to be the public figure. Corsica alone would carry
him a long way. Already he was on the Continent one of the best
known English authors better known perhaps than Samuel John-
son. In addition to the three London editions of Corsica and the three
editions printed in Ireland, there had been, as Boswell was later to
point out proudly, translations into Dutch, German, and Italian, and
two into French. What prevented an appearance in Russian seems to
have been mainly the fact that a writer hard at work during the spring
of 1 771 fell dead one evening in the very act of translation. 9 It would
have been exceedingly difficult now for Boswell to change his habits
so radically as to refrain from contributions to the periodical press.
Has marked file of The London Chronicle shows us during the first
half of 1770 alone no fewer than nine communications on political,
civic, legal, and literary topics. (This newspaper was sent to Boswell
"as a present from the proprietors.") More ambitious essays appear
during these years in The London Magazine, of which in fact Boswell
had become one of the proprietors while in London during the autumn
of 1 769.* From London, Boswell's words in both Magazine and Chron-
icle were as likely as not to be echoed back to Edinburgh in The Scots
Magazine.

One of the most conspicuous themes is the theatrical. Boswell's
early and eager resort to the world of the theatre had given him a
habit which did not wear off easily. After his return from the Conti-
nent, one of his most widely publicized theatrical feats had been the

1 As Boswell's correspondent in St. Petersburg put it, death "translated" him.
1 Boswell seems to have held a sixth part of the ownership, worth in 1777 240.
The yearly dividend was in 1774 &5 (see below, p. 272) and in 1778 12. 11. 4.

BoswelFs Life, November i fdg-March 1 772 1 7

Prologue which he wrote for the London actor David Ross on his open-
ing of a Theatre Royal at Edinburgh, against strong local opposition,
in December 1 767. ("This night loved GEORGE'S free enlightened age
Bids ROYAL FAVOUR shield the Scottish stage. ... I wish to hold no
RIGHT but by YOUR choice; I'll trust my patent to the PUBLIC VOICE.")
Two years later, in the month after BoswelTs marriage, the Prologue
for the opening of the new season was both written and spoken by
Ross, but Boswell participated by sending an account to The London
Chronicle shortly after a "Notice" of his own marriage. Congratu-
lations on his marriage came to Boswell from Ross in the same month,
and in February another old theatrical companion, the author-actor
Francis Gentleman (dedicator to Boswell of an edition of the tragedy
Oroonoko in 1760), wrote from London, combining flowery congrat-
ulations with announcement of a new tragedy of his own, just pub-
lished. During the first year after his marriage (August, September,
and October 1770) Boswell came out in The London Magazine with
three essays "On the Profession of a Player" the first two being in
part an encomium on the acting of David Garrick, in part a shrewd
self-revelation concerning BoswelFs own affinity for the stage.

"Mr. Garrick exhibits in his own person such a variety of charac-
ters, with such propriety and excellence, as not only to catch the im-
mediate applause of the multitude, but to be the delight and admira-
tion of the judicious, enlightened, and philosophical spectators."
August 1 770.

"If I may be allowed to conjecture what is the nature of that mys-
terious power by which a player really is the character which he rep-
resents, my notion is that he must have a kind of double feeling. He
must assume in a strong degree the character which he represents,
while he at the same time retains the consciousness of his own char-
acter. The feelings and passions of the character which he represents
must take full possession as it were of the antechamber of his mind,
while his own character remains in the innermost recess. This is ex-
perienced in some measure by the barrister who enters warmly into
the cause of his client, while at the same time, when he examines him-
self coolly, he knows that he is much in the wrong, and does not even
wish to prevail." September 1 770.

i8 BoswelPs Life, November ifGy-March 1772

Early in the year 1771, BoswelTs friend Alexander Donaldson,
the Edinburgh publisher, brought out an eight-volume duodecimo
edition of Shakespeare. To this he prefixed a dedication to Garrick, the
eloquence of which may well have aroused in the right readers a cer-
tain kind of suspicion.

"An edition of Shakespeare is inscribed to you with such peculiar
propriety that it cannot fail of meeting with universal approbation.
You, Sir, by animating his characters on the stage, have shown the
British nation the astonishing treasures of the Father of their Drama:
and I even question if ever his genius was sufficiently acknowledged
by the general voice till you appeared."

In a letter written to Garrick on 30 March, Boswell apologizes for long
silence ("I married a few weeks after I left you. . . . lam . . . com-
fortably settled. . . . Tempora mutantur") and then quickly stakes
out a claim:

"Mr. Donaldson tells me he has sent you a copy of his edition of
Shakespeare. You must know the dedication is written by your hum-
ble servant. I should be glad to know how you like it."

That year the Edinburgh Theatre was leased by one of Garrick's
most formidable rivals, the English Aristophanes, the mimic-actor
and manager Samuel Foote. One of the incidents which Boswell re-
membered years later, in writing his Life of Johnson, was that in a
"numerous Scotch company" Foote undertook to entertain "with a
great deal of coarse jocularity" at the expense of Johnson. "I felt this,"
says Boswell, "as not civil to me, but sat very patiently till he had ex-
hausted his merriment on that subject, and then observed that surely
Johnson must be allowed to have some sterling wit, and that I had
heard him say a very good thing of Mr. Foote himself." With Foote
all eagerness to hear, Boswell then related a piece of conversation
which he had recorded in his London Journal of October 1 769:

BOSWELL. "Pray, Sir, is not Foote an infidel?" JOHNSON. "I do not
know, Sir, that ho is an infidel. But if he be an infidel, he is an infidel
as a dog is an infidel; that is to say, he has never thought upon the sub-
ject"

BoswelFs Life, November ifdQ-March 1772 19

In the letter to Garrick, Boswell says that Foote is making a "very good
campaign of it," that he has along with him in his troupe Henry
Woodward, who has been a "great support," and also "his favourite
Mrs. Jewell," who, however, has "not taken." "Her poorness of figure
and awkward inanimate action disgust us much." (At about the same
date, Boswell receives a facetious invitation from Woodward in the
character of a Jonsonian braggart: "Captain Bobadil kisses Master
BoswelTs hilts; does not command, but entreats him to a taste of his
Trinidado. . . . ") Garrick's reply to Boswell reveals how theatrical
success, like other kinds, may depend much upon point of view: "Our
friend Foote has convinced me that he has brought from Scotland a
balance of above one thousand pounds but his account of the the-
atrical matters there differs widely from yours. He tells me (this is
between ourselves) that he was much followed and that Woodward
was deserted, and likewise that Mrs. Jewell was much approved of."

It is possible that Boswell had entered upon his married life with
something like a conscious resolution to keep his back turned for a
good while upon the attractions of his former ways. Or, more likely, a
spontaneous absorption in domestic duties, in domestic felicity, and in
his freshly realized powers as an advocate had kept him for a while
simply unmindful of his important friends in the South. But an
equally spontaneous motive or concurrence of motives turned his mind
once again, during the spring of 1 771, in the old direction. The letter
to Garrick of 30 March was followed on 18 April by one to Johnson.
Of this unhappily we know only the beginning, inserted by Boswell
later in the Life of Johnson.

"Mr DEAR SIR, I can now fully understand those intervals of
silence in your correspondence with me which have often given me
anxiety and uneasiness; for although I am conscious that my venera-
tion and love for Mr. Johnson have never in the least abated, yet I
have deferred for almost a year and a half to write to him."

Johnson waited about two months and then wrote (20 June) :

"DEAR SIR . . . I wished for your letter a long time, and when it
came it amply recompensed the delay. I never was so much pleased as
now with your account of yourself and sincerely hope that between

20 BoswelFs Life, November ij6Q-March 1772

public business, improving studies, and domestic pleasures, neither
melancholy nor caprice will find any place for entrance. Whatever
philosophy may determine of material nature, it is certainly true of
intellectual nature that it abhors a vacuum^ our minds cannot be
empty; and evil will break in upon them if they are not preoccupied
by good. My dear Sir, mind your studies, mind your business, make
your lady happy, and be a good Christian."

During the summer, the Professor of Moral Philosophy at Aber-
deen and author of a notable anti-Humean Essay on Truth published
early in 1 770,* Mr. James Beattie, was on his way to London and car-
ried with him from Boswell a note of recommendation to Johnson.
"His genius and learning, and labours in the service of virtue and re-
ligion" rendered him very worthy of it. The best time to find Johnson
"at home," wrote Boswell to Beattie himself, "is about eleven o'clock
in the forenoon.'*

"Although you may not find him the first time you call, do not give
up your purpose of waiting upon him. It was by much perseverance
that I attained to that acquaintance with him which improved into an
intimacy that I value very highly. ... I would suggest to you that
it may be necessary for you to exert yourself when with Mr. Johnson
to lead him to talk of such subjects as are agreeable. You must not be
discouraged though he should appear reserved and wanting in some
of the commonplace modes of making a stranger easy. Bring him upon
something worthy of his abilities as soon as you can, and I will venture
to promise you conversation superior to any you have ever heard."

On the 3Oth of July this summer the poet Gray died, and Temple,
who had known Gray well at Cambridge, concluded a letter of 3 Sep-
tember to Boswell with a character of Gray which Boswell liked so
well that he sent it to The London Magazine, where it was published
without Temple's name in March 1 772. (Later this was picked up by
William Mason for the conclusion of his Life of Gray his "Perora-
tion," as Boswell said, an "apex upon the top of the monument of
Gray.")

3 Boswell appears as yet to be unaware of Seattle's Spenserian poem, The
Minstrel, which had appeared earlier this year and is today his principal claim
on posterity. See below, p. 145.

BoswelVs Life, November ij6g-March 1772 21

Another event of the summer, Roswell's excursion with his wife to
Newcastle in August, was not without its special literary opportunity.
On the way home, they stopped at Alnwick, and Boswell sent over to
the Castle a note to the "Rev. Mr. Percy who published the Reliques of
Ancient English Poetry"* ("Reverend Sir, I have been taking a little
jaunt in the north of England with my wife for her health, and am
just arrived at Alnwick, where I am informed you now are. If you are
at leisure, I should be very happy to have the pleasure of your com-
pany at the White Hart.") Percy came and "sat an hour"* with them,
giving Boswell "good accounts" of Johnson.

The summer reached a climax when the hero of the Corsicans,
General Pasquale de Paoli, visited Scotland in company with the Pol-
ish Ambassador, Count Burzynski. From Tuesday 3 to Wednesday 1 1
September, Boswell showed them Edinburgh and conducted them on
a triumphal progress of the West: to the Carron Iron Works, to Glas-
gow and the University, to Auchinlecfc, to Treesbank, to Loch Lo-
mond. He kept hasty notes of a few conversations during this visit. He
sent a flourished account to The London Magazine. Early in this year
Mr. Charles Gascoigne of the Carron Works had been dunning Bos-
well and his friend Crosbie for a sum of 514. 11. i which was still
owed by a group of Scottish gentlemen who had sent cannon to the
brave Corsicans a few years past. In BoswelTs London Magazine ac-
count of Paoli's visit:

"They . . . proceeded on the Falkirk road and viewed the great
canal of communication between the eastern and western seas, which
is without question one of the greatest works in modern times. They

3 Not the direction on the letter but BoswelTs explanation in his letter to Grange.

4 Percy's diary in the British Museum, 26 August, has inserted in a smaller hand-
writing than the rest (perhaps at a later date): "I saw Mr. and Mrs. Boswell at
the Swan." His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland had been visiting at
Alnwick Castle for several days, making various trips around the country. This
evening there was a "grand dinner, cards, etc." at the Castle, and Percy had to
hurry back. On the morning of 27 August Percy set out with the Prince and
others in ten carriages for Berwick-upon-Tweed, where the Corporation was to
give a dinner and the Duke of Northumberland a ball. The Boswells were in-
vited to the latter. But Boswell, sitting at the inn writing to Grange, decided to
"shun" the crowd and confusion and shortage of horses and go home a quieter
way. Meanwhile: "Monsieur Dutens, formerly resident at Turin and now an

22 BoswelFs Life, November ijGg-March 1772

then viewed the iron works at Carron, which are carried on at so prodi-
gious an expense and have diffused so much opulence and such a spirit
of improvement in that part of the country. General Paoli had a pe-
culiar pleasure in viewing the forge where were formed the cannon
and warlike stores which a society of gentlemen in Scotland sent to
the aid of the brave Corsicans. They were elegantly entertained at
dinner by Charles Gascoigne, Esq., of the Carron company, and while
they sat at table all the vessels at Carron-shore, which were just in
their view, had their flags displayed, a circumstance which led the
general to speak with his usual esteem of the British hearts of oak"

In a letter to Garrick, Boswell alludes to the Auchinleck stage of
the tour. "I have just been enjoying the very great happiness of a visit
from my illustrious friend Pascal Paoli. He was two nights at Auchin-
leck, and you may figure the joy of my worthy father and me at seeing
the Corsican Hero in our romantic groves." (Lord Auchinleck's well-
enough-known characterization of Paoli as a "landlouping scoundrel
of a Corsican" was later set down or invented by Sir Walter
Scott) General Paoli spent his last night in Scotland at Boswell's
house in Edinburgh, and on his departure next day Mrs. Boswell her-
self gave him "a convoy as far as Haddington."

Another part of Boswell's letter to Garrick calls attention to the
three essays "On the Profession of a Player" in The London Magazine
last year ("Pray have you read them?") . And Boswell makes the fol-
lowing pregnant announcement: "I intend being in London next
March, and promise myself much happiness with you and my other
friends there."

It seems characteristic of the complicated life which Boswell al-
ways led that even so agreeable an event as the visit of Paoli could
have uncomfortable consequences. Sir David Dalrymple, Lord
Hailes, colleague of Boswell's father in the Court of Session, avuncular
friend and antiquarian correspondent of Boswell, had a brother who
was Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh. This Lord Provost for some
reason failed to confer upon Paoli and the Polish Ambassador the free-

English clergyman, who has been making the tour of Europe with Lord Algernon
Percy, is left in the Castle. He showed us the inside of it, and an old porter showed
us the outside."

BoswelFs Life, November i 7&Q~-March 1 772 23

dom of the city and failed also to entertain them. Boswell, in the gen-
erously indignant but somewhat indirect manner which he often
enough displayed, published two anonymous attacks upon the Provost
in letters to the printer of The London Chronicle (24 October and 28
November) , the second of these being an ironically pretended refuta-
tion of the first:

"I see, Sir, you do not know that our Provost is what is called a
Luckenbooths Merchant, that is to say, is one who keeps a shop for re-
tailing cloths, silks, and other materials for dress. Now, Sir, I desire to
know what chance he could have of selling any goods either to General
Paoli or the Polish Ambassador? . . . As to the expense of entertain-
ing the strangers ... as they are both Roman Catholics, he could
have invited them on a meagre day. . . Your correspondent says
he has heard abundance of personal reflections! Our Provost's person,
I am sure, cannot be reflected upon with any justice, unless being fat
is to be held as a reflection."

BoswelTs reward was a peppery letter from the Lord of Session:

"DEAR SIR, Having^ long taken a sort of charge of you in vari-
ous circumstances of life, I think it necessary to explain to you the
reason of my putting a memorandum into your hands this morn-
ing. . . .

"I hope that because you was dissatisfied with his conduct in one
particular, you did not insinuate that there were other unnamed cir-
cumstances in his conduct which you could mention as blameworthy.
I hope that while you attacked with a charge you did not stab with an
insinuation. . . . in other words, I hope you are no* the author of the
two articles in the London newspapers."

Hailes docketed his copy of the letter: "No answer made to this: but
he visited me no longer."

Along with this letter from Hailes, we may note an exchange that
had taken place between Boswell and another judge, Lord Kames,
about a year earlier (6 and 13 October 1 770) . He wrote to Lord Kames
putting a combined question of law and conscience. "You know it has
been questioned by some nice philosophers whether the practice of

24 BoswelTs Life, November 76g-March 1772

the law be consistent with strict moral rectitude." This question had
come home with peculiar force on BoswelTs looking up a principle in
Raines's Dictionary of Decisions and then going down to the Advo-
cates' Library to consult the original manuscript report on the six-
teenth-century case cited in the Dictionary. He found that the latter
was "totally different" from what the Dictionary said. "Now, my good
Lord, what ought I to do? The Dictionary of Decisions is a book of au-
thority in our Court ... I know your Lordship is not answerable
for the exactness of every decision in the Dictionary, as you have told
me a part of it was done by another hand." "Friend Boswell," wrote
Kames in reply, "I have not been much accustomed to answer casuisti-
cal queries, especially of such a squeamish nature. What business had
your officious Honour to pry into secrets was not the Dictionary
sufficient authority without going f arther? Take what you have got
for your peeping." Then, relaxing, he went on to give Boswell some
very good legal advice (perhaps what Boswell was in part angling
for) and ended, "Yours affectionately, Henry Home. My hearty good
wishes to your spouse, not forgetting, as the phrase is, my good brother
and his lady."

On the first day of the new year, 1772, Boswell began again to
keep a condensed Journal, mainly notes of social engagements and
law cases, with a gradual increase of miscellaneous comment as the
Journal lengthened into the month of March. We learn that he was
deeply absorbed in professional duties. On 7 February, for instance,
"hard, hard work." One entry, that for 21 February, shows that rela-
tions with the stepmother were not entirely ruptured. "My father and
LadyAuchinleck . . . dined. Comfortable."

Other entries in February allude to BoswelTs participation as
counsel for the defence in a criminal trial. A certain George Mac-
donald, alias Baddinoch, indicted at the instance of His Majesty's Ad-
vocate for stealing an ox during the past summer in the county of
Perth, and also for stealing seventeen sheep, and accused of "being
habit and repute a thief," was tried before the Court of Justiciary on
17 February. The examination of witnesses took all day, until eight
o'clock at night, when the Solicitor-General, Henry Dundas, summed
up for the Crown and Boswell for the accused "very ably." The
jury next day found the sheep proved (though not the ox) and Mac-

BoswelPs Life, November i j6$-March 1 772 25

donald a person of suspicious character, even if not a thief by "habit
and repute." He was sentenced to transportation for life, the first seven
years of his service to be given to the contractor for carrying convicts.
BoswelTs record of the trial day shows him well enough content

[MONDAY] 17 [FEBRUARY], Up by four, busy preparing charge
to jury for Macdonald. Fine and solemn. In court all day, felt manly
and calm and bold. Home fine.

BoswelPs return to London for the first time after his marriage
was now close at hand. Certain letters to and from London immedi-
ately preceded it. An exchange with Garrick at the end of February
turned on the fact that word had come to Boswell that Garrick, per-
haps through the carelessness of his maid, had lost BoswelTs letter of
the preceding October. "I ought in law and justice to prevail in an ac-
tion of damages against her, and should be allowed to make oath as to
the pretium affectionis which I put upon a letter from Mr. Garrick.
I need not tell you that I could very honestly swear to a very high
value; probably to more than your maid could well spare. If your
maid be handsome and I were not a married man, I would move that
she should give satisfaction by delivery of her person to the plaintiff
according to the maxim of the civil law, Qid non habet in aere luat in
pelle"* And Garrick: "It gives me great pleasure with the rest of your
friends to hear that you are so happy; it is an old observation, and may
be a true one, that rakes make the best husbands; however, between
you and me, I think there is some risk in the experiment, and I most
sincerely wish your lady joy of her success in the trial."

The proposed trip to London had a comfortable enough profes-
sional excuse. This was the principal theme of an exchange between
Boswell and Johnson.

[Boswell to Samuel Johnson]

Edinburgh, 3 March 1772

MY DEAR SIR, It is hard that I cannot prevail with you to write
to me oftener. But I am convinced that it is in vain to push you for a
private correspondence with any regularity. I must therefore look
5 He who does not have the price in coin shall have it taken out of his hide.

26 BoswelFs Life, November i?6Q-March 1772

upon you as a fountain of wisdom from whence few rills are communi-
cated to a distance, and which must be approached at its source to par-
take fully of its virtues.

I fairly own that after an absence from you for any length of time
I feel that I require a renewal of that spirit which your presence al-
ways gives me, and which makes me a better and a happier man than
I imagined I could be before I was introduced to your acquaintance.

I am coming to London for some weeks this spring and hope to
find you there and at length to fix our voyage to the Hebrides, or at
least our journey through the Highlands of Scotland. I am to appear
in an appeal from the Court of Session in the House of Lords. A school-
master in Scotland was deprived of his office for being somewhat se-
vere in the chastisement of his scholars. The Court of Session consid-
ered it to be a very delicate matter to interfere between a master and
his boys, and rather dangerous to the interests of learning and educa-
tion in general to lessen the dignity of teachers and make them afraid
of the resentment of too indulgent parents, instigated by the com-
plaints of their children, and therefore restored him to his office. His
enemies have appealed to the House of Lords, though the salary is
only 20 a year. I was counsel for him here and am also to be so in the
Supreme Judicature. I hope there will be little fear of a reversal. But
I must beg leave to have your aid in my plan of supporting the decree.
It is a general question and not a point of particular law.

Lord Elibank" remembers you always with great respect. I believe
he will be with us this spring in London. We must have some select
meetings with him.

I beg you may make my best compliments to Mr. Thrale's fam-
ily, 7 and put my other friends in kind remembrance of me; and if you
can without much trouble write me a few lines when you receive
these, it will make me very happy. I ever am with unalterable respect
and affection, my dear Sir, your much obliged humble servant,

JAMES BOSWELL.

6 Patrick Murray, fifth Lord Elibank, advocate, soldier, and litterateur; patron
and encourager of Scots men of letters. His country-seat was at Ballencrieff,
near Haddington. He was some six years older than Johnson, who once assured
him in a letter that he never met him without going away a wiser man.
r Henry Thrale, wealthy brewer and M.P. for Southwark, and his wife Hester
Lynch (later celebrated as Mrs. Piozzi). At their hospitable houses in South-

BoswelVs Life, November ijdQ-March 1772 27

[Received c. 22 March, Johnson to Boswell]

[London] 15 March 1772

DEAR SIR, That you are coming so soon to town I am very glad;
and still more glad that you are coming as an advocate. I think noth-
ing more likely to make your life pass happily away than that con-
sciousness of your own value which eminence in your profession will
certainly confer. If I can give you any collateral help, I hope you do
not suspect that it will be wanting. My kindness for you has neither
the merit of singular virtue nor the reproach of singular prejudice.
Whether to love you be right or wrong, I have many on my side: Mrs.
Thrale loves you, and Mrs. Williams 8 loves you, and what would have
inclined me to love you, if I had been neutral before, you are a great
favourite of Dr. Beattie.

Of Dr. Beattie I should have thought much, but that his lady puts
him out of my head: she is a very lovely woman.

The ejection which you come hither to oppose appears very cruel,
unreasonable, and oppressive. I should think there could not be much
doubt of your success.

My health grows better, yet I am not fully recovered. I believe it
is held that men do not recover very fast after threescore. I hope yet to
see Beattie's College and have not given up the western voyage. But
however all this may be or not, let us try to make each other happy
when we meet, and not refer our pleasure to distant times or distant
places.

How comes it that you tell me nothing of your lady? I hope to see
her some time and till then shall be glad to hear of her. I am, dear Sir,
etc.,

SAM. JOHNSON.

Three entries near the end of BoswelPs brief Journal for the winter
contain references to his wife and record a crisis. (The character n
stands for "Peggie.")

SATURDAY 28 FEBRUARY. Breakfasted with Grange between 10
and 1 1 most comfortably. II ill.

8 Anna Williams, the blind poetess, had been a friend of Johnson's wife and was
now an inmate of Johnson's household.

28 BoswelPs Life, November i/Gg-Marc/z 1772

TUESDAY 3 MARCH. II very ill. Loss sustained. Digges dined with
me tete--tete. Thought of old days. . . . [Letters from Temple of 26
March and 3 April confirm the meaning. "It gives me much pain to
hear so indifferent an account of Mrs. Boswell's health. Miscarriages
are disagreeable circumstances. . . . "]

FRIDAY 13 MARCH. . . . Dined father's. . . . Home and romp-
ing like to have been fatal. II to part. I looked it in the face calm a little
but soon grew uneasy. Made up again.

He departed for London on the morning of 14 March, a day which he
signalized by resuming his fully written Journal.

(gr~ / rf^d & / 7

journal of {dsvLu J-aunt to London

V I CS

ring 1772

/

SATURDAY 14 MARCH. I was in a flutter to a certain degree at the
thoughts of setting out for London, for which I have always had an
enthusiastic fondness. I was at the same time seriously concerned at
parting with my wife. Everything depends upon our ideas; and I
could with truth describe what passed in my mind this day in such a
manner as to furnish out a narrative like that of the Londoner in the
Idler who gives a dreadful detail of the disasters which befell him on a
jaunt into the country, such as rain falling upon him from the heavens
and many other circumstances. 1 My parting with my wife this day
would make just such a figure should I describe it as I really felt it;
for to part with a valuable friend and constant companion and go four
hundred miles from her, though but for two months, is something
considerable to a domestic man who has any turn to anxiety of mind.

I set out about four o'clock in the afternoon. Mr. William Wilson,
Writer to the Signet, was my travelling companion. He gave me my
first fee, which has made me ever since look upon him with particular
regard. 2 He has indeed given me a great many more fees, which has
served to keep alive the first impression made upon my hand,
which, as a lawyer, is equivalent to making an impression on my
heart. He will be sixty-two the 25 of April next but has nothing of an
old man about him except experience, being healthy and cheerful
though most laborious in his profession. We had along with us in an-

1 Will Marvel in Idler No. 49.

2 A fee of one guinea, received for a cause argued before the Justice-Clerk
(Thomas Miller) on 29 July 1766, the day that Boswell put on the gown. On 27
January 1786, Boswell, setting out for London in company with William Wil-
son's son John, recalled once more that the father had given him his first fee.

39

30 Edinburgh, 14 March 1772

other chaise Mr. Home the coachmaker's son and a son of Mr. Cal-
lander of Craigforth's. The first, being bred to his fathers business,
was going to London for his improvement. The latter, a fine smart lit-
tle fellow about seventeen who had already been three years in Amer-
ica, was going out to the East Indies. The country was deeply covered
with snow, and we were told we could not take the Blackshiels road;
so we went by Haddington. We got to Dunbar at night. The house was
dirty and confused. We were served by a lass who was both ugly and
stupid. When Mr. Wilson asked if she could get him some oatmeal
porridge, she answered, "Some oatmeal punch?" Had one of your
Englishmen, well prepared to form strange notions of Scotland, heard
this, it would have been enough for him to represent us as so devoted
to oatmeal that we make our very punch with it.

SUNDAY 15 MARCH. We went on very well, considering the deep
roads. We resolved never to dine but only to take some cold meat at
midday, which we did very heartily. We got at night to Alnwick.

MONDAY 1 6 MARCH . Mr. Wilson and I studied law papers some-
times during this our journey, and sometimes sang. It was curious to
hear him sing the songs in The Beggar's Opera. He had a various read-
ing of the line, "And turns our lead to gold." He sang: "And turns all
our lead to gold," believing it to be the genuine text; and he insisted
very strongly on the justice of the preference given to the highway-
man's fire over that of the chemist, in this view: because the chemist's
fire turns only a small proportion to gold. 8 1 gave him my explanation
of a line which is by no means clear in its meaning to most people and
may perhaps be mistaken by me. The line I mean is, "As men should
serve a cucumber," It refers to the expression in the next line: "She
flings herself away." Now the question is, why should men fling away
a cucumber? My explanation is this. It is a common saying, "As cool
as a cucumber," so that a cucumber is a cooling thing. Now Mrs.
Peachum who sings the song was a woman of that genius that did not
like men should be cool but on the contrary; and therefore she would
have them fling away such frigorific stuff. 4 We got at night to Darling-

* He was right as to the text (Beggar's Opera TL ii. Air XX), but not necessarily
so in his explanation.

* Beggars Opera I. viiL Air VII. In the Hebrides, 5 October 1773, Johnson would
give Boswell the correct explanation: "It has been a common saying in England

Darlington, 16 March 1772 31

ton. I stopped about a quarter of an hour with my brother at New-
castle; 5 and we were stopped a while by boating the river. It was ter-
rible to see the ruins of the bridge.*

TUESDAY 17 MARCH. Nothing material happened. We got at
night to Doncaster. (I should have observed 7 that I paid a visit at
Morpeth to Mrs. Collingwood, a widow lady, mother to a gentleman
of a good estate in the neighbourhood, and aunt to my friend Temple's
wife. I always pay her that compliment, unless when I pass through
Morpeth in the night-time. She takes it very kind. Upon this occasion
she said I showed her "such unparalleled attention.")

I this day* paid a visit at Grantham to the Reverend Mr. Palmer,
a clergyman who has a good living there. He was chaplain to Sir John
Gust when Speaker of the House of Commons. He carried me upstairs
to an elegant room ornamented with some fine prints, and as it was a
beautiful forenoon, the sun shone brightly upon them. But I saw what
I had never seen before: his spouse, a comely Vandyck figure, and his
daughter, one of the loveliest figures I ever beheld. I cannot help being
instantaneously affected by the sight of beauty. Mr. Palmer is a man
of learning and worth, hospitable and decently social. He has a jolly
appearance, not plump and sleek, but a fair well-kept skin, easy and
happy. My being accustomed to the bar has made me callous to the
most attentive looks of the ablest men. But a glance from a fine eye
can yet affect my assurance. I felt this today. I compared myself to
one of those animals who by their strong scales or tough skins are in-
vulnerable by a bullet but may be wounded by the sharp point of a
sword, which can pierce between the scales or hit some weak point of
the skin.

of every great physician, that he prescribed that a cucumber should be well
sliced and dressed with vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.**

5 BoswelTs brother John, a half-pay lieutenant in the Army, had for ten years
been subject to recurring attacks of insanity, and was now under the care of a
Dr. Wilson at Newcastle.

6 The ancient stone bridge across the Tyne, dating from 1250, had been destroyed
by a flood four months earlier.

7 Under Monday 16 March.

8 Rather, on Wednesday 18 March, for Grantham is fifty-two miles south of Don-
caster. The manuscript shows a complicated confusion in the dating at this point.

32 Doncaster, 17 March 1772

We got at night to Doncaster. The English inns are indeed most
admirable; and whenever a man has been some time without seeing
them, he must be agreeably struck.

WEDNESDAY 18 MARCH. Nothing worth recording was either
said or done. But I shall here put down a simile which I made at Aln-
wick on Sunday night. Mr. Wilson was observing what an advantage
it was to a lawyer to have much practice. "Ay," said I, "he never
knows law well till he has had it connected in his mind with facts,
with particular causes. They are to principles of law like sticks to peas
in a garden. Principles will lie sluggish in the mind by themselves.
They will not rise vigorous -unless supported by real causes." This is
a good idea; and upon some occasion when my imagination is warmer
and my expression more fluent I may expand it. It is a bud which
would have an excellent appearance if fully and beautifully blown.
We got at night to Buckden.

THURSDAY 19 MARCH. We breakfasted as Stevenage, where we
shaved and dressed. Wilson, our barber there, had married a woman
of Welwyn in Hertfordshire, six miles from this place, so knew or pre-
tended to know the celebrated Dr. Young. He gave us a strange ac-
count of him. He said his son had somehow offended him, and the
Doctor would never be reconciled to him and would not so much as
see him when on death-bed; that he put everything past him that he
could; but that the son succeeded him in a pretty estate and then mar-
ried the daughter of a clergyman in whose house he had lived and
been supported during his father's displeasure. This implacability
was not improbable in the dark and forcible spirit of the author of
Night Thoughts. 9 But our barber gave us a more extraordinary anec-
dote. He said the Doctor kept a mistress, a likely woman who lived
with him till he died; that he left this woman all he could, and that
their connexion was well known. I think it is Ranger who says, "Your
grave men are always the greatest whoremasters." 1 The observation
may be true. But Doctor Young was much more than a grave man;

* Edward Young's The Complaint, or Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Im-
mortality, a sombre poem of nine books in blank verse, appeared from 1742 to
1 745 and was widely known both in England and on the Continent. It is remem-
bered today most often in the line (1.392) : "Procrastination is the thief of time."
1 Ranger is the principal character in Benjamin Hoadly's Suspicious Husband,
a favourite role of actors in the eighteenth century. The quotation, slightly in-
accurate, is from Act II, Scene 4.

Stevenage, 19 March 1772 33

he was a gloomy, a melancholy, a miserable man; a man to whom all
Nature appeared under the darkest shade, a man of the deepest the-
ology and most sublime ideas of futurity. That such a man should
keep a mistress seems hardly credible. 1 Our barber however was very
confident in his assertion. I humoured the fellow, and when a very
pretty maid came into the room, "That," said I, "would do for Dr.
Young." I have for some time thought of writing an essay on the
genius and writings of Dr. Young. It seems his son now lives at
Welwyn. I may contrive to get some authentic information with re-
gard to his private life. 8

The snow was now very thin and we found ourselves in a milder
and more benign climate. I looked back on former parts of my life,
and my present firmness and cheerfulness of mind had full value by
comparison with the weakness and gloominess which I recollected.
The very driving in the post-chaise was a considerable pleasure. We
arrived in London about five o'clock, having just taken about five days
to the journey, and indeed it cannot be performed in less with com-
fort; that is to say, taking a moderate degree of the refreshments of
eating, drinking, and sleeping, which one ought surely to do unless
when some necessity obliges to hurry. There was a thick fog over
London today, so that I did not get the view of it from Highgate Hill
which used to elate me so highly. We stopped at the Lemon-tree Inn
at the top of the Haymarket, a true Scots house, where Colin Donald-
son lived many years and made much money. He gave up business
some time ago and was succeeded by one Armstrong, who was just
dead; so the house was in a state of viduity. It was as dirty and con-
fused as any Scots inn can be, though in the middle of London. As it
was the first house I was in when I came first to London, there was a
certain curious pleasure in finding myself in it again.

We eat a beefsteak and drank a glass of port and then every man

2 See below, p. 64. Johnson also rejected the story. "I asked him if there was any
improper connexion between them. 'No, Sir, no more than between two statues* **
(Hebrides, 30 September 1773). Miss Mary Hallows, daughter of a clerical
friend of Young's, was about thirty-eight years old when she came to live with
him as his housekeeper in 1748. On his death in 1765 at the age of eighty-two he
left her 600.

8 Bosweli, in Johnson's company, did visit Frederick Young at Welwyn, 2 June
1781, and did succeed in obtaining from * some interesting details about the
author of Night Thoughts, but the projected essay was never written.

34 London, 19 March 1772
went to his proper destination. General Paoli had invited me to come
and lodge at his house, and I indeed reckoned upon being there. I
immediately went to his house in Albemarle Street. I asked a chair-
man which was General Paoli's. "What," said he, "the General who
is married to Lady ?" (I did not hear what.) "No," said his com-
panion, "the foreign gentleman." So little is the great Paoli known
by some. I immediately after this dialogue perceived Giuseppe, the
General's little Corsican servant, just before me. I called; he came
running up and seized me by the hand, then hurried along to his
master's.

Paoli embraced me with all welcome. Count Gentili was with him,
a Corsican count long in the Austrian service, and who gave up his
commission to go home and fight along with his countrymen, and
then accompanied the General to England. The Count is a thin crea-
ture with a sharp hooked nose and a voice like a fugie cock* like a
crow screaming when pursued by a hawk. He was very happy to meet
me again, but was rather a little troublesome, for it seems he had
lodged eighteen months with two Miss Carnegies from Scotland
settled in London and was very keen to speak Scots; and indeed he had
made a good proficiency in it, though I had no pleasure in hearing
him cry, "How's aw wi' ye? Will you sit into the fire?" And then he
told that when the King asked the Duchess of Gordon how she liked
London, she said, "It's frizzle-frizzling aw the morning and knock-
knocking aw the neght" (night) , 5 This was natural enough for Jeanie
Maxwell. But the Count's figure and sharp key of speaking and a
broadness High German could not but disgust me. There was also here
Signer Martinelli, an Italian letterato, an old man. He has written a
history of England which the General praised. There was lying on
one of the tables in the room a fine edition of Boccaccio, published by
him with notes, at London, some years ago. He said he had lost 400
sterling by it. I took this to be excessive exaggeration, to which such
foreigners are much given. I was glad he had no Proposals to offer. In a
little came in a Corsican abbe, the Abbate . 6 He had been of the

4 A cock that runs away and will not fight.

5 "You spend all the morning getting your hair dressed and all the evening
bustling about."

e Probably Andrei, whom Boswell meets, as a former acquaintance, at Paoli's 3
April 1775.

London, 19 March 1772 35

party for the Genoese; T but having gone to Venice and studied, his
mind opened and he became a zealous patriot. The conversation was
of a political and literary kind; but as I had not yet recovered a readi-
ness at following people speaking Italian, I made little of it

When I made a motion to go away and told the General that I had
not fixed my lodgings, he asked me to take a room in his house; but I
could see that he did not think he had one sufficiently good, and be-
sides that, as Count Gentili was now lodged with him, it would not
be convenient that I should be with him too. I considered also that my
being lodged there might give the Grub-street writers an opportunity
of throwing out low abuse, and saying that he was pensioned by Brit-
ish generosity and kept a Scotsman gratis in his house. 8 I therefore
begged leave to decline accepting his invitation but said I should take
lodgings near him. I then took my leave for that night and got into
the street in a disagreeable uncertainty where I should sleep. I did
not know but Mr. Billy's house might be full; and it was at a great
distance from me now. 8 I had no small repugnance at the thought of
sleeping at the Lemon-tree, but imagined I might be obliged to land
there. As I walked up the Strand and passed through a variety of fine
girls, genteelly dressed, all wearing Venus's girdle, all inviting me to
amorous intercourse, I confess I was a good deal uneasy. My ideas
naturally run into their old channels, which were pretty deeply worn,
and I was indulging speculations about polygamy and the concubines
of the patriarchs and the harmlessness of temporary likings uncon-
nected with mental attachment. I was really in a disagreeable state
and yet would not free myself from it by taking a coach. I resolved
never again to come to London without bringing my wife along with
me.

I called and sat a few minutes with Mr. William Wilson, who had
taken up his quarters at a friend's house, Mr. Murray's, bookseller in
Fleet Street. 1 1 then called in Johnson's Court for my revered friend,
Mr. Samuel Johnson. But he was at Mr. Thrale's in the Borough, and

T The power against which the Corsicans under Paoli's leadership revolted. See

Boswell on the Grand Tour: Italy, Corsica, and France, 1765-1766, pp. 143-144.

s Paoli had received a large pension (1200 a year) from the civil list. For this

there can be little doubt that BoswelFs book had been largely responsible.

"Mr. Dilly" was Edward, senior member of the firm of Edward and Charles

Dilly, who had published Boswell's Account of Corsica in 1768.

1 Founder of the house of John Murray, Ltd. Byron's publisher was his son.

36 London, 19 March 1772

was not to be home till next day; and Mrs. Williams was out upon a
visit I proceeded to the Poultry to Mr. Dilly's. Mr. Charles was at
home and gave me a hearty welcome. I was pleased to find Mrs. Judd
the housekeeper and James the servant both there. Mr. Charles was
full of the history of Holland, the sheriff's officer who had been hanged
the day before at Tyburn, 2 and our conversation was quite the London
style the City style. 3 We sat down to a cold fowl and ham and tarts,
and I also got a basin of excellent soup and felt myself quite comfort-
able. In a little in came my friend Mr. Edward Dilly, as lively, as
quick-speaking, and as cordial as ever, and much happiness did he
show on seeing me. Along with him was Mrs. Knowles, famous for
needlework. She did a head of the King for which the Queen made her
a present of 800, but said her work was invaluable. Her husband was
an apothecary; but upon his wife's getting thus a kind of interest at
Court, bethought himself of commencing physician and is now ac-
tually studying at Edinburgh in order to take his degrees. She was
formerly a distinguished beauty and still looked very well, and was
a clever agreeable woman. Mr. Dilly insisted on my lodging there. He
wanted to have me altogether, but at any rate insisted I should stay
that night, and whenever I was late in the City end of the town, should
always come to my room there and consider it as my home. I felt my-
self truly well, and only regretted that my dearest companion was
not with me.

FRIDAY 20 MARCH. While we were sitting at breakfast, in came
my old friend Captain Hoggan,* one who under an external appear-
ance of being very delicate and even a little foppish is a man of steady
and generous friendship and has uncommon prudence and knowledge
in the common affairs of life. He kindly offered to assist me in getting

2 James Holland had started life as a short-weight butcher. He later turned
sheriffs officer and blackmailed young men whom he arrested into securing on
account from tradesmen large quantities of goods, to be brought to his house and
sold. He was finally hanged for forging an endorsement on a note. The Gentle-
man's Magazine for this month lists two book-length biographies of him.

3 Boswell is distinguishing the mercantile style of the old City of London (the
portion east of Temple Bar) from the fashionable or West End style of Albemarle
Street.

4 It is not known when Boswell formed an intimacy with Captain James Hoggan,
but they were already "old companions" when they met in Ireland in May 1769.

London, 20 March 1772 37

lodgings; and very luckily a Captain Boothby of his regiment, an ac-
quaintance of ours, had that very morning left very good lodgings
at Mr. King's, glover, corner of Conduit Street. We drove immediately
in a hackney-coach to look at them, and they pleased me much; and
not the less so that they were only a guinea a week, which, for a first
floor in a centrical part of the town, is very reasonable. Laird Heron
occupied them last year. I therefore without hesitation hired them,
and was glad to be fixed in a home at once, without having any time
to pass in a disagreeable state of doubt, like a bachelor who is deter-
mined to marry but knows not on whom to fix. Lodgings are still more
difficult to choose than wives; because it does not often happen that a
man conceives a particular affection for one lodging more than an-
other till he has lived a while in one and takes a kind of regard for it
from habit.

I then went and called for the Duke of Queensberry. 8 Old Quan,
the porter, shook me by the hand and most cordially ushered me in.
The Duke received me very civilly, and we had some conversation on
the common topics of the times, when in came Captain Douglas of
Kelhead. 6 After sitting a little, he and I went and called for DOUGLAS
(the Laird) , T but he was not at home. I found David Kennedy at home
and had a laugh with him. 8

I find it would be very tedious and idle to put down every visit
which I made, so I shall mark only what is of some consequence and
not tell that I called at doors and did not find people at home. My
views in coming to London this spring were: to refresh my mind by
the variety and spirit of the metropolis, the conversation of my revered
friend Mr. Samuel Johnson and that of other men of genius and learn-

5 The patron of letters in the generation of Pope and Gay was now Keeper of
the Great Seal of Scotland (since 1760) and Lord Justice-General (since 1763).

6 Capt. (later Sir) William Douglas of Kelhead was a fairly close relation of
Boswell's, his grandmother and BoswelTs mother being half-sisters. He was
much more distantly related to the Duke, but was none the less in line for the
Queensberry marquessate and earldom, to which his son succeeded in 1810.

7 BoswelTs client and the victor in the celebrated Douglas cause in 1769, Archi-
bald James Edward Douglas; he became first Baron Douglas in 1790. Boswell
frequently writes GOD and DOUGLAS in large characters.

David Kennedy, advocate and M.P., later tenth Earl of Cassillis, was a joker,
as Boswell explains below (5 April 1773).

38 London, 20 March 1772

ing; to try if I could get something for myself, or be of service to any
of my friends by means of the Duke of Queensberry, Lord Mount-
stuart," or Douglas, all of whom had given me reason to expect their
assistance; to be employed in Scotch appeals in the House of Lords,
and also see how the land might lie for me at the English bar; and to
endeavour to get my brother David well settled as a merchant in Lon-
don. 1 There is business enough.

I dined this day with General Paoli. Brompton the painter was
there. He seemed to be a genteel, sensible man, and spoke Italian re-
markably well. Our conversation was just on ordinary topics. In the
afternoon I called on my friend Sir Alexander Macdonald and found
him and my beautiful cousin, my Lady, 2 sitting by themselves in a
very tolerable house in Cavendish Square, not magnificent but very-
well. They were in great spirits at seeing me. I should have mentioned
that I met his brother Archie in the forenoon and walked with him to
his chambers in Lincoln's Inn, and was told by him that Sir Alexander
was thinking to stand for Member of Parliament for the shire of Inver-
ness. I also should have mentioned that I called at my old friend Mr.
Love's of Drury Lane Theatre, whom I found very ill of a severe cough
and looking as ill as ever he had pretended to do in any character upon
the stage. I promised to see him sometimes. Sir Alexander Macdonald
and I are always merry when we meet and always get into the humour
of pinning and playing upon words, which I cannot help thinking
very good amusement. Lady Macdonald said she was just going abroad
to visit a lady who was lying in, and who was a great wit. "Ay," said I,
"it seems she is a lady of a pregnant genius." The Knight and I went
in his coach and called for my kinsman Mr. Bosville and for Mr.

* BoswelTs companion of the Italian tour, son and heir of the great Lord Bute,
would fail to justify present hopes.

1 David, under the more acceptable name of Thomas (the name David aroused
anti-Semitic responses among the Spaniards), was now a merchant at Valencia
and through the efforts of Boswell's friend the Earl Marischal held a patent as
consul.

2 Sir Alexander Macdonald of Sleat was a Highland laird with an Eton educa-
tion. Lady Macdonald was daughter to Godfrey Bosville of Gunthwaite and
Thorpe, the Yorkshire squire whom Boswell, on very tenuous evidence, accepted
as his chief. She had at one time been on BoswelTs own list of matrimonial pos-
sibilities.

London, 20 March 1772 39

Dempster, but found neither. He went to a rout; and I strolled about
awhile and then went home.

The maid of the house was a pretty little black-eyed girl, and I was
informed (as a secret) by Hoggan that Captain Boothby had found
her to be very complaisant. This was rather a bad circumstance for
me. Before I went to bed the gipsy came, and with a sweet English
voice asked, "Do you want anything more tonight, Sir?"

SATURDAY 21 MARCH. Captain Hoggan breakfasted with me.
Joseph, my servant, whom I had left at Newcastle to come by sea if the
wind was fair, and if not, by the fly, had arrived last night, but having
forgotten the street where General Paoli lives, did not find me out till
this morning. I was glad to see him; for I found myself not at my ease
without him.

I went to Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, and was happy enough to
find Mr. Johnson at home. Frank, his black, who had left him for some
years, was returned to him, and showed me up to his study. Frank and
I were pleased to renew our old acquaintance. I waited a little and then
heard the great man coming upstairs. The sound of his feet upon the
timber steps was weighty and well announced his approach. He had
on an old purple cloth suit and a large whitish wig. He embraced me
with a robust sincerity of friendship, saying, "I am glad to see thee, I
am glad to see thee. Come sit you down. You have not had my let-
ter?" 8 "No, Sir." (I shall give what passed, as much as I can, in the
way of dialogue.) "Well, I am glad you are come, and glad you are
come upon such an errand" (meaning, to support the schoolmaster of
Campbeltown in the House of Lords) .* "I hope, Sir, there will be no
fear of him. It is a very delicate matter to interfere between a master
and his scholars; nor do I see how you can fix the degree of severity
that a master may use." JOHNSON. "No, Sir. Till you fix the degree of
negligence and obstinacy of the scholars, you cannot fix the degree
of severity of the master. Severity must be continued until obstinacy

* See above, p. 27. BoswelTs Register of Letters fails to record the receipt of this
letter.

4 See above, p. 26. The schoolmaster's name was John Hastie. Though the prin-
cipal charge against him was brutality, the magistrates and council also alleged
irregular attendance. He maintained that his office was not a public one and
that the magistrates had no jurisdiction; furthermore that there was no reason-
able cause for his dismissal.

40 London, 21 March 1772

be subdued and negligence cured." BOSWELL. 'To speak candidly, Sir,
this man was rather too severe." JOHNSON. "Has he broke any bones?"
BOSWELL. "No." JOHNSON. "Has he fractured any skulls?" BOSWELL.
"No."* JOHNSON. "Then, Sir, he is safe enough. My master at Lich-
field., Hunter, used to beat us unmercifully. He erred in not making a
distinction between mistake and negligence; for he would beat a boy
equally for not knowing a thing as for neglecting to know it. He would
have asked a boy a question, and if he did not answer it, he beat him,
without considering whether he had an opportunity of knowing how
to answer it. Now, Sir, if a boy could answer every question, there
would be no need of a master to teach him."

By this time his levee was attended by the Reverend Mr. Stockdale,
a strange mortal born at Berwick-upon-Tweed and an acquaintance
of my worthy friend Temple's, by whose recommendation I had him
once to breakfast with me as I passed through Berwick. He was once
an officer in the army; then turned clergyman; then was guilty of
irregularities, left an old woman whom he had married for money,
and ran away to Prance with a young lady. The old woman having
died, he came to London, married the young lady, commenced trans-
lator and author, and is now curate of Ludgate and chaplain to the
Fleet Prison. He is a profound admirer of Mr. Johnson's, who is very
good to him. 6 The other attendant on the levee this morning was a
Mrs. Desmoulins, the wife of a writing-master, who seemed to be an

* He at least came close to it. "Scarce a day passed without some of the scholars
coming home . . . with their heads cut and their bodies discoloured. ... He
beat the pupils with wooden squares . . . and sometimes with his fists, and
used his feet by kicking them. . . dragging them by the hair of the head"
(Paton's Reports of Cases upon Appeal from Scotland, ii. 277, quoted by G. B.
Hill, Life of Johnson, ii. i86rc.).

The Reverend Percival Stockdale (1736-1811), miscellaneous journalist, poet,
and eccentric, later thought himself badly used by the booksellers when they
passed him over and chose Johnson to write the Lives of the Poets. In the Life
of Johnson Boswell refers to a poem by Stockdale entitled The Remonstrance,
published in 1770. This contains the memorable couplet (p. 31) :

The frantic mother, and the weeping sire,
Virgins deflowered, and property on fire!

Stockdale had also written, in 1764, an Elegy on the Death of Dr. Johnson's
Favourite Cat (Hodge).

London, 21 March 1772 41

old acquaintance of Mr. Johnson's, having been intimate with his
wife. Stockdale and she did not much interrupt our conversation.

I said, "Hunter is a Scotch name. So this master who beat you so
severely has been a Scotsman. I can now account for your prejudice
against Scotsmen." JOHNSON. "No, Sir, he was not Scotch; and, ab-
stracting from his brutality, he was a very good master."

We had before this when by ourselves talked of his 7 two political
pamphlets The False Alarm and Thoughts respecting the Transac-
tions concerning Falkland's Islands. JOHNSON. "Well, Sir, which
of 'em did you think the best?" BOSWELL. "I liked the second best."
JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, I liked the first best; and Beattie liked the
first best. Sir, there is a subtlety of disquisition in the first that is
worth all of the fire of the second." BOSWELL. "Pray, Sir, is it true
that Lord North paid you a visit, and that you got 200 a year of
addition to your pension?" JOHNSON. "No, Sir. Except what I had
from the bookseller, I did not get a farthing by them. And between
you and me, I believe Lord North is no friend to me." 8 BOSWELL.
"How so, Sir?" JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, you cannot account for the
fancies of men." BOSWELL. "But, Sir, don't you think him an able
minister?" JOHNSON. "Yes indeed, Sir. Well, how does Lord Eli-
bank? and how does Lord Monboddo?" BOSWELL. "Very well, Sir.
Lord Monboddo 9 still maintains the superiority of the savage life."
JOHNSON. "What strange narrowness of mind now is that to think the
things we have not [known] are better than the things which we
have known." BOSWELL. "Why, Sir, that is a common prejudice."
JOHNSON. "Yes, Sir. But a common prejudice should not be found in
one whose trade it is to rectify error."

T Boswell pillaged this Journal extensively when he came to write the Life of
Johnson, removing for copy most of the leaves which contained Johnsonian con-
versations. All but one of the missing fragments having turned up when Bos-
well's manuscript of the Life was unearthed at Malahide Castle in 1940, they
are now printed for the first time as Boswell originally wrote them. The first
of the recovered portions (eight pages of the manuscript) begins at this point.

8 It is difficult to arrive at a confident interpretation of the fact that shortly after
the publication of Johnson's Taxation No Tyranny in 1775, Lord North as Chan-
cellor of the University of Oxford proposed the degree of Doctor of Civil Law for
Johnson.

9 See below, p. 140.

4.2 London, 21 March 1772

Then came in a Mr who was to go out mate in the ship along

with Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander. 1 Mr. Johnson asked what were the

names of the ships which were to go upon the expedition. Mr

said they were once to be called the Drake and the Raleigh, but now
they were to be called the Resolution and the Adventure. JOHNSON.
"Much better; for had the Raleigh 2 returned without going round the
world, it would have been ridiculous. To give them the names of the
Drake and the Raleigh was laying a trap for satire." BOSWELL. "Had
not you some desire to go upon this expedition, Sir?" JOHNSON. "Why
yes; but I soon laid it aside. Sir, there is very little intellectual in the
course. Besides, I see but at a little distance. So it was not worth my
while to go to see birds fly which I should not have seen fly, and fishes
swim which I should not have seen swim."

Mr. went away and Mr. Johnson left us for a little; when

Stockdale and Mrs. Desmoulins (or DemwZZins as they call her in Eng-
lish) began to open a little with me. I said I thought there was glory
in Banks, a fine young fellow of 5000 a year, going out on so danger-
ous an expedition from a thirst of knowledge. Stockdale contested this
and said it was no more in Banks than a gratification of his particular
passion instead of going to Newmarket or the like; that he thought it
would be much more glorious for him to stay at home and employ his
fortune in relieving indigent merit and doing good to numbers. That
he thought a man's going on a dangerous expedition in order to make
himself independent rather than lounge at home was glorious. Mrs.
Desmoulins said she could not see how it was glorious in a man to do
what he was driven to by necessity. I said, "I indeed cannot see that
if the one is not glorious, the other should be it. There is surely no
glory in a man's going out on an expedition to get his dinner. I know
not but Mr. Banks may have been partly actuated by public spirit.
But at any rate I think it is glorious for a young man of great fortune
to have so noble a passion instead of those mean passions by which
most of them are actuated."

We talked of Dr. HawkesworthV being employed in writing an

1 On Cook's second expedition, which sailed on 13 July 1772. Banks and Solander

later changed their minds and made a tour to Iceland instead.

* As Croker pointed out, Boswell should have written "Drake."

3 John Hawkesworth, LL.D. (c. 1715-1773) had been the editor and one of the

London, 21 March 1772 43

account of the expedition which Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander have al-
ready made, and that he would do it well. "Ay," said I, "he has formed
himself upon the great model" (meaning Dr. Johnson). Stockdale
said, "I have observed that Dr. Johnson's friends are like Alexander's
courtiers, who imitated his wry neck. They imitate Dr. Johnson's
weaknesses, if I may [say] so, or oddities." "Particularities if you
please, Sir," said Mrs. Desmoulins.

When Mr. Johnson returned to us, I told him we had been disput-
ing whether Banks and Solander could be allowed to have glory from
their expedition.* He said, "Why, Sir, it was properly for botany that
they went out. I believe they thought only of culling of simples." 5

I had thanked him for showing civilities to Beattie. "Sir," said he,
"I should thank you. He's a fine fellow, Beattie. Mrs. Thrale says if
ever she has another husband, she'll have Beattie. He sunk upon us*
that he was married; else we should have shown his lady more civili-
ties. She is a very fine woman. But how can you show civilities to a
nonentity? I did not think he had been married. Nay, I did not think
about it, one way or other; but he did not tell us of his lady till late."

He then spoke of St. Kilda. 7 I told him I thought of buying it

authors, along with Samuel Johnson, of The Adventurer, 1752-1754. In 1771
upon Gar-rick's recommendation he had been appointed by the Admiralty to
publish An Account of the Voyages Undertaken by the Order of His Present
Majesty for Making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere . . . Drawn up
from the Journals Which Were Kept by the Several Commanders, and from the
Papers of Joseph Banks, Esq. This work appeared in three volumes in 1773 and
met with such severe criticism for inaccuracies and indecencies that Hawkes-
worth's health was thought to have been affected and his end hastened. He died
in November of that year.

* That is, from Cook's first expedition, 1768-1771. The question is whether the
scientific observers should share the glory of what was popularly thought of as
a great feat of navigation.

5 Romeo and Juliet, V. i. 40.

6 "Suppressed the fact." Beattie was offended by this remark when it appeared
in the Life of Johnson, and wrote a letter to Boswell which was printed as a note
in the second edition.

7 The chief islet of a rocky group lying in the Atlantic forty miles northwest of
the northwest extremity of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. Long the only in-
habited island of the group, it has in recent years been evacuated. Johnson and
Boswell had talked about St Kilda in the spring of 1768 and in July 1763. Its re-

44 London, 21 March 1772

"Pray do," said he. "We shall go and pass a winter amid the blasts
there. We shall have fine fish, and we shall take some dried tongues
with us and some books. We shall have a strong-built vessel and some
Orkney men to navigate her. We must build a tolerable house. But we
may carry with us a wooden house ready made and nothing to do but
to put it up. I remember there was a gentleman going to North Amer-
ica who had a curiosity to see me, and I gave him that advice, as he was
going to a country where they cut down wood only to get rid of it. Con-
sider, Sir, by buying St. Kilda you may keep the people from falling
into worse hands. We must give them a clergyman, and he shall be
one of Seattle's choosing. I'll be your Lord Chancellor or what you
please." BOSWELL. "Are you serious, Sir, in advising me to buy St.
Kilda? for if you should advise me to go to Japan, I believe I should do
it." JOHNSON. "Why yes, I am serious." BOSWELL. "Why then I'll try
it."

I gave him an account of the two parties in the Church of Scotland,
those for patronage and those against it.* He said it should be settled
one way or other. He said he could not be for a popular election when
he considered that it occasioned such unworthy courting of the people,
such slandering by one party against the other, and other such disad-
vantages; and that it was enough to allow the people to insist against
the settlement of a minister for solid reasons (either of heresy or im-
morality I suppose he meant) .

He was engaged 9 to dine with Sir Joshua Reynolds; so I left him,
and he bid me come again at nine in the evening. I called on Mrs.
Williams for a little, and then went to Dolly's beefsteak house, where
I dined very comfortably, meditating on old times when I used to dine
there frequently 1 and was in a most dissipated and sickly state of
mind, without any fixed rational purpose and being hardly able to ob-
serve common decency of conduct.

I entered into conversation with some gentlemen at the same

moteness and mystery may be taken as a symbol of what they will seek in the
Hebrides on their tour in the following year.

8 On 17 April Boswell wrote an essay on this subject for The London Magazine.
See below, pp. 126, 127.

9 Here the first newly recovered portion of the text ends. See above, p. 4177. 7.
a See, for example, Boswett's London Journal, 1762-1763, the entry for 15 De-
cember 1762.

London, 21 March 1772 45

table. One of them showed me a pair of shoes he had on which he said
cost him eleven shillings, having double soles made of the very choice
part of the hide. Another had on a very handsome wig. I asked him
who made it. "For," said I, "Sir, I have a wife who was very angry at
me for cutting off my hair, and wants much I should at least have a
genteel wig." He told me it was made by Howard in Leicester Fields.
"Thank you, Sir," said I; "you will enable me to establish domestic
tranquillity." There is an immense satisfaction in talking away freely,
where one is not known. I observed that the greatest disadvantage of
Dolly's was that a man had for most part no society but just eat his
dinner by himself. The gentleman with the eleven-shillings shoes said
that was not the case here. But, besides, he had often heard it observed
that a man could not eat his dinner alone, but that he could not say
he had ever experienced this. That it depended very much on a man's
manner of life. That he (who it seems was an attorney), when tired
with a long day's business in Westminster Hall, would have thought
it a fatigue to have had anybody along with him at dinner; but would
go home and sit down by himself and eat his dinner most heartily and
comfortably. There was a true specimen of John Bull here. But I know
not if in certain states of mind the doctrine may not be just

I called at Dempster's. 2 He had an Indian lad and an Indian boy
for his servants; and while I was writing a note to him in his room,
as he was abroad, I was attended by a grave, decent-looking man
whose office in the household I could not divine. He turned out to be
a master who came in to instruct the two Indians.

I strolled about and at half an hour past nine returned to Mr.
Johnson's. We drank tea with Mrs. Williams. She told us a story of
second sight which happened in Wales, her country. Mr. Johnson said
he should like to have some stories as to that well authenticated. I told
him the story of this Lord Eglinton and another officer having seen
what we in Scotland call the wraith, that is to say, the appearance, be-
fore he died, of a Captain Veal upon the Inch 3 at Perth at a time when

2 George Dempster, M.P. and Director of the East India Company, a Scot a few
years older than BoswelL, had been one of his closer associates in the years pre-
ceding his marriage.

3 Two public meadows or parks at Perth are called the North Inch (i.e. island)
and the South Inch, from the fact that they were at one time insulated by the
river Tay. The point is that Eglinton saw the wraith, not under extraordinary
circumstances, but in a place of public resort

46 London, 21 March 1772

Captain Veal was on his death-bed. I had the story from the late Lord.
But as one should always go to the fountain-head, I shall try to get
this Lord to tell me it,* Mr. Johnson observed that in all supernatural
appearances we could have no certainty of their truth unless some-
thing was told us which we could not otherwise know or something
done which could not be done but by supernatural power; that
Pharaoh, in reason and justice, required such evidence. Nay, that 5 our
Saviour said, "Unless I had done the things which never man did, you
would not have had sin." (He gave the very words. I shall look them
out.) * He had said in the forenoon that Macaulay's History of St. Kilda
was very well written except some foppery about liberty and slavery.
I told him that Macaulay told me he was advised to keep out of his
book the wonderful story that upon the approach of a stranger all the
inhabitants catch cold; but that he had it so well authenticated he
determined to keep it in. "Sir," said Mr. Johnson, "to keep things out
of a book merely because people tell you they will not be believed is
meanness. Macaulay acted with more magnanimity." 7

We talked of the Roman Catholic religion and how little difference
there was in essential matters between ours and it. "True," said he.
"All denominations of Christians have really little difference in point
of doctrine, though they may differ widely in external forms. There
is a prodigious difference between the external form of one of your
Presbyterian churches in Scotland and a church in Italy; yet the doc-
trine taught is essentially the same."

I mentioned Purgatory, being very desirous to hear his ideas as to

* Boswell records doing so in his Journal for 24 September 1 778.
5 Ten more pages, removed by Boswell as copy for the Life, are here restored.
See above, p. 41/2. 7.

8 John 15. 24 (King James version): "If I had not done among them the works
which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen
and hated both me and my Father."

T The Rev. Kenneth Macaulay's History of St. Kilda appeared hi 1764; his ac-
count of the inhabitants' catching cold whenever a ship arrived had been dis-
cussed by Johnson and Boswell in the spring of 1768. Johnson and Boswell vis-
ited Macaulay at Cawdor 27 August 1773, and Johnson was persuaded from his
conversation "that he had not written the book which goes under his name."
Actually it had been revised and enlarged by a friend, Dr. John Macpherson.
Macaulay was the great-uncle of the historian Thomas Babington Macaulay.

London, 21 March 1772 47

the particular state of souls after death. Lady Colville* bid me try to
leam from him what I could upon that subject He avoided it. I must
try at another time. 1 mentioned the petition for removing the sub-
scription to the Thirty-nine Articles. Said he, "It was soon thrown
out. 1 Sir, they talk of not making boys at the University subscribe to
what they do not understand. But they ought to consider that our uni-
versities were f ounded to bring up members to the Church of England
and we must not supply our enemies with arms from our arsenal. No,
Sir, the meaning of subscribing is not that they fully understand all
the articles but that they will adhere to the Church of England. Now
take it in this way, that they should only subscribe their adherence to
the Church of England, there would be still the same difficulty, for
still the young men would be subscribing to what they do not under-
stand. For if you should ask them, 'What do you mean by the Church
of England? Do you know in what it differs from the Presbyterian
Church? from the Romish Church? from the Greek Church? from the
Coptic Church?' they could not tell you. So, Sir, it comes to the same
thing." BOSWELL. "But, Sir, would it not do to subscribe the Bible?"
JOHNSON. "Why no, Sir; for all sects will subscribe the Bible. Nay, the
Mahometans will subscribe the Bible; for the Mahometans acknowl-
edge Jesus Christ as well as Moses, but maintain that God sent Ma-
homet as a still greater prophet than either."

I mentioned the motion to abolish the fast of the 30 of January. 8

8 Lady Elizabeth Erskine, by her second marriage Lady Colville of Culross, was
eldest daughter of the Earl of Kellie and a sister of BosweLL's early friend and
correspondent Lieutenant Andrew Erskine. He had once thought of proposing
marriage to her; she was now one of his favourite Edinburgh hostesses. See be-
low, p. 215.

9 Boswell had raised this topic with Johnson on 26 October 1769, and he returned
to it again this year, on 28 March (see below, p. 72). Lady Colville, as a Scots
Episcopalian, was probably sympathetic to the doctrine of Purgatory. In a codi-
cil to his will, dated 30 May 1785, Boswell himself wrote: "Finally I request
the prayers of all my pious friends for my departed soul, considering how reason-
able it is to suppose that it may be detained some time in a middle state."

1 The petition was presented in Parliament on 6 February of this year. By a ma-
jority of 2 1 7 to 7 1 leave was refused for it to be brought up.

2 The anniversary of the execution of Charles I. Dr. Nowell, the preacher of the
fast sermon for this year, had offended the House of Commons by comparing its
members to the opponents of Charles I.

48 London, 21 March 1772

"Why, Sir," said he, "I could have wished that it had been a tem-
porary act, perhaps to have expired with the century. I am against
abolishing it because that would be declaring that it was wrong to
establish it; but I should have no objection to make an act continuing
it for another century and then letting it go out," He disapproved of
the Royal Marriage Bill; "because," said he, "I would not have the
people think that the validity of marriage depends on the will of man,
or that the right of a king depends on the will of man. I would not have
been against making a royal marriage without the approbation of
King and Parliament highly criminal." 3

In the forenoon we had talked of old families and the respect due
to them. "Sir," said he, "you have a right to that kind of respect and
are arguing for yourself. I am for supporting the principle and am dis-
interested in doing it, as I have no such right." BOSWELL. "Why, Sir,
it is one more incitement to a man to do well." JOHNSON. "Yes, Sir,
and it is a matter of opinion very necessary to keep society together.
What is it but opinion by which we have a respect for authority that
prevents us who are the rabble from rising up and pulling down you
who are gentlemen from your places and saying, 'We will be gentle-
men in our turn'? Now, Sir, that respect for authority is much more
easily granted to a man whose father has had it than to an upstart,
and so society is more easily supported." BOSWELL. "Perhaps, Sir, it
might be done by the opinion of office, as among the Romans, where
the dress, the toga, inspired reverence." JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, we know
very little about the Romans. But surely it is much easier to respect a
man who has always had respect than to respect a man who we know
was last year no better than ourselves and will be no better next year.
In republics there is not a respect for authority but a fear of power."
BOSWELL. "At present what seems to gain most respect is having
riches." JOHNSON. "No, Sir, riches do not gain respect. They procure
court being paid. A very rich man from low beginnings may buy the

* This bill gave the King complete control over the marriages of members of the
royal family under twenty-five and partial control over the marriages of those
above that age. It had been introduced because of the marriage of two of the
King's brothers (the Dukes of Gloucester and Cumberland) to ladies not of
royal blood, and was at this moment the subject of lively debate in Parliament
The King gave his assent on April i.

London, 21 March 1772 49

election of a borough. But cceteris paribus a man of family will be pre-
ferred. People will prefer one for whose father their fathers have
voted, though they should get no more money or even less. This shows
the opinion to be real. If gentlemen of family would allow the rich
upstarts to spend their money profusely, which they are ready enough
to do, and not vie with them in expense, the upstarts would soon be
at an end and the gentlemen would remain. But if the gentlemen will
vie in expense with the upstarts, which is very foolish, they must be
ruined."

He said Dr. Burney was a very pretty kind of man; but he could
not read through his book. 4 I asked him why. He said, "Because I
could not read about fiddles and flddlestrings." I mentioned Foote's
taking him off. "I thought," said he, "I had cured Foote of that." 5
I gave him an account of Cullen's mimicry. 8 1 said, "Don't you think,
Sir, it is a very mean thing?" JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, it is making a very
mean use of one's powers. But to be a good mimic requires great
powers, great acuteness of observation, great retention of what is ob-
served, and great pliancy of organs, to represent what is observed. I
remember a lady in this town, Lady Amelia Hervey, 7 who was a won-
derful mimic and used to make me laugh immoderately. I have heard

* The Present State of Music in France and Italy, 1771, a report on his travels,
much of which Burney would subsequently repeat in his History of Music. In
preparing the copy for the Life Boswell deleted this reference to Bumey entirely.
5 Johnson, on hearing that Foote intended to take him off, had let it be known he
was ready to purchase an oak stick. "Sir, fear restrained him; he knew I would
have broken his bones" (19 October 1769).

8 Robert Cullen, a son of the famous Scots physician William Cullen, was an
advocate who later became Lord of Session with the title Lord Cullen. In the
Life at this point he appears merely as "a friend of mine in Scotland." During
Foote's visit to Edinburgh for the winter season of 1771, he had apparently been
pitted against Cullen in some kind of contest of mimicry. "There is one of the
most serious affairs to be decided this night here that ever happened in any
country, between the Great Northern and Southern Potentates, Cullen and
Foote ..." (Thomas Alexander Erskine, sixth Earl of Kellie, to Boswell,
from Fortune's, Saturday evening, no date).

7 The name is left blank in the Life but was correctly identified by Mrs. Piozzi
in a marginal note to the 1816 edition. Lady Emily (Amelia Caroline Nassau)
Hervey was a daughter of Pope's opponent Baron Hervey of Ickworth. Mrs.
Piozzi adds: "She was never mad as I know of."

50 London, 21 March 1772

she is now gone mad." BOSWELL. "It is amazing how a mimic can not
only give you the gestures and voice of a person whom he represents,
but will even give you what a person would say on any particular
subject" JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, you are to consider that the manner
and some particular phrases of a person do much to impress you with
an idea of him, and you are not sure that he would say what the mimic
says in his character." BOSWELL. "I don't think Foote a good mimic."
JOHNSON. "No, Sir, his imitations are not like. He gives you some-
thing different from himself but not the character which he means to
assume. He goes out of himself without going into other people. He
cannot take off any person but who is very strongly marked, such as
George Faulkner. He is like a painter who can paint a man who has a
wen upon his face and who therefore is easily known. If a man hops
upon one leg, Foote can hop upon one leg. 3 But he has not that nice
discrimination which your friend Cullen seems to possess. Foote is
however very entertaining, with a kind of conversation between wit
and buffoonery."

I told him of the renunciation which I granted to my father of
my right to the family estate by my mother's contract of marriage,
which I did about the time I became major from a generous principle
of preserving the family, as my father threatened, while I was very
dissipated and licentious, that he would sell Auchinleck. 9 JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, you did a very foolish thing." BOSWELL. "Last winter, Sir,
I had the paper in my hand, my father having left open the bookcase
in which it was lying; and I once thought of putting it into the fire,
as it was a thing to which he had no right However, as I had once

s The Dublin publisher George Faulkner had lost a leg; in 1766, Foote, who had
long been mimicking him, lost one too. "Now," he exclaimed, "I shall take off
old Faulkner indeed to the life!"

9 There is among the Boswell papers at Yale a deed executed in the spring of
1762 in which, in return for an unconditional grant of an allowance of 100 a
year, Boswell consents to be put under trustees of his father's choosing in case
he succeeds to Auchinleck. This, however, makes no mention of rights conferred
by his mother's contract of marriage, and can therefore hardly be the renuncia-
tion here referred to. Presumably Lord Auchinleck, having concluded that his
son would turn out a hopeless wastrel, had previously extorted a more extreme
concession from him, and still continued to hold it over his head. Boswell later
became convinced that his father had never had the power to pass hi over as
heir, and suspected that he had known it all along.

London, 21 March 1772 51

granted it to him, I had a scruple, and so laid it back again into its
place." JOHNSON. "You did right, Sir. To take it and burn it would
have been destroying a deed. We should have had you hanged, ha! ha!
ha! No. You would not have been hanged, but you 1 might have been
whipped, or transported, ha! ha! ha! However, Sir, your father did
wrong to take it from you, and he ought to give it up to you. If you do
not tease him, he will make no use of it and it can do you no harm; for
a renunciation granted to him can avail no one else." BOSWELL. "He
talks, Sir, of entailing his estate; but he carries on the representation
of heirs male only to a certain length. Now, I have no idea of any rep-
resentation of a family but by males. Don't you think it the true
representation, Sir?" JOHNSON. "Why, yes, Sir." BOSWELL. "What
makes me more anxious with regard to it in our family is a principle
of good faith to one of my ancestors who gave the estate to his nephew,
passing by his own daughters; and I therefore think that as we re-
ceived it in trust as a male fee we are bound to continue it as a male
fee. I am therefore determined to sign no more papers or give any
consent to female succession." JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, from what you
have stated, your case is stronger than usual, and since you think it
wrong to consent to such an entail as your father talks of making, you
should not do it. But let him alone and he'll die without making any."*

1 Here the second newly recovered portion of the text ends. See above, p. 4171. 7.

2 The long and impassioned dispute between Boswell and his father over the
entail of Auchinleck (expounded by Boswell himself at length in the Life of
Johnson under 1776) had broken out first during the summer before Boswell's
marriage. The purpose of an entail was to make an estate permanently unsalable
and unattachable for debt and hence to protect family ownership against
profligacy of the sort which now seemed to Lord Auchinleck all too likely if
his son should succeed him. But Lord Auchinleck wished to entail the estate
upon heirs whatsoever of his own body, "males and females indiscriminately."
Boswell on the other hand defended a kind of feudal mystique, a "Gothic, Salic"
faith in the transmission of family blood through males only. He had a "zealous
partiality for heirs male, however remote" of the original Thomas Boswell, who
had fallen along with his sovereign at the Field of Flodden in 1513. An entail
on these lines would of course have extended the remote possibility of inherit-
ance to some undistinguished branches of the family (such as that headed by
a dancing-master named David Boswell). After a series of feverish changes of
heart and belated qualms at the prospect of excluding his own daughters, Bos-
well on 7 August 1776 went to his father's house and signed a compromise entail

52 London, 21 March 1772

BOSWELL. "Don't you think, Sir, that the deed which I granted might

be set aside as granted by a young man under fear of his father, and

to his very great prejudice?" JOHNSON. "Why, I don't know but it

might."

Thus have I collected this day's conversation, excepting only that
I now recollect he advised me to go and see Cox's Museum, which he
said for power of mechanism and splendour of show was a very fine
exhibition. 8 He seemed happier to see me than ever. He said, "I do love
thee. I do love thee"; and when I left him he said, "Good-night, dear
Sir. I am glad to see you again, very glad to see you again."

SUNDAY 22 MARCH. I breakfasted with Dempster, whom If ound
as agreeable and as friendly as ever, improved much in speaking Eng-
lish, and appearing to be as happy as I could wish him. Parliament
and the East India Company had accustomed him to manly employ-
ment, and I could see that he was really satisfied with his situation. He
is conscious of acting with honour and fidelity and spirit, and he feels
himself happy in having a share in the great deliberations both as to
this nation and the empire in India. He said he would not give up the
enjoyment of the two sessions which he had sat in Parliament for any
consideration. I gave him some account of his old friends in Scotland.
He said he thought with a pleasing regret of our parties with the
Ladies of Kellie in which we were so happy. He said some good things,

preferring all males descended from Lord Auchinleck's grandfather. (The danc-
ing-master was still excluded.) And two years later Bos well succeeded in getting
a sight of his mother's marriage contract and found that it had never been in
his father's power ("even with my consent") to alter the destination to heirs
male of his own body.

3 "The objects that first strike the eye are two-and-twenty pieces of mechanism,
some nine, some ten, some twelve, and some sixteen feet high, each blazing with
a profusion of the most costly gems. . . . An elephant, richly caparisoned, sup-
ports a pedestal on which is a triumphal car, drawn by four golden self -moving
horses. . . . Another car is drawn by doves round a magnificent temple of
mother-of-pearl. . . . Pagodas, pouring all Golconda upon the sight of the be-
holder, rise to the music of their own chimes. . . . The various flowers of the
year bloom in jewels. . . . Storks, dragons, lizards, dolphins . . . present them-
selves ... in gold, silver, agate, amber, lapis lazuli, and aventurine ..."
(Gentlemaris Magazine, March 1772). The Museum was in Spring Gardens,
Charing Cross, admission half a guinea.

London, 22 March 1 772 53

which go down into my Boswelliana. Dempster said it would be the
greatest treasure of this age. Indeed it will contain a rich collection
of good things. I said I should have riders to go about and pick up good
things for me, or have correspondents established in all the country
towns. He kept out all company till we had taken a hearty draught of
free and friendly conversation. But then I saw a specimen of his incon-
veniencies; for in came Angus lairds, speaking with a most uncouth
tone, and beings of other disagreeable kinds, to all of whom he was
obliged to be very courteous.

I then called on Sir Alexander Macdonald, and found him and my
Lady by themselves; then paid a visit to Lady Margaret Macdonald,
with whom I sat a good while. She revived in my mind lively ideas
of the Eglinton family; and, by an association of ideas, had a kind of
connexion with my dear cousin, now my wife, being a Margaret
Montgomerie and properly of the same family. 4 I returned to Sir
Alexander, and he and I walked about together, looking at Portman
Square and other new buildings. The increase of London is prodi-
gious. It is really become too large. The consequence is that people
live at such a distance from each other that it is very inconvenient for
them to meet, and are so crowded that they confuse one another; and
it is easier for people who live ten or twelve miles from each other in
the country to meet than it is for people who live a few streets from
each other in London.

I went to dine by invitation at my cousin or kinsman Mr. Bosville's
in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury. It was a very bad day. There fell
a very heavy rain and there was the loudest thunder I ever heard. As I
was going along Great Russell Street it seemed to be just over my head.
It was indeed very near; for not very far from where I then was it
broke upon Tottenham Court Road Chapel and killed a man in the
midst of Mr. Wesley's congregation. 5 Honest Mr. Bosville received me
with his usual cordiality and his lady with her usual civil formality.

* Lady Margaret Macdonald, before her marriage Lady Margaret Montgomerie,
was Sir Alexander's mother, and sister to the tenth and eleventh Earls of Eglin-
ton. A dowager well loved in the Isle of Skye, she had helped to harbour Prince
Charles in the Isle after the battle of Culloden.

5 "Mr. Goodson, a master tailor in Craven Buildings, being at the late Mr. White-
field's chapel in Tottenham Court Road, was struck dead by a flash of lightning"
(London Chronicle, 24 March 1772).

54 London, 22 March 1772

His daughter Miss Julia was grown the finest British woman I ever
beheld, and his son Tommy was grown a stout young fellow, and was
now entered to the business of a merchant in the city. There were with
us his sister Mrs. Place, a widow lady, and her sister Miss Wentworth,
and a Miss Jenkins, a little old crooked creature of great fortune.
Nothing worthy of remark passed at dinner. After dinner Mr. Bosville
read me some letters from his eldest son, the Captain, 6 who was now
on his travels' in Italy. I was pleased with his remarks, which were
sensible, short, and humorous. Mr. Bosville himself has a good deal of
humour of a certain kind. Sir Alexander Macdonald told me that Mr.
Bosville was reading one of his son's letters to a company, and when
it was done, a person present asked, "What, is there no more, Sir?"
"0 yes," said he: " *I am your dutiful son, William Bosville.' " Sir
Alexander came and drank coffee with us.

I then went to Sir John Pringle's, 7 who had asked me to dine with
him. When I was last in London he was a little offended at some-
thing about me, and we parted rather drily. I was anxious to meet him
again, as he is a worthy, sensible, knowing man, an old friend of my
father's, and has always been very kind to me. He received me with
great affection, and I saw that any former dryness was at an end. He
had with him Lord Lyttelton and several more gentlemen, in partic-
ular the famous Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, whom I had a great
curiosity to see. Mr. Banks was a genteel young man, very black, and
of an agreeable countenance, easy and communicative, without any
affectation or appearance of assuming. Dr. Solander, though a Swede,
spoke English with more fluency and propriety than most natives.

I then called at General Paoli's for a little; Count Gentili and the

Corsican Abbe were with him. I should have mentioned that

the day after I came last to London, I resumed to him his observation
on painting, which he made to me while we were travelling on the
banks of Loch Lomond: viz., that we seldom or never can know what
is meant by an emblematical or historical picture unless we have some
previous instruction to direct us. I gave him an excellent instance in
confirmation of this. We all know immediately when we see a female

e Of the Coldstream Guards, celebrated bon vivant and traveller.

T Scotsman; physician to the Queen and (in 1774) to the King; President of the

Royal Society. His house was in Pall Mall.

London, 22 March 1 772 55

figure holding a balance painted that it is Justice, because we are told
beforehand that Justice is so represented. But my little niece Jeanie
Campbell, 8 who as yet knows nothing of emblems, when she saw a
print of Justice with the scales, cried out, "Eh! there a wife selling
sweeties"; i.e. "There's a woman selling sweetmeats." The General
was delighted with this instance. I was so sleepy from having sitten
up so late with Mr. Johnson the night before that I hastened home and
went to bed. I am sorry that I have not been at church today.

MONDAY 23 MARCH. I breakfasted with Captain Hoggan, and
then went to Mr. Johnson's, with whom I had an appointment to
spend this day and consider the cause of the Campbeltown school-
master. When I came into his study, he was busy preparing a new
edition of his folio Dictionary, and had one Mr. Peyton writing to him
and picking out words from Ainsworth.* I gave him a meaning of the
word side which he had omitted; viz., father's or mother's side. He
said he would put it in. I asked if civilization was a word; he said no,
but civility was. I suggested humiliating. He said he had seen it fre-
quently used but he did not know if it could be allowed to be English.
With great deference to him, I should think civilization, from to
civilize, a good word and better than civility in that sense, as it is bet-
ter to have a distinct word for each sense 1 than one word with two
senses, which civility is, in his way of using it. 2

A Mr , a tall gentleman like a clergyman, just went out as I

came in. He seemed busy about some sort of chemical operations. I
was entertained to see how he sent Mr. Peyton an errand. "Mr. Pey-
ton, Mr. Peyton, will you be so good as take a walk to Temple Bar?
You will there see a chemist's shop; buy for me an ounce of oil of
vitriol; not spirit of vitriol but oil of vitriol. 8 It will cost you three half-

8 Mrs. BoswelFs sister's step-daughter: TreesbanVs daughter by his first wife.

9 Robert Ainsworth, A Compendious Dictionary of the Latin Tongue, 1736.

1 Here four pages, removed as copy for the Life, are restored. See above, p. 41/2. 7.

2 BoswelTs meaning of side, with an illustration from the poet Pamell, appears
as the eighth and last meaning of side in the fourth edition of Johnson's Dic-
tionary, folio, 1773, but not in earlier editions. The Oxford English Dictionary
quotes the passage of BoswelTs Life of Johnson corresponding to the present
Journal passage for the earliest occurrence of civilization in BoswelTs sense. The
same authority quotes humiliating from a newspaper passage of 1757.

8 In modern nomenclature, concentrated (not dilute) sulphuric acid.

56 London, 23 March 1772

pence." Away went Peyton and returned with it, and told it cost but
a penny.

I then took out the Session papers in the schoolmaster's cause. I
asked if I should read. "No, Sir," said he. "I can read quicker than I
can hear." So he read to himself.

After he had gone on a little way, in came a little brisk man, Mr.
Kristrom or Christian, a Swede, who was tutor to some young gentle-
men in the city. 4 He told me that there was a very good history of
Sweden by Dalin. I asked Mr. Johnson if one might write a history
of Sweden without going thither. He said, "Yes, one for common
use."

We talked of languages. Mr. Johnson observed that M. Leibnitz
had made some progress in a work tracing them all up to the Hebrew.
"Why, Sir," said he, "you would not imagine that the French /bwr,
day, is derived from the Latin dies, and yet nothing is more certain,
and the intermediate steps are very clear. From dies comes diurnus.
Diu is, by inaccurate ears or inaccurate pronunciation, easily con-
founded with giu; then the Italians form a substantive of the ablative
of an adjective and thence giurno, or as they make it gzomo, which
is readily contracted into giour or jour." 6 He observed that the Bo-
hemian* language was true Slavonic. The Swede said it had some
similarity with the German. "Why, Sir, to be sure," said he. "Such
parts of Slavonia as confine with Germany will borrow German
words, and such parts as confine with Tartary will borrow Tartar
words."

He said he never had it properly ascertained that the Scotch High-
landers and the Irish understand each other. I told him that my cousin
Colonel Graham of the Royal Highlanders, whom I met at Drogheda,
told me they did. He said if the Highlanders understood Irish, why
translate the New Testament into Erse, as was done lately at Edin-

4 Pehr Christrom, mathematician and philologist, at this time sixty-six years
old. He had been travelling tutor to the sons of a rich Jewish firmly named
Salvador, and was now retired on a pension of 100 a year.

5 Even for his time, Johnson was not a good etymologist, but he is here reason-
ably near the facts as at present understood. Giorno and jour are independent
developments from the accusative (not ablative) diurnum, of which the final m
was lost at an early period.

We would say Czech.

London, 23 March 1772 57

burgh? 7 1 said that although the Erse and Irish were both dialects of
the same language, there might be a good deal of diversity between
them, as between the different dialects in Italy.

The Swede went away, and Mr. Johnson continued his reading of
the Session papers. It was curious to see Mr. Samuel Johnson reading
his papers like a Lord of Session. As he read Hay Campbell's Informa-
tion, he said, "This is a bloody charge against us," and really took a
strong interest for the schoolmaster. He laboured very patiently. I
said, "I am afraid, Sir, it is troublesome to you." "Why, Sir," said he,
"I do not take much delight in it; but I'll go through with it." He read
Crosbie's and Hay Campbell's Informations, and my Reclaiming Peti-
tion.

We went over to the Mitre and dined in the room where he and I
first supped together, about ten years ago. He ordered some cod and
some smelts and some roasted lamb. He eat heartily but drank only
negus. He gave me great hopes of my schoolmaster. "Sir," said he,
"the government of a schoolmaster is somewhat of the nature of
military government; that is to say, it must be arbitrary according to
particular circumstances. You must show some learning upon this
occasion. You must show that a schoolmaster has a prescriptive right
to beat, and that an action of assault and battery cannot be admitted
against him unless there is some great excess, some barbarity. This
man has maimed none of his boys. They are all 8 left the full exercise
of their corporeal faculties. In our schools in England many boys have
been maimed. Yet I never heard of an action against a schoolmaster.
Puf endorf, I think, maintains the right of a schoolmaster to beat his
scholars. Besides, Sir, we know not how ill the boys have behaved in
this case, so cannot judge whether the degree of severity was proper
or not." He promised to assist me by putting down some thoughts upon
the subject.

I had read in his library this forenoon the Dedication to Kennedy's
Scripture Chronology, which I immediately knew to be his. I said,
"You cannot deny it." He answered, "Why, I don't deny it" 8 * We

7 The Reverend James Stuart's Gaelic translation of the New Testament ap-
peared in Edinburgh in 1767.

8 Here the third newly recovered portion of the Journal ends. See above, p. 41/1. 7.
*Boswell apparently confuses the Reverend John Kennedy's Scripture Chro-

58 London, 23 March 1772

went home to his house and Mrs. Williams gave us some tea. This was
his Club night So I left him.

I called at General Paoli's. He had with him M. Dunant, a Swiss,
formerly an officer in the Sardinian service and now seeking his for-
tune in London, and Signor Poggi, a young painter, the son of a Corsi-
can, of distinguished talents but little application.

TUESDAY 24 MARCH. I called on Sir John Pringle for a little, and
he asked me to come and sit with him in the evening. I then found
DOUGLAS at home. His house, late Lord Egmont's in Pall Mall, was
truly magnificent. He received me as usual, and presented me to Lady
Lucy, whom I thought a pretty little smart lady. I was hurt to see her
have that disagreeable distance, reserve, and, I cannot help thinking,
absolute want of civility which your English women of fashion in
general have. When I was introduced to her she should certainly have
expressed some satisfaction at seeing so great a friend of her hus-
band's; in place of which she just rose, curtsied, and said not a word.
However, I made way for myself, took a most hearty breakfast and
talked away, and forced her Ladyship to speak by asking her ques-
tions. Charles Greville, Lord Warwick's son, was there. Douglas
showed me his house, which is indeed magnificent; and so it may, for
it cost him 13,000. I told him, "This will not do. You must come
among us. It cost us too much trouble to make you a Scotsman to let
you be an Englishman." He assured me he would be six months in
Scotland next summer and have Lady Lucy along with him.

I then went to Lord Mountstuart, who was living at his mother-
in-law Lady Windsor's, his own house not being yet ready for him.
He received me as if we had not been a day separated, showed me his
eldest son, a fine boy, and told me he was always at home in the eve-
ning when Parliament was not sitting, and would be happy to see me.
John Ross Mackye 9 came in. I told my Lord about my schoolmaster. I
said I was keen for him because I was sensible how much the better
I myself had been of being heartily licked. My Lord, who has a talent

nology with the same author's Complete System of Astronomical Chronology,
1763, for which Johnson wrote the Dedication and the final paragraph of the text
* M.P. for Lanark and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, 1741-1768. His sociabil-
ity at an advanced age is recorded by Boswell in his Journal for 23 November
1793-

London, 24 March 1772 59

for saying sly things, by the by answered, "I wish you had got a little
more of it." I went down and saw a committee of the House of Com-
mons sitting on a Merse road bill. 1 Rae* and Wight spoke as counsel
while I was there. I was surprised to find a committee, of which I had
heard so much, a very simple matter.

I dined at General Paoli's, just he and I and the Count I shall al-
ways mention them if there are any more. The General spoke much
of Scotland; and, what gave me much pleasure, he commended highly
my dearest wife, said she had something of the Italian manner, a
frankness, an attention, and a politeness; and particularly remem-
bered her giving him a convoy as far as Haddington.

In the evening I went to Sir John Pringle's and found him alone
with his nightcap, quite at ease. We had a little bowl of punch and
some biscuits and were most comfortable. He told me he had a letter
from my father in which my father expressed much satisfaction with
me. I was sincerely happy at this; and I felt a manly consciousness of
being improved when I felt that I could talk on a tolerable equality
with Sir John Pringle, of whom I used to stand so much in awe. He
agreed with me as to my notions of succession in our family and said,
"No, no, the dancing-master must not be cut off, though his profes-
sion need not be named." 3 1 had told him that my father had in the
main the same notions with me and wished to entail his estate in the
male line for many generations; but stopped at one of the branches
of our family, who is a dancing-master, because his pride cannot bear
it: without considering that it is a family's fault when their con-
nexions fall low, and besides, that by the time the succession may
open to them, the dancing-master's descendants may be greater than
any of us. 4 Sir John however would not allow that there was any obli-

1 See below, p. 130/2. 8.

2 See below, p. 95.

3 David Boswell at Leith, representative of the Craigston Boswells, first cousin
of John Boswell (married to the heiress of Knockroon), and Lord AuchinlecVs
cousin in the sixth degree. Considering the number of nearer male lines, Lord
Auchinleck's caution seems pedantic. But the real reason for the exclusion, as
Boswell proceeds to say, was pride. If Lord Auchinleck had included the Craig-
ston line in the entail, he would have had to recognize the dancing-master so-
cially; and this he was determined not to do.

* It is not on record that the dancing-master's descendants did come up in the

6o London, 24 March 1772

gation upon us to prefer the male line because one of our predecessors
did it; for he pleased his fancy, and so may another man please his.
Said he: "Suppose a man should take a fancy to leave me an estate
because I am marked with the smallpox; that would lay no obligation
upon me to leave it to another man marked with the smallpox, in
preference to my own near relations." I answered that his supposition
was mere whim. But the preference given to male succession was a
principle.

Sir John, I saw, had taken somewhat of a liking to your dissenters
and what are called more rational Christians. He gave me a little
penny pamphlet containing the trial of one Mr. Elwall for heresy and
blasphemy, for denying the Trinity and several other orthodox prin-
ciples, with remarks. 5 And he seemed to approve of a late publication
attempting to prove the two first chapters of Matthew's Gospel spuri-
ous. 6 He said, 4e You know the castor, the beaver, when he is pursued
bites off and throws from him what he knows the hunters pursue him
for. So this dissenting divine throws off those two chapters on which
the Deists found so many of their objections." He said he was now
come to give little faith to history, because he knew for certain that
the Princess Dowager of Wales 7 had for these many years taken no
share in politics and never had any improper connexion with Lord
Bute; and yet she would go down to posterity as having managed all
the affairs of this nation till her death and been concerned in a crimi-
nal intercourse with Lord Bute. He said it would not be proper for him
to mention them, but that his situation about the royal family gave
him an opportunity of knowing circumstances that made it certain
that the Princess was altogether free of both these concerns. He said

world, but it is a pleasantly ironical circumstance that when Lord AuchinlecFs
heir of line sold the estate, Auchinleck House was purchased by the representa-
tive of John Boswell of Knockroon, whose father was a Craigston Boswell.

5 Edward Elwall (1676-1744) published his True Testimony for God . . .
against All the Trinitarians under Heaven in 1720 and was tried for heresy in
1726. The pamphlet was reprinted by Joseph Priestley in 1772 and became a
stock tract with the Unitarians. See below, p. 75.

6 John Williams's Free Enquiry into the Authenticity of the First and Second
Chapters of St. Mattheufs Gospel, 1771.

T Augusta, daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha, married Frederick
Louis, Prince of Wales, in 1736 and was the mother of George HI. She died 8
2. See below. D. 86.

London, 24 March 1772 61

that when it was imagined there would be a long minority, the late
King being very old and his grandson very young, a party of the great
people about Court, apprehending that Lord Bute's intimacy with
Frederick Prince of Wales might give him a great ascendancy over
this King, formed the plan to raise a report of scandal between the
Princess Dowager and Lord Bute; and he would do Mr. Fox, after-
wards Lord Holland, the justice to say that he alone struck out against
it. It was, however, put in execution, and was asserted with such
effrontery that many who had occasion to know better believed it. He
therefore could not regard history farther than just as chronology and
relating certain facts which could admit of no falsifying, such as that
a king reigned so long, a battle was fought, or such things. But as to
accounts of characters, or the secret springs and motives of actions and
events, he could not credit historians. This was really a good evening
with my father's old friend.

WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH. I breakfasted with Mr. Samuel Mitch-
elson, Junior, 8 who was come up upon the Peerage of Caithness, and
with him I kept myself in mind of business. I then called on Dempster
and walked out with him. I observed that when a man comes to Lon-
don as a stranger, he is confused and knows not well how to do; like
one at a great table who is unaccustomed to it and whose attention is
distracted by the variety of dishes. Whereas one settled in London is
like a man accustomed to a great table, upon whom the variety of
dishes makes no impression, and who singles out his piece of beef or
mutton or any other particular dish which he likes without being in
the least disturbed.

I called on Sir Alexander Macdonald, who walked down with me
to Westminster and showed me several committees of the House of
Commons; and, as he knows almost every man of rank or distinction
by face, pointed out to me Sir George Savile, Commodore Saunders,
and many more of whom I had heard and whom I was curious to see. 9
We then went into the House of Lords and heard an appeal from the

8 A Writer to the Signet. Boswell's Fee Book often enters "S. Mitchelson Jun."
as agent in cases where Boswell was advocate.

9 Sir George Savile, one of the most respected of the Whig leaders, in the previous
month had made an eloquent speech supporting the petition for relief from
subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles. Johnson called him "a little dirty
scoundrel" (Journal, 23 September 1777). Admiral Sir Charles Saunders was
commander-in-chief of the fleet which supported Wolfe at Quebec.

62 London, 25 March 1772

Exchequer of England, Dunbar against Lem. We heard only one side.
Mr. Thurlow, the Attorney General, 1 spoke in a deliberate, distinct,
manly method, and Counsellor Ambler spoke with fluency and pro-
priety. I was very curious to see the form of proceeding in the House
of Lords in hearing causes, which I had never done before, having
never been in London when the Parliament was sitting except when
I had an aversion at everything that had the appearance of business.
I went home with Sir Alexander to dinner. We had with us Captain
MacLeod, late of the Lord Mansfield East Indiaman, his lady and
daughter, Major Chisholm of Chisholm, and Archie Macdonald. We
did very well.

At night I went to Lord Mountstuart's. Lord Denbigh and John
Ross Mackye were with him. Lord Denbigh is a droll genius. 2 He had
in his pocket a petition to bring in my schoolmaster's cause on an
early day. "Come," said he, "tell me about this schoolmaster's cause;
for curse me if I judge of it." I gave him some account of it, and he
swore and raved, but I do not remember in what terms. After he and
Ross Mackye went away, my Lord and I chatted admirably. But I
found that as when he knew me first in Italy I was very odd and ex-
travagant, he could not yet have an idea of my being altered; so was
playing foolishly as we used to do. This was a little troublesome. But
I considered it would wear off. He said it was impossible to get any
survivancy. 3 But he promised he would get me a gown in the Court of
Session. He is truly an amiable young nobleman with very good, parts,
and is only too indolent and cool till pushed.

THURSDAY 26 MARCH. I breakfasted with Crosbie, 4 who told me

1 Later Lord Chancellor. He had made his reputation on the side of Douglas in
the appeal before the House of Lords in February 1769.

8 Basil Feilding, sixth Earl of Denbigh (1719-1800), was Lord of the Bedcham-
ber from 1763 to his death. He earned a reputation as a "droll genius" when
under the Influence of the bottle.

8 Nomination to an office to which Boswell would succeed upon the death of the
holder.

4 Andrew Crosbie had assisted Boswell in his first criminal case (that of John
Reid the sheep-stealer in 1766) and had become one of his closest friends; he
was also joined with Boswell in the defence of Hastie the schoolmaster. He was
generally granted brilliant parts, and no member of the Faculty had warmer
friends, but his advocacy of unprofitable causes was winning >"'"? a reputation
for being quixotic and erratic.

London, 26 March 1772 63

that he had full powers from the Laird of MacLeod to sell the barony
of Harris; but that St Kilda was to be excepted, as it was so curious a
piece of property. 9 1 called on Dr. Percy at Northumberland House. I
had left cards for the Duke and Duchess, but had received neither visit
nor message from them. It was agreeable to find Percy in a large room
looking into the Strand, and at the same time his room as much a li-
brary as crowded and even confused with books and papers as
any room in a college. He showed me many curiosities; in particular,
a collection of all the Spanish authors mentioned in Don Quixote; and
he told me that a clergyman* down in the country, who has probably
more Spanish learning than any Spaniard, was assisting him in find-
ing out the various passages mentioned or alluded to, that he may
make a kind of key to Don Quixote. This will be a work of universal
curiosity. He showed me a very good translation of Homer into Latin

verse by / a Hessian who lived in Erasmus's time, and on a

blank leaf of it he had transcribed a very high character of this

by Erasmus, saying that he alone was sufficient to give fame

to all Germany. I observed how humbling it was to literary ambi-
tion that this man who had so much merit and was so high in fame
should now hardly be known. He showed me also a book which had
belonged to the famous but foolish Earl of Pembroke, who had a
custom of writing upon the margins of his books, not things which
had any connexion with the text, but all sorts of things as they
came into his head. This book was scribbled over with the strangest
nonsense, as thus: "Take away the Castle and take away the Haven,
and then where is my Lord of Castlehaven? Take away the Bridge and
take away the Water, and then where is my Lord of Bridgewater?" 8

5 In 1779 Captain Alexander MacLeod (with whom Boswell had dined on the
day preceding this) purchased from the commissioners of the next Laird of
MacLeod for 15,000 the barony of Harris, including Bernera, St. Kilda, and
other small isles.

6 The Reverend John Bowie, vicar of Idmiston in Wiltshire, whose edition of
Don Quixote appeared in 1781.

7 Helius Eobanus Hessus (1488-1540).

9 Philip Herbert, fourth Earl of Pembroke (1584-1650), one of the "incompa-
rable pair of brethren" to whom the first folio of Shakespeare is inscribed, was
Lord Chamberlain of the household of Charles I and Chancellor of Oxford Uni-
versity. He was famous and eccentric but apparently not foolish, even though he

64 London, 26 March 1772

It is hardly possible to conceive the variety of nonsense thus written.
There are several of his Lordship's books in the British Museum. I
told Dr. Percy of my barber at Stevenage's story of Dr. Young's keep-
ing a mistress. He said it was mere scandal, just as one should say that
Mr. Johnson keeps Mrs. Williams. He said he had just begun to form
an acquaintance with Dr. Young; that he could not so much as say,
Virgilium tantum vidif for that he had not seen him, but had one
letter from him.

Mr. Percy and I went together to General Paoli's. A curious cir-
cumstance occurred. The General had read in a foreign journal that
the late Dr. Brown had written a memorial in favour of the Corsicans.
The journal said, "This famous scholar's death was a blow to the re-
public of letters in general, and especially to the brave Corsicans, in
whose favour he had written a memorial of such force that it would
undoubtedly have made a great impression on all the ministries of
Europe," 1 or words to that purpose. The General was very anxious to
see this memorial, and Dr. Percy had been doing all in his power to
get it from the Doctor's executors, but in vain; though he concluded
that as he had heard it mentioned in England, and the General had
read of it in a foreign journal, it must have existed, and he did not
despair of finding it. While they were talking, I recollected that in the
time of the Corsican war, when I used to keep the newspapers con-
stantly warm with paragraphs about the brave islanders, I had among
other things mentioned that "the late Dr. Brown had, before his death,
written a memorial in behalf of the brave Corsicans, which was to
have been published at Petersburg under the auspices of the Empress
of Russia; and that it showed a wonderful political revolution when
the strongest memorial in favour of Liberty was to have been pub-

is well known to have had the habit of writing mysterious remarks in the mar-
gins of his books. It is possible that the scribblings on Lord Castlehaven, at least,
had a definite enough meaning. Castlehaven (the second Earl, 1593-1631) and
Bridgewater were brothers-in-law, and Pembroke also was connected with them
by marriage. Castlehaven, having been found guilty of sodomy and assisting at
the rape of his own wife, was attainted of felony and on 14 March 1631 be-
headed on Tower Hill.

* "I no more than saw Virgil": Ovid, Tristia, IV. x. 51.
1 Boswell actually writes this sentence in French,

London, 26 March 1 772 65

lished in the capital of Russia." 2 This was enough to make it be talked
of in England; and the foreign journal had copied it from the news-
paper. My telling this put an end to the search; and it made me have
less literary faith, as Sir John Pringle has less historical faith; for this
invention of mine will be handed down on the Continent wherever Dr.
Brown is mentioned, unless I correct it in some publication.

I dined by Sir John Pringle's invitation with the Club at the Mitre
Tavern, all the original members of which are Fellows of the Royal
Society. Burrow, who publishes the Reports' sat at the head of the
table as vice-president. Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander and Mr. Whit-
aker, the author of the History of Manchester, were there. There was
little conversation that I could learn, from the company being nu-
merous. I then went to Drury Lane to see Garrick play Bayes. In my
way I called at Donaldson's* shop. He carried me upstairs, where he
had Mr. Elphinston, who keeps an academy at Kensington, and trans-
lates many of the mottoes of The Rambler, with him, and Mrs. El-
phinston, and another gentleman. Mr. Elphinston it seems had a very
great desire to be acquainted with me, and gave me more praise than
even I could well take. However, it went down with me. I engaged to
dine with him on Saturday sennight. By the time I got to the play-
house, the crowd was such that after trying boxes, pit, and middle
gallery, I found I could not get any kind of place. I then tried
the one-shilling gallery, into which I just squeezed myself a little.
The heat was intolerable and I was quite tantalized; for I saw very
ill and could hardly hear at all, and yet I heard constant peals of
laughter. I stayed three acts.

I then went to the London Coffee-house on Ludgate Hill, to which
the master of the late coffee-house in St Paul's Churchyard, where a

2 London Chronicle, 9-11 October 1766, p. 360. (John Brown, author of An Esti-
mate of the Manners and Principles of the Times, 1757, had committed suicide
on 22 September 1766.) Boswell (who is quoting from memory) gives the sub-
stance but does not reproduce closely the language of his own newspaper para-
graph.

8 Sir James Burrow. He compiled Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in
the Court of King's Bench during the Time of Lord Mansfield's Presiding, 1756-
1772.

* BoswelTs friend and client Alexander Donaldson, the Edinburgh bookseller,
was in partnership with his brother John at No. 195 in the Strand.

66 London, 26 March 1772

club of which I was admitted a member met every other Thursday,
was removed. Dr. Franklin 5 had promised to meet me there tonight.
But when I got thither, neither he nor any one else whom I knew was
there. One of the members came out but could recollect nothing of
me. This was very awkward. He however went in again to see if any
one else could recollect me; and Dr. Kippis, a dissenting clergyman,
did. 6 So in I went. There were very few there. The club is composed
principally of physicians, dissenting clergy, and masters of acade-
mies. Dr. Priestley 7 was there this night. I should not have known him
by his works of religious controversy. They are in my opinion insolent;
and he appeared to be very civil. He seemed happy in a story that a
Methodist sailor who was along with Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander had
brought several of the wild men to be pretty well disposed to Christi-
anity; but whenever he showed them a print of Christ on the cross in
his prayer-book and attempted to explain to them the doctrine of the
Trinity, they all left him. Perhaps the story is not true. But suppose it
true, it only proves that the Methodist sailor was a bad explainer of a
mystery, or that the savages had not patience and humility sufficient.
I entertained the club with my schoolmaster's cause. We broke up be-
tween eleven and twelve.

I must now remark that since I came last to London I have in-
dulged myself with several interviews with women of the town, from
a kind of inclination to entertain my curiosity, without deviating from
my fidelity to my valuable spouse. This night completing a week in
London, I solemnly resolved to indulge myself so no more; because I
could learn nothing but what I had formerly heard over and over
again, their stories being mostly the same; and because there was a de-
gree of depravity in associating with them, and, as the idea of the dis-

5 Benjamin Franklin, Colonial Agent in England for Pennsylvania, visited Sir
Alexander Dick at Prestonfield about 1759 and if he did not meet Boswell then,
had met him by 4 May 1768, when Sir John Pringle brought him to BoswelTs
lodgings in London.

6 Andrew Kippis was the editor of the second edition of Biographia Britcmnica,
1778-1793.

7 Joseph Priestley, scientist and Unitarian theologian, first described oxygen
("dephlogisticated air") in a letter of 1772 addressed to Sir John Pringle and
read before the Royal Society. In this year also he issued a reprint of the Trial
of Edward Elwall referred to by Pringle (above, p. 60).

London, 26 March 1772 67

tance between me and them now was lessened by my seeing them
familiarly, I might fall into an infidelity which would make me very-
miserable. The heat of the theatre, eating and drinking a variety of
things some of which had not suited my constitution, and the cold of
the streets had made me ill, and when I got home I was very uneasy.

FRIDAY 27 MARCH. I awaked exceedingly distressed. Captain
Hoggan came in upon me before I got up. I rose but could hardly hold
up my head. The day was dark and rainy, which made me worse.
Honest Hoggan truly sympathized with me. I sent to General Paoli
for his coach and Hoggan and I took a drive in Hyde Park. This did
me good. But I was still in a sad state. I set Hoggan down at his lodg-
ings and then drove to the House of Peers. I heard Lord Advocate 8 and
Mr. Rae plead in the appeal, Willock, etc., against Ouchterlony.* It
was encouraging to me to see the civility and mild attention with
which the Chancellor 1 and Lord Mansfield behaved. I thought I
should be under no uneasiness in pleading at that bar. I dined at Gen-
eral Paoli's, but was not yet recovered. I was invited to a rout at Mrs.
Bosville's this evening; but Joseph not having come in to get me things
for dressing till it was rather too late concurred with my indisposition,
and I stayed quietly at home writing this my JournaL

SATU RDAY 2 8 MARCH . Mr. John Wright came to me in the morn-
ing by appointment to settle his father's case in the appeal, Wright
against Ure. 2 After so much variety, though I can hardly call it dissi-
pation, I felt the force of Shakespeare's observation that "if all the

8 James William Montgomery (created a baronet in 1801) was Lord Advocate
of Scotland, 1766-1775. He will figure prominently in BoswelFs Journal for the
summer of 1774.

9 Like the cause of the Caithness Peerage mentioned above, p. 61, and like the
appeals of Bruce of Kinross and of the Earl of Home which Boswell hears later
this spring (below, pp. 92, 95, 99, 101, 102), Willock, etc., against Ouchterlony
was a case which illustrated and tested the laws of succession and inheritance.

1 Lord Apsley, later Earl Bathurst; he has been called the least competent Lord
Chancellor of the century.

2 This is probably John Wright, a teacher of law and mathematics in Edin-
burgh, a man of "low origin," whom Boswell in 1781 supported in his getting
admission to the Faculty of Advocates. On i May 1772 the House of Lords
affirmed the decision of the Court of Session against Wright's father, Thomas, of
Easter Glins, the appellant. He was ordered to pay the respondents 80 for costs.

68 London, 28 March 1772

year were holidays, to work would be to play." 8 Working at this case
solaced me. As we were going on, in came Sir Alexander Macdonald
and Major Craufurd of Craufurdland,* and they all breakfasted with 8
me, I sitting in my nightcap, and they observing that I was like my
father. I indeed felt myself very steady and very composed. The Major
made me a very jenteel offer. He said if I would stand candidate for
the shire of Ayr at next election, he would pass a charter 6 and give me
his vote. He went away. Sir Alexander sat a little with Wright and me
while we settled our case, and he helped us in correcting the English.
He went away for a while. We finished it, and he returned and then
he and I walked up to Mr. Johnson's. Mr. Johnson had said to me, "I
should wish to be acquainted with Sir Alexander Macdonald." Every
wish of Mr. Johnson's is watched by me, and my friend Sir Alexander
was happy to be introduced to him. So away we went.

Mr. Johnson received him very courteously. Sir Alexander, eager
to show himself, began. SIR ALEXANDER. "I think, Sir, our chancellors
in England are chosen from views much inferior to the office. They
are chosen from temporary political views." JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, in
such a government as ours no man is appointed to an office because he
is the fittest for it. Nor hardly in any other government; because there
are so many connexions and dependencies to be studied. A despotic
prince may choose a man to an office because he is the fittest for it The
King of Prussia may do it." SIR ALEXANDER. "I mean, Sir, that chancel-
lors must be subservient to the Court, and will be turned out if they do
not acquiesce in everything." JOHNSON. "No, Sir. What chancellors

9 1 Henry IV, I. ii. 228-229:

If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work.

4 A veteran of Dettingen, Fontenoy, and Quebec, promoted lieutenant-colonel
later in this year. He is said to have been put at the bottom of the army list for
having held one corner of the cloth that received the head of the Earl of Kil-
marnock at his execution after the '45.

5 Eight pages, removed for the Life of Johnson, are restored. See above, p. 4171. 7.

6 Would take legal steps to qualify as a voter, which he had hitherto neglected
to do. See below, pp. 201-202. In consequence of the severe limitation of the
franchise, there were at this time only about one hundred registered voters in
Ayrshire. How Boswell would have qualified as a candidate is not clear. His
lands of Dalblair (purchased in 1767) did not carry a vote.

London, 28 March 1772 69

were turned out?" BOSWELL. "Why, Lord Camden, Sir." JOHNSON.
"Lord Camden, Sir, is but a single instance; and besides a more worth-
less fellow, take him out of his legal capacity, the earth does not bear.
I believe he is a man of parts; but he is a man who courted the rabble
to get into office, and when in office opposed the King. He did ill to get
into office, and did ill after he was in office.*' SIR ALEXANDER. "I
think it was wrong in him to sit to his picture, and have it put up in
Guildhall." BOSWELL. "It was wrong in him to accept of applause for
having given judgement in a manner agreeable to the people. Ap-
plause ought only to be received for something which depends on the
will. Now a judge ought to have no will in determining a cause. It is
only a matter of judgement 1 ' 7 JOHNSON. "Sir, you understand the
thing very well." SIR ALEXANDER. "I think, Sir, almost all great law-
yers, such now as have written upon law, have known only law and
nothing else." JOHNSON. "Why no, Sir. Judge Hale was a great law-
yer and wrote upon law; and yet he knew a great many other things
and has written upon other things. Selden too." SIR ALEXANDER.
"Very true, Sir. And Lord Bacon. But was not Lord Coke a mere law-
yer?" JOHNSON. "Why, I'm afraid he was. But he'd have taken it very
ill if you had told him so. He would have prosecuted you for scandal."
BOSWELL. "Pray, Sir, whether do you pronounce it Lord Coke or Lord
Cooke?" JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, we pronounce it Lord Cooke." 8 BOS-
WELL. "Lord Mansfield is not a mere lawyer." JOHNSON. "No, Sir. I
never was in Lord Mansfield's company. But, Sir, Lord Mansfield was
distinguished at the University. Lord Mansfield when he came first to

7 Charles Pratt, Lord Camden, was a Whig, who before his first government ap-
pointment had argued that juries were competent to determine law as well as
facts in cases of seditious libel; while Attorney General he carried through the
House of Commons a bill for extending the Habeas Corpus Act to civil cases. As
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas he ruled, in the case of John Wilkes and oth-
ers, that the Government's use of general warrants was unconstitutional, and
when raised to the peerage spoke in the House of Lords against the Stamp Act
and taxation without representation. He became almost as popular with the
people as Wilkes himself. The Mayor and Corporation of London gave him the
freedom of the City in a gold box and commissioned Reynolds to paint his por-
trait. He became Lord Chancellor in 1766 on the formation of Chatham's second
administration, and was turned out in 1770. Johnson's vigorous denunciation
of Camden was omitted from the Life of Johnson.

8 Coke is, in fact, merely an old-fashioned spelling for Cook.

70 London, 28 March 1772

town 'drank champagne with the wits,' as Prior says. He was the
friend of Pope." SIR ALEXANDER. "The bar is not so abusive as it was
formerly. I fancy they had less law long ago, and so were obliged to
take to abuse to fill up the time. Now they have such a number of pre-
cedents, they have no occasion for abuse." JOHNSON. "Nay, Sir, they
had more law long ago than they have now. As to precedents, to be
sure they will increase in course of time. But the more precedents
there are, the less occasion is there for law; that is to say, the less occa-
sion is there for investigating principles. Is it not so, Bozzy ? ' ' BOSWELL.
"Certainly, Sir." SIR ALEXANDER. "I have been correcting several
Scotch accents in my friend Boswell. I doubt, Sir, if any Scotchman
ever attains to a perfect English pronunciation." JOHNSON. "Why,
Sir, few of 'em do; because they do not persevere after attaining to a
certain degree of perfection. But, Sir, there can be no doubt that they
may attain to a perfect English pronunciation if they will. We find
how far they attain to it; and there can be no doubt that a man who
conquers nineteen parts of the Scottish accent may conquer the twen-
tieth. But, Sir, when a man has got the better of nine tenths, he grows
weary, he relaxes his diligence, he finds he has corrected his accent so
far as not to be disagreeable, and he no longer desires his friends to
tell him when he goes wrong; nor does he choose to be told. Sir, when
people watch me narrowly, and I do not watch myself, they will find
me out to be of a particular county. In the same manner Dunning may
be found out to be a Devonshire man. So most Scotchmen may be
found out. But, Sir, little defalcations do not hurt I never catched
Mallet in a Scotch accent; and yet Mallet, I suppose, was past five-
and-twenty before he came to London."

BOSWELL. "It may be of use, Sir, to have a dictionary to ascertain
the pronunciation." JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, my dictionary shows you
the accents of words if you can but remember them." BOSWELL. "But,
Sir, we want marks to ascertain the pronunciation of the vowels.
Sheridan, I believe, has finished such a work." JOHNSON. "Why, Sir,
will you consider how much easier it is to learn a language by the ear
than by any marks. Sheridan's dictionary may do very well.* But you

* Thomas Sheridan (1719-1788), actor, manager of the Theatre Royal in Dub-
lin, lecturer on elocution, and author, was the father of the dramatist Richard
Brinsley Sheridan. His General Dictionary of the English Language was an-

London, 28 March 1 772 71

cannot always carry it about with you; and when you want the word,
you have not the dictionary. It is like a man who has a sword that will
not draw. It is an admirable sword, to be sure. But while your enemy
is cutting your throat, you cannot draw this sword. Besides, Sir, what
entitles Sheridan to fix the pronunciation of English? He has in the
first place the disadvantage of being an Irishman; and if he says he
will fix it after the example of the best company, why, they differ
among themselves. I remember an instance. When I published the
Plan for my dictionary, Lord Chesterfield told me the word great
should be pronounced so as to rhyme to state, and Sir William Yonge
sent me word that it should be pronounced so as to rhyme to seat and
that none but an Irishman would pronounce it grmt. Now here were
two men of the highest rank, the one the best speaker in the House of
Lords, the other the best speaker in the House of Commons, differing
so widely."

We talked of kelp. I have often observed that Mr. Johnson is very
fond of talking of manufactures, or giving any instruction as to mat-
ters of utility. He advised Sir Alexander to refine his kelp to such a
degree, before putting it on board a ship, that it might be put up in
hogsheads and so be much safer from damage and cost much less
freight.

I went home with Sir Alexander to dinner. He observed that a
man should never interrupt another in conversation; because the man
who is interrupted will only wait with eagerness to get in again, and
while the other is talking will be thinking of what he himself is to
say, and consequently the interrupter will be talking to no purpose.
This is a just and good practical remark. There was nobody at dinner
but my Lady and he and I. After dinner he and I took a walk in the
fields, and met a Colonel Donald 1 Campbell returned from the East
Indies, where he had been twenty years, and had received twenty
wounds. 2

nounced in 1762 and published in 1780. He had tutored Boswell in pronuncia-
tion. Johnson had a low opinion of him and was in the habit of alluding to him
as "Sherry" and then as "Sherry deny."

1 The fourth newly recovered portion of the Journal ends with this word. See
above, p. 4172. 7.

2 Colonel Campbell was of Glensaddell. Fourteen sword wounds and a musket

72 London, 28 March 1772

We called together at Dempster's, who was gone abroad and had
left his dining-room in perfect Scotch confusion. Colonel Campbell
had some drollery, and I made him dictate; and partly from his dic-
tating, partly from my own observation, I wrote down the following
inventary of a Scotch Member of Parliament's dining-room furniture:
Upon one table a stone basin with dirty water; a china goglet, as
Campbell called it, or water-bottle with water in it; a case of razors;
a shaving-brush, shaving-box and soap-ball, a strap, and a tin jug for
warming water in. Upon one chair a pair of ruffles, dirty. Upon an-
other chair a pair of white stockings and a pair of black ditto, a stock,
a clothes-brush, a towel, and a shaving-cloth, dirty. Upon the arms
of two chairs placed close together a flannel waistcoat without sleeves.
Upon another chair a dirty shirt Upon another ditto a black waist-
coat and a grey frock with black buttons. Upon another ditto four
combs, a pair of scissors, and a stick of pomatum. Upon the carpet a
large piece of blue and white check spread out, a tea-chest, two shoes
at a considerable distance from each other, a flannel powdering-gown,
a pair of slippers. Upon the chimney-piece innumerable packets of
letters and covers to be franked, a book, a pamphlet, some newspapers,
and a snuff-box. Hanging upon brass nails two hats, a sword and belt,
a belt without a sword. Standing in a corner a very long cane with a
gold head. Dempster's eldest black 3 could not well understand what
we were about. We drank tea at Sir Alexander's. I then went to Mr.
Johnson's. He was not come home half an hour past nine. I walked
on to Mr. Dilly's, sat with him half an hour or so, and eat a crust of
bread and drank a glass of wine.

I returned to Mr. Johnson about eleven. He was in excellent good
humour and I ventured to lead him upon the subject of a future state,
as to which Lady Colville and I have talked together of, having much
curiosity to know his ideas. He said, "Why, Sir, the happiness of an
unembodied spirit will consist in a consciousness of the favour of God,
in the contemplation of truth, and in the possession of felicitating
ideas." BOSWELL. "But, Sir, there is no harm in our forming to our-

ball in the body, all received by him at the siege of Madura, 1763, are duly
recorded by Major Sir Duncan Campbell of Barcaldine, Records of Clan Camp-
bell in the Military Service of the Honourable East India Company 1600-1858,
pp. 88-92.
Here eight more pages, removed for the Life of Johnson, are now restored.

London, 28 March 1772 73

selves conjectures as to the nature and particulars of our happiness,
though the Scripture has said but very little of it 'We know not what
we shall be.* " JOHNSON. "Sir, there is no harm. So far as philosophy
suggests, it is probable. So far as Scripture tells us, it is certain. Dr.
Henry More has carried it as far as philosophy can. You may buy
both his theological and philosophical works in two volumes in folio
for about eight shillings.'* BOSWELL. "One of the most pleasing
thoughts is that we shall see our friends again.'* JOHNSON. "Yes, Sir;
but you must consider that when we are become purely rational,
many of our friendships will be cut off. Many friendships are formed
by a community of sensual pleasures. All these will be cut off. We
form many friendships with bad men because they have agreeable
qualities and they can be useful to us; but after death they can no
longer be of use to us. We form many friendships by mistake, imagin-
ing people to be different from what they really are. After death we
shall see every one in a just light. Then, Sir, they talk of our meeting
our relations. But then all relationship is dissolved; and we shall have
no regard for one person more than another, but for their real value.*'
I was struck with the novelty of the thought; it was at least new to
me; and if one could separate the adventitious ideas of this transitory
state from those which must endure for ever, the thought would ap-
pear to be just "Sir," said he, "we shall either have the satisfaction
of meeting our friends or be satisfied without meeting them." BOS-
WELL. "Yet, Sir, we see in Scripture that Dives still retained an anxious
concern about his brethren." 4 JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, we must either
suppose that passage to be metaphorical or hold with many divines
and all the Purgatorians that souls do not all at once arrive at great
perfection." BOSWELL. "I think, Sir, that is a very rational supposi-
tion." JOHNSON. "Why yes, Sir; but we are not told it is a true one.
There is no harm in believing it But you must not compel others to
make it an article of faith, because it is not revealed.*' BOSWELL. "Do
you think, Sir, there would be any harm in a man's praying for the
souls of his deceased Mends if he holds the doctrine of purgatory?"
JOHNSON. "Why no, Sir." BOSWELL. "I have been told that in the
liturgy of the Episcopal Church of Scotland there was a form of prayer
for the dead." JOHNSON. "Sir, it is not in the liturgy which Laud
framed for the Episcopal Church of Scotland. If there is a liturgy
4 Luke 16. 19-28 ("Dives" is the Vulgate Latin for "rich man").

74 London, 28 March 1772

older than that, I should be glad to see it" BOSWELL. "As to our em-
ployment in a future state, revelation indeed says little. The Revela-
tion indeed of St John gives us many ideas, and particularly mentions
music." JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, ideas must be given you by means of
something which you know; and as to music, there are some philoso-
phers and divines who have maintained that we shall not be spirit-
ualized to such a degree but what something material though of
matter very much refined will remain. In that case we may have
music."

BOSWELL. "I don't know if there are any well-attested stories of
the appearance of ghosts. You know there is a famous story of the ap-
pearance of Mrs. Veal prefixed to Drelincourt on Death." JOHNSON.
"I believe, Sir, that is given up. I believe the woman declared upon
her death-bed that it was a lie." 5 BOSWELL. "This objection is made
against the truth of ghosts appearing: that if they are in a state of
happiness, it would be punishing them to bring them to this world;
and if they are in a state of misery, it would be giving them a respite."
JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, as the happiness or misery of an unembodied
spirit does not depend upon place but is intellectual, we cannot say
that they are less happy or less miserable by appearing upon earth."

We \yent down between twelve and one to Mrs. Williams's room
and drank tea. I mentioned that we were to have the remains of Mr.
Gray in prose and verse, published by Mr. Mason. JOHNSON. "I think
we have had enough of him. I see they have published a splendid edi-
tion of Akenside's works. One bad ode may be suffered; but a number
of 'em together makes one sick." BOSWELL. "Akenside's distinguished
poem is his Pleasures of the Imagination* But for my part I never
could admire it so much as most people do." JOHNSON. "Sir, I could

5 Defoe's True Relation of the Apparition of Mrs. Veal to Mrs. "Bar grave (appar-
ently a journalistic rendering of a ghost story which was circulating in London
in 1705) was prefixed to the fifth edition, 1707, of the English translation of
Charles Drelincourt's treatise, The Christian's Defence against the Fears of
Death. The two were published together during the rest of the century.
Mark Akenside (1721-1770) became physician to Christ's Hospital in 1759
and to the Queen in 1761. The best of his minor poems, Hymn to the Naiads,
was published in Dodsley's Collection of Poems, 1758. His blank-verse The
Pleasures of Imagination, 1744-1757, pursues themes of neo-Platonic, pictorial,
and associationist aesthetics made current earlier in the century by Shaftesbury,
Addison, and Hutcheson.

London, 28 March 1 772 75

not read it through." BOSWEIX. "I have read it through, but I did not
find any great power or warmth in it."

I mentioned Mr. Elwall, whose trial Sir John Pringle gave me.
JOHNSON. "Sir, Mr. Elwall was, I think, an ironmonger at Wolver-
hampton, and he had a mind to make himself famous by being the
founder of a new sect which he wished much should be called Elwal-
lians. He held that everything in the Old Testament that was not
typical 1 was to be of perpetual observance; and so he wore a ribband
in the plaits of his coat, and he also wore a beard. I remember I had
the honour of dining in company with Mr. ElwalL There was one
Barter, a miller, who wrote against him; and so you had *the contro-
versy between Mr. Elwall and Mr. Barter/ To try to make himself
distinguished, he wrote a letter to King George the Second, challeng-
ing him to dispute with him, in which he said, 'George, if you be
afraid to come by yourself to dispute with a poor old man, you may
bring a thousand of your blackguards with you; and if you should still
be afraid, you may bring a thousand of your red guards.' The letter
had something of the impudence of Junius to this King.* But the men
of Wolverhampton were not so inflammable as the Common Council
of London, so Mr. Elwall 9 failed in his scheme of making himself a
man of consequence."

I regretted that sitting up late hurt my health; otherwise I would
have continued much longer listening to Mr. Johnson, whose con-
versation is truly admirable both for instruction and entertainment
I got home about two in the morning. I got the watch to light me along
the streets till I met with a hackney-coach. Saturday night is the worst
for meeting bad company on the streets of London.

SUNDAY 29 MARCH. Having received a kind invitation to break-

7 Symbolic.

8 "Junius" was the pseudonym of a political writer who contributed to The Pub-
lic Advertiser from 21 January 1769 to 21 January 1772 a series of letters which
aimed to discredit the ministry of the Duke of Grafton and to secure the return
to power of the Earl of Chatham. In an artificial but vigorous style he poured
vitriolic abuse on Grafton, the Duke of Bedford, Lord Chief Justice Mansfield,
and King George HI himself. The author's own collected edition of the letters
had just appeared. It seems highly probable that Junius was Sir Philip Francis
(1740-1818).

The fifth of the newly recovered fragments of the Journal ends with this word.
See p. 4172. 7.

76 London, 29 March 1772

fast with the Honourable Mrs. Stuart, an old and intimate friend of
my wife's, 10 1 accepted it with pleasure. She lived in Queen's Street,
Mayfair. Before she appeared, I looked out at the window and saw
almost opposite the late Lord Eglinton's house in this street, where he
lived when I came first to London, where I lived with him, and where
I first learnt the knowledge of life in this metropolis. The many happy
days which I have passed there and the recollection of his unhappy
death affected me much as I mused by myself. 1 Mr. Stuart was in the
country. Mrs. Stuart was in bad health but had a pleasing look, re-
vived agreeable ideas of her as Peggie Cunynghame, and was very en-
tertaining. She had two fine little girls for her children, who were
brought into the room, I really believe more from real affection for
them than to avoid any scandal by sitting alone with a gentleman. I
don't remember how we introduced the subject of matrimonial in-
fidelity. She candidly declared that from what she had seen of life
in this great town she would not be uneasy at an occasional infidelity
in her husband, as she did not think it at all connected with affection.
That if he kept a particular woman, it would be a sure sign that he had
no affection for his wife; or if his infidelities were very frequent, it
would also be a sign. But that a transient fancy for a girl, or being led
by one's companions after drinking to an improper place, was not to
be considered as inconsistent with true affection. I wish this doctrine
may not have been only consolatory and adapted to facts. I told her I
was very happy; that I had never known I was married, having taken
for my wife my cousin and intimate friend and companion; so that I
had nothing at all like restraint.

Mrs. Stuart has a great deal of lively humour. She gave me a most
characteristical anecdote of an English pedant, Dr. Smith, the present

10 A niece of BoswelTs friends the tenth and eleventh Earls of Eglinton, she was
married to James Archibald Stuart, younger brother of Boswell's friend Lord
Mountstuart. For reasons now unknown, Boswell had frowned upon his fian-
ceVs intimacy with her. In later years he himself came to have a high senti-
mental regard for her.

1 See above, p. i. Though Boswell did not live in Eglinton's house during his
second visit to London, he visited it many times. See BoswelFs London Journal,
1762-1763. Eglinton was shot and killed by a poacher in October 1769. The in-
cident was described for Boswell in a letter from his fiancee (Boswell in Search
of a Wife, 1766-1769, 24 October 1769).

London, 29 March 1772 77

Head Master of Westminster School. Lady Percy* and she were going
to see the procession of the Princess of Wales's funeral, and were to
have places in Dr. Blair's, one of the prebendaries of Westminster,
from whose windows they could see it well. There was so great a crowd
that they could not get their carriage forward to Dr. Blair's. So they
stopped at Dr. Smith's door, sent up their names, and begged leave
only to walk through his house to Dr. Blair's. They heard him answer
the servant, "It cannot be. I will not let them go through; I'll do
nothing to oblige the Dean and Chapter." It would seem that there
had been some quarrel between him and the Dean and Chapter. But
his thinking of that, and conducting himself sternly with a view to it
while two pretty, young, agreeable ladies were waiting with impa-
tience for the favour only of being allowed to pass through his house
and could not reasonably be supposed to have any connexion with the
Dean and Chapter, was truly ludicrous. They persisted in their request
till at last Dr. Smith himself came downstairs and opened his back
door, saying, "Well, you may go through. But remember, 'tis not to
oblige the Dean and Chapter."

My old friend 3 Archie Stewart, Sir Michael Stewart's youngest
son, came in; but was in a very bad state of health, having a rheuma-
tism of a very violent kind. It had made one of his legs longer than the
other, so that he was quite lame; and he was even bowed down to a
great degree. He told me he had now got a fortune in Tobago* of about
20,000. I understood too that he had been successful at play this
winter. He showed us 800 which he had picked up the night before.

1 dined with DOUGLAS. Castle Semple, 5 Laird Heron 6 and several more

2 Her sister-in-law. Lady Anne Stuart, third daughter of the Earl of Bute, mar-
ried (1764) Hugh Percy, later second Duke of Northumberland, but was di-
vorced by him in 1779.

3 The friendship dated back to 1763, when Stewart, who was then settled in Rot-
terdam as a merchant, had been very kind to Boswell while Boswell was suffer-
ing an attack of intense melancholy.

* He was killed there in 1779 while repulsing some American privateers.
William McDowall.

6 Patrick Heron of Kirroughtrie had two months earlier (23 January) divorced
Jean Home, daughter of Lord Kames. Heron was a chief promoter of the Doug-
las, Heron, and Company Bank, the collapse of which during 1772 and 1773
ruined so many shareholders, including Andrew Crosbie. See below, p. 222,
for Heron's second courtship in the summer of 1774.

7 8 London, 29 March 1772

Scotch were there. We were elegantly entertained. I told him it made
all a part of the general system with me who looked back on the Cause.
He should look back too. It would do him good. T

I went to Lord Mansfield's in the evening. Lord Mountstuart had
told me that Lord Mansfield was so angry at me for having in some
degree spoken well of Wilkes at his levee in spring 1 768, the last time
I saw his Lordship, though Lord Oxford only was present, that he had
declared he would never let me into his house again. This was not well
in Lord Mansfield, if true; for I doubt Lord Mountstuart has been
mistaken.* As it is of some consequence to counsel who are to appear
at the bar of the House of Lords to be well with his Lordship, I resolved
to try how he would receive me. He took me by the hand, and seemed
as courteous as I could wish. LORD MANSFIELD. "How does your father
do?" BOSWELL. "I thank your Lordship." LORD MANSFIELD. "How long
have you been in town?" BOSWELL. "About a fortnight, my Lord. I
should have been sooner to pay my respects to your Lordship, but was
afraid of intruding upon you." LORD MANSFIELD. "Glad to see you, Sir,
at all times." I think this was enough. 9

Dr. Mounsey, our Scotch Russian, 1 and some other gentleman
were in the room. By degrees there was a succession of people, mostly
Scotch; the Duke of Queensbeny, Lord Adam Gordon, General Scott, 2
Sir William Hamilton Ambassador to Naples, 3 Mr. Stewart Mon-

r Douglas disliked all reference to the Cause which had called his filiation in
question, and finally broke with Boswell when Boswell, in The Journal of a
Tour to the Hebrides, published Johnson's sceptical comment on the matter,

8 See Boswell in Search of a Wife, i?66-ij69, 22 May 1768.

9 He later decided, however, that Mansfield really was angry. A copy of a letter
to Mansfield among the Boswell papers at Yale, 14 February 1783, begins, "I
reckon myself unlucky in having had less of your Lordship's attention than
others not better entitled to it. I have been informed that I gave you offence
several years ago by speaking too favourably in your presence of the gay and
classical John Wilkes. Nihil est ab omni parte beatum [no situation in life is in
all respects happy Horace, Odes, II. xvi. 27-28] . I regret never having been
invited to Kenwood, or to share any of the social hours of Pope's Murray, which
few could have relished more than myself."

1 James Mounsey of Bammerscales had been physician to the Empress Elizabeth

of Russia.

* Major-General John Scott of Balcomie, M.P. 1754-1775, at this time for Fife.

He was a noted gambler.

3 Husband (1791) of Romney's famous friend and model and Nelson's mistress,

William Murray, first Earl of Mansfield (i75-*793)
an oil painting by John Singleton Copley, 1783, in
the National Portrait Gallery, London

London, 29 March 1 772 79

crieffe, Sir James Steuart, 4 Solicitor Dundas,* etc. There were also
some English. I could not but smile within myself when my Lord Ox-
ford came in. e Lord Harrington was there. It was curious to see him
and Lord Mansfield together, whom I have seen so much abused in
the newspapers. A report of several people having been killed in a
sort of mob in the north of Ireland was mentioned. Lord Mansfield.,
smiling and addressing himself to Lord Barrington, said, "This beats
St. George's Fields all to nothing." What would Junius, what would
the Patriots, as they call themselves, have said had they been present!
The massacre of St. George's Fields 7 has been a bloody and terrible
charge against Lord Harrington in particular, and much, too, against
Lord Mansfield. Many of the English would suppose that the great
culprits would grow pale at hearing the very name of St. George's
Fields; and yet here were they making it a point, a j st, in conversa-
tion. Satire is like a nettle. If you touch it gently and timidly, it will
sting you. But if you come boldly up and seize it firmly, it is crushed
and becomes quite harmless.

After Mr. Moncrieffe went out, we talked of his sumptuous enter-
tainments. "I hope," said Sir James Steuart, "he will never again ask
me to dine with him. He asked me twice and both times I took the

Emma. On his visit to England this year, Hamilton sold his collection of Greek
and Roman antiquities to the British Museum for a Parliamentary grant of
8,400,

* Better known as Denham, the name which he assumed in 1773. A Jacobite
who had received his formal pardon and had been received at Court in the
preceding December; author of the first considerable work in English on eco-
nomics, 1767.

5 BoswelTs college-mate at Edinburgh, brother of the Lord President of the Court
of Session and son of a former Lord President, had been appointed Solicitor-
General for Scotland at the age of twenty-four. See below, p. 235/1. 2.

* Possibly because Oxford had spread the story that Mansfield would never ad-
mit Boswell again.

T This occurred on 10 May 1768, when troops fired into a mob in St George's
Fields who had gathered on a rumour that Wilkes was to be released from
prison in order to be present at the opening of Parliament. Harrington was Sec-
retary at War and publicly supported the action of the troops. Mansfield, Chief
Justice of the Court of King's Bench, was very unpopular because he usually
upheld the royal prerogative, and was much jostled by the crowd on his way
to Westminster Hall on 8 June to decide the question of Wilkes's outlawry. His
verdict in favour of a reversal was widely attributed to fear.

8o London, zg March 1772

gout, though I did not go to his entertainments/' "Sir James," said I,
"you put me in mind of the man who had an antipathy at a cat and
felt a horror as he passed under the sign of one, though he did not see
it." The style of Lord Mansfield's levee was rather constrained. He
himself sat with his tie-wig, his coat buttoned, his legs pushed much
before him, and his heels off the ground and knocking frequently but
not hard against each other, and he talked neatly and with vivacity.
But the circle of company who sat around spoke little and low and I
thought too obsequiously. Sir James Steuart alone spoke with freedom,
I went and sat awhile with Lord Mountstuart.

MONDAY 30 MARCH. I called on Mr. Foote at his house in Suf-
folk Street, just as he got up. He was just the same man. He asked me
to dine with him at North End on Thursday. He said Lord Mansfield's
voice was a false one; that is to say, a voice which he has made to him-
self. He said Garrick's was the same (taking him off), and that his
brother George and his very servants all imitated it. "My master, Sir,
is not at home" (taking them off) . Foote showed his usual inclination
to attack Garrick. He took off his aw-aw-aw hesitating way of speak-
ing, which is indeed strange, and added, "Sir, a man born never to
finish a sentence." He said he lately made an extempore epigram upon
him, as being perpetually playing a part:

Garrick's the greatest actor of the age;
For Garrick acts both on and off the stage.

I breakfasted with Archie Stewart. I had an immense satisfaction
in comparing myself now with the wretched being that I was when he
entertained me most kindly and humanely at his house in Rotterdam.
I was then so low-spirited, melancholy, hypochondriac, or whatever
other name the affliction may have, that I was at times quite gone,
and even when easy despaired of ever being well. 8 Now I am firm and
cheerful and contented in general, and very rarely does a cloud darken
my mind. Stewart carried me in his chariot to the House of Lords to
hear the appeal, Willock, etc., against Ouchterlony. He left me there
and I heard it out; and then had the pleasure of hearing Lord Mans-
field speak, which I had never had before. He reversed the decree of

8 See Boswell in Holland, 1763-1764, i August-8 September 1763.

London, 30 March 1772 81

the Lords of Session with an ease that gave me somewhat a disagree-
able feeling of his supreme power over the property of Scotland. I was,
however, charmed with the precision of his ideas, the clearness of his
arrangement, the elegant choice and fluency of his language, and the
distinct, forcible, and melodious expression of his voice. I recollected
the excellent reversal of DOUGLAS, to comfort us under the idea of his
supreme power; and, as an ancient Scotsman, it pleased me to see a
younger son of the family of Stormont in so exalted a situation. The
Chancellor did not speak.

I dined at St. Clement's Coffee-house with my good friend Mr.
William Wilson and Mr. George Urquhart, the solicitor. Mr. Urqu-
hart spoke to me strongly to come to the English bar. I argued against
it. But was pleased to hear him, because I really do often wish to do it.
Mr. Johnson is not against it; and says my having any Scotch accent
would be but for a little while. My only objection is that I have a kind
of idea of Scottish patriotism that makes me think it a duty to spend
my money in my own country. Auchinleck indeed is my great object;
and I have a notion I might be as much there if I were at the English
bar as I can be while I practise in the Court of Session. Business is be-
come necessary for me; and I had better follow it where I can make a
great fortune by it than where I can make but little. But then I should
be leaving a certainty of tolerable business for an incertainty, the
consequence of which might either be success or disappointment. In
this manner do I meditate on the subject, without its having any real
influence upon my conduct. I am however resolved to go through the
form of being called to the English bar. I went home and wrote my
Journal all the evening.

TUESDAY 3 1 MARCH. I called on Mr. Garrick at his house in the
Adelphi. I found him like a little minister of state, standing in the
middle of a room, hurried and surrounded with several people, and
among them old Cleland, in his youth the author of the Woman of
Pleasure* that most licentious and inflaming book, and now the grave
and prolix Parliamentarian in the newspapers. He is the son of Major
Cleland, the Will Honeycomb of the Spectator. He is a fine sly mal-
content. Garrick was talking vainly of his being appointed the ex-
ecutor of a clergyman by "that great man, Lord Camden." "Not a very
9 Better known as Fanny Hill

8a London, 31 March 1772

great man," grumbled Cleland. I saw Mr, Garrick was not at leisure,

so I went and breakfasted at the Mount Coffee-house.

I called on General Oglethorpe 1 and left a card telling him that
Mr. Samuel Johnson and I were to dine at General Paoli's, where he
would please send and let us know if he would be at home in the eve-
ning, as we would in that case drink tea with him. I went and called
on Mr. Johnson, and he and I came to General Paoli's in a hackney-
coach. As we came along he said that the wonderful expedition with
which houses were built was one of the things that struck him most
on his coming to London. We were very happy at General Paoli's.
There was nobody else there but Count Gentili, who is of his house-
hold. It was no small disadvantage that the General did not well un-
derstand Mr. Johnson and could not well answer him. However, by
my aid as an interpreter, things did pretty well.

We disputed if marriage was natural. The General maintained
it was. "My dear Sir," said Mr. Johnson, "it is so far 2 from being easy
and natural for a man and woman to live in a state of marriage that
we find all the restraints and motives in civilized society are hardly
sufficient to keep them together." The General said that in a state of
nature a man and woman first uniting together would form a strong
and constant affection by the mutual pleasure which each then re-
ceived; and that they had not the causes of difference which occur be-
tween husband and wife in civilized life. "Sir," said Mr. Johnson,
"they would have differences, though of another kind. One would
choose to go a hunting in this wood; the other in that; one would
choose to go a fishing in this lake, the other in that; or perhaps one
would choose to go a hunting when the other would choose to go a
fishing; and so they would part. Besides, a savage man and a savage
woman meet by chance; and when the man sees another woman that
pleases him better, he would leave the first."

This led into a disquisition on the dispute whether there is any
beauty independent of utility. The General maintained there was not.
Mr. Johnson maintained that there was; and he instanced a coffee-
cup which he held in his hand, the painting of which was of no real

1 General James Edward Oglethorpe (1696-1785), founder of the colony of

Georgia, 1732, had introduced himself to Boswell in the spring of 1768.

* Here six pages, removed by Boswell for the Life of Johnson, are now restored.

London, 31 March 1772 83

use, as the cup would hold the coffee equally well if plain; yet the
painting was beautiful. The General spoke English much better than
I imagined he could do. "Sir," said Mr. Johnson, "you must speak it
before your friends, with whom you need not care though you spoil
a thought"

We talked of the practice of swearing. The General said that all
barbarous nations swore from a kind of violence of temper that could
not be confined to earth but was always reaching at the powers above.
He said too that there was greater variety of swearing in proportion as
there were among a people greater variety of religious ceremonies.

Mr. Johnson went home with me and drank tea, as no message had
come from General Oglethorpe. He said he thought General Paoli had
lost somewhat of that grandeur in his air and manner which he had
when he came first to England. The observation is just, and the fact
is easily accounted for. When he came first here, he was just arrived
from being at the head of a nation. Wherever he had passed, and even
here, he was addressed in that high character. But after having been
near three years just in the style of a private gentleman, much of the
majesty of his deportment must insensibly be lost.

Mr. Johnson said Goldsmith's Life of Parnell* was poor; not that
it was poorly written but that he had poor materials; for nobody could
furnish the life of a man but those who had eat and drank and lived in
social intercourse with him.

I have a constant plan to write the life of Mr. Johnson. I have not
told him of it yet, nor do I know if I should tell him. I said that if it was
not troublesome and presuming too much, I would beg of him to tell
me all the little circumstances of his life, what schools he attended,
when he came to Oxford, when he came to London, etc., etc. He did not
disapprove of my curiosity as to these particulars, but said, "They'll
come out by degrees."

He censured Rutfhead's Life of Pope. "Sir," said he, "he knew
nothing of Pope and nothing of poetry." He praised Mr. Joseph

3 Thomas PameU (1679-1718), poet and friend of Swift and Pope, best remem-
bered for his octosyllabic Night Piece on Death. Goldsmith's Life of Parnell
appeared in 1770. Johnson, later writing a Life of Parnell for the edition of the
English poets, confessed it was a task which he would "very willingly decline."
"What such an author [as Goldsmith] has told, who would tell again? I have
made an abstract from his larger narrative."

84 London, 31 March 1772

Warton's Essay on Pope, but said he would publish no more of it, as he
had not been able to persuade the world to think of Pope as he did. 4
"Sir," said I 3 "there is no matter. He is an ingenious counsel who has
made the most of his cause; he is not obliged to win it." "But, Sir,"
said he, "there is a difference when the cause is of a man's own mak-
ing."

I expressed how happy I was at having lived to make my father
amends for what he suffered from my former folly and bad conduct
"Sir," said he, "I am glad to hear you talk so."

We spoke of the use to be made of riches. Said he, "If I was a man
of a great estate, I would drive all the rascals whom I did not like out of
the county at an election."

I consulted him whether a man should lay himself out to show
great hospitality. This was an important subject for me who would
naturally go to an excess of hospitality, both from inclination and
from a notion that it makes a man of great consequence. "Sir," said
Mr. Johnson, "you are to consider that ancient hospitality of which
we hear so much was in an uncommercial country, when men, being
idle, were glad to be entertained at rich men's tables. But in a com-
mercial country, a busy country, time becomes precious and therefore
hospitality is not so much valued. No doubt there is still room for a
certain degree of it; and a man has a satisfaction in seeing his friends
eating and drinking around him. But promiscuous hospitality is not
the way to make one's self of real influence. You must help some people
at table, before 5 others. You must ask some people how they like their
wine of tener than others. You therefore offend as many as you please.

You are like , 6 who said when he granted a favour, Tai fait dix

mecontents et un ingrat. 1T Besides, Sir, being entertained ever so well
at a man's table impresses no lasting regard or esteem. No, Sir"

4 The first volume of the Essay had been published in 1756, but the promised
second volume did not appear until 1782.

5 The sixth of the newly recovered portions of the Journal ends here. See above,
p. 41^. 7-

6 Louis XIV. In the Life Boswell filled the blank by "the French statesman."

T "I have made ten malcontents and one ingrate." Dix is the reading of the
Life; Boswell left a blank in the Journal. Voltaire, in his Siecle de Louis XJV 9
and Johnson, in quoting the remark again in his Life of Swift, give cent (a
hundred).

London, 31 March 1772 85

(speaking with a low and earnest voice) , '*you will make sure of power
and influence by lending privately sums of money to your neighbours,
perhaps at a small interest, perhaps at no interest, and always having
their bonds in your possession." This is an excellent thought I am re-
solved to practise it to a certain extent if it shall ever be in my power;
and the scheme of securing influence in the country is so admirably
adapted to my high feudal notions that I shall never forget this after-
noon when it was suggested to me by the great Mr. Samuel Johnson.
I am persuaded that in this late age it will supply the place of the old
attachment.

I told him that my father had never kept a hospitable house, that
is to say, a house where people drank as much as they pleased and
found themselves as at an inn. But, by his knowledge and good sense
and prudence he had given so many people good advice and was still
ready to do so, that he had much more influence in the country than
those who were the immediate and temporary delight of visitors. 8

I said I would employ part of my riches in educating young men
of merit. "Yes, Sir,'* said he, "provided they fall in your way; but if
you once have it understood that 9 you patronize young men of merit,
you will be harassed with solicitations. You will have multitudes
forced upon you; some will force them upon you from mistaken parti-
ality and some from downright interest without scruple, and you will
be disgraced.

"I would propagate all kinds of trees that will grow in the open
air. A greenhouse is childish. I would introduce foreign animals into
the country; for instance, the reindeer."

He said Bayes was a mighty silly character. If it was intended to
be like a particular man, it could only be diverting while that man
was remembered. But he questioned if it was like Dryden, as has been
said, as we know some of the passages said to be ridiculed were written
since The Rehearsal; at least a circumstance mentioned in the Pref-
ace. 1 I maintained that it had merit as a general satire on the conceit
of dramatic authors. But he held it very cheap.

8 This allusion to Lord Auchinleck was omitted from the Life.
* Here ten pages, removed for the Life of Johnson, are now restored.
1 In his Life of Dryden, which was written some years after the date of this con-
versation, Johnson states the view now generally accepted: that by Bayes ("the

86 London, 31 March 1772

While we were sitting, there came a card from General Oglethorpe
that he would be glad to see us, he being just then come home; but
we sent back that we were just going to the Pantheon. In a little, how-
ever, the polite old gentleman arrived himself in a chair. It was most
agreeable to find him as lively, as full of knowledge, and as full of
spirits as ever. When I was last in London he and Mr. Johnson wished
to meet, and I was to bring them together. But General Oglethorpe
having gone to the country, I was disappointed of that pleasure. Gold-
smith had brought them acquainted in my absence. "Who," said Gen-
eral Oglethorpe to Mr. Johnson, "would have thought that you would
go to worship the heathen gods?" (Alluding to our going to the Pan-
theon.) After sitting a few minutes with the General, Mr. Johnson
and I walked to the Pantheon, The coup d'oeil as the French say on
first view of it did not strike us so much as Ranelagh. The truth is
Ranelagh is of a more beautiful form; more of it, or rather indeed the
whole rotunda, appears at once. It is better lighted. However, as Mr.
Johnson observed, we saw the Pantheon in time of mourning, 2 when
there was a dull unif oraiity, whereas we saw Ranelagh when the view
was charmed with a gay profusion and variety of colours of the dif-
ferent dresses. 8 Mrs. Bosville came up to us and had some conversation
with us. Mr. Johnson said she was a mighty intelligent lady. My old
mistress Miss Blair was here, to my great surprise; for I did not know
she was in London. I felt a kind of consciousness that I had not be-

laureate") Dryden [who became laureate in 1668] was principally intended,
but that the character was in early drafts of the play aimed at Sir William
D'Avenant and Sir Robert Howard. "The design was probably to ridicule the
reigning poet, whoever he might be." Malone, in later editions of the Life,
pointed out that additions were made to The Rehearsed after it was first printed
in 1672. The play is anonymous, but is believed to have been written by the
Duke of Buckingham, with help from Samuel Butler, author of Hudibras, and
Martin Clifford, Master of the Charterhouse.
3 For the King's mother. See above, p. 60.

* Ranelagh Gardens, Chelsea, was a place of public amusement which boasted
a rotunda 150 feet in diameter, with an orchestra in the centre and boxes
around it. The Pantheon in Oxford Street, which was intended to be a "*winter
Ranelagh," had opened in the preceding January. As BoswelTs remarks indi-
cate, the chief feature of both buildings was a great rotunda in which people
promenaded.

London, 31 March 1772 87

haved altogether well to her. No man should trifle with young ladies
who are candidates for matrimony. She however behaved at least as
ill. So there's no harm done. 4 1 had great satisfaction in watchfully
and respectfully attending my revered friend through the mazes of
this magnificent place of entertainment. The grandeur of the pillars
in imitation of marble, and the elegance of the finishing in every re-
spect were well worth seeing. 6

I said there was not half a guinea's worth of pleasure in seeing it.
But Mr. Johnson observed that there was half a guinea's worth of in-
feriority to other people (or some such phrase) in not having seen it.
I said I doubted if there were many happy people there. "Yes, Sir,"
said he, "there are many happy here. There are many people here who
are watching hundreds and who think hundreds are watching them.'*

Sir Adam Fergusson 8 joined us. I presented him to Mr. Johnson.
Sir Alexander Gilmour, Mr. Fordyce, and one or two more Scottish
emigrants formed a circle round us. Sir Adam expressed some appre-
hension that the Pantheon would encourage luxury. Mr. Johnson
said he was a great friend to public amusements, for they kept people
from vice. "You now (addressing himself to me) would have been
with a wench had you not been here. Oh, I forgot you were mar-
ried."

Sir Adam threw out an idea that luxury corrupts a people and
destroys the spirit of liberty, so that they become enslaved. "Sir," said
Mr. Johnson, "that is all visionary. I would not give half a guinea
whether I should live under one form of government or another. It is
of no moment to the happiness of each individual. Why there now, the
question about general warrants made a prodigious noise, and yet had

* The tale of BoswelTs backings and fillings in the pursuit of Catherine Blair,
heiress of Adamton, fills many of the pages of Boswell in Search of a Wife, tj66-
1769. His own summary here seems candid. At one point she told him she
wished she liked him as much as she did Auchinleck. See above, p. 3.

5 "It amazed me. . . . Imagine Baalbek in all its glory! The pillars are of arti-
ficial giatto antico. The ceilings, even of the passages, are of the most beautiful
stuccos in the best taste of grotesque. The ceilings of the ball-rooms and the
panels painted like Raphael's loggias in the Vatican. A dome like the Pantheon
[in Rome], glazed. It is to cost fifty thousand pounds" (Horace Walpole to Sir
Horace Mann, 26 April 1771).

6 See below, p. 202.

88 London, 31 March 1772

you gone through England you could not have collected a farthing a
head from the people to ensure them that they should never suffer
from general warrants. 7 Sir, the danger of the abuse of power is noth-
ing to each individual. What Frenchman is prevented from passing
his life just as he pleases?" SIR ADAM. "But, Sir, in the British Constitu-
tion it is surely of importance to keep up a proper spirit in the people,
so as to preserve a proper balance against the Crown." JOHNSON. "Sir,
I perceive you are a vile Whig. Why all this childish jealousy of the
power of the Crown? The Crown has not power enough. When I say
that all governments are alike, I consider that in no government
power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it. If a sovereign
oppresses his people to a great degree, they will rise and cut off his
head. There is a remedy in human nature against tyranny that will
keep us safe under every form of government. Had not the people of
France thought themselves honoured as sharing in the brilliant ac-
tions of the reign of Louis XIV, they would not have borne him; and
we [may] say [the same] of the present King of Prussia's people."
Sir Adam brought in the ancient Romans and Greeks. "Sir," said Mr.
Johnson, "the mass of both of them were barbarians. The mass of
every people must be barbarous where there is no printing and conse-
quently knowledge is not generally diffused. Knowledge is diffused
among our people by the newspapers." Sir Adam mentioned the
orators, poets, and artists of Greece. "Sir," said Johnson, "I am talking
of the mass of the people. We see even the Athenians, what strange
work they made of it." Demosthenes' s orations were mentioned. "Sir,"
said Mr. Johnson, "the little effect those orations had upon them shows
they were barbarians." He was very loud and violent.

Sir Adam was unlucky in his topics; for he suggested a doubt of
the propriety of bishops being peers. "How so, Sir?" said Mr. Johnson.
"Who is more proper for having the dignity of a peer than a bishop,
providing a bishop be what he ought to be; and if improper bishops
be made, that is not the fault of the bishops but of those who make

T The question had arisen when in 1763 John Wilkes, author of the attack on
Lord Bute in The North Briton, No. 45, was arrested on a warrant which did
not name him specifically or describe him with any precision. Chief Justice
Pratt (Lord Camden) declared such a warrant to be "unconstitutional, illegal,
and absolutely void." See above, p. 6971. 7.

London, 31 March 1772 89

them." He was disgusted by Sir Adam and called him to me a narrow
Whig with just the commonplace arguments. I, however, told him
afterwards that Sir Adam was a man who distinguished himself by
his regard for religion, though his politics were bad. **0 Sir," said Mr.
Johnson, "politics go but a little way with me in comparison of re-
ligion. I forgive him his politics for his religion."

Mr. Johnson and I drank some tea together. He then met with a
Mrs. Horneck and a very pretty girl, a Miss Horneck.* They engaged
to take care of him. I saw him fairly into their coach, and then I came
home.

WEDNESDAY i APRIL. I breakfasted at Lord Elibank's. He said
Paterculus had well observed that Cicero and Virgil had spoiled or
rather stopped oratory and poetry at Rome. So Shakespeare had put
a stop to all great tragic poetry in England. The reason is when men
of real genius see a thing carried to* the highest pitch of perfection,
they think it is not worth their while to do anything, because fame is
preoccupied. They cannot hope for distinguished excellence, so they
leave the field to inferior geniuses who have not such high ambition.
Mr. Johnson had said, "Sir, I never am with Lord Elibank but I learn
something from him." I told my Lord this, and he was much pleased.
I dined at Sir John Pringle's, just he and I and Duncan Forbes, 1 easy
and comfortable. I drank tea at Mrs. Strange's, 2 and came quietly
home.

THURSDAY 2 APRIL. Mr. Archibald Macdonald breakfasted with
me. Lord Eglinton and Major Hunter and Crosbie came and chatted

8 Goldsmith's friends, and already old friends of Johnson's. Gibbon, writing to
his friend Holroyd in 1774, speaks of their seeing Mrs. Horneck at the Pantheon.

9 The seventh newly recovered fragment of the Journal ends here. See above,
p. 4irc. 7.

1 Surgeon to the Second Troop of Horse Guards. It was he who directed the
clearing of Boswell's constitution before his marriage.

2 Isabella Strange, besides being an extremely distant cousin of BoswelTs, was
sister to his friend Andrew Lumisden, who was Secretary to the Old Pretender
and had shown Boswell many kindnesses when he was at Rome. Her husband,
the distinguished engraver Robert Strange (later knighted), had also been out in
the '45. When soldiers searched for him in her home after Culloden (they were
then affianced), she is said to have saved him by hiding him under her hoop-
skirt

go London, 2 April 1772

a little while. After they went, Sir Alexander Macdonald came, and
he and I walked out together. Crosbie and Wight introduced me to
Mr. Mayne, banker in Jermyn Street, who carried us in his coach to
Mr. Foote's villa at North End, where we were invited to dine. Mr.
Mayne was a genteel man. He told us that he rode in Hyde Park with
Mr. Fitzherbert the day before he shot himself; and it being fine
weather he observed to Mr. Fitzherbert that he had seen no accounts
in the newspapers of anybody having hanged or drowned themselves.
"Very true," said Fitzherbert, "I have not observed any." 8

I walked a good deal at Mr. Foote's. He gave us a very elegant
dinner, all served upon plate; and he did not say, "Gentlemen, there's
Madeira and port and claret." But, "Gentlemen, there's all sorts of
wine. You'll call for what you choose." He gave us noble old hock, of
which he said he had purchased ninety dozen "the stock of an am-
bassador lately deceased," as I said. It was indeed bought from an am-
bassador. He gave us sparkling champagne, Constantia, and Tokay.
When the latter was served round, he said, "Now you're going to drink
the best wine in England"; and it was indeed exquisite. His claret
flowed of course. There was nobody else here but Nabob Gray, who
had been my schoolfellow at Mr. James MundelTs. 4 Foote entertained

3 William Fitzherbert, M.P., of an ancient Derbyshire family, witnessed the
execution of some convicts on the morning of 2 January 1772, and that after-
noon went to his stable and hanged himself. As he was a man of wide acquaint-
ance and esteemed as a wit, his suicide was much discussed. For Johnson's char-
acter of him, see the Life of Johnson, 15 September 1777. Robert Mayne, who
told Boswell this anecdote about Fitzherbert, committed suicide himself in 1782.

4 George Gray, born in India c. 1738, the son of a surgeon, was sent back to Scot-
land to be educated, and in 1744 entered James Mundell's school in the West
Bow, Edinburgh. Since Boswell entered the school in 1746 and left it in 1748
or 1749, his association with Gray had occurred when they were both children.
Gray attended the University of Edinburgh, but by 1756 (when he was pre-
sumably not more than eighteen) he was back in Bengal making his fortune.
He was elevated to the Bengal Council, but engaged in questionable practices,
and was sent home by Clive in 1766. In his India speech before the House of
Commons three days before this dinner at Foote's, Clive had remarked that there
had not been found among the "nabobs** a single one "sufficiently flagitious
for Mr. Foote to exhibit on the theatre in the Haymarket." He spoke just in
time, for Foote exhibited a satirical play, The Nabob, on 29 June 1772. Sir
Matthew Mite, the hero of this piece, is a generic study, but besides embodying

North End, 2 April 1 772 91

us with taking off George Faulkner, who he said sorted his companies
in the oddest way, and always characterized each guest on the cere-
mony of introduction. As thus: **This is the ingenious Samuel Foote,
Esquire, reckoned one of the best table-companions in Ireland; this is
Mr. such-a-one, who has more wit than any judge now upon the
bench; and this is Mrs. such-a-one, who has imported more of Dr.
James's Powders into this country than anybody."

He said Mr. Johnson had once a great inclination to become a
Methodist. But changed his mind upon occasion of one of their preach-
ers, whom the people drove out of Long Acre, saying he was perse-
cuted by the Jacobites. He said Johnson told him as follows: " 'This
fellow was preaching in Long Acre. The people in the neighbourhood,
wanting to get rid of him, attacked him with tongs, with spits, with
frying-pans, and other culinary instruments, and drove him away.
The rascal said it was the Jacobites. Now, for my part, I cannot see the
connexion between a frying-pan and a Jacobite.' 'Ay, Sir,* said I, 'but
there's a connexion between a warming-pan and a Jacobite.* " 5 This
story made us laugh heartily; but Mr. Johnson has since told me that
it was not true, and that Foote had just made it to introduce his own
saying. It was curious to see Foote showing his pedigree, the very thing
for which he makes Cadwallader* so ridiculous.

I came home in Nabob Gray's chaise and remained quietly at
home. Corresponding with my dear wife is a great happiness to me. I
need not write down that I retain a constant regard and even love for
her; or that my mind, while I am thus absent, is sometimes clouded
with anxiety and sometimes cheered and illuminated with the warm-
est and brightest beams of gladness.

traits from Clive and General Richard Smith, he may also glance at BoswelTs
old schoolfellow. When Boswell once found fault with Foote for "indulging
his talent of ridicule at the expense of his visitors," Johnson replied: "Why,
Sir, when you go to see Foote, you do not go to see a saint: you go to see a man
who will be entertained at your house and then bring you on a public stage;
who will entertain you at his house for the very purpose of bringing you on a
public stage" (26 October 1769).

It was maintained at the time of the birth of Prince James Francis Edward
(the Old Pretender) in 1688 that he was a supposititious child, introduced into
the Queen's bed in a warming-pan.
6 In his farce The Author.

92 London, 3 April 1 772

FRIDAY 3 APRIL. I breakfasted at home. Then was awhile at the
House of Peers, hearing the appeal, Bruce Kinross 7 against Miss Bruce.
I am now quite at home in the House, and take the Usher of the Black
Rod's chair very regularly. 8 1 went up by water to Paul's Wharf and
then walked on to my friend Mr. Billy's, with whom I had engaged
to pass all this day and take a bed in his house at night. He and I and

his brother dined comfortably. Then he and I went to the 9 Jews'

synagogue, and heard Leoni, a fine singer; , a good strong one,

and , a most admirable bass. It was curious to see the Jews talking

and" laughing together, and no kind of solemnity in their counte-
nances. It was just a plain religion. They executed so much, like a task,
and like boys at a task looked off and intermixed other things. Mr.
Farquhar Kinloch, my travelling companion to London in autumn
1 769, was here. He went with me to Mr. Billy's, drank some coffee,
and left us.

In the evening came a company of literati invited for me: Br.
Jeffries, Br. Gilbert Stuart, a Mr. Leeson, and Kenrick, now Br. Ken-
rick, who once wrote an i8d. pamphlet against me, but principally
against Mr. Johnson, though it was entitled A Letter to James Boswell,
Esq. Kenrick was quite a different man from what I expected to see.
His Epistles, Philosophical and Moral promised seriousness or rather
profound gravity; and many of his other writings promised acrimony
to a high degree. 1 But I found him a bluff, hearty little man, full of
spirits and cheerfulness. He said devotion was not natural; that is to
say, the devotion of the heart; that fear made people use ceremonies
but did not inspire true devotion. He said he had a pronouncing dic-
tionary almost ready, by which he hoped to fix a standard, as the
varieties of pronunciation among people in genteel life were very few.
He said he taught a man from Aberdeen to speak good English in six
weeks. He said his great difficulty was to get him to speak at all. He

7 James Bruce-Carstairs of Kinross.

8 The chief usher of the Lord Chamberlain's department and usher to the House
of Lords. He carries an ebony wand surmounted by a golden lion. Boswell could
have sat on a bench within Black Rod's box but not in his official chair.

* Ashkenazic or Dutch; the "Great Synagogue" in Duke's Place, Aldgate.
1 He was no doubt the greatest scoundrel among the writers of the age. He had
made gratuitous attacks on Johnson, Goldsmith, and Colman, and was in the
following July to publish the vilest of the lot his libel on Garrick called Love
in the Suds.

London, 3 April 1 772 93

told him, "Sir, you don't speak at all. You sing." We talked of my
schoolmaster. "Sir," said he, "you have no chance; for, consider, the
greatest part of the schoolmasters about London are Scotch. 'Now,'
say we, *if he beats the children of his own countrymen so terribly,
what will he do with ours?' You must call the boys blockheads, Sir;
though then I fear some of our lords may have a fellow feeling with
them." I remember little of what passed, though the evening went
very well on. Joseph had brought me up a shirt, a nightcap, and slip-
pers; so I was quite at home.

SATURDAY 4 APRIL. Mr. Charles Dilly and I went to the

Jews* and the Jews* (where I was last night the Dutch Jews*)

Synagogues. 2 1 could not help feeling a kind of regret to see the certain
descendants of venerable Abraham in an outcast state and sneered at
and abused by every fool, at least to a certain degree. We came back
to breakfast. I then walked with Mr. John Donaldson the bookseller
and a Captain McCulloch out to Mr. Elphinston's, who keeps the
academy at Chelsea. Mr. Hugh Buchan, the City Chamberlain of
Edinburgh, and Mr. James Chalmers, Writer to the Signet, were
there. I had just Scotch ideas. Mr. Elphinston is a worthy, hospitable
man, but has an affectation, a pedantry, and an anxiety to please that
make him in some measure disagreeable. He had a foolish laugh too,
a made giggle. He took us and got us a sight of Kensington Palace.
Some of the rooms are pretty good. But it is sadly stripped of its pic-
tures. 8 We then drank tea with him, and Mr. Chalmers walked to town
with me and my two companions out.

SUNDAY 5 APRIL. I called at Mr. George Lewis Scott's, for whom
I had called several times but never found him till today. He and I
went and called for Sir James Steuart, with whom we sat awhile. At
neither of these places did I breakfast. I went to Mr. Johnson's and
found him and his old attendant Mr. Levett drinking tea. I took none,
but just got some biscuit at a pastry shop. I went to St. Paul's and heard
the latter part of an excellent sermon by Mr. Sturges, one of the preb-
endaries. Then assisted at some prayers, stayed the communion, and
received the Holy Sacrament in that grand edifice. I was elevated and
bettered. I came back to Mr. Johnson.

He said Elphinston had a great deal of good about him, but was

a The blanks should be filled by "Sephardic" and "Ashkenazic" respectively.
3 George HI had moved them to St. James's, Windsor, and Buckingham House.

94 London, 5 April 1 772

also very faulty in some respects. "His inner part," said he, "is very
good. But his outer part is very faulty. You in Scotland do not arrive
at that nice critical skill in languages which we get in our schools in
England. I would not put a boy to Elphinston whom I intended for
a man of learning. But for the sons of citizens, who are to learn a little,
get good morals, and then go to trade, he may do very well." I men-
tioned my cause before the General Assembly where a preacher was
opposed in his settlement because he had been guilty, or was accused
of having been guilty, of fornication five years ago. 4 "Why, Sir," said
Mr. Johnson, "if he has repented of it, it should not be an objection.
A man who is good enough to go to heaven is good enough to be a
clergyman." I told him that by the rules 5 of the Church of Scotland,
if a scandal, as it is called, is not insisted in for five years, it cannot
more be insisted in unless it be of a heinous nature or again become
flagrant So there was a great dispute whether fornication was a sin
of a heinous nature. I maintained it was not, as it was not atrocious,
was not one of those sins which argued very great depravity of heart;
in short, was not in the general acceptation of mankind a heinous sin.
"No, Sir," said he, "it is not a heinous sin. A heinous sin is that for
which a man is punished with death or banishment." BOSWELL. "But,
Sir, while we argued that it was not a heinous sin, an old clergyman
rose up and repeating the text, 'Neither whoremongers, &c., shall enter
into the kingdom of God,' asked if it would not now be called a heinous
sin." JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, observe the word whoremonger. Every sin
persisted in will be heinous. Whoremonger is a dealer in whores, as
ironmonger is a dealer in iron. But as you don't call a man an iron-

* The case was Elders &c. of Portpatrick v. McMaster. William McMaster was
presented to be minister of Portpatrick by Captain John Blair of Dunskey. The
presbytery of Stranraer ruled that it could take no steps towards his settlement
until his character had been cleared, and this action was affirmed by the synod
of Galloway. The General Assembly (30 May 1771) reversed these sentences,
but reserved the right of McMaster's opponents to give him "a libel in proper
form,'* i.e. to attempt to prove their charges. Boswell received fees totalling four
guineas in the case. His opponent was Henry Erskine. A year later (30 May
1772) it was reported to the General Assembly that the presbytery had found
McMaster guilty of **uncleanness, falsehood, subornation of falsehood, and dis-
simulation,*' and had deprived him of his license. The Assembly ruled that the
sentence was final and dismissed McMaster's petition.
5 Two pages, removed by Boswell for the Life of Johnson, are here restored.

London, 5 April 1 772 95

monger for buying and selling his knife, so you don't call a man a
whoremonger for getting one wench with child." BOSWELL. "Sir, his
getting the woman to tell a He and say another man was the father of
the child was worse than the fornication." JOHNSON. "Why yes, Sir.
But you must say that argued his shame."

I came upon the subject of the inequality of the livings of the
clergy in England and the mere trifles which some of the curates have.
JOHNSON. "Why yes, Sir. But it cannot be helped. You must* consider
that the revenues of the clergy are not at the disposal of the State, like
the pay of the Army. But different men have founded different
churches, and some are better, some worse. The State cannot inter-
fere and divide them equally. Now when a man has but a small living^
or even two small livings, he can afford but little to a curate." He said
he went more frequently to prayers than to sermon, as the people
required more example to go to prayers than to sermon; hearing ser-
mon being easier to them than to fix their minds on prayer.

I dined at Lady Margaret Macdonald's. Nobody but her son Archie
was with us. All was in the most perfect neatness, I may say elegance.
I was in admirable spirits, quite in the same humour as when the late
Lord Eglinton was alive. 7 Archie went away. Lady Margaret and I
had a great deal of common conversation. Sir John 8 and Lady An-
struther came in. I supped at Sir Alexander Macdonald's, where was
Mr. Mitchelson. It was strange to dine with the mother and sup with
the son, and they not in speaking terms.

MONDAY 6 APRIL. I breakfasted with Mr. Duncan Forbes, who
keeps an admirable breakfast, bread and butter and marmalade. Then
Crosbie and I went and saw Cox's Museum. The mechanism and rich
appearance of the jewels were both very wonderful and very pleasing.
We then went down to the House of Lords and heard Bruce against
Miss Bruce. Mr. David Rae's English was terrible. I said that as people
had a vanity in founding new sects, Mr. Rae had a mind to found a
new language.

6 Here the eighth of the newly recovered fragments of the Journal ends. See
above, p. 41/2. 7.

7 Lord Eglinton was Lady Margaret Macdonald's brother. See above, p. 53/2. 4.

8 M.P. for Anstruther Easter Burghs.

9 This leading Scots advocate, who in 1782 succeeded Lord Auchinleck in the
Court of Session as Lord Eskgrove, had a notoriously thick and artificial pro-

96 London, 6 April 1772

I dined at Sir Alexander Macdonald's, where were Mr. Johnson
and the Hon. Captain Thomas Erskine, Lord Buchan's youngest
brother, a very pretty lad. 1 Mr. Johnson was very courteous to Lady
Macdonald. He said, "I will go to Skye with this lady. I'll go any-
where under this lady's protection." (By the by, he has told me that
the language of conversation is somewhat different from the language
of the pulpit. As, for instance, "I'll" for "I will," "receiv'd" for "re-
ceived," 2 are used in conversation.) Lady Macdonald said Rasselas
was the finest novel she had ever read. Fielding was mentioned. "He's
a blockhead," says Mr. Johnson. BOSWELL. "My dear Sir!" JOHNSON.
"What I mean by his being a blockhead is that he was a barren ras-
cal." BOSWELL. "But, Sir, will you not allow that he draws very na-
tural pictures of human life?" JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, it is of very low
life. Richardson used to say that had he not known who Fielding was,
he should have believed he was an ostler. Sir, there is more knowledge
of the heart in one letter of Richardson's than in all Tom Jones. I in-

nunciation. "Whenever a name could be pronounced in more ways than one,
he gave them all; and always put an accent on the last syllable. For example,
syllable he called syllabill. And when a word ended with the letter G, this
letter was pronounced, and strongly. And he was very fond of meaningless suc-
cessions of adjectives. A good man would be described as one excellent, and
worthy, and amiabill, and agreeabill, and very good man. The article A was
generally made into one, and he generally cut a word of three syllables into
two separate words, the first of two syllables, and the last of one, and even
divided a word of two syllables into two words. Thus, *I met a young friend as
I was walking in the Canongate,' was converted by him into, *I met one youngg
friend as I was walk-ing in the Canon-gate.' " (Henry Cockburn, Memorials of
His Time, New York, 1856, p. ngrc.)

1 He was twenty-two years old, had been midshipman and lieutenant in the
Navy, and was now ensign in the Army. In 1775 ^ e s ld his commission to study
law, matriculated at Cambridge and took an M.A. degree, was called to the
bar in 1778, and stepped immediately into a large practice. He was especially
famous as counsel for the defence in cases connected with the law of libel and
treason; he defended Tom Paine, Home Tooke, and Thelwall. In 1806 he re-
ceived the Chancellorship, and was raised to the peerage. (In 1786 he would
be "leading counsel" on BoswelTs side in the latter's first case in the Court of
King's Bench.)

* This seems to mean that clergymen in the pulpit still used an archaic or litur-
gical pronunciation: "re-cei-ved."

London, 6 April 1772 97

deed never read Joseph Andrews" Captain Erskine objected that
Richardson was tedious. JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, if you were to read
Richardson for the story, your impatience would be so much fretted
that you'd hang yourself. But you must read him for the sentiment
and consider the story as only serving to give occasion to the senti-
ment."

A book of travels lately published under 3 the title of Coryate Jun-
ior^ and written by Mr. Paterson, was mentioned. Johnson said this
book was an imitation of Sterne and not of Coryate, whose name Pater-
son had chosen as a whimsical one. "Tom Coryate," said he, "was a
humourist about the court of James the First. He had a mixture of
learning, of wit, and of buffoonery. He first travelled through Europe,
and published his travels. 4 He afterwards travelled on foot through
Asia and had made many remarks; but he died at Mandoa* and his
remarks were lost."

We talked of gaming, and animadverted on it with severity. JOHN-
SON. "Nay, gentlemen, let us not aggravate the matter. It is not ro-
guery to play with a man who is ignorant of the game while you are
master of it, and so win his money; for he thinks he can play better
than you, as you think you can play better than he; and the superior
skill carries it" ERSKINE. "He is a fool, but you are not a rogue." JOHN-
SON. "That's much about the truth, Sir." 6 BOSWELL. "So then, Sir, you
do not think ill of a man who wins perhaps forty thousand pounds in
a winter?" JOHNSON. "Sir, I do not call a gamester a dishonest man
but I call him an unsocial man, an unprofitable man. Gaming is a
mode of transferring property without producing any intermediate
good. Trade gives employment to numbers, and so produces interme-
diate good."

Mr. Erskine told us that when he was in the island of Minorca he

8 At this point six pages, removed by Boswell for the Life of Johnson, have not

been recovered. The text continues from the published Life.

*Coryats Crudities Hastily Gobled up in Five Moneths Travells in France,

Savoy, Italy, London, 1611.

5 He died at Surat, to which he is said to have walked, a distance of nearly 200

miles, from "Mandoa" (Mandu, ancient capital of the kingdom of Malwa).

e A short passage of the Life text here omitted was recorded as an afterthought

by Boswell in his Journal, and hence appears farther on in the present text as

the next to the last paragraph of this day's entry.

98 London, 6 April 1 772

not only read prayers but preached two sermons to the regiment. He
seemed to object to the passage in Scripture where we are told that the
angel of the Lord smote in one night forty thousand Assyrians. "Sir,"
said Johnson, "you should recollect that there was a supernatural in-
terposition; they were destroyed by pestilence. You are not to suppose
that the angel of the Lord went about and stabbed each of them with
a dagger or knocked them on the head, man by man."

After Mr, Erskine was gone, a discussion took place whether the
present Earl of Buchan, when Lord Cardross, did right to refuse to go
Secretary of the Embassy to Spain, when Sir James Gray, a man of
inferior rank, went Ambassador. Dr. Johnson said that perhaps in
point of interest he did wrong, but in point of dignity he did well. Sir
Alexander insisted that he was wrong, and said that Mr. Pitt intended
it as an advantageous thing for him. "Why, Sir,*' said Johnson, "Mr.
Pitt might think it an advantageous thing for him to make him vint-
ner and get him all the Portugal trade; but he would have demeaned
himself strangely had he accepted of such a situation. Sir, had he gone
Secretary while his inferior was Ambassador, he would have been a
traitor to his rank and family."

I talked of the little attachment which subsisted between near re-
lations in London. "Sir," said Johnson, "in a country so commercial
as ours, where every man can do for himself, there is not so much oc-
casion for that attachment. No man is thought the worse of here whose
brother was hanged. In uncommercial countries many of the branches
of a family must depend on the stock; so, in order to make the head of
the family take care of them, they are represented as connected with
his reputation, that, self-love being interested, he may exert himself
to promote their interest You have first large circles, or clans; as com-
merce increases, the connexion is confined to families. By degrees, that
too goes off, as having become unnecessary and there being few op-
portunities of intercourse. One brother is a merchant in the city and
another is an officer in the Guards. How little intercourse can these
two have!"

I argued warmly for the old feudal system. Sir Alexander opposed
it, and talked of the pleasure of seeing all men free and independent
JOHNSON. "I agree with Mr. Boswell that there must be a high satis-
faction in being a feudal lord; but we are to consider that we ought

London, 6 April 1 772 99

not to wish to have a number of men unhappy for the satisfaction of
one." I maintained that numbers, namely the vassals or followers,
were not unhappy; for that there was a reciprocal satisfaction between
the lord and them: he being kind in authority over them; they being
respectful and faithful to him. . . . and 7 my superiors; or rather in-
deed have felt them when abroad; for in this country ideas of rever-
ence are much weakened.

I should have remarked, when mentioning gamesters, that Mr.
Johnson put his argument thus: "A man who only does what every
one of the society to which he belongs would do, is not a dishonest
man. In the Republic of Sparta it was agreed that stealing was not dis-
honourable but only the being discovered. I do not commend a society
where there is an agreement that what would not otherwise be fair
shall be fair. But I maintain that an individual of that society who
practises what is allowed is not a dishonest man."

Mr. Johnson was pleased with this day's entertainment Sir Alex-
ander sent his coach for him before dinner, and he set down Mrs. Wil-
liams near the Middlesex Hospital; and in the evening Lady Mac-
donald and he went in it and took up Mrs. Williams, my Lady was set
down at a rout, and Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Williams took the coach
home. So much attention was very pleasing to Mr. Johnson. There was
a fine contrast between his robust and rather dreadful figure and that
of the beautiful Lady. Sir Alexander went home with me, eat some
oysters, and drank a little port. I really like the Knight

TUESDAY 7 APRIL. I breakfasted with Lord Eglinton, who keeps
the best breakfast of any man in London, a complete Union of the
good things of Scotland and England: bread and butter and honey and
marmalade of oranges and currant jelly and muffins, well buttered
and comfortably toasted. The Earl is pleasant, but his conversation
does not furnish my Journal as his brother's used to do. I went to the
House of Lords and heard out the appeal, Bruce-Carstairs against Miss
Bruce. Lord Mansfield had been shaken in his opinion during the
hearing; and therefore, though he affirmed, he gave his reasons, and
indeed spoke in a most masterly manner. I dined at Mr. Bosville's.

7 Here the text is resumed in the manuscript Journal. The first part of this sen-
tence, which may be all that is missing, probably ran somewhat as follows: "I
have often experienced such feelings of satisfaction between myself . . . "

too London, ^ April 1 772

There was nobody there but Miss Wentworth. We were plain and
comfortable.

In the evening I met at the Queen's Arms in St. Paul's Churchyard
with the rest of the partners of The London Magazine.* It was truly
satisfactory to me to find myself the only Scotsman among a company
of English, and at the same time the distinction quite forgotten from
our union of interest and from my perfect art of melting myself into
the general mass. Most individuals when they find themselves with
people of a different country cannot get free of their own particular
national distinction. The individual, instead of being melted down,
as I have remarked of myself, remains as hard as a piece of iron in a
crucible filled with lead or silver. I should not wish to be melted so as
not to be again separated from the mass. But when the heat is over, I
gather myself up as firm as ever, with perhaps only a small plate or
thin leaf of the other metal upon me sufficient to make me glitter, and
even that I can rub off if I choose it. Our consultations this evening for
the good of our magazine, with every monthly publication lying on
the table before us, was quite in the style of London editors. I delighted
in looking through our record, seeing the succession of proprietors and
conductors, the rises and falls of our magazine in peace and in war, in
short the whole circumstances of an undertaking which for so many
years has entertained the public. I had more enjoyment in thinking
of my share of the profits of this than if I had been to draw ten times
the sum out of an estate. We had an admirable supper. Our first toast
was "The London Magazine" in a bumper, and every partner present
had a crown given him for his attendance by our Treasurer and Sec-
retary. I had not been at a meeting for two years and a half, having
been dose in Scotland. I was a man of considerable consequence. The
place of our meeting, St. Paul's Churchyard, the sound of St. Paul's
dock striking the hours, the busy and bustling countenances of the
partners around me, all contributed to give me a complete sensation
of the kind. I hugged myself in it. I thought how different this was
from the usual objects of a Scots laird. I had a joy in indulging my
own humour. I drank more than I had done since I had come last to
London, though not to excess. I was however heated a little; and Tom

s See above, p. 16. The other partners included Edward Dilly, John Rivington,
Richard Baldwin, and Thomas Becket

London, 7 April 1 772 i o i

Becket the bookseller would fain have had me along with him, I sup-
pose to stop by the way at another tavern, for Tom is too much given
to his cups. However, my good friend Mr. Dilly insisted on my going
home with him, which I did.

WEDNESDAY 8 APRIL. I got up early and was at Crosbie's lodg-
ings in Suffolk Street, to breakfast and get him to assist me in drawing
the case for Hastie the schoolmaster. He attended to it a little but was
so miserably dissipated that I could not get him to fix to it for any
time. I went a little to the House of Lords and heard the Earl of Home's
appeal 9 against Mr. William Wilson.

I dined at General Paoli's. He took notice of that speech in Shake-
speare:

If any spark of life should yet remain,

Down, down, to hell, and say I sent thee thither. 1

He admired the force of it Count Gentili plagued us by disputing
against it. Poor man! he is very troublesome to the General, who is
very good to him. The General says the Count knows little but has
great vanity, and will dispute upon all subjects. He is an odd mixed
character. He is Corsican born, and his family, from being rich and
distinguished, fell low; and he has been long in the German service.
As a German, he is the openest kind-hearted fellow imaginable. But
sometimes he becomes the discontented Corsican and his moroseness
is visible. He has little true politeness, that is to say, little compliance
or softness of manners, by which he offends the English. He is dog-
matical in his little opinions too. He will tell you that there are no
good soldiers in England because he sees that their hats are not cocked
in the German fashion; and he will maintain that there is not a gen-
eral in England fit to command because he sees no rodomontade, no
roughness of manner. One day he will deny the being of a God. The
next he will argue for implicit faith in the Pope. With all this, he has
a good natural disposition ( un bon natural) , so that he is worth being
indulged. Such is the character which the General draws of Count
Gentili. He has got 200 a year pension from the British Court. I went
home, and wrote all the evening.

9 The case concerned a debt inherited by the ninth Earl of Home from the third
Earl.
1 3 Henry V1 9 V. vi. 66-67 (slightly misquoted).

iO2 London, g April 1 772

THURSDAY g APRIL. I breakfasted with my old friend Mr. Clax-
ton of Lincoln's Inn. 1 1 liked to see him just as formerly in his cham-
bers. He was sensible and unaffected as usual, and asked me to dine at
his house in Great Ormond Street next Monday; for although he lives
in chambers, yet he has a house where his sister resides. I then called
on Mr. Charles Fergusson and had a full conversation with him about
my brother David, whom I am anxious to have settled in London. Mr.
Fergusson was very friendly, promised to look out for an opening, and
I believe said with great justice that any young man who comes to
London with a knowledge of business, diligence, and a pretty good
stock, may do very well. I went to the House of Lords and heard out
the Earl of Home's appeal.

I should have dined at the Mitre with Sir John Pringle's club, but
was too late; so I went to Mr. Johnson, but he would not go out and
dine anywhere. He asked me to drink some tea. I insisted then to have
some bread to it So we went down to Mrs. Williams's room and had
our tea, and something like what are called Yorkshire cakes. Mr. John-
son was gloomy today.

I introduced the subject of prayer, and the different notions of it in
the writings of Abernethy and Ogden. 8 He had not read the last. The
different notions of it are that the greatest number of the orthodox di-
vines, or rather indeed all of them who reason philosophically, con-
sider the effect of prayer to be merely as it improves the mind of him
who prays, whereas others consider it as actually influencing the Su-
preme Being. "Sir," said Mr. Johnson, "to reason too philosophically
about prayer does no good. To be sure, you cannot think that it makes
GOD alter his purposes. But by producing good effects on the mind of
him who prays, it disposes the mind in such a manner that the thing
prayed for is insensibly attained." To this purpose did he reason, and
showed me how the greatest powers may be enfeebled and cramped
when confined by a system of orthodoxy. Undoubtedly, while the uni-
versal prescience of GOD even as to the operation of the human mind

* Lawyer, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, later owner of an estate at Shir-
ley, near Croydon; originally a Cambridge friend of Temple, who introduced
him to Boswell in London in 1763. He named Temple and Boswell his executors
in 1773, and in 1776 Temple gave his fourth son the names John James after
Claxton and Boswell.
8 Boswell was to carry Ogden's Sermons on Prayer to the Hebrides.

London, 9 April 1772 1 03

is supposed, prayer is to be held as in reality of no avail. It is only a
link in the chain of things.

We talked of ghosts. Mrs. Williams said it was not true that Mrs.
Bargrave* had declared upon death-bed that the story of the appari-
tion prefixed to Drelincourt upon Death was not true; for she had in-
deed said nothing of it then; but Mrs. Williams knew Mrs. Bargrave's
daughter, who said it was true. Mr. Johnson said he knew one man
who was an honest man, and a sensible man, who told him he had
seen a ghost. This was old Mr. Edward Cave, the printer at St. John's
Gate. Mr. Johnson said that Mr. Cave did not like to talk of it, but
seemed to be in great horror when it was mentioned. BOSWELL. "Pray,
Sir, what did he say it appeared to be?" JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, some-
thing of a shadowy being."

I mentioned witches and asked what they properly meant. JOHN-
SON. "Why, Sir, they properly mean those who make use of the aid of
evil spirits." I said I believed their having existed, as there was a gen-
eral report and belief of it. JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, you have not only the
general report and belief, but you have the confessions of many of
them." BOSWELL. "Yet, Sir, it is said that, so soon as an Act of Parlia-
ment against prosecuting them was made, they ceased." 5 JOHNSON.
"Sir, they ceased before that."

I went to my club at the London Coffee-house. Dr. Priestley read
us Corsica^ a poem by Miss Aikin* of Warrington. We were very well.

FRIDAY 10 APRIL. I breakfasted with Dempster. He had carried
his election as one of the East India Directors; 7 so was surrounded with
people congratulating him, and among others he had at his levee
Count Lauraguais, 8 whom I could not bear, he seemed to be so very a
Frenchman, and that too of the priggish style, speaking French as an

4 Here, and below, this name has been supplied by the editors.
8 The Act of 1603 against witches was repealed in 1736.

6 Name supplied by the editors. Anna Laetitia Aikin is better known as Mrs.
Barbauld, author of Hymns in Prose for Children. Corsica contains a very flat-
tering passage about Boswell himself.

r Dempster had been an East India Director in 1769 but had not been re-elected
in 1770 or 1771.

8 After distinguishing himself in the Seven Years' War, he helped to introduce
English gardens and horse-races to France. He was the first to show Parisians a
race on the pladne des Sablons with English horses and jockeys.

104 London, 10 April 1772

Englishman who what we in Scotland call knaps (speaks) English.
The a which ought to be broad he pronounced as the English do in
mamma? I could get no good of Dempster.

I should have mentioned that I called on Mr. Murphy yesterday
morning. He owned to me that writing in verse was very much a mat-
ter of habit That his Grecian Daughter 1 had been written some years
ago. That he had not written any verses for some years; and that when
Mrs, Yates last winter prevailed with him to write an epilogue for her,
he found he went about it very awkwardly. Murphy has admirable
chambers in Lincoln's Inn. He has a very good collection of books, and
they are all elegantly bound and gilt, an expense which I really think
is well bestowed, as it makes a man read with more pleasure and con-
sequently with a mind better disposed to receive benefit.

I this day heard the appeal between the magistrates of Edinburgh
and the feuars* in the New Town. Lord Mansfield spoke as well as I
could conceive any man to do. It was really a feast to hear him.

I dined at General Oglethorpe's, at his house in Lower Grosvenor
Street His lady, whose fortune is his support while our court shame-
fully neglects him, was a good civil old lady, with some affectation of
wit, with which, however, she troubled us but little. Mr. Johnson and
Dr. Goldsmith and nobody else were the company. I felt a completion
of happiness, I just sat and hugged myself in my own mind. Here I
am in London, at the house of General Oglethorpe, who introduced
himself to me just because I had distinguished myself; and here is Mr.
Johnson, whose character is so vast; here is Dr. Goldsmith, so distin-
guished in literature. Words cannot describe our feelings. The finer
parts are lost, as the down upon a plum; the radiance of light cannot
be painted.

We talked of armorial bearings. Mr. Johnson told us a circum-
stance which I doubt has not been observed by any herald: viz., that

Boswell presumably means that Lauraguais substituted the vowel of mal [a]
for that of pa$ [a], [a], which cannot be unambiguously illustrated by any
Eoffliili word, is "Harvard a" or the vowel used by fashionable English speakers
when they pronounce flower as flah.

* Km acted 26 February 1 773,

" Penom who had subscribed for tracts of land in the extension of Edinburgh
mm the North Loch proposed by the magistrates and council of Edinburgh
and were now protesting against certain unwelcome changes in the plans.

London, 10 April 1772 105

armorial bearings were as ancient as the siege of Thebes. This he

proved by Euripides, who in his tragedy mentions *

I started the question if duelling was lawful. The brave old Gen-
eral at once fired at this and said that undoubtedly a man had a right
to defend his honour. Goldsmith said, 14 I ask you first, what you would
do if you was affronted?" I answered., "No doubt I would fight." "Why
then," said Goldsmith, "that solves the question." "Nay, Sir," said
Mr. Johnson, "it does not follow that what a man would do is there-
fore right." I said I wanted to know if duelling was consistent with
Christianity. Mr. Johnson took up the question and indeed* treated it
in a masterly manner; and so far as I have been able to recollect,* his
thoughts were these: "Sir., as men become in a high degree refined,
various causes of offence arise which are considered to be of such im-
portance that life must be staked to atone for them, though in reality
they are not so. A body that has received a very fine polish may be
easily hurt. Before men arrive at this artificial refinement, if one tells
his neighbour he lies, his neighbour tells him he lies; if one gives his
neighbour a blow, his neighbour gives him a blow; but in a state of
highly polished society, an affront is held to be a serious injury. It
must, therefore, be resented, or rather a duel must be fought upon it;
as men have agreed to banish from their society one who puts up with
an affront without fighting a duel. Now, Sir, it is never unlawful to
fight in self-defence. He, then, who fights a duel does not fight from
passion against his antagonist but out of self-defence; to avert the
stigma of the world and to prevent himself from being driven out of
society. I could wish there was not that superfluity of refinement; but

8 Boswell neglected to fill these blanks, and in the Life saved himself labour
by altering the sentence to read, "proved by a passage in one of the tragedies of
Euripides.** James Boswell the younger in the fourth edition (1804) conjec-
tured that Johnson's reference was to The Phoenician Maidens, L i lao (11. 1 106-
1140 of a modern text). This may be right, but Aeschylus had already given a
much longer and more striking version of the same material in The Seven
cgainst Thebes, 11. 375-652. In any case it is strange that Johnson should have
maintained that a play of the fifth century proved anything about the siege of
Thebes.

4 Here four pages were removed by Boswell for the Life of Johnson, and have
not been recovered. The text is continued from the printed Life.
* A notice that his record in the Journal was brief and that he is expanding it
from memory at a distance of fifteen years or more.

io6 London, iu /i/// u, * / / *

while such notions prevail, no doubt a man may lawfully fight a

duel."'

Let it be remembered that this justification is applicable only to
the person who receives an affront All mankind must condemn the
aggressor.

The General told us that when he was a very young man (I think
only fifteen) serving under Prince Eugene of Savoy, he was sitting in
a company at table with a Prince of Wurttemburg. The Prince took
up a glass of wine, and, by a fillip, made some of it fly in Oglethorpe's
face. Here was a nice dilemma. To have challenged him instantly
might have fixed a quarrelsome character upon the young soldier; to
have taken no notice of it might have been considered as cowardice.
Oglethorpe, therefore, keeping his eye upon the Prince and smiling
all the time, as if he took what his Highness had done in jest, said,
"Mon Prince," I forget the French words he used; the purport how-
ever was, "That's a good joke; but we do it much better in England";
and threw a whole glass of wine in the Prince's face. An old general
who sat by said. "II a bien fait, mon Prince; vous Pavez commence":*
and thus all ended in good humour.

Dr. Johnson said, "Pray, General, give us an account of the siege
of Belgrade." Upon which the General, pouring a little wine upon the
table, described everything with a wet finger: "Here we were, here
were the Turks," etc., etc. Johnson listened with the closest attention.

A question was started how far people who disagree in any capital
point can live in friendship together. Johnson said they might. Gold-
smith said they could not, as they had not the idem velle atque idem
nolle? the same likings and the same aversions. JOHNSON. "Why,
Sir, you must shun the subject as to which you disagree. For instance,
I can live very well with Burke: I love his knowledge, his genius, his
diffusion and affluence of conversation; but I would not talk to him of
the Rockingham party." GOLDSMITH. "But, Sir, when people live to-
gether who have something as to which they disagree and which they

6 When BoswelTs eldest son, Alexander, was killed in a duel with James Stuart
in 1822, Francis Jeffrey, Stuart's counsel, read to the jury this passage and others
in the Life of Johnson in which duelling is defended. Stuart was acquitted.
T "Good for him, your Highness; you started it"
Sallust, Catilina, xx. 4.

London, 10 April 1772 107

want to shun, they will be in the situation mentioned in the story of
Bluebeard: 'You may look into all the chambers but one.' But we
should have the greatest inclination to look into that chamber, to talk
of that subject." JOHNSON (with a loud voice) . "Sir, I am not saying
that you could live in friendship with a man from whom you differ as
to some point: I am only saying that I could do it." s

Goldsmith told us that he was now busy in writing a Natural
History, and, that he might have full leisure for it, he had taken lodg-
ings at a farmer's house near to the six-mile stone on the Edgeware
Road, and had carried down his books in 1 two post-chaises (I suppose
two return ones, as the cheapest mode of conveyance) , and he was
admirably situated for study. I promised to go and visit him.

We talked of ghosts. General Oglethorpe said he neither believed
nor disbelieved apparitions. I boldly avowed my belief. Then Mr.
Johnson mentioned his having heard a man of sense and veracity
[say] he had seen one (viz., the story he told me of Mr. Edward
Cave) . Dr. Goldsmith said he also was told by his brother, the Rev-
erend Mr. Goldsmith, that he had seen one. (I forgot to mention that
when Dr. Goldsmith declared he could not live in friendship with a
man from whom he differed in some considerable point, Mr. Johnson
said, "You put me in mind of Sappho in Ovid.") *

We talked of my schoolmaster's cause. Dr. Goldsmith said that
its consequences spread wide, and was for him, upon my state of the
affair. We sat till past eight, only sipping a little wine; that is to say,
the General and Goldsmith and I; for Mr. Johnson never tastes wine
now but drinks only lemonade. I had a full relish of life to^lay. It was
somehow like being in London in the last age. I felt myself of some real
personal consequence while I made one of such a company; and noth-
ing was wanting but my dearest wife to go home to, and a better for-
tune in the mean time to make her live as she deserves.
9 A sentence which comes in the Life at this point (see n. 4 above) is here omitted
because it occurs below in the Journal.

1 Here the text is resumed in the manuscript Journal.

2 Boswell left a blank for the quotation but never filled it. Sappho in Ovid's
epistle Sappho to Phaon affords a sort of negative analogy to Goldsmith. She
pleads that a dusky maiden can seem bright to the eyes of a lover. "Turtles and
doves of different hues unite, And glossy jet is paired with shining white"
(Pope's version, 11. 43-44).

io8 London, 10 April 1772

I supped at Mr. Spottiswoode the solicitor's. His wife was a good-
looking woman. He had a kind of company of Jews and Portuguese.
There was a Portuguese gentleman with an English wife and a Portu-
guese lady with an English husband. We had singing and laughing.
Whether I was the unlucky cause of it, as being thought a wit, I know
not; or whether [Spottiswoode] is usually in that style when he is gay,
I know not; but I was surprised and plagued with a kind of punning
and playing upon words with which he persisted to entertain us aU
the evening, instead of being the sensible man of business that I had
been accustomed to see him.

SATURDAY i APRIL. Sir Alexander Dick 3 had given me a letter
of recommendation to Dr. Lowth,* the Bishop of Oxford. I had called
for him and left it, and he had called for me when I was abroad. I
called again this morning and found him at home in his house in Duke
Street, Westminster. He seemed to be a neat, judicious little man in
his conversation with me. His abilities as a writer are well known. I
went with Mr. Spottiswoode to young Strahan's printing-house upon
Snow Hill, where Hastie's case was printing. I made several additions,
having carried up Mr. Johnson's Corpus Juris with me. Spottiswoode
said it was the best case that had been drawn this winter, and he was
confident that we would win our cause and get 100 costs. Strahan
made us take beefsteaks and porter and a bottle of port with him. I
said he should be called the hospitable printer, which was a much bet-
ter title than the patriotic one. 5

Spottiswoode went home; but as Mr. Johnson had promised me
his assistance and said he would be at leisure this evening, I was
anxious to get our case as soon done as possible, as I could not get a
copy of the case for the other side till we exchanged ours with theirs;

* One of BoswelTs closest Mends of the older generation. Sir Alexander was a
physician, who, upon inheriting a baronetcy and a competency, had retired
to his elegant mansion of Prestonfield near Edinburgh, and there indulged his
tastes for the classics, agriculture, and a hospitable table.

4 Professor of Poetry at Oxford 1741-1750, author of Lectures on the Sacred
Poetry of the Hebrews, originally published in Latin in 1753 of which John-
son said all Scotland could not muster learning enough for them.
8 It was his father, William Strahan, Benjamin Franklin's friend, who was the
"patriotic" printer. Spottiswoode's s6n John married the elder Strahan's daugh-
ter Margaret; their sons Andrew and Robert carried on the elder Strahan's
printing business.

London, 11 April 1772 109

and Mr. Johnson had told me that he could not make his remarks till
he had seen their case. I waited patiently till past ten o'clock at night,
when I got our case. I then hasted away, took a coach at Fleet Ditch,
called at Mr. Johnson in passing and told him I should soon be back
with the appellants' case, 6 drove to Spottiswoode's and got it, and then
returned and got it fairly tabled before the great man. I got him to
read the Reasons, and then said I hoped he would write down his
thoughts upon the subject. Said he: "There's no occasion for my writ-
ing. I'll talk to you." I then proposed he should dictate and I would
write. To this he agreed. I therefore sat with most assiduous care and
eagerness, and he dictated to me a noble defence, which I preserve. 7
This lasted till after one in the morning. It was the only time that I
ever did anything in a cause upon Sunday, except a criminal cause.
This indeed might be considered as one, as the schoolmaster was stand-
ing trial for his all and for his character. Besides, writing down Mr.
Johnson's observations was not properly working at my business. I
could perceive that what he threw out upon the subject in conversa-
tion was stronger and had more fire than what he dictated.

I forgot to put down that last Sunday, when I was with him, the
barber came in to shave him, when he said, "Come away, barber;
you know I seldom give you this trouble on a Sunday." I said I had
no scruple to be shaved on a Sunday. "Why no, Sir," said he, "if you
shave yourself or your servant does it. But if you employ a barber, and
every one else employs him, the barber will have as much work to do
on Sunday as on any other day." He said he approved of the custom
some people had of having baked meat, a pie, on Sunday, as it could be
baked on Saturday and might be eat cold or needed only to be warmed
on Sunday, so that a servant was not kept from church.

This night we went to tea with Mrs. Williams between one and
two. Mr. Johnson observed that Goldsmith had spoken at General
Oglethorpe's without thought, as he often does, to keep you in mind of
him, for fear you should forget he is there. BOSWELL. "Yes, he stands
forward." JOHNSON. "True, Sir, but if a man is to stand forward, he
would choose to do it not in an awkward posture, not in rags." BOS-

6 A number of copies of both the appellant's and respondent's cases, printed
and bound at the expense of the appellant, had to be lodged in the office of the
House of Lords. See Appendix B.
T See the Life of Johnson under this date.

no London, 11 April 1772

WELL. U I like very well to hear honest Goldsmith talk away care-
lessly." JOHNSON. "Why yes, Sir; but he should not like to hear him-
self." It was near three in the morning when I got home.

I should have mentioned that I this morning (Saturday) break-
fasted with Mr. Campbell in Northumberland Street, one of the con-
tractors for paving the streets of London. He is brother to Glenure, 3
and his nephew, Mr. Alexander Campbell, my brother advocate, in-
troduced me to him. I had heard he had been a scholar of my client
Hastie's and that he spoke well of him. But I was misinformed, for
[he] had never been at his school.

SUNDAY 12 APRIL. Sir Alexander Macdonald called upon me
and carried me to breakfast with him, after which we went together
to Westminster Abbey. The solemnity of the grand old building, the
painted glass windows, the noble music, the excellent service of the
Church and a very good sermon, all contributed to do me much good.
We surveyed some of the monuments. I particularly observed the
tomb of Dr. Busby, the famous Master of Westminster School, whose
severity was great, as well as his merit. I felt some enthusiasm for
supporting my schoolmaster's cause, and the image of Busby served
to inspire me with more. Wherever I can find a good opportunity for
superstition or enthusiasm, I always indulge it. The warmth of my
soul delights to expand itself. I should have been born in old times; or
rather the expression should be "in early times." Or I should have been
born in Spain.

I went and paid a visit to Dr. Campbell in Queen's Square. He has
perhaps written as much as any man, and to very good purpose. He
received me with the same cordiality as formerly. He has a manliness
and a courteousness about him that I seldom observe. I take it the last
age had more of it than this has. I ventured to ask him when his great
work, Britccnnia Elucidata, would be published, as there have been
great complaints of his delay. He assured me he was within a few
sheets of being done; and he observed that it had ruined his health.
Indeed, the close confinement and intense labour necessary for it must
have been very prejudicial to him. 9 He said to me, "I have none of that

* Duncan Campbell.

* It was published in 1774 under the title A Political Survey of Britain, and is
said to have had a rather disappointing reception, many of the original sub-
scribers having died during the course of its composition.

London, 1 2 April 1 772 1 1 1

fondness for literary fame which you profess." 1 He spoke strongly of
the degeneracy of the age in point of reverence for Government. I
mentioned to him my schoolmaster's cause. "You'll lose it," said he.
"The House of Lords have not force enough to venture to support any
authority."

When I came home, honest Mr. William Wilson called upon me
and sat awhile. I have seen him at all the appeals in the House of
Lords, and have sometimes called on him at Mr. Murray's, bookseller
in Fleet Street, where he lodged. I dined at Lord Advocate's. Crosbie
was rather too late. When he appeared, I cried, "There comes Serjeant
Crosbie." "I'm sure," said Miss Barbara Montgomery, 2 "he's not an
orderly sergeant." This was quite an Edinburgh dinner, a number of
Scots advocates assembled; so the conversation, though it served to
fill up time and help digestion, made no impression on my memory.

Lord Advocate was to have carried Crosbie and me this evening to
the Lord Chancellor's. But the Chancellor was so ill he did not see
company. So Crosbie, Wight, Sandy Fergusson* and I took a hackney-
coach and drove to Lord Mansfield's. We talked of their victory in
their appeal over the Corporation of Edinburgh. By the by, I have not
given myself credit yet for some good pleasant remarks on that oc-
casion. I said to Sandy Hart, who, it was believed, was sent up by the
town to attend the appeal, "Lord Mansfield will reverse, Sir." "Will
he?" said he. "How will he do it?" Said I: "By sleight-of-hand, like
Jonas or Breslaw. 4 He won't tell you how he does it. But he'll let you
see him do it." Hart stared and did not know what to think of this.
After Lord Mansfield had made his fine speech for reversing, I said,
"He has not only done it. But he has shown how he did it. The cause
was like a great piece of veal or other meat. The Court of Session could
not find the joint. It was handed about through the fifteen and they
tried at it; but it would not do. Lord Mansfield found the joint at once
and cut it with the greatest ease, cleanly and cleverly." I said that he

1 "For my part, I should be proud to be known as an author; and I have an
ardent ambition for literary fame; for of all possessions I should imagine liter-
ary fame to be the most valuable" (Preface to An Account of Corsica, 1768).

2 The Lord Advocate's daughter.

3 Laird of Craigdarroch, noted for his convivial habits, winner in the contest
celebrated by Burns in the song of The Whistle.

4 Jonas and Breslaw were professional jugglers and magicians. Boswell saw
Breslaw perform twice at Edinburgh in October 1774.

112 London, 1 2 April 1772

put me in mind of Raphael's cartoon of Paul preaching at Athens. 8
Here was Hugh Buchan, the Town's Chamberlain, like one astonished
and confounded philosopher. Here was Sandy Hart grinning like an-
other. Here was the Solicitor appearing to be converted. Here was Mr.
David Rae stupefied and become silly. We advocates were diverted at
a coachful of us going to Lord Mansfield's. The rout was in the same
style as usual. My Lord spoke more to Crosbie and Wight, who sat
near him, than to anybody. He said flattering things of the Scots
lawyers, observing that many of them wrote very well. He was clearly
currying favour with our fraternity.

Douglas had called on me this morning, when I was abroad, and
begged I would sup with him. I did so. Lady Lucy did not come in
till about eleven; so we supped very late. Mr. Graham of Balgowan 6
was there.

MONDAY 13 APRIL. I dined at Claxton's. His sister was a plain,
easy, cheerful girl. She will be of use to my wife when I bring
her to London. I am resolved to bring my wife with me next year, and
I am constantly considering and looking out in that view. A Mr. Haist-
well dined with us and Mrs. Browne, the widow of Isaac Hawkins
Browne, best known by his imitations of different poets in his Pipe of
Tobacco in Dodsley's Collection? She seemed to be a genteel well-bred
woman; but I could perceive no impregnation of genius, and I was
not well enough acquainted with her to ask her as to minute particu-
lars concerning her husband, which I wished to do. I have really a
genius for particular history, for biography.

At seven I went to Crosbie's and consulted as to our plan of plead-
ing Hastie's cause, which was to come on next day. I could not help
being under considerable anxiety, partly for fear of my client, whom
I had saved in the Court of Session, partly on account of myself, as I

* Among the pictures moved from Hampton Court to Buckingham House in
1764. See above, p. 93.

Thomas Graham, later Baron Lynedoch of Balgowan. His distinguished mili-
tary career did not begin until after the death of his wife, about 1791. He was
one of the few men actually present at the death of Sir John Moore at Corunna.
T Browne's Pipe of Tobacco was first published as a pamphlet in 1736 and then
in the second volume of Dodsley's Collection of Poems, 1748. The poets imi-
tated are Colley Gibber, Ambrose Philips, James Thomson, Edward Young,
Pope, and Swift

London, 13 April 1 772 113

considered my first appearance at the bar of the House of Lords to be
an important era in my life, on which my reputation as a speaker in
this part of the island might depend. I called a little at Sir John Prin-
gle's, with whom I had left a copy of our case, and talked a little on the
subject with him. As it was a general question of police* and expedi-
ency, I thought everybody might assist me somewhat. I went home
and studied my speech, introducing into it the great thoughts and
masterly expressions which Mr. Johnson had given me. I did not take
all that he gave me, but interwove a good deal as I wrote out my ora-
tion.

TUESDAY 14 APRIL. General Oglethorpe, with the activity of a
young soldier and the zeal of a warm friend, was with me this morn-
ing by eight o'clock. I had sent him the cases the day before. He said
the time was so short he could furnish me nothing. But bid me in gen-
eral insist on the dangerous consequences of lessening the authority
of a schoolmaster, and that the Court of Session had pronounced a
most equitable judgement, not indulging the evil passions of deluded
men. I had yesterday sent a copy of our case with a respectful card to
Dr. Smith, the Head Master of Westminster School, who has been
mentioned rather as an odd character in this my Journal, page 76.
I thought that the master of so celebrated a school might very prop-
erly be consulted on such a question. Joseph had called in the evening
for an answer; and the Doctor returned the case with only a verbal
message that they did not correct in England as my client had done,
and that he was no judge as to other points how far the sentence was
just or not. Sending no written answer looked as if the Doctor was
really as rough as Mrs. Stuart supposed him. But this morning I re-
ceived a very polite card from the Doctor, in which he indeed gave an
opinion against my client, but offered to answer any questions upon
the subject that I might have to put to him. It was now too late; but I
was pleased with his civility, and resolved to wait upon him.

Sir Alexander Macdonald sent to me that he would carry me to the
House of Lords in his coach. He accordingly came. This mark of re-
gard from the Chieftain pleased me much, and I thought I should al-
ways remember it and speak of it We stopped at Mr. Crosbie's, where
I put on my gown and (for the first time) a band. Crosbie assured me
* An equivalent, now obsolete, of "policy.**

H4 London, 14 April 1772

that I had nothing to fear, and that we should prevail. But I was anx-
ious and uneasy, and took an advice which Sir John Pringle gave me
last night, which was to drink some wine. I drank a couple of large
bumpers of white wine. It did me no good. It confused me without *n-
spiriting me. When we got to Westminster Hall, I grew better I
amused my mind, sometimes with the idea of my being an English
counsellor, sometimes with the idea of my being a Scots lawyer come
up to plead one of the appeals from the court of his country, which was
the truth. Before we were called in, Lord Advocate said to me he be-
lieved the House of Lords might let my schoolmaster stay where he
was.

EDITORIAL NOTE: The reader will better understand what follows
if he pauses to read Appendix B, or at least as much of it as relates to
Scots appeals to the House of Lords. No eighteenth-century print
showing the Lords sitting as a court of appeal appears ever to have
been issued, but the engraving reproduced opposite will furnish a
trustworthy basis for an imaginative construction. Imagine most of
the figures in the engraving eliminated. The throne is empty, the dais
cleared. The woolsack (a sort of ottoman upholstered in crimson)
stands at floor-level in front of the throne. Three clerks sit at the clerks'
table. Scattered along the side benches are perhaps a dozen or fifteen
peers and a bishop or two. They all wear ordinary morning dress.
Most, if not all, of the cross-benches have been removed. At eleven
o'clock Lord Chief Justice Mansfield in his flowing scarlet robe and
full-bottomed wig enters the chamber, preceded by the Serjeant-at-
Arms bearing the mace on his shoulder. Lord Mansfield (who is
deputizing for the Lord Chancellor) takes his seat on the woolsack,
and the mace is laid on a table behind him to show that the House is
sitting. One of the bishops reads prayers, and the business of the day
begins. The clerk reports that an answer in another appeal has been
brought in, and then reads the title of the case we are concerned with:
"Campbell et al. against Hastie." "Call in the parties," says Lord
Mansfield to the Yeoman Usher, and the doors are thrown open. The
lawyers and visitors assemble at the bar. After putting the formal
questions from the woolsack, Lord Mansfield comes forward to a chair
nearer the bar, and presides over the hearing from there. 9
9 This note combines information from the Journals of the House of Lords:,

The House of Lords in 1742, from an engraving (1749) by John Pine.
See p. vii. From an original in the Yale University Art Gallery

London, 14 April 1772 115

TUESDAY 14 APRIL [continued]. When the counsel were called
in, I had a satisfaction in the solemnity and form of making three
bows: one when we entered the door, one after advancing some steps,
and one when we came up to the bar, we being all in a line, too, while
making those bows, and nobody but peers being allowed to be in the
House till we had reached the bar. The respondents are entitled to
the right hand of the chair. Lord Advocate and our Solicitor-General,
as being King's Counsel, had taken it, and took Sir John Dalrymple
with them. Lord Mansfield corrected this error, saying, "Gentlemen,
you have mistaken your sides." This piece of pleasantry helped my
spirits. The Duke of Argyll was there, and more lords than usual.
Lord Lyttelton attended at my request, and so did my friend my Lord
Mountstuart. Without the bar there was an audience uncommonly
numerous. 1 General Oglethorpe was there, and so was Mr. Ganick,
and with him a conseiller du Parlement de Paris.

I was in a flutter till it was my turn to speak. When Lord Mans-
field called out, "Mr. Boswell" and I mounted the little elevation on
which the counsel who speaks is placed, 2 1 felt much palpitation. But
I knew I was master of my cause, and had my speech in writing. I had
seen that Lord Mansfield was against us, which was discouraging.
My client was now no longer at stake. I had only my own reputation

Michael Macdonagh, The Book of Parliament, 1897; and letters from Mr.
C. S. A. Dobson, Librarian of the House of Lords.

1 The Journals of the House of Lords show that two bishops and twenty-three
temporal peers (including Lord Mansfield) were in attendance on 14 April
1772, but a good part of this number no doubt came in after the Hastie appeal
had been disposed of. The roll: the Bishop of Worcester, the Bishop of Lichfield
and Coventry; Earls Gower, Denbigh, Westmorland, Sandwich, Doncaster,
Abercorn, Marchmont, Rosebery, Oxford, Hchester, and Northington; Viscounts
Montagu and Weymouth; Barons Le Despencer, Paget, Sandys, Bruce, Walpole,
Mansfield, Lyttelton, Scarsdale, Boston, and Sundridge. The Earls of Abercorn,
Marchmont, and Rosebery were Representative Scots Peers. "Lord Sundridge"
is the Duke of Argyll; he was not a Representative Peer and his Scots dukedom
did not entitle * to a seat in the House of Lords, but his barony in the peerage
of Great Britain did. Similarly "the Earl of Doncaster" is the Duke of Bucdeuch.
Lord Mountstuart's name does not appear in the roll because he was a com-
moner. As M.P. for Bossiney he may have been sitting in a section of benches
not properly within the bar.

Presumably the octagonal platform on which our illustration chows the
Speaker of the House of Commons standing.

London, 14 April 1772
to mind. I begun with a very low voice and rose gradually; but re-
strained myself from appearing anyhow bold or even easy. I spoke
slowly and distinctly, and, as I was told afterwards, very well. I in-
dulged only one sally of wit, or whatever such a sally as follows may
be called. "My Lords," said I, "I speak with warmth for this school-
master who is accused of too much severity. I speak from gratitude,
for [I] am sensible that if I had not been very severely beat by my
master, I should not have been able to make even the weak defence
which I now make for this schoolmaster." 3 Lord Mansfield smiled.
Lord Gower and some other Lords called out, "Bravo!" Lord Mans-
field was so much against my client that in the course of his questions
during Mr. Crosbie's pleading he interpreted the evidence as if Mr.
Hastie had given his scholars the play (or a holiday, as they say in
England) every Friday. I had a satisfaction in obviating this, saying,
"With the greatest submission, I cannot understand this holiday given
on Friday as a general practice; for the evidence says, 'That Friday
was given,' etc., which points out a particular single Friday." His
Lordship made a very fine speech for reversing, of which I and Long-
lands the solicitor together are to make out a copy. When he came to
the Friday, he smoothed it over and said there was an ambiguity in
the evidence. I should have mentioned that Dr. Smith, the Head
Master of Westminster School, attended. So did my friend Archie
Stewart, Mr. Dilly, Messrs. Strahan printers, elder and younger, and
indeed a number of people who would hardly attend a Scotch appeal.

* If it were not for this statement and a similar one made earlier by Boswell
in connexion with his client Hastie (above, p. 58), one might have con-
cluded that he entirely escaped the drubbings which were the general lot of
eighteenth-century schoolboys. In the Sketch of his life that he wrote for Rous-
seau he says that as a small child he was considered too delicate for corporal
punishment, and he records only one instance of parental chastisement: his fa-
ther beat him heartily at an early age for telling a lie. But there is no reason to
suppose that James Mundell's private school, which he attended from the age
of five to the age of eight, though "advanced" in some respects, was any more
sparing of the rod than other schools. Indeed, BoswelTs intense dislike for the
school which the Sketch records may have been due in large part to the punish-
ments he now professes to approve of Mr. Dun and Mr. Fergusson, who had en-
tire charge of his education from the age of eight to the age of thirteen, would
pretty certainly have had the power of the rod, but one gets no feeling from
BoswelTs many references to them that they ever availed themselves of it

London, 14 April 1772 117

I was set down at home by Sir Alexander Macdonald, changed my
wig, and then got a hackney-coach and drove to the celebrated Mrs.
Montagu's. I had seen her in Scotland at Dr. Gregory's,* but did not
think this entitled me to visit her in London. The Doctor had promised
me a letter to her, but had forgot it. General Paoli had informed her
that I was in town; so she sent me a card to meet him with her this day
at dinner. There was he, Lord Lyttelton, 5 the Archbishop of York and
his two eldest sons, and Mr. Anson of Staffordshire.* Whether Mr.
Montagu was in town or not, I know not. We heard nothing of him.
The house was grand and as elegantly finished and furnished as I
can imagine. We had a fine dinner and dessert, Burgundy, cham-
pagne, sweet, and in short a rich variety of wines. Seven or eight serv-
ants attended us. I was introduced to the Archbishop and to Mr. An-
son. The latter said little. The former was one of the pleasantest men
I ever saw. Lord Lyttelton told me Lord Mansfield had said to him I
spoke very well, adding, "Mr. Boswell is too good a counsel; for in
order to assist his client he would give us a bad impression of his own
character, when he tells us that when he was at school he would have
done his master a mischief if he could." Lord Lyttelton said of me to
the company, "He has been pleading for tyranny, a thing he never did
before, nor never will do again." Mrs. Montagu got a great packet
about her husband's coal-work, which is a considerable part of their
riches. Lord Lyttelton joked, calling her "you cinder-wench." She
found fault with some kind of husbandry where they sow wheat and
barley, as I think, together. "Because," said she, "they are not ripe
at the same time." Said the Archbishop, "We see many such kind of
marriages." The truth is, Mrs. Montagu's own marriage was of that
kind. Her husband is much older than she. They have not been ripe

* See below, p. 16477. 4.

5 Lyttelton, who had been the friend of Pope and Thomson and enjoyed a con-
siderable reputation himself as poet and statesman, had given Boswell praise
and encouragement on the publication of An Account of Corsica. Mrs. Eliza-
beth Montagu, "the Queen of the Blues," was pre-eminent as hostess for the in-
tellectual society of London. She had long been a close friend of Lyttelton's, and
had contributed three dialogues to his Dialogues of the Dead (1760).

6 The Archbishop was Robert Hay Drummond; his sons, Robert Auriol, who in
1787 succeeded his uncle as tenth Earl of Kinnoull, and Peter Auriol, who died
in 1773. Thomas Anson of Shugborough was elder brother to the great Admiral.

1 1 8 London, 14 April 1 772

at the same time. The Archbishop spoke Italian with a fluency and a
perfection of accent that was wonderful, though he had been but fif-
teen months in Italy and that a great many years ago. His Grace told
me he was very happy to be acquainted with me, and asked me dine
with him on the Saturday sennight. I was quite easy and happy today,
and felt how excellent a place London is when one is in real good com-
pany. General Paoli was so good as to accompany me in his coach all
the way to Great Russell Street to my friend Mr. Bosville's, where I
was engaged to sup. There was nobody there but Sir Alexander and

Lady Macdonald and a Mr. . Sir Alexander sounded my praises.

We had a good social evening.

WEDNESDAY 15 APRIL. I breakfasted by appointment with Mr.

Garrick. He had there Mrs. , a fat sensible woman, and Mr.

Pingo, the medal and bust maker. He and Mrs. Garrick were as agree-
able as ever. By and by came in Mr. Smith, a , and Mr. O'Brien,

formerly the player, who since his marriage with Lady Susan Strang-
ways is quite the fine man about town. 7 1 thought him agreeable. His
foppishness appeared to be only vivacity and neatness. He told us that
Fitzherbert was at Mr. Thrale's in Southwark, where Mr. Johnson
lives so much, and being shown the brewery, particularly the great
tub y he asked, "But where's Diogenes?" (Meaning Mr. Johnson.) Mr.
Ganick complained of a passage in Mr. Johnson's preface to his
Shakespeare, in which he insinuates that Mr. Garrick (for he chiefly
has the old editions of Shakespeare) was not very ready to communi-
cate them. "Now," said he, "not only did his black get any old plays
that he sent for, but the key of them was left with the maid, with
orders to have a fire and every convenience for Mr. Johnson." I was
sorry to find any coldness between Mr. Johnson and Mr. Garrick.
They had misunderstood one another. Mr. Garrick had imagined that
showing his old plays was a favour. I have since learnt from Mr. John-
son that his idea was that Garrick wanted to be courted for them, and
that on the contrary he ought rather to have courted him and sent him
the plays of his own accord. He denied that his black ever got any of

T The marriage, which had been contracted in 1764 without the consent or
knowledge of Lady Susan's father, the Earl of Ilchester, had caused a great deal
of talk. O'Brien had retired from the stage, and had held various appointments
in America.

London, 1 5 April 1772 119

them. Mr. Johnson may perhaps be insensibly fretted a little that
Davy Garrick, who was his pupil and who came up to London at the
same time with him to try the chance of life, should be so very general
a favourite and should have fourscore thousand pounds, an immense
sum, when he has so little. He accordingly will allow no great merit
in acting. Garrick cannot but be hurt at this, and so unhappily there
is not the harmony that one would wish.

I entertained them with an anecdote which I have omitted to put
down in its proper place. Some evenings ago when I was at Mr. John-
son's, I took up The London Chronicle? in which was an extract from
a new book called Theatrical Biography. I read some of Mr. Garrick's
Life aloud. At last I came to a sentence where the author says that
so much having appeared about Mr. Garrick already he could say
nothing new, but would only give some original retouches. I stopped
at this strange expression, and asked, "Pray, Sir, what does he mean
by original retouches?" Mr. Johnson, who was heartily weary of my
reading aloud what he did not care for, answered, "What does he
mean? Why, Sir, how can you ask what such a fellow means? Sir, if
you were to ask himself, he can't tell what he means." The phrase was
a true bull; and Mr. Garrick told me the book was said to be written
by one Cooke, 9 an Irishman.

I pressed Mr. Garrick to come to Scotland, and said we had a right
to a visit from him; that he had favoured Ireland with his presence,
and why not Scotland? "Sir," said he, "when I went to Ireland, I went
to get money. It was harvest time then with me. But when the barn's
full" (stretching himself in his chair) "one grows lazy." "Well, Sir,"
said I, "but you have not yet had the harvest of oats. You must come
and get that." He had lately had a correspondence both in prose and
verse with Lord Chatham. I was astonished at the beauty of Lord
Chatham's verses which Mr. Garrick read to us; 1 and in one of his

8 7-9 April 1772, p. 337-

9 Perhaps William Cooke, later known as "Conversation Cooke," after a poem,
Conversation, published in 1790. He was the anonymous author of the Life of
Johnson published by Kearsley in 1785.

1 Garrick and the celebrated statesman had during the winter and the
spring of this year exchanged various compliments and flowery verses, which
had been the subject in turn of further, anonymous, verses in The London
Chronicle, copied in The Gentleman's Magazine. "More inquiries,** wrote Gar-

120 London, 15 April 1772

Lordship's prose letters there was a sentence to this purpose: "I think
we are indebted to you not only for entertainment but for instruction;
and I should have been very sorry not to contribute my mite towards
discharging this favourite branch of the national debt." I thought this
an excellent compliment from an did minister. Mr. Johnson, to whom
I afterwards mentioned it, said it was pedantry, as it is pedantry in any
man to introduce allusions to his own employment There was a card
which Lord Chatham had written to Mr. Berenger about Mr. Garrick,
in which were words to this purpose: "Illustrious Shakespeare! but
more illustrious Garrick! for the first sometimes goes out of Nature.
The other never does." Garrick had written on the back of this card:
"Rich and exquisite flattery!" It is fine when one enjoys flattery know-
ing it to be so. The card having been worn, 2 a piece of paper had been
pasted on the back of it; so that it had just the appearance of a pass
such as an old soldier or a man taken by the Turks carries about with
him. I said it was Mr. Garrick's pass to fame. That he went about say-
ing, "Lord bless your Honours; here is my pass." Mr, Garrick said I
had done very well in the House of Lords, only might have been a
little more animated. "But," said he, "you considered that they would
be expecting to see the bold Boswell, and so you restrained yourself."
This was really the case.

I went to the House of Lords and heard so much of the appeal,
Innes against Gibson and Balf our; but I was too late to hear Dunning, 3

rick to Chatham on 26 February, have been "made after the verses addressed to
me than after Lear or Macbeth." The following lines from Chatham's effort of
3 April, "To Mr. Garrick, in Answer to His Verses from Mount Edgecumb," are
perhaps a fair sample:

Leave, Garrick, the rich landscape, proudly gay,

Docks, forts, and navies, brightening all the bay:

To my plain roof repair, primeval seat! . . .

Come then, Immortal Spirit of the Stage,

Great Nature's proxy, glass of every age,

Come, taste the simple life of patriarchs old,

Who, rich in rural peace, ne'er thought of pomp or gold,

1 Boswell clearly wrote ivord, and it is perhaps not quite certain what he meant.
Wore as past participle of wear was in good usage in the eighteenth century,
but wared seems not to occur after the fifteenth century.
1 John Dunning, first Baron Ashburton (1731-1783), became in 1768 Solicitor-

London, 15 April 1772 121

which I regretted much. I dined with Mr. Ross, the royal patentee of
the Edinburgh Theatre, whom I must do the justice to say that he
never forgets his obligations to me, in writing for him the Prologue
which he spoke at the opening of our theatre and befriending him as
far as I could. The party was just he and I, Mrs. Ross, and Walter Ross
the Writer to the Signet, a forward creature and one of whom I have
no favourable opinion. I did not like his being there. It was curious to
see the celebrated Fanny Murray 4 as decent a lady at her own table
as anybody.

In the evening I called at Mr. Johnson's. Mrs. Williams told me
that Mr. Langton was in town and that Mr. Johnson was to sup with
him at the Crown and Anchor, with his brother-in-law, Lord Binning. 5
I went to the Crown and Anchor and found Langton, whom I had not
seen since his marriage and having a son to keep up the ancient family
which his is, and which is a thing that becomes very rare amongst
either Engish or Scots gentlemen. 6 He had with him Lord Binning,
who was just setting out for Utrecht with his tutor, Mr. Oliphant;

Mr , a young gentleman of Eton, and Mr. Johnston of Lincoln's

Inn, son to Mr, Johnston of Carnsalloch.

In a little came Mr. Johnson. They were all afraid to venture forth,
I as usual risked boldly in order to get him to speak. I observed that
although he had been confident of my schoolmaster's success and done
him all the service he could and still thought he should not have been
turned out, he would nevertheless have a joke against him. It was in-
deed pretty clear that the schoolmaster did not open his school so many
hours as he ought to have done. So when I again talked this night of
his severity, "Why, Sir," said Mr. Johnson, "he had time for nothing
more." Dr. NowelL was mentioned; and I spoke of him with applause

General in the Graf ton administration but resigned the office in 1770. He was
one of the most powerful orators of the day. Boswell did not hear him speak
until 16 April 1776.

4 Celebrated, before her marriage to Ross, as a courtesan; probably the fashion-
able and frail beauty to whom the indecent burlesque An Essay on Woman, by
Potter and Wilkes, had been addressed.

5 Charles Hamilton (1753-1828), styled Lord Binning, was son and heir of the
seventh Earl of Haddington and half-brother of Langton's wife.

6 Boswell and Johnson had supped at the Crown and Anchor with this learned
gentleman and original Club member on 7 June 1768. On 24 May 1770 Langton
had married the widow of the ninth Earl of Rothes.

122 London, 15 apm iyy*

for preaching his high Tory sermon on the 30th of January last. But
I tried to say something against his expulsion of the six students from
Oxford some years ago because they were Methodists, and would not
desist from praying and exhorting. 7 JOHNSON. "Sir, that expulsion
was extremely just and proper. What had people to do in an university
who were not willing to be taught, but who would insist to teach?
Where is religion to be learned but in an university? Sir, they were
examined and found to be mighty ignorant fellows." BOSWELL. "But,
Sir, was it not hard to expel them, for I believe they were good be-
ings?" JOHNSON. "Yes, Sir. I believe they might be good beings. But
they were not fit to be in the University of Oxford. A cow is a very good
animal in the field. But we turn her out of a garden."

I would needs defend drinking, although Mr. Johnson looked very
awful and cloudy upon me for doing so. "Sir," said I, "you know the
maxim in vino veritas: a man who is warmed with wine will speak
truth." JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, that may be an argument for drinking
if you suppose men liars; but, Sir, I would not keep company with a
fellow who lies as long as he is sober and whom you must fill drunk
before you can get a word of truth out of him." BOSWELL. "But, Sir,
you know all mankind have agreed in esteeming wine as a thing that
can cheer the heart, can drive away care; in short, the common phrases
used with regard to it prove it to be a good thing. Would not you, Sir,
now, allow a man oppressed with care to drink and make himself
merry?" JOHNSON. "Yes; if he sat next you." This was one of his great
broadsides. 8 Langton, who is a timorous man, said, "I saw that you
would bring something upon yourself." 9 1 never was disturbed. I know
Mr. Johnson so well and delight in his grand explosions, even when
directed against myself, so much that I am not at all hurt

Langton said he was just establishing a school upon his estate; but
he expressed doubts which had been suggested to him that it might
have a tendency to make the people less industrious. "No, Sir," said
Mr. Johnson. "While learning to read and write is a distinction, the
T See above, p. 470. 2. Nowell did not expel the Methodists himself, but he wrote
a pamphlet defending their expulsion by the Vice-Chancellor and as a result
was the target of several published replies.

In the Life of Johnson, the broadside is removed from its context and put with
undated material of 1772, where Boswell becomes simply "a gentleman,"

* See below, p. 187.

London, 15 April 1772 123

few who have that distinction may be the less inclined to work. But
when everybody learns to read and write, it is no longer a distinction.
A man who has a laced waistcoat is too fine a man to work. But if
everybody had laced waistcoats, we should have people work in laced
waistcoats. There are no people more industrious, none who work
more, than our manufacturers. Yet they have all learnt to read and
write." He said before this, "Sir, you must not omit doing a thing im-
mediately good for fear of remote consequences of evil, for fear of its
being abused. A man who has candles may sit up too late, which he
would not do had he not candles; but nobody will deny that the art of
making candles, by which light is continued to us beyond the time
that the sun gives us light, is a valuable art and ought to be preserved."
BOSWELL. "But, Sir, would it not be better to follow Nature and go to
bed and rise just as Nature gives us light or not?" JOHNSON. "No, Sir;
for then we should have no kind of equality in the partition of our time
between sleeping and waking. It would be very different in different
seasons, and in different places. In some of the northern parts of Scot-
land how little light is there in some parts of the winter! "

We talked of Tacitus. I ventured to say that I did not think him a
good historian; that he had admirable sense and elegant sentences,
but was too compact, had not sufficient fulness. This was risking pretty
far. But to my great joy Mr. Johnson gave me his countenance. Said
he: "Tacitus rather appears to have put down notes for writing a his-
tory than to have written a history." Although it was twelve o'clock
at night when we parted, I went home with Mr. Johnson, and Mrs.
Williams made tea for us. I told him what had been said of my ap-
pearance in the House of Lords. "Well," said he, "that was worth com-
ing to London for."

THURSDAY 16 APRIL. Mr. Mictte, the author of that beautiful
moral poem The Concubine, breakfasted with me. He was very anx-
ious about a tragedy he had written and which I had recommended
warmly to Mr. Garrick. I told him that Mr. Ganick had said to me
yesterday that he was engaged to as many plays as would fill up two
years, but that if Mr. Mickle's play was altered so as to do for the
stage, it should have its place. "At the same time," said he, "let Mr.
Mickle try if Mr. Colman will take it I know he is not full. If Colman
takes it, good and well. If not, his refusing it would be no objection

1 24 London, i 6 April 1772

to me. My refusing a play would be an objection to him. I mean now
my having had the first offer. But that, I say, is no objection to me;
and were it one, I would get over it for a friend of yours." Mickle is but
a silent man. It was rather a burthen to me to be obliged to entertain
him, for I have not that perennial flow of spirits which Garrick has. 1
I shall here put down some scraps of Garrick which I have omitted
in my account of yesterday. He was strong against my schoolmaster
and said he should have been whipped out of the town of Campbel-
town. He told me he was now reconciled to Dr. Armstrong; but justly
complained of Armstrong for insidiously giving him his tragedy to
read as the production of a young man, and under that disguise get-
ting Mr. Garrick's free opinion against it and then abusing him. 1
"Ah," said Garrick, "these geniuses are no better than other men.
They are pulvis et umbra. 993 He praised Beattie highly and said he
would ride to Edinburgh to serve him. He said Dr. Robertson's per-
secuting Beattie for having attacked Hume had hurt the Doctor's
character a good deal in England. "What?" said he, "here is a writer

1 William Julius Mickle (1735-1788) is probably best known today for his
ballad Cumnor HalL As a young man in Edinburgh he had, like Boswell, con-
tributed to Donaldson's Collection of Poems. After operating unsuccessfully a
brewery inherited from his father, he became in 1765 corrector to the Clarendon
Press. His Spenserian imitation The Concubine appeared in 1767, and in 1771
he published the first book of his magnum opus, a translation of The Lusiad
of Camoens. Boswell, who had a sincere admiration for his talents, solicited
subscriptions in Scotland for The Lusiad, and pushed the tragedy Chateaubri-
ant (afterwards called The Siege of Marseilles) with Garrick. Mickle was
touchy and resentful, interpreted as a personal affront Garrick's final rejection
of the play (which happened later in this year), and saw sinister motives in a
contretemps involving Garrick's subscriptions to The Lusiad. In spite of Bos-
weirs tactful and patient counsel, Mickle wrote violent letters about Garrick
and reflected on him in an angry note in The Lusiad. Boswell, caught in the
middle, managed to keep on friendly terms with the furious poet and the con-
temptuous manager.

* John Armstrong's tragedy The Forced Marriage was written in 1754 and pub-
lished in his Miscellanies in 1770, whereupon David Hume wrote to William
Strahan: "It is certainly one of the worst pieces I ever saw. . . . He keeps an
anger against Garrick for above twenty years for refusing to bring it upon the
stage; and he never since would allow him to be so much as a tolerable actor*'
(13 March 1770).

* "Dust and a shade": Horace, Odes, IV. vii. 16.

London, 16 April 1772 125

who is throwing loose those moral ties by which men are restrained
from cutting one another's throats or picking one another's pockets"
(acting it admirably all the time) . "There comes another writer who
attacks him. And shall a reverend clergyman persecute that writer
who stands boldly forth on the side of religion?" It was really pretty
to hear Mr. Garrick talk thus.

I called a little on Sir John Pringle, who told me he heard I had
done well in the House of Lords, reminded me of his encouraging me
to be a lawyer by saying I should come to London every spring for
appeals, and was much pleased. I dined at General Paoli's; only
Count Gentili there. The General said that Cato was a Tory and
Caesar a Whig. The former was anxious to support the fixed govern-
ment of his country. The other was for overturning it. I spoke of his-
torians, and particularly praised Lord Lyttelton because he gives us
what is said on both sides, balances, and draws a conclusion the justice
of which he submits to his readers. I said no historian who relates
transactions or draws characters which existed in times which he
never saw, has a right to give us a flowing confident narration, with-
out telling us why he has such ideas of men and things. Most of them
do so. But Lord Lyttelton is like a judge who sums up the evidence
on both sides. The weather was wet and gloomy. I sat the evening
at home.

FRIDAY 17 APRIL. This being Good Friday, I was in solemn
frame. Absolute fasting would have hurt me. By way of penance, and
upon honour seriously so, I went and breakfasted with Mrs. Christian
Macdowal.* I then called on Lord Lyttelton. I told him my compli-
ment to him as an historian, which pleased him. He talked very pret-
tily on gardening. He said he had a wild imagination, I answered,
"Your Lordship has taken a good bit to curb it with, by applying to
history." I was hurt at two things. He talked of Mr. Mickle as of one
whom he had never seen, when I am sure Mickle is acquainted with
him and has had a good deal of literary intercourse with "hfrn. And
notwithstanding his high letter to Miss Marshall on her comedy, he
talked of it very lightly. 5

* Mrs. Macdowal is mentioned three times in Boswell's condensed journals, but
without any indication why calling on her could be counted an act of penance.
8 Jane Marshall published her comedy, Sir Harry Gaylove, by subscription this

1 2 6 London, 1 7 April 1 772

I called on Mr. Johnson, whom I found with a large f olio Greek
New Testament (at least so it was to the best of my remembrance)
lying open on his table; and sometimes he would read a little with a
solemn hum, and sometimes talk to himself, either as meditating or
as praying. I would not disturb him on this day. I went in search of
a church, to hear prayers, or say prayers rather. It was now past three
in the afternoon, and I could find no church in the City but where
prayers were over. So I had only silent devotion. I had passed St.
Paul's from a desire to satisfy my curiosity by attending worship in
some other church, and so I missed every place of prayer.

I drank tea at Mr. Billy's; then drank tea a second time at Mr.
Henry Baldwin's, our printer of The London Magazine. His wife was
a pretty little genteel woman and his house in very good order. I then
called for Mr. William Wilson. He carried me into his landlord
Mr. Murray's, where was a company sitting after dinner, Sir John
Dalrymple 6 and others. I took a glass or two of wine, and then went
home. As I had promised something for The London Magazine next
day and had fallen behind in my Journal, I resolved to sit up all night
and write. I accordingly did so. The time was when I have sitten up
four nights in one week in London. But I found this night very hard
upon me.

I should have mentioned that I called this day on Langton, who
joined me in complaining that Mr. Johnson was deficient in active
benevolence; for instance, we could not mention any one whom he
had introduced to another. Mr. Langton told me that Mr. Topham
Beauclerk, 7 another of Mr. Johnson's great friends, had also com-
plained of him and said that he thought he could not perceive any
difference in his taking leave of one when going to the East Indies
or when going to ever so small a distance. I should have mentioned
too that I met at Mr. Billy's my old acquaintance Br. Gibbons, 8 dis-

year. Boswell himself had got a subscription for her on 26 February. In June

1769 he had read the play, and on 10 September 1769, en route back to London

from the Stratford Shakespeare Jubilee, he had tried unsuccessfully to promote

itwithColman.

e See below, p. 159.

7 See below, p. 165.

Thomas Gibbons (1720-1785), minister of the Independent Church at Haber-

London, 17 April 1772 127

senting clergyman in London. We talked of George Lewis Scott, who
published the continuation of Chambers's Dictionary, and of his sep-
aration from his wife (Mrs. Montagu's sister), who writes novels. 9
Said I: "She writes novels, and she married a dictionary-maker. It
seems she can do without a dictionary."

SATURDAY 1 8 APRIL. Captain Hoggan breakfasted with me, and
then he and I went and called at Sir Alexander Macdonald's. I was
cold, and had a headache from my last night's sitting up. I strolled
about in the forenoon, and dined at Clifton's Chop-house in Butcher
Row, the place where my friend Temple and I used to dine when I
lived in the Temple. I drank tea at Mr. Henry Baldwin's and de-
livered him the copy 1 which I had promised, and was quite a laborious
author.

I called on Mr. Johnson, and found him in solemn mood, with the
great New Testament open again. I have had a fondness for Sir Francis
Osborne's 2 works, and was thinking to publish an edition of him with
his life. I asked Mr. Johnson what he thought of Osborne. He an-
swered, "A conceited fellow. Were a man to write so now, the boys
would throw stones at him." I consulted him as to my applying for
the Sheriffship of Ayrshire, and securing it by undertaking the office
just now and engaging to let Mr. Duff have the salary for life. He said,
"I would take it if I could get it when the old man dies. But not now

dashers' Hall and a tutor of the Dissenting Academy at Mile End, was made
D.D. by the University of Aberdeen in 1764. Boswell heard him preach in Edin-
burgh 23 July 1769, and had him to dinner about the same time.
9 Ephraim Chambers (c. 1680-1740) published in 1728 in two folio" volumes
the first edition of his Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sci-
ences. Materials which he left for a supplement were committee! to the mathe-
matician George Lewis Scott (1708-1780), and two more volumes appeared in
1753. Scott*s estranged wife, Sarah Robinson, a sister of the bluestocking Mrs,
Elizabeth Montagu, was an industrious but dull writer of books of history and
romance, all published pseudonymously or anonymously.

1 "A Sketch of the Constitution of the Church of Scotland . . . with Specimens
of the Oratory of some of the most distinguished Members of that Church," in
The London Magazine for April and May of this year. The "specimens of ora-
tory" were an extended report of the debate in a case on patronage in the Gen-
eral Assembly of 1771 (see above, p. 13) in which he himself had been em-
ployed as counsel.

2 Not "Sir," though Boswell here and elsewhere styled him so. See below, p. 141.

12 8 London, 18 April 1772

on the terms you mention. That would be confining yourself the best
years of your lif e for nothing. Your vacation of three months at a time
is a good thing. You can come here; you can go to France; you can go
to Italy." I have omitted to mention that one day since I came last
to London, I spoke to Mr. Johnson of the good that following the law
had done me by filling up my time and preventing me from being
listless and unhappy. But that I thought a country gentleman might
contrive to pass his life very agreeably. "Why, Sir," said he, "y u
cannot give me an instance of any man who is left to lay out his own
time contriving not to have tedious hours."

I supped tonight at Sir Alexander Macdonald's, where were Mr.
and Mrs. Bosville and Miss Bosville and Tommy. The Knight thought
fit before supper to read aloud from some of the books of peerage
a great deal of the history of the Wentworth family. 8 1 was drowsy
and could hardly keep up my eyes, and the lecture did not help to
keep me awake.

SUNDAY 19 APRIL. It being Easter day, I was in an unusually
good frame. I breakfasted on chocolate and sweet biscuits at General
Paolf s. He then carried me in his coach to the Sardinian Minister's
Chapel in Lincoln's Inn Fields.* He left me there, as he went to the
Polish Minister's Chapel to hear a private mass. 5 There was a great
crowd. But I was happy enough to be conducted by a person in the
Ambassador's livery to a seat just before the organ and fronting the
altar. The solemnity of high mass, the music, the wax lights, and the
odour of the frankincense made a delightful impression upon me.
I was divinely happy. General Paoli was ready to receive me when
mass was done. We drove to Mr. Johnson's. He was not come home
from church. I asked Mrs. Williams to come upstairs to us, as she was
very desirous to be in the General's company. She accordingly sat
with us awhile, and was charmed with the General's attention and
affability. She left us when Mr. Johnson came in.

We talked of the blind being able to distinguish colours by the

* Mrs. Bosville was a Wentworth.

* The Gordon riots of 1780 commenced with the demolition of this chapel. It
was rebuilt, and here Fanny Burney was married to General D'Arblay, i August
1793-

9 The Polish Envoy Extraordinary Count Burzynski was a friend of Paoli's and
had come with him on the visit to Scotland in August 1771. See above, p. ai.

London, 19 April 1772 129

touch. Mr. Johnson said that the great Saunderson mentions his hav-
ing attempted to do it; but that he found he was aiming at an impos-
sibility. 6 That to be sure a difference in the surface makes the differ-
ence of colours. "But that difference," observed Mr. Johnson, "is so
fine that it is not sensible to the touch." The General mentioned
gamesters and jugglers who could know cards by the touch. Mr.
Johnson said that those cards must not have been so well polished
as ours are.

We talked of sounds. The General said no simple sound was pretty,
but only a harmony of sounds. I ventured to differ from this and men-
tioned the sound of a fine woman's voice. "No, Sir," said Mr. Johnson,
"if a serpent or a toad uttered it, you would think it ugly." BOSWELL.
"So you would think, Sir, were a fine tune to be uttered by one of those
animals." JOHNSON. "No, Sir, you'd say 'twas well. We've seen fine
fiddlers whom we liked as ill as toads, ha! ha! ha! "

He said difference of taste, with respect to its being a good or bad
taste, was just difference of skill. "But," said I, "for instance, we find
people differ much what is the best style of the English language.
Some tell you Swift's is the best; others that a fuller and grander way
of writing is the best." JOHNSON. "Sir, you must first define what you
mean by style before you can judge who has a good taste in style and
who has a bad. Those of the two tastes whom you have mentioned
don't differ as to good and bad. They both agree that Swift has a good
neat style. But one loves a neat style; another loves a style of more
splendour. One loves a plain coat; another loves a laced coat; but
neither will deny that each coat is good of its kind." The General
pressed Mr. Johnson to come often to see him, without waiting for an
invitation. Mr. Johnson said, "I will come with my friend Boswell,
and so I'll get a habit of coming."

The General was good enough to drive me about till dinner-time,
down Snow Hill, all the length of Holborn and Oxford Street, down
Park Lane and along Piccadilly. He said of the Roman Historians,
"Livio un dio, Tacito un uomo di buon senso, Sallustio filosofo" 7 1
dined at Sir John Pringle's. Colonel Pringle and his lady, Willy Hall,

6 Nicholas Saunderson, blinded by smallpox at the age of twelve months, be-
came in 1711 fourth Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge. His
Elements of Algebra, 1740, contains the disclaimer to which Johnson refers.
T "Livy is a god, Tacitus a man of good sense, Sallust a philosopher."

130 London, 19 April 1772

and Mr. John Pringle, Lord Alemoor's brother, were there. 8 The latter
controverted the common principle which sticks much with me; viz.,
that it is a great loss to the country that the people of estates carry
their money to the Capital. He said it naturally returned again to the
country; and that there was no benefit to the country in having more
money than what was sufficient to pay labourers, so that the people
should never want work, which he observed was the case even now
when such complaints are made of people carrying their money out
of the country. I am no profound calculator or politician. But I cannot
help thinking that the country must be in a much happier state when
people of fortune live at home and make their rents circulate in the
neighbourhood. At any rate, I am clear that the men of fortune who
do so are happier.

We talked of the change to the worse on 9 the manners of Edin-
burgh; that now the gentlemen drink so constantly that the ladies are
neglected, and you do not find gentlemen in the drawing-room and at
the tea-table, which was formerly the mode. For my part I am de-
termined to try to revive it. In the evening I went and sat awhile with
Lord Mountstuart. Our conversation was rational and calm.

MONDAY2OAPRIL. Captain Hoggan breakfasted with me. I then
had General Paoli's coach and drove to the City, as my most attentive
and indefatigable friend Mr. Dilly had procured me a ticket to my
Lord Mayor's dinner and ball at the Mansion House. I called for Mr.
William Wilson and wished him a good journey. I called at Mr.
Waugh's in Sion Garden, Aldermanbury; but he was not at home. 1 1
found Mrs. Waugh and sat a little with her, and then Mr. Dilly and I
went to the Mansion House in General Paoli's coach, the General's
coachman and Swiss footman in silver-laced liveries, and Joseph my

8 Colonel James Pringle (later Sir James Pringle of SticheU) and William Hall
were nephews of Sir John. They were also connected with the "Merse" Road
Bill which Boswell mentions on 24 March: Colonel Pringle (M.P, for Berwick-
shire) being spokesman of the Committee which brought in the bill, and Hall,
as heritor of the county, a petitioner for certain changes in it. John Pringle of
Hauling, some kind of remote cousin of Sir John's, was M.P. for Selkirkshire.
* Quite clear in the manuscript, although apparently it cannot be explained as
a Scotticism.

1 John Waugh is listed in the directory as '"merchant"; the reason for BoswelTs
interest in him is not known.

London, 20 April 1772 131

servant also, mounted behind for the sake of grandeur. I should have
mentioned that I saw from Mr. Dilly's windows the procession of the
children belonging to the hospitals in their way to St. Bride's Church,
and the procession of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffs in then-
coaches.* We went to the Mansion House about three o'clock, accord-
ing to invitation, but we had a long time to wait. There being such a
crowd of carriages, it took a long time for the company to get in. The
ladies were all in one room and the gentlemen in other two rooms be-
fore dinner. The Lord Mayor drank our healths in a glass of white

wine, which was formally proclaimed by , who began, "My Lord

Bishop of Peterborough," and so naming down the other people of
distinction, and then I remember this: "My worthy masters, the Al-
dermen, Knights, Squires, and Gentlemen all, the Lord Mayor drinks
your health." Mr. Dilly was acquainted with the Lord Mayor (Nash)
and introduced me to him. He was a big comely man, without any
pride of office. As I was acquainted with Mr. Wharton, whom his
Lordship's interest had promoted to be a Commissioner of Excise in
Scotland, I had some conversation with the Lord Mayor. Before din-
ner, Mr. Dilly and I went in to the Egyptian Hall and viewed the
tables, which were indeed grand. We then waited at the door and saw
dinner carried in. The review of dishes was prodigious. Everybody
was kept out of the hall till dinner was set, the door being guarded by
men with great staves, I suppose City officers. Then the Lord Mayor
and Aldermen and ladies and their attendants or partners went in,
and then the door was left free. As there were a good many more
tickets given out than there were places in the hall, there was a terri-
ble struggle who should get in first among us who had to shift for our-
selves. I was sadly squeezed and not a little concerned lest I should
lose Dilly, he being a very little man. However he and I got in soon
enough to get good places. It was truly a superb entertainment, and
made the metropolis of Great Britain appear in a respectable light.
There was a great number of foreigners of distinction there. We had
everything in the way of meat and drink that could be found, fruits,
confections, ices in perfection. Burgundy and champagne were called
for as we pleased. I had before me a bottle of each. During our enter-

2 To hear the famous Easter Monday charity sermon, known as the Spital Ser-
mon. The preacher this year was John Hinchcliffe, Bishop of Peterborough.

132 London, 20 April 1772

tainment a band of music played, and from time to time the crier
announced a toast. There were three tables with about a hundred
people at each. The Lord Mayor sat at the table in the middle. The
company retired just as they chose, without any order.

The Lord Mayor and Aldermen and a select party adjourned to
another room, where were a couple of long tables, with a range of
bottles. I had not met with John Wilkes since I left him at Paris in
spring 1 766. 1 thought this a good opportunity to do it accidentally. 8
So when Dilly and I came into this room, I said with an audible voice,
"This is excellent; this is like ourselves, quite Scotland." Wilkes
turned about, and seeing me, we instantly shook hands. "Well," said
I, "only think of me, comparing the grandeur of the Lord Mayor and
Aldermen to Scotland." As we were sitting down, Wilkes said, "Don't
sit by me or it will be in The Public Advertiser tomorrow." However,
the Recorder 4 very genteelly made way, and down I sat with Mr. Al-
derman Trecothick on my one hand and Mr. Wilkes on the other.
"Well," said Wilkes, "Boswell, you was a pleasant fellow when I knew
you. But now you're grown the gravest of grave mortals. You should
have come and seen a friend in gaol." Said I: "I do assure you I am
glad to meet with you, but I cannot come to see you. I am a Scotch
laird and a Scotch lawyer and a Scotch married man. It would not be
decent" 5 "Do you remember," said he, "how melancholy you was at
Paris, when the news came of the Old Pretender's death? I kept your
secret" 6 "Upon my word," said I, "y u ^ a ^ a grand entertainment

Since 1766 BoswelFs dealings with Wilkes had been unattractively correct.

He had associated freely with the fascinating demagogue in Italy and France,

though Wilkes was then under sentence of outlawry for declining to give him-

self up on a conviction for obscene and seditious libel. But in the London jaunts

of 1768 and 1769, though Wilkes was then in London the second time in gaol,

serving his sentence Boswell had deliberately avoided him. Wilkes had been

elected M.P. and expelled the House; he had also been elected Alderman of

London, and was now Sheriff.

* (Sir) James Eyre.

B He did not, in fact, resume easy relations with Wilkes until 1775, by which

time Wilkes was Lord Mayor of London and had been allowed by the Govern-

ment to take the seat in Parliament from which he had been repeatedly

expelled.

Boswell learned of the death of the Old Pretender 24 January 1766. ("Was

dull a little. 1 ') Two days afterwards, at Wilkes's, he saw in The St. JameSs

London, 20 April 1772 133

here today." Said he, "You did not see the sheep's-head. You did not
see the haggis." 7 1 said to . . .

EDITORIAL NOTE: The full Journal breaks off here at the foot of a
page with a blank reverse, indicating that it was never carried further.
The remainder of the London record for this year consists of rough
notes. Later, when Boswcll was w*riting the Life of Johnson, he seems
not to have found the notes until after he had written the correspond-
ing portion of the Life, and then to have used them with unusual care-
lessness. They show, for instance, that he was mistaken in the passage
of the Life where he says that he first met Edmund Burke on the night
of his own admission to the Literary Club in 1 773; he was present with
Burke, Goldsmith, and Beauclerk at a dinner given by Sir Joshua
Reynolds on 6 May 1 772, was struck with Burke' s amiable conversa-
tion, and recorded two of his puns.

On 8 May Boswell had a specially fine conversation with another
Club member. "Garrick called on me ere dressed. He had called be-
fore and left [his name as] 'Rantum Scantum.' 8 Entered again:
'Here's Rantum Scantum.' Took me out to walk in St. James's Park.
Fifteen guineas to Gentleman. 9 Took off Johnson: 'Davy is futile.'
Then on Thames, when we talked of language, repeated, 'Hast chou
a medicine for a mind diseased,' from Macbeth, ending, 'Throw
physic,' etc. 1 Great." Almost a year later, in a letter written to Garrick
shortly before the next London jaunt, Boswell waxed reminiscent. "I
must beg and entreat that you will play Macbeth while I am in Lon-
don. You may remember what an impression you made upon me by
repeating only a few lines of it while we walked one morning last
spring on the banks of the Thames near the Adelphi."

Chronicle a notice of the death of his mother. Wilfces made a very kindly at-
tempt to console him for his loss.

7 Sheep's or calf s heart, lungs and liver, minced, mixed with oatmeal, seasoned
and boiled in the maw of the animal. This and the sheep's-head were considered
especially Scotch.

g A traditional phrase indicating nonsense or disorder ("harum-scarum")-
9 See above, p. 17 and below, pp. 167, 235, 236.

1 Macbeth, V. iii. 4off ., quoted somewhat inaccurately. Garrick had first acted
Macbeth in 1744, reviving the authentic text. Arthur Murphy in his Life of
David Garrick, 1801, cites this passage to illustrate how much Garrick had done
for the play by his restorations.

134 London, g May 1772

On 9 May Boswell had an audience with Lord North, apparently
his only meeting with that unpopular statesman. "Breakfast Mr.
Billy's. Then coach and away to Lord North's. Waited. . . . Called
in. Spoke well. Father's joke as to juries on rebels."

During this jaunt Boswell, who had left home on 14 March, sent
letters to his wife on six days in March; on twenty-one days in April;
and on eight days in May before setting out for home on the twelfth.
At the end of April he was "uneasy at valuable friend's complaints.
Gloomy fate, or doubts as to it, clouded me." He was "hypped black."
But on the next day: "Home evening. Good letter revived [me] ." And
two days later: "Drank hard. . . . These two nights went with bad
women a little." At Mrs. Stuart's he had a "fine conversation on gal-
lantry and love . . . and no second marriage." She had said to him
on an earlier visit: "If all husbands here [were] like you, wives
[would] not wish to go to heaven." On the day before he left London,
he called on Mrs. Thrale and received her "kind invitation" to bring
his "wife . . . next year." At Johnson's house late on the night before
departure, they talked of their friends and the writing of biographies.
"I hope you'll write all their lives," said Johnson. "Farewell. God bless
[you]."

TUESDAY 12 MAY. After about two hours sleep Hoggan arrived
obliged to get up before five. Mr. Dilly had chocolade. I had every-
thing (almost) well settled. But still, as at death, some things re-
mained. Took leave of Joseph.* Poor man! Tears and kissed hand.
Leave of both Messrs. Dilly. Was a little in flutter. Out by Islington.
Away bySt.Albans. . . .*

'Joseph was presumably to return by water, as lie had come down (above,
p. 39), and was not too confident of reaching his destination.
8 He returned by the west road (Leicester, Loughborough, Derby, Manchester,
Kendal, Snap, Carlisle, Langholm, Hawick), a route which he had perhaps not
travelled since 1760.

BOSWELL'S LIFE FROM THE END OF HIS LONDON JAUNT IN THE SPRING
OF 1 772 TO THE BEGINNING OF HIS JAUNT IN THE SPRING OF 1 773. Bos-
well did most things eagerly. Eager to set out on his London jaunt in
March 1772, he was, as the time approached, eager, if not to return
home, at least to accomplish the journey with a maximum of satis-
faction. It was always important to his happiness to have company.
On Saturday 9 May, three days before his departure, he was writing to
Johnston of Grange that Hoggan would be his companion on the west
road by Carlisle and Langholm, would give him "a convoy as far as
Hawick. I hope my wife will meet me there. You must be kind enough
to be at Langholm on Friday forenoon, and meet us there, and go with
us to Hawick. It will be an admirable friendly meeting." Despite sev-
eral appeals from Temple, Boswell had no plans for seeing him. The
trip from London to Mamhead was long and expensive. Boswell had
made it in 1769. Perhaps we can forgive him if consciously or un-
consciously he decided this year that the "conversation of the first
geniuses" was more important than that of his old friend. Already
Boswell had formed an "intention of coming to London every spring."
"The House of Lords," wrote Temple, "will be a fine theatre for your
talents. As you say, it will also afford you an opportunity of keeping
up your acquaintance with those great folks who may be of use to you
in your hopes of preferment." Another hope, that of coming to the
English bar (years later so fruitlessly to be realized), had begun to
form as early as the summer of 1 769 or perhaps even during his Lon-
don visit in the spring of 1 768. But these practical aspects of the Lon-
don plans could only somewhat extenuate the aspect of extravagance
and guilt in them. In the letter to Grange he wrote: "I only regret that
my valuable spouse and I have been separated, which has given con-
siderable anxiety and uneasiness to both of us, and which therefore I
am resolved shall never again happen for so long a time while we are
in this world."

135

1 36 BoswelVs Life, May i jT*-March 1 773

"Worthy" Grange in a letter written three weeks before BoswelTs
reply had described both his own state of nervous weakness (follow-
ing his escape from some kind of amorous connexion) and the im-
proved health of Mrs. Boswell.

*'I have seen Mrs. Boswell frequently. She is pretty well, and by
the time you return, I hope you'll find her perfectly recovered. I was
blaming her for being so much alone; indeed she has not many people
here at present that she can be quite easy with, and those you know are
the only company that are agreeable to a person recovering from any
illness. I saw her last night. She was anxious anent your appearance
in the House of Lords."

Grange was a good friend, but for some reason because he was
back in the country and did not receive the letter in time or because of
his neurosis ("still . . . very uneasy, and incapable of fixing my at-
tention on any particular subject") he failed to keep the rendez-
vous at Langholm, as Boswell had "flattered" himself he might. "I
went to the post-house there; but could get no intelligence about you."
We have no evidence either that Mrs. Boswell went so far as Hawick
in order to support the latter stages of the journey. Boswell at any rate
got home and plunged into business. By the third of June he had "just
got free from the Church Court" and had by it "cleared" his "house-
rent, and five guineas into the bargain." Nevertheless, he planned to
ask Grange for a loan of 250 on his personal bond. The London jaunt
had scarcely put money in his pocket.

A notable event of the summer was a visit to Edinburgh by Sir
John Pringle. Boswell offered him an apartment in his own house.

"I am much obliged to you for the kind offer . . . which perhaps
I should have accepted of had I been to come single to Edinburgh; but
as I carry a lady with me (sub rosa sit) and thereby make a sort of
family, you see I can give no private house the trouble of my accom-
modation. 1 But I will still avail myself of your friendship, and beg of
1 This should probably be set down as one of Sir John's jokes, for the circum-
stances are against the obvious interpretation. He was writing from Stichell,
the house of his brother, Sir Robert Pringle, and though Sir Robert was a wid-
ower, it does not seem as though Sir John would have "carried" a kept mistress
to the ancestral seat Boswell devotes many pages of his Journal to Sir John, but
aero- refers to a mistress, and he was not likely to overlook such frailty on the

BoswelPs Life, May if72-~March 1773 *37

you to send one of your servants to bespeak a lodging for me ...
consisting of two bedchambers and a dining-room, and a room for a
manservant. Let the lodging be as handsome as shall become a friend
of yours and as airy as you can get it"

Pringle stayed perhaps through a good part of the summer; he en-
gaged in a grandfatherly flirtation with Mrs. BoswelTs little niece
Jeanie Campbell of Treesbank (who was on a kind of extended loan
to the Boswell household) ; and although he must have left at about
the moment when Boswell decided to attempt to remedy a certain
long-standing cause of dissatisfaction in his relations with his father,
he continued to furnish sober counsel.

"I was sorry to find you had made an unsuccessful attempt about
recovering that deed you mention; but I must blame you for refusing
your father's invitation to Auchinleck, which certainly you ought to
have accepted, as I know he would have taken it well; and I even con-
jecture that if you had gone and shown no resentment at the refusal,
he might of himself afterwards [have] done what you required of
him. As things now stand, he sees that you have taken pet, a circum-
stance that ought never, and I dare say in this case never will, gain
favour. I therefore take the liberty to advise you speedily to correct
this faux pas, by going to your father's house, either without any
annunciation, or, which I should like better, by writing a letter apolo-
gizing in some manner for what you had done and desiring leave to
come to him if convenient for him. There I would have you stay till
he went to Edinburgh, or as long as you found it agreeable to him,
cheerful in his presence, attending him in his walks, and at other

part of a man who was always lecturing him for irregularities. In memoirs of
Sir John which he wrote for Dr. Andrew Kippis he says, "What David Hume
boasts in the panegyric on himself which he calls his life that his company
was very acceptable to modest women was true of Sir John." Furthermore, as
we know from the Edinburgh Directory for 1773-1774* Pringle took lodgings in
James's Court, so that he could not really have meant that he wanted his ar-
rangements kept sub rosa. BoswelTs records tell us nothing whatever about Sir
John's household in London, but as a physician he would probably have needed
a housekeeper, and he may have been so dependent on her that he took her with
him when he made extended visits. He had been briefly and unhappily married,
but had been a widower for almost twenty years.

1 38 BoswelFs Life, May 1 7?2-March 1 773

times applying yourself to those studies in which, you may remem-
ber, he told me he believed you to be deficient. If you will comply with
this hint from me at this time and any other which I shall find neces-
sary for preparing matters for my interfering, be assured that I will
exert myself to the utmost in this affair. The world will do your father
the justice to think that when he exacted that deed from you, he did
wisely and equitably for his family; but at what time the same deed is
to be given up and you restored to what you call your birthright, may
be a disputable point. You were several years in sowing your wild
oats, and therefore, though there is all the appearance of your having
exhausted that unprofitable grain, yet the same world will want to be
sure, and perhaps demand a trial of you for as many years in the good
husbandry as were employed in the bad. . . .

"Remember me ... to my little rustic favourite, whom at my
return to Edinburgh I shall expect to have made great progress in
English manners. Let your next letter be dated from Auchinleck."
PRINCLE, 19 September.

And a few days later, Boswell received similar admonishment from
Temple:

* 4 Why not agree to such a settlement as your father desires? Your
attachment to the family of Auchinleck is laudable, but you ought in
the first place to consider yourself and Mrs. Boswell. It seems indeed
the enthusiasm, or rather bigotry, of this passion, to sacrifice your own
happiness and that of her you ought and profess to love more than
yourself to a distant posterity who it is possible may have neither
virtue or merit Comply with your father's request, and I dare say he
will make a settlement on Mrs. Boswell and do everything else to
make you easy.

"I am sorry you did not go to Auchinleck. I would never appear to
doubt of its being mine. The very apprehension in you may tempt to
the reality in him. . . . Why imagine that lady ill-disposed towards
you? Only both of you show her the respect and attention that is really
due to her, and I dare say she will give you no reason for dissatisfac-
tion. How could John be such a goose as to differ with her? "*
'Boewell's "strange" brother, Lieutenant John, had recently had a rift with
Lady Aurlrinlurl: and had returned to his former retreat with Dr. Wilson at
Newcastle.

BoswelVs Life, May i n^-March 1 773 ^ 139

Subsequent letters from Pringle trace the continuation of Bos-
well's trouble.

"I should believe, dear Boswell, that you had quarrelled with me,
considering the date of my last letter to you, an age ago, and to which
you have never given an answer. The subject was finding you in the
wrong and exhortation to act otherwise than you proposed to do at the
time. On that condition, you know what I undertook to do for
you. . . .

"I add my compliments to your little charge." i December.

"I have not forgotten my engagement. ... I mean I have writ-
ten about that affair to your father and have received a favourable
answer. ... I cannot however approve of your taking pet last au-
tumn. . . . Remember in all cases of opposition, I shall be of the
ministerial side; I mean on that of your father's, my oldest and best
friend. You may inherit after him (if I should survive him) my first
affections, but they cannot be alienated during his life. . . .

"Love to little Campbell." 4 March 1 773.

About the time when Boswell "took pet" with his father, or early
in August 1 772, he began once more to keep a brief Journal. One early
page, now partially destroyed by damp, seems to preserve a fragment
of an entry (11 August) concerning that disagreeable incident. "(He
offered to take) me west I told him that in the way I was in, I could
not think of it. Parted having the advantage of him."

The Journal runs nearly to the end of January in the next year,
giving us crowded hints of conviviality and business during an au-
tumn recess and a winter session. Early in the autumn Thomas Pen-
nant the traveller, topographer, and antiquary passed through Edin-
burgh, and Boswell had tea with this "neat little man." Somewhat
later, Bennet Langton, the Lincolnshire squire and friend of Johnson's
with whom Boswell had renewed his acquaintance in London the
previous April, arrived with his wife, Lady Rothes, and they stayed
in town until mid-December. On twenty-one days BoswelTs Journal
refers to engagements with Langton. He visited Auchinleck. Two
other visitors to Edinburgh, during the first half of November, were
BoswelTs London acquaintances the South-Sea explorers and natu-

140 BoswelFs Life, May t fix-March 1 773

ralists Banks and Solander. When these empiricists came into contact
with the learned and philosophic farmer and jurist Lord Monboddo,
a notorious theorist about human kinship with the orang-outang,
conversational results were worth a longer entry than usual. "Went
with Dr. Solander and breakfasted with Monboddo, who listened with
avidity to the Doctor's description of the New Hollanders, almost
brutes but added with eagerness, 'Have they tails, Dr. Solander?*
'No, my Lord, they have not tails.' "*

Business was good. Boswell was now one of the examinators of the
Faculty of Advocates. (On 27 November he examined the historian
of Edinburgh, Hugo Arnot.) He records a week (Saturday 12 Decem-
ber) in which he drew twenty-three guineas in fees two guineas
more than in any week since he came to the bar. He had been a Mason
since his nineteenth year, had in fact served as Junior Warden and
Depute Master of Canongate Kilwinning Lodge, and he now for the
first time begins to mention Masonic activities in his notes. At the
same time the record is streaked with some darker themes. He was
drinking more heavily, and he began to yield to a periodic appetite
for nocturnal gaming. Ten entries during November, December, and
January refer to whist. On 6 January he had a card table for "the first
time" in his own house.

He seems to have had, during the autumn, a first momentary re-
lapse in the direction of his pre-marital promiscuity. Mrs. Boswell,
after a slow recovery from her miscarriage of the previous winter,
was pregnant once more. In a series of guarded phrases and cryptic
symbols, Boswell confesses his malaise under the restraints now neces-
sary (19-20 September), his resort, after "too much wine," appar-
ently to a woman of the town (27 October), and later his "dire uneasi-
ness," his "dreary fears" of the consequences. His "valuable n" knew
all and made him send for the doctor. "She is my best friend, and the
most generous heart"

Monboddo "inquired for these long-tailed men of Banks and was not well
pleased that they had not been found in all his peregrination" (Samuel Johnson
to Mrs. Thrale, 25 August 1773). Monboddo had first announced his pre-Dar-
winian ideas in his preface to An Account of a Savage Girl, 1768, translated
under his supervision from the French of La Condamine. He returned to the
theme in the first volume of The Origin and Progress of Language, published
1773.

BoswelFs Life, May i jjz-March 1 773 141

A minor document of the period, BoswelTs notes on his reading of
a book by the seventeenth-century gentleman-philosopher Francis Os-
borne, his Advice to a Son (1656), consists of page numbers and topi-
cal headings in Boswell's own words (more revealing than the actual
text) for passages which impressed him. Among others: "Buy a house
rather than build," "Marriage and polygamy," "Want of children
no evil."

The return to London had perhaps done something if some-
thing were needed to revive his passion for authorship. His
"Sketch" of the poet Gray, with Temple's "character" of Gray, in The
London Magazine for March 1772, had been followed in the April
and May issues by "A Sketch of the Constitution of the Church of
Scotland . . . with Specimens of the Oratory of Some of the Most
Distinguished Members of that Church," the first instalment of
which we have seen him writing on 17 April while in London. His
first act upon arriving in Edinburgh on 18 May was to post back to
Dilly "two sheets" for The London Magazine^ no doubt his second
instalment. In June he followed these with an anonymous self-
critique or "Sceptical Observations" upon a passage of his first instal-
ment. He had promised Dilly a series of monthly essays for The Lon-
don Magazine to be entitled "The Hypochondriack." But this effort
was apparently too much for the present inspiration. During the au-
tumn he made some abortive attempts to produce a first number, then
postponed the scheme.

Immediately after the rising of the Court of Session, he was almost
daily in the Laigh Parliament House reading the old records of the
Privy Council of Scotland and copying "curious passages" with a view
towards publishing a volume of extracts. This pleasant labour was to
continue during several years, but nothing would come of it. It gave
Boswell a bad conscience ("Records. Uneasy to think that this was the
only thing that I really minded at present") . His friend Temple, how-
ever, wrote to him approvingly of the project and drew a contrast
which reminds us of one sort of conflict which authorship might en-
tail for the gentleman of that day:

"I am glad to find you have thoughts of publishing again. Such a
work as you propose cannot but be curious. . . . Age makes every
event and every character venerable. . . . You know neither Mrs.

1 4 2 BoswelVs Life, May i jit-March 1 773

Boswell nor I ever liked your engaging in the magazine. Anything
you write there will never be read by anybody but shopkeepers and
farmers. Is it not surprising that the Baron of Auchinleck, the friend
of Paoli, the author of the Account of Corsica, should be flattered with
the admiration of hucksters and pedlars!"

The country was suffering from a widespread financial depres-
sion,* said to have been the worst since South-Sea days. There is no
reason to believe that Boswell had any special knowledge of finance,
but in November he felt moved to write and publish anonymously the
first of the series of "characteristical pamphlets" in which from time
to time he was to proffer advice to the nation. This was entitled Re-
flections on the Late Alarming Bankruptcies in Scotland, The deplora-
ble state of public affairs seemed to him to be somehow due to those
features of contemporary Scottish life which generally annoyed and
depressed him (and which occasioned perhaps some of his own most
troublesome temptations). "For some years past there has been in
Scotland an abominable spirit of levelling. . . . Ever since the seat
of government has been removed from among us, we have been in-
creasing in riches and barbarity. . . . Interest or amusement draw
the greatest number of our people of fashion up to London. . . .
There is no distinction of tables, as there is no distinction of ranks; all
must have an equal number of dishes, all must have wines equally
costly, as all think themselves equally gentlemen. . . . One great
source of extravagance ... is the practice of extensive and indis-
criniinate entertaining. . . . There is ... more hard drinking in
Scotland tiban in any other country in Europe. , . . Every drawing-
room is like a nunnery, and the ladies hardly see the gentlemen. . . .
We are shamefully deficient in dress, which is the least hurtful mode
of expense." Boswell concludes with the hope that the late bankrupt-
cies may have at least the effect of "restoring just notions of subor-
dination" and "frugality." He was himself very likely the author of
the favourable review in The Edinburgh Advertiser for 20 November.
Otherwise the pamphlet seems to have attracted no attention what-
ever.

A letter written to Boswell by tiie actor-manager James Love from
London on 19 November recommended a young visiting player to Bos-
4 See above, p. 7771. 6.

BoswelPs Life, May iffz-March 1773 143

well's "protection" and made apologies for intruding. *The hurry of
business and necessary attention to matters of higher moment no
doubt sufficiently tend to obliterate the traces of your former less im-
portant connexion. ... If you have not entirely sunk all theatrical
matters in more elevated pursuits. ..." But the apprehension was
by now perhaps ill-founded.

BoswelTs relations with London seem scarcely interrupted during
the year between his visit of 1772 and that which all along he must
have been planning for the very next spring. Letters from Percy and
Johnson 5 at the end of August gave him the inspiration for one to
Garrick a composition at once facetious and informative which
deserves to be inserted here in its entirety.

[Boswell to David Garrick]

Edinburgh, 10 September 1772

DEAR SIR, Let me in the first place thank you for the obliging
care which you took before I left London to have my head externally
improved by the addition of a handsome wig made by your own op-
erator. Mr. Gast acquitted himself to admiration. The wig which you
bespoke for me arrived in good time and, if I may play on words, has
made me look the reverse of aghast, giving me indeed an air much
superior to what any other wig did, even those which I had from the
celebrated Courtier. 6 1 have not failed to do justice to Mr. Gast and at
the same time have vaunted my being equipped by Mr. Garrick's wig-
maker. This having given occasion to some pleasantry in divining for
what character my wig was fashioned, my friend Captain Erskine ob-
served, "To be sure for Benedict the married man" My wife, how-
ever, cannot be reconciled to my wearing a wig, let it be ever so well
made. I know not why it is, but women in general do not like wigs.
Did every man's strength lie in his hair as Samson's did, the motive
would be obvious and natural.

I have delayed writing to you till I should have it in my power to
comply with your desire of having a copy of the catalogue of Mr.
Samuel Johnson's writings drawn up by Dr. Percy. As the catalogue

5 "Poor Hastie, I thinV, had but his deserts."
8 This allusion remains obscure.

144 Boswelfs Life, May i j^t-March 1 773

was communicated to me by Percy as a favour, I could not give a copy
of it without his permission. This I asked by a letter to him before I
left London; but I did not get his answer till the other day. He how-
ever freely consents to my letting you have a copy of the catalogue.
He even says that as I contributed to its formation, I have all the right
of an author over it. I therefore now send you a copy, and I beg that
you may be good enough to give me any additions that you know. I
can mention two: the epigram on Gibber's Birthday Odes, "Great
George's praise let tuneful Gibber sing," and the original epitaph on
Qaudy Phillips which gave occasion to Mr. Johnson's fine one which
I heard you repeat at the Archbishop of York's, and which I find is
published in Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies. I wish to have the original
one as a foil and to show how poor a hint was the occasion of a very
bright sally which was in a manner extempore as Mr. Johnson and
you sat at breakfast: "Davy, I can make a better."

I know you will give me your kind assistance in collecting every-
thing that may be had with regard to your old preceptor, of whom
you always entertain a high idea, notwithstanding the hiatus valde
deflendits* in the Preface to his Shakespeare, for which I have often
sincerely felt If I survive Mr. Johnson, I shall publish a Life of him,
for which I have a store of materials. I can with pleasure record many
of his expressions to your honour; and I think I can explain with truth,
and at the same time with delicacy, the coldness with which he has
treated your public merit. 8 I had a letter from him a few days ago,
informing me that he cannot come to Scotland this autumn; but he
7 Omission greatly to be regretted.

Boswell and others thought that Carriers signal services in reviving Shake-
speare on the stage and in bringing Shakespeare's own texts back into acting
use deserved some mention in an historical introduction to Shakespeare such as
Johnson's Preface. Johnson's defence (Life, 19 October 1769) had been couched
in somewhat splenetic language: that Garrick was admirable only as an actor,
** *a poor player, who frets and struts his hour upon the stage' ... a shadow."
Later, in the Hebrides (23 September 1773), Johnson was to assert that Garrick
had "been liberally paid for mouthing Shakespeare"; that he had "not made
Shakespeare better known." The reader will remember that during the previous
spring in London (above, 15 April 1772) Boswell had discussed with both Gar-
rick and Johnson the even more delicate subject of Johnson's covert rebuke of
Garrick for not being more forward in lending him his old editions of Shake-
speare for collation.

BoswelFs Life, May 1 772-March 1 773 145

says, "I refer my hopes to another year; for I am very sincere in my
design to pay the visit and take the ramble,"

I send you a catalogue of books on sale here just now. Whatever
other catalogues come out shall be sent to you; and I shall be happy
to execute any commissions which you may have.

I had a letter the other day from Mr. Mickle. His tragedy in its
improved state is I understand now with you. I heartily wish that it
may be accepted. 9

I offer my best compliments to Mrs. Garrick, and I ever am with
sincere regard, dear Sir, your obliged friend and humble servant.

[JAMES BOSWELL.]

A letter from Boswell to the moral philosopher and poet James
Beattie written at the end of October encourages Beattie to continue
his Spenserian narrative poem The Minstrel, transmits some words
of praise which Johnson had sent concerning Beattie's Essay on Truth,
and concludes with a long essay paragraph arguing against the Ho-
ratian thesis that middling poetry ought not to be tolerated (medio-
cribus esse poetis) . Garrick replied to Boswell about the list of John-
son's writings in November, and on Christmas day Boswell celebrated
by writing letters to both of the London celebrities. To Johnson: "I
communicated to Beattie what you said of his book." Beattie had
been delighted and would find "a perpetual source of pleasure" in
recollecting Johnson's "paternal attentions." To Garrick: "Your kind
attention to me from the first hour of our acquaintance has been re-
markable. I am much flattered by it and always retain a warm grati-
tude." Johnson's "noble" Drury Lane Prologue had been omitted from
the list sent to Garrick simply by a mistake in transcription. "It is a
chef d'ceuvre and does great honour to our illustrious friend. When
we meet, I shall without ceremony trouble you to give me all of him
that I want."

A notable event in the life of Edinburgh during January 1 773 was
a masquerade given by BoswelTs "cousin," the beautiful Lady Mac-
donald. In the Edinburgh and London newspaper accounts, which
seem to have their source with BoswelL, the affair is celebrated as the
first of its kind ever given in Scotland. It seems to have been quite in-

9 It never was. See above, p. 1247:. i.

146 BoswelFs Life, May i jjz-March 1 773

sipid. BosweU himself attended as a dumb conjuror. "It was regretted

that this facetious gentleman's talents were locked up in dumb show."

FRIDAY 15 JANUARY. Digges obligingly called to settle with me
about going to Lady Macdonald's masquerade. I was so ill I had great
reluctance to go, but was afraid of offending her Ladyship. I went to
the theatre at six. Digges and Yates assisted me to dress. Digges and I
went together. It did pretty well. I came off early.

Samuel Johnson, who apparently read about the masquerade in
The Gentleman's Magazine, made it the occasion of a pleasantly cool
and philosophic reprimand in his next letter.

"I have Jieard of your masquerade. What says your synod to such
innovations? I am not studiously scrupulous, nor do I think a masquer-
ade either evil in itself or very likely to be the occasion of evil; yet as
the world thinks it a very licentious relaxation of manners, I would
not have been one of the first masquers in a country where no mas-
querade had ever been before."

Certain events of this winter curiously illustrate how BoswelTs
professional, and sometimes more than professional, interest in crim-
inal trials could alternate rapidly with other kinds of excitement. In
January occurred the notable trial of Alexander Murdison, a farmer
of Peeblesshire, and John Miller his shepherd, for stealing sheep and
reselling them with new markings. This gruelling trial continued
steadily from eight in the morning of Friday 8 January throughout
that day and night and all day Saturday until eleven at night. The
jury sat until five on Sunday morning and returned its verdict of guilty
on Monday. Boswell himself was not involved as counsel, but some
of his close friends were Alexander Lockhart, for instance, being so
exhausted on Saturday evening that he was unable to speak for Murdi-
son. Boswell's brief Journal for Friday seems to insert between refer-
ences to the trial a confession of some kind of adventure apparently
one more lapse of the kind we have already alluded to for the previous
October.

PBIDAY 8 JANUARY. . . . Dined. It was a jolly meeting of
friends; but I drank too much and was greatly heated. We played a
rubber at whist . . I had been in the morning for a little at the trial

BoswelPs Life, May 1 7j2-March 1 773 147

of Murdison and Miller for sheep-stealing. I went out to go again to it
for a little. In my way complete for the first and I fancy last
time. Trial a few minutes. Home. . . .

SATURDAY 9 JANUARY. Went to trial at ten o'clock. Jury, coun-
sel etc. (li)ke ghosts like Priam's judges. 10 Dined home. Evening
heard Crosbie charge jury with manly ability for Murdison, Rae with
fluency for Miller, but he was worn out.

Eight days later Boswell sent for his surgeon, Mr. Wood, and after
another six days was "still much indisposed." "My wife's kind atten-
tion about me wonderful."

About the middle of March, in three of the busiest and most dis-
tracted days of his life, Boswell appeared as counsel for the defence in
two of the trials resulting from the alarming "meal riots" that had
broken out in Perth and Dundee in the previous December and Janu-
ary.

The cost of oat and barley meal (the staple of life for all but the
well-to-do in Scotland) was at this time being artificially sustained by
export bounties and the control of imports. As a result, the numerous
and growing class of artisans, who had no stake in agriculture and
no influence in politics, rose in mobs to punish and intimidate export-
ers and either to destroy stores accumulated to be sent out of the coun-
try or to force sale on a free market. The local authorities were over-
whelmed, the military was called out, and country gentlemen had to
organize their tenants and labourers in self-defence. Public feeling
among the agricultural interest was violent against the rioters.

The first of the trials in which Boswell appeared was that of Rich-
ard Robertson, a sailor from Dundee, who was indicted, along with
five others who had absconded, for joining mobs that carried off grain
from a warehouse and a vessel and pillaged the houses of merchants
in West Muir of Fintry and at Mylnefield. This trial was set for eight
in the morning of Monday 15 March. Some time in the previous eve-
ning Mrs. BoswelTs labour pains began and her doctor was sent for.
The pains continued all night, but in the morning the birth did not
seem imminent. Boswell went to Court, probably after little or no
sleep. As very little direct evidence could be adduced, the prosecution

10 The reading is uncertain and the meaning doubtful.

148 BoswelFs Life, May i jj^-March i 773

dropped all the charges against Robertson except that of his having
joined in the riot at Mylnefield. Boswell got through addressing the
jury and hurried home about four: "No hopes yet." He had to go at
once to a consultation on the next trial, that of two men also from
Dundee, Malcolm Cameron and Peter Tosh, which was set for next
morning. "Between six and seven met Joseph safe. Home; fine lit-
tle thing, etc." In such terse and indirect fashion did he record the
event he had so long yearned for: the beginning of a family of his own.
Robertson's jury found unanimously that it was proven that he had
engaged in the riot at Mylnefield, but that it was not proven that he
had had any hand in destroying house or furniture.

On the next day, in the defence of Cameron and Tosh, Boswell en-
joyed a complete victory. These two men were accused of having been
in a mob that broke into, pillaged, and generally demolished the house
of a grain-exporter at Elcho. The prosecution admitted, however, that
there was no proof that the accused had joined in any of the acts of
violence committed by the mob. Boswell and his colleague Alexander
Lockhart spoke at the conclusion of the evidence. The jury next morn-
ing brought in a unanimous verdict of not guilty.

But on that same day, Wednesday, Boswell remained in court to
plead the "import" of the equivocal verdict delivered Monday against
Robertson. The prosecution having granted that a capital sentence was
impossible, but having asked the judges to impose "the next highest
punishment which their Lordships could inflict," Boswell demanded
a dismissal on the ground that since the jury had not found the accused
engaged in the riot in a criminal manner, and had not specified the
extent of his being engaged, "the fair and natural presumption" was
that he had joined it actually in order to be of service to the merchant
at Mylnefield whose house had been attacked for instance, by giv-
ing him "timely notice of their approach" or by directing them in
such a way as to prevent mischief. "The counsel enforced his argu-
ment by ingeniously observing that their Lordships had the day be-
fore two instances before them of persons being [thus] laudably en-
gaged in mobs." The Lords, after an adjournment to think things over,
came back, expressed their horror of "the licentious practice of mob-
bing" and unanimously sentenced Robertson to transportation for
life, the first seven years of his service to go to the contractor for trans-
porting felons.

BoswelVs Life, May iffi-March 1773 149

"Upon sentence being passed, the panel made a short speech in-
forming the Court that he had a wife and children whose subsistence
depended entirely on him, that though he did not acknowledge him-
self guilty of any crime, yet he was willing to undergo whatever pun-
ishment the Court should inflict upon him, however severe, if they
would allow him to remain at home with his family; and concluded
by saying that if they did not change his sentence from perpetual
banishment, he would much rather be hanged than submit to it," 1

Though Boswell's plea concerning the reason for Robertson's pres-
ence in the mob was probably more ingenious than plausible, the case
was clearly one of hardship. Everybody knew that scores of people had
been engaged in the riots, that the ringleaders had evaded arrest or
had escaped from custody, and that only a handful of wretched people
on the fringes had been swept up and put to the bar. Most of the wit-
nesses against Robertson showed great reluctance to testify, and one
of them was on the following day committed to the Tolbooth "for one
month for having been guilty of prevarication upon oath and refusing
to answer necessary interrogatories put him by the Court." The trial
was fully reported in The Caledonian Mercury for 1 7 March, proba-
bly by Boswell himself. That evening at six his new-born daughter
was baptized, receiving the name of her great-great-grandmother,
Veronica van Aerssen van Sommelsdyck, Countess of Kincardine.

Murdison and Miller, the sheep-stealers, had appealed against
their sentence to the House of Lords, but a Committee of the Lords had
ruled that the House of Lords was not competent to receive appeals
from the Court of Justiciary. On Saturday 20 March Boswell went to
the prison and "heard Murdison pray." On 24 March Murdison,
Miller, and a housebreaker named John Watson were hanged in the
Grassmarket. BosweU's note reads, "The execution of three criminals.
Effect diminished as each went."

Boswell's friendly advisers were voluble on the subject of his
parenthood.

"I did not much mind the sex at this time, the great point being
the mother's going out her full reckoning and bringing into the world
a healthful infant: c'est nequele premier pas qu'y coitte* Providence,

1 Scots Magazine xxxv (June 1773)- 33*

2 The first step is the hardest

1 50 BoswelFs Life, May i f^-March 1 773

it seems, wants to deal out its blessings to you little by little, finding it
not convenient for you to make you too happy at once. . . . You have
reason to believe that considering how well Mrs. Boswell has per-
formed her part this time, you will have sons in plenty, and possibly
anxiety enough about disposing of them. I should flatter myself that
this circumstance of your becoming a father yourself will incline you
more and more to give such attentions to the person who gave you
being as perfectly to reconcile him to you, if anything then be yet
wanting. I should imagine that upon an event (which must co*me, but
which you piously wish may happen late) you'll find nothing to re-
volt you, but on the contrary everything consistent with the character
of an indulgent as well as a prudent parent . . .

"Remember me ... affectionately to Jeanie and tell her that I
am much flattered with her constancy and the preference she gives
me to such a person as the Baron."* PRINGLE, 25 March.

Veronica, we trust, is but an earnest of many more of each sex,
and that the race of Boswell is now to diffuse itself in wide and various
branches. The event must be highly pleasing both to my Lord and
Lady and will naturally be the means of removing all reserves and
coldnesses. It was very well judged to baptize her according to the rites
of the Church of Scotland.

"I am already dead; I am buried alive." TEMPLE, 30 March.

On the first of March Boswell had written to Percy in London:
"My wife is to lie in this month. If it shall please GOD to grant her a
good recovery, I intend being in London by the first of April, when I
shall have the pleasure of meeting you." The most exciting business
of the season in London waiting BoswelTs arrival was Goldsmith's
play She Stoops to Conquer. In his February letter containing the re-
buke on the masquerade, Johnson had also written this pregnant
proto-criticism of the play: "Dr. Goldsmith has a new comedy, which
is expected in the spring. No name is yet given it. The chief diversion
arises from a stratagem by which a lover is made to mistake his future

* Possibly a jocular reference to Boswell himself (see above, p. 142). If the title
is meant literally, the person is probably Robert Ord, Chief Baron of the Ex-
chequer, whom Boswell, in The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, praises for
splendid hospitality.

BoswelPs Life, May iffi-March 1773 151

father-in-law's house for an inn. This, you see, borders upon farce.
The dialogue is quick and gay, and the incidents are so prepared as
not to seem improbable."

On the day before his departure for London Boswell wrote no
fewer than eleven letters, his general purpose being to announce the
birth of his daughter. Two of the letters combine the announcement
with a reference to She Stoops to Conquer, an obvious association be-
cause the play had opened on the same evening as that on which
Veronica was born. To Garrick he wrote: "Your prologue to She
Stoops to Conquer is admirable. ... I hope to be with you for some
time this spring." Boswell was not in the least uncertain as to when he
was going to be in London; he had booked a place in the Newcastle
fly for three o'clock the next morning and would arrive on the heels
of his letter. But if he said so, Garrick would not write an answer, and
an opportunity for securing a fine item for the archives at Auchinleck
would be wasted. His letter to Goldsmith employs the same innocently
unscrupulous tactics, and is in other respects one of the most success-
fully artificial that he ever wrote. He warms Goldsmith up by giving
him back a flattering reflection of his own ideas and style. More than
a decade earlier Goldsmith had declared war on the prevailing senti-
mental mode in English comedy, attacking it in The Present State of
Polite Learning (1759) and in the preface of his first comedy, The
Good Natured Man ( 1 768) . Up to 15 March 1 773 the battle had gone
against him. The Good Natured Man, produced by Colman, had been
dubiously successful, while Hugh Kelly's False Delicacy, a sentimen-
tal comedy produced simultaneously by Garrick, had been a smash
hit. Colman had been most reluctant to proceed with She Stoops to
Conquer, and Johnson had had to use "a kind of force" to get him to
put it into production. While the manager was vacillating, Goldsmith
published in The Westminster Magazine (December 1 772) An Essay
on the Theatre, or a Comparison between Laughing and Sentimental
Comedy. "Humour," he said, "at present seems to be departing from
the stage, and it will soon happen that our comic players will have
nothing left for it but a fine coat and a song. It depends upon the audi-
ence whether they will actually drive those poor merry creatures
from the stage, or sit at a play as gloomy as at [Whitefield's] Taber-
nacle." Boswell plays variations on the theme.

1 53 BosweWs Life, May 1 772-March 1 773

[Boswell to Oliver Goldsmith]

Edinburgh, 29 March 1773

DEAR SIR, I sincerely wish you joy on the great success of your
new comedy, She Stoops to Conquer, or The Mistakes of a Night. The
English nation was just falling into a lethargy. Their blood was thick-
ened and their minds creamed and mantled like a standing pool;* and
no wonder when their comedies which should enliven them, like
sparkling champagne, were become mere syrup of poppies, gentle
soporific draughts. Had there been no interruption to this, our audi-
ences must have gone to the theatres with their nightcaps. In the opera
houses abroad, the boxes are fitted up for tea-drinking. Those at Drury
Lane and Covent Garden must have been furnished with settees and
commodiously adjusted for repose. I am happy to hear that you have
waked the spirit of mirth which has so long lain dormant, and revived
natural humour and hearty laughter. 5 It gives me pleasure that our
friend Garrick has written the prologue for you. It is at least lending
you a postilion, since you have not his coach; and I think it is a very
good one, admirably adapted both to the subject and to the author of
the comedy.

You must know my wife was safely delivered of a daughter, the
very evening that She Stoops to Conquer first appeared. I am fond of
the coincidence. My little daughter is a fine, healthy, lively child and,
I flatter myself, shall be blessed with the cheerfulness of your comic
muse. She has nothing of that wretched whining and crying which
we see children so often have; nothing of the comedie larmoyante. I
hope she shall live to be an agreeable companion and to diffuse gaiety
over the days of her father, which are sometimes a little cloudy.

I intend being in London this spring and promise myself great
satisfaction in sharing your social hours. In the mean time, I beg the
favour of hearing from you. I am sure you have not a warmer friend or
a steadier admirer. While you are in the full glow of theatrical splen-
dour, while all the great and the gay in the British metropolis are

4 Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, I. i. 89.

* This anticipates Johnson's famous remark on the play (29 April 1773) : "I know
of no comedy tor many years that has so much exhilarated an audience, that
has answered so much the great end of comedy, making an audience merry."

BoswelVs Life, May \rji-March 1 773 153

literally hanging upon your smiles^ let me see that you can stoop to
write to me. I ever am with great regard, dear Sir, your affectionate
humble servant,

JAMES BOSWELL.

[Written on wrapper] Pray write directly. Write as if in repartee.
My address is James's Court, Edinburgh.

The stratagem failed with Garrick but succeeded with Goldsmith,
perhaps even beyond BoswelTs expectations. Goldsmith, a man who
grudged any writing that he was not paid for, did write "directly . . .
as if in repartee," producing one of the best of the few letters that sur-
vive from his pen. This was the first document which Colonel Isham
acquired from BoswelTs great-great-grandson Lord Talbot de Mala-
hide in 1926, thus initiating the recovery of the "archives." One won-
ders whether Goldsmith would have been amused or vexed if he could
have known that a century and a half later a letter of his would fetch
a sum about equal to his total stage earnings from She Stoops to
Conquer. Presumably the letter went to Edinburgh and was sent back
to London, where Boswell received it a week after he and Goldsmith
had met

[Received 14 April, Goldsmith to Boswell]

London, Temple, 4 April 1 773

MY DEAR SIR, I thank you for your kind remembrance of me,
for your most agreeable letter, and for your congratulation. I believe
I always told you that success upon the stage was great cry and little
wool. It has kept me in hot water these three months, and in about five
weeks hence I suppose I shall get my three benefits. I promise you,
my dear Sir, that the stage earning is the dirtiest money that ever a
poor poet put in his pocket, and if my mind does not very much alter,
I have done with the stage.

It gives me pleasure to hear that you have increased your family,
and I make no doubt the little stranger will one day or other, as you
hint, become a CONQUEROR. When I see you in town, and I shall take
care to let Johnson, Garrick, and Reynolds know of the expected hap-
piness, I will then tell you long stories about my struggles and escapes,
for as all of you are safely retired from the shock of criticism to enjoy

154 BoswelPs Life, May 1 7?2-March 1 773

much better comforts in a domestic life, I am still left the only poet
militant here, and in truth I am very likely to be militant till I die, nor
have I even the prospect of an hospital to retire to.

I have been three days ago most horridly abused in a newspaper,
so like a fool as I was I went and thrashed the editor.* I could not help
it. He is going to take the law of me. However, the press is now so
scandalously abusive that I believe he will scarcely get damages. I
don't care how it is, come up to town, and we shall laugh it off whether
it goes for or against me. I am, dear Sir, your most affectionate humble
servant,

OLIVER GOLDSMITH.

P.S. Present my most humble respects to Mrs. Boswell.

On the morning of 30 March Boswell set out on his six-weeks' jaunt
to London. Once more he marked his departure by the commence-
ment of a fully written Journal.

An author signing himself "Tom Tickle," generally thought to be Kenrick (see
above, p. 92), had written in The London Packet a grossly insulting letter
comparing Goldsmith to an orang-outang and sneering at his affection for Mary
Homeck, "the Jessamy bride," the "very pretty girl" whom Boswell had met
at the Pantheon the previous year (above, p. 89). See also p. 158/1. 6 below.

ournal in

1773

TUESDAY 30 MARCH. Being to set out very early for London in
the Newcastle fly, my clerk, Mr. Lawrie, 1 had sat up all night in the
dining-room to be ready to call me at three in the morning, which he
did, and made tea for me. He is a sober, diligent, attentive lad, very
serviceable to me and I believe very sensible of my kindness to him.
He goes to church regularly, which is rare in this loose age amongst
young men of his profession. I had felt a kind of dreary reluctance the
night before when I looked forward to the fatigues of my journey,
especially the little sleep which one is allowed when travelling by the
fly. But the agreeable prospect of being in London, which includes so
many interesting and favourite objects, prevailed over the mists of
apprehension; though I had still the awful thought that I might never
return to Scotland and meet my dearest wife. Either of us might die
during our separation. This thought, when it presses strongly upon
the rrnn^ is terrible. It is enough to make one never separate from a
valuable spouse. Yet how weak would it be to be so influenced. I can-
not explain how the mind takes different degrees of firmness and
vigour at different times. I walked down the High Street of Edin-
burgh, which has a grand appearance in the silence and dusky light
of three in the morning, and felt myself like an officer in a campaign.
When the fly had rumbled me a mile or two, rational and manly sen-
sations took the place of tender and timid feebleness. I considered that
I had left my wife and little daughter well. That I was going to Lon-
don, whither so many Members of Parliament, lawyers, merchants,
and others go and return in safety to their families. I saw nothing
dangerous, nothing melancholy. I had taken leave of my wife last
night, which had affected my spirits a good deal She is of an anxious

1 See below, p. 273.

155

1 56 Edinburgh, 30 March 1 773

temper at all times; but being not yet fully recovered from child-
birth, she was more anxious than usual. Luckily she did not wake
when I set out this morning, so that we had not a second farewell

interview.

The company with me in the coach were my brother John, who
was going to Newcastle, an English buck who I suppose was a rider, 2
and a Scotchwoman who I suppose was a servant-maid. The buck said,
"I have to go on horseback to Duns; and I am a Dunce for my pains";
upon which the Scotchwoman observed, "The Lads o' Duns is a bonny
spring." 1 He and she went no farther than Kelso. John and I dined at
Wooler. We had the coach to ourselves till we had passed that stage a

good way, and then were joined by Mr. , steward to Lord Tanker-

ville. At Newcastle we had Dr. Wilson 4 to sup with us; and after

supper Mr. , who was to go on so far in the London fly next day,

drank a glass with us. John and I had not exchanged many words.
He is of a most unlucky frame.

WEDNESDAY 3 1 MARCH. I left John sound asleep in another bed
in the room where I lay. He had not so much as bid me farewell. He
has bad health, which, I take it, produces that sullen pride and un-
social obstinacy which he has. I find it in vain to try to have the com-
fort of a brother or a companion from him. I shall study to make him
easy, but will not submit to take the load of him upon myself. It is
difficult to describe how very heavy his disagreeable behaviour is to
those with whom he lives. He is incapable of being pleased by them.
Never was there a greater difference between human beings than be-
tween him and my brother David and me. Mr talked to me of

the advantage of large farms: how easy it was for a steward to receive
rents from men always able to pay; how they could make land pro-
duce much more than tenants could do who had but small stocks; and
how tenants with small stocks were always unhappy, and were much
better as servants to great farmers. He left me at Darlington. From
thence I travelled alone to Wetherby, where the fly put up that night.

1 A commercial traveller.

* A "spring** is a lively dance-tune. The rider's pun was better than most: a

dunce was originally a Duns man, a follower of John Duns Scotus, who took his

name from the place of his birth,

4 In whose care John was to stay.

Wetherby, i April 1 773 157

THURSD/ sr i APRIL. I travelled alone all this day, except for
about half a stage when I had for my companion the chambermaid of
the inn at Tuxf ord, who was returning home from a visit to her rela-
tions, and about the third of a stage when I had a good gentlewoman
who was going to Newark. I remember the time when my mind was
in such a state of fermentation that whenever the lid put upon it by
the restraint of company was removed, it was like to boil over, or
rather, to use a better metaphor, when not stirred by company but
left to stagnate in solitude, it soon turned upon the fret. But now it has
wrought itself into such a sound state that it will keep for a long time.
The satisfaction which I feel from the comparison of my present with
my former self is immense; though I must own that during my fer-
mentation there were grand ebullitions and bright sparkles which I
can no longer perceive. I came at night to Grantham. One Anderson, a
Scotch tailor, had just married the widow of H. Crabtree, who kept
the Angel Inn and who left her all he had. It seems she was a Scotch-
woman, and had been first of all married to a tailor; so, when on a
visit to her relations at Edinburgh, she had resumed in one sense her
first love.

FRIDAY 2 APRIL. There came into the fly this morning Mr ,

who had been a strolling player, and Master , a young gentleman

at Grantham School, who was going to London to see his father and
mother during the holidays. The former soon opened, told me he had
been bred a coach-painter in Long Acre, London. But having always
a violent inclination for the stage, he went upon it, as he said, with
design to be cured of his fondness for it. He had now given it up, and
was to settle in business as a grocer. He lived near Biggleswade, and
told me that he had many Roman coins found in that neighbourhood.
He promised to send me some to Donaldson's shop in London. He went
out at Biggleswade. The young scholar was very silent. It was dis-
agreeable going from Barnet to London at that time of the evening
when robberies are committed. However, we got safe to our inn in
Holborn; and I do maintain that for a man in good health who just
wants to be conveyed from Edinburgh to London, the fly is an excel-
lent method; better than going with a companion in a post-chaise such
as chance supplies.

I got a hackney-coach and drove to Mr. Billy's, where I always

1 58 London, 2 April 1 773

land in London and take up my residence till I have looked out for
lodgings to my mind, I found here Herries the orator 5 and his wife,
and Dr. Wharton, rector of Bridgetown, Barbados, and his lady: a kind
of a bishop of the island. I supped comfortably, and went to bed, quite
at home.

SATUKDAY3 APRIL. Luckily my servant Joseph, who had gone
from Leith by sea, arrived this very morning. After breakfast I took
him along with me till I should fix on lodgings. I went immediately
to General Paoli's, who now lived in Jermyn Street, St. James's. He
received me with open arms as usual, and asked me to dine with him
this day and every other day when I was not otherwise engaged. I
tried to get lodgings in the same street with him; but I make it a rule
never to give more than a guinea a week, and could find no good ones
there at that price. I went to the next nearest street to him, Piccadilly,
and got a very pleasant apartment at the milliner's opposite Mel-
bourne House. I dined at Paoli's after having sauntered about all fore-
noon, I know not how. I am writing this Journal on the 20 April from
memory; so it must be very imperfect.

I shall make a transition to Mr. Samuel Johnson's, where I went
between ten and eleven at night He was not come home. I found
Frank, his black, my old acquaintance, who showed me into Mrs.
Williams's room. I am a favourite with Mrs. Williams. I read to her
from The London Chronicle Dr. Goldsmith's apology for beating
Evans the publisher,* I thought when I saw the story in the news-
papers that it had been an invention, like Pope's stories of Curll, but
on my coming to town I found it to be very true; and I was diverted
to find my friend Dilly so keen on the side of the publisher, not only
maintaining that Goldsmith had been guilty of a great outrage and
ought to be punished by criminal justice, but believing that Evans

* Rev. John Herries, MA. (d. 1781), author of The Elements of Speech, 1773.

A military friend of Goldsmith's having stirred him up to "resent" the libellous
letter in The London Packet (above, p. 154), Goldsmith went to the shop of the
publisher of the paper, Thomas Evans, and struck him with his cane. A scuffle
ensued, and the combatants were separated by Kenrick, the editor and probably
the author of the libel The newspapers, after their wont, shrieked at Goldsmith
for infringement of the freedom of the press. His "apology" was a dignified and
manly reply to this criticism. He finally compromised Evans's action for assault
by paying 50 to a Welsh charity.

London, 3 April 1 773 159

had beat him black and blue. Goldsmith's apology was written so
much in Mr. Johnson's manner that both Mrs. Williams and I sup-
posed it to be his. When Mr. Johnson came home he embraced me
with sincere cordiality, saying, "I'm glad you're come." He said to
Mrs. Williams, "Dr. Goldsmith's manifesto has got into your paper,"
meaning The London Chronicle. I asked him if Goldsmith writ it,
with an air that made him see I suspected he had done it. "Sir," said
he, "Dr. Goldsmith would no more have asked me to write such a
thing as that for him than he'd have asked me to feed him with a
spoon, or to do anything else that argued his imbecility. I as much be-
lieve that he wrote that as if I had seen him do it. Sir, had he shown
it to any one friend, he would not have been allowed to publish it. He
has indeed done it well; but 'tis a foolish thing well done. I suppose
he has been so much elated with the success of his new comedy that
he has thought everything that concerned him of importance to the
public." I said, "I suppose, Sir, this is the first time that he has been
engaged in such an adventure." JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, I believe it is
the first time he has beat He may have been beaten before. No, Sir,
'tis a new plume to him."

I mentioned Sir John Dalrymple's Memoirs and his discoveries
against Russell and Sidney. 7 JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, everybody who had
just notions of government thought them rascals before. It is well that
all see them to be so." BOSWELL. "But I can imagine all that is said of
them to be true without their being rascals." JOHNSON. "Sir, will you
consider, would any of them [have] had it known that they intrigued
with France? Depend upon it, Sir, he who does what he is afraid
should be known has something rotten about him. This Dalrymple
seems to be an honest fellow, for he tells equally what maltes against
both sides. But nothing can be poorer than his writing; 'tis the mere
bouncing of a schoolboy: 'Great he, but greater she,* and such stuff."*
We drank tea and sat till near one in the morning.

7 See above, p. 115. Dalrymple's Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland drew on
unpublished documents in the Depot des Affaires Etrangeres at Versailles to
argue that Algernon Sidney and Lord Russell, champions of the popular party
against Charles II and both executed after the Rye House Plot of 1683, had been
acting under French influence.

8 "He great in this last act of his life, but she greater" (Dalrymple's description
of the parting of Lord and Lady Russell). Johnson returned to the burlesque of
Dalrymple's style on a later occasion (Hebrides, 20 November 1773).

i go London, 4 April 1 773

SUNDAY 4 APRIL. I drank chocolate at General Paoli's; then
found Sir John Pringle, whom I had missed yesterday; by the by, I
found Dempster yesterday, quite in spirits. I found Sir Walter Mont-
gomerie-Cuninghame. 9 Time passed till it was too late for church.
I dined at my worthy kinsman's, Mr. Bosville's. Sandy MacLeod, who
was out in the year 1745 but has been allowed to come home, was
there. I had never been in company with him before. I met Captain
Bosville, whom I had not seen for several years, as he had been
travelling. He still had no aptitude to speak. When I came home I
found a kind card from the Hon. Mrs. Stuart, regretting that she had
not seen me when I called in the morning and begging I might come
as soon as I could. As she is my wife's most intimate friend, I went
directly and drank tea with her and her husband. They now lived in
Hanover Square. I came home at ten and went to bed early. I should
have been at my Lord Mansfield's rout. But unluckily my servant had
forgot to put up the breeches of my full-dress suit; so when I was
going to dress, I found a deficiency that could not be supplied. When
I told the story to Spottiswoode the solicitor, he laughed and said that
I might have gone to wait on the Scotch Lord Chief Justice without
breeches.

MONDAY 5 APRIL. I know not how it is, but I am less anxious in
being absent from my valuable spouse this year than I was last. 1 Per-
haps her having a little daughter to amuse her makes the scene more
lively to my imagination; but then ought I not to feel a double anxiety
this year, when I am absent both from a wife and a child? In whatever
way it is to be explained, I have mentioned the fact. Yet I am certain
that I am as fond of my wife as I was last year; nor do I know that my
mind is become more rational so as to throw off any vain fears that
may arise, as sparks 2 of water are thrown from a grindstone. I wish I
may continue as I am while absent from my family.

* The oldest of the Lainshaw children, Mrs. BoswelTs nephew. He had succeeded
his grandfather in 1770 in the baronetcy of Corsehill.

1 During this jaunt Boswell sent letters to his wife on 30 and 31 March and
thirteen times in April up to the twenty-second. On 24 April he entered in his
Register of Letters: "and during the rest of the month many to my wife." He
received four letters from her up to 17 April and on 28 April entered the note:
"and during the rest of the month many from my wife."

* U A spirt, jet; a small spot of dirt or liquid mud; a small quantity of liquid"
(English Dialect Dictionary: a Scotticism).

London, 5 April 1 773 161

I breakfasted with Mr. Spottiswoode. The appeal concerning the
estate of Linplum 3 was to come on before the House of Lords today;
but as Dempster had told me that there was to be a grand debate in
the House of Commons upon East India affairs and that Lord Clive
was to pronounce an oration in defence of all his conduct, I chose to be
there rather than in the House of Lords. I called on Mr. David Ken-
nedy, and found him the same joker as formerly and nothing more.
It struck me a little to think that the gentlemen of Ayrshire should
be represented in Parliament by a good, honest, merry fellow indeed,
but one so totally incapable of the business of legislation, and so de-
void of the talents which distinguish a man in public life. 4 1 threw my-
self into the humorous rattling style and plagued him with a new-
invented dialogue between his brother, Lord Cassillis, and him when
setting out for London. "My Lord, provisions are grown dearer, you
must allow me a little more." "Davy, you have very well already."
"But, my Lord, I have learnt to drink porter in London." '*Well,
Davy, you shall have another 100." Kennedy took me into the House
of Commons. Captain Robert Preston 5 came in. He and I and a Cap-
tain Thomson in the India service sat together. Lord Clive did not
open. 6 We had not the great boar, but we had exceeding good hare-
hunting. I heard Dowdeswell, Jenkinson, Stanley, Dyson, Thurlow,
Pulteney, Governor 7 Johnstone, and my friend Dempster speak. But I
was also fortunate enough to hear Mr. Edmund Burke speak twice. It
was a great feast to me who had never heard him before. It was aston-
ishing how all kinds of figures of speech crowded upon him. He was
like a man in an orchard where boughs loaded with fruit hung around
hirn^ and he pulled apples as fast as he pleased and pelted the Min-
istry. It seemed to me, however, that his oratory rather tended to
distinguish himself than to assist his cause. There was amusement in-

8 This cause, like some of those heard by Boswell during his London visit of
1772, concerned a Scottish inheritance.
* See above, p. 37 and below, p. 201.

5 Boswell's cousin; third son then living of Sir George Preston of Valleyfield.
He commanded the Asia in the East India Company's service.

6 His speech, which Chatham thought one of the finest he had ever heard, was
made on 3 May. On that day Boswell went to the House of Lords to hear a poor
lieutenant in the Army, John Maclellan, establish his claim to the Kirkcud-
bright peerage.

7 Of West Florida, 1765.

162 London, 5 April 1 773

stead of persuasion. It was like the exhibition of a favourite actor. But
I would have been exceedingly happy to be him. Lord North spoke
a considerable time with calmness, perspicuity, and sufficient ele-
gance. Speaking in Parliament appeared to me to be not very difficult
If a man knows pretty well the subject of debate and has good animal
spirits, he may make a very good appearance. Preston and Thomson
and I went and dined together, or supped rather (as it was between
eight and nine) at the Piazza Coffee-house.

TUESDAY 6 APRIL. I breakfasted at Harry Davidson's, and after
leaving cards at several doors, I went to the House of Lords and heard
Forrester speak in the Idnplum cause. I never heard him before. I
liked his manly manner, with something of that air of business as a
lawyer which I have figured in my imagination, seldom see, and can-
not describe. Lord Advocate also spoke, very tediously. I had heard
Counsellor Bearcroft speak in a question about a bill of divorce before
they began. 8 1 am now a kind of enthusiast in my profession and have
great pleasure in observing different specimens of it. Lord Mansfield,
though he affirmed the decree, made a speech on the cause, as it was a
singular one, where it was argued that the meaning was different
from the words. He observed that where there was any principle in a
settlement, either that of justice or that of family, there was room to
conjecture a man's meaning from circumstances; but in a settlement
made from whim only, how could meaning be conjectured? and
therefore he must take the words simply. I relished highly hearing
him again; that full, easy, and choice expression of which he is pos-
sessed is truly admirable. I met here my cousin Claud, who was now
in London for the first time. He preserved the manners of Scotland
pure, and his engagements lay in a different channel from mine. 9 Sir

9 Philip Cade was suing for divorce from his wife, Catharine Whitworth Cade,
for adultery with Lord Aylmer, who had already had judgement passed against
him for criminal conversation with Mrs. Cade. The divorce was granted, and
Lord Aylmer married the lady. Their daughter was Landor's Rose Aylmer.
9 Though Claud Boswell was two years younger than James Boswell, his father
and Boswell's grandfather were brothers. In 1799 he succeeded Lord Monboddo
in the Court of Session, with the title Lord Balmuto. On the jaunt to Ireland,
29 April 1769, Boswell told Margaret Montgomerie that Claud Boswell had nar-
row views. "He had thick high stone walls . . . except when I surprised him
by sometimes taking a hammer and beating a hole in his walls so as to give him
a pe*p of the fields of fancy, which made him caper.'*

London, 6 April 1 773 163

Walter and I dined at the Hon. James Stuart's. We were hospitably
treated with a family dinner, and I was glad to find Mr. Stuart become
sedate and informing himself as to Scotland.

This was the monthly meeting of the partners of The London
Magazine, at the Queen's Arms in St. Paul's Churchyard. Whoever
is there before a quarter after eight by St. Paul's clock receives a
crown. I was too late at one of the meetings last year. So I was resolved
to be up in time tonight. I said I had run for the plate and won it
Indeed it cost me very hard running from Mr. Stuart's. But I would
rather have had that crown than a guinea. I have a happy talent at
making myself interested and pleased with small things. The partners
were all glad to see me. We have always a good supper, and, besides
Madeira, our landlord Betts's excellent old port at half a crown a
bottle. He is a jolly fellow, and it is said is worth 20,000. As he had
been much obliged to the Stationers' Company, he always attends
himself upon the partners of The London Magazine. He told me he
had eight hundred dozen of that port. Our editor 1 supped with us. This
is a new custom, which I do not much like; it is a kind of restraint
upon us. I went home with Mr. Dilly at twelve, as I always do upon
these occasions. John Rivington rises the moment that twelve strikes,
and Dilly and I follow his example.

I neglected to mention that this forenoon I waited on Lord Lyttel-
ton. He had known Lord Chesterfield long. 2 He said that Lord Chester-
field had admirable parts so far as they went. That he was not fit to
be Prime Minister, but he was very fit to be a Secretary of State. That
his judgement in planning was not great, but that he was exceedingly
capable in execution. That he could not determine whether it was
proper to make a peace. But that no man could make it so well. That
he was a believer in God and a future state, though in no fixed mode.
In the younger part of his life he indulged himself, as was the fashion
of wits, in sallies against revelation, but as he grew older he treated it
with more reverence, though he never was properly a Christian. That
after he was forty, he went through the Roman classics under Lord
Lyttelton's direction, having neglected them when young. That he at

1 Unidentified. On 4 April 1775 Boswell gives the editors as Henry Mayo and
Captain Edward Thompson, but speaks as though they had been appointed since
he had last been in London.

2 Chesterfield had died only a few days before: 24 March 1773.

1 64 London, 6 April 1 773

first submitted to the trouble of consulting a dictionary, till by degrees
Latin became easy to him. That he was quite master of French and
Italian, particularly of French, which he spoke in perfection. Count
Guerchy paid him a very handsome compliment upon it. After they
had conversed some time in French, he stopped him on a sudden:
"Pardonnez-moi, Milord. Parlez-vous anglais?" That he was con-
stantly saying witty things even to the last. Speaking of his old friend,
Lord Tyrawley, he said, "Tyrawley and I have been dead this twelve-
month, though we have chosen to keep it a secret." 8 Tall Sir Thomas
Robinson was very ill, and somebody told Lord Chesterfield he was
dying by inches. "So am I," said he. "But as Sir Thomas has a great
many more inches in highth than I have, he will take longer time to
die." I observed that Lord Chesterfield had been happily placed in
situations just suited to his abilities. I thought the first bon mot true
wit; the last only a conceit. Lord Lyttelton and I joined in lamenting
the death of Dr. Gregory. 4 I observed that few men are missed when
they die. They are like trees cut down in a thick forest. We do not per-
ceive the blank. But that Gregory was a distinguished tree, as the apple
tree among the trees of the wood. "Ay," said Lord Lyttelton, "and a
tree whose shade had no noxious effect, but was benign to all around
it."'

I have omitted to mention that on Sunday forenoon I called on
General Oglethorpe, and found him in his usual spirits. He had a
Bible lying upon the table before him. Whenever 6 I appeared, "My
dear Boswell," cried the fine old gentleman, and pressed me in his
arms. I value his acquaintance very highly and it is the more pleasing
to me that I owe it entirely to my own merit; for he came and intro-
duced himself to me at my lodgings in Half Moon Street, Piccadilly,
the spring when my Account of Corsica came first out.

WEDNESDAY 7 APRIL. After breakfasting at Mr. Dilly's I walked
down to the Adelphi and called on Mr. Ganick. His coach was at the
door to carry him into the country; so I just had time to shake hands

* Tyrawlcy died 14 July 1773.

4 John Gregory (1724-1773), M.D., Professor of Medicine at Edinburgh Uni-
versity, had practised for some years in London, where he had been an acquaint-
ance of Lyttelton's.

* Lyttelton himself died only four months later, aa August 1773.

* As soon as.

London, 7 April 1773 165

with him and make a bow to Mrs. Garrick, who was seated in the
coach. Mr. Garrick, however, had time to tell me that he now admired
Mr. Johnson's conversation more than ever; expressing himself in a
strong picturesque manner the particular phrases of which have es-
caped my memory. I then called on the Hon. Topham Beauclerk, who
has also a house on the terrace of the Adelphi. I was shown into a very
elegant parlour. I liked his large gilded lion, a cast from the antique,
supporting his sideboard. He received me politely but not with so
much ardour as I wish to find. However, the truth is, I never was in
company with Beauclerk but twice once dining at Sir Joshua Reyn-
olds's, and once supping at Garrick's when I was last in town. 7 He then
invited me to see him when I should return; and Langton told me
that my open downright manners had pleased him, and he had said,
"I do love Boswell monstrously." Beauclerk's high-bred behaviour
may have been construed by me as distant coldness. His great venera-
tion for Mr. Johnson and Johnson's love for him are enough to make
me value him; and from what I have seen of him he appears to be a
man of wit, literature, and fashion in a distinguished degree.

He said Mr. Johnson was grown much better-natured of late and
would bear a great deal more than he used to do. That Goldsmith was
talking of there being a playhouse for the representation of new plays
solely, as a scheme to relieve authors from the tyranny of managers.
That Mr. Johnson opposed the scheme. Upon which Goldsmith said,
"Ay, it may do very well for you to talk so, who have sheltered your-
self behind the corner of a pension"; and that Mr. Johnson bore this
and said nothing severe to Goldsmith that evening. Beauclerk said he
always expected it would come; for that Mr. Johnson could delay his
vengeance for a considerable interval. As an instance of which, Mr.
Johnson dined with him one day when there was a Captain Brodie in
the company who had married a relation of Beauclerk's. 8 That after
dinner Mr. Johnson rose and walked to the end of the room in a fit of
meditation and threw himself into some of those attitudes which he

7 This dinner, on Wednesday 6 May 1772, was the one at which Boswell met
Burke also for the first time. See above, p. 133. The supper at Garrick's occurred
three days later.

8 Captain David Brodie, R.N., had lost his right arm. He was a Scotsman and
a relative of Lady MacLeod. His wife was the Mary ("Molly") Aston whom
Johnson thought the loveliest creature he ever saw; she was first cousin to Beau-
clerk's mother.

166 London, 7 April 1773

does when deep in thought. Brodie, who knew nothing of his character
but was just a jolly sea-officer, a blunt tar who wished to put the bottle
about and did not like to see a man who did not drink as the rest of the
company did, turned to Mr. Johnson and said, "Sir, if you be for danc-
ing a minuet, had not you better go to the ladies?" Brodie had no bad
intention. But it may be well conceived what a shocking speech this
was to the majestic Rambler. A dreadful explosion was to be expected.
Mr. Johnson took no notice whatever of the speech for a good while.
At last he came and sat down, and all at once turning to Mr. Beau-
clerk, said, "Don't you think this Brodie a very coarse fellow?"*

I said Mr. Johnson's accepting a pension from a prince whom he
had called an usurper was a circumstance which it was difficult to
justify with perfect clearness; and that if I had been rich enough, I
would rather have paid it myself than that he should have accepted
of it; "though indeed," said I, "he may look upon it as a tribute due
to him from the nation and only conveyed to him by the hands which
have the custody of the nation's money." "Yes," said Beauclerk, "the
King has so much money allowed him for pensions to men of genius
and literature; and accepting of such a pension has nothing to do with
the right of the King. He accepts it as a literary man. An ingenious
Roman Catholic may accept a pension in that way without any injury
to his principles." "Why," said I, "though Mr. Johnson has been rep-
resented as a violent Jacobite, I have heard him say that if holding up
his hand would have made Prince Charles's army prevail, he would
not have done it. Nothing can be more moderate than that; but indeed
it was after he had his pension that I heard him say so. I was not ac-
quainted with him sooner." "But," said Beauclerk, "I heard him say
so before he had his pension."

Just as I came out of Mr. Beauclerk's I met Dr. Percy. He had Sir
John Hawkins 1 with him, to whom he introduced me. He carried us
to his study at Northumberland House to show us a picture of Cleve-
land the poet, his relation, which he had bought at Mr. West's sale.*
I drank a dish of chocolade here, and resting myself after much hard

* Brodie's encounter with Johnson was omitted from the Life of Johnson.
1 Later to be BoswelTs chief rival as biographer of Johnson,
Percy was great-grandson of William Cleveland, younger brother of John
Cleveland, the poet He had acquired the portrait (which was by Isaac Fuller)
very recently. The sale of the pictures of James West, the great antiquary, had
fcftflrun on *i March 177*.

London, 7 April 1773 167

walking, I listened with pleasure to Percy's active schemes of curious
and amusing literature.

I had called on Dr. Goldsmith at his chambers in Brick Court in
the Temple as I passed along in the morning. He was not up, and I
was shown into his dining-room and library. When he heard that it
was I, he roared from his bed, "Boswell!" I ran to him. We had a
cordial embrace. I sat upon the side of his bed and we talked of the
success of his new comedy, which he saw that I sincerely enjoyed, and
of his beating Evans the publisher. He said there was no other method
left; and he was determined to follow it. He showed me in some news-
paper two paragraphs of scandal about Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Thrale.
How an eminent brewer was very jealous of a certain author in folio,
and perceived a strong resemblance to him in his eldest son. "Now,"
said he, "is not this horrid?* 1 "Why," said I, "no doubt though to us
who know the characters it is the most ludicrous nonsense, yet it may
gain credit with those who do not. The assertions of a newspaper are
taken up insensibly. I long believed Burke to be a Jesuit." I went into
the dining-room. He rose and came to breakfast, and I sat by him. He
is the most generous-hearted man that exists; and now that he
has had a large supply of gold by his comedy, all the needy draw upon
him. I found on his table a letter full of gratitude to him from his
countryman, poor Francis Gentleman, with a promissory note for
fifteen pounds. 3

I dined at Sir John Pringle's. He was indisposed; and though he
sat with the company in very good humour, he was not able to act as
master of the house, but deputed me. Mr. Pennant, author of the Tour
to Scotland, was there. I had just seen him at Edinburgh and was glad
to see more of him. Mr. Johnson told me he had read his Tour all
through and was well entertained with it. He is a neat, lively man.
Mr. John Pringle and some other Scotch gentlemen were there. We
were very social, though I remember little of what passed. I only re-
member a remark of my own on Sir William Chambers's Oriental
Gardening, which the Heroic Epistle* to him had made an universal
topic of conversation. He talks most seriously of introducing terrible
objects into a garden. I said this put me in mind of a paragraph in
Faulkner's Dublin Journal which in describing some fine place in Ire-

8 See above, p. 133, and below, pp. 233, 236.

4 An anonymous satire by the poet of The English Garden, William Mason.

1 68 London, 7 April 1 7 73

land mentioned the prodigious rocks impending over one's head, so as
that the delighted spectator imagines every moment that they are to
fall down and crush him to pieces. 5

Between seven and eight, I set out for Mr. Thrale's in Southwark,
where Mr. Johnson now was. I intended waiting upon that family in
the morning, but was prevented by the several interruptions which
I have marked above. I am much obliged to them. I went to Hunger-
ford Stairs and got a boat to take me over the river. None of the water-
men would go farther.* It was a fine moonlight, and it was very agree-
able to be on the Thames. After being landed, I walked along the
shore till I came to Mr. Thrale's. I found Mrs. Thrale and Mr. Johnson
and another gentleman at tea. The gentleman soon went away, and
then we were quite well.

I repeated the stories of Lord Chesterfield which Lord Lyttelton
had told me. Mr. Johnson said most of Lord Chesterfield's witty say-
ings were puns. He however allowed his saying of himself and Lord
Tyrawley to be good wit. Everybody has heard that Mr. Johnson had
a difference with Lord Chesterfield, that he broke off all communica-
tion with him, and wrote a most severe letter to him on the occasion.
It is curious to find how a story that has no foundation may be con-
fidently told for years, gain credit without hesitation, and even appear
to be well vouched. As an instance of this, it has always been said that
the occasion of the difference between Mr. Johnson and the Earl was
that Mr. Johnson was one day kept waiting two hours in his ante-
chamber and then Colley Gibber came out from the Earl; and that
this provoked Mr. Johnson so much that he should be kept waiting
for a player that he went off in a great passion. Lord Lyttelton, a
great friend of Lord Chesterfield's, spoke of this as of a thing well
known. Nay, in justifying Lord Chesterfield, he even explained the

8 Compare Richard Payne Knight, Principles of Taste, 1805, and Thomas Love
Peacock, Headlong Hall (1816), Chapter VI: "Here is the same rock, cut into
the shape of a giant In one hand he holds a horn, through which that little
fountain is thrown to a prodigious elevation. In the other is a ponderous stone,
so exactly balanced as to be apparently ready to fall on the head of any person
who may happen to be beneath; and there is Lord Littlebrain walking under it."
*From Hungerford Stairs to the landing in Southwark nearest the Thrales's
was over a mile by water. The watermen probably did not wish to go so far at
night, with the risk of not picking up a return fare.

London, 7 April 1773 169

particulars. "I suppose," said he, "Lord Chesterfield was very busy
when Mr. Johnson called. And you are not to imagine that Gibber had
been all the time with my Lord. He was his old acquaintance, and had
been introduced by a back stair, perhaps only ten minutes before, and
Mr. Johnson was too hasty." Now Mr. Johnson told me this evening
that he never was kept waiting while Gibber came out; so that the
story has not the least basis.

I gave an account of Burfce's speaking on Monday last, and nat-
urally used some action. Mr. Johnson fell into his usual paradoxical
argument that action can have no effect upon reasonable minds. "Ac-
tion," said he, "may enforce noise but never can enforce argument.
If you speak to a dog, you use action; you hold up your hand thus,
because he is a brute; and in proportion as men are removed from
brutes, are reasonable beings, action will have the less influence over
them." Said Mrs. Thrale, "What then becomes of Demosthenes's say-
ing, 'Action, action, action'?^ JOHNSON. "Why, Demosthenes spoke
to an assembly of brutes, to a barbarous people." I saw Mrs. Thrale
did not agree with him any more than I did. It is truly amazing that
this great master of human nature should deny the power of action
over reasonable beings, when it is certain and proved by innumerable
facts that its influence has been very great. Reasonable beings are not
solely reasonable. They have fancies which must be amused, tastes
which must be pleased, passions which must be roused. May I venture
to think that Mr. Johnson's opinion as to action proceeds from some
defect in the finer parts of capacity in the powers of delicate per-
ception?

He talked of Percy's intended edition of The Spectator , with notes,
of which Percy has done a part himself, and committed the care of
the rest to one whom he superintends. 7 Mr. Johnson observed that all
works which describe manners require notes in sixty or seventy years
or less. He said he had told Percy what he knew, and others had told
him what they knew. He spoke of Addison's Sir Andrew Freeport, a
true Whig who argued against giving charity to beggars, and such
topics; but that Addison thought better, and made amends by making
him found an hospital for decayed farmers. 8 He made me take down

T Dr. John Calder, secretary to the Duke of Northumberland.

8 Spectator No. 549, by Addison. Sir Andrew's argument against giving charily

to beggars is in Spectator No. 232, which, however, is not by Addison.

170 London, j April 1773

the volume in which that is told, and he read it to us. To hear him read

is fine.

Since I have mentioned Percy, I may here remark that in my last
year's Journal I have given a bad edition of Mr. Johnson's lines in
ridicule of The Hermit of Warkivorth.* I had them so from Garrick.
But when I repeated them as from him this year, Mr. Johnson said,
"Then he has no ear'*; and he gave me them right, as thus:

I put my hat upon my head

And walked into the Strand,
And there I met another man

Whose hat was in his hand.

I mentioned Burkc's using Scripture phrases; such as, in describ-
ing that the same sentiment will have quite a different effect when it
comes from the Treasury bench from what it has when it comes from
the side of Opposition, he said when I heard him, "It is sown in weak-
ness here; it is raised in power there." 1 Mr. Johnson said, "I'm afraid
Burke sacrifices everything to his wit. Tis wrong to introduce Scrip-
ture thus ludicrously." I have a difficulty upon this head. I am not
clear that Scripture is hurt by being introduced in the manner that
Burke did it here. It is like using a highly classical phrase. It has its
effect at once; and very good Christians have not scrupled to use Scrip-
ture phrases so. It is not throwing ridicule upon them. I own it should
be done with reserve; and it is hard to make a proper distinction.
When a wit, who is said to have been Dr. Pitcairne, remarked, on a
poor mason's falling from a high house and part of what he was build-
ing falling after him, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord;
they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them," 2 there
was both inhumanity and impiety. Mr. Thrale came home. I sat here
till one in the morning, got a hackney-coach, and drove home.

THURSDAY 8 APRIL. I breakfasted with Mr, Crosbie. I dined at
General Paoli's. Situation has a great share in the production of every
character. While I was with the General at the head of his nation in
* In his Notes for 9 May 1 772.
1 1 Corinthians 15. 43.

See Revelation 14.13. Archibald Pitcairne (1652-1713) was a Scots Jacobite
physician with a considerable reputation for Latin verse. He was grandfather to
BosweH's friends Lady ColviUe and the Hon. Andrew Erskine.

London? 8 April 1 773 1 71

Corsica, I could collect many memorabilia. Now I cannot recollect
anything that passed this day. (Indeed I am now writing in the night
between the soth April and ist May.) I drank tea at my old acquaint-
ance Love's, of Drury Lane Theatre. I then went to Mr. Johnson's and
sat with him a good while, though he hardly spoke at all.

I observed Burnet's History of His Own Times in Mr. Johnson's
library. I was curious to hear his opinion of it. He said it was very
entertaining; that the style was mere chit-chat (I think) ; that he did
not believe Burnet intentionally lied, but that he was so prejudiced
that he did not try to find out the truth. He was like a man who re-
solves to regulate his time by a certain watch, but will not inquire
whether the watch is right or not. 8 1 can remember no more of this
night, but only that when I said, " Tis twelve o'clock," he said,
4C What's that to you and me?" and bid Frank tell Mrs. Williams that
we were coming to drink tea with her, which we did. I was very de-
sirous of seeing Mr. Johnson at church and could not get a better op-
portunity than the Holy Week; so I told him I would come and go to
church with him tomorrow. He allowed me.

FRIDAY 9 APRIL. This morning being Good Friday, I went in
good frame to Mr. Johnson's. Frank said there was nobody with him
but Dr. Levett. 4 I never knew till now that Levett had that title, or
rather took it. We had good tea and good cakes, I think cross-buns. I
then accompanied Mr. Johnson to St. Clement's Church in the Strand.
He was solemn and devout. I went home with him after. We did not
dine on this venerable fast. He read to himself the Greek New Testa-
ment. I looked at several books, particularly Laud's Life by I

observed a saying of King Charles n which I may introduce into my
essay on the profession of a lawyer, viz., that he could not be one be-
cause , 8 Mr. Johnson said it was false reasoning, because every

8 Gilbert Biraet (1643-1715) was a Scot who became Bishop of Salisbury and
a favourite adviser to King William. His History of My Own Times was pub-
lished posthumously, 1724-1734, Johnson's objections to it relate to the fact
that Burnet was a Broad Churchman in both politics and religious doctrine.
4 "Dr." Robert Levett was a self-taught practitioner of humble origin who lived
with Johnson and sometimes prescribed for the members of his household.
8 Boswell filled the blank in the Life: "I cannot defend a bad, nor yield in a good
cause." The saying (which was uttered not by Charles n, but by Charles I,
before he came to the throne) is quoted from Laud's diary for i February 1623/4.

1 72 London, 9 April i 773

cause has a bad side; and a man is not overcome though the cause

which he has pleaded is decided against him.

He spoke of a gentleman who has an estate being called in duty
to reside so much upon it, and do good there. He observed strikingly
to me that whoever comes and settles in London in any capacity will
have his children English and quite strangers to his estate, as much
as Frenchmen, and that one of the great disadvantages of plunging
into the ocean of life (or dissipation) here is that almost every man
runs out his fortune. He said if he were Langton, he would go reso-
lutely to France and live on 1 oo a year rather than sell a mass of land
which his family could never get back.

I told him how Goldsmith said to me the other morning, "As I take
my shoes from the shoemaker, and my coat from the tailor, so I take
my religion from the priest," and I was regretting this loose way of
talking. "Sir," said Mr. Johnson, "he knows nothing. He has made up
his mind about nothing."

To my astonishment Mr. Johnson asked me to dine with him on
Sunday. I never supposed he had a dinner at home. "Sir," said he, "I
generally have a pie on Sunday." I most readily accepted the invita-
tion. We went back to St. Clement's in the afternoon. There was ser-
mon both forenoon and afternoon, by different clergymen; but what
they were I cannot say. They must indeed have been remarkable dis-
courses that the very shadow of the great mind of Johnson would not
have obscured; that the very idea of his power would not have anni-
hilated. I may be on stilts, but my mind has sprung up and lights upon
anything she first meets. I saw him to his door after sermons. I then
went and drank tea at Mr. Dilly's. Mr. Mayo, the dissenting minister, 6
was there. I called at Woodfall's, who directed me to the Chapter
Coffee-house to find books of The Public Advertiser. I found there my
old essays. 1

Boswell was probably reading Henry Wharton's History of the Troubles and

Tryal of the Most Reverend Father in God and Blessed Martyr, William Laud,

to which Laud's Diary is prefixed. The essay on the profession of a lawyer was

never written.

* Johnson's antagonist in the long argument about toleration at Dilly's on 7 May

of this year.

T Three essays published by Boswell in The Public Advertiser before this date

London, 10 April 1773 173

SATURDAY 10 APRIL. I breakfasted I dined at Mr. Bos-

ville's. More I cannot recollect.

SUNDAY 11 APRIL. This being Easter day, I found myself in such
a frame as I could wish. I breakfasted at the Chapter Coffee-house,
which I had last night 7 * found to be an excellent place, and a little
after ten went to St. Paul's. I made myself be shown into a seat just by
Mr. John Rivington. He invited me to his family dinner, a fillet of veal
and a pudding, but I told him I was engaged with Mr. Johnson; but I
promised to drink tea with him, and go with him to hear music and
see the children sup at Christ's Hospital. 8 Mr. Wilson, a residentiary,
preached to us on this text: "But we trusted that it was he who should
have redeemed Israel." 9 He gave us a neat and clear deduction of the
evidence of Christianity. I was struck and elevated as usual by the
service, and though I did not feel that firm conviction which I have
done at different periods of my life, owing I believe to an indolence of
mind making me not recollect or feel the importance of settling the
truth one way or other, yet my heart and affections were pious, and I
received the Holy Sacrament with considerable satisfaction. I was
above three hours in church today.

When I came to Mr. Johnson's, he was not yet come home. By and
by he arrived. I had gratified my curiosity much in dining with
Rousseau, and I thought it as curious to dine with Mr. Johnson. I sup-
posed we should hardly see knives and forks, and only have the pie
which he mentioned. But to my surprise I found everything in very
good order. He and I and Mrs. Williams and a Miss * were the

are known through their inclusion in The Hypochondriack (Nos. XLVII, XLIX,
LXVIII) . Another series, as yet uncollected, was published there over the pseudo-
nym "Rampager." The earliest reference to these yet noted occurs in a letter of
Temple to Boswell dated 5 July 1770. See also BoswelTs remark in the Journal,
below, 24 August 1774. Henry Sampson Woodfall was the publisher of The
Public Advertiser.

7a Either this should read "Friday night" or the last sentence of the entry for
Friday (a crowded interlinear addition) should have been entered under
Saturday.

8 Rivington was a governor of Christ's Hospital.

9 Luke 24. 21.

1 Mrs. Piozzi says that this was "Poll" Cannichael, but she was probably only
guessing.

1 74 London, 1 1 April 1 773

company. We had a very good soup, a boiled leg of lamb and spinach,
a veal pie, an excellent rice pudding, pickled walnuts and onions,
porter and port wine. I dined as well as ever I wish to do. The lamb
made him tell me a joke. He said Mr. Thrale's sister, Lady Lade, when
she saw Sir George Colebrooke in a white waistcoat and green coat,
said he was like a leg of lamb and spinach. 2

We spoke of Dr. Campbell, author of The Lives of the Admirals.
He said he was a very inquisitive and a very able man, and a man of
good principles, though he has been deficient in practice. "Campbell,"
said he, "has not been within a church for many years; but he never
passes by one but he pulls off his hat. This shows the man to be radi-
cally right, and we may hope it will some time or other produce a right
practice."

He owned Hawkesworth was his imitator, but did not think that
Goldsmith was. BOSWELL. "Sir, everybody thinks so." JOHNSON. "Sir,
he has great merit" BOSWELL. "Yes. But he owes his getting so far up
much to you." JOHNSON. "Perhaps he has got sooner to it by that"

Mr. Johnson observed that the books printed in Scotland before
the Union were very few; that he had seen a collection of all of them
at the Hon. Archibald Campbell's, a relation of the Duke of Argyll's,
and they were very few. He asked me what books of religion our clergy
recommended to the common people. I was at some loss to tell him,
but mentioned Henry On Prayer Guthrie's Trial of a Saving Inter-
est in Christ The Life of God in the Soul of Man? I spoke of my
scheme of writing Ruddiman's Life. 4 He said he'd be glad in helping
me to do honour to him, but that his farewell letter to the Faculty of
Advocates might have been written in Latin.

He told me he had twelve or fourteen times attempted to keep a
Journal, but never could persevere. "The great thing," said he, "is the
state of your own mind; and you ought to write down everything that
you can, for you cannot judge at first what is good or bad; and write
immediately while the impression is fresh, for it will not be the same
a week after." I told him how uneasy I was at having lost eight hun-

* The MS reads "Lady .** Sir George was at the moment involved in spec-
tacular bankruptcy .

* By Henry ScougaL

* Boswell, Erst and last, entertained some forty similar "schemes" which came
to nothing. Thomas Ruddiman (d. 1757) was a distinguished Scottish philolo-

London, 1 1 April 1 773 1 75

dred pages* of my Journal, which were sent from Utrecht where I had
left them, and that I was chiefly uneasy for fear that somebody had
them, as they really contained a full state of my mind when in a deep
melancholy. He comforted me by saying that probably they had fal-
len into the hands of somebody who could not understand them, and
would be destroyed as waste-paper. I am, however, much vexed at this
loss, and at the apprehension that they may be lying concealed.

I asked him if he could tell when he was born, when he came to
London and such things. Said he, "You shall have them" (or "I'll give
you them") "all for twopence. I hope you shall know a great deal
more of me before you write my Life." He said Dame Oliver's giving
him gingerbread (for which see my last year's Journal) ft was as high a
proof of merit as he could conceive. That she read the black letter and
asked him to borrow her from his father a Bible in that character. That
he next went to an English master, Tom Brown, who wrote an English
spelling-book and dedicated it to the Universe; but that he feared no
copy of it could now be had. That his father knew Latin pretty well
but no Greek; that he did not read so much as he might have done, and
was rather a wrong-headed man. That the sale of books at Lachfield
was not sufficient to procure a livelihood, and that he used to have
shops or places for sale in different towns whither he went to the fairs,
and would even carry books in his saddle-bags to these places, or take
them home to those who commissioned them; and had a great deal of
bodily activity. I talked of going to see the Reverend Mr. Adams at
Shrewsbury, who was Mr. Johnson's tutor at Oxford. 7 "Sir," said he,
" 'tis not worth while. You know more of me than he does."

I drank tea at Mr. John Rivington's. I had the full impression of
an eminent London bookseller a governor of Christ's Hospital
being in the very middle of Si Paul's churchyard on a Sunday. I was
pleased to see him so comfortable with his wife and family. We went
to Christ's Hospital. There was a great crowd of company there. It
was truly agreeable to hear prayers read by one of the boys; to see

* Boswell probably exaggerates unconsciously. The first page surviving beyond
the hiatus in his Holland Journal of 1763-1764 is numbered 537.

* His Notes for 24 April 1772.

T Dr. William Adams, who became Master of Pembroke College in 1775, would
have been Johnson's tutor had Johnson returned after December 1729. In 1776
Adams told Boswell: "I was his nominal tutor j but he was above my mark."
"That," said Johnson, "was liberal and noble."

176 London, 11 April 1773

them all take their wholesome frugal supper, bread and butter and
beer, and then walk in procession and bow to the governors, each di-
vision with a nurse who takes care of them. I was particularly pleased
to see the Steward, a steady man as advertisements say, who had been
a boy in the Hospital himself, and now had authority over them all, 8
We had lastly an anthem sung, the organ accompanying it. Copies of
the anthem were put into the hands of the company, written by the
boys, with the name of the writer at each. They were generally taken
back. I kept my copy. It was very well transcribed. I shall endeavour
to learn what becomes of the writer. 9 The celebrated Richardson was
brought up here. Mr. Rivington showed me the different wards. It is
indeed a noble charity.

I ran home, dressed, and went to Lord Mansfield's. Jenkinson was
with him, Jut went away just as I came. My Lord and I were then
left t&e-a-tete* His cold reserve and sharpness, too, were still too much
for me. It was like being cut with a very, very cold instrument I have
not for a long time experienced that weakness of mind which I had
formerly in a woeful degree in the company of the great or the clever.
But Lord Mansfield has uncommon power. He chills the most gener-
ous blood.

I spoke of the coal cause, Alexander against Montgomery, where
a rare event happened that the House of Lords divided. 1 Lord Mans-
field took care to mention that he was not there, to keep me in mind
that if he had, the division would not have happened. I mentioned to
him that when it was first determined in Scotland, my father and
Lord Kames could form no opinion. At the second determination they
did form an opinion, and the President and two lords altered their

8 John Perry, steward 1761-1785. He is the "old and good steward," so much
beloved of the boys, whose death is recorded in Charles Lamb's "Recollections
of Christ's Hospital.'* In "Christ's Hospital Five-and-Thirty Years Ago" (which
deliberately presents the other side of the picture) Perry's administration is
charged with some laxity.

* Boswell's copy survives. The transcriber's name was Joseph Allen. The name
of the poet does not appear. The music was by Robert Hudson, music master at
the Hospital and at St. Paul's Cathedral.

1 All members of the House of Lords had the right to vote when the House was
sitting as a court of appeal, but as a general thing decisions were left to the law
lords. Lord Mansfield alone had reversed Hastie's case in the previous year
(above, p. 116).

London, 1 1 April 1 773 1 77

opinions, one the one way, one the other; and then I said, "It was a
cause which any man might have determined." Here was a piece of
tourderie which laid me fairly open; and Lord M., who had observed
that it would be very dangerous if a division should often happen, did
not miss me. "What!" said he, "was a cause in which your father and
Lord Kames could at first form no opinion, and as to which the Presi-
dent and other judges altered their opinions, one that any man might
determine?" I, however, recovered: "I mean, my Lord, a cause of fact
in which there was no law; where the question was merely whether
there was a bargain between man and man a cause to be deter-
mined by a jury." MANSFIEU>. "Yes, a jury if directed." BOSWELL. "Do
juries always take direction, my Lord?" "Yes, except in political
causes, where they do not at all keep themselves to right and wrong."
I obliged hiTn to laugh by telling frfrn that from our custom in Scot-
land of trying to account for decisions by extraneous circumstances,
we had observed that the peers who were for fixing the coal contract
were all the coal-masters: the Lords Abercorn, Cathcart, and Rose-
bery; whereas Lord Marchmont, 2 who had only a large peat-moss,
was for setting the parties free. 3 Lord Mansfield laughed pretty heart-
ily, crying, "Did ye?"

8 All four were Representative Peers of Scotland in the House of Lords,
3 Robert Alexander had discovered coal on his estate of Blackhouse, near Ayr,
but before sinking capital in the development had tried to enter into an agree-
ment with a neighbouring colliery at Newton for the sale of a fixed annual
quantity of his coal at a stipulated price. On Alexander's refusal to restrict his
output to the quantity which the colliery agreed to buy and thus to protect them
from competition in the local market, the agreement fell through. Alexander,
alleging that on the faith of an exchange of letters, he had taken measures to
work the coal, then brought suit for implement of the agreement. On 26 June
1771 the Lord Ordinary pronounced an interlocutor in favour of the colliery;
the Inner House reversed this on 21 November 1771; but on a second re-
claiming petition the Court reversed its own ruling on 6 March 1772. Alexander
then appealed to the House of Lords, and the Lords dismissed the appeal. Bos-
well's remark that "any man might have determined" the cause was not so silly
as might appear. The determination whether an exchange of letters constitutes
a contract is not so much a matter of law as of common-sense construction of
the meaning of the English language. The account of this case in Thomas S.
Paton's Reports of Cases Decided in the House of Lords upon Appeal from Scot-
land from 1 757 to 1784 ends with this note: "The judges in House of Lords seem
to have been as much divided in this case as the judges in the Court of Session.
After the debate the votes of the Lords were equal four for reversing and four

1 78 London, 1 1 April 1 773

I then resolved to satisfy my curiosity whether Andrew Stuart's
letters had made any impression on him. 4 So I added, "This is as good
reasoning as Andrew Stuart's Letters. They are very well written. I
got your sister Mrs. Murray to promise to read them. I told her she'd
be very angry, but that they were worth reading" (or words to that
purpose) . I looked steadily at him during all this, and he was not a bit
affected. He said nothing. I said, " Tis a cruel thing on poor Douglas,
now that he's settled and the question over so long ago." MANSFIELD.
" Twill do him no harm. 'Twill not take the estate from him." I also
made him laugh by telling him that I had met the new schoolmaster
at Campbeltown, who told me that the boys were beginning to be re-
bellious and to talk of the reversal of the decree in Hastie's case, but
that I told him 772^0 periculo* "Don't spare them. Lord Mansfield al-
lows you to whip them with a rod or taws (the loose leather you know,
my Lord) as much as you please; but don't take improper modes of
correction." MANSFIEID. "Nor correct in passion. You said right"
(laughing).

I had plucked up enough of resolution by this time, and perhaps
had probed his Lordship more than was proper. He is all artificial. He
affected to know little of Scotch appeals when over. I catched him,
though! I spoke of the one, Parkhill against Chalmers, in a way that
showed him I did not think the judgement a good one. Said he, "Were
there not particular circumstances there?" I bowed without answer-
ing and let him take his own way; upon which he went on, "Ay, there
were so and so" and showed that he well remembered what he
affected not to remember. 5 It is unpleasant to see so high an admin-
istrator of justice such a man. I mentioned Mr. Johnson. He said he
was a man of great learning and abilities. I told him I had a mind to
try the law of vicious intromission 6 by agreement between the parties.

for affirming, whereupon it was determined that the interlocutor should not be
reversed. It would seem from this that the lay lords joined in the voting."
* Stuart had been agent for the Duke of Hamilton in the Douglas Cause. In his
Letters to the Right Honourable Lord Mansfield, privately printed in January of
this year, he had attacked Mansfield for partiality in the Cause.
The House of Lords had upheld the decision of the Court of Session on 12 Feb-
ruary of this year.

An old principle of Scots law that "whoever intermeddled with the effects of
a person deceased, without the interposition of legal authority to guard against

London, 11 April 1773 179

He said if collusion was suspected, the House would not hear a cause,
because it would not be fairly pleaded and the country might have
bad law established, I told him of my debates in the Justiciary Court
on the Mob Act being only in cases of sedition or rebellion, and that
carrying off furniture by a mob was not robbery. 7 He agreed with the
Court of Justiciary's interlocutors on both questions. I then called at
Sir John Pringle's, where I found Captain Constantine Phipps 8 and
some more company.

MONDAY 12 APRIL. The celebrated female historian, Mrs. Cath-
arine Macaulay, 9 her brother the Rev. Mr. Sawbridge, and another
gentleman, had 10,000 lent on the estate of the Laird of MacLeod, 1
and for two years had received no interest. My good friend Dilly had
directed them to me for advice; so their attorney, Mr. Heaton of Lin-
coln's Inn, was to retain me. In the mean time I engaged to breakfast
with Mrs. Macaulay this morning and look at her securities. I first
drank a dish of tea with Dempster, who I regretted was so busy that I
could see little of him. Mrs. Macaulay and I had a very cordial, polite
meeting, and she gave me a good breakfast, like any other woman. I
looked at her securities and found them good. I dined at Mr. Bosville's.
At night I went to Covent Garden and saw She Stoops to Conquer, the
author's second night. I laughed most heartily, and was highly pleased
at once with the excellent comedy and with the fame and profit which
my friend Goldsmith was receiving. It was really a rich evening to

embezzlement, should be subjected to pay all the debts of the deceased." The
Court of Session, continues Boswell in the Life of Johnson, "had gradually re-
laxed the strictness of this principle, where the interference proved had been
inconsiderable. In a case which came before that Court the preceding winter, I
had laboured to persuade the Judges to return to the ancient law." Before leav-
ing London in May 1772 Boswell had succeeded in getting Johnson to dictate a
long argument on this characteristically Boswellian legal theme.
T The "debates" must have occurred in the trials of the "meal rioters" just before
Boswell came to London. See above, pp. 147-149.

Phipps, later second Baron Mulgrave (1744-1792), was M.P. for Lincoln in
1773. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Society of Antiquaries;
he owned the best nautical library in England.
9 Her History of England appeared in eight volumes, 1763-1783.
1 Norman MacLeod, Chief of the clan, the "old Laird of MacLeod" of BoswelTs
Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, had died in the previous year, much in debt,
and had been succeeded by an eighteen-year-old grandson. See above, p. 63.

t8o London, 12 April i/73

me. I would not stay to see the farce. 2 1 would not put the taste of Gold-
smith's fruit out of my mouth. Sir Walter, who was to set out for his
regiment at Minorca next day, and his brother Sandy, who was at an
Academy at Kensington,* eat some cold beef at my lodgings and drank
a parting glass. I could not forget their father, the honest Captain.

TUESDAY 13 APRIL. Longlands the solicitor breakfasted with
me, and we revised Lord Mansfield's speech in the appeal, Campbell
against Hastie. 4 Mr. Johnson and Dr. Goldsmith called on me and we
went to General Oglethorpe's, where we were engaged to dine. Last
year we had a noble day there. I was anxious a little lest this should
fall far short, but it did not. There was nobody there but ourselves, a
Miss Lockwood, a 5 very well-behaved woman, 6 and a fine girl, a Miss
Scott, a natural daughter of the late Duke of Buccleuch as the world
has it; but General Oglethorpe maintains that her mother was mar-
ried to the Duke. The General produced before dinner a glass of what
he called palm wine, the true canary; indeed truly rich. It seems the
grape of that wine is the Rhenish vine transplanted into the Canaries.
The General also called it sack; but Mr. Johnson told us it was not the
sack which FalstafE drank, which was a sherry sweetened with sugar.

Goldsmith took up the common topic that the race of our people
was degenerated and that this was owing to luxury. "Sir," says Mr.
Johnson, u in the first place, I doubt the fact. I believe there are as
many tall men in England now as ever there were. But, secondly,

* The play had opened on 15 March and played for the twelfth time on 31 May,
the closing night of the season. This was Boswell's first opportunity to see it
Goldsmith's profit for the evening was 171. 17. o. The afterpiece with Bos-
well would not stay to see was The Apprentice, by another acquaintance of his,
Arthur Murphy.

Perhaps Elphinston's. See above, pp. 65, 93.

* That is, revised the report of the speech which both of them had taken down
at the trial the year before. British courts did not yet make official stenographic
reports of their proceedings.

8 Boswell here removed five pages to use as copy for the Life of Johnson. They
were not recovered till 1940, and are now printed for the first time as Boswell
originally wrote thftm. See above, p. 41/2. 7.

e Mis* Lodcwood was present, along with Goldsmith, at Oglethorpe's again on
Thursday 29 April. Apparently some sort of benevolent plot was on foot to bring
the two together. See below, p. 206.

London, 13 April 1773 181

supposing them grown less, that is not owing to luxury; for, Sir, con-
sider to how very small a proportion of our people luxury can reach.
Our soldiery surely are not luxurious, who live on sixpence a day; and
so you may take other classes. Luxury so far as it reaches the poor will
do good to the race of people. It will increase them. Sir, no nation was
ever hurt by luxury; for, as I said before, it can reach but to a very
few. Sir, I admit that the great increase of commerce and manufac-
tures hurts the military spirit of a people; because it gives them a com-
petition for something else than martial honours, a competition for
riches. It also hurts the bodies of the people; for you will observe there
is no man who works at any particular trade but whom you may know
from his appearance to do so. One part or other of his body by being
more used than the rest deforms in some degree his body. But, Sir,
that is not luxury. A tailor sits cross-legged, but that is not luxury."
GOLDSMITH. "Come, you're just going to the same place by another
road." JOHNSON. "Nay, Sir. I say that is not luxury. Let us take a walk
from Charing Cross to Whitechapel, through I suppose the greatest
series of shops in the world. What is there in any of these shops (if
you except gin-shops) that can do any person any harm?" GOLDSMITH.
**Well, I'll take you. The very next shop to Northumberland House
is a pickle-shop." JOHNSON. "Well, Sir. Do we not know that a maid
can in one afternoon make pickles sufficient to serve a whole family for
a year? Nay, that five pickle-shops can serve all the kingdom? Be-
sides, there is no harm done to anybody by the making of pickles or
the eating of pickles."

We drank tea with the ladies, and Goldsmith sung Tony Lump-
kin's song and a very pretty one to the tune of Balamagairy which he
had designed for Miss Hardcastle; but as Mrs. Bulkeley, who played
the part, could not sing, it was left out 7

Mr. Johnson and Dr. Goldsmith walked home with me. I have
forgotten much of this day's conversations. Goldsmith went away.
Mr. Johnson drank some tea with me. I told him that Mrs. Macaulay
said she wondered how he could reconcile his political principles with
his moral, his notions of inequality and subordination with wishing
well to the happiness of all mankind, who might live so agreeably had
they all their portions of land, and none to domineer over another.
T "Ah me! when shall I marry me?" See below, p. 208.

1 82 London, 13 April 1 773

"Why, Sir," said he, "I reconcile my principles very well, because
mankind are happier in a state of subordination. Were they to be in
this pretty state of equality, they'd soon degenerate into brutes, they'd
become Monboddo's nation. Their tails would grow. Sir, all would be
losers were all to work to all. They'd have no intellectual improve-
ment. All intellectual improvement arises from leisure. All leisure
arises from one working for another."

Talking of the family of Stuart, he said it would seem that this
family had now established as good a right as the former family by
the long consent of the people, and that to disturb this right might be
considered as culpable. At the same time he owned that it was a very
difficult question when considered with respect to the House of Stuart
That he thought to oblige people to take oaths as to the disputed right
was wrong. That he knew not if he could take them. But he did not
blame those who did. So conscientious, so delicate, and so mild is he
upon this subject as to which so much noise has been made against
him.

Talking of law cases, he said the English reports were very poor:
the half of what has been said taken down, and of that half much
mistaken. Whereas in Scotland, the arguments on each side were de-
liberately put in writing to be considered by the Court; and he thought
a collection of our cases upon subjects of importance, with the opinions
of the judges upon them, would be valuable. Said he, "You have not
had time yet to have a volume. But you may be collecting."

WEDNESDAY 4 APRIL. I should have marked yesterday that Mr.

, the * of Mr. Heaton, called on me and gave me a retainer

for Mrs. Macaulay's . . .

EDITORIAL NOTE: The Journal ends at the bottom of a full page,
with a catchword; as the reverse is blank, it was probably not carried
further. But Boswell continues the story of his jaunt, in rough notes
and separate papers, until the end.

The crowded days went whirling by. Small wonder if he did not
find time to keep more than notes. " . . . Lord Mountstuart, supped."
"Dined Paoli V "Foote's puppets. Supped with him." "Called Percy."

This blank should probably be filled by some such word as "partner^ or
"clerk."

London, 18 April 1773 183

"... Mrs. Montagu's." "Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Williams ... in
Strahan's coach and took me." "Dined Mr. Thrale's." "Goldsmith at
home." "Away to Drury Lane. . . . Garrick lively and fine."

TUESDAY 27 APRIL. Breakfast Garrick's. . . . Then Beauclerk's.
Shown up to drawing-room. Very elegant Lady Di comely and well
behaved. . . . We talked of hanging. ... As we walked up John-
son's Court, I said, "I have a veneration for this court." BEAUCLERK.
"So have I." Found him alone. . . . Talking of Goldsmith, Johnson
said, "He should not attempt as he does, for he has not [the] temper
for it. He's so much hurt if he fails. Sir, a game of jokes is partly com-
posed of skill, partly of chance. A man may be beat at times by one
who has not the tenth part of his wit . . . "We came away.

THURSDAY 29 APRIL. . . . Mr. Johnson was waiting for me. He
and I went for General Oglethorpe's on foot. In Berkeley Square [we
were] called to and taken up by Sir Joshua and Goldsmith. They told
[us] they were at [a] loss where to go. "So," said I, "you took us as
guides." JOHNSON. "I wondered, indeed, at their great civility."

A grand moment, towards which Boswell must have manoeuvred
with some care and some genius came at the end of April in his
admission to the Literary Club. ("Sir," said Johnson a few months
later, "you got into our Club by doing what a man can do." "I suppose
Dr. Johnson meant," adds Boswell, "that I assiduously and earnestly
recommended myself to some of the members, as in a canvass for an
election into Parliament.") On Friday 16 April Boswell sent a note to
Percy: "I hope you will remember me at the Club tonight Sir Joshua,
Mr. Johnson, and Dr. Goldsmith have obligingly engaged to be for
me. They are all to dine at my lodgings on Saturday sennight, the
24th April. May I beg you will do me the favour to join us?" On Friday
23 April Johnson wrote to Goldsmith, who was chairman at the Club
that evening, "I beg that you will excuse my absence to the Club. I
am going this evening to Oxford. I have another favour to beg. It is
that I may be considered as proposing Mr. Boswell for a candidate of
our Society, and that he may be considered as regularly nominated."
In his diary entry for that day Percy recorded: "At the Club: Mr. Bos-
well proposed."

The following Friday produced Notes which Boswell later de-
veloped in a first draft of the Life of Johnson thus:

1 84 London, 30 April 1 773

[Manuscript of the Life of Johnson]*

On Friday 30 April I dined with him at Mr. Beauclerk's, where
were Lord Charlemont, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and some more com-
pany. . , .

The gentlemen went away to their Club, and as one black ball
could exclude, I sat in such anxious suspense as even the charms of
Lady Diana Beauclerk's conversation could hardly relieve. Mr. Beau-
clerk's coach returned for me in less than an hour with a note from
him that I was chosen. . . . I hastened to the Turk's Head in Gerard
Street, Soho, and was introduced to such a society as can seldom be
found: Mr. Edmund Burke, Dr. Nugent, Mr. (now Sir William)
Jones. There were also present, I remember, Mr. Garrick, Dr. Gold-
smith, and the company with whom I had dined. [Upon my entrance,
Johnson . . . placed himself behind a chair, on which he leant as on
a desk or pulpit, and with humorous formality gave me a charge^
pointing out the duties incumbent upon me as a good member of the
Club.] 1

(**They were afraid of you, Sir," said Boswell on the Hebrides
tour, "as it was you who proposed me." "Sir," replied Johnson, "they
knew that if they refused you, they'd probably never have got in an-
other. I'd have kept them all out")

FRIDAY 30 APRIL. . . . Fixed with Johnson [to] dine Mitre next
day alone. Home in high spirits. Resolved [to] sit up and journalize.
Did so. Not able as formerly, but wrote twenty-six pages.

SATURDAY i MAY. To Dempster's and breakfasted. Was ill. Con-
versation a fatigue; inclined to go to bed again, but resolved not.
Dempster and I sallied out Called Burke's, after having walked in
Park; not in. Then he took me to walk on Thames a kind of philo-
sophical saunter. I had a strange thought on fate. . . . Went to Mr.
Johnson's.

The manuscript of the Life of Johnson now at Yale shows the book in all the
stages of its composition. BoswelTs first draft (with the single exception indi-
cated in the next foot-note) serves as the text for this and later passages.
1 The passage in brackets was added in a revision of the first draft of the Life.
The Notes of 1773 have the detail: "In flutter prayed in coach."

London, i May 1 773 185

In the course of a relaxed and desultory conversation Boswell re-
ceived what he must have prized as one of the highest compliments
Johnson could pay him. "We dined by ourselves," he wrote in the
Life manuscript, "at our old rendezvous the Mitre Tavern. He was
placid but not much disposed to talk. He observed that the Irish mixed
more with the English than the Scotch did; that their language was
nearer to English, as a proof of which they did very well as players,
which Scotchmen could not. Then, Sir, they have not that extreme
nationality which we find in the Scotch. Sir, I will do you the justice
to say that you are the most unscottified of your countrymen. You are
almost the only instance of a Scotchman that I have known who did
not at every other word bring in some other Scotchman.* "

On Saturday 7 May Boswell "settled all at lodgings. Was really
calm. Left Joseph to set out. Took boat to Borough." At breakfast with
the Thrales occurred a conversation in which Boswell, retrospectively
"seduced, perhaps, by the charms" of his hostess on the evening of
his uneasy wait for the note from the Club, attempted now to vindi-
cate her divorce by Act of Parliament from Viscount Bolingbroke and
her present marriage to their friend Beauclerk. Johnson was "angry."
"Go to Scotland! Go to Scotland! I never heard [you] talk so fool-
ishly." For which Boswell in the Life manuscript has Johnson say:
"My dear Sir, never accustom your mind to mingle virtue and vice.
The woman's a whore, and there's an end on't." 2

Temple had come to town, and Mrs. Temple. On first seeing his
"old friend and spouse" together this afternoon Boswell was "hurt a
little" at their "appearance." But a grand dinner-party was arranged
at Billy's in the Poultry. Temple and Claxton were there. Goldsmith
and Langton, and two clergymen, the dissenting Dr. Mayo and the
hymn-writer Mr. Toplady. "[The subject of] toleration was intro-
duced by me, I know not how." The energetic argument which fol-
lowed between Johnson and the liberal Dr. Mayo gradually squeezed

2 Boswell in writing up his Notes for the Life often remembers details for which
the Notes have no equivalent. It seems very likely that Johnson made both
these remarks on the morning of 7 May, or perhaps he delivered his crushing
characterization of Lady Di at some other time when the conversation was on
the same topic. Boswell's Notes, by his own definition, are not so much minutes
as hints for remembering, and he admits to occasional conflations.

1 86 London, 7 May 1 773

out the less authoritative voice of Goldsmith, until there came one of

those junctures for which Goldsmith was so unhappily noted.

[7 May, Manuscript of the Life of Johnson]

During this argument Goldsmith sat in great agitation from a
wish to get in and shine. Finding himself excluded, he had taken his
hat to go, but remained for some time with it in his hand, like a game-
ster who at the close of a long night waits for a little while to see if he
can have a favourable opening. Once when he was beginning to speak
he found himself overpowered by the loud voice of Johnson, who was
at the opposite end of the table and did not perceive Goldsmith's at-
tempt Thus disappointed, Goldsmith in a passion threw down his hat,
crying in a bitter tone, "Take it." When Toplady was going to speak,
Johnson uttered some sound which Goldsmith supposed to be begin-
ning again and taking the word from Toplady. Upon which he seized
this opportunity of venting his own spleen under pretext of support-
ing another person. "Sir," said he to Johnson, "the gentleman has
heard you patiently for an hour. Pray allow him to speak." JOHNSON
(angrily) . "Sir, I was not interrupting the gentleman. I was only giv-
ing him a signal of my attention. Sir, you are impertinent to me."
Goldsmith made no reply but continued in the company for some
time.

SATURDAY 7 MAY. . . . Langton, who was so quiet and so pru-
dent said, "Is there not a difference between opinions that lead to ac-
tion and opinions merely speculative for instance, [the] doctrine
of [the] Trinity?" JOHNSON. "Sir, I'm surprised that a man of your
piety [can introduce this subject here]." LANGTON (timorous like [a]
ghost). "I only hinted [at the question from a desire to hear your
opinion upon it] ." 3 JOHNSON. "Well, then, Sir, I think that permitting
to teach any opinion contrary to established doctrine of [the] church
is so far to permit the forces of that religion to be weakened." LANG-
TON. "[The] question may be whether [it is] most politic to tolerate
or not" JOHNSON. "We have been talking of right. This [is] another
question. I think [it is] not politic to tolerate."

* The extended passages in brackets are supplied (the second with some adapta-
tion) from the Life manuscript

London, 7 May 1 773 187

[7 May, Manuscript of the Life of Johnson, continued]

He and Mr. Langton and I took a coach together to the Club,
where we found Mr. Burke, Mr. Garrick, and some other members,
and amongst them our friend Goldsmith, who sat silently brooding
over Johnson's having called him impertinent. Johnson perceived
this and said aside to some of us, "I'll make Goldsmith forgive me,"
and then called to him in a loud voice: "Dr. Goldsmith, something
passed today where you and I dined. I ask your pardon." Goldsmith
answered placidly: "It must be much from you that I take ill." And
so at once the difference was over, and they were on as easy terms as
usual, and Goldsmith rattled away.

[SATURDAY 7 MAY, continued] . . . Johnson went out. Lang-
ton told of Goldsmith, and he of Langton. I said, "I'd [have] given
five guineas rather than not [have] seen that exhibition. I so often
tossed, and he laughing to see his long legs in [the] air!"

In August Boswell would write to Langton: "I cannot help having
a kind of joy in recollecting that you with all your timid caution got
a drubbing at Dilly's. The truth is, it was observed when you was here
that you assumed a kind of superiority over me, as if you was never
touched by that awful rod which has been so often applied to my back.
It is natural then for me to feel some satisfaction in thinking that you
had your share."

At breakfast with Langton on 10 May Boswell learned something
which displeased him much. Langton was on his way to his lawyer,
Robert Chambers, to make a will devising his estate to his three sisters
in preference to a remote male heir. This plan, so strongly antipa-
thetic to Boswell's feudal inclinations, was the occasion of that grotes-
quely hilarious farewell hour with Johnson which found its way, only
a little muted, though without Langton's name, into the Life. For it
was at Chambers's house in the Temple that Johnson appointed Bos-
well to meet him that evening, and there Johnson, after recovering
from an attack of "some violent internal complaint," launched with
"noble enthusiasm" into a discourse on "keeping up the representa-
tion of respectable families. . . . He maintained the dignity and pro-

1 88 London, i o May 1 773

prioty of male succession in opposition to Langton." (Boswell had

presumably let out the news.) He called Langton's sisters "three

dowdies"

[ i o May^ Manuscript of the Life of Johnson]

He said with as stately a spirit as the boldest baron in the most
perfect days of the feudal system, "An ancient estate should always go
to males. It is mighty foolish to let a stranger have it who marries
your daughter and takes your name. I would not let a rascal take my
name. As for an estate newly got by trade, you may give it if you will
to the dog Towser and let him keep his own name."

I have known him at times exceedingly diverted at what seemed
to others a very small sport. He now laughed immoderately at Lang-
ton's making his will, called him Langton the testator and added,
"I dare say he thinks he has done a thing, a mighty thing. He won't
stay till he gets home to produce this wonderful deed. He'll call up
the landlord of the first inn on the road, and after a suitable preface
upon mortality and the uncertainty of life will tell him that he should
not delay making his will. 'And here, Sir,' will he say, 'is my will,
which I have just made with the assistance of one of the ablest lawyers
in the kingdom.* And he will read it to him" (laughing all the time) .
"He believes he has made this will, but he did not make it. You made
it for him. I hope you had more conscience than to make him say,
'being of sound understanding.' Ha, ha, ha! I hope he has left me a
legacy. He should leave hatbands and gloves to all the Club. I'd have
his will turned into verse like a ballad." In this manner did he run
on, as full of drollery as a man could be, but surely such drollery as
one should never expect from the author of The Rambler. Yet it must
be very amusing and please us in a high degree to find that our mighty
moralist and philologist could be so playful. Chambers did not by
any means relish this jocularity upon a matter quorum pars magna
fuit and seemed impatient till he got us out of his chambers. Johnson
could not stop his merriment but continued laughing all the way till
we got without the Temple Gate. I cherished it, calling out, "Langton
the testator, Langton Longshanks." This tickled his fancy so much that
he roared out, "I wonder to whom he'll leave his legs?" And then

London, 10 May 1773 189

burst into such a fit of laughter that he seemed almost in a convul-
sion; then in order to support himself he laid hold of one of the posts
which were then at the side of the pavement and bellowed forth such
peals that in the dark silence of the night his voice resounded from
Temple Bar to Fleet Ditch.

This most ludicrous scene of the awful and melancholy Johnson
happened well to counteract the feelings of sadness which I used to
experience when parting with him for a considerable time. I accom-
panied him to his door, where he gave me his blessing.*

In the Notes of 1773 Boswell wrote: "I got to Mr. Dilly's between
one and two, raised him, and got all ready. Took leave, and James
carried my portmanteau to the inn. "

* After the phrase "rascal take my name," the Notes add: "(I'm not quite sure
of this.)" The same version has: "Chambers accompanied us to the Temple
Gate."

J773J774

BOSWELL'S LIFE FROM THE END OF HIS LONDON JAUNT IN THE SPRING
OF 1773 TO THE BEGINNING OF THE SUMMER SESSION IN EDINBURGH,
JUNE 1774. BoswelTs friend Temple, feeling no doubt that he had
been neglected by Boswell at the end of the 1772 jaunt, had this year
taken pains to prevent a similar occurrence. Even before Boswell set
out for London, Temple had sent him advice where to lodge, with a
suggestion that the Temples might join him to make up a friendly
household and later travel north with him. Temple experienced a few
days of panic at the thought that an impending visitation by his arch-
deacon might prevent his escape, and he had qualms about the expense
of the trip proposed. But Temple and Mrs. Temple, as we have seen,
did arrive in London, and they set out with Boswell on 1 1 May for the
journey north, as far as ComhilL, a village just south of Berwick. At
Morpeth the three dined with Temple's aunt Mrs. Collingwood.
"Temple and I in the garden there as happy as ever; our college ideas
quite lively." They had a good night at Wooler Haugh Head. "A fine
trout and negus. Just we three, calm and fine." The disagreeable oc-
currence which might have been feared from BoswelFs earlier opinion
of Mrs. Temple took place next day during the breakfast stop at Corn-
hill. Boswell's Notes for the day and a periphrastic retrospect by
Temple written at Gainslaw in June suggest that the three became
involved in a more and more animated discussion about principles of
government, feudalism, aristocratic privilege, and "subordination."
Boswell apparently undertook to defend his usual allegiances in a
style which he imagined Samuel Johnson might have used with the
egalitarian Mrs. Macaulay in London. "I was rough to Mrs. Temple
about her children being clerks, stewards to noblemen, etc. I was
wrong." Temple replied: "You certainly were indelicate. . . . You
should not . . . have been so severe and rough with your friend. The
tears she shed were bitter ones. She says she forgives you, but I fear I
cannot persuade her to pay you a visit" Boswell arrived home from

190

Boswelfs Life, May 1 7 j^-June 1 7 74 191

his trip late at night on 15 May "very ill with a cold. Could not
speak to be rightly heard." During his absence his wife had sublet
Hume's apartment where they had been living and had moved down-
stairs into a "large new house" "very handsome and spacious
rooms" in the same building. (This was level with the ground on
the side fronting the Lawnmarket, but four fiats up on the steep north
side.) Boswell wrote soon to Temple, two letters before he was an-
swered offering his apologies for the "tears at Cornhill."

Temple came on to Edinburgh alone and stayed eight days.
("Friday 9 [July]. Tea at D. Hume's with Mr. Temple.") Other
visitors during the summer were Edward Dilly (in town about six
weeks), Pringle (at least a month), Percy, and the Jacobite partisan
Andrew Lumisden, who had been so kind to Boswell in Rome now
pardoned and back in Scotland after an exile of more than twenty-five
years. In The London Magazine during this spring and summer, Bos-
well was demonstrating his powers as a reporter in a series of "De-
bates in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland." On St
John Baptist's Day (24 June) he was elected Master of Canongate
Kilwinning Lodge. The honour was to be conferred on him again in
1 774 and 1 775. The summer was a busy one, with many cases before
the General Assembly and the Court of Session. In July, before the
Court of Session, he won his highly important cause concerning lit-
erary property, his friend and client Alexander Donaldson's pioneer
fight against the London booksellers for the right to publish freely
books not protected by the express terms of the Copyright Act, and
hence in effect for the right to publish cheap reprints of the English
classics.

During thfe summer Boswell was also engaged for the defence,
concurrently, in two conspicuous criminal trials. In one of these his
client was a pathetic victim of circumstance and apparently suffered
a considerable injustice; in the other, a pair of clients got what they
deserved. Thomas Gray, a poor Chelsea Pensioner who lived in the vil-
lage of Fisherrow, had a quarrel one night in January of this year
with his wife, and as a result was beset by a mob of young persons
teasing and baiting him; these went so far as to climb on his roof,
break a hole in it, and throw in sticks and stones. In a sudden frenzy
he ran out and stabbed a man who was passing (his best friend, as it

iQ2 BoswelFs Life, May 1 773~June i 774

happened) and killed him. Gray was brought to trial on 26 July, and
Boswell., opposing Solicitor-General Henry Dundas, argued at length
mn\ eloquently that his client was of "weak intellects," that he had
been under the influence of liquor and had been emotionally upset
to the point of not being able to judge between right and wrong, that
the stabbing of his friend could hardly have been premeditated. The
jury "with one voice" brought in a verdict of guilty. Boswell and Cros-
bie, on the tardy plea that Gray was now actually insane, had the
minor consolation of getting the pronouncement of sentence delayed
until the autumn. Search in the Register House has not yet revealed
his fate, but has unearthed a grim memento: the actual knife which
did the deed, tied up in the bundle of papers forming the process.

On 9 August Boswell briefly records witnessing the conclusion of
a trial in which he must have taken a specially keen technical inter-
est. Callum McGregor, charged with having committed a murder in
Abergairn twenty-six years earlier, was acquitted on a plea of "pre-
scription" that is, in virtue of the length of time elapsed between
the crime alleged and the trial. Lord Auchinleck spoke in approval of
the plea. The case seems to have set a precedent in Scots jurispru-
dence for more than a century being cited, though without suc-
cess, as late as 1934.

In the other trial where Boswell himself was engaged it ended
on 1 1 and 1 2 August in a session lasting through the night to four in
the morning Boswell and Crosbie and Henry Erskine, opposing the
Lord Advocate and the Solicitor-General, defended two tinkers who,
in company with three girls, had called one night at the lonely hut of
a rag-gatherer on the Carnwath moorland to inquire their way, had
found him defenceless with his wife and daughter, had knocked him
down, inflicting an injury from which he died, and had plundered the
place before leaving. John Brown and James Wilson were a pair of
sturdy young ruffians: one night in June before the trial began they
broke out of "cage" and stocks in the Tolbooth, cut through a floor,
and reached the roof on which they were then recaptured. Boswell
and his colleagues can scarcely have conducted this trial with very
high hopes. After a month on bread and water in the Tolbooth, Brown
and Wilson were hanged on 1 5 September in the Grassmarket

But by that time Boswell was many miles away, in the Isle of
Skye, Bappy in the realization of a long-cherished dream.

BoswelVs Life, May 1 7 7$~June 1 7 74 1 93

For about ten years, or ever since their early acquaintance in
London during the spring and summer of 1 763, Boswell had enter-
tained and had been encouraged in a plan of getting Samuel Johnson
to Scotland, and to the Hebrides. In London during the past spring
he had industriously thickened the plot. Letters to the historian
Robertson, to the moralist Beattie, to the elegant amateur of letters
Lord Elibank put them up to writing back in terms that could be read
to Johnson as further encouragements to the adventure. "Express
yourself ... so ... as to operate strongly upon him." "Write to
me . . . that I may read it to the mighty sage." "Send me an epistle
full of insensible attraction for Mr. Johnson." From Edinburgh at the
end of May, he wrote back to Johnson, urging him to "persevere in his
resolution." "Let me know," replied Johnson, "the exact time when
your courts intermit." "I am in high spirits at present," wrote Boswell
to General Oglethorpe on 14 August. "Mr. Johnson is actually come as
far north as Newcastle, and I expect him here this evening." "I am in
very high spirits at present," he repeated to Langton in another letter
written on the same day. "Mr. Johnson is actually come as far north
as Newcastle; and I expect to have him under my roof this night."

Johnson got out of his post-chaise at Boyd's Inn in the Canongate
on the evening of Saturday 14 August, three days after the rising of
the Court of Session. ("Mr. Johnson sends his compliments to Mr.
Boswell, being just arrived at Boyd's.") He stayed three days at
BoswelTs house in James's Court, receiving the homage of the "great,
the learned, and the elegant" at breakfasts, dinners, teas, and suppers.
(Mrs. Boswell "had tea ready for him" on his arrival and "insisted
that, to show all respect to the sage, she would give up her own bed-
chamber to him and take a worse.")

On Wednesday 18 August Boswell and Johnson, accompanied by
BoswelTs Bohemian servant, Joseph Ritter, set out They travelled by
post-chaise for twelve days, up the east coast of Scotland, by St.
Andrews and Aberdeen, and then along the north coast to Inverness,
and thence by horseback ("equitation") to Glenelg and by boat to
the Isle of Skye. For seven weeks of September and October they
moved about through the inner Hebrides by horse, by "little"
horse or island "sheltie," and by foot in the roughest places, by long-
boat and oars, by small sail-boat, by a "vessel of twelve tons" and by
another apparently somewhat larger. They stayed on Skye, on

1 94 BoswelPs Life, May 1 7 j^-June 1 774

Raasay, on Coll, on Mull, Ulva, Inchkenneth, and lona. On 22 Octo-
ber they reached the mainland once more at Oban in Argyllshire and
were a few days later once more "in a country of bridles and saddles"
and then of "post-chaises." Almost everywhere it rained (all but one
and a half days of a solid month), and they were kept indoors, or at
least prevented from travelling forward, during long periods when
they had to impose on the patience of their island hosts. They had
gone to the Hebrides in search of something primitive in order to
"contemplate a system of life almost totally different ... to find
simplicity and wildness, and all the circumstances of remote time or
place." They had found some wildness, some rudeness and squalor,
and they had been accordingly disgusted and depressed. At times
they had yearned to be home. Boswell had often worried about the
long separation from his wife. On the other hand, they had found
moments, even extended spells, of "civilization" and elegance, and
almost always a warm-hearted, open-handed and touching feudal
hospitality. They had talked and eaten their way through the
country-side (Boswell had also danced, sung, and drunk) , entertained
and attended on all sides by lairds and their ladies, by their families,
tenants, factors, and retainers, by innkeepers, by the clergy, by
doctors and soldiers. On the mainland they were received by the mili-
tary governors of two forts. Intervals of notable felicity were the four
days spent early in the tour with John MacLeod and his family of ten
lively daughters and three sons on the island of Raasay and the week
spent at the castle of Dunvegan, the seat of MacLeod of MacLeod, in
Skye. A notable instance of displeasure came with their first landing
on Skye and their uncouth and parsimonious entertainment by Bos-
well's friend Sir Alexander Macdonald and his beautiful but "in-
sipid" lady, BoswelTs "cousin." (BoswelTs record of this incident,
even when severely pruned for publication in 1 785, was so offensive
that it came close to causing a duel.) A notable instance of humble
and rough hospitality and of prolonged imprisonment by bad
weather, endured with honour on both sides, was the nine days spent
after being driven by a tempest to the outlying island of Coll. The
most deliberate rendezvous with romance was the night spent in Skye
at the farm of Kingsburgh, where the mistress was Flora Macdonald,
the heroine who had sheltered Prince Charles after the '45. ("Each

BoswelFs Life, May i jf$June 1 774 195

bed had tartan curtains, and Mr. Johnson's was the very bed in which
the Prince lay,")

The moment of greatest solemnity carefully worked up to,
though at the end almost missed through loss of time and failure of
nerve came when after a forty-mile trip by long-boat along the
shore of Mull and an overnight encampment in a barn on lona, they
stepped out at morning among the ruins of the cathedral and mon-
astery, the sepulchre of many ancient Irish, Scottish, and Scandi-
navian kings. ("We were now treading that illustrious island which
was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage
clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and the
blessings of religion.")

On the mainland, the last important stop was for six days at
Auchinleck, where BoswelTs "honoured father" and his "respected
friend" only momentarily forgot themselves and "came in collision,"
staging a contest of "intellectual gladiators" which Bos well, in his
public account of the affair, decided would be unbecoming in fr
to "exhibit . . . for the entertainment of the public." 1

At Inverness, on the way out, Boswell had written to Garricfc.
It was an elaborate literary letter, rich with allusions to Macbeth:
to Forres (where they had passed a night), to the heath, the witches,
the castle. At Inveraray, on the way back, tasting once more the lux-
uries of civilized life, he had found "one of the most elegant" of such
luxuries in Garrick's reply, "a pineapple of the finest flavour." At the
beginning of the adventure Boswell had taken advantage of the surge
of good feeling generated by Johnson's presence in Edinburgh to
renew friendly relations with Lord Hailes. At Auchinleck he now
assumed the office of peacemaker in a letter to Langton, informing
him that Mr. Johnson seemed to "imagine" that the rough work of
last spring had been taken too seriously. "It seems you left London
without calling for him."

The travellers arrived in Edinburgh on 9 November, having been
absent for eighty-three days of the most "vigorous exertion." "For
five weeks together, of the tempestuous season," nobody at home had

1 He put some of the repartee into his copy for the printer, however, and did not
strike it out till the stage of proofs. See the forthcoming edition of the Hebrides
in this series.

1 96 BosweWs Life, May i j7$-~June 1 774

received any word of them, Boswell almost immediately had to take
up his work during the mornings before the Court of Session. But
Johnson stayed on for ten days more of breakfasts, dinners, teas, and
suppers, receiving the homage of the Edinburgh literati. "On the
mornings when he breakfasted at my house, he had from ten o'clock
till one or two a constant levee of various persons. . . . My wife was
so good as to devote the greater part of the morning to the endless
task of pouring out tea for my friend and his visitors."

During almost the entire journey Boswell had kept writing up
his Journal, showing it in instalments to Johnson, who was highly
pleased. Boswell now had two large notebooks and a smaller one and
some sheets of loose paper all filled with the narrative. This was the
record which after Johnson's death Boswell would with the help of
Edmond Malone trim more or less discreetly as the first instalment
of his biography of Johnson, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides,
1785.

On 20 and 21 November Boswell accompanied Johnson as far
south as Blackshiels, fourteen miles on the road to London, and saw
him into the fly for London on the next morning. "I came home last
night," wrote back Johnson on 27 November, "without any incom-
modity, danger, or weariness. ... I know Mrs. Boswell wished me
well to go." "In this," wrote Boswell much later in a note to the Life
of Johnson, "he showed a very acute penetration. My wife paid him
the most assiduous and respectful attention while he was our guest;
so that I wonder how he discovered her wishing for his departure.
The truth is that his irregular hours and uncouth habits, such as turn-
ing the candles with their heads downwards when they did not burn
bright enough, and letting the wax drop upon the carpet, could not
but be disagreeable to a lady. . . . And what was very natural to a
female mind, she thought he had too much influence over her
husband."

Before their descent upon Auchinleck in October, Boswell had
elicited from Johnson a promise to avoid talking with Lord Auchin-
leck on three topics: "Whiggism, Presbyterianism, and Sir John
Pringle." From the point of view of Boswell's domestic life, the best
tail-piece to the Hebrides episode is perhaps a sportive letter of the
following Christmas season from Sir John Pringle to his sweetheart
in the Boswell household, Jeanie Campbell.

BoswelVs Life, May i jj$-June 1 774 197

MY DEAR JEAN IE, As there is some difference between your
uncle and me in point of ceremony, whether he ought to write me
first or I to him, till that be settled you will forgive me for giving you
this trouble, to tell him that I congratulate his safe, though I cannot
say speedy, return from his western expedition. Indeed he was so long
away that I began to apprehend that instead of his having conducted
his companion to the Isle of Skye, the Doctor had carried him to the
island of Utopia or that other of Prince Rasselas I have forgot the
name of it, but you will help me out, as I dare to say you are now
well acquainted with it and all Dr. Johnson's geography. . . .

I have been (you must know) very jealous of Dr. Johnson, lest he
should have gained your affections and made you forget others who
had a prior right. His genteel manner and polite conversation made
me very anxious about the impression that might be made upon a
heart so young and tender as yours, and especially in absence of one
of so opposite a character. If so matters be as I suspect and that the
Doctor is now the happy man, all I beg is that you would at least
continue my friend and speak betimes a good word for me with
Veronica. . . . Adieu, my good girl, and learn fast the London
manners, whether to please Dr. Johnson or me.

[Unsigned]

In the following June, beginning once more a daily record of his
life with the opening of the summer session at Edinburgh, Boswell
looked back and recollected:

Review of My Life for Some Time Previous to This Period

After Mr. Samuel Johnson left me, which was on Monday the 22
of November, when we parted at Blackshiels, I was long in a state
of languor. My mind had been kept upon its utmost stretch in his
company. I had exhausted all my powers to entertain him. While
he was with me, his noble exuberance of genius excited my spirits to
a high degree, so that I did not feel at the time how much I was
weakened. I was like a man who drinks hard and is kept in high glee
by what is wasting his constitution, but perceives its enfeebling
effects as soon as he lives without it. I was not, however, in a state of
despondency. I waited patiently till my force should be restored.
From the confusion of credit and scarcity of money, there was less

ig8 BoswelFs Life y May i jj^-June 1 774

business done in the Court of Session, Winter Session 1 773-1 774, than
almost ever was known. I had not near so much practice as in former
winters, which happened well for my indolent and listless state. I
wrote few papers, and never was up any one morning before eight.
Yet there was no great deficiency in the amount of my fees. I got one
hundred and fifty guineas. I was engaged in several criminal trials:
that of Cant and Muir for wilful fire-raising, in which a number of
lawyers appeared, all gratis except Mr. Lockhart,* who spoke with as
much spirit as ever upon the relevancy. I did not speak at all. Informa-
tions were ordered. But the matter was compromised, and they were
banished. I charged the jury in three other trials: those of Margaret
and Agnes Adams 3 for murder (I charged for Margaret); James
Brown for . . .

There Boswell breaks off. Surely one of the causes operating to
produce his slump of spirits during the winter of 1 774 must have been
the unusually crowded procession of his unhappy criminal clients.
A comic poem by his witty fellow advocate Henry Erskine, Patrick
O'Connor's Advice to Henry McGraugh, shows that by the summer
of 1774 his reputation for quixotic and unprofitable defences was
hardly less than Crosbie's. McGraugh was a destitute Irishman who
had been sentenced to public whipping because he had gone into
taverns and ordered meals which he could not pay for. At the very
time when Boswell was making his great effort for the sheep-stealer
John Reid, he looked McGraugh up in the Tolbooth and wrote a bill
of suspension that saved him from his ignominious sentence. "Patrick
O'Connor's advice" to McGraugh was that he become a bailie.

Then each day you may guzzle, at the city's expense,
Without Crosbie or Boswell to plead your defence. 4

The experiences which had established this reputation were, however,
far from comic. On 24 January of this year Boswell appeared in court,
against the Solicitor-GeneraL, Henry Dundas, in defence of two girls,

1 See below, p. 2 ign. 4.

'That is, Margaret Adam and Agnes Adam. Scots usage assigns plurals to
proper names.

4 Erskine's poem is collected in James Maidment's The Court of Session Gar-
land, 1839.

BoswelPs Life, May i n^-June 1 774 199

Margaret Adam, aged twenty-two, and her sister Agnes, not yet
sixteen. They were charged with the robbery and murder of a
woman who kept a huckstery shop in Glasgow. If we may suppose
a degree of truth in the last statement of Margaret, some sort of
drunken party and brawl had occurred inside the shop when the
girls retreated there from the attentions of "some worthless fellows
of their acquaintance." The fellows made a noise at the door. Mrs.
Mclntyre "would have" the girls go away. "She threw a glass of
spirits upon them. . . . Margaret . . . gave her a sudden thrust
away from her. ... In her fall her hind head struck against a
stone wall, and she never stirred." Boswell spoke at length and elo-
quently, moving a separate trial for Agnes (so that her sister could
appear as a witness in her defence), and he charged the jury for
Margaret. Next day the girls were sentenced to be hanged in the
Grassmarket and their bodies to be given to Dr. Alexander Monro,
professor of anatomy in the University, for dissection. Agnes got a
reprieve during the King's pleasure. BoswelTs Journal for 2 March
has the brief entry: " At M. A. *s execution."

Again, on 7 and 8 February, Boswell was in court addressing the
jury for a Glasgow carter, James Brown, accused of horse-stealing.
Despite a petition by the defence for a sentence only of banishment,
"on account of several alleviating circumstances . . . such as his
having an aged mother to support, with a wife and five children," the
Solicitor-General won from the jury a unanimous verdict of guilty.
They recommended mercy, however, and after being sentenced to be
hanged in the Grassmarket, Brown received a pardon on condition of
transporting himself.

And once more, on 14 March, Boswell was in the Justiciary Court,
this time representing five clients, in two separate trials relating to
two different forms of the crime of arson ("fire-raising"). John
Andrews, William Wilson, and William Love were accused of break-
ing into, burgling, and attempting to set fire to a warehouse at Pais-
ley. In a trial that lasted through the day until three o'clock the next
morning, Boswell and Crosbie and two associates, by impugning the
reliability of two key witnesses, won a perhaps hardly expected vic-
tory in a unanimous verdict of "not proven." On the very same day
was concluded another trial in which Boswell had participated,

200 BoswelFs Life, May i TT$-]une 1 774

though without speaking, during the past December. A pair of
wrights, Thomas Muir and James Cant, were tried on an indictment
at the instance of the Sun Fire Office of London for setting fire to their
own property in Leith Walk. Boswell's "Review" of his life for these
months, which we have already quoted, records the result: "The
matter was compromised, and they were banished.*'

Boswell's slump in spirits during the winter of 1 773-1774 his
first serious fit of depression since his marriage and a decidedly
ominous experience was not something which he tried to conceal
from his friends. "Your writing law papers and pleading causes with
such attention," wrote Temple, "does not seem very consistent with
the languor and indolence of which you complain." "An interruption
of business and some degree of disappointment has given a faint idea
of that state of melancholy and despondency under which I almost
continually suffer. ... I suppose you'll plead your little practice
as an excuse for not seeing Mamhead." (Temple's own troubles con-
tinued, of course, unabated. His special effort had recently been An
Essay Concerning the Clergy, in eleven chapters. This inevitably had
to be submitted to Mr. Hume. And Mr. Hume inevitably did not care
much for it and sent back through Boswell his definition of a clergy-
man echoed in Temple's letter to Boswell: "A person appropriated
to teach hypocrisy and inculcate vice. How ungenerous, how un-
handsome!")

Among the sources of uneasiness and despondency for Boswell that
winter, the old domestic ones persisted strongly enough. Pringle
wrote in February to admonish him :

"I was sorry to find that you should so obstinately continue Goth
and Vandal with regard to your feudal system. I was in hopes that
more reflection, your attachment to English manners, and parental
affection would have by this time conquered those prejudices which
none should preserve but a Parliament House agent. 5 How will it

5 A Parliament House agent was what Boswell would have called a writer,
and the English a solicitor: a lawyer not admitted to the bar who manages law
cases and draws wills, deeds, entails, and the like (see above, p. 6n. 2). Pringle
seems to intimate that lawyers of that sort would be in favour of feudal preju-
dices because they make more complicated settlements and hence more work
for lawyers. An advocate should be more liberal.

Bos well 9 s Life, May ifi^-June 1 774 201

sound a hundred years hence in the annals of these times 'that J.B. of
A. after making his tour through Europe, being the friend of Paoli
and of Johnson and a member of the wits' club at the Turk's Head,
should have left his estate to the son of a dancing-master of his own
name, in preference to his own daughter, a dutiful child, married to
a gentleman of character and the mother of a fine family of children,
and of that number, three boys of the greatest hopes.' " 6

And Boswell's other most faithful critic:

"Nothing but your own conduct can prevent your succession to
the estate and influence of your family. But was ever anything so
imprudent, so disrespectful, as to engage your interest without your
father's approbation? ... I am sorry Lord Auchinleck should talk
with such contempt of Mr. Johnson. . . .

"Your unhappy brother John! Boswell, how fatal those sort of
reflections are to the veneration and love we owe the Parent of Nature!
Disease, folly, melancholy entailed on families!"

The single phrase of Temple's letter referring to Boswell's engag-
ing his interest without his father's approbation is our only clue to an
early stage in one of Boswell's most bitter experiences of this period.
The right to vote for a Member of Parliament to represent a Scots
county was in the eighteenth century severely restricted: a voter must
hold land of the King and that land must further meet certain require-
ments (sometimes complicated and technical) as to assessed value. In
the General Election of 1 768, by pooling their "interest" (the votes of
the friends, dependants, and acquaintances whom they could persuade
or could control by patronage) two large land-holders of the County
of Ayr, the Earls of Loudoun and Cassillis, had secured the election as
M.P. of Lord Cassillis's younger brother, that "joker" David Kennedy
whom Boswell in the spring of 1773 had declared "totally incapable
of the business of legislation." 7 In the General Election of 1774, the
same coalition, now strengthened by the adherence of the Earl of
Eglinton, proposed to re-elect Kennedy. But a group of landed gentle-
6 See above, pp. 51/1. a, 59/1. 3.
T Above, p. 161.

202 BoswelPs Life, May i fi^-June 1 774

men of the County, restive, as they said, at having the representation
dictated by a coalition of peers and certainly restive against the coali-
tion in power, banded together with the Earls of Glencairn and Dum-
fries in opposition and put up as their candidiate that Sir Adam Fer-
gusson of Kilkerran whom we have seen Boswell introduce to Johnson
in March 1772. ("Sir, I perceive you are a vile Whig.") 8 They also set
themselves vigorously not merely to the reviving of dormant votes, but
also to the creation of votes of a kind that Lord Auchinleck had taught
Boswell to abhor as "nominal and fictitious." 8 *

Though Boswell himself did not possess the qualifications of a
voter in Ayrshire, he threw himself into this struggle with character-
istic energy. As would have been expected, he put allegiance to feudal
principle before candidate and came out on the side of the "old inter-
est," the "noble association." He had previously expressed even ex-
travagant admiration for Sir Adam Fergusson, but was now deeply of-
fended with him because Fergusson thought himself not bound to pay
a Corsican subscription for which Boswell and Crosbie had advanced
the money. Boswell also held the "independent gentlemen" in disap-
probation because of their aggressive policy of making votes. Lord
Auchinleck had not engaged in politics for many years. Boswell prob-
ably assumed most rashly that his father would allow him to
organize the Auchinleck "interest" and deliver it to the "noble associ-
ation." And then came the grievous affront. Lord Auchinleck, surely
not unhappy at a chance to slap down a young laird who was showing
too great independence, yielded to the solicitations of the Lord Presi-
dent of the Court of Session, Robert Dundas, and not only promised his
interest to Fergusson, but even made for him a number of the "faggot
votes" which he had previously inveighed against. Thus, to use Bos-
well's passionate and deeply partisan language, the house of Auchin-
leck had joined in an odious combination by which the interest of "the
old families in the County" was to be "defeated by an upstart," "the
great-grandson of a messenger." (His gibe at Sir Adam's ancestry has
never been substantiated. The Fergussons of Kilfcerran, by all ac-
counts, were an older family than his own.) But remarks uttered in
the heat of politics are not made upon oath. He was deeply hurt botib

8 Above, p. 88.

8 * See below, p. 258^ 8.

BoswelFs Life, May i Ti^-June 1 774 203

by this threat to the "old interest in elections" and by the frustration
of his own hopes of playing a political role in the county. His father
had thwarted, had "crossed" him, had rendered him insignificant in
his "own county" in short, had reduced Boswell to a "cipher." On
6 August of the coming summer he would firmly refuse an invitation
to dine with the Lord President at Lord Auchinleck's house. This un-
happy relation with his father was no doubt further aggravated dur-
ing this winter by the fact that notions about a London career were
now steadily enlarging in BoswelTs mind. Thus Pringle:

* e l still find you set upon fixing here. Possibly it may answer, but
the hazard I should think would be too great for a man with a wife
and a growing family of children. The person you quote for favour-
ing the scheme has certainly wit, 9 but it is wisdom that is wanted in a
counsellor on this occasion. I shall keep your secret, and I would
advise you to tell it to as few as possible, because if people get a notion
that you are so unsettled, they will become shy of employing one
whose head, they will imagine, is turned upon other subjects. But of
all things obtain your father's consent, for possibly he may have
reasons for going into the scheme, and if so, you will have the world
on your side in going, and a good apology for you if you should go
and fail."

In the background, then, appear BoswelTs ultimate plans for
attaining the metropolis. More immediately, the question whether he
could persuade himself that he ought to indulge in his annual spring
jaunt. Before Christmas he seems to have thought he might well make
it In February Johnson concluded a letter: "Let me know . . . how
fees come in and when we are to see you." But there were serious
obstacles, among them the fact that Mrs. Boswell was once more in
an advanced stage of pregnancy. On 5 March Boswell tried to balance
his reasons in a letter to Johnson. "I wrote to him," he says in the
Life, "requesting his counsel whether I should this spring come to
London. I stated to him on the one hand some pecuniary embarrass-
ments which, together with my wife's situation at that time, made

8 See above, p. 81, BoswelTs encouragement from a solicitor named Urquhart
and possibly from Johnson. Pringle, who thinks of the Club at the Turk's Head
as "the wits' club" (see above, p. 201) may now be referring to Johnson.

204 BosweWs Life, May i jj^-June 1 774

me hesitate; and on the other the pleasure and improvement which
my annual visit to the metropolis always afforded me; and particu-
larly mentioned a peculiar satisfaction which I experienced in cele-
brating the festival of Easter in St. Paul's cathedral; that to my fancy
it appeared like going up to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover,
and that the strong devotion which I felt on that occasion diffused its
influence on my mind through the rest of the year."

The appeal was well enough calculated to elicit from Johnson
some word of sanction that would incline the hesitating conscience
in the desired direction. But Johnson's answer was the death-knell
of the year's hopes.

*'I think there is no great difficulty in resolving your doubts. The
reasons for which you are inclined to visit London are, I think, not
of sufficient strength to answer the objections. That you should delight
to come once a year to the fountain of intelligence and pleasure is
very natural; but both information and pleasure must be regulated
by propriety. Pleasure which cannot be obtained but by unseasonable
or unsuitable expense must always end in pain; and pleasure which
must be enjoyed at the expense of another's pain can never be such
as a worthy mind can fully delight in.

"What improvement you might gain by coming to London you
may easily supply, or easily compensate, by enjoining yourself some
particular study at home or opening some new avenue to information.
Edinburgh is not yet exhausted; and I am sure you will find no
pleasure here which can deserve either that you should anticipate
any part of your future fortune, or that you should condemn yourself
and your lady to penurious frugality for the rest of the year.

"I need not tell you what regard you owe to Mrs. Boswell's en-
treaties; or how much you ought to study the happiness of her who
studies yours with so much diligence, and of whose kindness you
enjoy such good effects. Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal
concessions. She permitted you to ramble last year, you must permit
her now to keep you at home.

''Your last reason is so serious that I am unwilling to oppose it.
Yet you must remember that your image of worshipping once a year
in a certain place in imitation of the Jews is but a comparison, and

BoswelVs Life, May 1 77^-June 1 774 205

simile non est idem. 1 If the annual resort to Jerusalem was a duty to
the Jews, it was a duty because it was commanded; and you have
no such command, therefore no such duty."

Among BoswelPs consolations this winter, a chief one was the
decision in the House of Lords concerning the question of literary
property. After his victory for Alexander Donaldson the previous
July in the Court of Session, Boswell had shown Johnson his notes
on the case eliciting of course only a very limited appreciation
from this sturdy champion of the London booksellers. Towards the
end of December, however, Boswell began to get these notes in shape,
and about the end of January, Donaldson brought out in both Edin-
burgh and London The Decision of the Court of Session upon the
Question of Literary Property . . . Published by James Boswell,
Esq., Advocate, One of the Counsel in the Cause. In 1 769 Donaldson
had had judgement passed against him regarding literary property in
the Court of King's Bench in London and was now appealing that
decision to the House of Lords. It was important that BoswelTs
pamphlet, containing the opinions delivered by the Scots judges,
should be out in time to be read before Donaldson's appeal came on
(4 February) . On 26 February Boswell learned the "great news" that
Donaldson had won without a division and went at once to drink "tea
with Lord Monboddo to triumph over him," Monboddo being the
only member of the Court of Session who had voted against his client
in the Edinburgh trial. Donaldson v. Becket 2 is still the basis of all
English and American copyright acts.

The year was punctuated by letters to Boswell from island lairds
and antiquaries (Maclean, Lochbuie, Macqueen, Kingsburgh) ask-
ing help or offering information. And Boswell carried on a brisk
exchange of short notes with Johnson and the Thrales. He plied John-
son with information, reminders, and promptings; he sent him his
"box'* of collected curiosities. Even before reaching the Hebrides (on
the mainland, sitting on a green bank in Glen Clunie) , Johnson had
begun to think that he might turn his memories (and perhaps his
long letters to Mrs. Thrale) into A Journey to the Western Islands of
Scotland. By January he was "seriously engaged" in exploiting this

* Things may be like without being the same.

2 One of BoswelTs co-partners in The London Magazine: see above, p. 101. He

was not the pursuer in the Edinburgh trial.

206 BoswelVs Life, May i ^T* ^ ]une 1 774

opportunity. "You must make haste and gather me all you can, and
do it quickly, or I will and shall do without it." In May Boswell found
himself in the position of double "negotiator" between Johnson and
Lord Hailes on the one hand asking Hailes about the meaning of a
Highland institution of cattle dowry, and on the other sending on for
Johnson's criticism some specimens of Hailes's work in progress,
Annals of Scotland from the Accession of Malcolm ///, Swrnamed
Canmore, to the Accession of Robert I. On 2 1 June Johnson had sent to
the press the first sheets of the Western Islands, committing to print in
the first paragraph a passage which it would give Boswell much pleas-
ure to discover. 8

On 9 April Boswell received the shocking news that five days be-
fore Goldsmith had died. He had been carried off, in his early forties,
apparently by a kidney infection, his resistance, as Johnson believed,
having been weakened by worries induced through his habitual im-
providence. During the autumn of the previous year letters between
Boswell and General Oglethorpe had lamented the failure of a kind
of plot to get Goldsmith, "the Unfortunate Knight of Parnassus," to
Cranharn Hall at the right moment for bringing about a marital
alliance with a certain wealthy "nymph"* and thus rescuing him
from his financial distresses. The first effect on Boswell of learning
about Goldsmith's death was a suddenly awakened sense of distance
from other, still living, members of the Club, a feeling of oppor-
tunity neglected, of guilt in letting his correspondence go unat-
tended to. On 10 April he wrote to Langton:

"The death of one friend endears to us still more those who sur-
vive. I got the news yesterday that we have lost Goldsmith. It has
affected me much, and while I lament his departure and am warmly
impressed with affection and regard to you who are one among the
few whom I highly value, it gives me much pain to reflect that I
have been so many months indebted to you for an excellent letter
without acknowledging it. The same tenderness of disposition which
makes me feel my being in the wrong to you with extraordinary
sensibility makes me at the same time comfort myself with a kind
sympathetic feeling that you will readily forgive me."

8 See below, p. 216. 4 The Miss Lockwood mentioned above, p. 180.

BoswelFs Life, May i ^^'* ^ ]une 1 774 207

On the next day (11 April) Boswell thought of Garrick's letter
which had reached him in the previous autumn at Inveraray, and
now he answered that too: "That I have not thanked you for it long
ere now is one of those strange facts for which it is so difficult to
account that I shall not attempt it ... Dr. Goldsmith's death
would affect all the Club much. I have not been so much affected
with any event that has happened of a long time. I wish you would
give me who am 5 at a distance and who cannot get to London this
spring some particulars with regard to his last appearances." The
most ambitious appreciation of Goldsmith which Boswell received
from any of his friends was written by Oglethorpe "immediately"
after Goldsmith's death, though it was not posted until 15 June.

"Our Goldsmith is no more! I was with him Easter Sunday. He
was then light-headed with a fever and died next day. When John-
son dined here with us, Mrs. Oglethorpe and the ladies joined Gold-
smith in persuading Johnson to publish his delightful ramble to
UltimaThule. (Goldsmith was then in high health.) . . .

"I dined with Garrick and his Club about fourteen days before
the catastrophe, when Goldsmith shined and by the command of the
monarch of the stage pronounced excellent laughing epitaphs in
rhyme on all of the Club. The members little thought then he should
so soon want a serious one."

Garrick's now well-known account of the matter was that Gold-
smith's epitaphs were written as a reply to one produced by himself
extempore at an earlier gathering:

Here lies Nolly Goldsmith, for shortness called Noll,
Who wrote like an angel but talked like poor Poll.

For this Garrick had received at least as good as he gave.

He threw off his friends like a huntsman his pack,

For he knew when he would he could whistle them back. 6

5 The original letter in the Hyde Collection and Lawrie's copy at Yale both
read ore.

6 The epitaphs made up Goldsmith's unfinished anapaestic poem Retaliation.
See below, p. 229.

208 BoswelVs Life, May i fi^-June 1 774

In The London Magazine for June Boswell published a finely
turned tribute to Goldsmith a grace-note to public mourning
of a kind which he was uniquely well prepared both by his habits
as collector and chronicler and by sympathetic temperament to ex-
ecute.

[Boswell to the Editor of The London Magazine'}

SIR, I send you a small production of the late Dr. Goldsmith
which has never been published and which might perhaps have been
totally lost had I not secured it. He intended it as a song in the char-
acter of Miss Hardcastle in his admirable comedy She Stoops to Con-
quer. But it was left out, as Mrs. Bulkeley, who played the part, did
not sing. He sung it himself in private companies very agreeably. 7
The tune is a pretty Irish air called The Humours of Balamagcdry,
to which, he told me, he found it very difficult to adapt words. But
he has succeeded happily in these few lines. As I could sing the tune
and was fond of them, he was so good as to give me them about a
year ago just as I was leaving London and bidding him adieu for that
season, little apprehending that it was a last farewell. I preserve this
little relic in his own handwriting with an affectionate care. I am,
Sir, your humble servant,

JAMES BOSWELL.
Song by Dr. Goldsmith
Ah me! when shall I marry me?

Lovers are plenty but fail to relieve me.
He, fond youth, that could carry me,
Offers to love but means to deceive me.

But I will rally and combat the miner;

Not a look, not a smile shall my passion discover.
She that gives all to the false one pursuing her

Makes but a penitent, loses a lover.

BoswelTs second daughter, Euphemia, was born on 20 May. As
the opening of the summer session on 14 June approached, he began
but did not go far with the "Review of my Life for Some Time Previ-
ous to This Period" which we have already quoted. On the first day of
the session, he again resumed his fully written Journal.
T See above, p. 181.

/^

&

A song by Goldsmith, originally intended for inclusion in Ste

Stoops to Conquer; with heading written by James Boswell.

From the original in the Yale University Library

journal ^/aeginning f4*sune 1774
& & & &

TUESDAY 1 4 JUNE . I began to rise at seven. This day I got home
another servant, James Dalrymple, a young man from Dumfriesshire
who had been with Dr. Hunter at Moffat. He had a wife and two chil-
dren in Edinburgh. Seemed to be clever and obliging. Between nine
and ten called on my father, who had come from Auchinleck in one
day and arrived late the night before. The Court of Session seemed to
be crowded. I said, "There must be carrion in the wind when there's
so many of us." The President was ill. Cosmo Gordon 1 affected much
concern, and perhaps felt some. I neither felt nor affected any.
"Cosmo," said I, "upon this subject you and I are Heraclitus and De-
mocritus, the weeping and laughing philosophers." "And," said Mac-
laurin, 2 "I am the Stoic between you." I was in good sound hearty
spirits, and found many of my brethren at the bar in the same humour.
The Outer House is a scene of unbounded conversation and merriment.
Everything is thrown out, and amongst such a quantity of stuff some
good things cast up. I have marked some of this day in my Boswel-
liancu* I dined quietly at home. Nobody with us but Mrs. Mont-
gomerie. 4 My father, Lady Auchinleck, and Dr. Young 5 drank tea. My
father was pleased with Veronica, who applied to him for raisins
which he had for her.

WEDNESDAY 1 5 JUNE. We dined at my father's. George Frazer,
George Webster, and Claud were there.* At five I was at the Solicitor's

1 Baron of Exchequer, 1777.

3 He became a judge in the Court of Session as Lord Dreghorn in 1788. In 1776

he collaborated with Boswell and others in composing The Justiciary Garland,

comic verses in "the Form of Trial before a Criminal Court"

8 The discussion turned mainly on the absence of the President.

* Mrs. BoswelTs widowed sister-in-law had arrived on 3 May.

* Professor of Midwifery at the University, Mrs. BoswelTs obstetrician.

6 George Frazer was an excise officer; George Webster (the son of Dr. Alex-
ander Webster; see below, p. 213?*. 4) was a cousin of Boswell's.

209

210 Edinburgh, 1 5 June 1 774

for my first consultation this session. I have at the beginning of sev-
eral sessions felt a peculiar cast of ideas by which I could distinguish,
in my own mind, one session from the rest This came on quite simple.
It was just the Summer Session 1 774 without any other perceptible
mark. I began to receive my fees this session, as I begin to eat my two
eggs on any night, with a pure sameness. I called on Maclaurin as I
returned and drank tea with him. I should have observed that as I was
walking out to the Solicitor's with Taylor, Sandy Mackenzie's clerk
the consultation being on the cause, Ross of Auchnacloich against
Mackenzie of Ardross Taylor said we would not be the worse of
the President's being present; that both he and Gardenstone were good
friends to Ardross. 7 1 said there was now very little to be expected on
the bench from private regard. It is true. For in the first place, the na-
tion is more civilized and judges have better notions of justice. But,
secondly, there is actually not such strong friendships or family at-
tachments 8 as were long ago. I do not blame our judges of the last age
so much as many people do, because at that time there were many of
them plain country gentlemen, not lawyers at all, and because the
warmth of their hearts gave them a considerable imperceptible bias
to one side. And it must be owned that of the many causes that come
before the Court of Session there is a good proportion such as the judges
will differ upon merely in cool opinion. No wonder then that regard
casts the balance without their knowing it. Maclaurin and I sat an
hour very socially. I had a consultation on Earl Fife's politics 9 at eight,
and the session opened well.

T This case was a phase in a long series of suits concerning the reversion of some
mortgaged lands of the Ross estate of Tollie. Boswell had been engaged in the
case at least since the previous summer. Francis Garden, Lord Gardenstone, was
a Lord of Session.

8 Scots grammar in the present tense of the verb employs a form that looks like
the third person singular for all three persons and both numbers unless the sub-
ject is a personal pronoun immediately preceding. Boswell rarely uses this con-
struction; Mrs. Boswell, frequently.

"Evening, consulted Lord Fife's politics. My getting into them was a great
prize in the lottery of business. I was suggested by James Hay, my friend
Charles's brother" (Journal Notes, 10 December 1772). James Duff, Earl Fife,
was struggling with the Duke of Gordon for control of the counties of Banff and
Elgin. Both sides were "making" as many votes as they could, while contesting
those made by the other. Henry Dundas was among the lawyers of the opposi-
tion.

Edinburgh, 1 6 June 1 774 211

THURSDAY 1 6 JUNE. After the House rose, I walked half round
the Meadow with Lord Monboddo, He talked to me of the severe stroke
of his son's death. 1 But I saw he bore it with philosophical composure.
His conversation was manly; and, while he discussed his favourite
subject of language, I felt my own inferiority to him in knowledge
and precision of ideas. But we are so formed that almost every man
is superior, or thinks himself superior, to any other man in something;
and, fixing his view upon that, he is in good temper with himself. I
was busy with session papers till near nine o'clock, when the Hon.
Sandy Gordon 2 called on me to go and walk. I was sitting with my
escritoire open. He saw the word Milton^ which began a copy of verses,
and his curiosity was attracted. I indulged his curiosity and my own
vanity by reading a good deal to him both of my Boswelliana and my
"Ten Lines." 3 Nairne 4 called, and Gordon and he and I walked round

1 Arthur Burnett, whom Johnson had examined in Latin at Monboddo, on the
way to the Hebrides, died at Edinburgh on 27 April of this year at the age of
eleven. He was Lord Monboddo's only son.

2 He was a younger son of the Earl of Aberdeen and about three years older
than Boswell; he became Sheriff-Depute of Kirkcudbrightshire in 1764, and a
judge in the Court of Session as Lord Rockville in 1784.

8 On i May 1774, Boswell, after an interval of nine years, had resumed his old
exercise in self-discipline; he kept it up until 14 July. The lines on Milton
were his task for 15 June. The lines for 30 May may be cited as a better speci-
men, both as verse and as biography:

Extremely wretched sure all men must think
A virtuous man who is inclined to drink;
Who feels an inward suction in his breast,
A raging vortex which is ne'er at rest.
Such is my woeful state; for I require
No jovial fellows to excite the fire.
It burns spontaneous in my vital parts,
And to my throat the keenest thirst imparts.
Mere love of liquor, and not social glee,
To drunken meetings leads unhappy me.

* William Nairne, John Maclaurin, and Andrew Crosbie were in the long run
BoswelTs closest associates in the Faculty of Advocates. At the start of the tour
to the Hebrides, Nairne had accompanied Boswell and Johnson as far as St. An-
drews. In 1786 he rose to the bench as Lord Dunsinnan.

212 Edinburgh, 1 6 June 1 7 74

the Meadow. We met Macqueen walking, which I said was an em-
blem of idleness, as grass growing at the Cross of Edinburgh was an
emblem of desolation. 5 Gordon came home with me and took a little
supper and some port negus.

FRIDAY 1 7 JUNE. Lady Preston and Miss Preston Sir George 6
being somewhere else dined with us; as did the Reverend Mr. Wil-
liam Macqueen, minister of Snizort in the Isle of Skye and brother to
Mr. Donald Macqueen, who was so obliging to Mr. Johnson and me. T
I was happy in being civil to him. In the evening I went to Mr. Stewart
Moncrieffe's. 8 I played at sixpenny brag, and found I was as keen as
ever. Luckily I lost only eight shillings. I was in excellent spirits for
that kind of club.

SATURDAY 18 JUNE. I walked out to Prestonfield, 9 and was in
the same social pleasant humour that I always am there. There was
nobody there but the eldest Miss Keith 1 and Mr. Andrew Bennet,
nephew to the minister. After dinner Sir Alexander and he and I and
Mr. Sharp, the tutor, had a stout match at the bowls. Miss Keith and
I had a dispute as to the preference of sons over daughters. She said,
"I would not prefer sons as sons to daughters as daughters, as neither
of them make themselves." I answered, "We prefer a man to a dow
(dove), and yet neither of them make themselves." I had very near
said a man to some other animal, I forget which. But the remark would
have been rude; whereas by choosing so delicate and pretty a creature
as a dove no offence could be taken; and the comparison was very just.
Said I, "We do not give an estate to a dove."

* Robert Macqueen, who next to Alexander Lockhart enjoyed the greatest prac-
tice at the Scots bar, rose to the bench as Lord Braxfield in 1776; in 1780 he
succeeded Lord Auchinleck as Lord of Justiciary and in 1788 became Lord Jus-
tice-Clerk in place of Sir Thomas Miller. He served in some degree as model for
Stevenson's Lord Hermiston in Weir of Hermiston.

e Baronet of Valleyfield. His wife was Boswell's mother's aunt. Sir George and
Lady Preston supplied to a considerable extent the warmth of parental affection
which Lord Auchinleck could not give.

7 Clergyman and antiquarian, defender of Macpherson's Ossian, he accom-
panied Boswell and Johnson for eighteen days on their tour on Raasay and Skye.

8 This elderly and not distinguished advocate lived in the Horse Wynd and had
a fancy garden at his estate of Moredun. He was noted as "a maker of great

9 See above, p. io8rc. 3.

1 Daughter of the retired ambassador Robert Keith.

Edinburgh, 1 9 June 1 7 74 213

SUNDAY 1 9 JUNE. I was at the New Church 2 both forenoon and
afternoon. Dr. Blair 3 and Mr. Walker preached. I dined at my father's
between sermons. In the evening I read several of Ogden's sermons
to Mrs. Montgomerie. She and I supped at Dr. Webster's.* Nobody
there but Lieut. Wellwood. George rather merry. Had the usual ideas
of prayers there looking to Heriot's Hospital, 5 Lady Mary Coch-
rane's picture and all the associations. 6 Drank wine and water and
came home calm.

MONDAY 20 JTU.NE. It was wet. I was at home all day writing law
papers, except being at a consultation from four to six at Mr. Rae's on
Earl Fife's politics, where we had a tedious reading of papers, which
is really an irksome operation. I observed Rae 7 pretty sound asleep at
one time; and I myself was once or twice in that drowsy nodding state
which is very disagreeable. How much attention a lawyer ought to
give to the causes in which he is employed is not easy to say. But it is
certain that when there are many lawyers employed in the same cause
not one of them gives as much attention as he would do were he single.
In the evening I received a long letter from General Oglethorpe. 8 It
stirred my mind, revived my idea of my own consequence in London,

* "We next went to the great church of St. Giles, which has lost its original
magnificence in the inside by being divided into four places of Presbyterian
worship. . . . We entered that division which was formerly called the New
Church and of late the High Church, so well known by the eloquence of Dr.
Hugh Blair" (Hebrides, 16 August 1773).

8 Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres in the University of Edinburgh, and
one of the most admired preachers in the Church of Scotland. Johnson liked
his sermons and recommended their publication to Strahan.

* Dr. Alexander Webster, BoswelTs uncle by marriage, was one of the best-
known figures in Edinburgh, a five-bottle consumer of claret ("Dr. Bonum
Magnum") and a leader of the fundamentalist party of the Church of Scotland.
See below, pp. 232, 259.

9 The hospital or school for fatherless boys founded in 1623 by the royal jeweller
George Heriot The seventeenth-century structure, now a famous day school,
could be seen from the windows of Webster's house, on the Castle Hill.

A family party. Lady Mary Cochrane was great-grandmother to Boswell,
George Webster, and Lieut Robert Wellwood (Sir George Preston's daughter's
son).

7 See above, p. 9572. 9.

8 See above, p. 207.

214 Edinburgh, 20 June 1 774

and made me impatient to be there and not lost in this provincial cor-
ner where I find nothing to engage me warmly.

TUESDAY 21 JUNE. Still wet. Mrs. Montgomerie and I went in
a chaise to Bob Chalmers's country-house on the seaside, near Mussel-
burgh, to eat a fish dinner. My wife would not venture out, the day
was so bad and she was but a month and a day brought to bed. I know
not how it has happened that we have had no intercourse since our
marriage with Bob Chalmers's family; though, before that, both of us
used to visit and be well entertained there. 9 We had refused several
invitations from them and never asked them again. These cessations
of acquaintance will happen unaccountably. Mrs. Montgomerie's
being with us renewed the intercourse, and it was this day renewed as
to me very effectually; for I eat of nine kinds of fish and drank various
drams and a great deal of port, and was really much intoxicated. Mr.
Baron Mure, 1 his lady, and Miss Annie were there. With them, too, I
have had no intercourse, though invited, and though he is so much
connected with Lord Mountstuart, my cams Maecenas, and is a
friendly, sensible, agreeable man. However, things are put to rights
at once by some happy occasion. I engaged him, his lady, and daugh-
ter to dine with us on Friday, and at the same time Mr. and Mrs.
Chalmers; and I engaged that we should dine at the Baron's the week
after. I was talkative and vociferous from the liquor which I had
drank.

I supped at Sir George Preston's with my wife and Mrs. Mont-
gomerie. Dr. Webster was there with his son Jamie, now Colonel
Webster, just arrived from Ireland. I was by this time outrageously
intoxicated and mould drink a great deal of strong port negus, which
made me worse. After I got home, I was very ill; not sick, but like to
suffocate a dangerous state and my valuable spouse was much
alarmed.

WEDNESDAY 22 JUNE. I had a miserable headache and in plead-
ing a short cause before Lord Elliock I felt myself incapable of any
distinctness. I was vexed at my conduct.

THURSDAY 23 JUNE. Young Cowhill 2 and McGeorge of Cock-

9 Chalmers was a "writer" (solicitor).

1 William Mure of Caldwell, Baron of Exchequer.

* Charles Maxwell of Cowhill.

Edinburgh, 23 June 1774 215

lick, two of my clients, and Grange and Adam Bell 8 dined with me. I
was in a tolerable frame.

FRIDAY 24 JUNE. Baron Mure, his lady and daughter, and Bob
Chalmers dined with us. Sandy Gordon, who was engaged also to come
but had sent an apology, came to us after dinner. We were cheerful
and easy. Mrs. Chalmers was not well, so could not come. We did not
drink much. The Baron and Mr. Chalmers and I drank tea calmly. I
then went to St. John's Lodge, it being St. John the Baptist's day, on
which the election of officers is made. I was chosen Master for the
second year. Dr. Cairnie* was there for the first time for, I believe,
some years. I was but moderately in Mason humour; though I have
associated ideas of solemnity and spirit and foreign parts and my
brother David with St. John's Lodge, which makes it always pleasing
to me. Such agreeable associations are formed, we know not how, by
a kind of chance, as the foam of the horse was by the dashing down the
painter's brush on the canvas. I suppose the picture might be easily
washed off. But it would be losing a satisfaction which perhaps we
cannot equal by design.

SATURDAY 25 JUNE. Mr. Samuel Johnson has often recom-
mended to me to keep a Journal, of which he is so sensible of the util-
ity that he has several times tried it, but never could persist. I have at
different periods of my life persisted a good time, and I am now hope-
ful that I may continue longer than ever. I shall only put down hints
of what I have thought, seen, or heard every day, that I may not have
too much labour; and I shall from these, at certain periods, make up
masses or larger views of my existence. Mr. Johnson said that the great
thing was to register the state of my mind. 5

I went out today to Lady Colville's, and had a most agreeable walk
with her Ladyship and Lady Anne and Captain Andrew before din-
ner. My mind has of late years been so sound that I can assure myself
of being suitably affected by certain objects. At Lady Colville's I am
always soothed, comforted, and cheered. 6 The cares of life are taken
off with a velvet brush. I observed to Captain Andrew that we never

* Like Grange, a writer.

4 Dr. John Cairnie had helped Boswell manage the affairs of his illegitimate
infants Charles and Sally in 1762 and 1769.

5 See above, p. 174.

6 The co-author of the facetious Letters between the Honourable Andrew Erskine

2i6 Edinburgh, 25 June 1774

have a long continuation of agreeable life. It is frequently interrupted.
A company who have been very happy together must have the pain
of parting. After every enjoyment comes weariness or disgust We
never have a large lawn of agreeable life. It is cut to pieces with sunk
fences, ha-has, even where it is smoothest. Captain Erskine always
revives notions of family and antiquity and Toryism in my mind.
There was nobody there today but one young lady who was quiet and
inoffensive. So we were quite in our own style. I drank hardly any; so
was undisturbed. After tea Captain Andrew walked into town with
me.

I f ound a letter from Mr. Samuel Johnson, informing me that the
first sheets of his Journey to the Hebrides were sent to the press. This
gave me a lively joy; and I was much elated by his writing, "I have
endeavoured to do you some justice in the first paragraph." 7 One must
pause and think, to have a full feeling of the value of any praise from
Mr. Johnson. His works and his majesty of mind must be kept in view.
I had the same sensation tonight as on hearing from General Ogle-
thorpe: that it was hard that I should not be in London. It is true
Hume, Robertson, and other greater geniuses than I am prefer Scot-
land. But they have neither that peculiar and permanent love of Lon-
don and all its circumstances which I have; nor are they so much in
unison with the English as I am, which I have clearly perceived, and
of which Mr. Johnson has assured me. I supped at Sir George Preston's
with my wife and Mrs. Montgomerie.

SUNDAY 2 6 JUNE. Was all day at the New Church; Dr. Blair in

the forenoon, in the afternoon. At my father's between sermons.

Dr. Webster, the Colonel, and George there, as also my wife and Mrs.
Montgomerie. In the evening sauntered with my wife and Mrs. M,

and James Boswell, Esq., 1763, had sobered with the years. But Boswell had af-
fectionate memories of him and of his sisters ("The ladies of Kellie," above,
pp. 47/2. 8, 52). Captain Andrew (a suicide by drowning in 1793 after losses at
whist) and his twice-widowed sister, Elizabeth Lady Colville, lived together
for many years at Drumsheugh House.

T "I . . . was in the autumn of the year 1773 induced to undertake the journey
by finding in Mr. Boswell a companion whose acuteness would help my in-
quiry, 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." Boswell received a copy of the book from Johnson in January.

Edinburgh, 26 June 1 774 217

with intention to go to the Methodists' meeting or Lady Glenorchy's
Chapel 8 to hear some remarkable evening sermon. They went to the
latter; I went in only for a little, and heard a Mr. Davidson from Eng-
land. Then went home by myself. It is amazing how all impressions
of gloom upon a Sunday evening, which used formerly to hang so
heavy on my mind, are quite effaced. We supped at Dr. Webster's,
and were in an extraordinary flow of spirits.

MONDAY 27 JUNE. I went to see the foundation-stone of the
Register Office 9 laid. I was very angry that there was no procession, no
show or solemnity of any kind upon such an occasion. There was a fine
sight both of well-dressed people and mob, so that there was spirit
enough in the country to relish a show; and such things do good. It
should have been laid either privately in the morning, or with some
dignity. But cards were sent to all the judges as private men, and they
accordingly dropped in, one by one, without their gowns and several
of them with bob-wigs. The Lord Provost 1 too was there as a private
man. To appear so at noon before a crowd of spectators was very poor.
I was for satirizing the Lord Register, who tripped about delicately. I
would not just have hewn him like King Agag, but would have lashed
him smartly "Lord Freddie with a foolish face." 2

8 Very recently opened (8 May 1774); a large church built at the expense of
a pious young noblewoman for the preaching of "pure evangelical doctrine"
and to provide free seats for the poor. The Rev. Robert Walker (above, p. 213)
preached the opening sermon.

9 The Register House, designed by Robert Adam, was and remains one of the
noblest monuments of the expansion of Edinburgh that followed rapidly on the
opening of the North Bridge in 1772. At the time of its erection it stood isolated
at the east end of Princes Street.

1 Gilbert Laurie, Esq.

2 The Lord Clerk Register was Lord Frederick Campbell, brother of the Duke of
Argyll. He was accompanied in this ceremony by the Lord Advocate and the
Lord Justice-Clerk. Agag, king of the Amalekites, came delicately before
Samuel, who hewed him to pieces before the Lord (see i Samuel 15). Sir James
Fergusson writes to the editors: "Lord Frederick Campbell receives less than
justice from Boswell. It was largely owing to his persistent efforts that the
building of the Register House was at last begun (nine years after the Royal
Warrant for it had been granted), with the Adams as architects, and he rendered
great public services in recovering missing records and encouraging the arrange-
ment and cataloguing of the whole national archives. Incidentally, he was con-
sidered, both in youth and old age, one of the handsomest men of his time."

2 1 8 Edinburgh, 2 7 June 1 7 74

We dined at Dr. Grant's 8 with a large company, amongst whom
was Captain Schaw of the 66 regiment, and his lady, my old acquaint-
ance Miss Thomson. 4 They had taken the house under us, and I had
paid them a visit this forenoon, my wife and I having missed them
last week and had our visit returned the same day. I had a consulta-
tion at four on Earl Fife's politics and returned to tea.

TUESDAY 28 JUNE. The President was in the chair. His animal
spirits made the court seem more alive. It was like ringing the glasses
at a drinking bout, or striking a shuttlecock with a sounding battle-
dore. Balbarton 5 dined with us. I was a plain, good-humoured, hospita-
ble kinsman to him. It is comfortable to be in that state. M. Dupont 6
drank tea with us, as did two sons of Dr. Wilson's at Newcastle.

WEDNESDAY 29 JUNE. We dined at Baron Mure's, where was a
kind of second-rate grandeur but much cheerfulness. I sat by Miss
Campbell of Carrick. Sandy Gordon was there, and Bob Adam 6a the
architect, who was lively enough, though vain, for which I forgave
him. I drank rather too much. I drank tea there too. Then called for a
little at Lady Mary Cunynghame's. 7 We all supped at Sir George
Preston's.

THURSDAY 30 JUNE. Captain and Mrs. Schaw and their daugh-
ter, Dr. Grant, Colonel Webster, Miss Webster, Fairlie, 8 Matthew
Dickie, and Mr. George Haldane 1 dined with us. I was in as calm a
frame as I ever remember; did not speak much and drank port and
water, yet contrived that the company was very social and had five

8 Dr. Gregory Grant, celebrated for his "musical suppers," lived in James's
Court on the fourth floor of the same entry as Boswell.

* In 1761-1762 Isabella Thomson had stood high on Boswell's list of matri-
monial candidates. She had now been married to Captain Frederick Bridges
Schaw for some twelve years.

5 Another James Boswell, an elderly distant cousin.

6 Rev. Pierre Loumeau Dupont, minister of the Huguenot congregation.

64 Boswell rather surprisingly wrote "Adams," both here and in the entry for
i July.

7 Sister to the Earl of Eglinton and mother to the Hon. Mrs. Margaret Stuart
(see above, p. 76).

8 Alexander Fairlie of Fairlie, an Ayrshire neighbour.
3 See below, p. 273.

1 An advocate.

Edinburgh, 30 June 1 774 219

bottles of claret I rose from table quite cool and several of us drank
tea with the ladies. This was an inoffensive day.

FRIDAY i JULY. I dined at Lord Monboddo's, where we had Miss
Fletcher, Baron Winn, 2 Crosbie, Maclaurin, Sandy Gordon, etc.,
and Bob Adam. We were sufficiently jovial. To go home to busi-
ness seemed dull. However, after drinking tea (the only man except
my Lord himself), I did go home and had a short consultation; and
was pleased that Mr. Lawrie was out of the way, so that it was not
my fault that I was idle. I supped at the Horse Wynd Tavern and
drank my bottle of old hock, which did me no harm. There was but
eight of us. Lord Monboddo was one.

SATURDAY 2 JULY. Dined at Craighouse, 8 and had a party at
bowls both before and after dinner. It was wonderful to see Mr. Lock-
hart, 4 who has now stood fifty-two years at the bar, playing with all
the keenness of a young man. Maclaurin and I led one another on to
bet and I lost thirteen shillings. To play for a crown, as we did, is in-
congruous with the healthful field-sport of the bowls. It poisons it
with a certain degree of avaricious anxiety. I resolved never to play
for more than a shilling.

SUNDAY 3 JULY. Was at New Church in the forenoon. The Rev-
erend Dr. Ewing of Philadelphia 5 preached admirably on "My ways
are not as your ways," etc. At my father's between sermons. After-
noon, Tolbooth Church; heard Dr. Webster, as well as ever. We all
again took our Sunday's supper with him. We were comfortable and
more quiet than last Sunday. I was for setting up a hogshead of wine
as a Lord of Session in place of a drunken judge. Dr. Webster said it
was a good thought; and let the parties or their agents take glass
about, and he who happened to get the last glass win the cause. This
he said would be cheaper than giving a salary to a judge and feeing

2 George Winn, Baron of Exchequer.
8 Alexander Lockhart's seat

* Dean of the Faculty of Advocates and head of the bar in respect of practice.
His elevation to the bench having been long delayed because of his Tory (not
to say Jacobite) politics, he was made a Lord of Session in 1775 as Lord Coving-
ton. He was then seventy-five years old.

5 John Ewing, D.D., pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia and
(later) first provost of the University of Pennsylvania. He had come to Britain
to solicit funds for an academy in Delaware.

220 Edinburgh, 3 July 1774

lawyers. It is curious how a thought once started may be pursued.
A reclaiming petition would come in against an interlocutor of
Vintage 1 754, Ordinary. Parties might agree before the hogshead was
drank out,

MONDAY 4 JULY. Was busy all day. I had a consultation at seven
in the morning "Sub galli cantum consultor ubi ostia pulsat" 6
to draw a bill of suspension, which was done by eleven. Dr. Wilson's
sons dined with us. I finished a long memorial before night. Andrew
Stewart, Junior, drank tea with us.

TUESDAY 5 JULY. Dined at Charles Hay's with Mr. Rose, Lord
Fife's factor, and some others. We were social enough, without any
rioting. Dr. Webster and Miss Webster came at night and supped
with us.

WEDNESDAY 6 JULY. My wife, Mrs. Montgomerie, and I dined
at Sandy Gordon's. Lord Monboddo, Crosbie, Stewart Moncrieffe,
Cosmo Gordon, etc^ etc., were there. Crosbie was obliged to go to the
Commissary Court immediately after dinner to attend a process of
divorce. I said it was a severe divorce to him to dissever him from us.
It was a separation a mensa? Monboddo was in excellent spirits and
did not seem inclined to rise. Cosmo Gordon and I sat to cherish his
festivity, and we were really joyous. I repeated my ballad, The Boston
Bill. 9 Lord Monboddo said it would do well in America. It was better

6 "When at cock-crow a client knocks at the door" Horace, Satires, I. i. 10.

7 "From table," alluding to the legal phrase divortiwn a mensa et thoro, sep-
aration from bed and board.

8 On 16 December 1773 had occurred the Boston Tea Party. The Government
in retaliation passed the Boston Port Bill, which closed Boston Harbour. Boswell
from the first sympathized with the Americans. His "ballad" may be found in
The London Chronicle for 21-23 July 1774. Three stanzas of eight (the third,
fifth, and last) will be an ample specimen:

The blade of Burke and Dempster's dirk,

From Irish bog and Scottish hill,
Were brandished bright, in the Court's sight,

In vain against the Boston Bill. . . .

To the Upper House it went up souse,

Of no effect was Chatham's will;
His quivering crutch could hardly touch

The borders of the Boston Bill. . . .

Edinburgh, 6 July 1774 221

than Lilliburlero, which brought about the Revolution; and Cosmo
Gordon said it was equal to anything of Sir Charles Hanbury Wil-
liams. I had drank rather too much and was a good deal heated, and
at the same time had several papers to write which hung heavy upon
my mind. One representation was to be done this very night I did it,
however; though to be sure not very sufficiently. Social dinners and
the practice of the law are really incompatible. I must restrain myself
from them; and yet there is not company here to make them but in
session time, and life must be enjoyed

Think, O think it worth th' enjoying.*

I was this night firmly resolved to go to the English bar if ever I should
be quite my own master; or at any rate to pass half my time in
London, where my talents have their full value.

THURSDAY ^ JULY. Many of my brethren in the House asked
to hear The Boston Bill, which I repeated with excellent applause. I
lost two causes in the Inner House, I thought unjustly; and I spoke in
both with a manly ease. Mr. MacLeod, brother to Raasay, 1 Mr. Banna-
tyne MacLeod, 2 the Reverend Mr. William Macqueen and his
nephew (son to Mr. Donald), and Dr. Grant dined with me. I was
quite in the Highland humour. We sang "Hatyin fome eri." 8 Adam
Bell joined us, and then consulted me. I then was at a consultation at
Mr. flay Campbell's; 4 then at St. John's Lodge, where were but six
present. But my spirits made a choice meeting. 5

Come let us sing long live our King,

For we are sure he means no ill,
And hope the best for the oppressed

By the unhappy Boston Bill.
9 Dryden, Alexander's Feast, 1. 104.

1 Host to Boswell and Johnson 8 to 12 September 1773.

2 An Edinburgh advocate.

3 BoswelTs English phonetics for the Gaelic refrain of a Jacobite song which he
had learned in the Hebrides: Tha tighinn fodham eiridh ("It comes upon me
to arise").

4 A leading counsel for Douglas in the Douglas Cause, he was later to be Solici-
tor-General, Lord Advocate, M.P. for the Glasgow burghs, and in 1789, President
of the Court of Session. In 1808 he was made a baronet.

5 The minute of this meeting, still preserved, is entirely in BoswelTs hand: "The

222 Edinburgh, 8 July 1774

FRIDAYS JULY. Lord and Lady Dundonald and Lady Betty
Cochrane, Mr. Heron of Heron, 6 and Dr. and Mrs. Hunter dined with
us. It was a substantial creditable dinner, without my being obliged
to drink any. It was curious to see Lord Dundonald, 7 at the age of
eighty-three, stout and fresh, with a flow of spirits. The tide, to be
sure, appeared to be out. But there was a high sea. In the evening, after
a long consultation on two causes of Colonel Rickson's widow, I felt
myself in a pleasing indolence. I yielded to it and went early to bed.

SATURDAY 9 JULY. The state of my mind must be gathered from
the little circumstances inserted in my Journal. The life of every man,
take it day by day, is pretty much a series of uniformity; at least a
series of repeated alternations. It is like a journal of the weather: rainy
fair fair rainy, etc. It is seldom that a great storm or an abun-
dant harvest occurs in the life of man or in the progress of years. Of
this week I can observe that my mind has been more lively than usual,
more fertile in images, more agreeably sensible of enjoying existence.

An important part of my life should be my practice as a lawyer.
I must record an anecdote. The Reverend Mr. William Macqueen
had a legacy of two thousand merks Scots left to him by a testament
subscribed in the Isle of Skye by one notary and two witnesses. He
consulted me to know if it was good. I gave him my advice as a friend,
and was of the opinion that it was not good, as the Act of Parliament,
, 8 requires the subscription of two notaries and four witnesses to

Lodge having met, although there were very few brethren present, for which

those who were absent should be reprimanded, the evening was passed in most

social glee, every brother having sung (though not as a precedent), and the 1

Lodge was adjourned to the first Thursday of August next." "These indications

of social glee," says Dr. John Murray, who was generously allowed to examine

the record, "are reinforced by a large splash of claret on one of the pages of

the Minute Book."

6 Patrick Heron was perhaps already courting Lady Betty, whom he married

at the end of the next year. See above, p. 7771. 6.

T Army Captain in 1716, M.P. in 1722, Commissioner of Excise in 1730, the eighth

Earl was brother of Euphemia Cochrane, BoswelFs grandmother, father of

Lady Betty and of Major Charles Cochrane (below, p. 225), brother-in-law of

Sir George Preston (above, p. 21 an. 6) and brother of Commissioner Basil

Cochrane (below, p. 318).

8 Act of 1579, c - *8 (Acts of Parliament of Scotland, iii, 1814, p. 145).

Edinburgh, 9 July 1774 22 3

all deeds concerning heritage, and to all deeds of importance, i.e.,
which convey 100 Scots. At the same time, I said I had some faint
idea that there was an exception as to a testament; and I should think
of the subject. I talked with some of my brethren. Sandy Murray 9 said
it would not do; and that there was no hardship upon people in remote
countries where it was difficult to get two notaries, as clergymen were
held as notaries in the case of testaments. Crosbie was clear it would
not do. He said the Act was express; and how absurd would it be to
allow one to make a settlement with less formality and fewer checks
against imposition when he was ill than when in good health. I then
told honest Mr. Macqueen that I was sorry to find that he would
make nothing of his legacy, as some of my brethren agreed with me;
but that I should also ask his namesake, Mr. Macqueen. I did so; and
Macqueen, with that excellent candour which he always has, told
me that he really could not tell how the matter stood; that he thought
it would not do. But like myself he said he had some kind of idea of a
testament being privileged. I asked him if he actually did not know
so plain a thing one way or other. He declared he did not. "Well," said
I, "that flatters me very much, for I'm like to hang myself when I
cannot answer a question, and here are you at a loss." He desired me
to look into the law books, and had I at first read, instead of thinking
and asking, I might at once have been made certain. Upon looking
into Erskine, 1 1 found it to be clear that testaments to any extent were
good with one notary and two witnesses. This is a curious practical
anecdote. I must observe that Ncdrne seemed to think it would do,
and Charles Hay was certain it would do. A man picks up his firmest
particles of knowledge occasionally. Charles told me that he knew
this of the testament well, because he happened to call on Michael
Nasmith when he was examining a notary, and heard that point
mentioned. I made honest Mr. Macqueen very happy by telling him
that his legacy was good.

9 Alexander Murray became Solicitor-General next year and in 1783 was raised
to the bench as Lord Henderland. In the published Journal of a Tour to the
Hebrides (1785) Boswell hinted that Murray's marriage to a niece of Lord
Mansfield had not hurt his chances of promotion.

1 "Let the subject of a testament be ever so valuable, one notary signing for the
testator, with two witnesses, is sufficient ..." (John Erskine, An Institute of
the Law of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1773, ii. 434).

224 Edinburgh, 9 July 1774

This day I had fixed for paying a bet of five guineas to the Hon.
Andrew Erskine, Grange, James Currie, Sandy Abercrombie and
James Loch, writers, which I had lost six years ago. It was agreed at
the time of the bet that it should be a supper at Thorn's, in whose
house I had paid two former bets. 2 But Thorn having now given up his
tavern, and the sum being handsome, we resolved to haVe a dinner
at Fortune's. Dr. Webster was with us as chaplain; and we had an
excellent dinner in No. 9 and abundance of drinking. While Webster
sat, we had several good stories and songs. He left us between seven
and eight, and then we grew very noisy and drunk, but very cordial
as old friends. In short we had a complete riot, which lasted until near
twelve at night. We had eleven Scotch pints 3 of claret, two bottles of
old hock, and two of port, and drams of brandy and gin; and the bill
was 6. 18. 5. So my five-guinea bet turned to a seven-guinea one;
for I gave the waiter the balance of that sum over the bill. In our
great warmth we signed an agreement to meet annually on the sec-
ond Saturday of July, as we had "now met, after an interval of six
years, in the same good humour and with the same cordial regard for
each other that we then did, and considering that such things were
rare and valuable in human life." I sat after the rest were gone and
took a large bowl of admirable soup, which did me much good, for
I was not sick; though after I was in bed my dear wife was appre-
hensive that I might die, I breathed so ill.

SUNDAY i o JULY. Though I was neither sick nor had hardly any
headache, I was, as it were, half boiled with last night's debauch, and
I was vexed to think of having given my valuable spouse so much un-
easiness; for she had scarcely slept any the whole night watching me.
The reflection, too, of my having this summer so frequently been
intoxicated, galled me. A circumstance occurred this morning which

1 hope will have a lasting impression upon me. There had come a

2 The nature of this bet is not recorded but is perhaps indicated by Boswell's
account of one of the former suppers: "I gave a supper to two or three of my ac-
quaintance, having before I left Scotland laid a guinea that I should not catch
the venereal disorder for three years, which bet I had most certainly lost and
now was paying. We drank a great deal ..." (Boswell to Temple, 8 March

1767).

3 A Scotch pint equals about three Imperial pints; in U.S. measure, it is between
three pints and two quarts.

Edinburgh, 10 July 1774 22 5

letter to me from Mr. Samuel Johnson last night. My wife improved
it well. She said she would not give me it, as I did not deserve it, since
I had put myself into a state of incapacity to receive it when it came,
and that it would not have been written to me had the writer of it
known how I was to be. She would therefore send it back. She thus
made me think how shocking it was that a letter from Mr. Samuel
Johnson should find me drunk. She then delivered it, and it was a
more than ordinary good one. 4 It put me in the best frame, and I
determined vigorously to resist temptation for the future.

I was soberly at the New Church in the forenoon. Mr. Logan,
minister at Leith, preached. I then walked down to Lord Dundonald's
and dined. He was in great spirits. Colonel Webster and Major Pit-
cairn, Charles Cochrane's father-in-law, were there. We three drank
a bottle of claret each, which just cheered me. We drank tea there,
and at night we all met at Dr. Webster's Sunday's supper. The Major
was a sensible, good-looking, well-bred man, and my second cousin
through the family of Wishaw. 5 We were merry rather to excess.

MONDAYHJULY. My Saturday's debauch had relaxed me so
as that business seemed irksome; and yet I had a number of papers
which I was absolutely obliged to write in a short time, and some of
the agents were complaining of delay. In the forenoon Captain
Erskine called and gave me a special invitation from Lady Colville
to dine with her. To accept of it seemed incompatible with my present
state of business. Yet I could not resist. I considered that it would only
throw me an hour or two more behind, and that I should be so re-
freshed with the agreeable interview with quality friends in the
country air that I should be able to labour twice as well. I accordingly
went We had only the two Captains, Lady Dalryxnple, and her

* See Life of Johnson, 4 July 1774. Johnson announces his departure the next day
on the tour to Wales, which was to take nearly three months, in company with
Mr. and Mrs. Thrale. It did not, observes Boswell in the Life, "give occasion
to such a discursive exercise of his mind as our tour to the Hebrides."

* Major John Pitcairn was sent to Boston later in this year; was in command
of the British regulars at Lexington Common, 19 April 1775, when the first
blood in the War of Independence was shed, and fell mortally wounded in the
Battle of Bunker Hill, 17 June 1775. Pitcaixn's grandmother, Mary Erskine,
second wife of William Hamilton of Wishaw, was sister to BoswelTs grand-
father, Colonel John Erskine.

226 Edinburgh, 11 July 1774

grandchild, Lady Anne Lindsay.* I was gently happy and did not heat
myself at all with wine. My wife came and drank tea. Captain
Erskine walked with me as far as the New Town. I came home in
admirable spirits and dictated papers with ease and alacrity.

TUESDAY 1 2 JULY. This was just a busy day. I drank tea with
Nairne.

WEDNESDAY 1 3 JULY. The jovial party of Saturday, all but Dr.
Webster, dined at Currie's. We were hearty and social; and he
allowed every man to drink as he pleased. I resolved to keep myself
sober. But I hobbed and nobbed so cordially that, although I was
not the worse of liquor and went home at six o'clock, I was restless
and idle and did little or nothing. I supped at Sir George Preston's
with my wife and Mrs. Montgomcrie.

THURSDAY 14 JULY. My father and Lady Auchinleck, Com-
missioner Cochrane, the Laird of Fullarton and his mother, Mr.
Nairne, Dr. Boswell, 7 and Messieurs Alexander Mackenzie and
Andrew Stewart, Junior, dined with us. The company went away
gradually till I was left with Fullarton, who drank nothing at all
hardly, and the two writers, 8 who were both very social. In such
circumstances my strong attraction from within requires little aid
from any external impulse and easily makes me think that it is a
kind of duty or necessity for me to drink. I took rather too much and
was to a certain degree feverish with it. I must steadily keep in mind
that no man is more easily hurt with wine than I am, and that there
is no real advantage gained by being a good bottle-companion, and
whenever I am set with company after dinner or after supper I must
beware of thinking of Duncan Forbes, 9 whose hard drinking often
misleads me. It was unpleasing today to see my father not at all
frank or cordial with me or my wife. At seven Lady Dundonald
came herself and consulted me about a lawsuit which she had with

6 'The two Captains" were Andrew Erskine and his brother Archibald, later
Earl of Kellie. Lady Anne Lindsay, not yet twenty-four, was already the au-
thoress of "Auld Robin Gray."

7 Lord Auchinleck's younger brother, a physician. He resembled Boswell in
temperament much more than he did Lord Auchinleck. See below, pp. 257, 321.

8 Mackenzie and Stewart.

* Lord President of the Court of Session; died 1747. Lord Kames remembered
that Forbes had the "singular faculty of being able after drinking to read his
papers as well as in the forenoon."

Edinburgh, 14 July 1774 227

a weaver whom she had employed to make some rich table linen.

1 was vexed to find myself confused while her ladyship talked with
me. However, I was prudent and plausible. In the evening I wrote
a very good representation in a cause concerning a bill, which con-
soled me so far. I had been much pressed to sup at Walter Camp-
bell's with Maclaurin and Sandy Gordon. But I resisted and kept
at home.

FRIDAY 1 5 JULY. This was a day of complete sobriety and dili-
gence; and I extricated myself from a very difficult cause by per-
severing till I was master of it. I went in the afternoon to the prison
and conferred with my old client John Reid. 1

SATURDAY 1 6 JULY. Mrs. Montgomerie, my wife, and I dined
at Mr. MitchelsonV at Corstorphine. He sent his chaise, which
carried us out. I was unusually delighted with the prospect of tihe
country. Mr. Aytoun, Writer to the Signet, and Mr. Claud Boswell
were there. We were perfectly sober. At six I had a hackney-coach
which carried Mrs. Montgomerie, Claud, my wife, and me to the
play. There was just forty people in the boxes and pit. The play
was The Man of Business, and the farce, Cross Purposes* It was
wonderful to see with what spirit the players performed. In one
view it was more agreeable tonight than being at a crowded play.
One could attend fully to what passed on the stage, whereas in a
great audience the attention is distracted and one has a great deal
to do in behaving properly. The difference was the same as viewing
a country when upon a calm horse at a slow walk or viewing it upon
a fiery horse at a gallop, when you must attend to the reins and to
your seat. But the laughable passages did not go off so well as in a
crowd, for laughter is augmented by sympathetic power. upped
quietly at home.

suNDAY7JULY. Was in a calm, reflecting frame. Considered
how very little I read during the course of a week except mere matter
of business. I thought of lying in bed all forenoon and indulging the
humour in which I then was. I had a slight conflict between what I

1 John Reid, a butcher from Stirlingshire, had been BoswelTs first criminal
client in 1766, when Boswell and Crosbie obtained his acquittal in a trial for
sheep-stealing. He had now been arrested on another charge of the same kind.

2 Samuel, Senior, Writer to the Signet. See above, p. 61.

3 By George Colman and William O'Brien, respectively.

228 Edinburgh, 17 July 1774

really thought would do me most good and the desire of being ex-
ternally decent and going to church. I rose and breakfasted; but being
too late for church, I read a part of my Bible and began the Life of
Bishop Sanderson by Walton, which I have heard Mr. Samuel John-
son commend much and which I had borrowed from the Advocates'
Library, being resolved to read all Walton's Lives, as Mr. Johnson
had written to me of a design that Dr. Home of Oxford had to reprint
them,* but which he gave up upon Mr. Johnson's telling him that
Lord Hailes had the same design. This, however, was a mistake. Lord
Hailes only wished to have them reprinted, but was willing to give
any aid that he could in the way of illustration. So that I was to
write to Mr. Johnson that Dr. Home should proceed. I wished to
read what Mr* Johnson valued, and thought that perhaps I might
be able also to give some little aid to Dr. Home. I read Sanderson's
Life today, all but some leaves which were a-wanting in the copy
which I had. I shall get the defect supplied. 5 The simplicity and pious
spirit of Walton was, as it were, transfused into my soul. I resolved
that amidst business and every other worldly pursuit I should still
keep in mind religious duty. I had stripped and gone to bed again in
my night-gown after breakfast, which favoured my tranquillity. A
man who knows himself should use means to do hi good which to
others may seem trifling or ridiculous.

My wife and I dined at my father's, where were Sir George Pres-
ton and George Webster. There was the usual constraint joined with
the usual small conversation. In the afternoon I was at the New
Church and heard Dr. Blair preach. My wife and I drank tea at home
by ourselves. We all supped at Dr. Webster's.

MONDAY 18 JULY. Mrs. Montgomerie, my wife, and I dined at
Lady Colville's, where we had Sir George Preston, his lady, and
daughter. Captain Andrew was not there. I was in a disagreeable

4 In the letter which fioswell had been given by his wife on 10 July.
1 The volume, still in the Advocates' Library (National Library of Scotland),
bears the following note in BoswelTs hand on the fly-leaf: "Having borrowed
this excellent life out of the Advocates' Library, I found that it wanted seven
leaves. Having purchased the same edition at the Reverend Dr. Patrick Cum-
tiling's auction, with a head of the Bishop which has been taken away from
this copy, I had the seven leaves supplied in manuscript by my clerk; and 1 now
return it, hoping that it may edify many readers. JAMES BOSWELL. 1780."

Edinburgh, 18 July 1774 229

humour, domineering and ill-bred, insisting to have Sir George's
punch made stronger, and in short being really rude. A fit of impa-
tience and coarse violence of temper had come upon me. I was angry
at myself and yet so proud that when I saw it was observed with dis-
satisfaction, I persisted. We drank tea, and I grew calmer. Lady Anne
walked in with my wife and me,

TUESDAY 19 JULY. Lord Alemoor 6 and his sister, Lord Mon-
boddo, Mr. Walter Campbell and wife, and Miss Douglas Ker, Cros-
bie, and Charles Hay dined with us. It was a very creditable and
agreeable meeting, for we were all in good humour. After the ladies
went to the drawing-room, there was too much drinking. Lord Ale-
moor sat by till about seven and was very pleasant. I gave them my
Boston Bill and read some of Goldsmith's Retaliation? which dashed
some finer genius in our jovial cup. Crosbie spoke more than usual.
He had consultations both at six and seven. But he did not stir. He
told me afterwards, "I could not tear myself away from you." Mon-
boddo was excellent company. It pleased me to have my good pro-
fessor, Charles Hay, in a party which satisfied him to the full. The
future Shawfield was steadily meiry. 8 I had a consultation at Mr.
Rae's on Earl Fife's politics at seven. But I thought there were enough
there without me that I could read the papers by myself and
that I should come in long before their tedious conference was over.
In the situation I then was, I could not get away. At eight my com-
pany insisted to break up. I went to Mr. Rae's and got as much of the
consultation as was necessary. I was a good deal intoxicated, but had
as much command of myself as to be decent.

WEDNESDAY 2O JULY. My hearty sociality of yesterday did not
distress me much. The Journal of this day is marked above a week

6 Andrew Pringle, Lord of Session.

* See above, p. 207. The poem was published a fortnight after Goldsmith's death.

On 7 May Boswell, answering an inquiry from Lord Hailes, had not seen it

and doubted if it was genuine.

8 "The future Shawfield" is Walter CampbeU; Charles Hay is called "my good

professor" because he and Boswell had been studying law together during the

recess. Hay (later Lord Newton), seven years younger than Boswell, had the

reputation of being equally profound in law and in drink. He and Boswell

were at this time close friends, but seem later to have quarrelled or drifted

apart.

230 Edinburgh, 20 July 1774

after its elapse; and it is the only day as to the history of which I could
not swear. I am pretty certain that I passed it in the plain course of
business without being in company.

THURSDAY 21 JULY. Mr. Alexander Donaldson and his son, Mr.
Charles Hay, Mr. Michael Nasmith, and Grange supped with me. I
told Mr. Alexander Donaldson that, as Alexander the Great sat down
and wept that he had no more worlds to conquer, he might now, after
his victory on Literary Property, sit down and weep that he had no
more booksellers to conquer. We were jovial and merry. My wife and
Mrs. Montgomerie were at the play, and sent to us not to wait supper
for them. They came to us about eleven, and enlivened us. We sat till
one in the morning.

FRIDAY 22 JULY. I dined at Lord Dundonald's with my wif e and
Mrs. Montgomerie. Old General Colville, 9 Captain Blair, Mr. Nairne,
and George Webster were there. The Earl was in great spirits; but it
was not quite agreeable to hear a man of eighty-three swearing and
talking bawdy. One regretted that such admirable vivacity had taken
such habits. He however showed a sense of piety; for he said "he never
rose in the morning nor lay down at night without thanking GOD for
his goodness to him." I, in my way, rattled too much, and being
grand-nephew to the Earl, who did not drink himself, I willingly
thought it incumbent on me to be landlord, and pushed about the
bottle pretty briskly. We drank tea. I felt myself somewhat flustered
with wine; was at a consultation at the Solicitor's at seven. Then being
unquiet after I got home, so that I could not work, went to Mr. Stewart
Moncrieffe's, betted at the whist table, and lost a crown, which I
grudged. We were ten at supper, Colonel Seton and Castle Stewart 1
for the first time. I indulged in old hock and became very drunk.
Colonel Murray, 2 the Duke of AtholTs brother, joined me in support-

9 Charles Colville (1691-1775), second son of Alexander (d. 1717), de jure fifth
Lord Colville, entered the Army early, and saw much service, including Mal-
plaquet in 1709 and Culloden in 1746. He became a lieutenant-general in 1770.
He died unmarried.

1 Colonel James Seton later became Governor of St. Vincent in the Windward
Islands. William Stewart of Castle Stewart was M.P. for the Wigtown burghs
1770-1774 and for the stewartry of Kirkcudbright 1774-1780. He was forced
to sell his estate c. 1783.

2 " . . . of the old Highland regiment" (Journal, 4 May 1769). He was the Hon.
James Murray, second son of Lord George Murray.

Edinburgh, 22 July 1774 231

ing male succession. Seton and I were warm friends. Matthew Hen-
derson 8 was very profane. Somebody said he would be made answer
for his sins. He said, "I wish I was impanelled in a future state. I
would agree to take two hundred years of hell to be ensured of a future
state." "Well," said I, "there is something spirited. A noble wish for
the immortality of the soul. I tell you, Matthew, I shall meet you in
a future state, and though, to be sure, you must do penance for some
time, yet I am persuaded you will be forgiven." Drinking never fails
to make me ill-bred. I insisted to know Moncrieffe's age. He parried
me well. How I appeared this night to others, I know not. But I recol-
lect having felt much warmth of heart, fertility of fancy, and joyous
complacency mingled in a sort of delirium. Such a state is at least
equal to a pleasing dream. I drank near three bottles of hock, and then
staggered away. I got home about three in the morning. Mr. Nairne
had supped at my house, expecting me home. Mrs. Montgomerie had
sat up till two waiting to see me, as she was to set out next morning.
I was incapable of knowing anything; and my wife was waiting all
the time, drowsy and anxious. What a price does such an evening's,
or rather night's riot cost me!

SATURDAY 23 JULY. I had been sick without being sensible of
it. But I was so ill at seven that I could not bid adieu to Mrs. Mont-
gomerie. I however grew so well as to be able to get up and go to the
Parliament House at nine. I was still quite giddy with liquor, and,
squeamishncss having gone of, I was in a good, vigorous, sparkling
frame, and did what was necessary to be done in several causes, and
was most entertaining amongst my brother lawyers. I described Castle
Stewart as a castle impregnable by wine that could not be sapped

that had a deep moat of wine around it I dined at Crosbie's, where

were the Lords Alemoor, Elliock, and Monboddo, a very good fifth
of the bench; as also Dr. lind, 4 Wattle Campbell, and CuUen. 5 1 was

* Henderson, the antiquary, befriended Burns, who wrote a moving elegy on
him in 1790. "He was," says the poet, "an intimate acquaintance of mine; and
of all mankind I ever knew, he was one of the first for a nice sense of honour,
a generous contempt of the adventitious distinctions of men, and sterling though
sometimes outre wit" (Letters of Robert Burns, ed. J. DeL. Ferguson, ii. 33)- ^

* Shelley's beloved friend years afterwards, at Windsor; the old hermit in
Loon and Cythna and Zonoras in Prince Athanase. He was at this time thirty-
eight years old.

5 See above, p. 40n. 6.

232 Edinburgh, 23 July 1774

in prodigious spirits, dined with a great appetite, and drank beer
copiously to allay the thirst of last night's drinking. We had a deal of
merriment; and I drank old hock, which just cooled my fever and
really sobered me. The judges sat well. I talked of the long time that
the same bench had sat. "As long as Duncan Forbes drove the same
horses" (as I expressed his being at the head of the same Lords) . "I
am glad," said Lord Alemoor, "you g* ve us so gd an epithet as
horses"** As the wine went freely about, he said, "You'll make a va-
cancy tonight." Said I: "Maclaurin has Lord Kennet dining with him
today, to try what he can make of him. We are fighting the bench in
parties," I afterwards (not this day) observed that Rennet's insipidity
and Maclaurin's peevishness would make poor work. It would be like
skate and vinegar. It was pleasant to have the bench and the bar so
easy together as we were today, but in my opinion the ease was too
much. The character of a judge should not only have dignity but
reverence. Wattie Campbell and Cullen and I sat till between eleven
and twelve, when Crosbie, who had drank ve.ry faithfully, seemed
much overcome. He pressed us to sit, but none of us were drunk and
we all came off. I walked home with great composure.

SUNDAY 24 JULY. I was very well, and was at the New Church
all day and at my father's between sermons. Dr. Blair preached well
in the forenoon on, "Who art thou that judgest another man's serv-
ant?" He recommended calmness in judging of others to man, who
has so much need of indulgence from his Maker. The sermon was very-
applicable to me. I took it home and resolved to check violence of
temper and make allowance even for the President. Sir George drank
tea with us; and at night we took our Sunday's supper at Dr. Webster's,
the sixth Sunday without interruption to me. I had just the usual
ideas; and took, as I had done for these several Sundays, a short walk
in the garden with George just before supper to point my appetite.
We talked tonight of a future state very pleasingly. At supper, where
was only young Grant, whom we had last Sunday, we were too vehe-
ment and vociferous. The sons bore down the father as much as they
could. The father cried, "Have patience." Said George to him, "I
would not like to take a month's tickets for patience from you"

5 *Sir James Fergusson suggests that this is a sly allusion to Lord Kames's
favourite epithet for his colleagues: bitches.

Edinburgh, 24 July 1774 2 33

thereby attacking the Doctor's own heat of temper. George has fancy.
I was taking him short in an argument. He cried, "Don't cut me down
yet. The crop's too green." I was more moderate than usual in talk>
drank little, and came home in good time, pretty much fatigued with
the sociality of the two preceding days.

I omitted to mention that I called this evening on Sir William
Forbes 8 and had a long comfortable tete--tete with him upon literary
subjects and religious principles, and on the conduct of life. He told
me that he kept an accurate account of his expenses, which he was re-
solved to do to the day of his death; that from his being so much used
to figures, it was quite easy to him; that it served as a kind of Journal
of his life; that perhaps once a quarter he classed his expenses under
different articles, and so saw where to retrench, where to extend. I
determined to have myself put in a way by him of doing the same.
I value him highly and regret that we are not more together, for, as
I told him tonight, I am always the better of being with him.

This day in church while I thought of Mr. Samuel Johnson's death
happening some time hence, my mind was damped. I had then a very
pretty lively thought that worthy Langton and others, who were
touched by that noble loadstone and whose souls would point to
heaven like needles to the pole, would remain to console me. It is very-
wrong that I do not write oftener to Langton. Sir. W. Forbes showed
me this evening two letters which he had from him.

MONDAY 25 JULY. Passed the day principally in writing law
papers. I received a letter from Mr. Gentleman that he was in distress
and begging the loan of five guineas. 7 My wife very genteelly was for
my complying.

6 Sixth Baronet of Monymusk, partner in the banking-house of Forbes, Hunter,
and Co.; he was to become one of BoswelTs most trusted Mends and advisers. Bos-
well showed him portions of his unpublished Journal, appointed him guardian
of his children and executor of his estate, and in addition made him one of
his three literary executors.

T "A knowledge of and a thorough confidence in your character and feelings
encourage me, though with much reluctance, to the following trespass upon
your time and patience. Within the last eighteen months I have had a sad series
of calamities in my family: the expensive sickness and irreparable loss of a
valuable wife, the sickness and death of two children since her departure. . . .
My infirm state rendered me incapable of joining Mr. Foote this summer ..."
(Francis Gentleman to Boswell, [c. ao July 1774])- See above, pp. 17, i33 167-

234 Edinburgh, 26 July 1774

TUESDAY 26, WEDNESDAY 2 7 JULY. [There are no entries for

these days.]

THURSDAY 2 8 JULY. Mr. Wood the surgeon having called on us
a little before three, we persuaded him to stay and dine. He very
earnestly spoke to me to agree to make such a settlement of the estate
of Auchinleck as my father chose, that my wife and children might
have provisions secured to them in case of my death; and he said it
was his opinion my father's chance of life was better than mine. This
struck me much. But I felt a firmness in my old male feudal princi-
ples, though honest Wood could not see them but as wild romantic
fancies. I have a strong conflict in my mind between my concern for
my valuable wife, who in case of my death would be left in a miser-
able state of dependence, and those principles which are interwoven
with my very heart, and which I hold myself bound in honour to
maintain, as my great-great-grand-uncle gave the estate to his
nephew, my grandfather/ in prejudice of his own four daughters; so
that all who receive it as a male fief should faithfully transmit it as
such. Mr. Johnson confirmed me in that principle and inculcated
upon me that the chance of my wife and children being in a bad situ-
ation was nothing in the general calculation of things. I shall there-
fore be steady, conscious of my sincere affection for my wife and
children, and trusting that I may have it in my power to make them
all easy.

FRIDAY 29 JULY. Between one and two in the forenoon Mr. Wil-
liam Wilson and I went to a consultation at Mr. Lockhart's on a
perplexed question between Fairholm's trustee Johnston and
Mitchell and Buchanan of Mountvernon. It vexed me that I could not
understand it upon reading the papers. It was astonishing to see Mr.
Lockhart, who had only read them over as I had done, much master
of the cause. He is certainly a prodigy in his profession. My wife and
I dined at Lord Alemoor's. Lord Gardenstone, Macqueen, Crosbie,
and Cullen were there. I was in very good spirits, but rather too much
in the rough style of joking. As a specimen: Mr. Pringle, Lord Ale-
moor's brother who is in Parliament, 1 had a white rose; I had a red
one. "Come," said I, "let us change." He did so readily. "You see,"

8 Actually his great-grandfather. See above, p. 517*. 2; Life of Johnson, January

1776.

1 See above, p. 130.

Edinburgh, 29 July 1774 235

said I, "with what case a Member of Parliament changes sides. I
wanted to try him; and he goes through his exorcise like a dragoon
horse when he hears a drum beat."

We had an elegant dinner, but I do not recollect much conversa-
tion that passed. Lord Alemoor observed that story-telling was the
fashion of the last age, but that our wits now entertained with their
own sayings. He asked me if I ever studied beforehand the good things
which I said in company. I told him I did not. Crosbie agreed that it
was so, but said I spoke enough about them afterwards; a very just
remark. My wife and I stayed to tea. I was well warmed with wine
here, and as Lord Gardenstone and Macqueen spoke jovially of sup-
ping at Moncrieff e's, this being the last night of meeting for the season
and a neck of venison being promised, I determined to go. I did so,
and flashed away. Castle Stewart talked of several voters who were
against him having died. "If this goes on," said I, "y u ^ ^ ave a ^ ea ^
majority." I was really excellent company. I never saw any man more
pleased with another than Seton seemed to be with me. There was
very hard drinking. I however did not exceed a bottle and a half of
old hock. But, with what I had taken at dinner, I was far gone.

SATURDAY 30 JULY. My head was inflamed and confused con-
siderably. However, I went to the Parliament House a little after nine.
I found the Solicitor, who had been with us last night and drank
heartily, standing in the outer hall looking very ill. He told me he
was not able to stay, so he went home. He had struggled to attend his
business, but it would not do. Peter Murray told me he had seen him
this morning come out of a dram-shop in the Back Stairs, in all his
formalities of large wig and cravat He had been trying to settle his
stomach. In some countries such an officer of the Crown as Solicitor-
General being seen in such a state would be thought shocking. Such
are our manners in Scotland that it is nothing at all. 2 1 kept up well
all forenoon, and after the Court rose attended a Faculty meeting,
made two motions, and presented some antiquities sent as a present
to the Faculty by the Reverend Mr. Donald Macqueen in Skye.*

* BoswelTs contemporary at college Henry Dundas became a few months later
M.P. for Midlothian, in 1775 Lord Advocate, and in 1782 Keeper of the Signet
the "uncrowned King of Scotland," holding the patronage of all official posi-
tions. He became Viscount Melville in 1802.
8 "There is a sacrificial knife, an elf or Druidical spade, which was used in

236 Edinburgh, 30 July 1 774

John Reid's trial was to come on next Monday. Michael Nasmith,
who at my desire was agent for him, seemed anxious. I promised to
him what I had resolved in my own mind: that I should taste no wine
till the trial was over. In the afternoon I went with my wife and
Veronica to Heriot's Gardens, which soothed and refreshed me. Ve-
ronica walked briskly, with a little help, pulled flowers, and I held
her up till she pulled a cherry for the first time, I played a party at
bowls with Adam Bell and so many more, drank tea at home calmly,
as I had dined, and made up for yesterday's excess. In the evening
when it was dusky I visited John Reid. I felt a sort of dreary tremor
as he and I walked together in the dark in the iron room. He would
own nothing to me. But I need not insert any account of him in my
Journal, as I shall write concerning him separately. 4 1 sent for a pot
of lenitive electuary at night, that I might open and cool my body,
and took a part of it. I had not taken physic before for two years. I
wished to do a kindness to poor Gentleman, who had always paid me
much attention, but my debts far exceeded my funds. I sent him an
order on Messrs. Dilly for three guineas. 5

SUNDAY 3 1 JULY. The physic had a benign effect I took the rest
of the pot this morning, and lay in bed all forenoon except when a
motion made me rise. Ireadthe Lives of Dr. Donne, Sir Henry Wotton,
Mr. Hooker, and Mr. George Herbert, by Izaak Walton, I read them,
all but a part of the last, in the forenoon, and was in the most placid

opening up the ground at one of the annual solemnities, a sling stone, so I am
told, of which you are a better judge, if you have been in the Balearian Islands.
But all these were indeed uled here, where they knew nothing of metals. There
is also another crusted stone, which I lately picked up at the foot of one of our
mountains. If any of these or the whole of them may be thought a curiosity
by the honourable faculty of which you are a member, I desire they may be
laid up in their library as a smaJU. expression of my gratitude for the access I
had to their books in Mr. Thomas Ruddiman's time. . . . Did I give you an elf
arrow, or do you think it worth the sending?" (Donald Macqueen to Boswell,
January 1774).

* He means in his Register of Criminal Trials. See the beginning of the entry
for i August

* "Believe me I regret that debts contracted in my days of f oily still hang heavy
upon me and make me unable to give you such assistance as I could wish to
do" (Boswell to Gentleman, 30 July 1774).

Edinburgh, 31 July 1774 2 37

and pious frame. I put in marks at all the places where I either ob-
served errors of the press, or had any remarks to make, that I might
give my aid, along with Lord Hailes, to Dr. Home, Master of Mag-
dalen College, Oxford, who was about to publish a new edition of these
valuable Lives.

I was in a fine state of preparation for John Reid's trial, which
was to come on next day. Michael Nasmith, who at my desire had
agreed to be agent, called on me between one and two, when I got up
and talked with him. Crosbie positively refused to appear for John
Reid, as he had warned him after his last trial, but he was willing to
give his aid privately. I went in a chair to his house at two, and con-
sulted with him as to my plan of conducting the trial. He instructed
me as to the subject of a charge of being habit and repute a thief. He
asked me to dine with him, but as he had a company who I knew
would drink, I declined his invitation, being resolved to keep myself
perfectly cool. I went to the New Church in the afternoon and heard
Dr. Blair preach. Sir George and Lady Preston and Miss Preston drank
tea with us. In the evening I finished what remained of Walton from
the morning. Looked into Sir George Mackenzie's Criminals, 6 medi-
tated on the various circumstances of John Reid's trial, and examined
separately two exculpatory witnesses as to his getting the sheep (with
the theft of which he was charged) from one Gardner. One of them
seemed so positive, notwithstanding my earnest request to tell me
nothing but truth, that I began to give some credit to John's tale; but
it afterwards appeared that great endeavours had been used to pro-
cure false evidence. Notwithstanding all my care to be cool, anxiety
made me restless and hot after I went to bed/

MONDAY 1 AUGUST. Having passed an uneasy night from anxi-
ety as to the defence of John Reid, who was my first client in criminal
business, I rose between six and seven and dictated to Mr. Lawrie my
pleading on the indictment. My dear wife, who always takes good

6 See below, p. 24377. 6.

f "That the learned Bouricius who writes De officio advocati relates that he
had passed many sleepless nights in preparing for capital trials, and that he
must himself say that he had shut his eyes but for a very short space the
preceding night" (deleted passage in a draft of BoswelTs opening plea "for
the panel").

238 Edinburgh, i August 1774

care of me, had a bowl of soup ready for my breakfast, which was an
excellent morning cordial. The history of this day will be found in my
Register of Criminal Trials.

EDITORIAL NOTE: BoswelTs Register of Criminal Trials has not
been found. He preserved, however, a considerable collection of sepa-
rate papers relating to the Reid trial. An extended record of this trial
is also to be found in the Justiciary Records, Books of Adjournal and
Processes, in the Scottish Record Office.

At eight o'clock on the morning of i August, before the High Court
of Justiciary, consisting for the moment of four judges : Thomas Miller
of Barskimming (the Lord Justice-Clerk), Alexander Boswell Lord
Auchinleck, Henry Home Lord Kames, and George Brown Lord Coal-
ston, the trial of John Reid began with the reading of the Lord Advo-
cate's indictment.

JOHN REID, flesher, lately residing at Hillend, 8 near to the west
bridge of Avon, in the parish of Muiravonside and shire of Stirling, at
present prisoner in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, you are indicted and
accused, at the instance of James Montgomery of Stanhope, Esquire,
His Majesty's Advocate, for His Majesty's interest: THAT WHEREAS,
by the laws of this and of every other well-governed realm, theft , espe-
cially sheep-stealing, and reset of theft, or the being art and part of
both or either of said crimes, by stealing, receiving, or feloniously
keeping, or having in one's possession a number of sheep, knowing
them to have been stolen, for the purpose of selling, consuming or mak-
ing gain of them, or by feloniously disposing of the carcasses or skins of
part of such sheep, knowing them to have been stolen, are crimes of a
heinous nature, and severely punishable, especially when committed
by a person of bad fame, habit and repute to be a thief, or sheep-
stealer : YET TRUE IT is, that you, the said John Reid, are guilty actor, or
art and part, of said crimes of theft, or sheep-stealing and reset of theft,
or of one or other of said crimes, aggravated as aforesaid; IN so FAR AS
you did, upon the sixth day of October last, or upon one or other of the
days or nights of the said month of October or of the month of Septem-

8 A place about twenty miles west of Edinburgh, just north of the River Avon
and a little downstream from the "west bridge."

Edinburgh, i August 1774 239

her immediately preceding, or of November immediately following,
steal, or feloniously away take from the farm of Medwenhead, in the
county of Peebles, the property of William Lawson of Cairnmuir, and
rented by Alexander Gray tenant in Lyne, 9 in the said county of
Peebles, nineteen sheep, or some other number of sheep, the property
of the said Alexander Gray; and, having stolen the same, you did by
yourself, or with the assistance of others, your associates, drive said
sheep to your said house at Hillend, near to the west bridge of Avon, in
the parish of Muiravonside and county of Stirling; and having kept
them there and in the neighbourhood thereof, did there kill a certain
number of said sheep, and did sell or dispose of the same, or part of the
carcasses and skins thereof, to different persons at Falkirk, and in the
neighbourhood of your said house, or in the town of Linlithgow; and
Robert Paterson, herd to the said Alexander Gray, suspecting that you
had stolen said sheep, having gone from said farm of Medwenhead,
after the said sheep had been a-missing from thence, to your said house
of Hillend, upon the eleventh, or one or other of the days of the month
of October aforesaid, he did there discover three of said sheep in a park
near to your house, which had been put there by you to graze; and
having thereafter gone into your flesh-house or booth, where you was
in use to kill sheep, he there found two of said sheep, which had been
killed, hanging up without the body-skin, but which, by the marks on
their heads, which were not separated from their bodies, he knew to be
part of said sheep which had been stolen from the farm of Medwen-
head as aforesaid; and you, being conscious of guilt, did immediately,
or soon after the arrival of said Robert Paterson at your said house, ab-
scond and fly therefrom; and thereafter, the property of said three liv-
ing sheep, and the heads of said killed sheep, having been proved to
belong to said Alexander Gray, before the deceased Michael Ramsay
of Mungall, Esq., one of the Justices of the Peace for the shire of Stir-
ling, the same were, by his order, delivered to said Alexander Gray.
From all which it is evident, that you the said John Reid are guilty
actor, or art and part, of the said theft and reset of theft. AT LEAST,
time and place aforesaid, a parcel of sheep, amounting to nineteen, or
some other number, the property of said Alexander Gray, were stolen
from said farm of Medwenhead; and you did feloniously receive part
' See below, p. 24371. 4.

240 Edinburgh, i August 1774

of said sheep, knowing them to have been stolen, or did feloniously
keep the same in your possession, with a view to dispose thereof, and
did actually dispose of part thereof, or of part of the carcasses or skins
thereof, knowing said sheep to have been stolen; or was other-ways
guilty actor, or art and part, of said theft and reset of theft, or of one
or other of said crimes; and you are a person of bad fame, habit and
repute a sheep-stealer. AND you the said John Reid, having been
brought before Archibald Cockburn of Cockpen, Esq., His Majesty's
Sheriff-Depute of the county of Edinburgh, did, upon the twenty-third
day of March last, emit a declaration, tending to show your guilt in
the premises; which declaration, signed by you and said Archibald
Cockburn, being to be used in evidence against you, will, in due time,
be lodged with the clerk of the High Court of Justiciary, before which
you are to be tried, that you may see the same. ALL WHICH, or part
thereof, or that you the said John Reid are guilty actor, or art and part,
of the said theft, and reset of theft, or of one or other of said crimes,
aggravated as aforesaid, being found proven by the verdict of an assize
before the Lord Justice General, Lord Justice-Clerk, and Lords Com-
missioners of Justiciary, you ought to be punished with the pains of
law, to deter others from committing the like in time coming.

(signed) JAMES MONTGOMERY. 1

On one side of the bar were arrayed four "procurators" for the
prosecution: James Montgomery of Stanhope, Esquire, His Majesty's
Advocate; Mr. Henry Dundas, His Majesty's Solicitor; and two other
advocates, Mr. William Nairne and Mr. Robert Sinclair. Opposed to
this formidable team stood: "Procurator in Defence, Mr. James Bos-
well, Advocate."

The first phase of the trial was a "pleading on the relevancy" of
the "libel." "Boswell for the panel represented that":

[He] does in general deny the libel as laid. ... If he has been
so unlucky as to have sheep found in his possession which were stolen,
he solemnly avers that he did not know them to be so, but although
that had been the case, he humbly contends that this libel is irrelevant

1 The Indictment has been taken from the printed copy in BoswelTs collection
of the trial papers.

Edinburgh, i August 1774 241

in so far as it concludes for the pains of law, the import of which he
understands to be a capital punishment, upon the second alternative
charged; for he is advised that reset of theft is not punishable with
death. . . . As to the charge of his being a person of bad fame, habit
and repute a sheep-stealer ... he was tried for that very charge in
December 1766, and a verdict of his country was returned finding it
not proved, and nothing is better established than that a man cannot
be again tried for the same charge of which he has been acquitted; and
supposing this charge to be restricted to the time since his former trial,
it is well known that when a man has had the misfortune to be tried
for any crime, a prejudice is thereby created against his character
which is seldom entirely removed from vulgar minds, though he ob-
tains a verdict in his favour. 2

Boswell concluded with a compliment to the candour and hu-
manity of the Lord Advocate.

ADVOCATUS. I do not wish it should be understood that in this stage
of the cause or any after stage I am to insist for any particular kind of
punishment. I understand theft to be the subject of arbitrary punish-
ment, and it is in your Lordships' breasts to determine. I am obliged
to my learned friend for his compliment to my humanity. But I should
not think it a proof of it were I to bring any of His Majesty's subjects
to trial for a crime of which he was formerly acquitted. But the solid
answer to the argument as to habit and repute is that it is only a cir-
cumstance. I should be sorry if the witnesses mix what is ancient.
They will speak to his character, as to his complexion. It respects only
the punishment, and your Lordships will not carry it farther than it
ought to go. ...

ATJCHINLECK. As to habit and repute, it is not a crime in our law.
It is a misfortunate thing when a man has it, but a man cannot be
punished for having a bad character. It is pretty fair if we get them
punished when there is both habit and repute and a proof of the crime.

2 Scottish Record Office, a minute, in Mr. Lawrie's hand, signed by Boswell,
headed "Defences for John Reid." Other texts appear in the Books of Adjournal
and among Boswell's own papers. Apparently the defence was required to pre-
sent a signed outline of its arguments.

242 Edinburgh, i August 1774

Then habit and repute [is] not only an aggravation but a strong cir-
cumstance of guilt.

Court all agreed.

I moved that the time should be restricted to since 1 766. . . .

KAMES. If he is habit and repute when the theft was committed or
now, that is enough; not that he was habit and repute forty years ago, 8

The Court had sent summonses in the name of the Crown to forty-
five Edinburgh tradesmen and craftsmen, and from these they now
chose fifteen to serve as "assize" or jury: seven merchants, two en-
gravers, two jewellers, two booksellers, one printer, one watch-maker.

The first witness called for the prosecution was Robert Paterson,
aged fifty and upwards, herdsman. He deponed at great length and
most circumstantially about the matters narrated in the indictment:
namely his missing nineteen of his master's sheep and finding three of
them feeding in a park near John Reid's house and three of them
slaughtered in Reid's flesh-house, all three skinned but two with the
heads still on, and his being absolutely sure, both from the natural
marks and faces of the sheep and from certain "lug marks," burns,
and tar marks, that these were his master's sheep (he "would have
known them among a thousand") . And:

"That the distance from Mcdwcnhead to the panel's house maybe
sixteen or eighteen computed miles, 4 and that it is easy to drive a par-
cel of sheep from said farm to the panel's house from sun-setting of
one day to sun-rising of another in the month of October.

"That soon after he had challenged the three living sheep, Wil-
liam Black sent off the panel's daughter to go in quest of her father and
bring him to see what he had to say; that the girl returned soon after
without her father and spoke something to William Black by them-
selves which the deponent did not hear, and depones that he never saw
the panel while he was about his house on the above search, except at
the time . . . when he first came there and when he did not know

1 BoswelTs trial papers, manuscript in Boswell's hand.

* See above, p. 239. Lyne is a small parish, near the centre of Peebles; it lies

about twenty-four miles, at its most northerly point, from Hillend on the River

Avon.

Edinburgh, i August 1774 243

him, but now knows the panel to be the same person whom he then
saw and conversed with." 5

A second shepherd was called as witness (as he finished his testi-
mony "Lords Pitfour and Kennet came into Court"), and then a boy,
the son of Paterson, the first witness.

BOSWELL for the panel objected that this witness is clearly inad-
missible he being not yet thirteen years of age, and having been but
a little past twelve at the time when the facts charged are said to have
happened. The law is expressly laid down by Sir George Mackenzie
in his Criminals: Title: Probation by Witnesses, 5. And the same
learned author, 12 of the same title, says that if a witness was not
habilis at the time, he cannot be admitted though he be habilis and
major at the time of his deposition. 6

SINCLAIR for the prosecutor answered that it was proposed to ex-
amine the boy only in the way of declaration, and whatever may have
been the opinion of Sir George Mackenzie upon abstract principles,
nothing is now better established in practice than to receive declara-
tions of this kind. . . . T

AUCHINLECK. I remember in the first trial I was on, which was for
a murder, a little girl swore to having seen the panel mix a powder,
which clenched the evidence of poison.

COALSTON. There is a great difference between civil and criminal
questions. In the first, people have the choice of their witnesses. In the
other, they have not.

He was called.

JUSTICE-CLERK. Boy, do you go to the Church? to the Kirk?

BOY. No. I gang to the meeting-house. 8

5 Boswell's trial papers, manuscript in BoswelTs hand. This version of the testi-
mony is closely paralleled by that in the Books of Adjournal.

6 Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh, The Laws and Customs of Scotland in
Matters Criminal, Edinburgh, 1678, Part II, Title xxvi ("Probation by Wit-
nesses"), []5 (p. 530 "How minors are to be admitted witnesses," []ia
(p. 536), "What tune is considered in the hability of a witness."

T Books of Adjournal.

8 The boy means that he belongs to a congregation of Seceders, not to the Church

of Scotland.

244 Edinburgh, i August 1774

AUCHINLECK. You know that God made you?

BOY. (Stupid).

AUCHINLECK. Wha made you?

BOY (with shrill voice) . God!

AUCHINLECK. You ken it's a sin to lie?

BOY. Ay.

PITFOUR. You know you are always in the presence of God, and
that an over-ruling Providence superintends us all, and that you will
be severely punished both in this world and the next if you say what
is not true?

(Pitfour Examinator Age 9 and childhood strange work! Jus-
tice-Clerk and Lord Advocate tried him. But all in vain except as to
some trifles. Dismissed. Afterwards, Justice-Clerk having said it was
no evidence unless taken down, boy called back.) 1

The testimony of the boy was followed by that of Alexander Gray,
the tenant farmer who had owned the sheep; and then the prosecution
adduced William Black of Hillend ("aged forty years and upwards,
unmarried")- "Solemnly sworn, purged of malice and partial coun-
sel, and interrogate," he deponed:

"That he is acquainted with the panel, who stays in his neighbour-
hood at Hillend and lives in a house belonging to the deponent and
deals in killing of sheep and cattle sometimes, though not to any ex-
tent. . . . That the panel went from home upon a Wednesday or
Thursday morning and returned with the sheep some time in the
night or next morning early; for the sheep were come before the de-
ponent arose and were not there when he went to bed. That the de-
ponent, said morning, saw part of the sheep going below the panel's
house, and the panel was employed in killing some of them. That the
deponent at the time had some suspicions that the panel had not come
honestly by the sheep, though he had no conversation with him on the
subject so far as he remembers, and the reasons of his suspicions were
that he had brought home these sheep in the night-time and was in
use to bring sheep in the night and did not commonly take the sheep

9 Pitfour was seventy-f our years old.

1 BoswelTs trial papers, manuscript in BoswelTs hand.

Edinburgh, i August 1774 245

to the markets to be sold but disposed of them privately in the town
of Falkirk and the neighbouring towns and not in the public market-
place, and that the panel is a person suspected of sheep-stealing by re-
port of the country. . . . That the deponent said [to Robert Pater-
son] he ought to get a constable and to claim the sheep before some
honest neighbours and consign them in some person's hand until he
proved the property. The deponent accordingly got William Marshall,
a constable, and James Inglis, and in their presence Robert Paterson
claimed the sheep as belonging to his master, Mr. Gray, and showed
his master's marks upon them. . . . That when Robert Paterson
came in search of the sheep on said Monday the deponent went with
him into the panel's house, but was told he was not at home, but at
Bridgehill, which is not a quarter of a mile distant That the deponent
sent one of the panel's daughters to tell her father that a man had
come to the town claiming the sheep and desired he might come and
speak with him, that soon after the girl returned and was crying or
greeting, said her father would not come back, but desired the de-
ponent would put it up with the man the best way he could. Depones
that after that he never saw the panel at his own house, though he was
told he had been at it afterwards; but if it was, it must have been in a
concealed manner, as the deponent never saw him. That in about
two months thereafter the deponent was informed that the panel had
been apprehended in his own house about twelve o'clock at night, but
the deponent did not see him, as the party had carried him away be-
fore he got up.

"And being interrogated for the prisoner, depones that he pur-
chased from the panel a leg of one of the sheep or a side, that is, of
those which he brought home in October as aforesaid, but does not
remember having purchased mutton from him at any other time. And
being interrogated if when he bought the said leg or side he suspected
that the sheep had been stolen, depones that there was a general sus-
picion against the panel, and the deponent was not in use to buy mut-
ton from him, but as nothing had been proved against him and the
deponent knew nothing as to that particular parcel, and that others
were buying mutton from him at the time, he also bought as said is.
That about three years ago or thereby, one William Gardner, who as
the deponent believes is now in Stirling Jail, purchased some cows or

246 Edinburgh, i August 1774

stots 2 at Falkirk Muir which the panel slaughtered, that the deponent
heard that the panel and Gardner had afterwards some disputes to-
gether and left off dealing with each other, so far as he has heard, and
the deponent never heard that said cattle had been improperly come
by. And depones that as he was in bed when the panel came home in
October last, he cannot say whether the panel drove home the sheep
himself or if they were brought to the panel by some other person.
And being interrogated if it docs not consist with his knowledge that
the panel was in bed in his own house all the night preceding the
sheep's coming there in October last, depones that it does not consist
with his knowledge whether the panel was in his bed or not that night;
all he knows is that the panel went away in the morning, as already
deponed to, and was not come home so far as the deponent knows when
the deponent went to bed, but was at home next morning when he
arose. And depones that there is not six yards between the panel's
house and his, and that the panel has a wife and three children." 3

The prosecution adduced also Robert Shaw of BridgehilL, aged
fifty, married, who deponed:

"That he lives within half a mile of the panel's house, that he has
known him for many years, that he has a bad character in the neigh-
bourhood and has for several years past been suspected of sheep-steal-
ing. That upon a Monday in the month of October last . . . the panel
came over to the deponent's house in order to settle some accounts be-
twixt them, that when they were so employed the panel's daughter
came and said, 'Father, come home as fast as you can,' or words to that
purpose, upon which he rose, went to the door with his daughter, and
did not again return to the deponent's house. That in a little time after,
Jean Neilson came to the deponent's house and told him that the sheep
which were in the panel's possession had been challenged as stolen
sheep, upon which he went to the door and saw the panel upon the
south side of the Water of Avon going westwards and away from his
house, which is upon the north side of the Water of Avon; that he was
sometimes running and sometimes walking hard, and that he ob-

2 Young oxen or steers.

8 Boswell's trial papers, manuscript in BoswelTs hand, closely paralleled in the

Books of Adjournal.

Edinburgh, i August 1774 247

served him two different times look back. That at this time he saw
some men driving three live sheep towards the bridge of Avon, which
he afterwards understood were three of the stolen sheep that were
challenged that day. Depones that the panel some time ago used to
butcher both cattle and sheep, but for some time past only some sheep,
and that he has sometimes bought mutton from him. And being in-
terrogated for the panel, depones that the panel never wronged him in
any dealings which the deponent had with him." 4

Two other witnesses for the prosecution, interrogated by Lord
Auchinleck, deponed that John Reid had the general reputation of a
sheep-stealer. And then, without opposition from Boswell or the need
of bringing witnesses, the prosecutor introduced, to be read before the
court as promised in the indictment, Reid's "declaration" :

At Edinburgh, the twenty-third day
of March, 1 774 years

The which day in presence of Archibald Cockburn, Esquire, of
Cockpen, advocate, Sheriff-Depute of the Sheriffdom of Edinburgh,
compeared John Reid, flesher, lately residing at Hillend, near to the
west bridge of Avon, in the parish of Muiravonside and shire of Star-
ling, presently prisoner in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, who being ex-
amined and interrogate declares that the week before last Michaelmas
market at Crieff the declarant was the whole week at home at his own
house at Hillend, where he slept every night that week, and that he
possesses his house from one William Black, who is his next neigh-
bour. Declares that he killed several sheep that week and sold some of
them at Falkirk Market and likewise at home. Declares that he is ac-
quainted with James Inglis, farmer at Raining Miln, and that Inglis
was in the declarant's slaughter-house said week, when there were
some dead sheep hanging there, but whether tups or ewes the de-
clarant does not remember. And declares that at the same time the
declarant had some sheep belonging to him going upon Black's pas-
ture near the house, and being interrogate where he got or bought the
sheep that he killed that week and sold either at home or Falkirk

4 BoswelTs trial papers, manuscript in Boswell's hand, closely paralleled in the
Books of Adjoumal.

248 Edinburgh, i August 1774

Market and also where he got or bought the sheep that were going on
Black's pasture, declares that he got them all from one William Gard-
ner in Parkhead of Hillend, who brought them to the declarant's
house on the Thursday morning, on which day the declarant began
to kill them. Declares that the number of sheep brought by Gardner
to the declarant was nineteen, and that he told the declarant he got
the said sheep from some horse-copers 5 about Carnwath with whom
he had dealings. And being interrogate when he left his own house
after Gardner had delivered the said sheep to him, declares that it is
very likely he left it on the Monday after, but he will not say that he
left it that day. And being interrogate what was his reason for leaving
his own house so suddenly, declares that he will not answer that ques-
tion or any more questions this day, having answered enough already.
This he declares to be truth.

Boswell and Reid had formally summoned (on 31 July) no fewer
than thirty-three of Reid's neighbours and acquaintances as excul-
patory witnesses (eight of these, including William Black, appearing
also on the prosecution's list of thirty witnesses) . On the same day, as
we have seen, Boswell had examined two such witnesses with discon-
certing results. He now attempted to adduce only a single witness.

I offered to prove by Andrew Auld what Gardner said as to a bar-
gain between him and Reid as to these sheep.

SOLICITOR. Gardner himself was kept in the prison of Stirling,
where he now lies, on purpose that the panel might bring him as an
evidence if he thought proper. 7 Instead of doing which, we are to have
a proof of a hearsay from him.

5 Horse-dealers.

6 BoswelTs trial papers, manuscript in a clerk's hand, closely paralleled in the
Books of Adjournal.

7 On the list of witnesses inscribed on Reid's indictment (Scottish Record Office)
and signed, like the indictment, by James Montgomery, appears "William Gard-
ner in Parkhead of Hillend, present prisoner in the Tolbooth of Stirling." Gard-
ner had been tried before the spring circuit court at Stirling, convicted of steal-
ing a piece of scarlet cloth from a shop in Falkirk, and sentenced to transporta-
tion. He was, like Reid, a tenant to Reid's neighbour William Black of Hillend.

Edinburgh, i August 1774 249

BOSWELL. I understood that a man convicted by the verdict of his
country of housebreaking is infamous and intestable. Besides, though
Gardner had been admitted, I should not have chosen to trust the
panel's life to the testimony of one in his circumstances,

ADVOCATUS. I agree that the witness shall be examined as to what
he has heard from Gardner.

KAMES. I am not for yielding to the King's Advocate to wound the
law to go out of rule to take a hearsay, instead of adducing Gard-
ner.

ADVOCATUS. I am sure I want to do nothing to wound the law. I hold
it to be clear law that if Gardner had been transported, what he said
as to a bargain between him and the panel might have been proved,
as that was the best evidence the nature of the thing would admit But
Gardner stands not transported, though convicted. Mr. Boswell says
he thought him intestable and did not adduce him. There I put my
concession.

KAMES. I never understood that the mistake of a lawyer was to
make law. I submit, but I give my testimony against it.

JUSTICE-CLERK. If the prosecutor passes from an objection to a wit-
ness, it has been usual for the Court to admit. Had the opinion of the
Court been called upon, we probably should all have been unanimous.

I stated that if Gardner had been called and the Lord Advocate had
admitted him, the same objection might have come from the Court:
that the King's Counsel could not make, by their consent, illegal evi-
dence be received: so that in either case I should have been de-
prived of evidence. 8

Andrew Auld, "indweller in Westcraig," was called. "Could only
say that Gardner told him of a bargain between the panel and him
above a year ago." "Depones nothing material and dismissed."

"No more witnesses called for the panel."

Boswell himself, however, introduced at tikis point a reminiscence:

BOSWELL for the panel represented that as there was here a charge
against the panel of being habit and repute a common thief, notwith-
8 BoswelTs trial papers, manuscript in BoswelTs hand, closely paralleled in the
Books of Adjouraal.

250 Edinburgh, i August 1774

standing of his being acquitted of that charge by a verdict of his coun-
try in the year 1766, it was of great importance to the panel to show
cause for such bad report having prevailed, and he offered to prove by
two of the jury upon his last trial that after a verdict of his country
was returned acquitting him, the five judges present strongly ex-
pressed their disapprobation of the verdict and in such terms as to
convey to the minds of a numerous audience that notwithstanding
that verdict he was still a guilty man.

His Majesty's Advocate answered that in order to save the time of
the Court he had no objection to admit the fact as above stated.

The trial now concluded with speeches of summation by the Lord
Advocate and Boswell.

Boswell seems to have been calculating that if he could to some
extent discredit the aspersion of "habit and repute a thief," then Reid's
own declaration concerning Gardner's role, along with the cross-ex-
amination of William Black and perhaps some further intimations
from Auld, might persuade the jury that it was at least possible Reid
had received the sheep from Gardner innocently. At the same time
Boswell was careful not to adduce Gardner himself at the trial, fear-
ing no doubt that his testimony would clearly convict Reid of the
crime of "reset of theft" (that is, receiving stolen sheep knowing them
to be stolen) . We shall see that a few days after the trial Boswell made
strenuous efforts to bring Gardner forward, when through Crown
action it was no longer possible. Whether a verdict finding Reid guilty
only of "reset" would have elicited from this Court the less severe
sentence of transportation, we can scarcely now be sure, though Bos-
well may have had clear enough intimations to the contrary. The
allusions to the alternative of reset, in the imperfectly reported speech
by the Lord Advocate which follows, are apparently to be read, in the
light of legal logic, as meaning that since this alternative has not been
advanced by the defence, then the possibility of it should not be al-
lowed to complicate the jury's judgement that Reid's possession of the
sheep was guilty: that is, guilt of some kind is obvious, and only one
kind is now admissible. BoswelTs response will try, on the contrary,
to suggest that at least one kind of guilt, the partial guilt of reset, has
been abandoned by the prosecution, and that, given the simple alter-
9 Books of AdjournaL

Edinburgh, i August 1774 251

natives of full guilt and innocence, it is more just to decide for the lat-
ter.

LORD ADVOCATE'S CHARGE. . . . As it is impossible for the Public
Prosecutor, whoever he may be, to know whether a person accused
may not, where there are only circumstances, prove that he bought
them, reset is libelled. If there is evidence brought to satisfy the minds
of a jury that he did not steal, then there is reset. Here there is no oc-
casion for it; for if this man is not guilty of the actual theft, he is an
innocent man. My -learned friend has mentioned his former trial.
Surely he cannot mean that the respectable judges' (whom I have in
m y e y e ) having declared their opinions that it was a bad verdict will
do him good. I therefore cannot imagine what use he is to make
of it. . . .

Let us consider corroborating circumstances. What is the conduct
of this panel? Does he appear like an honest man? . . . Black, his
next neighbour, does not see him for two months, till the law, too cun-
ning for him, overtakes him, and the officers catch him sleeping in his
bed. These circumstances speak strongly to the mind. Had he been
innocent, had he bought these sheep from Gardner, would he not have
come and told the officers so and said, "This man must be a rascal"?
Now consider how improbable it is in calculation that on the
same day the same number of sheep stolen were sold to the panel. It
may perhaps be said Gardner stole the sheep, and therefore the num-
ber must be nineteen. But of this the panel has brought no evidence.
He has not adduced Gardner. . . . My learned friend, who always
does great justice to his clients, especially in this Court, but is some-
times righteous over much (it is excusable when pleading for a panel) ,
set out with a distinction between theft and reset. But he must have
greater abilities than he reaUy has (and he has great abilities) if he
can persuade you that there was here not a theft but a reset. I do not
think that in every case reset should be punished as theft. Here though
proof had been brought that the panel had received the sheep from
Gardner, the presumption would have been that it was reset But it ap-
pears to me that the proof of actual theft is abundantly strong. Perhaps
it may appear stronger to me as I am connected with a sheep country.
You gentlemen will judge and will bring in your verdict accordingly.

252 Edinburgh, i August 1774

MY CHARGE. Gentlemen of the jury, you are now to deliberate con-
cerning the life of [a] fellow citizen who stands at this bar charged
with the crime of sheep-stealing. My Lord Advocate has summed up
the evidence upon the part of the Crown with his usual ability, but
with a warmth unusual for his Lordship on such occasions. He has in-
deed fairly explained the reason for this his being connected with a
sheep country. But you and I, gentlemen, who have no such connex-
ions, will consider the matter calmly and coolly. You at least will,
whose duty it is to form a judgement upon it. The indictment charges
the panel with three several accusations: theft, reset of theft, and being
a person of bad fame, habit and repute a thief. The reset of theft my
Lord Advocate has given up, for he has admitted that unless the panel
shall be found guilty of the theft in this case, he is to be held as an
innocent man. I have therefore to speak only of two accusations, his
being guilty of theft and his being habit and repute a thief. I shall
begin with the last, and as I had occasion to state to the Court when
pleading upon the relevancy of this indictment, I again state, . . . *

Mr. James Boswell "summed up the evidence ... in a very
masterly and pathetic manner, which did him great honour both as
a lawyer and as one who wished for a free and impartial trial by jury"
(Edinburgh Advertiser, 2 August 1 774) .

At about five o'clock that afternoon, the Court ordered the jury to
be enclosed. They chose the bookseller William Gordon to be their
chancellor and the printer John Robertson to be their clerk. They
reached a verdict and signed it that evening before supper, and it was
known about town, though not to be delivered until the next after-
noon.

MONDAY i AUGUST [continued]. Michael Nasmith came home
with me between five and six, when we dined, drank some porter and
port and a bottle of claret. I was in a kind of agitation, which is not
without something agreeable, in an odd way of feeling. Having heard
that a verdict was found against John Reid, I went at eight to Walker's

1 Boswell's trial papers. The Lord Advocate's Charge is in BoswelTs hand; the
opening fragment of BoswelTs Charge, all that is preserved, is in Lawrie's hand.

Edinburgh, i August 1 774 253

Tavern, where the jury were met (I having first visited my client and
intimated his fate to him), and being elated with the admirable ap-
pearance which I had made in the court, I was in such a frame as to
think myself an Edmund Burke and a man who united pleasantry
in conversation with abilities in business and powers as an orator. I
enjoyed the applause which several individuals of the jury now gave
me and the general attention with which I was treated. The Crown
entertains the jury on an occasion of this kind, and the bill is authenti-
cated by the initials of the chancellor. We drank a great deal, and by
imposing a fine of a pint 2 of claret on any man who mentioned the
trial, bets, etc., we had six pints of claret secured for a future meeting;
and we appointed to dine together in the same place that day sennight
There was a strange mixture of characters. I was not much pleased at
being fixed for another meeting. However, I considered it as unavoid-
able, and as the buck in one of our farces says, 'twas life. We parted
about twelve. I was much in liquor, and strolled in the streets a good
while a very bad habit which I have when intoxicated. I got home
before one. My dear wife had been very anxious. .

[Michael Nasmith to Boswell]

[Edinburgh] i August [1774], 7 o'clock

DEAR SIR, This is truly miserable. The most unjudicious verdict
that can be. But what is still more miserable, it is just: a verdict in
general "finding the theft proved" against him. The gentleman who
informs me is a stranger to judicial style, thinks these are the capital
words. Capital enough! I wish it had been otherwise, for the sake of
that respect which belongs to a jury and of the dignity that the panel's
charge merits. Could we get an innocent panel! But what can be done
for guilt? I am in low spirits notwithstanding the good cheer within
me. Alwise, my dear Sir, yours most sincerely,

M. NASMITH.

TUESDAY 2 AUGUST. My bad rest during the night between Sun-
day and yesterday, the anxiety of the trial, and the debauch of last

2 See above, p. 22471. 3.

254 Edinburgh, 2 August 1774

night made me in a woeful plight and very unwilling to rise. Worthy
Sir John Hall called between seven and eight. I got up, and though
hurt by the comparison between his decent sobriety and my riotous
conduct, I was comforted to find myself entrusted by him, and the
friendship of the family of Stichell continued to one of our family by
his connexion. 3

In the court in the forenoon I received great applause for my
spirited behaviour yesterday; and I could also see Scottish envy show-
ing itself. John Reid received his sentence at two o'clock, or rather a
little before three.

EDITORIAL NOTE: When the jury had at two o'clock delivered its
verdict "all in one voice" finding "John Reid the panel guilty of
the theft libelled'"'* "Mr. Boswell moved the Court to delay pro-
nouncing sentence for a few days, as he would endeavour to show that
a capital punishment should not be inflicted." 5 We have Boswell's
hastily scribbled record of the words that followed:

AUCHINLECK. I'll own I think theft by our law a capital crime,
more especially as here, where 'tis a grex; 6 were it not so, farmers
would be in [a] miserable situation. If nineteen not capital, a hun-
dred not, and there would be an end of that useful business. I have
therefore no sort of difficulty. If there was anything special, I should
be for indulging [the] panel's counsel. But as we have often had this
before us, [it] would be indeceiit.

KAMES. I have no doubt that theft of nineteen, nay of nine, [is]
capital. If not, as my brother said, [it] would be dismal, as we could
not repress it. And there would be no remedy. 'Tis doneby low people.
They cannot make reparation. I should like that better. At [the] same
time, as we have no act making it capital, though we have had long
practice, I'm for indulging [the] young man.

PITFOUR. I will confirm doctrine. 7

3 Sir John's mother was a daughter of Sir John Pringle, second Baronet of
Stichell; he was therefore a nephew of Sir John Pringle the physician.

4 Verdict (Scottish Record Office).

5 Edinburgh Advertiser, 2 August 1774.
A Hock.

7 This sentence (an interlineation) may be the conclusion of Kames's remarks.
The last word is uncertain and the "I will" could equally well be "Twill."

Edinburgh, 2 August 1774 2 55

COALSTON. If I thought there was any difficulty or any of your
Lordships thought [there was any] difficulty, [I] would delay. But
as 'tis clear, [it] would be wrong to delay. This case [is] not new to
me. I had occasion to consider it not only by reading all on the subject
but by searching [the] records. And so [I] formed [my] opinion.
[I have] always followed [this procedure] since I had the honour to
sit. I came to [a] clear conclusion. One act of theft [is] not always
capital, as of a small thing, as one sheep. But [it is] also clear [that]
one theft [can be] capital, as abigeatus* And so far as I know, [there
is] no instance where when sheep [were] stolen [it has] not
[been] capital.

KENNET. I'm willing to grant all indulgence to [the] panel or
panel's counsel. I applaud Mr. Boswcll's zeal on this occasion and
which he has shown on many others. I think delay here improper, as
much as if [in a case of] murther.

JUSTICE-CLERK. Your Lordships have a point of law fixed since the
Monarchy, that theft [is] capital. It would then be improper and even
indecent for the Court to delay upon the relevancy. All your Lordships
agreed that theft [is] capital, and indeed [it] would hurt my mind to
think that a grex should not be capital. So judgement [should be
given].

AUCHINLECK. Tis a disagreeable part of our office to pass sentence
of death on any man. But so are mankind made that it must be. This
man [was] before us before, and all of us [were] called on in [the]
course of our duty to declare that the verdict was contrary to evidence.
Now we have from a most respectable jury a verdict finding [him]
guilty of [the theft of a] grex. Were he to get off, [he] would go on.
His former escape emboldened [him]. We have no choice. I propose
that on Wednesday, etc.

JUSTICE-CLERK. John Reid, nothing remains to me now but to pro-
nounce that judgement we the Court unanimously agreed should be
pronounced. I am very sorry it is necessary. Your former trial should
not have been mentioned, had it not been forced on [the] Court by
your counsel, who has exerted all his talents and abilities in your de-
fence. But the facts coming out in evidence put it out of his power to
do you any service. I do not desire to revive the memory of what is
8 Cattle-stealing.

256 Edinburgh., 2 August 1774

past. God and your own conscience know [as to that.] But, Sir, you
are now convicted 9 by verdict of your country of the theft of nineteen
sheep. You could not commit that without other crimes. But it can do
you no harm to join with my brothers in giving you . . .

[Sentence of Death Against John Reid]

The said Lords . . . decern and adjudge the said John Reid to be
carried from the bar back to the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, therein to be
detained until Wednesday the seventh day of September next, and
upon that day to be taken forth of the said Tolbooth and carried to the
common place of execution in the Grassmarket of Edinburgh, and
then and there betwixt the hours of two and four o'clock in the after-
noon of the said day to be hanged by the neck by the hands of the com-
mon executioner upon a gibbet until he be dead, and ordain all his
moveable goods and gear to be escheat and inbrought to His Majesty's
use, which is pronounced for doom.

THOMAS MILLER
ALEXANDER BOSWELL
HENRY HOME
JAMES FERGUSON
GEORGE BROWN
ROBERT BRUCE*

TUESDAY 2 AUGUST [continued]. My wife and I dined at Lord
Alva's. 2 The only company were a Mrs. Bradshaw, wife to an officer
of the 66 regiment lying in the Castle, and Mr. Cosmo Gordon. We
were kindly, easily, and luxuriously entertained. My Lord's son only
was at home. 3 At four I went to a consultation at Mr. Rae's on Earl
Fife's politics. It lasted a very little while. I then returned and drank
a few glasses of wine. I drank tea and was introduced to Mr. Robin-
son, 4 a young student, a nephew of Mrs. Montagu's. My wife and I
supped at Sir George Preston's. Nobody there.

9 The ending of this word is not quite certain.

1 Books of AdjournaL

1 James Erskine, Judge in the Court of Session and distant cousin of BoswelFs.

8 John Erskine of Aberdona, aged about sixteen years.

* Morris Robinson, aged seventeen, student at the University, later third Baron

Rokebv.

Edinburgh, 3 August 1774 257

WEDNESDAY 3 AUGUST. Adam Bell, who consulted me, drank
tea. My uncle the Doctor came and took a dish. He applied to me for
the loan of 20. My heart was moved to think he needed it; and I
promised to send him it next morning. I was at Macqueen's at seven,
consulting with him and the Solicitor on Sir Allan Maclean's plea for
recovering a part of the estate of his ancestors from the family of
Argyll. 8 My blood stirred at this consultation.

THURSDAY 4 AUGUST. Sir John Dalrymple told me, either yes-
terday or today, that my behaviour in John Reid's trial would have
made my fortune in England. This increased my desire to go; and,
either yesterday or today while I walked in the Meadow with Mac-
laurin, he seemed to think I would do well to try. He said very hand-
somely, "/ decus, z, nostrum! melioribus utere fatis" 6 He and I had
some conversation on the effect of tunes, and we agreed that there is
a ludicrous in music independent of the association of ideas. He tried
Pope's "Universal Prayer" to the tune of "Our Polly she's a sad slut"
and it was quite ridiculous. This might arise from association. Yet
"Down the burn, Davie" is in its subject by no means solemn; and I
tried it and it suited the "Universal Prayer" very well. Balbarton
dined. I was tonight at St. John's Lodge. Rather a dull meeting. I was
then at Signora Marcoucci's 7 ball.

FRIDAY 5 AUGUST. [No entry for this day.]

SATURDAY 6 AUGUST. In the morning my father asked me to
dine with him today, as he had the President with him. I told him I
would do anything to oblige Mr", but that I really wished not to be
with the President. He said it was on my account, to have me with
people of respect. "Then," said I, "I'll be obliged to you if you will not
ask me today." It gave me concern to have different views from my

5 Boswell and Johnson had stayed with Maclean at Indbkenneth during the

Hebrides tour, and he had conducted them to lona. He had written on 17 June

this year asking Boswell to find out if his agents were yet prepared to tale

the field." "When that happens, I flatter myself you'll appear as one of my

best friends."

a Aeneid, VI. 546: "Go, our glory, and enjoy a happier fate!"

7 The mistress of a dancing school. A few years later Boswell would see his

daughters dancing at her balls for young ladies. She lived in James's Court In

the spring of 1777 she was "on the same flat" with Boswell, they went tete-a-t&te

in a coach to a dinner at Prestonfield, and Boswell was "enlivened to Italian

pitch."

258 Edinburgh, 6 August 1 774

father. But as I cannot help having a bad opinion of the President
as he behaved in a most ungentlcmanly manner to me, in privately
persuading my father to make votes in Ayrshire against the nobility
whose cause I had warmly espoused, and [had] done a most un-
friendly thing to my father in leading him to do the very thing
which he had for a course of years condemned 8 I think it more
honest and more spirited to show him that I will have no connexion
with him; and notwithstanding his pride of office and the gross flat-
tery which he receives, he must be sensible that he is not what he
ought to be.

Sandy Gordon begged as a particular favour that I would dine
with him as a friend and be present at the baptism of a son which was
born to him last night. 9 1 accepted. Dr. Webster was there. We drank
cheerfully, but I had resolution not to take too much, being engaged
to sup at Captain Schaw's with Lord Pembroke. I came home between
seven and eight somewhat heated, but wrote a paper well enough.
My wife was at the play with Mrs. Schaw. About eleven we assembled.
Lord Pembroke, to whom I had been introduced some years ago in
London, was very affable to me. We had a very genteel company, and
the most brilliant table that ever I saw in a private house in Edin-
burgh: a row of crystal lustres down the middle of the table; fruits
and flowers interspersed in gay profusion. There was as little good
conversation as at any genteel supper.

SUNDAY 7 AUGUST. Was at New Church in the forenoon and

8 Only freeholders with a considerable property qualification could vote in Par-
liamentary elections, but some of the large landholders had hit upon the device
of selling for nominal sums redeemable life-rents and "wadsets of superiority'*
devised for the sole purpose of splitting their qualifications, that is, of enabling
them, through friends and dependants, to cast more than one vote. Lord Auch-
inleck had always maintained that such votes were fictitious. He had expressed
his disapproval of them in his Observations on the Election Law dictated to Bos-
well at Auchinleck in the autumn of 1771. See above, pp. 14-15. At the election
on 13 October of the present year both candidates were liberally provided with
"made" votes, but when it was demanded that the oath of bona fide possession
be taken, five of Kennedy's voters discovered qualms of conscience while all of
Sir Adam's (including one clergyman) swore through thick and thin, and he
was elected. He held the seat for Ayrshire for the next ten years.
Lt-CoL Alexander Gordon, killed at Talavera, 28 July 1809.

Edinburgh, 7 August 1 774 259

heard Dr. Blair. Then called on Lord Pembroke and Colonel Stopf ord
of the 66th regiment, who lodged in the same house with hiT^ (in
Gosf ord's Close, a strange place) .* My Lord was lively and easy. He
told me that Mr. Johnson was lately at Eton, where the Doctors enter-
tained him with all their curiosities and with a very good dinner,
after which, in order to be as much in spirits and as good company as
they could, they pushed about the bottle briskly. Johnson seemed to
be displeased. Somebody asked him what was the matter. He an-
swered, "Why, Sir, this merriment of the parsons is very nauseous to
me." I had given Lord Pembroke a letter of recommendation to Paoli
when he went to Corsica. This made a connexion. I asked the honour
of his company to dinner. He agreed to come any day I pleased. I fixed
Thursday. I said, "We Corsicans should meet." Colonel Stopford also
engaged to come.

My wife and I dined at my father's between sermons. Dr. Boswell,
Sir George Preston, and Mr. Webster were there. Veronica always
visits there at that time and gets raisins from her grandfather. In the
afternoon I went and walked in St. Anne's Yards and the Abbey of
Holyrood House. I was like Isaac meditating in the fields. 2 My wife
and I drank tea at home by ourselves, then went with our children
and walked pleasantly in Mr. Webster's 8 garden. We supped there.
He himself sent that he was not to be home to supper. We were uneasy
a little; but it turned out that he had gone to baptize a child, and I
suppose had found good wine.

MONDAY 8 AUGUST. Breakfasted at Lady Colville's and engaged
her and Lady Anne and Captain Erskine to dine on Thursday with
Lord Pembroke. Walked in the garden and was much refreshed. Mrs.
Gordon of Stair, 4 who was now in town, took a family dinner with us.
I drank tea most comfortably with Grange. We talked seriously. I had
this sally: our grave reflections on the vanity of life are part of the
farce like the grave ridiculous in comedy for, after making
them, we take a jovial bottle as if we never had thought. Lady Betty

1 It was old-fashioned, but nonetheless a fashionable residential quarter.

* Genesis 24. 63.

8 Boswell had known him for years as "Mr.," before he became D.D. in 1760.

* Boswell had listed "Miss Gordon" (presumably her daughter) as a matri-
monial possibility in 1761-1762.

260 Edinburgh, 8 August 1774

Cochrane, Lord Advocate, Sandy Gordon, Sandy Murray, MaclauriiL,
and Mr. Henderson (Sir Robert's son) 8 supped with us. This was a
good genteel company. We spoke against drinking, but drank four
pint bottles of claret. No conversation to be marked. The jury which
should have dined together today put off the meeting.

TUESDAY 9 AUGUST. Mr. Bruce of Kinnaird, who was just re-
turned from his most curious travels, was in the Court of Session, a
tall stout bluff man in green and gold. 6 1 was very desirous to be with
him. Monboddo set him dead, and Maclaurin snuffed him keen. 7 Bob
Chalmers introduced me to him, saying, "I thought you two would
be glad to see one another." I said I was extremely happy to have the
honour of being known to Mr. Bruce, and wished much to see him,
not merely to make a formal bow. He said he would be very glad to
meet with me, or something to that purpose. All this was very well.
Good, unmeaning, commonplace politeness from him. I was quite
impatient to hear him talk. I consulted with Monboddo and Mac-
laurin, and set out to try what I could do to get an appointment made
to dine or sup in a tavern. He had now gone out of the Court. I went
home, changed my wig, and then went and called for him at his
lodgings in Mrs. Reynolds's in Mini's Square. Luckily he was just
come in, and I found him alone; and a most curious scene I had with
him. I conjectured that he had come to London with high expectations
from Government and had been disappointed. This had soured his
temper, not very sweet originally; and he had come to Scotland, at
which he had conceived a strong aversion when young from the bad
usage of a stepmother who had obtained unjust settlements from his
father and come in bad humour with it and its inhabitants, just to
try how much he could squeeze out of his estate to support him in
England. In this frame, he seemed to be the very reverse of Banks
impatient, harsh, and uncommunicative. I at first felt myself feeble
and awkward with him, owing in part to my consciousness how very
ignorant I was of the very rudiments of the knowledge respecting the

5 Aged twenty-two years, later M.P. for various constituencies, and baronet.

6 He had, as he supposed, discovered the source of the Nile; actually of its
largest tributary, the Blue Nile.

7 They went after him like bird dogs. Compare Monboddo's interest in the
travelers Banks and Solander, above, p. 140.

Edinburgh, 9 August 1 774 261

countries which he had been seeing. My curiosity and vanity united,
were, however, sufficient to impel me, and as he grew more rough
I grew more forward; so that I forced in a manner a good deal from
him, while he looked big and stamped and took me short and held
his head high and talked with a forcible loudness as if he had been
trying whether the room had an echo. As this was a very remarkable
scene with a very remarkable man, I shall as well as I can put it down
in its very form as it passed.

BOSWELL. "Pray, Mr. Bruce, was it true that you was bit by a
serpent as the newspapers told us?" BRUCE. "I, Sir, bit by a serpent?
No, Sir." BOSWELL. "We were told so, and that your leg was hurt,"
BRUCE. "That was a worm, Sir." (Here, to be sure, he had me fairly
as a man of inaccuracy.) BOSWELL. "Where?" BRUCE. "I was ill at
Marseilles, but I believe I brought it with me from Nubia. It is a
worm which fixes itself into the " (here he gave the technical
term) . BOSWELL. "It is spiral like a screw." BRUCE. "Yes, and but
small." (Then, letting down his stocking, he showed me the scar.)
"The people in that country will have a number of them fixed in their
bodies at a time, but they are expert at twisting them out; and then
they suffer nothing. My servant broke the worm in my leg, which oc-
casioned all the mischief. At [Jiddah on the Red Sea] 8 1 met with
eleven English vessels from the East Indies. I was then dressed like a
poor Turk. I had a mind to try the captains of these vessels. The first I
called on was a Scotsman, a Captain BoswelL He bid me begone,
though I told him I was an unfortunate countryman. He had seen too
many such vagrants as me. I then went to an English gentleman, Cap-
tain ThomhilL, who received me with politeness and humanity, say-
ing, 'I am sorry to see a countryman in distress. You shall have a pas-
sage to the East Indies in my ship. You need not go abroad again.*
Then called to his servant, 'Let this gentleman have an apartment in
my house. Sir, I shall do all that is in my power to make you easy.*
Several other English captains behaved well to me. I then said I was
happy to find such behaviour to a countryman. I should always tell it
to their honour. I would now show them what I was. Upon which I
produced my credentials from the Ministry in England and other let-
ters of consequence, and a credit for 2000. 1 dined with all the cap-
8 Blank in MS, filled by the editors. Brace's Travels were published in 1790-

262 Edinburgh, 9 August i 774

tains that day; and how they did roast Boswell, my gude countryman.
When I sailed for Abyssinia, all the ships put out their colours and
saluted me with their guns as I passed. Boswell had out his colours but
did not fibre a gun; only called out with his speaking trumpet, 'Mr.
Boswell wishes Mr. Bruce a good voyage.' " I said I was sorry that a
countryman and my namesake had behaved so ill. Mr. Bruce seemed
to delight in the thought that this Boswell was a Scotsman.

I asked what kind of architecture they had in Abyssinia. BRUCE.
"Architecture, Sir, in a barbarous, mountainous country!" BOSWELL.
"What kind of houses have they?" BRUCE. "Huts." BOSWELL. "Of what
are they made?" BRUCE. "Why, of branches of trees of mud and
of mud and stone together." BOSWELL. "Have they any large towns?
Do many of them live together?" BRUCE. "Why, 25,000 in one town."
(Bob Chalmers came in and sat by us.) BOSWELL. "Has the King no
better house than the rest?" BRUCE. "Yes. He has a large palace built
by the Jesuits of stone, in which he might defend himself against all
Asia, were it not that they have chosen a place where there is no
well." BOB CHALMERS. "What may be the precise colour of the Abys-
sinians?" BRUCE. "Size and colour, Sir!" CHALMERS. "Precise colour,
I said." BRUCE. "Why, tawny copper coloured; though they are fair
enough under the line."

In this manner was information dug from him, as from a flinty
rock with pickaxes. I shall throw together all that I gathered from
him into an essay or sketch for The London Magazine. 9 1 tried to make
an appointment with him to dine or sup, but in vain. I asked in par-
ticular that he would meet Lord Monboddo. "No," said he. "I'll
neither see Justiciary Lords nor Lords of Session. If I commit murder,
I shall see the one; and if I have a civil action, I shall see the other."
I made a most entertaining recital to some of my companions of this
interview. I entertained Monboddo with it much. I afterwards found
that Mr. Bruce was communicative enough if you let him alone, but
could not bear to be questioned; at least I was told so, and it is very
natural. He was like a ghost, which, it is said, will tell you a great
deal of itself, but nothing if you question it. All extraordinary travel-
lers are a kind of shows; a kind of wild beasts. Banks and Bruce how-
ever were animals very different one from another. Banks was an
9 See below, pp. 271, 272.

Edinburgh, 9 August 1774
elephant, quite placid and gentle, allowing you to get upon his back
or play with his proboscis; Bruce, a tiger that growled whenever you
approached him. I made a good apology for him to Maclaurin, saying
that my ignorant questions could not but fret him. "Suppose," said I,
"an Englishman should come with the utmost civility, and say, 'Mr.
Maclaurin, I beg leave to apply to you as a man who can give me the
best information. Pray, do your judges determine causes on foot or
on horseback?' Some of my questions to Bruce," said I, "were almost
as provoking." I dined quietly at home, and wrote law papers in the
afternoon.

[Received 9 August, John Finlayson to Boswell]

Stirling, 8 August 1 774

g IR ^ Yours directed to my son, who died about three months

ago, was yesterday brought to me, which I opened and read, and this
day I spoke with the gaoler of the prison here, who is a very sensible
and obliging man, and desired him to ask Gardner in ane overly and
friendly manner if ever he had given or sold any sheep to Reid, and
not let Gardner know that he was desired by any to ask the question at
him. The gaoler answered that he had been several times alongst with
the Sheriff-Substitute when he came to the prison and examined Gard-
ner, and that Gardner alwise refused his giving or selling of sheep to
Reid. However, he would try to ask that question at him this day, and
which he said he did, and that Gardner returned him the answer he
formerly had given. I also asked one of my clerks, who I sent alongst
with the Sheriff-Substitute to Falkirk and Muiravonside to write the
precognitions against Reid, and who also wrote these taken here, if
ever he heard any of the persons examined, or Gardner, say that he,
Gardner, had given or sold Reid any sheep, and he declares to me he
never did. At least if ever there was any such thing emitted in the
examinations, he does not remember it. I give you the trouble to make
my best compliments to Mr. Maclaurin, whom it shall give me pleas-
ure to serve at aU times, as it will to you, though I have not the honour

of being acquainted with [you]. I am, Sir, your most obedient and

most humble servant,

Jo. FINLAYSON.

264 Edinburgh, 10 August 1774

WEDNESDAY 10 AUGUST. This forenoon I met in the Court of
Session an old friend of Temple's and mine, the Reverend Mr.
Nicholls, whom I had not seen for twelve years. His cousin Miss
Floyer, whom I had seen in England, was married to young Erskine
of Mar, and Nicholls and Mrs. Erskine's brother and his lady were
come down to visit Erskine and his lady. Captain James Erskine in-
vited me to dine with them at Sir James Dunbar's house in Young's
Street, Canongate, which he or they had taken for the race week. 1

This last week of the session was not a very busy one to me. But I
had several little petitions to draw today. I called on Mr. William
Wilson about one of them in the afternoon. He was drinking a glass
with Dr. Young and Mr. Speirs 2 of Glasgow. He insisted on my joining
them; and, though I was not fond of being at all fevered with liquor
in the end of a session when I might have sudden calls to write, yet,
as Mr. Wilson gave me my first guinea and has always been my very
good friend as a man of business, I complied and was solidly social. I
really can adapt myself to any company wonderfully well.

In the forenoon I had visited John Reid, whom I found very com-
posed. He persisted in averring that he got the sheep from Gardner.
I really believed him after I had adjured him, as he should answer to
GOD, to tell me the truth. I told him that I was of opinion that a peti-
tion to the King would have no effect, but that his wife had applied to
me, and I should draw one which he should sign; but that he must not
expect anything but death. He very calmly assured me he would ex-
pect nothing else. I wondered at my own firmness of mind while I
talked with a man under sentence of death, without much emotion,
but with solemnity and humanity. I desired John to write his life very
fully, which he promised to do. I bid him say nothing as to the facts
with which he was formerly charged. He had been acquitted by his
country. That was enough. His acknowledging that he had been

1 Norton Nicholls is best known as the disciple of the poet Gray in his last years.
Nicholls's cousin Mrs. Erskine was a daughter of Charles Floyer, who had been
Governor of Fort St. David, Madras, 1747-1750. Her brother, Charles, Jr., was
a "nabob." Young John Francis Erskine succeeded to the restored earldom of
Mar in 1824. Captain James was his younger brother. The week's racing was
held on Leith Sands and was sponsored annually by the Company of Hunters.
a Alexander Speirs was a founder of the Glasgow Arms Bank in 1750 and was a
great importer of tobacco. In July 1779 Boswell describes hn as a "low man."

Edinburgh, 10 August 1774 265

guilty might hurt some unhappy panel who was innocent by making
a jury condemn on imperfect circumstantial evidence. It will be a
curious thing if he gives a narrative of his life.

In the evening I called in at Mr. Bell the bookseller's shop, where
I found Mr. Paton of the Customs, who varied the ideal prospect of
my mind by presenting to it his remarks and anecdotes concerning
Scottish antiquities. He told me of a curious manuscript in the Advo-
cates' Library, the diary of Birrel, a citizen of Edinburgh, in which
all things that happened in that man's time (from 1532 to 1605)* are
recorded. It will help me in my intended History of Edinburgh. A

man's mind is like a glass. 4 He must endeavor to find a variety

of prints to look at; otherwise, let the glass be ever so good, he will tire
of the sameness. At night I gave John Reid's wife a letter to Lord
ErroUL, 5 from whom she hoped for some assistance, her father having
been his tenant these forty years.

[Boswell to the Earl of Erroll]

Edinburgh, 10 August 1774

MY LORD, This will come to your Lordship's hands along with
an application from Clarke, an old tenant of your Lordship's, in favour
of John Reid, a client of mine who lies under sentence of death here
for sheep-stealing. Reid it seems is son-in-law to Clarke. I may perhaps
have been prejudiced, but I really did not think the evidence against
Reid sufficient to convict him; and I am afraid his suspicious character
determined the jury, which I take to be a dangerous principle. The
stolen sheep were found in his possession; but he has uniformly
averred that he had them from one Gardner, who has been since sen-
tenced to transportation. He indeed could not prove this; but this story

3 Boswell's manuscript reads "from 15 to 16 ." Robert Birrel's diary was
first printed in 1798.

4 Perhaps an "optical glass," also known as a "zograscope," and today sometimes,
mistakenly, by antique dealers and others, as a "shaving mirror." It consisted
of a stand holding a vertical lens and a mirror at an angle of forty-five degrees.
A picture placed upside down under the mirror was seen magnified and with
enhanced perspective.

8 Boswell and Johnson stayed overnight with Lord Erroll at Slains Castle, 24
August 1773.

266 Edinburgh, 10 August 1774

is by no means improbable. I am to draw a petition for him to the King
in hopes of obtaining a transportation pardon, the evidence being de-
fective and the crime of stealing nineteen sheep being at any rate too
small for a capital punishment. If your Lordship will take the trouble
to write to Lord Suffolk, it may have great influence, and as the un-
happy man's petition will be much better read if a letter from Lord
Enroll comes along with it, I shall delay transmitting it for some time
till I know your Lordship's determination.

I beg leave to offer my most respectful compliments to Lady Erroll,
and with a very grateful sense of your Lordship's civilities to me, I
have the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient, hum-
ble servant,

[JAMES BOSWELL] .

THURSDAY 1 1 AUGUST. The confusion and hurry of the last day
of the session were much the same as usual. I philosophized, thinking
that in all probability all the members of Court would not be alive
against another session, though indeed it is remarkable that the mem-
bers of our College of Justice live long. Death makes as little impres-
sion upon the minds of those who are occupied in the profession of
the law as it does in an army. The survivors are busy, and share the
employment of the deceased. Archibald McHarg, writer, died this
session, and though he had a great deal of business, he was never
missed. His death was only occasionally mentioned as an apology for
delay in giving in a paper. The succession in business is so quick that
there is not time to perceive a blank.

Lord Pembroke had hurt his leg and been confined to the house
for two days. I was afraid that he would not dine with me today. I
called on him in the morning about ten. He was not up; but his serv-
ant said he was much better. I had good hopes of seeing him, but still
was uncertain. I had a good company besides his Lordship invited;
but he being the capital person, I should have been much disappointed
if he did not come. My vanity made me very anxious; and I paid the
tax of suffering a very disagreeable suspense till he arrived. The com-
pany was: Lord Pembroke (whom I contemplated as the Herbert, the
master of Wilton, etc., and was happy that one of the family of Au-
chinleck entertained an English nobleman of such rank), Lady Col-
ville, Lady Anne Erskine and Captain Erskine, General Lockhart of

Edinburgh, 11 August 1774 267

Carnwath, who had also been in Corsica, Colonel Stopford (lieuten-
ant-Colonel of the 66 regiment and brother to Lord Coin-town, an
Irish earl), and Colonel Webster. Everything went on with as much
ease and as genteelly as I could wish. This was not my own idea only,
for I was told so by Lady Colville and Lady Anne, who were attentive
as friends. My wife was just as I should have been satisfied to see her
in London. Lord Pembroke was lively and pleasant; General Lockhart
was more affable than usual. Veronica was brought in after dinner,
and Lord Pembroke shook hands with her. I was really the man of
fashion. We drank only two bottles of wine after dinner, and then
drank tea and coffee with the ladies. So agreeable a day I have not
seen in Edinburgh. I went to the Assembly in the evening, not having
been at one since I was married. I felt no awkwardness, but saw a very
fine company with cheerful satisfaction. Lady Anne Erskine and my
wife and Captain Erskine and I met there. I had a full crop from my
entertainment of Lord Pembroke, it was so well known. Keith Stewart 8
came up: "Boswell, what have you done with your guest Pembroke?"
LORD HADDINGTON. T "Mr. B-B-BoswelL, what have you done with Lord
P-embroke?" He and Colonel Stopford had gone to the play and came
in to the Assembly after it. Douglas and I met tonight. His coldness
to his best supporters makes him appear to great disadvantage. I told
him I intended being at Douglas Castle this autumn. Bruce was here.
I tried him again a little, but with very small success. Nicholls was
introduced to him, and in my hearing put several questions to him,
but received very dry answers. Two Spanish gentlemen were here: a
grandee, a Count de Fernan-Nufiez, 8 and a Chevalier Comano. Nich-
olls introduced me to them. I had a good deal of conversation with the
Chevalier, who was an inquisitive, clever little man. It hurt me to find
myself much rusted both in Italian and French, while Nicholls spoke
both very fluently.

FRIDAY 12 AUGUST. At seven went and saw my father set out for
Auchinleck. I had engaged to breakfast at Lady Colville's and go in
her coach with Lady Anne and her brothers to see the King's Purse

6 Naval officer, ultimately vice-admiral, son of the sixth Earl of Galloway.
T Father-in-law of Bennet Langton. See above, p. 12171. 5.

8 "Count " in the MS. The two Spaniards, on a tour through England and

Scotland, appeared at the races as well as the Assembly and were noticed in the
The Scots Magazine.

268 Leithy 12 August 1774

run for on Leith Sands. I accordingly went; but, one of her little nieces
having been seized with a fever, Lady Anne could not go. However,
Captain Erskine 9 and I took the coach, and on our reaching Edinburgh
we were joined by Captain Andrew and the Hon. Captain Elphin-
stone. It was the only good race this week, and there was a fine show
of company. I dined according to invitation with Captain Erskine 1
and his party. Old Erskine the father, 2 his sister Mrs. Rachel, and
Colonel Stopford were there. Mrs. Floyer was a Portuguese East In-
dian, a fine woman. We had an excellent dinner of two courses and a
dessert of fruits, ices, etc. We plied the wine well in the time of dinner
but drank little after it. Nicholls had engaged to sup with me tonight.
I asked the Erskines and Mr. Floyer. They were engaged; but Captain
Erskine said they would all come to me on Sunday evening. I do not
approve of having an entertainment on Sunday, chiefly because I
think it should be a day of rest to servants. But I was taken suddenly
here, so had not presence of mind to waive the offer. Besides, it was
only to be a supper, which does not interfere with public worship. My
wife and I afterwards called for the ladies and left a card of invitation
for them. The company went to the concert.

I went home, and till Nicholls joins me, I shall take a short review
of this summer session. I never was so busy, having written fifty law
papers, nor made so much money, having got 120 guineas. I had been
up almost every morning at seven, and sometimes earlier. I had been
in the Court of Session almost every morning precisely at nine, Charles
Hay and I having agreed that whichever of us was later of coming
than the other, after the nine o'clock bell was rung out, should lose a
shilling; and I think I was a few mornings a little late, and he a few,
so that upon the whole we were equal. I had advanced in practice and
kept clear of the President. I had distinguished myself nobly in a capi-
tal trial. I had been a good deal in company, and in the best company

9 Captain Archibald.

1 Captain James.

2 James, advocate and Knight-Marshall of Scotland. He was grandson and hen-
male of the tenth Earl of Mar, and his wife, Frances Erskine, was daughter and
heir of line of the eleventh (forfeited) Earl. Their son, John Francis, was restored
to the title in 1824. The Erskines of Kellie and the Erskines of Mar were rather
remote cousins. Boswell himself, through his mother, was "descended in the line
of Alva from the noble House of Mar."

Edinburgh, 12 August 1774 269

of the place, both in my own house and in their houses. I had therefore
great reason to be satisfied, having enjoyed, withal, good health and
spirits. BUT I had been much intoxicated I may say drunk six
times, 8 and still oftener heated with liquor to f everishness. I had read
hardly anything but mere law; I had paid very little attention to the
duties of piety, though I had almost every day, morning and evening,
addressed a short prayer to GOD. Old Izaak Walton had done me good;
and frequently in the course of the day, I had meditated on death and
a future state. Let me endeavour every session and every year to im-
prove.

Nicholls came to me in the evening. I had Grange also as a friend
of Temple's; but there was little intercourse between his Honour and
Nicholls, who was full of spirits, quite the fine gentleman, and talked
of nothing but of his travels in Italy. It was agreeable to me to find
Nicholls after twelve years very happy to meet me.

[Received 12 August, John Finlayson to Boswell]

Stirling, 9 August 1 774

SIR, I think it my duty to acquaint you that Gardner was this
day transmitted to Glasgow in order to his being transported abroad.
It shall give me great pleasure to serve you at all times in everything
in my power, or any of Lord Auchinleck's family, of which I now
understand you are, and for whom I have and entertain the greatest
respect, having had the honour of his acquaintance for a great many
years. I will beg the favour of you to make my best and humble com-
pliments to his Lordship. Wishing all happiness to attend him and
you, I am with much regard, Sir, your most obedient and most hum-
ble servant,

Jo. FINLAYSON.

SATURDAY 1 3 AUGUST. After breakfast I went to Belleville and
waited on Lady Dundonald about a lawsuit which she had with a
weaver whom she had employed to weave some fine table linen, but
who had not done it well. She was to carry my wife to the race today,
and she insisted that we should dine at Belleville. I agreed to stay on
condition of being allowed to write letters, for which purpose I had
8 On 21 June, 9, 19, 22, and 29 July, and i August

2 7O Edinburgh, 1 3 August 1 774

set apart this day. Accordingly, after taking a dram of excellent
brandy with the old Earl, I had the drawing-room to myself, and in
all the good spirits that I ever enjoyed, I wrote to General Paoli and
my brother David. There was nobody at dinner but Miss Roebuck.
We drank tea. I supped at Mr. William Macdonald's, Writer to the
Signet, where were Counsellor Archibald Macdonald, Longlands the
solicitor-at-law, Sinclair the advocate, etc. There was a great deal of
noisy mirth. I drank Madeira not to excess.

SUNDAY 14 AUGUST. I lay too long and was not ready to go to
church in the forenoon. I read in Dodsley's Fugitive Pieces "A Journey
into England by Paul Hentzner, a German, in 1598," published by
Horace Walpole, a curious account. My wife and I went to the New
Church in the afternoon, and after I came home I read Burke's Vindi-
cation of Natural Society in the style of Lord Bolingbroke. 4 I was
struck with the quantity of knowledge and abundance of imagery
which it displays, and happy to think that it was an admirable anti-
dote against irreligion, as the Preface well points out. Captain Er-
skine's company that I had engaged on Friday, Lady Betty Cochrane,
Captain and Mrs. Schaw, and Colonel Stopford and Lieutenant Vowel
of the same regiment, supped. I was in the same easy genteel style as
on Lord Pembroke's day, and so was my dear wife. I never saw a sup-
per go on more agreeably. We drank socially in the time of supper;
and after it just one bottle of claret and a little out of a second. Ladies
and gentlemen rose from table together. It was quite as I could wish.

MONDAY 15 AUGUST. The day that Lord Pembroke dined with
me, I should have mentioned a dispute among the military gentlemen
whether experienced soldiers or young ones were best. Colonel Web-
ster was for experienced ones, if they had not been wounded. Colonel
Stopford and also General Lockhart, for young ones, saying that there
was an ardour in men advancing to action for the first time, under
officers of whom they had a good opinion, which soldiers who had
seen service had not. The question does not seem clear. I think it has

4 Hentzner's Journey into England was published by Walpole at Strawberry
Hill in 1757. Burke's Vindication of Natural Society appeared in 1756. It is
written not only in the style but "in the character of [Bolingbroke] a late noble
author." Both pieces were reprinted by Robert Dodsley in his Fugitive Pieces,
1761.

Edinburgh, 15 August 1774 271

been held that veterans are most effectual troops. Yet I observe in
Hentzner's travels that on the tomb of Henry HI in Westminster
Abbey there was this motto: War is delightful to the unexperienced.
Whether it is there still, I know not. 5

This day I paid a visit to the worthy Lord Chief Baron, 6 whom I
had not waited on for a long time, which was very wrong, as he had
all along treated me with great kindness. I found him much better
than I expected, as he had been ill a good while and was said to be
much failed. He revived ideas of the dignity of the English law. His
son was now with him, but was not in. I afterwards met him, and he
and I went with Mr. David Hume to the philosopher's own house 1 and
sat awhile, and from both of them I got many particulars of Mr.
Bruce's travels, which I gathered with much attention, as I intended
to draw out some account of them for The London Magazine. I also
put up in my mind some illustrations by Mr. Hume and Mr. Ord. By
the latter, there was in particular a comparison of the savage manner
of eating in Abyssinia with that of the Cyclops in Virgil. I then called
on Crosbie and consulted with him about the mode of applying for a
transportation pardon for John Reid. I talked with him too of the
Abyssinian repast, and he illustrated it by mentioning a passage in
Selden, De jure naturae et gentium. 9

Mr. Longlands, Mr. William Macdonald, young Mr. Robert
Syme, and Mr. Cummyng, the curious Herald* (for that is his chief

5 The inscription (Dulce bellum inexpertis) which Hentzner in 1598 saw on the
north side of the tomb was described in 1856 as illegible and almost obliterated.

6 Robert Ord. "This respectable English judge will be long remembered in Scot-
land, where he built an elegant house and lived in it magnificently. His own
ample fortune, with the addition of his salary, enabled him to be splendidly hos-
pitable. . . . Lord Chief Baron Ord was on good terms with us all, in a country
filled with jarring interests and keen parties" (Hebrides, 15 August 1773).

7 In St. David Street, St. Andrew's Square, in the New Town.

8 Both Selden and the Cyclops appear in BoswelFs account in The London
Magazine. Bruce's contemporaries were more interested in his description of
Abyssinian banquets of raw beef cut from living animals than in the more
important" portions of his heroic narrative. His veracity was generally doubted;
in 1792 a sequel to Baron Munchausen's adventures was dedicated to him.

9 James Cummyng, herald-painter, was Lyon Clerk Depute, 1770-1775. The
Lyon Court has control over all matters pertaining to Scottish heraldry. Syme
was a Writer to the Signet.

272 Edinburgh, 15 August 1774

designation), dined with me. We were well enough, and drank only
three bottles of claret, which may be considered as a moderate quan-
tity for a company of five Scotsmen. Mr. Syme indeed and Mr. Lawrie,
my clerk, drank about a bottle of port. In the evening I dictated part
of a paper for Lady Dundonald in her linen cause.

TUESDAY 1 6 AUGUST. Finished Lady Dundonald's paper before
breakfast. Was busy all day dictating some account of Bruce's travels
for The London Magazine. I made out, I think, twenty-four folio
pages. 1 1 was glad to find myself an useful partner, as I had received
notice of my having a dividend of 15 odds of profit. Lady Dundonald
and Lady Betty, Miss Roebuck, Captain and Mrs. Schaw drank tea. It
was a very wet day.

WEDNESDAY 17 AUGUST. The weather continued to be very wet,
which made me very lazy. In the morning Captain Schaw called and
consulted me about the consequences of his wounding a horse in the
Canongate, which had run off with a loaded cart and was running
directly upon him at the head of the battalion. I went down to his
house and examined a sergeant and two corporals as to the particulars.
I made the Captain easy by assuring him that he would not be liable
in damages; though I found in one of our old Acts of Parliament of
Ho. 2 that where a beast was killed unintentionally the damage should
be divided equally between the owner and the killer. There is an ap-
pearance of equity in this. But it is contrary to the maxim that every-
thing perishes to its proper owner.

Mr. Lawrie was to go home to his father's for the autumn tomor-
row. I therefore dictated all day papers which were to be finished
immediately: a memorial for the Lyon Fiscal, 2 part of which was left
unfinished, as I told Mr. Lawrie that I would be clerk myself; and a
decreet arbitral (a matter of form) between the trustees for the fund
for ministers' widows and the town of Kirkcaldy . After dinner I drank
several glasses of old hock, just indulging in the gloomy rainy
weather. After tea Steuart Hall 3 called and sat awhile. As I had never
seen him but in the country, he brought strong upon my mind the

1 His account appeared in two numbers of the magazine: August and September
1774-

2 William Black was at this time Fiscal (prosecutor) in the Lyon Office.
5 Archibald Steuart of Steuart Hall.

Edinburgh, 17 August 1774 273

dreary ideas of wet weather and weary nights which I have endured
in Ayrshire, when all things appeared dismal. I have not had such a
cloud of hypochondria this long time. I wish it may not press upon
me in my old age.

THURSDAY 18 AUGUST. Mr. Lawrie set off in the fly at eight
o'clock. I shall miss "him much, as he goes errands, copies letters, and
is very serviceable; but it is good for him to be at his father's in the
vacation. As I began this summer to allow him the whole dues both of
my first and second clerk Matthew Dickie, who does nothing for
me, being allowed to keep the full clerk's dues of all the consultations
which he gives me I am hopeful that Mr. Lawrie may by degrees
make a competency in my service. He made about 24 this session, of
which I put 5 for his behoof into Sir W. Forbes & Co.'s hands at 4
per cent interest, among the money lodged in my name. This was a
fair beginning of Mr. Lawrie's fortune. I shall be happy if he is one
day as rich as Stobie.*

I called on Michael Nasmith and he engaged to get my petition for
John Reid well copied. I settled my account with the Bank of Scotland;
sat awhile with Hay Campbell about Bedlay. 5 Went to Heriot's Gar-
den with my wife and Veronica, who is really a charming child. She
began to walk by herself on Friday the 12th current. She could now
cry "Papa" very distinctly.

I dined at Matthew Dickie's with Colonel Craufurd of Craufurd-
land and a Captain Drummond (a Macgregor), 6 formerly of Crau-
furd's regiment. Wallace of Holmstone 7 joined us at the glass after
dinner. Notwithstanding my resolutions of sobriety, I was so great a
man this day, and harangued with so much fluency, that I would
needs indulge, and drank heartily of port and rurn punch, which al-
ways hurts me. I was a good deal the worse. I may say, "Perdidi

* John Stobie had been clerk to Lord Auchinleck for many years.

* Archibald Roberton of Bedlay employed Boswell in a lawsuit against Capt.
John Elphinstone of Cumbernauld, in regard to the relocation of a road which
ran through Roberton's estate.

* Reputedly a ferocious and lawless clan, the Macgregors were forbidden to use
their own name by an Act of Parliament of 1633. They took the names of other
clans, many becoming Drummonds. The Act was annulled and the name restored
in November 1774.

r An elderly Writer to the Signet

274 Edinburgh, 1 8 August 1 774

diem." 8 1 drank tea with Grange. Hepburn, the Keeper of the Rolls,

was with him.

FRIDAY 19 AUGUST, Mr. Charles Hay and I this day resumed
our study of Erskine's Institute where we left off last vacation. I went
to his house then. He agreed to come to mine now. After we had read
a portion, we fell to some of my Justiciary records, which took us up
an hour, they were so interesting. I then called on Mr. Kincaid and sat
half an hour with him. By neglect of the chairman employed to carry
Mrs. Kincaid's burial letters, mine had been lost; so I was not at the
burial. Mr. Kincaid 1 sent Brown the Librarian 3 to me this morning
with a letter of apology. The visit which I now paid was a proper piece
of attention to a very worthy gentlemanly man who has shown the
greatest regard to all his wife's relations. 8 1 found him in a composed
and serene frame. He had lost a valuable spouse; but she had been long
in bad health and was of so heavenly a mind that to die was great gain,
the consideration of which really prevented one from regretting her
departure. I resolved to continue that friendship with Mr. Kincaid
which had always subsisted between our family and him, though we
meet seldom.

Lord Dundonald's chaise came and carried my wife and me to dine
with the Earl. His house at Belleville was getting some repairs; so he
received us at the house of Mrs. Binning in St Anne's Yards, who was
now in London. This dinner was on account of Counsellor Archibald
Macdonald, who had been very serviceable to the Earl's son James, in
a dispute with the University of Oxford, or at least with Balliol Col-
lege. I engaged Mr. Macdonald for this dinner. Lord Cochrane 4 was
there; Captain and Mrs. Schaw, Colonel Webster, Mr. Henderson (Sir
Robert's son), Lieutenant Vowel. The Earl was in extraordinary
spirits. I drank very moderately. Lady Betty, my wife and I supped

**Tve lost a day" a remark attributed by Suetonius to the Emperor Titus

(Lives of the Caesars, Book viii. ff i ) .

9 This famous work by the professor of Scots law John Erskine was published

in 1773: An Institute of the Law of Scotland. See above, p. 223.

1 Alexander Kincaid, printer and Lord Provost of Edinburgh.

* Of the Advocates' Library.

* Kincaid's wife, the Hon. Caroline Ker, was, like Boswell, a great-grandchild of
the second Earl of Kincardine.

* Eldest living son of Lord Dundonald; succeeded his father in 1778.

Edinburgh., 19 August 1774 275

at Sir George Preston's. This was a day of luxury in eating. I both
dined and supped on moor-fowl.^- 8

SATURDAY 20 AUGUST. I have omitted a very pleasing incident.
On Thursday forenoon Lord Pembroke called. I met frfon at the door.
He said, "I set out tonight, and am come to ask Mrs. BoswelTs com-
mands for London." Mr. Graham of Balgowan 6 was with him. We
went up to the dining-room. My bass fiddle was standing in a corner,
I having begun again to play a little on it, remembering my father
having told me that Lord Newhall resumed it and had one standing in
his study. ""What!" said Lord Pembroke, "are we brother bassers, as
well as brother Corsicans?" His Lordship it seems plays upon it. My
wife came and sat awhile, and we were easy and well. There was a
polite attention in this visit which did honour to the Earl's disposition.

This morning I drew a petition to His Majesty for John Reid. I
could think of nothing else; so Mr. Charles Hay and I read no law, but
went with it to Michael Nasmith's, who was very much pleased with
it, and undertook to have two fair copies on large paper ready to go
by the post at night. Charles went with me to see John. His wife was
with him. I adjured him not to say that he was innocent of the theft
found proved against him if he was not so; that I had put into the peti-
tion what he said, but he would have as good, if not a better, chance
by fairly confessing to His Majesty. Charles very properly said to him,
"Take care and do not fill up the measure of your iniquity by telling
a lie to your Sovereign." I in the strongest manner assured him that I
thought the petition would have no effect that I wrote it only be-
cause I had promised to do it; but that I really thought it would be
better not to send it, as it might make him entertain vain hopes and
prevent him from thinking seriously of death. John professed his con-
viction that the chance was hardly anything, but was for using the
means. I could not therefore refuse him. Charles again addressed him
as to his telling a lie, and said, "I may say, you are putting your sal-
vation against one to ten thousand; nay, against nothing." John ex-
pressed his willingness to submit to what was foreordained for him.

5 This symbol, which now appears in the Journal for the first time, probably
indicates the. resumption of conjugal relations between Boswell and his wife.
Euphemia Boswell had been born three months before, on 20 May.

6 See above, p. nan. 6.

276 Edinburgh, 20 August 1774

"John," said I, "this would not have been foreordained for you if you
had not stolen sheep, and that was not foreordained. GOD does not
foreordain wickedness. Your Bible tells you that." I then took it up
and read from the Epistle of James, Chap. I, v. 13 and 14: "Let no man
say when he is tempted, I am tempted of GOD; for GOD cannot be
tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is
tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." This
seemed to satisfy frfrn. But people in his situation are very apt to be-
come predestinarians. Dr. Daniel Macqueen, one of the ministers of
Edinburgh, told me that when he was minister at Stirling, there was
a man under sentence of death there whom some Cameronian or se-
ceding minister had tutored deeply upon predestination till the man
was positive that the crime which he had committed was decreed by
his Maker; nor could Mr. Macqueen argue him out of this notion.
When he came to the place of execution, the man was beginning to
harangue the people upon this subject. Upon which, Mr. Macqueen,
with his forcible and hurried manner, insisted with the magistrate
to order the executioner to do his duty directly; and accordingly the
man was thrown off, which prevented his mystical discourse. "He
might have put more nonsense into their heads," said Macqueen,
"than I could have driven out again in half a year." There was good
sense in Mr. Macqueen's conduct; though his acquaintances do not
fail in keeping up as a joke upon him his mode of opposing an argu-
ment.

Messrs. Charles Hay, Michael Nasmith, Alexander Innes T (for the
first time) , George Webster, Dr. Boswell, and Grange dined with me.
We did not drink much. I took port and water. I had played at bowls 8
before dinner with Charles Hay, etc.

Between five and six Mr. Nasmith and George Webster accom-
panied me to the prison, when I read over the petition to John Reid,
and he signed two copies of it. I again adjured him not to sign it if he
was not innocent, and again pressed home upon him my conviction
that his chance for life was hardly anything. I was wonderfully firm.
I told him that I really thought it was happy for him that he was to
die by a sentence of the law, as he had so much time to think seriously
and prepare for death; whereas, if he was not stopped in that manner,

T Another Writer to the Signet

Edinburgh, 20 August 1774 277

his unhappy disposition to steal was such that it was to be feared he
would have been cut off in the midst of his wickedness. I enclosed one
copy of the petition to Lord Suffolk, Secretary of State for the North-
ern Department, and one to Lord Pembroke, and wrote a letter with
each copy. I could not help entertaining some faint hope. John Reid's
petition was business enough to me for one day.

[Boswell to the Earl of Pembroke]

Edinburgh, 20 August 1 774

MY LORD, Presuming on your Lordship's goodness, I trouble
you with the enclosed petition to His Majesty from John Reid, an un-
fortunate man under sentence of death. I have also transmitted a copy
to my Lord Suffolk, Secretary of State for the Northern Department
John Reid was my first client in criminal business when he was
tried in 1766. I have therefore a particular concern in his fate and
wish much that he should not be hanged.

May I beg that your Lordship may make me certain that the peti-
tion reaches His Majesty. There is a prejudice against the man in this
country. It would therefore be happy if a transportation pardon could
be obtained for him at once, his crime at any rate not being atrocious.
I have the honour to be with very great regard, my Lord, your most
obliged and obedient humble servant,

[JAMES BOSWELL].

EDITORIAL NOTE: Boswell's petition, after rehearsing the main
lines of Reid's case, stressing the likelihood that it was Gardner who
had stolen the sheep, and repeatedly misstating as fifteen the number
of stolen sheep, concludes with a flourished compliment: "The pre-
rogative of dispensing mercy is the brightest jewel in the British
Crown, and several late instances of it in this part of the United King-
dom have endeared Your Majesty to your more northern subjects.
Your petitioner flatters himself that he also shall have cause to bless
the goodness of the King and shall not be singled out as a miserable
exception from Your Majesty's beneficent lenity."

SUNDAY 2 1 AUGUST. My wife went with me to the New Church
in the forenoon. Mr. Logan at Leith preached. I went alone in the

278 Edinburgh, 21 August 1774

afternoon. Dr. Dick preached. Mr. Nairne and I walked out to Lady
Colville's to drink tea. She and Lady Anne were just going from home.
They left us the key of the tea-chest, and we walked in the garden,
pulled gooseberries, and then drank tea comfortably. The ladies re-
turned and they and we walked agreeably. Captain Erskine was gone
to Kellie. There came an invitation to Mr. Nairne to sup at Dr. Web-
ster's with my wife and me, which he did. Sandy Webster was re-
turned from a voyage to Russia. Dr. Webster had no mercy on John
Reid, because he had attempted to get witnesses to perjure themselves
to bring him off. Said George: "This is what every man would do in
his place. To preserve my life I would perjure all mankind. Nay, sup-
posing all the stars in the firmament to be inhabited, I would perjure
all their inhabitants." This was a sort of grand thought. But, to be
sure, no thinking man of good principles would make even one person
commit the crime of perjury, to save a short and uncertain life at the
risk of salvation. There was a deal of warm conversation as usual; and
Nairne was much pleased with the Websters, as they were with him.

MONDAY 22 AUGUST. The Law College went on. Mr. Hay and
I walked before dinner on the Castle Hill with Mr. Andrew Balfour,
newly made a Commissary of Edinburgh, and some peculiar kind of
talk, the mode and manner only of which made it remarkable, was
carried on. In the afternoon I read the first book of a treatise on taste
which the late Reverend Dr. Wallace left behind him at his death, and
of which his son, Mr. George Wallace, put a part into my hands in MS
to peruse. The first book entertained me little, as it was just a repeti-
tion, somewhat varied, of what I had read in books on the same sub-
ject

TUESDAY 23 AUGUST. The Law College went on, and must be
understood to do so when I do not mention a cessation, Sundays ex-
cepted. We were interrupted twice today, for first Crosbie and then
Cullen called. At one I called on Mr. George Wallace by appointment
and walked in the Meadow with him, to talk of his father's book. I
saw that he expected it would be a valuable property. I mentioned to
him a few animadversions on what I had read, and I understood from
him that the other parts of the book were almost all new. He promised
to send me the chapter on historical composition. In the evening I read
9 Mate of an East Indiaman, he died at sea in 1782.

Edinburgh, 23 August 1774 279

some of the first volume of Robertson's Charles F, which I had bor-
rowed of Michael Nasmith. After dinner, being restless, I went to Dr.
Webster's, and with the Colonel and George drank a bottle of port.
Then tea. Dupont there.

WEDNESDAY 24 AUGUST. Mr. Hay and I played a stout match
at bowls. 1 He gave me one, and I beat him three games. I dined at
Nairne's, who had ten guests assembled without any kind of assort-
ment, so that drinking only made the cement of the company. Noth-
ing worth mentioning passed, except a fancy of my own upon Lochee's
Military Academy at Chelsea, in which boys are made encamp, etc.,
to prepare them for war. I observed that it was absurd to make them
suffer the hardships of a campaign without necessity. That they might
as well be wounded and carried to an hospital, or even some of them
be killed; and that the Master of the Academy would approve of their
being distressed for want of provisions. I shall work up this into an
essay for Rampager, the designation which I assume as a signature to
all my lively essays in The Public Advertiser? A great deal of wine
was drank today. I swallowed about a bottle of port, which inflamed
me much, the weather being hot. I called at home; then sauntered in
the streets; and then supped with my wife at Sir George Preston's,
where I had sent four moor-fowl which I had in presents from Ayr-
shire, agreeable marks of kind remembrance from James Johnston in
Cumnock and John Herbert in Auchencross. Dr. Webster and the
Colonel and Mr. Wood, the surgeon, were at Sir George's. I devoured
moor-fowl, and poured more port down my throat. I was sadly intoxi-
cated. Perdidi diem.

THURSDAY 25 AUGUST. I was very sick and had a severe head-
ache, and lay till between ten and eleven, when I grew better. There
was no Law College today. Crosbie called, on me in the forenoon, in
great indignation at the Bailies of Edinburgh for having sentenced
Henry McGraugh, an Irishman, to be imprisoned, whipped, and
banished because he had called for victuals and drink in public houses

1 In James Maidment's Court of Session Garland (1839) appears a verse Epitaph
on Charles Hay . . . who lies interred under the Bowling Green in Heriafs
Garden,

2 See above, p. 17272. 7. Boswell's Rampagers during 1775-1779 deal much with
the military aspect of American affairs.

280 Edinburgh, 25 August 1774

and then told that he had not money to pay for them. Crosbie begged

that I would inquire into the affair. 8

I communicated to Crosbie a scheme which I had of making an ex-
periment on John Reid, in case he was hanged, to try to recover him.
I had mentioned it in secrecy to Charles Hay and Mr. Wood the sur-
geon, who promised me assistance. Crosbie told me that he had lately
had a long conversation on the subject with Dr. Cullen, who thought
it practicable. It was lucky that I spoke of it to Crosbie, for he was clear
for trying it, and threw out many good hints as to what should be done.
I resolved to wait on Dr. Cullen and get his instructions. I was this
forenoon at the burial of a daughter of the late Mr. Sands, bookseller
here. There is something usefully solemn in such a scene, and I make
it a rule to attend every burial to which I am invited unless I have a
sufficient excuse; as I expect that those who are invited to mine will
pay that piece of decent attention.

I afterwards called at the prison, where I found Mr. Todd, Lady
Maxwell's chaplain,* with John Reid. He seemed to be a weak, well-
meaning young man. I again told John in his presence that there was
hardly the least chance of a pardon and therefore that he ought to
consider himself as a dying man. Yet I did now entertain a small ad-
ditional glimpse of hope, because I saw in the newspapers that, a few
days before, one Madan got a reprieve after he was at Tyburn, ready
to be turned off, the man who really committed the robbery for which
he was condemned having voluntarily appeared and owned it. 5 I

3 See above, p. 198 and below, pp. 282, 309.

4 Lady Maxwell was Darcy Brisbane, who in 1760, at about the age of 17, was
married to Sir Walter Maxwell of Pollock, Bt., and within two years was not
only widowed but lost her infant son. A few years later she became a friend
and correspondent of John Wesley, and thereafter, until her death in 1810, she
led a life of extraordinary piety and was a prominent member of the Wesleyan
Society at Edinburgh. Mr. Todd was apparently a household chaplain whom she
is said to have employed for a short time after which, "during the space of
about forty years, Lady Maxwell was her own chaplain" (John Lancaster, The
Life of Darcy y Lady Maxwell, London, 1826, p. 541 ) .

5 Amos Merritt came forward at Tyburn on 19 August 1774 and declared that he
himself had committed the crime of highway robbery for which Patrick Madan
was about to be hanged. Madan was reprieved and later pardoned; he was pres-
ent to bid farewell to Merritt when the latter was hanged for another crime on
10 January 1775.

Edinburgh, 25 August 1774 281

thought this incident might make the Ministry more ready to listen
to John Reid's story that Gardner was the real thief. John was looking
gloomy today. He told me he had some bad dreams which made him
believe he was now to die.

I then called for McGraugh, who was put into the cage, he was so
violent a prisoner. He was a true Teague. I asked him why he was
confined. He could give but a very confused account; but he assured
me that he had neither stolen victuals and drink nor taken them by
force, but only called for them. I asked him if he had stolen anything.
"Only a pake (piece) of wood," said he; "but then, an't please your
Honour, it was in the dark." "That will not make it better," said I.
Afterwards, however, I saw that this odd saying of his, like all the
Irish sayings at which we laugh as bulls or absurdities, had a meaning.
For he meant that as he had taken the wood in the dark, it could not
be known he had done it; so that it could be no part of the charge
against him and consequently was no justification of the sentence of
the magistrates. I promised to do what I could for him. I also saw one
Macpherson, a young goldsmith confined for debt, from whom I had
a letter telling me that a young woman had come into prison and lent
him her clothes, in which he made his escape but was taken again;
and that the innocent girl was imprisoned. I told him that breaking
prison was a crime; that the girl had been aiding in the escape of a
prisoner and therefore was not innocent; but that she would not be
long confined.

My wife and I drank tea at Dr. Grant's. He was clear that a man
who has hung ten minutes cannot be recovered; and he had dissected
two. I was however resolved that the experiment should be tried. Dr.
Grant carried me up to a very good library which he has and showed
me a number of anatomical preparations. 6 The survey of skulls and
other parts of the human body, and the reflection upon all of us being
so frail and liable to so many painful diseases, made me dreary.

FRIDAY 26 AUGUST. Sir George and Lady Preston and Miss
Preston, Colonel, George, and Sandy Websters, Mr. Wood the surgeon,
and Mr. Bennet the Minister of Duddingston dined with us. I gave
only port, being resolved to give claret seldom while I am not able

6 Dr. Grant had been a candidate for the Chair of Physic in 1761; he gave lec-
tures on the subject in 1770; he pursued the study of chemistry in his own house.

282 Edinburgh, 26 August 1774

to afford it commonly. 7 We were comfortable. I drank port and water,
and did not discompose myself. I went to the Justiciary Office and
wrote a bill of suspension with my own hand for McGraugh. 8

SATURDAY 2 j AUGUST. After our law, Charles Hay and I set out
to dine at Leith, at Yeats the trumpeter's, 9 where we had dined before
very well. I fixed it as a good Saturday's dining-place during our
course of study, and fancied our tete-a-tete there to be like that of my
grandfather and Lord Cullen on the Saturdays. As we walked down
the street we met Crosbie and tried to prevail with him to go with us.
But he was obstinate in a resolution to labour at law papers all this
day. A heavy shower came on, and we went with him into John Bal-
four the bookseller's shop, where we chatted a good while. We then
walked with him as far as his house, where we left him; and there we
were joined by Hay Campbell, who walked on with us. He insisted
that we should go and dine with him at a little country-house which
he had near Leith. We did so, and shared his family dinner with Mrs.
Campbell and his children. It was a scene worth taking: 1 a family
country dinner with the first writing lawyer at our bar. He told us
that when Macqueen married, which was only about eighteen years

ago, his practice did not exceed a year, though he had since

realized many thousands. Macqueen told him that one year he had
made 1900. Hay told us that he himself had made 1600 in a year
in the ordinary course of business; and that a lawyer's labour is not
increased in proportion with his gains, for that he now wrote less than

T Port was cheap because trade with Portugal was encouraged by a treaty; claret
was produce of France and heavily taxed.

8 The Lord of Justiciary whom Boswell petitioned suspended the sentence of
whipping. The Procurator-Fiscal reclaimed, and McGraugh was detained in
prison. (He had thrice previously been taken up on the same charge, twice dis-
missed on good behaviour, and the third time banished on his own plea, on pain
of the punishments now imminent, if he returned.) On 4 February 1775 he was
set at liberty on order of the Court of Justiciary, the Procurator-Fiscal having
waived the whipping in view of his long confinement. The Scots Magazine (Ap-
pendix 1775, pp. 732-733) says that McGraugh's crime "has got the name of
sconcing. Sorning, to which sconcing has an affinity, is the masterful taking
meat, drink, and lodging."

9 An inn kept by one of the trumpeters who rode before the Lords of Justiciary
when they were on circuit.

1 Drawing.

Leith, 27 August 1774 283

he had done. This kind of conversation excited the solid coarse ambi-
tion of making money in the Court of Session. We drank a bottle of
claret apiece and a fourth among us. We then drank tea, and Mr.
Campbell walked with us a good [way] up as a convoy. I was not a
bit intoxicated with what I had drank. Mr. Hay was engaged at home.
Last night Lord and Lady Dundonald and Lady Betty Cochrane,
who had dined at our neighbour Captain Schaw's, called in for awhile.
We had also a visit from the Laird of MacLeod, who had been in town
a few days. I was exceedingly happy to see this excellent young chief
in my house, and I cordially begged that he would make it his home.

1 called on him this forenoon, but he was abroad. He was engaged to
sup with me tonight. I had also Lady Betty Cochrane, Crosbie, Dr.
Grant, Nairne. Just as I was coming home, I overtook in the court Mrs.
Schaw and Colonel Stopford. My wife suggested that we might have
the Colonel and our neighbours. I accordingly went down and asked
them to come up and take a share of a roasted chicken. They readily
complied; and we passed really a pleasant evening. A curious thought
struck me of having the Sheep-stealer's Progress in the manner of
Hogarth's historical prints. We drank very little.

SUNDAY 28 AUGUST. It was a very wet day. I stayed at home in
the forenoon, and read the Life of Carstares, 2 and a good part of the
letters addressed to him. Mr. Crosbie had lent me the book, telling me
there was nothing in it; and indeed I found it made up of ill-written
uninteresting letters, and wondered how Lord Hailes had recom-
mended the publication. I believe I had a prejudice against Carstares
from his being King William's secretary. He seemed to me to be just
an artful sagacious Presbyterian divine. My wife was not well and
stayed at home all day. I went in the afternoon to the New Church.

Mr. preached. In the evening I continued to read Carstares's

letters, still trying to find something worth while but in vain. Dr.
Webster was gone to Fife. At five I was at the burial of a Miss Stewart
of Shambellie. How little of true pious exercise had I this Sunday!

MONDAY 29 AUGUST. A very curious whim had come into my
head: that I would have a portrait of John Reid as my first client in

2 State-Papers and Letters Addressed to William Carstares . . . to Which Is Pre-
fixed the Life of Mr. Carstares 9 Published from the Originals, by Joseph Mc-
Cormick, D.D., Edinburgh, 1774.

284 Edinburgh, 29 August 1 774

criminal business and as a very remarkable person in the annals of
the Court of Justiciary. Keith Ralph, 8 a young painter who hacUtudied
under Runciman,* had drawn Mr. Lawrie's picture very like. I had
him with me this forenoon, and he agreed to paint John. He desired to
see him today, to have an idea of his face, to see what kind of light was
in the room where he lay, and to judge what should be the size of the
picture. Accordingly I went with him. I had before this given a hint
of my design to Richard Lock, the inner turnkey, a very sensible, good
kind of man; and he had no objection. Accordingly we went up. Mr.
Ritchie, a kind of lay teacher who humanely attends all the people
under sentence of death, was with John. I was acquainted with Mr.
Ritchie, as he had called on me about my client Agnes Adam. 5 After
standing a little and speaking a few words in a serious strain, I ad-
dressed myself to Ritchie in a kind of soft voice and mentioned my de-
sire to have a remembrance of John Reid, by having a picture of him;
that Mr. Ritchie and I could sit by and talk to him, and that I imag-
ined John would have no objection, as it would not disturb him.
Ritchie said he supposed John would have none; that he was so much
obliged to me, he would do much more at my request; and he would
come and be present. Next morning between nine and ten was fixed.
Mr. Charles Hay, who waited in the street, went with me to Ralph's
and saw some of his performances.

At four this afternoon Adam Bell was with me, along with Nimmo
his landlord, consulting me to draw answers to a petition. I found
myself much as in session time. Steuart Hall and Mr. Wood the
surgeon drank tea. Wood dispelled the dreary country ideas which
Steuart Hall would have raised. I took a walk with him to Drums-
heugh and round by the New Town, and talked of the scheme of re-
covering John Reid. He said he did not think it practicable. But that
he should give all the assistance in his power to have the experiment
fairly tried.

* George Keith Ralph, born c. 1754, was later portrait-painter to the Duke of
Clarence. He exhibited in London at the Academy from 1778 to 1811.

* Alexander Runciman, a Scots painter who had studied at Rome, was master
of the academy of drawing newly established by the Board of Trustees for Man-
ufactures. See below, p. 296.

5 See above, pp. 198-199.

Edinburgh, 30 August 1 774 285

TUESDAY 30 AUGUST. At ten o'clock I was with John Reid. Be-
fore I got there, Ralph was begun with his chalk and honest Ritchie
was exhorting him quietly. I was happy to see that this whim of mine
gave no trouble to John. One of his legs was fixed to a large iron goad,
but he could rise very easily; 6 and he at any rate used to sit upon a
form, so that he just kept his ordinary posture, and Ritchie and I con-
versed with him. He seemed to be quite composed, and said he had no
hopes of life on account of the dreams which he had. That he dreamt
he was riding on one white horse and leading another. "That," said
he, "was too good a dream, and dreams are contrary." He said he also
dreamt a great deal of being on the seashore and of passing deep
waters. "However," said he, "I allwaye (always) get through them."
"Well," said I, "John, I hope that shall not be contrary; but that you
shall get through the great deep of death." I called for a dram of
whisky. I had not thought how I should drink to John till I had the
glass in my hand, and I felt some embarrassment. I could not say,
"Your good health"; and "Here's to you" was too much in the style
of hearty fellowship. I saio\ "John, I wish you well," or words pretty
much the same, as "Wishing you well" or some such phrase. The
painter and Mr. Ritchie tasted the spirits. Richard the jailer makes it
a rule never to taste them within the walls of the prison.

John seemed to be the better of a dram. He told me that the Reids
of Muiravonside had been there, he believed, for three hundred years;
that they had been butchers for many generations. He could trace
himself, his father, and grandfather in that business; that he never

6 "A round bar of iron, about the thickness of a man's arm above the elbow,
crossed the apartment horizontally at the height of about six inches from the
floor; and its extremities were strongly built into the wall at either end. Hat-
teraick's ankles were secured within shackles, which were connected by a chain
at the distance of about four feet, with a large iron ring, which travelled upon
the bar we have described. Thus a prisoner might shuffle along the length of
the bar from one side of the room to another, but could not retreat farther from
it in any other direction than the brief length of the chain admitted" (Guy Man-
nering, last chapter but one) . In a note Scott says, "This mode of securing prison-
ers was universally practised in Scotland after condemnation. When a man re-
ceived sentence of death, he was put upon the Gad, as it was called. . . . The
practice subsisted in Edinburgh till the old jail was taken down some years
since."

286 Edinburgh, 30 August 1774

was worth 10 and never in much debt, so that he was always evens
with the world. That in the year 1 753 he enlisted in Sir Peter Halkett's
regiment. But was taken up on an accusation of stealing two cows,
for which he was tried at Glasgow and acquitted; after which, as his
pay had run up to a considerable sum, the regiment let him alone,
though he was several times taken up as a deserter at the instigation
of ill-natured people; that he went up to London on foot and wrought

there as a gardener for till there was a hot press, 7 and then he

came to Leith in a brig commanded by John Beatson. That after this
he enlisted in Colonel Perry's regiment, but that a writer or agent
whom he knew in Glasgow got him off by taking a bill from him for
1 i, for which he granted John a discharge which they concealed, so
that the apparent debt above 10 kept him from being forced away;
that he was employed for several years as a driver of cattle to England,
particularly under Mr. Birtwhistle, the great English drover. That
he was art and part in the theft of the sheep from the parish of Doug-
las, one of the articles in his trial in 1766. Graham, the man's herd,
stole them and delivered them to him half a mile from the farm. That
he did not steal the six score; that he married in 1 759; that since his
trial in 1766 he had led an honest, industrious life; that he received
the sheep for which he was condemned from Gardner, and did not
suspect them to be stolen. That his wife and children would be pres-
ent at his death, I dissuaded him from this. He said his wife and he had
lived comfortably fifteen years, and she said she would see him to the
last and would kep him (i.e., receive his body when cut down) ; that
his son, who was a boy of ten years of age, might forget it (meaning
his execution) if he only heard of it, but that he would not readily
forget it if he saw it. To hear a man talk of his own execution gave me
a strange kind of feeling. He said he would be carried to his own
burial-place at Muiravonside; that it was the second best in the kirk-
yard. There were symptoms of vanity in the long line of the Reids and
the good burial-place; a proof that ideas of these kinds are natural and
universal.

Ritchie and I sat awhile with him after the painter was gone, the
first sitting being over. John said, "Death is no terror to me at present.
I know not what it may be." Said Ritchie, "You must either be inf atu-
7 A special drive to press men into the service.

Edinburgh, 30 August 1 774 287

ated, or you have, by grace, a reliance on the merits of Jesus Christ"
John said he trusted to the mercy of GOD in Christ; that he had been
an unfortunate man, and insinuated that his fate was foreordained.
Ritchie quoted the passage in James which I had quoted; but he
seemed to be much hampered with Calvinistical notions about decrees,
while he struggled to controvert John's wickedness being foreor-
dained. Indeed the system of predestination includes all actions, bad
as well as good. Ritchie pressed John much to make an authentic last
speech. I told him that if he was guilty of the crime for which he was
condemned, it was his duty to his country and the only reparation he
could make, to acknowledge it, that his example might have a proper
effect. He persisted in his denial, and did not seem willing to have any
speech published. Ritchie, said to me in his hearing that it was a per-
quisite for Richard, who had a great deal of trouble. I said we should
get John to make a speech.

John complained much of Peter Reid for deceiving him by promis-
ing to swear as to the bargain between him and Gardner, and then
drawing back. "For," said he, "if I had not trusted to him, I would not
have told you that I could bring such proof, and then you could have
done what you thought proper." He told me that he said to Peter in
this very room: "Peter, mony (many) alee (lie) Ihavetelt (told) for
you for which I repent"; and Peter said he would help him to the ut-
most on this occasion; and he did not think there was much harm in
it, as it was to save a man's life; "though it was very wrang (wrong)
to swear awa (away) a man's life." This was a kind of casuistical ex-
planation of the ninth commandment: Thou shalt not bear false wit-
ness against thy neighbour. But thou mayst do so for him. John
cried a good deal when he told me this story of Peter Reid. He did not
seem to be affected on any other occasion. I argued with him that it
was happy that Peter Reid's conscience had checked him and pre-
vented him from being guilty of perjury; that to be sure it was wrong
in him to say that he would swear in John's support, but that it was
better that he stopped than if he had gone on. John's system upon this
subject was so crooked that he did not appear at all convinced.

It was a very wet day. I grew dreary and wanted either Charles
Hay or Grange to dine with me, but neither of them could come. I
took a little bowl of warm punch by myself, except a glass which

288 Edinburgh, 30 August 1774

Veronica drank. Her sweet little society was a gentle relief, but I was
too dismal to enjoy it much. I had a letter from my brother David
which was a cordial. I drank tea with Grange, but was gloomy. I had
by sympathy sucked the dismal ideas of John Reid's situation, and as
spirits or strong substance of any kind, when transferred to another
body of a more delicate nature, will have much more influence than
on the body from which it is transferred, so I suffered much more than
John did. Grange very sensibly observed that we should keep at a
distance from dreary objects; that we should shun what hurts the
mind as we shun what disagrees with the stomach and hurts the body
a very good maxim for preserving a mens sana. At night Mr.
Nairne called in and supped with us. He did me some good by his con-
versation.

WEDNESDAY 31 AUGUST. This was the second day of John Reid's
sitting for his picture. Ralph the painter went through his part with
perfect composure, hardly ever opening his mouth. He mentioned a
Mr. Cochrane of Barbachlaw. John said he was a strange man. He
used to drink hard, till he squeeled like a nowt. He would just play
bu* Strange that a creature under sentence of death should tell such
an anecdote and seem entertained. I spoke to him of his execution,
thinking it humane to familiarize his mind to it. I asked him if he was
here when Murdison died. 9 He said no, and on my saying, "So you did
not see him die," told me that he had never seen an execution. "No?"
said I. "I wonder you never had the curiosity." He said he never had.
That once, as he and some other drivers of cattle were coming from
Yorkshire, they stopped at Penrith in Cumberland, where there was
a man to be executed for murder next day; that some of his companions
stayed to see it, but he and the rest did not. I then spoke of the way in
England of having a cart and ours of having a ladder, and that it was
said ours was the easiest way. "I take it, John," said I, "I shall die a
severer death than you." "I dinna (do not) think," said he, "they can
feel much; or that it can last ony (any) time; but there's nane (none) *

8 Till he bellowed like an ox. He would just pretend to low.

9 Alexander Murdison was convicted of sheep-stealing on 11 January 1773 and
hanged on 24 March. See above, pp. 146-147, 149.

1 BoswelTs glosses upon quite easily interpreted Scots forms, not only here but
elsewhere in the present volume, suggest that he has in mind some other audi-
ence than himself an English-speaking audience.

Edinburgh, 31 August 1774 289

of them to tell how it is." I mentioned Maggy Dickson, who had been
hanged less than the usual time and was recovered, and said she felt
no pain. 2 He told me he saw a Highlandman at Glasgow, a big strong
man, who had escaped twice; first, the rope broke. "And," said John,
"at that time it was thought they coudna (could not) hang them up
again; and the second time, the gallows fell." He said his wife was
resolved that he should die in white; that it was the custom in his part
of the country to dress the dead body in linen, and she thought it would
cost no more to do it when he was alive. He this day again averred the
truth of his story that he got the sheep from Gardner. He said to me
that there was something he had done a great many years ago, before
any of his trials, that had followed him all this time. That it was not
a great thing either, nor yet a small thing, and he would let me know
it. This was somehow curious and awful. Honest Ritchie, from time
to time, threw out serious reflections, as thus : "If any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, even Christ the righteous. Christ is an
advocate, indeed. Other advocates only plead for panels. But he takes
upon him the offences of the panels and suffers in their stead." Ritchie
also gave a particular account of the behaviour of Pickworth, and
promised to give me a copy of a printed narrative of it which he wrote. 8

1 did not know before that Ritchie was an author.

I mentioned that it was remarkable that there was always fine
weather on execution days, and I asked Ritchie what was the meaning
of pigeons flying when people were executed. He said that he thought
the notions which some people entertained of that signifying good to

2 Margaret Dickson, a married woman separated from her husband, was hanged
in Edinburgh for child-murder in 1724. According to the soberest account, her
body was coffined at the foot of the gallows and put into a cart to be conveyed
to Inveresk. On the way the men driving the cart stopped for a dram. When
they came out of the public house, they heard a sound in the coffin, and on tak-
ing off the lid, found her alive. She remained in a low state several days, com-
plaining of a severe pain in her neck, but finally recovered, was reconciled to
her husband, and bore him several children. She sold salt in the streets of Edin-
burgh, where she was generally known as "half-hangit Maggie."

8 A Short Account of the Behaviour of William Pickworth, from His Condemna-
tion to his Death: in a Letter from a Person Who Attended Him Often during
That Time, to Which Is Annexed His Last Speech, Edinburgh, 1771. He was a
soldier in the Twenty-second Regiment of Foot, twenty-four years old, hanged
in Edinburgh for robbery on 25 September 1 771.

2 go Edinburgh, 31 August 1774

the persons executed were fablish. John then told of a woman who vras
executed, who told that morning to a minister after awaking from a
sound sleep, "If ye see some clear draps o' (drops of) rain faw (fall)
on me after I'm custen owr (thrown over) , I'm happy." And John said
the clear drops did fall. All this was most suitable conversation for
John. I asked him if he had ever seen the hangman. He said no. I said
I had seen him this forenoon going into the office of the prison. "Ay,"
said John, "he'll be going about thinking there's something for him."
He seemed to think of him with much aversion and declared he would
have no intercourse with him, one way or other; but he seemed some-
what reconciled when I told him that the hangman was a humane
creature, and shed tears for unhappy people when they were to be
executed. I inculcated upon John that he was now to have no hopes,
since no answer had come to his application. He asked if there would
not come an answer of some kind. I said not unless they were to grant
something favourable, and that must have come before now had it
been to come. He said he was thrown into a panic by hearing a horn
blow in the street.* I was desirous to have his picture done while under
sentence of death and was therefore rather desirous that, in case a
respite was to come, it should not arrive till he had sat his full time.
It was finished today and was a striking likeness, a gloomy head. He
asked if it would not be better to have had on his bonnet, and said he
should have had on a better waistcoat. He asked too if his name would
be upon it. I said it would be on the back of it. Said he: "I thought it
would have been on the fore (front) side of it." There was vanity
again. As the painter advanced in doing it, I felt as if he had been
raising a spectre. It was a strange thought. Here is a man sitting for
his picture who is to be hanged this day eight days. John himself
seemed to wonder somewhat at the operation, and said, "I'm sure you
maun hae an unco (must have a strange) concern about this," or
words to that purpose. When it was finished and hung upon a nail to
dry, it swung, which looked ominous, and made an impression on my
fancy. I gave John a dram of whisky today again. When I got home I
found several vermin upon me which I had attracted while in the jail.
It was shocking. I changed all my clothes.

Lady Colville and Lady Anne Erskine drank tea with us, very
agreeably. Mr. Hay and I had read no law today. When I came from
4 He thought perhaps of a post-horn.

Edinburgh, 3 1 August 1 774 291

the prison, we had gone to Heriot's Garden and played at bowls. Mac-
laurin was in town today, and played with us.

[Received c. 31 August, Lord Erroll to Boswell]

Slains Castle, 27 August 1 774

SIR, I have now lying before me yours of the tenth. I should be
very willing to show any favour in my power to a client of yours, but
in the present case I am certain no application from me would be of
any avail. I never had a good opinion of Mr. Clarke, although he was
my tenant. And from your own account of Reid, I cannot find any
reason for an indifferent person to apply in his favour. At the same
[time] I cannot help applauding your doing so, as you are of opinion
the jury condemned him on scrimp evidence, though I think a man
being habit and repute of a bad character must always weigh with
any jury. Lady Erroll joins me in best respects to you, and I am with
very much esteem, Sir, your most obedient servant,

ERROLL.

THURSDAY i SEPTEMBER. I breakfasted at Mr. David Steuart's,
Writer to the Signet, where was his father, Steuart Hall. At ten I
called on Dr. Cullen to talk with him of recovering John Reid. He was
gone abroad. I found his son, my brother lawyer, and trusted him
with the secret, and he engaged to get me a meeting with his father.
It came on a heavy rain; so I sat a good while with Cullen in his study,
and had very good ideas presented to my mind about books and crim-
inal law, etc. Every man has some peculiar views which seem new to
another. After taking a tolerable dose of law, Mr. Hay and I went for
a walk to Heriot's Garden, and then I dined with him. He had Dr.
Monro and several more company "with him, and it was concerted
that we should get information from the Anatomical Professor as to
recovering a hanged person, 5 which would be useful to Reid. Harry

5 There seems to have been a wide-spread interest at this time in the subject of
recovering persons supposedly dead. The leading article in The Scots Magazine
for September 1774 was an abstract of a French memoir, by M. Janin, published
at Paris in 1773, "on the causes of sudden and violent death; wherein it is proved
that persons who seemingly fall victims to it may be recovered." In 1774 the
Humane Society, for the recovery of persons apparently drowned, was founded
in London.

292 Edinburgh, i September 1774

Erskine 6 was there, and talked so much that it was long before we
could get Dr. Monro set upon the subject. He said in his opinion a
man who is hanged suffers a great deal; that he is not at once stupe-
fied by the shock, suffocation being a thing which must be gradual
and cannot be forced on instantaneously; so that a man is suffocated
by hanging in a rope just as by having his respiration stopped by hav-
ing a pillow pressed on the face, in Othello's way, or by stopping the
mouth and nostrils, which one may try; and he said that for some time
after a man is thrown over, he is sensible and is conscious that he is
hanging; but that in three minutes or so he is stupefied. He said that
it was more difficult to recover a hanged person than a drowned, be-
cause hanging forces the blood up to the brain with more violence,
there being a local compression at the neck; but that he thought the
thing might be done by heat and rubbing to put the blood in motion,
and by blowing air into the lungs; and he said the best way was to cut
a hole in the throat, in the trachea, and introduce a pipe. I laid up all
this for service in case it should be necessary. He told me that ten or
twelve of his students had, unknown to him, tried to recover my
clients Brown and Wilson, 7 but had only blown with their own
breaths into the mouths of the subjects, which was not sufficient. He
said some people had applied to him for leave to put on fires and make
preparations for recovering Lieutenant Ogilvy in his class. That he
thought it would be very wrong in him to allow it, and told them he
should have no objection if Lord Justice-Clerk gave his consent. That
he spoke to Lord Justice-Clerk, who said that if such a thing was
allowed, the College of Edinburgh should never again get a body from
the Court of Justiciary. Indeed it would have been counteracting their
sentence. He said he dissected Ogilvy publicly, and that there was no
hurt on his head by the fall from the gibbet. 8

I sat long here today, thinking myself well employed in listening
to Dr. Monro, whom I seldom met. He asked me to sup with him next
8 See above, p. 198.

r Hanged on 15 September 1773. See above, p. 192.

8 This notorious case has been given a volume in the Famous Scots Trials. Lieu-
tenant Patrick Ogilvy became the lover of the young wife of his brother, the
laird of Eastmiln, and connived with her in poisoning him. Mrs, Ogilvy (a niece
of BoswelTs friend William Nairne) escaped from prison and got to France, but
Patrick was hanged in a bungling manner on 13 November 1765.

Edinburgh, i September 1774 293

day with the Laird of MacLeod. I drank rather more than a bottle of
Madeira. It was about ten when we parted. I made a good deal of
impression on the company in favour of John Reid's innocence. As I
considered him as now a gone man, I resolved to know the truth by
being with him to the very last moment of his life, even to walk a step
or two up the ladder and ask him then, just before his going off, what
was the real matter of fact; for if he should deny then, I could not
resist the conviction.

FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER. I lay till near ten. A little after I rose and
was at breakfast and Mr. Hay was come, while the tea-things were
standing, I was called out to a man and who was this but Richard
Lock, who informed me that John Reid had got a respite for f ourteen
days; 9 that Captain Fraser had been up with him and read it to him,
and that he teared more now than he had ever seen him. I was put
into great agitation. All my nerves started. I instantly dressed, and
Mr. Hay and I walked out, met Michael Nasmith, who had seen
the respite in the Council Chamber, and he went thither with us,
when Bailie Brown showed us it. 1 Wright, the stationer, who was

at the time , 2 cried out with a kind of unfeeling sneer, "It will

be lang (long) life and ill health;" and all the people in the Chamber
seemed against poor John. We then went up to John, whom we found

9 The respite (Public Record Office, Scottish Entry Book, Criminal) is dated at
St. James's 26 August and signed by Lord Rochford. On the same date Lord
Rochford, "in the absence of Lord Suffolk," sent the Lord Justice-Clerk John
Reid's petition and BoswelTs accompanying letter, requesting a report "whether
and how far the said John Reid may appear . . . to be an object of His Majesty's
Royal Mercy." "But if your Lordship shall be fully satisfied with the verdict
and shall not have discovered any favourable circumstances in the convict's
case, I am to desire your Lordship to return the said respite to me when your
Lordship transmits your report." On 17 October Bpswell heard from the Justice-
Clerk's brother that the respite had thus been optional "that Lord Rochford
sent the respite to him with a power to deliver it, or put it in the fire as he should
judge proper."

1 Perhaps the same as "Buckram" Brown, below, p. 301.

2 Charles Wright was Dean of Guild, a lay judge, elected by the tradesmen of the
City, with jurisdiction in mercantile causes and over building regulations. On
this occasion he was apparently officiating in some such capacity as "chairman"
or "president" within the Council Chamber, and Boswell cannot recall the exact
word.

294 Edinburgh, 2 September 1774

in a dreadful state. He was quite unhinged. His knees knocked
against each other, he trembled so; and he cried bitterly. I spoke to
him in a most earnest manner and told him, since the respite was
only for fourteen days, the judges would be consulted and they would
report against him. He must therefore consider that he had just four-
teen days more allowed him to prepare for his awful change. He
moaned and spoke of his being "cut off after all, with a hale (whole)
heart." I said he must compose himself. He said he hoped he should,
if it pleased GOD to continue him in his senses, as he had hitherto done.
I said, "You would make this application, though I told you I thought
it would have no effect. If you suffer from it, it is owing to yourself."
It was striking to see a man who had been quite composed when he
thought his execution certain become so weak and so much agitated
by a respite. My wife put a construction on his conduct which seemed
probable. She said it was plain he had all along been expecting a
pardon and therefore was composed, but that now when he found that
only a respite for fourteen days had come and that inquiry was to be
made at the judges, he for the first time had the view of death. But
if I can judge of human nature by close observation, I think he was
before this time reconciled to his fate, and that the respite affected
him by throwing him into a wretched state of incertainty. I gave
him a shilling to get some spirits as a cordial. Messrs. Hay and
Nasmith went with me to the Justiciary Office, but we could learn
nothing there but that John Davidson, the Crown Agent, had applied
for an extract of the trial on Monday. 8 The respite therefore must have
been kept up some days.

I was quite agitated, partly by feeling for Reid, whom I had seen
in so miserable a condition, partly by keenness for my own conse-
quence, that I should not fail in what I had undertaken, but get a
transportation pardon for my client, since a respite had come. I re-
solved to walk a little in the fresh air in the Meadow, Hay and
Nasmith accompanied me and helped me to calm myself. I thought
of applying to Lord Advocate. They were for my taking a chaise and
going directly to his country-house at the Whim, which was but f our-

3 "The Justice-Clerk . , . though he sent up his own opinion, sent also up a full
copy of the trial that it might be judged of by the King in Council" (Journal,
17 October 1774).

Edinburgh, 2 September 1774 2 95

teen miles off. I thought it would be better to send an express to him
with a letter, as I could write in stronger terms than I could speak;
and I would ask a transportation pardon from him as a favour which
I should consider as a serious obligation for life. I determined that
we should call on worthy Nairne and take his advice. He humanely
said that since I had obtained a respite, he wished I might save Reid
from execution; and he gave it as his opinion that I had better go to
Lord Advocate in person. Honest Charles Hay would not leave me in
my distress, but accompanied me, as honest Kent did Lear.

We got a chaise at Peter Ramsay's directly, and set off. Charles
agreed to wait at an inn not far from the Advocate's, as he was ill-
dressed, and it would be better I should wait on the Advocate alone.
We talked or rather raved of all the possibilities as to John Reid's
affair as we drove along, and Mr. Hay was by this time grown almost
as eager to save him as I was. He stopped at an inn at Howgate three
miles from the Whim. I was uneasy when by myself, restless and im-
patient. When I arrived at the house, I was told my Lord was gone
to Sir James Clerk's at Penicuik. I drove back to Howgate, where Hay
had dined. I took a glass of port and a bit of bread, and then we got
into the chaise again and drove to Penicuik. We put up our horses at
the inn. He walked with me half way to Sir James's and promised to
wait at the village. It was now between five and six. As I approached
the house, I saw Sir James and Lord Advocate and some other gentle-
men taking a walk after dinner, I had dined here before with Sir
James. After making my bow to him, I said, "My Lord Advocate, I
am in quest of your Lordship. I have been at the Whim. May I beg
to speak with you?" We went aside. He immediately started the
subject, answering, "About your friend John Reid." I spoke to him
very earnestly. He told me he had seen the respite and my letter to
Lord Suffolk and the petition for John. He expressed his unwilling-
ness to have an execution after a respite, but said that the respite here
had been compelled by the application coming so late. That the
King's business required that an example should be made of this
man, and if it were to be asked at him, he could not say that Reid
was a proper object of mercy. But that he was to give no opinion one
way or other. He made for a little a kind of secret of what was doing.
But upon my urging h^n, he said it lay with the judges, and I must

296 Penicuzk, 2 September 1774

apply to them. I said I did not like to apply to them, and I told him
with great sincerity that he was the only man employed by the
Crown in the Justiciary Court who had not a strong bias against the
panels. I said the Justice-Clerk stood in a very delicate situation here,
as he had attacked Reid after being acquitted by his country, 4 and
would be supposed to be much prejudiced against him. If I were in
his place, I would not wish to make a severe report in such circum-
stances. The Advocate smiled. He gave me full time and never seemed
inclined to go in, but walked on the lawn with a complacent easy
behaviour. I showed him that I was really very much concerned here
and begged he would assist me; that I should never forget the obliga-
tion. He said it would be improper for him to interfere.

Sir James sent and invited me to tea. I went in with Lord Advocate
and drank some coffee and eat a crumb of biscuit. I went and looked
at Runciman's paintings in Ossian's Hall, 5 and was much pleased.
Sir James was extremely polite to me. Lord Advocate carried me in
his coach to the village, but as he had a gentleman and lady with
him I could get but little said. I however resumed my solicitation and
said, "Well, my Lord, you'll think of it." He with a pleasing tone said
something to this purpose: "Then as King William said, 'You must
not think no more of it' " Though I did not distinctly hear what he
said, it appeared to me that he had an intention to do something for

4 In giving his judgement in the Douglas Cause, in another court and several
months after Reid's acquittal, the Lord Justice-Clerk indulged in an obiter
dictum which was reported as follows: "We have indeed seen cases where there
was a moral impossibility of the prisoner's innocence, and yet we have seen
juries acquit such a one. Such a case was that of Reid, who was lately tried be-
fore the criminal Court, for the crime of sheep-stealing. ... A counsel at that
bar, who likes to distinguish himself upon such occasions, patronized the prison-
er's defence and notwithstanding the clearest and most positive evidence of all
the facts which I have mentioned, 'The jury acquitted the prisoner' " (A Sum-
mary of the Speeches, Arguments, and Determinations of . . . the Lords of . . .
Session [in the Douglas Cause] , London, 1767, pp. 323-324).

5 A series of twelve paintings of scenes from Ossian's poems, on the ceiling of a
large room designed for a picture gallery, with smaller paintings to complete
the design. This room was one of the most important commissions given to
Runiciman on his return from Rome (see above, p. 284) by Sir James Clerk and
other patrons. The paintings, finished in 1773, were highly esteemed, but
perished when the house was destroyed by fire in 1899.

Penicuik, 2 September 1774 2 97

me. He pressed me much to go home with him, but I told him I was
engaged in town. Mr. Hay and I drank a pint of white wine and eat
a bit of biscuit and then took our chaise again, I observed how curious
it was that two beings who were not sure of their own lives a day
should be driving about in this manner to preserve the life of a wretch
a little longer. Said Charles: "Can we be better employed?" On my
coming home, and Mr. Hay with me, my wife, who never favoured
John Reid and who was sorry to see me so much interested about him,
told me that she had heard some decent-looking men talking tonight
on the street against him. One of them said, "I think no laws will get
leave to stand now. I wish the law of Moses may get leave to stand."
She delivered me a letter from Lord Pembroke in most polite terms,
mentioning that he had written to Lord Rochf ord and urged the affair
strongly. This revived my hopes. I went to Dr. Monro's. Colonel
Campbell of Finab and his family and the Laird of MacLeod and
some other company were there. I played awhile at loo and lost only
i8d. We supped very genteelly. I was in a very good frame, had taken
a liking to claret and drank a bottle of it. I was pleased at this acquisi-
tion to the number of my convivial acquaintances.

[Received 2 September, Lord Pembroke to Boswell]

[Wilton] 29 August 1774

S IR) i have received your commands and shall execute them

as well as I can, with the greatest pleasure. As I cannot be in town
to give the petition myself, and as I understand you have applied to
Lord Suffolk, I have wrote to the other Secretary, Lord Rochf ord, and
have urged the affair strongly to him.

I beg to make my compliments acceptable to Mrs. Boswell, and am,
Sir, with the greatest truth and regard, your most obedient, humble

servant,

PEMBROKE.

[Michael Nasmith to Boswell]

[Edinburgh] almost 11,2 September [i 774]
DEAR SIR, I don't know whether you are returned. If Do
give me a hint of your hopes. I am engaged or would have waited
on you.

298 Edinburgh, 2 September 1774

John's wife was with me this afternoon. I gave her a letter to the
messenger who apprehended, 6 with three or four queries, but begged
frirn to come to town immediately to give you every information.

She tells me that after John heard the report against him, he had
frequent conferences with Gardner, who lived (but was under hiding
for the housebreaking) within thirty yards of John, anent the
sheep. That the very moment John was taken he told the messenger
that he had received the sheep from Gardner, and asked him whether
he could not also apprehend him. The messenger, giving his hip a
clap, said, "I can, I have a warrand in my pocket against him," and
Gardner, within ten minutes after John, was also taken into custody,
and they were in company as prisoners for some time. Gardner was
sent to Stirling. These are facts you were totally ignorant of. I have
begged the messenger's information what passed betwixt John and
Gardner while in company. From this something good or bad may
be learned. The messenger, if he has any bias, it will be in John's
favour. Old acquaintances. I expect the messenger here on Sunday
or a letter on Monday. What hopes now have you? Ever yours most
sincerely,

M. NASMITH.

SATURDAY 3 SEPTEMBER. I had an opportunity of doing a great
kindness to a friend 7 by lending him 50. My wife very handsomely
was clear for my doing it, and the gratitude which he expressed in a
line which he wrote to me was valuable. 74

SUNDAY 4 SEPTEMBER. I was at the New Church all day; Dr.
Blair in the forenoon, Mr. Walker in the afternoon. Nothing remark-
able was impressed upon me. My wife and I took our Sunday's supper
at Dr. Webster's. I had drank tea at Lady Colville's, as she was going
to Fife next day to stay till October. Before supper I walked in the
garden with the Colonel, who was warm for John Reid, while his
father was strenuous against him. It occurred to me that the Colonel's
interest with Lord Cornwallis, who is intimate with the King and

6 He was a "messenger-at-arms," accompanied by a party of dragoons.

T Probably Andrew Erskine, who, when applying to Boswell in 1777 for a loan

of 50, referred to it as "the old sum."

T * Boswell here left nearly half a page blank, perhaps to record more events of

this day when he remembered them, perhaps to copy in his "friend's" grateful

Edinburgh, 4 September 1 774 299

whose uncle is Archbishop of Canterbury, might be effectual. I asked
the Colonel, "Does he know the narrowness of this damned country?"
COLONEL. "Yes; was a year in it; despises it, hates it." "Then," said I,
"'twill do." The Colonel agreed to write to him, and I was to write
at the same time. We went to the Colonel's room and he instantly
began to flourish away in a letter to the Earl, of which he scrolled 8 a
part. I saw him quite in the train. At supper we had Lieutenant Well-
wood and Grant Seton. George was high in liquor and harangued
wonderfully. I roared against him. He said, "Noise is upon both sides.
Better fire the half-moon in the Castle. 9 Governor Wemyss has the
best argument. There is no answering the great guns." Dr. Webster,
the Colonel, and I drank a bottle of port apiece. I was so full of John
Reid, Lord Cornwallis, etc., that the ordinary Sunday supper ideas
were forgotten. Both the Colonel and I loved a glass tonight. 10

MONDAY 5 SEPTEMBER. The Law College went on pretty well.
It helped to quiet me. At two I went to Colonel Webster. I suggested
to him to mention the prejudice of the judges in this narrow country
on some occasions, which he did excellently well. For a moment I
considered that it was not right that the supreme judges of a country
should be censured by a young colonel whose letter might have in-
fluence. But then I thought, since they really have a bias to severity,
it should be checked. And now there is much at stake: the life of a
man whom I think innocent, and my own fame. In the evening the
Colonel and Michael Nasmith came and sat by me while I wrote to
Lord Cornwallis and a second time to Lord Pembroke, in which I not
only mentioned my own anxiety but that I should be sorry to have it
thought in this country that his Lordship had failed. The Colonel
threw in flashes into my letter to Lord Cornwallis. Mr. Nasmith was
quite pleased with the Colonel. He said I was cool in comparison of
him. Before I got to the post-office the London mail was upon the
horse. I would not trust the post-boy with two such important packets.
I therefore sent them by an express from the post-office to Hadding-
ton, which cost me 7.9. But one day's sooner arrival was well worth
the money. Mr. Nasmith came home and supped with me.

8 Drafted. See below, p. 307.

A bastion in the shape of a half-moon, with a battery of cannon from which

salutes were and are still fired on official occasions.

10 Another sentence of perhaps eight words f ollows in the manuscript^ hut it has

been carefully deleted by Boswell, and remains undeciphered

300 Edinburgh, 5 September 1774

[Boswell to Lord Pembroke]

Edinburgh, 5 September 1774

MY LORD, Your Lordship's most obliging letter has confirmed
me in the opinion which I formed of your humanity. A respite for
fourteen days has come for John Reid. But I understand that some of
the judges are desired to make a report concerning him, and as I al-
ready hinted to your Lordship that there are prejudices against him in
this narrow country which it would take some time to explain, I dread
that the report may be unfavourable. If that shall be the case and he
shall be yet ordered for execution, his situation will be deplorable,
and the application made in his behalf will only serve to augment
his misery. I must therefore again intrude upon your Lordship and
beg in the most earnest manner that you may make a point of having
his sentence changed to transportation. As I have mentioned my
obligations to your Lordship for interposing in this affair, I should
be sorry to have it thought in this country that Lord Pembroke
strongly urged a petition for mercy in the case of a simple theft, sup-
posing the charge true, and failed in obtaining it. The cruelty of an
execution after respite is equal to many deaths, and therefore there
is rarely an instance of it. This poor wretch, even if guilty, does not
merit such severity. I am so much distressed with this wretched case
that your Lordship will relieve me as well as my client by getting the
sentence mitigated, and believe me, my Lord, I shall be most sincerely
grateful for the obligation. Colonel Webster has written to Lord Corn-
wallis in favour of the unhappy man, whom I do really believe inno-
cent of the theft for which he is condemned, and I would fain hope that
I shall be made easy by having his lif e saved. It would be improper
for me to suggest to your Lordship in what manner to secure a
pardon. But I flatter myself that in the circumstances in which the
affair now is, your Lordship will take effectual measures to obtain it.
I shall be in great anxiety till I receive a few lines from your Lordship.
My wife joins me in most respectful compliments, and I have the
honour to be with unfeigned warmth your Lordship's much obliged
humble servant,

[JAMES BOSWELL].

Edinburgh, 6 September 1 774 301

TUESDAY 6 SEPTEMBER. Dined at Mr. Donaldson's, where were
Mr. Brown, who has the appellation of Buckram Brown, 1 who said all
the books on trade Child, Davenant, etc. were nonsense, except
Sir Matthew Decker's treatise. 2 We had also Mr. Mylne, the architect
of Blackfriars Bridge, who told me that Mr. Johnson had begun again
to drink wine and to speak in praise of doing so, which put me in the
humour of it. 8 Also Captain Charles Douglas of the Navy, who had
drank no fermented liquor for several years and said he was much
healthier and stronger, could bear more fatigue, fast longer, and
added four hours in the twenty-four to his existence, as he required
less sleep. He preached up his system. But Mylne, who had tried it,
said it would not answer with his constitution; and to this Mr. Mc-
Dowall, the woollen-cloth manufacturer, who was there, assented cor-
dially. Donaldson gave us very good claret. I loved the liquor, sucked
it, and found it salutary. We had good stout conversation about the
Bostonians and taxes, and trials for life or death. I removed part of the
prejudice against John Reid. We drank tea. Brown said smuggling
was not criminal. It was gaming running the risk of certain penal-
ties; and suppose all our own subjects should let it alone and we should
see the Dutch getting all the profits of it, would not a man do well to
try to get a part for himself? I answered that suppose all our own sub-
jects should give over robbing on the highway and none but Dutch-
men follow that occupation, would a man do well to try to get a part
of the guineas, and not let them be carried out of the kingdom by the
Mynheers? This got me the laugh of the company on my side.

[Michael Nasmith to Boswell]

Edinburgh, 6 September 1774

DEAR SIR, Do you think it would be proper to transmit to Mr.
Wilson, writer in Glasgow, that part of John's last speech respecting

1 "From his stiffness of temper and manners" (Boswelliana, p. 281). He was a
china-merchant and magistrate of Edinburgh.

2 Sir Matthew's Essay on the Causes of the Decline of the Foreign Trade ap-
peared in 1744. Adam Smith did not think so well of it as Mr. Brown.

8 There is no reason for doubting Mylne's testimony, but it does not appear that
Johnson's use of wine after 1765 was more than sparing and sporadic.

302 Edinburgh, 6 September 1774

Gardner? I think it would be at any rate a matter of satisfaction to
us to have Gardner, before he goes, examined upon every particular.
If you think it proper, you may send me the speech to have the excerpt
made, or you may cause my clerk do it, as perhaps you may not like
to let the speech, as it stands, go out of your own possession. I am most
sincerely, dear Sir, yours,

M. NASMITH.

[Michael Nasmith to Boswell]

Edinburgh, 6 September 1774

DEAR SIR, Wilson is a fellow of spirit, and I wish him to know
how matters stand. And sincerely I think I have told him nothing but
real truth. But you'll let me know whether any thing is improper.
There are such a world of questions to be asked at Gardner. If there
be any truth in John's speech, I am sure we'll have some of it from
Gardner, if he is not possessed of superlative cunning. I am, dear Sir,
yours,

M. NASMITH.

The more I think of this matter the less I am disposed to think that the
verdict is just, be Reid innocent or guilty.

[Michael Nasmith to John Wilson, Jr., Writer in Glasgow]

Edinburgh, 6 September 1774

DEAR JOHNNY, You must know something more about poor
John Reid's situation.

In 1766, when tried here for sheep-stealing, when the verdict of
the jury was read finding him innocent, some of the judges took the
liberty to give a different opinion, and the Lord Justice-Clerk in his
speech in the Douglas Cause took some striking liberties with poor
John's character. Upon these grounds, notwithstanding the verdict,
all mankind were authorized by the Court to hold him guilty.

In last indictment habit and repute was libelled. Mr. Boswell op-
posed this with great spirit. In the proof, the Advocate by a minute
admitted what had been said by the judges at last trial, and the
speeches in the Douglas Cause were produced. The proof amounted

Edinburgh, 6 September 1 774 303

to this: that eighteen were stolen, and that five of these were found
in John's possession. John could not prove he purchased them, nor
could he prove that he had not himself brought them home. Nor could
he prove he was at home the night before they arrived. Of about
twenty-five witnesses who were summoned for him, not one of them
could say a word, and one of the Crown witnesses swore that he im-
agined (being Reid's next neighbour) that the sheep was brought
home by John early before daylight in the morning, although John
avers, and his wife too, that he was in his bed all that night, and that
Russel, a lad employed by Gardner, brought them. The habit and re-
pute bore everything before it. Five of the nineteen were found in his
possession. Ergo the libel was found proved. Such a conclusion per-
chance may be right, but I defy mortal creature to say it is. Boswell
was great. There never was a charge made with greater dignity and
judgement. Had Corsica been at stake, he could not have stood forth
with greater firmness, and at the same time with all that respect which
was necessary, to show that the former trial could not influence in the
present question. He implored the jury to disentangle themselves from
all prejudices. The Lord Justice-Clerk complained loudly to the jury
he and the Court had been arraigned. The verdict was returned find-
ing the indictment proved.

A respite, I told you last night, has been obtained for fourteen days,
but we now understand His Majesty wishes to have the Justiciary
Court's report whether the poor man ought to die or live. You see
where we are. We fear the Lord Justice-Clerk. The battle is betwixt
Boswell and the Court. He is opposing all his interest. He is all human-
ity. Reid is his oldest client in the Justiciary Court. He wishes not to see
him die where the proof is not conclusive, nor any man where the
proof is no more than that five stolen sheep are found in his possession.
A simple act of theft, and that only supported by presumption. Is it
not hard?

Before the respite came, John's last speech was framed. It has been
put into Mr. BoswelTs possession. Enclosed is a copy of that part of it
respecting Gardner. It may be true. If it is, what a direful thing in
this country of knowledge, and all the rest of it, for the poor man to be
hungup!

If Gardner be gone to Greenock and not off, you'll follow him and

304 Edinburgh, 6 September 1 774

make every enquiry. Your letter perhaps may be a sufficient answer
to the Lord Justice-Clerk's report to His Majesty. Enquire as to the
poinding* if there was any such person as Russel as to the letter.
Feign that we have the letter. You need no instructions. When Boswell
or I can serve you, command. I am, etc.,

M. NASMITH. B

EDITORIAL NOTE: The broadside Last Speech, Confession, and
Dying Words of John Reid . . . given to Richard Lock, Inner Turn-
key of the Tolbooth, Edinburgh . . . Printed by H. Galbrcdth was
not published until after 2 1 September. (See below, Appendix A.) But
the text of this broadside taken with the letter just presented makes it
clear that Boswell and Nasmith were by now in possession of a state-
ment by Reid to the effect that about ten days before the "melancholy
affair" for which Reid was to suffer, Gardner had arranged with Reid
to deliver to him a parcel of sheep for slaughter on Tuesday 4 October.
Gardner did not, however, actually deliver the sheep on that day. In-
stead, on Thursday "thereafter, early in the morning before I had got
out of bed, a young man named Thomas Russel chapped at my door
and told me that Gardner had sent me nineteen sheep and at same
time delivered me a line from him, in which he informed me that he
could not come on the Tuesday as he had promised, as he had been
employed in poinding a man that was owing him some money."

WEDNESDAY 7 SEPTEMBER. Mr. Nasmith called with a letter
from Brown, the messenger who had taken up John Reid, addressed
to John^ and mentioning that, as they were upon the road, John asked
him if he could apprehend any one else and mentioned Gardner, who
was accordingly apprehended. From this letter it appeared to me and
Messrs. Hay and-Nasmith that John had been lying; for if he had got
the sheep from Gardner without suspicion, would not he, when ac-
cused of stealing them, have instantly accused Gardner, loudly and
keenly? No law was read today, we talked so long of John Reid. I de-
termined to try again to know the truth.

I went up to John a little before two, with the messenger's letter

4 Distraining a person's goods; pronounced "pmding."
c The letter is a copy in Nasmith's hand.

Edinburgh, 7 September 1774 35

in my hand. Seeing me have a paper, he gave an earnest look, I sup-
pose in expectation that it was his pardon. But I at once accosted him
as a dying man, upbraided him with having imposed on me, and said
to him what I and Mr. Nasmith had concluded from perusal of the
letter. He calmly explained his conduct "Sir," said he, "Gardner had
before this time come to my house and owned to me that he had stolen
the sheep, and promised me great rewards if I would not discover him.
Therefore, when I was taken up, I would not speak out against him,
but wanted him to be apprehended, that he and I might concert what
was to be done to keep ourselves safe. But he was but a very little time
with me, and then was carried to Stirling." I was not much convinced
by this account of the matter. I had wrought myself into a passion
against John for deceiving me, and spoke violently to him, not feeling
for him at the time. I had chosen my time so as to be with him when
two o'clock struck. "John," said I, "you hear that clock strike. You
hear that bell. If this does not move you, nothing will. That you are
to consider as your last bell. You remember your sentence. On
Wednesday the * of September. This is the day. Between the hours of
two and four in the afternoon; this is that very time. After this day
you are to look upon yourself as a dead man; as a man in a middle
state between the two worlds. You are not in eternity, because you are
still in the body; but you are not properly alive, because this is the
day appointed for your death. You are to look on this fortnight as so
much time allo wed to you to repent of all your wickedness, and partic-
ularly of your lying to me in such a way as you have done. Think
that this day fortnight by four o'clock you will be rendering an ac-
count to your Maker. I am afraid that you are encouraged by your
wife to persist in obstinacy, not to disgrace her and your children. But
that is a small consideration to a man going into eternity. I think it
your duty to own your being guilty on this occasion if you be reaUy
so, which I cannot but think is the case. By doing so you will make all
the atonement in your power to society. But at any rate I beseech you
not to deny your guilt contrary to truth." This was as vehement and
solemn a harangue as could be made upon any occasion. The circum-
stance of the clock striking and the two o'clock bell ringing were finely
adapted to touch the imagination. But John seemed to be very unfeel-
ing today. He persisted in his tale. There was something approaching

306 Edinburgh, ^ September 1774

to the ludicrous when, in the middle of my speech to him about his not
being properly alive, he said very gravely, "Ay; I'm dead in law."
I was too violent with him. I said, "With what face can you go into
the other world?" And: "If your ghost should come and tell me this,
I would not believe it." This last sentence made me frightened, as I
have faith in apparitions, and had a kind of idea that perhaps his ghost
might come to me and tell me that I had been unjust to him. I con-
cluded with saying, "You have paper, pen, and ink there. Let me have
a real account of everything." He said he would. Richard Lock had
come into the room before I was done speaking. I desired him to ad-
vise John to be candid.

Mr. Nasmith met me when I came out of prison and was very im-
patient to hear about John. In telling him John's explanation of his
behaviour when taken up, I became impressed that it might be true,
and enlarged on the uncertainty of circumstantial evidence. Nasmith
was convinced too, and said, "We are as much in the dark as ever." I
took him home with me to dinner; and, after drinking a bottle of port
between us, a curious thought struck me that I would write the case of
John Reid as if dictated by himself on this the day fixed for his execu-
tion. I accordingly did it, and hit off very well the thoughts and style
of what such a case would have been. Nasmith suggested the idea of
Gardner confessing in America. He took it home to get it copied, and
undertook to send it to GalbraitL, a printer, that it might be hawked
about the streets this very night; which would have a striking effect,
as it called on his readers to think that it was his ghost speaking to
them.

And now let me mention some circumstances omitted in my Jour-
nal. John's vanity appeared while his picture was drawing, by his
asking me if his name would be put upon it. I said it would be put on
the back of it Said he: "I thought it would have been on the fore
(front) side." 6 His predestinarian belief appeared from his observing,
when I spoke of the wonderful escape of Andrews, etc., from Paisley, 7
"Their time was not come." His wife had been with me since the res-

6 Boswell had actually not omitted this. See above, p. 290.

T See above, p. 199, the unexpectedly successful effort of Boswell and Crosbie
defending John Andrews and others in a trial in March 1774 for arson com-
mitted at Paisley.

Edinburgh, 7 September 1774 307

pite came. I gave her no hopes, but bid her have a cart to carry away
his body. "Ay," said she, "there shall be a cart if there's occasion for
it"; so I saw that all I could say did not prevent her from imagining
that he had a pretty good chance for life.

The Answers for Nimmo were wanted soon. I found that I put
them off from day to day. So one evening last week I sent for Adam
Bell and made him sit by me while I revised the scroll 8 of the Answers
before the Lord Ordinary; corrected, added, wrote papers apart, and
so obliged myself, by labouring in his presence both before and after
supper, to complete my task, all but a few pages, which I afterwards
did. Mr. Lawrie had been a jaunt to Stirling and Perth. He came to
Edinburgh on Sunday. I met him at the Cross on Sunday evening. He
breakfasted with me on Monday and went home again that day. My
wife and I supped this night at Captain Schaw's with Lady Dun-
donald, Lady Betty, Colonel Stopf ord, etc., very well.

[Received c. 7 September, John Wilson, Jr., to Michael Nasmith]

Glasgow, 6 September 1774

DEAR SIR, This day I received yours of yesterday 9 about the
case of John Reid, who hath received His Majesty's respite of his capi-
tal punishment for fourteen days. I see Mr. Boswell and you are still
employed in the cause of humanity, nay, could our politicians see it,
of good policy also rescuing the lives of the lieges from destruction
appointed too frequently by the barbarous laws of a civilized nation.
Can any sober thinking person believe it that in a country which
boasts so much of its knowledge and refinement, there should exist a
law assigning death as the punishment of the crime of stealing eight-
een sheep? Ninety and rune sheep, which once were less valued than
one lost and recovered, are less valuable than the life of any of His
Majesty's subjects. What pity it is that the sentiments of that excellent
philosopher and politician the Marquis Beccaria have not hitherto
been capable of opening the eyes of our legislators, who can suffer the
laws on so slight occasions to murder the citizens with a formal pag-

8 See above, p. 299.

9 Nasmith's first letter to Wilson, written apparently the day before the one
presented above, p. 302, has not been found.

308 Edinburgh, 7 September 1774

eantry. I aim truly sorry that I can add no information from Gard-
ner, from whom you say Reid maintains he bought the sheep, he hav-
ing above three weeks ago stayed a night only here in his passage to
transportation. I 3*n, dear Sir, your most obedient servant

JOHN WILSON, JR.

THE MOURNFUL CASE OF POOR MISFORTUNATE AND UNHAPPY
JOHN REID, Now lying under sentence of death in the Tolbooth of
Edinburgh, dated Wednesday night, the 7th of September 1 774.

This is the very day on which I was doomed to die; and had it not
been for the mercy of our most gracious Sovereign, whom GOD long
bless and preserve, I should by this time have been a miserable spec-
tacle, and my last speech crying dolefully through the streets of this
city. 0! listen then unto me, while I am yet in the land of the living,
and think that it is my GHOST speaking unto you!

Much cry has been made against me by small and great. And how
can a poor man like me withstand it? But before I go hence and be no
more, I trust you will hear the words of truth, and peradventure your
minds may be changed.

I am condemned because some of these sheep were found in my
flesh-house and I could not bring downright probation of him from
whom I came by them. But I say now, as I told my lawyer, who said
it unto the lords and will say unto the end, that William Gardner, and
none else, was the man, and he is now a transported thief, though he
was loose when I was seized and caused him for to be taen, that he
might answer therefor and I not be the sufferer. John Brown the mes-
senger in Linlithgow can attest this; and many an honest man has no
witnesses present when he receives goods. But I see that my being tried
two times before, though cleared by juries, many of whom, now alive,
can bear testimony for me, has made me be thought guilty at all
events.

I hope none of you shall by malicious report of enemies be brought
to trial, since it is all one whatever is the fate thereof.

What will you say when Gardner's conscience smites him in
America and he owns that I got the sheep honestly from him, and I
am gone and cannot be recalled?

May all good Christians, then, charitably pray that as the King's

Edinburgh, 7 September 1774 309

heart is in the hand of the Lord, and he turneth it whithersoever he
will, it may please him to save me from an ignominious death, which
can do harm to no man. 1

THURSDAY 8 SEPTEMBER. Mr. Donaldson and his son, Mr.
Mylne the architect, Balbarton, Sir George and Lady Preston and Miss
Preston dined with us. My servant James had a child ill of the small-
pox. He would not agree to stay away from it; and as I was afraid that
my little Effie might be infected, I would not allow him to come into
my house; so I was now without a manservant. I saw that a married
servant would not do in a family where only one is kept, and therefore
I gave him warning to provide himself against the term. It gave me
some uneasiness to think that a poor man should be dismissed because
he had strong natural affection; but I considered that a man in his
station of life is bound to submit to many disadvantages, and if he can-
not do so, he is at least unfit for being the sole manservant in a family;
and I hoped that he would get a good place somewhere else. Sir
George's ladies went home early. He and the rest of the company
drank tea. I had taken too much claret. I strolled in the streets a long
time. 2 1 supped at Sir George's with my wife, Mrs. Wellwood 3 was
there. I drank too much strong port negus. After I came home I was
monstrously passionate.

FRIDAY 9 SEPTEMBER. After our law Mr. Hay and I had a game
at bowls. He dined with me and drank tea. I was now become a man of
high estimation in the prison, in so much that prisoners applied to me
by petition: "Unto the Honourable James Boswell, Esq., Advocate,

The Petition of Humbly Showeth." I did them what service I

could. Henry McGraugh's case was now become an object of great
attention, the newspapers having many letters about it. Some of them
I wrote myself. Galbraith had not printed John Reid's case. 4 On Satur-

1 From a draft in Boswell's hand. See below, p. 318.

2 Here occurs an indistinct private symbol, apparently consisting of two char-
acters, the first a Greek letter n.

8 Sir George Preston's eldest daughter, mother of Lieutenant Robert
* See above, p. 306. On 8 September Nasmith had written to Boswell as follows:
"Last night the composition was recopied and a note added: 'Print this for me
immediately to be sent about.' An address was put upon the back, and the letter

310 Edinburgh, 9 September 1 774

day last Mr. Ritchie called on me in the afternoon and showed me part
of a dying speech which he had drawn up from what John said to him.
I asked Ritchie of what religious profession he was. He said, "I belong
to a few meeters in the Potterrow." It seems he was an Independent,
but had separated from Dr. BoswelTs people on some difference about
discipline. 5 1 promised to consider what he had drawn up. Dr. Young
drank tea with us. He thought hanging a quick death, there being
violence besides suffocation.

[Received c. 9 September, "Tyburn" to Boswell]

SIR, I understand your design. John Reid will steal for you, and
the Irishman shall then have plenty from your table. You know that
good mutton is pleasant to the Faculty of Advocates: yea, although
you know it to be stolen; and if the Irishman had done to you as he

has done to others, you and Andrew would be 5a indeed. The case

is truly this: the Irishman and Crosbie, Boswell and John Reid, is all
alike guilty.

TYBURN.

SATURDAY io SEPTEMBER. Captain Robert Preston had arrived
last night. I called for him this morning at Sir George's, missed him,
but found him at Dr. Webster's. He then came to my house and sat a
little. He was engaged all this day. After breakfast Mr. Nasmith
called, which interrupted the Law College. Mr. Hay and he agreed
with me that as I was to transmit a memorial on the evidence against
John Reid, showing its insufficiency, it would be proper to send along
with it a declaration by his wife that he was in his own house the night
when the theft was committed, and for several nights before. This the
woman all along affirmed, and her testimony was the only proof that
in the circumstances of the case could be had. I drew a short petition

was given to a porter. About ten another porter was dispatched to have the mat-
ter distributed. Nothing has appeared. Perhaps 'print this for me 9 has carried the
thing into a wrong channel, to the center of the city. We'll afterwards learn.*'
5 Dr. Boswell belonged to the Glassites or Sandemanians, a Presbyterian sect
which, opposed the principle of established churches and national covenants.
5a Word undeciphered: it appears to read C-ge or Coge. The writer seems to be
fairly literate.

Edinburgh, 10 September 1 774 31 1

to the Magistrates which Mr. Nasxnith got John to sign, and then
presented it. Bailie Tony, who then officiated, was timorous, and some
clerk advised that it should be intimated to the King's Advocate, Solic-
itor, or Crown Agent The Bailie gave judgement accordingly. They
were all out of town; and at any rate would have opposed it, though
in reality they had no concern with it. The trial was over. The declara-
tion was only a piece of evidence, perhaps not strictly legal, but which
might have weight with His Majesty, after a respite had been granted.
Bailie Macqueen, to whom Mr. Nasmith spoke first, very gravely said
that taking the declaration would be to destroy a trial by jury. We
were now in a dilemma. We thought of trying a Justice of Peace, but

we could not bear being refused again. Mr suggested that the

declaration might be taken before two notaries public. We sallied
forth into the street to look for another notary to join Mr. Nasmith.
We met Andrew Dick, Writer to the Signet. He would not be con-
cerned in the matter; and said with a dull sort of sneer, "He may pre-
pare himself for Wednesday come eight days." I was angry at the
animal, and told him before Messieurs Hay and Nasmith that John
told me that Mr. Andrew Dick and he were fourth cousins. This the
creature could not deny; and to have it known mortified him not a
little. It occurred that perhaps a commissary might take the declara-
tion. We walked out to George's Square, and I called on Commissary
Smollett* and laid the matter before him. He said that, as a com-
missary was not virtute officii a Justice of Peace all over the country
like the Lords of Session and Barons of Exchequer, and had no crim-
inal jurisdiction, he could not take the declaration. I then suggested
that a protest might be taken against the Bailie for delaying it. He
thought this right, and said that along with the protest a petition from
the poor woman might be sent, setting forth what she would have de-
clared had she not been prevented; which would probably not have
been the case in our neighbouring country, affidavits being readily
taken by magistrates in England.

Messieurs Hay and Nasmith waited for me in the Square, and we
went and dined together at Baptie's in Bruntsfield Links, very soberly,
and came to the resolution of taking no protest, as that would occasion

James Smollett of Bonhill, first cousin of the novelist Tobias; he was a brother-
in-law of Sir James Clerk of Penicuik.

312 Edinburgh, 10 September 1774

a noise, but just having the declaration certified by two notaries pub-
lic. We came in to town, sauntered at the Cross, anxious for another
notary to join Mr. Nasmith. One Tyrie appeared but declined to give
his assistance. We were in a great dilemma. At last I f ound Matthew
Dickie. We went into Hutchinson's and had a bottle of claret for our-
selves and a bottle of porter for Mrs. Reid and Richard Lock, who
brought her. I then exhorted her to tell nothing but truth; said I was
not a judge, so could not administer an oath to her; but that solemnly
to declare what was not true would be a great sin. She said, "I am in
the presence of GOD." Her declaration then was taken, and she really
seemed to speak what was genuine truth. Mr. Dickie went home. I and
my two zealous coadjutors drank tea, and I wrote two letters to Lord
Rochf ord: one as to the Secretary of State and another as to the private
nobleman; and I put them, with a memorial and the declaration, into
the post-office with my own hand, as I have done every letter concern-
ing John Reid. Messieurs Hay and Nasmith came home and supped
with me. This was a day of much agitation. I was quite exhausted. We
drank little.

[Boswell to the Earl of Rochf ord]

Edinburgh, 10 September 1 774

MY LORD, A respite having arrived from your Lordship's office
for John Reid, under sentence of death here, I think it my duty in
justice to the unhappy man for whom I was counsel, and whose trial
was attended with very peculiar circumstances, to transmit to your
Lordship a memorial upon the evidence and a solemn declaration
taken since the trial; as I am indeed anxious that the royal clemency
may not be intercepted when it is my serious opinion that it is proper
to grant it. I have the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's most
obedient, humble servant,

[JAMES BOSWELL] .

EDITORIAL NOTE: BoswelTs "memorial" argued that one proof
of Reid's innocence in receiving the sheep from Gardner was his
complete carelessness in allowing the sheep to graze in the park near
his house, and in failing to remove the heads of two of the sheep
in his slaughter-house or in any way to remove or deface the marks of
identification on any of the sheep. (Precautions of that sort had had

Edinburgh, 10 September 1774 313

great weight in establishing guilt in the noted trial of Murdison and
Miller the previous year.) He suggested that the cross-examination of
William Black had showed the "rashness" of this witness, "who en-
deavoured to swear as strongly as he could against the prisoner." In
both the memorial and his letter to Rochford "as to the private noble-
man," Boswell advertised the illiberality which prevailed in his own
country. "This poor man had formerly suffered a severe imprison-
ment upon an accusation of the same nature, though when brought
to trial he was acquitted by a verdict of his country. There was there-
fore no wonder that he should endeavour [by running away] to avoid
such a hardship upon this occasion. And it may be added that he was
alarmed from a consideration of what it is to be feared has been the
consequence, that in a narrow country the prejudice created against
him by his being formerly tried, though acquitted, might insensibly
operate upon the minds of a jury. . . . " It is to be hoped that this
prejudice "will be disregarded by liberal minds who think justly of a
trial by jury."

He began his personal letter to Lord Rochford with an appeal to
his own political past. "Perhaps your Lordship may have heard of
my name on occasion of my humble efforts in behalf of the brave and
unfortunate Corsicans. I shall only say that although I have not the
honour to be personally known to Lord Rochford, I have often felt
the warmest regard for him, knowing his spirited and generous con-
duct at the Court of France at a time when the interposition of Great
Britain in the manner devised by your Lordship would have saved
that gallant little nation from severe oppression."

[Declaration of Janet Reid]

At Edinburgh, 10 September in the year of Our Lord 1 774 of the
reign of our Sovereign Lord George, by the Grace of God of Great
Britain, France, and Ireland King, the fourteenth year, in presence of
us Matthew Dickie and Michael Nasmith, one of the clerks to His
Majesty's Signet, and both of us notars public admitted by royal
authority and also by authority of the Lords of Council and Session
conform to Act of Parliament, being duly sworn into the said office:

Appeared Janet the wife of John Reid, now lying under sentence

314 Edinburgh, to September 1774

of death in the prison of Edinburgh, and solemnly declared and
affirmed that her said husband sleeped at home in his own house upon
the nights of the sixth and seventh of October last, the last of which is
the night on which it is alleged that he committed the theft for which
he is condemned, and that he sleeped both those nights in the bed with
the declarant, which he also did during every other night of that week,
and during the three last nights of the week preceding. That they went
regularly to bed each of these nights at or before eleven of the clock,
being their usual time of going to bed, and they lay till sun-rising,
except upon Thursday's morning, when her husband was called up
about an hour before sun-rising to receive a parcel of sheep from Wil-
liam Gardner. And all that she has now solemnly declared and
affirmed she is ready and willing to attest upon oath before any of His
Majesty's judges. In testimony whereof she hereto adhibits her sub-
scription in our presence and in presence of Charles Hay, Esq., advo-
cate, and Matthew Montgomery, writer in Edinburgh.

(Signed) JANET REID, praemissa attestor

y . MATTHEW DICKIE, No. Pub.
ventas M NASMITH ^ N p

CHA. HAY, Witness

M. MONTGOMERIE, Witness 7

SUNDAY 11 SEPTEMBER. I stayed at home all f orenoon. My wif e
and I dined quietly by ourselves. In the afternoon I walked about the
King's Park. Called on Lord Dundonald. Drank a large glass of Ma-
deira with him, and then drank tea with the ladies. My wife and I
supped at Sir George Preston's, where [were] the Websters, all but
the Colonel and Annie, who were in the country. Captain Robert be-
came warm for John Reid; said he would write a letter to Bamber
Gascoyne, 8 who had a great deal to say with Lord Rochford; and he
would pay the half of an express to carry it. I was to call on him next
morning to get it. We had a deal of jovial roaring, and drank till two
in the morning.

MONDAY 12 SEPTEMBER. I was very ill with last night's riot.
Between eight and nine, Captain Preston had a message for me. I went

r A copy in an unknown hand.

8 M.P. for Weobly 1770-1774, eldest son of Sir Crisp Gascoyne, Lord Mayor of

London in 1752.

Edinburgh, 12 September 1774 315

to him. He made me write while he dictated a very strong letter in-
deed, to which he put his name. It was agreed that it would go soon
enough by the post. Sir George and all the family set off this morning
for Valleyfield. Matthew Dickie dined with me. I began to consider
that Captain Preston's letter being in my handwriting might appear
to Lord Rochford to have been framed by me; and I really could not
vouch its contents. I therefore resolved not send it, but wrote to the
Captain that if he pleased to send me a letter in his own handwriting,
in time for Tuesday's post, it would do. He did not think it necessary,
for none came.

TUESDAY 1 3 SEPTEMBER. The Laird of Dundas 1 had asked me
to eat turtle with him this day at Fortune's. After a good match at
bowls with Mr. Hay, I went to Fortune's, but found the feast was put
off till next day; but as it had not been notified to me, I resolved not
to attend next day. Charles Hay had told me that he had excellent
mutton to dinner today; so I hastened to his house, but found dinner
over and him eating some of the mutton by himself. I joined him and
dined heartily, and saw I was made very welcome. He and I and his
brother 2 drank a bottle of Madeira and a bottle of claret. I then, for
the first time for many months, played at whist, Maclaurin and I hav-
ing freed each other from a bet of five guineas who should first play
again. I won, and also drank tea.

[Boswell to the printer of The London Chronicle] s

Edinburgh, 13 September 1774

S IR ^ The rigour of our present penal laws has been long the
subject of complaint. It is to be hoped that the legislature will at last
see fit to relax it. In the mean time, the utmost care should be taken

London mail left Edinburgh every night except Wednesday and Sunday at half
past eight.

1 James Dundas, a distant cousin of the Lord President and the Solicitor-General.

2 James Hay.

' This letter, which Boswell does not mention in the Journal till several days
later, appeared in The London Chronicle for 17-20 September, and led to his
receiving on 6 October a letter from the son of the Lord Justice-Clerk offering
the alternatives of public apology or a duel The uncomfortable incident which
ensued is narrated in the next volume of this series.

31 6 Edinburgh, 13 September 1774

that there should at least be full evidence against an unhappy man
before he is dragged to a violent death for theft or any of those lesser
crimes which are at present capital by law in England and by prac-
tice in Scotland. We have at present in this city a remarkable man ly-
ing under sentence of death, being convicted of the theft of a few
sheep. His name is John Reid. He is remarkable because he was for-
merly tried and acquitted by a very worthy jury, notwithstanding
which some persons in high office publicly represented him as guilty.
La particular one great man of the law exclaimed against him in his
speech in the great Douglas Cause. This is a striking specimen of what
goes on in this narrow country. A strong prejudice was raised against
him, and now he was condemned upon circumstantial evidence which
several impartial gentlemen of very good skill were of opinion was
inconclusive. He has uniformly affirmed that, although the sheep were
found in his possession, he had obtained them by a fair and honest
bargain from another man. His case is very much similar to that of
Madan, who was lately in the cart at Tyburn just going to be turned
o, as guilty of a robbery upon circumstantial evidence, when Merritt
appeared and confessed that he was the man who had committed the
crime. But the man from whom Reid got the sheep has not as yet been
so conscientious as Merritt. He has maintained an obstinate denial;
but having been transported for housebreaking, he will probably
confess in America.

A respite for fourteen days was sent to Reid from the office of Lord
Rochford, from whence Madan's respite also was sent. But, according
to my information, an opinion from Scotland was desired upon the
case: an opinion from that very man who exclaimed in the Civil Court
against a man acquitted by a jury in the Criminal Court, when his life
was staked upon the issue.

The determination of the Sovereign is expected here with anxiety.
I wish to avoid strong expressions. I would turn my mind only towards
mercy. This will reach you on Saturday. It is entreated that you may
insert it directly, as it may perhaps have influence in some manner
that we cannot exactly foresee, and an express with a pardon, or with
another respite till there can be time to hear from America, will pre-
vent what I am afraid would have a wretched appearance in the an-
nals of this country. I am, Sir, your constant reader,

Edinburgh, 14 September 1774 3*7

WEDNESDAY 14 SEPTEMBER. Having gone out to the Justiciary
Office in the morning, Mr. Hay had called and missed me; so we had
no law. I called at the bank for Maclaurin, and he and I took a walk in
the Meadow. After dinner Ritchie called on me and said he was very
desirous that John Reid should declare what he had committed long
ago, which he thought had followed hrm. I promised to come to the
prison, and accordingly went.

John was very sedate. He told Mr. Ritchie and me that before his
first trial, one night he drank hard and lay all night at the side of a
sheep-fold; that when he awaked the devil put it into his head (or some
such expression) , and he drove off all the sheep in the fold (the "hall
hirsle") ; that before he was off the farm to which they belonged, he
came to a water, and there he separated four of them, which he took
home, killed, and sold; and he said it was alleged that he had taken
five, but it never came to any trial. This was but a small matter. John
said he would have it published. His owning this theft made me give
more credit to his denial of that for which he was condemned, for why
should he deny the one and confess the other? I told him that now I
believed him, and I acknowledged that I had been too violent with
him this day eight days. He seemed to be grateful to me; and said that
few would have done so much for a brother, though a twin, as I had
done for him. He said that he had always had something heavy about
his mind since his last trial and never could be merry as formerly. He
said that last night he had strange dreams. He saw a wonderful moon
with many streamers. And he and a man who died some time ago, he
imagined were walking together, and the man had a gun in his hand;
that two eagles two pretty speckled birds lighted on a tree. (/
had very near said that these signified Lord Comwallis and Lord Pem-
broke, who were his friends; but I checked myself.) He called to the
man to shoot, but he did not; and one of the eagles flew into the man's
arms, who gave it to John, and he carried it. Ritchie very foolishly
smiled, and said, "Maybe, John, it may be a messenger of good news
to you." This might have given him hopes. "No," said I. "Had it been
a dow (dove), I should have thought it good; but an eagle is a bad
bird." "Ay," said John earnestly, "a ravenous bird." "But," said
Ritchie, "it did not fly on John, but on the other man, who gave it to
John." "Well," said I, "that is to say, the bad news will come to Cap-
tain Fraser, and he'll deliver it to John."

31 8 Edinburgh, 14 September 1 774

I asked John if he ever saw anything in the iron room where he
lay. He said no; but that he heard yesterday at nine in the morning a
noise upon the form,* as if something had fallen upon it with a clash.
Ritchie and he seemed to consider this as some sort of warning. He said
he had heard such a noise in the corner of the room a little before his
respite came. And he said that the night before James Brown's pardon
came, Brown was asleep, and he was awake, and heard like swine
running from the door, round a part of the room, and grumphling.*
He seemed to be in a very composed frame. I said it was an awful
thought that this day sennight at this time he would be in eternity.
I said I hoped his repentance was sincere and his faith in Christ sin-
cere, and that he would be saved through the merits of the Saviour,
and perhaps he might this day eight days be looking down with pity
on Mr. Ritchie and me. I found that he had hardly written anything.

I should have observed that on Saturday we sent for George Reid
the printer to Hutchinson's, and he undertook to get the case which
I had drawn in John Reid's style printed and cried, to conciliate the
lower populace. It was accordingly done; but old Robertson had put
in "taken from his own mouth" which was a lie. Richard Lock told
me that John was very angry at this case. I said it could do no harm.'

Colonel Webster and Annie, who were now returned, and George
came and supped with me. My wife was indisposed. We roared and
drank, both too much.

THURSDAY 15 SEPTEMBER. After a game at bowls, I dined at
Lord Dundonald's. Commissioner Cochrane and George Webster were
there. George and I drank rather too much port. He walked home with
me. A bottle of claret was standing out I insisted on our drinking it,
which we did pleasantly, and then drank tea with my wife.

FRIDAY 16 SEPTEMBER. Charles Hay and I this day completed
our course of Erskine's Institutes. I dined with him, with Maclaurin,

4 The bench on which Reid sat. See above, p. 285.

5 See above, p. 199, BoswelTs defence of James Brown in a trial for horse-stealing,
7 February 1774.

See above, p. 309. A printed copy of this broadside among the Boswell papers
differs from the copy in BoswelTs hand (see our text above, p. 308) only in the
heading, which has been altered to read: "... taken from his own mouth on
Wednesday night, the 7th of September 1774, being the day fixed for his execu-
tion."

Edinburgh, 1 6 September 1 774 319

who was in good spirits but offended me by a kind of profaneness in
quoting Scripture. He was of opinion that it was wrong to apply for
John Reid; and when I asserted that he was innocent, Maclaurin had
a pretty good simile. He said I had worked up my mind upon the sub-
ject. That the mind of man might be worked up from little or nothing
like soap suds, till the basin is overflowed. We drank moderately, and
then played at whist. I went home at night, and was in a strange
wearied humour; so went directly to bed.

SATURDAY i/ SEPTEMBER. Mr. Robert Boswell and I break-
fasted at my uncle the Doctor's. Richard Lock came in the morning,
after my return from the Doctor's, and told me, "It is all over with
John Reid. He dies on Wednesday. There's a letter come that no
farther respite is to be granted." 7 1 was struck with concern, Mr. Hay
came, and he and I walked a little on the Castle Hill and then called
on Mr. Nasmith. We agreed to dine together at Leith to relieve our
vexation at the bad news. I first went up a little to John Reid. His wife
was with him. He was not much affected with the bad news, as he had
not been indulging hopes. I again exhorted hi to tell nothing but
truth.

Messieurs Hay, Nasmith, and I walked down to Leith, and dined
at Trumpeter Yeats's. We were fain to fly to wine to get rid of the un-
easiness which we felt that, after all that had been done, poor John
Reid should fall a victim. I thought myself like Duncan Forbes.* We
drank two bottles of port each. I was not satisfied with this, but stopped
at a shop in Leith and insisted that we should drink some gin. Mr.
Nasmith and one Ronald, the master of the shop, and I drank each a
gill. Nasmith was very drunk, Mr. Hay and I quite in our senses. We
all walked up some way or other. Mr. Hay came home with me. I
found a'letter from Lord Pembroke which gave me still hopes, for he

7 "The law must take its course. ... I cannot help regretting with your Lord-
ship that Mr. Boswell did not endeavour to learn your Lordship's opinion before
he wrote to this office, as in all probability if he had done so, he would not have
occasioned the hopes which the respite may have given the poor man, and he
would have been convinced that your Lordship entirely agreed with the rest of
the judges of the Court of Justiciary in the sentence which they pronounced"
(Lord Suffolk to the Lord Justice-Clerk, 9 September 1774: Public Record Office,
Scottish Entry Book, Criminal).
See above, p. 226.

320 Edinburgh, 17 September 1774

said he would go to town and see the King himself; and I flattered my-
self that his Lordship might procure an alteration of the doom. Mr.
Hay left me. I grew monstrously drunk, and was in a state of mingled
frenzy and stupefaction. I do not recollect what passed.

[Hugh Warrender to James Tait, one of the town clerks of Edinburgh]

Edinburgh, 1 7 September 1 774

SIR, The Earl of Suffolk, Secretary of State, by his letter to the
Lords of Justiciary dated from St. James's the nine instant, and of
which I have been just now acquainted, writes that the extract of the
trial of John Reid had been laid before the King, and, as there did not
appear to be any favourable circumstance in that unhappy man's case,
that no further respite would be granted, and that the law must take
its course after the expiration of the respite formerly sent and notified
to the Magistrates of Edinburgh.

This I thought it my duty to notify as soon as possible, that the un-
happy man may not be allowed to continue longer under any false
hopes that he may have been led to entertain.

I am in the absence of John Davidson, Sir, your most obedient
humble servant,

HUGH WARRENDER,
City Clerk of Edinburgh. 9

[Received 1 7 September, Lord Pembroke to Boswell]

Wilton House, 1 1 September 1 774

I dare say, my dear Sir, that Lord Rochford has done the poor
man's business, but, in case of any mistake, I will go up to town and
see the King myself on Thursday next, the usual day of Court in the
summer, if nothing prevents His Majesty's coming to town.

My best compliments wait on Mrs. Boswell. I am, Sir, with the
greatest truth and regard, your most obedient humble servant,

PEMBROKE.

9 This letter is a copy in BoswelTs hand. John Davidson (see above, p. 294) was
Crown agent in Edinburgh and Warrender was his clerk. The style "City Clerk
of Edinburgh," which Warrender assumes as Davidson's deputy appears not to
have been official.

Edinburgh, 18 September 1774 321

SUNDAY 18 SEPTEMBER. It gave me much concern to be in-
formed by my dear wife that I had been quite outrageous in my drunk-
enness the night before; that I had cursed her in a shocking manner
and even thrown a candlestick with a lighted candle at her. It made
me shudder to hear such an account of my behaviour to one whom I
have so much reason to love and regard; and I considered that, since
drinking has so violent an effect on me, there is no knowing what
dreadful crime I may commit. I therefore most firmly resolved to be
sober. I was very ill today. Both Mr. Hay and Mr. Nasmith called
on me. About twelve I called on Grange, and he and I walked out by
the West Kirk and round by Watson's Hospital, which did me much
good. I found my uncle the Doctor when I got home. He dined with us.
I stayed at home in the afternoon as I had done in the forenoon. Mr.
Hay came after church, and he and I walked in Heriot's Garden. Lady
Dundonald and Lady Betty Cochrane drank tea with us.

MONDAY 19 SEPTEMBER. Between seven and eight I was with
the Doctor by appointment, and he and I walked out to Sir James
Foulis's at Colinton, where we breakfasted. It was melancholy to see
an ancient respectable family in decay. Sir James has much curious
knowledge, 1 but his whim and want of dignity displeased me. We saw
his lady and youngest daughter. He walked with us to Dreghorn (Mr.
Maclaurin's) , where I was engaged to dine and play at bowls. Charles
Hay and his sister came. It was a wet day, but we had a stout bowling
match. Sir James went home. We dined very well and drank little.
Then Maclaurin, Hay, and I took a rubber, Hay playing the dead
man. Maclaurin told me that I had the character of speaking ill of my
companions, but that he did not believe it. Hay justified me, owning
at the same time that I would have my joke on them when it could
not really hurt them. I said I certainly did speak freely of those of
whom I had not a good opinion, but I did not live with them as com-
panions. Maclaurin said I carried that too far. It gave me some sort of
uneasiness to hear that I was misrepresented; but then my full con-
sciousness of my real goodness made me easy. We drank tea; and then
the Doctor and I came off in a hackney-coach which my wife sent for
us. By the road he disputed warmly for his particular tenets as to the
i He was a Celtic scholar, engaged in research on the place names of Scotland
and the origin of the Scots.

322 Edinburgh, 19 September 1774

Christian religion: salvation by faith alone, etc. I felt some pain when
I found how ill I could argue on the most important of all subjects, and
cold clouds of doubt went athwart my mind.

When I got home I found letters for me from Lord Rochf ord, Lord
Pembroke, Mr. Eden under-secretary in Lord Suffolk's office, and the
Duke of Queensberry, and was finally assured that John Reid would
be executed. I was hurt, and also felt an indignation at the Justice-
Clerk, whose violent report had prevented my obtaining for John Reid
the royal mercy; but I resolved not to write against him till time had
cooled me. Mr. Hay called, and was much concerned. He and I went
to Mr. Nasmith, who was very impatient. We all agreed that it was a
shocking affair. The last resort now was the scheme of recovering
John. Mr. Hay promised to call at my house next morning to talk of
it Mr, Nasmith and I went to see Mr. Wood. He was not at home. We
found fr at Mrs. Alison's in New Street, Canongate, at supper, got
hi?n into a room, and spoke with him. He' said that a house must be
found as near the place of execution as possible, for that the rumbling
of a cart would destroy John altogether. He said a stable or any place
would do. He would attend and have the proper apparatus, and get
Mr. Lines, Dr. Monro's dissector, to attend. I was much agitated to-
night. It rained very heavily. I wished it might do so on Wednesday,
that the execution might perhaps be hastened.

[Received 19 September, William Eden* to Boswell]

St. James's, 13 September 1774

SIR, I am directed by Lord Suffolk to acknowledge your letter
to his Lordship enclosing a petition to the King from the unfortunate
convict John Reid, and to assure you that every attention has been
given to your wishes that the nature of the case would admit. In the
result, it was with much concern that his Lordship, after obtaining
the fullest information and laying it before the King, found it his duty

f William Eden, tinder-Secretary of State for the North, 1772-1778, was in 1793
created Baron Auckland in the peerage of Great Britain. He was a younger son
of Sir Robert Eden, third Baronet of West Auckland, county Durham. The
former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Sir Anthony Eden, is descended from
another son of Sir Robert.

Thomas Miller (1717-1789), Lord Justice-Clerk; later Lord President

and baronet From an oil painting reputedly by Sir Joshua Reynolds,

sold at Christie's in 1927. Photograph courtesy

of the Frick Art Reference Library

Edinburgh, 19 September 1774 323

to leave the law to take its course. I am, Sir> your most obedient, hum-
ble servant,

WM. EDEN.

[Received 19 September, Lord Rochford to Boswell]

St. James's, 15 September 1774

S IR? Your two letters of the tenth instant, with the enclosures,
were received yesterday, and at the same time I had a letter from Lord
Cornwallis, enclosing one to his Lordship from you on the case of John
Reid; and I am very sorry to be under the necessity of acquainting you
that after the fullest informations taken on the proceedings of that
trial, which have been laid before the King, together with the report of
Lord Justice-Clerk, it has been determined that the law should take its
course. I am, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

ROCHFOBD.

[Received 19 September, Lord Pembroke to Boswell]

St. James's, Thursday 15 September 1774

I came up this morning on purpose to speak to His Majesty, my
dear Sir, as you wished, and I am very sorry not to have been more
successful. Lord Cornwallis also has applied in favour of Reid, but the
judge's report, which I saw, is so very strong against him that the
man's guilt is looked upon here in the most atrocious light possible.
Lord Rochford would have urged for mercy had he been able to do it,
but he and the King too indeed think the judge must resign if, after
his report, any mitigation of the sentence should take place. 8 1 am
very much concerned at my ill success, and shall be more so if it de-
bars me from receiving your orders on any future occasion where you
can make me useful.

I am, Sir, with the greatest truth and regard, your most obedient,

humble servant,

PEMBROKE.

"The King was certainly disposed to transport, but the judge's report was too
strong. Indeed, I never read anything more so, or so positive" (Lord Pembroke to
Boswell, 2 October 1774)-

324 Edinburgh, 20 September 1 774

TUESDAY 20 SEPTEMBER. Before breakfast I received a very
good letter from Mr. Nasmith dissuading me from the scheme of re-
covering John Reid, but he did not persuade me. Mr. Hay came and he
and I called on Mr. Nasmith and took him with us to look for a place
where the corpse might be deposited. We walked about the Grassmar-
ket and Portsburgh, and saw some small houses to let. Mr. Nasmith
proposed that we might take one till Martinmas; but then it
occurred that the landlord would make a noise if a hanged man was
put into it In short, we were in a dilemma. I thought of the Canon-
gate Kilwinning Lodge, of which I was Master and could excuse my-
self to the brethren for taking liberty with it; but it was too far off. I
did not think it right to trust a caddie, or any low man, with the secret
I asked John Robertson the chairman if he could find a house that
would take in the corpse till the mob dispersed. He thought none
would do it. Mr. Nasmith went out of town. Mr. Hay, after a short
party at bowls, went with me and called for Mr. Innes, 4 Dr. Monro's
dissector. Mr. Wood had not yet spoken to him; but he very readily
agreed to give his help. He however could not help us to get a house.
I called on Wood. Neither could he help us as to that article; and he
began to doubt of the propriety of the scheme. I however remained
firm to it, and Mr. Hay stood by me. Mr. Innes suggested one George
Macfarlane, a stabler, where a puppet-show had been kept. Mr. Hay
and I went to the Grassmarket, where he lived. But first it occurred
to me that there was one Andrew Bennet, a stabler, whom I had lately
got out of prison. We went to him. He had no family but his wife, and
they were both fools. They were prodigiously grateful to me, called
me his Grace^ Andrew having reproved his wife for calling me only
his Honour. I told them that the friends of the poor man who was to
be executed next day were anxious to lodge his body in some place
till the mob should disperse, and, as he was a client of mine, I was
desirous to assist them; so I hoped Andrew would let them have his
stable for that purpose. He agreed to it, though his wife made some
objection, and though he said he would rather let his crcdg (throat)
be cut than allow it, unless to oblige me. I sounded them as to letting
the body into their house; but Mrs. Bennet screamed, and Andrew

* His Short Description of the Human Muscles, Chiefly As They Appear on Dis-
section, 1776, was used in dissecting rooms at Edinburgh for fifty years after his

Edinburgh, 20 September 1774 3 2 5

said very justly that nobody would come to it any more if that was
done. 5 It is amazing what difficulty I found in such a place as Edin-
burgh to get a place for my purpose. The stable here entered by a close
next entry to the door of the house, and had no communication with
the house; so that the operators must be obliged to take their stations
in the stable some time before the execution was over. It was a small
stable, and there was a smith's shop just at the door of it; so that we
could not be private enough. However, I was glad to have secured any
place.

Mr. Hay and I then went to George Macfarlane's. He was not in.
We had not dined, as we did not choose to see my wife while we were
about such a project, which I had communicated to her and which
shocked her. We called for punch and bread and cheese, all of which
proved wretched. We sat about an hour, waiting for the landlord's
coming in, that we might have tried if he would let us have a better
place, but he did not come. I observed that we were reduced to do the
meanest and most disagreeable things for this strange scheme, as
much so as candidates in a borough election.

I called at home at five, Hay having gone to a coffee-house and
engaged to meet me at the Cross at six. I found my wife so shocked
that I left her immediately and went down to the prison. I was now
more firmly impressed with a belief of John Reid's innocence, the
Reverend Dr. Dick having come to the bowling-green in the forenoon
and told me that, as he was to attend him to his execution, he had
talked with him very seriously, and (the Doctor used a very good ex-
pression) had got behind all the subterfuges of such a mind as his,
such as his thinking it right to deny, to leave a better character for
the sake of his wife and children, and had found him firm and con-
sistent in his declaration that he was not guilty. The Doctor said this
affair gave him great uneasiness; and he told me that the Reverend
Dr. Macqueen was to go along with him to attend at the execution;
that he also had been with John, and was of the same opinion. I begged
that he and Dr. Macqueen would be particularly attentive to investi-
gate the truth as much as possible, as I really believed he was con-
demned on insufficient evidence, and, from his solemn averments of
his innocence, thought him not guilty of the crime for which he was
condemned; such averments being in my opinion an overbalance not
5 It was probably a tavern.

326 Edinburgh, 20 September 1774

for positive, or even strong circumstantial, evidence, but for such evi-
dence as was brought against him, which I thought could produce no
more than suspicion.

When I came to the prison I f ound that John Reid's wife and chil-
dren were with him. The door of the iron room was now left open and
they were allowed to go and come as they pleased. He was very com-
posed. His daughter Janet was a girl about fifteen, his eldest son Ben-
jamin about ten, his youngest son Daniel between two and three. It
was a striking scene to see John on the last night of his life surrounded
by his family. His wife and two eldest children behaved very quietly.
It was really curious to see the young child Daniel, who knew nothing
of the melancholy situation of his father, jumping upon him with
great fondness, laughing and calling to him with vivacity. The con-
trast was remarkable between the father in chains and in gloom and
the child quite free and frolicsome. John took him on his knee with
affection. He said to me that his daughter Jenny was the only one of
his children whom he had named after any relation; and he went over
all the names of the rest. They had almost all Old Testament names.
They were seven in all. I again exhorted him to truth. One Miln in
Leith Wynd, a kind of lay teacher, and Mr. Ritchie were with him;
and he was to have some good Christians to sit up with him all night

Mr. Hay went with me again to Mr. Lanes, who was satisfied with
Bennet's stable and desired that there should be a blanket and a good
quantity of warm salt prepared. We went again to Bennet's, and took
a dram of whisky of his own distilling; and he and his wife promised
to have the blanket and the salt in readiness, I having said that some
surgeon had advised his friends to rub the body with warm salt to pre-
serve it, as it was to be carried to the country. Bennet, though a fool,
had smoked what was intended; for he said, "Could they not cut fa
down living?" I said that would be wrong. I should have observed
when I was with John this evening, it gave me some uneasiness to
think, that he was solemnly preparing for an awful eternity while at
the same time I was to try to keep fa back. He spoke himself very
calmly of the corpse, by which he meant his own dead body; for I
spoke to his wife before him about it: that I had secured a place for it,
but I wished she could get a better place for it to be laid in till the mob
dispersed. She said she would try Mrs. Walker at the sign of the Bishop
in the Grassxnarket, who was very friendly to her. It was a comfort to

Edinburgh, 20 September 1774 327

me that neither John nor his wife had the least idea of any attempt to
recover him.

Mr. Hay and I met my worthy friend Grange in the Grassmarket
tonight He was much against the attempt. After supper Mr. Wood
called and told me that he had the proper apparatus ready; that he
had also engaged Mr. Aitkin, another surgeon, to attend, and that, if I
insisted on it, he was willing to make the experiment, hut that as a
friend he could not but advise me against it; that it would be impossi-
ble to conceal it; the mob would press upon us, and continue looking
in at the door. A great clamour would be made against me as defying
the laws and as doing a ridiculous thing, and that a man in business
must pay attention in prudence to the voice of mankind; that the
chance of success was hardly anything, and this was to be put in the
scale against a certainty of so many disagreeable consequences. But
he suggested another thought which had great weight with me. "This
man," said he, "has got over the bitterness of death; he is resigned to
his fate. He will have got over the pain of death. He may curse you
for bringing him back. He may tell you that you kept him from
heaven." I determined to give up the scheme. Wood got into a dis-
agreeable kind of sceptical conversation about the soul being material,
from all that we could observe. It is hard that our most valuable arti-
cles of belief are rather the effects of sentiment than of demonstration.
I disliked Wood because he revived doubts in my mind which I could
not at once dispel. Yet he had no bad meaning, but was honestly and
in confidence expressing his own uneasiness. He said that the fear of
death sometimes distressed him in the night. He seemed to have
formed no principles upon the subject, but just had ideas, sometimes
of one kind, sometimes of another, floating in his mind. He had a
notion, which I have heard the Reverend Mr. Wyvill support, that
only some souls were designed for immortality. What a blessing it is
to have steady religious sentiments.

[Michael Nasmith to Boswell]

Edinburgh, 20 September 1774

MY DEAR SIR, This is a matter, of secrecy. We have properly
speaking no person to advise with. The proposed attempt appears to

328 Edinburgh, 20 September 1774

be attended with so much humanity that the moment any of our
friends may have it in confidence they may find themselves in the
same situation we ourselves are. I have been therefore deliberating
with myself how far the world may think we have acted a worthy
part in having attempted to preserve his life.

The jury have returned an unanimous verdict finding him guilty.
The Court of Justiciary have been unanimous in finding him worthy
of death. Our Sovereign has given it as his opinion that the interests
of society are at stake if he is suffered to escape. The voice of the whole
people approves. In short, everything sacred in society seems to forbid
the attempt.

Humanity and a strong belief of John's innocence have already
impelled you to do much for him, but let us cast our eyes forward and
see what effects the attempt may have upon the poor wretches who
may hereafter be condemned to lose their lives. Death is already suffi-
ciently terrible. I fear much that the proposed attempt, be the event
what it will, may be attended with the worst consequences, conse-
quences that neither of us would wish to be the authors of. In the
awful approach of eternity the mind is disposed to grasp at every
shadow. Few will hereafter come to suffer in this country to whose
ears John's story may not have reached. If he is brought to life, they
will hold it up as full evidence that they too may and that there
may be a Boswell at hand the moment they are cut down. If the ex-
periment proves ineffectual, they will solace themselves with such
thoughts as these: that he was old that he had been desperately
wicked that though the experiment did not succeed upon him, the
world is every day getting more knowledge, it may upon them that
heaven may have foreseen that they could not be otherways reclaimed
than by suspending them in a rope and allowing them thereafter to
return to life. To step out of this world in such a situation, without
repentance, confession, and resignation is a dismal thought.

To me the affair at present appears in these points of view and is
not unworthy of the most cool deliberation. What do you think of
talking to Mrs. Boswell, who, if I am a right judge, possesses both
judgement and humanity in abundance? I am, dear Sir, yours
sincerely.

M. NASMITH.

Edinburgh, 21 September 1774 329

WEDNESDAY 2 1 SEPTEMBER. John Reid's wife called on me be-
fore breakfast and told me that Mrs. Walker said she was welcome to
the best room in her house for the corpse; but that afterwards her land-
lord had sent to her that she must quit his house if she allowed such a
thing. I said that there would be no occasion for any place. The mob
would not trouble the corpse; and it might be put directly on the cart
that she expected was to come for it. After breakfast Mr. Nasmith
came, and was pleased to find that the scheme of recovery was given
up. He and I went to Bennet's and told him there was no use for his
stable. We walked backwards and forwards in the Grassmarket, look-
ing at the gallows and talking of John Reid. Mr. Nasmith said he
imagined he would yet confess; for his wife had said this morning
that he had something to tell me which he had as yet told to no mortal.
We went to the prison about half an hour after twelve. He was now
released from the iron about liis leg. The Reverend Dr. Webster and
Mr. Ritchie were with him. We waited in the hall along with his wife,
who had white linen clothes with black ribbons in a bundle, ready to
put on him before he should go out to execution. There was a deep
settled grief in her countenance. She was resolved to attend him to
the last; but Richard whispered me that the Magistrates had given
orders that she should be detained in the prison till the execution
was over. I dissuaded her from going and she agreed to take my ad-
vice; and then Richard told her the orders of the Magistrates. I said
aloud I was glad to hear of it. The Reverend Dr. Macqueen, who after-
wards came in, told her it would be a tempting of Providence to go;
that it might affect her so as to render her incapable to take care of
her fatherless children; and Mr. Ritchie said that the best thing she
could do was to remain in the prison and pray for her husband. Dr.
Macqueen said to me he was so much impressed with the poor man's
innocence that he had some difficulty whether he ought to attend
the execution and authorize it by his presence. I said he certainly
should attend, for it was legal; and, besides, supposing it ever so
unjust, it was humane to attend an unhappy man in his last moments.
"But," said Dr. Macqueen, "I will not pray for him as a guilty man."
"You would be very much in the wrong to do so," said I, "if you think
TiiTn not guilty." Dr. Webster and I had no conversation as he passed
through the hall except inquiring at each other how we did.

330 Edinburgh, 21 September 1774

John's wife then went up to him for a little, having been told
both by me and Mr. Nasmith that she could not hope for the blessing
of Providence on her and her children if by her advice John went out
of the world with a lie in his mouth. I followed in a little, and found
him in his usual dress, standing at the window. I told him I under-
stood he had something to mention to me. He said he would mention
it He had since his trial in 1766 stolen a few sheep (I think five), of
which he never was suspected. "John," said I, "it gives me concern
to find that even such a warning as you got then did not prevent you
from stealing. I really imagine that if you had now got off you might
again have been guilty, such influence has Satan over you." He said
he did not know but he might. Then I observed that his untimely
death might be a mercy to him, as he had time for repentance. He
seemed to admit that it might be so. He said that what he had now
told me he had not mentioned even to his wife; and I might let it rest I
called up Mr. Nasmith, with whom came Mr. Ritchie. I said he might
acknowledge this fact to them, which he did. I asked him, if I saw
it proper to mention it as making his denial of the theft for which he
was condemned more probable, I might be at liberty to do so? He said
I might dispose of it as I thought proper. But he persisted in denying
the theft for which he was condemned. He now began to put on his
white dress, and we left him. Some time after, his wife came down
and begged that we would go up to him, that he might not be alone.
Dress has a wonderful impression on the fancy. I was not much
affected when I saw him this morning in his usual dress. But now
he was all in white, with a high nightcap on, and he appeared much
taller, and upon the whole struck me with a kind of tremor. He was
praying; but stopped when we came in. I bid him not be disturbed,
but go on with his devotions. He did so, and prayed with decent
fervency, while his wife, Mr. Nasmith, and I stood close around him.
He prayed in particular, "Grant, Lord, through the merits of my
Saviour, that this the day of my death may be the day of my birth unto
life eternal" Poor man, I felt now a kind of regard for him. He said
calmly, "I think I'll be in eternity in about an hour." His wife said
something from which he saw that she was not to attend him to his
execution; and he said, "So you're no (not) to be wi' me." I satisfied
him that it was right she should not go. I said, "I suppose, John, you

Edinburgh, 21 September 1774 33 1

know that the executioner is down in the hall." He said no. I told
Mm that he was there and would tie his arms before he went out.
"Ay," said his wife, "to keep him from catching at the tow (rope) ."
"Yes," said I, "that it may he easier for him." John said he would sub-
mit to everything.

I once more conjured him to tell the truth. "John," said I, "you
must excuse me for still entertaining some doubt, as you know you
have formerly deceived me in some particulars. I have done more
for you in this world than ever was done for any man in your circum-
stances. I beseech you let me be of some use to you for the next world.
Consider what a shocking thing it is to go out of the world with a lie
in your mouth. How can you expect mercy, if you are in rebellion
against the GOD of truth?" I thus pressed him; and while he stood in
his dead clothes, on the very brink of the grave, with his knees knock-
ing together, partly from the cold occasioned by his linen clothes,
partly from an awful apprehension of death, he most solemnly averred
that what he had told concerning the present alleged crime was the
truth. Before this, I had at Mr. Ritchie's desire read over his last speech
to him, which was rather an irksome task as it was very long; and he
said it was all right except some immaterial circumstance about his
meeting Wilson with the six score of sheep. Vulgar minds, and indeed
all minds, will be more struck with some unusual thought than with
the most awful consideration which they have often heard. I tried
John thus: "We are all mortal. Our life is uncertain. I may perhaps
die in a week hence. Now, John, consider how terrible it would be if I
should come into the other world and find" (looking him steadfastly
in the face) "that you have been imposing on me." He was roused by
this, but still persisted. "Then," said I, "John, I shall trouble you no
more upon this head. I believe you. GOD forbid that I should not be-
lieve the word of a fellow man in your awful situation, when there
is no strong evidence against it, as I should hope to be believed myself
in the same situation. But remember, John, it is trusting to you that
I believe. It is between GOD and your own conscience if you have told
the truth; and you should not allow me to believe if it is not true." He
adhered. I asked him if he had anything more to tell. He said he had
been guilty of one other act of sheep-stealing. I think he said of seven
sheep; but I think he did not mention precisely when. As he shivered,

332 Edinburgh, 21 September 1774

his wife took off her green cloth cloak and threw it about his shoulders.
It was curious to see such care taken to keep from a little cold one who
was so soon to be violently put to death. He desired she might think
no more of him, and let his children push their way in the world.
"The eldest boy," said he, "is reading very well. Take care that he
reads the word of GOD." He desired her to keep a New Testament and
a psalm-book which he had got in a present from Mr. Ritchie and
which he was to take with him to the scaffold. 6 He was quite sensible
and judicious. He had written a kind of circular letter to all his friends
on whom he could depend, begging them to be kind to his family.

Two o'clock struck. I said, with a solemn tone, "There's two
o'clock." In a little Richard came up. The sound of his feet on the stair
struck me. He said calmly, "Will you come awa now?" This was a
striking period. John said yes, and readily prepared to go down. Mr.
Nasmith and I went down a little before him. A pretty, well-dressed
young woman and her maid were in a small closet off the hall; and
a number of prisoners formed a kind of audience, being placed as
spectators in a sort of loft looking down to the hall. There was a dead
silence, all waiting to see the dying man appear. The sound of his
steps coming down the stair affected me like what one fancies to be
the impression of a supernatural grave noise before any solemn event.
When he stepped into the hall, it was quite the appearance of a ghost
The hangman, who was in a small room off the hall, then came forth.
He took off his hat and made a low bow to the prisoner. John bowed
his head towards him. They stood looking at each other with an awk-
ward uneasy attention. I interfered, and said, "John, you are to have
no resentment against this poor man. He only does his duty." "I only
do my duty," repeated the hangman. "I have no resentment against
him," said John. "I desire to forgive all mankind." "Well, John," said
I, "you are leaving the world with a very proper disposition: forgiving
as you hope to be forgiven." I forgot to mention that before he left

tt Boswell also seems to have given him some book of devotion on the occasion of
his former trial. Among the Boswell papers at Yale is a scrap of paper bearing
the unfinished draft of an inscription: **To John Reid, an unhappy prisoner,
from James Boswell, one of his counsel; who, if he cannot save him from punish-
ment in this world, hopes to assist I"* in obtaining mercy in the world which
is to come and hea . . , "

Edinburgh, 21 September 1774 333

the iron room Mr. Ritchie said to him, "Our merciful King was hin-
dered from pardoning you by a representation against you; but you
are going before the King of Heaven, who knows all things and whose
mercy cannot be prevented by any representation." The hangman
advanced and pinioned him, as the phrase is; that is, tied his arms
with a small cord. John stood quiet and undisturbed. I said, "Richard,
give him another glass of wine." Captain Fraser, the gaoler, had sent
him the night before a bottle of claret, part of which Richard had
given him, warmed with sugar, early in the morning, two glasses of
it in the forenoon, and now he gave him another. John drank to us.
He then paused a little, then kissed his wife with a sad adieu, then
Mr. Ritchie kissed him. I then took him by the hand with both mine,
saying, "John, it is not yet too late. If you have any thing to acknowl-
edge, do it at the last to the reverend gentlemen, Dr. Macqueen and
Dr. Dick, to whom you are much obliged. Farewell, and I pray GOD
may be merciful to you." He seemed faint and deep in thought. The
prison door then opened and he stepped away with the hangman
behind him, and the door was instantly shut His wife then cried,
"O Richard, let me up," and got to the window and looked earnestly
out till he was out of sight. Mr. Nasmith and I went to a window more
to the west, and saw him stalking forward in the gloomy procession. 1

T The procession went west up the Lawnmarket and down the West Bow. See
the map opposite p. ix. The following account, dated a few months later, seems
to be actually a reminiscence, accurate in all but a few details, by another eye-
witness of Reid's execution. Reid's was apparently the only execution that oc-
curred at Edinburgh during this period.

"The town of Edinburgh, from the amazing height of its buildings, seems pe-
culiarly formed to make a spectacle of this kind solemn and affecting. The
houses, from the bottom up to the top, were lined with people, every window
crowded with spectators to see the unfortunate man pass by. At one o'clock the
City Guard went to the door of the Tolbooth, the common gaol here, to receive
and conduct their prisoner to the place of execution, which is always in the
Grassmarket, at a very great distance from the prison. All the remaining length
of the High Street was filled with people, not only from the town itself, but the
country around, whom the novelty of the sight had brought together. On the
Guard knocking at the door of the Tolbooth, the unhappy criminal made his
appearance. He was dressed in a white waistcoat and breeches, usual on these
occasions, bound with black ribands, and a night-cap tied with the same. His
white hairs, which were spread over his face, made his appearance still more

334 Edinburgh, 21 September 1774

I then desired his wife to retire and pray that he might be supported
in this his hour of trial. Captain Fraser gave her four shillings. It was
very agreeable to see such humanity in the gaoler, and indeed the
tenderness with which the last hours of a convict were soothed pleased
me much.

The mob were gone from the prison door in a moment. Mr.
Nasmith and I walked through the Parliament Close, down the Back
Stairs and up the Cowgate, both of us satisfied of John Reid's inno-
cence, and Mr. Nasmith observing the littleness of human justice,
that could not reach a man for the crimes which he committed but
punished him for what he did not commit.

We got to the place of execution about the time that the procession
did. We would not go upon the scaffold nor be seen by John, lest it
should be thought that we prevented him from confessing. It was a
fine day. The sun shone bright. We stood close to the scaffold on the
south side between two of the Town Guard. There were fewer people
present than upon any such occasion that I ever saw. He behaved with
great calmness and piety. Just as he was going to mount the ladder,
he desired to see his wife and children; but was told they were taken
care of. There was his sister and his daughter near to the gibbet, but
they were removed. Dr. Dick asked him if what he had said was the
truth. He said it was. Just as he was going off, he made an attempt to
speak. Somebody on the scaffold called, "Pull up his cap." The execu-

pitiable. Two clergymen walked on each side of him, and were discoursing with
him on subjects of religion. The executioner, who seemed ashamed of the mean-
ness of his office, followed muffled up in a great coat, and the City Guards, with
their arms ready, marched around him. The criminal, whose hands were tied be-
hind him, and the rope about his neck, walked up the remaining part of the
street. It is the custom in this country for the criminal to walk to the gallows,
which has something much more decent in it than being thrown into a cart, as in
England, and carried, like a beast, to slaughter. The slow, pensive, melancholy
step of a man in these circumstances has something in it that seems to accord
with affliction, and affects the mind forcibly with its distress. . . .

"When the criminal had descended three parts of the hill which leads to
the Grassmarket, he beheld the crowd waiting for his coming, and the instru-
ment of execution at the end of it. He made a short stop here, naturally shocked
at such a sight, and the people seemed to sympathize with his affliction" (Ed-
ward Topham, Letters from Edinburgh, Written in the Years 1774 and 1775,
London, 1776, pp. 59-61: 9 December 1774).

Edinburgh, 21 September 1774 335

tioner did so. He then said, "Take warning. Mine is an unjust
sentence." Then his cap was pulled down and he went off. He catched
the ladder; but soon quitted his hold. To me it sounded as if he said,
"just sentence"; and the people were divided, some crying, "He says
his sentence is just." Some: "No. He says unjust." Mr. Laing, clerk to
Mr. Tait, one of the town clerks, put me out of doubt, by telling me
he had asked the executioner, who said it was unjust. I was not at all
shocked with this execution at the time. John died seemingly without
much pain. He was effectually hanged, the rope having fixed upon his
neck very firmly, and he was allowed to hang near three quarters of
an hour; so that any attempt to recover him would have been in vain.
I comforted myself in thinking that by giving up the scheme I had
avoided much anxiety and uneasiness.

We waited till he was cut down; and then walked to the Greyfriars
Churchyard, in the office of which his corpse was deposited by porters
whom Mr. Nasmith and I paid, no cart having come for his body. A
considerable mob gathered about the office. Mr. Nasmith went to
Hutchinson's to bespeak some dinner and write a note to The Courant
that there would be a paragraph tonight giving an account of the
execution; for we agreed that a recent account would make a strong
impression. I walked seriously backwards and forwards a consider-
able time in the churchyard waiting for John Reid's wife coming,
that I might resign the corpse to her charge. I at last wearied, and
then went to the office of the prison. There I asked the executioner
myself what had passed. He told me that John first spoke to him on
the ladder and said he suffered wrongfully; and then called to the
people that his sentence was unjust. John's sister came here, and
returned me many thanks for what I had done for her brother. She
was for burying him in the Greyfriars Churchyard, since no cart had
come. "No," said I, "the will of the dead shall be fulfilled. He was
anxious to be laid in his own burying-place, and it shall be done."
I then desired Richard to see if he could get a cart to hire, and bid him
bring John's wife to Hutchinson's. Mr. Nasmith and I eat some cold
beef and cold fowl and drank some port, and then I wrote a paragraph
to be inserted in the newspapers. Mr. Nasmith threw in a few words.
I made two copies of it, and, both to the printer of The Courant and
Mercury, subjoined my name to be kept as the authority. Richard
brought John's wife and daughter. "Well," said I, "Mrs. Reid, I have

336 Edinburgh, 21 September 1774

the satisfaction to tell you that your husband behaved as well as we
could wish." "And that is a great satisfaction," said she. We made
her eat a little and take a glass, but she was, though not violently or
very tenderly affected, in a kind of dull grief. The girl did not seem
moved. She eat heartily. I told Mrs. Reid that I insisted that John
should be buried at home; and as I found that as yet no carter would
undertake to go but at an extravagant price, the corpse might lie till
tomorrow night, and then perhaps a reasonable carter might be had.
Mr. Nasmith went to The Courant with the paragraph, and I to The
Mercury. I sat till it was printed. It was liberal in Robertson,* who
was himself one of the jury, to admit it; and he corrected the press.

It was now about eight in the evening, and gloom came upon me.
I went home and found my wife no comforter, as she thought I had
carried my zeal for John too far, might hurt my own character and in-
terest by it, and as she thought him guilty. I was so affrighted that I
started every now and then and durst hardly rise from my chair at
the fireside. I sent for Grange, but he was not at home. I however got
Dr. Webster, who came and supped, and he and I drank a bottle of
claret But still I was quite dismal*

[The Burial of John Reid]

THURSDAY 22 SEPTEMBER. I had passed the night much better
than I expected and was easier in the morning. Charles Hay called
and after I had given him a detail of all my conduct towards poor
John, he said emphatically, "Well, GOD has blessed you with one of
the best hearts that ever man had." Luckily for me, Bedlay had come
to town anxious to get a bill of suspension drawn by me instantly. This
diverted the gloom, for I kept him by me, and I wrote while both he
and I dictated, and had it finished by dinner time. He drank tea with
me. To touch a fee again was pleasant Ritchie had secured a cart, and
John's wife took leave of me at night when she set out with the corpse.

FRIDAY 23 SEPTEMBER. Yesterday morning I had a visit from
Mr. George McQueen, one of the bailies of Edinburgh. As I had at-

John Robertson was publisher of The Caledonian Mercury. The account in the
papers led to a proposal by Gordon, the chancellor of the jury, that Boswell be
prosecuted. With added introduction and conclusion, it was republished by
Boswell in The London Chronicle for 27-29 September.

Edinburgh, 23 September 1774 337

tacked his sentence about Henry McGraugh, I imagined that he was
come to find fault with my conduct in some strange manner, as I was
not acquainted with him. But I was agreeably surprised when he asked
me to dine with him on Wednesday next with Dr. Macqueen and Dr.
Dick. I then saw that our connexion was on account of John Reid, the
Bailie having been one of the former jury who voted to acquit him,
and being convinced of his innocence on the last occasion. I told him
I was sorry that my defending McGraugh was interpreted as disre-
spectful to the magistrates. I thought the sentence too severe and did
what in my opinion was right, as the Bailie had done in pronouncing
the sentence. We were at once on an easy footing. He told me that he
had been quite unmanned at John Reid's execution, as he really be-
lieved him to be an innocent man; and he was even under some diffi-
culty how to act. To be sure, the case was nice to be authorizing as
a magistrate what a man believed to be unjust. But private judgement
must submit in public administration. He said the Justice-Clerk had
behaved as he always does: cruelly. And he said he had great peace in
his mind when he reflected on the verdict of which he had a share.
This evening the Reverend Dr. Ewing, who was returned 1 and on his
way to London, Dr. Webster, Miss Webster, Sandy Webster, and Mr.
Nasmith supped with us. I was now pretty easy. My wife made a very
good application of a passage in Douglas, a Tragedy, saying that John
Reid was now gone, but that his jury, fifteen men upon oath, were
alive. By my speaking strongly of the injustice of the sentence, I did
John no good and in some measure attacked them.

The living claim some duty; vainly thou
Bestow'st thy care upon the silent dead. 2

I drank tea with Mr. Donaldson this afternoon.-^ 8

[Alexander Ritchie to Boswell]

Edinburgh, 24 September 1774

SIR, I intended to have called on you yesterday to have given
you the particulars as to John Reid's burial, but I was disappointed,

1 See above, p. 219. He had been travelling in Ireland during the summer.

2 John Home's Douglas^ I. i; original has "cares."
8 See above, p. 275.

338 Edinburgh, 24 September 1774

for the carter that carried his corpse to the place of interment did not
return home till late in the evening, and when I knew he was come,
I sent for him, and he told me that the body was buried in a place be-
longing to his forefathers, but that the poor widow was in great dis-
tress because one of the heritors had declared that, although all the
parish should consent to his lying there, yet he would not allow it.
She therefore begs your assistance in this critical matter. I apprehend
that an order from one of the Lords forbidding the heritors and Ses-
sion to meddle any further with the corpse of John Reid but to allow
them 3 * to lie in the burying place belonging to his ancestors this I
apprehend would end the matter, but I do not pretend to direct you.
I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,

ALEXR. RITCHIE.

P.S. I intend to wait on you about ten o'clock and give you an in-
stance of female courage and unshaken love.

SATURDAY 24 SEPTEMBER. Mr. Ritchie called and informed me
that when John Reid's wife came to Muiravonside churchyard, she
could not get the key. Therefore she and some women and the carter
laid the coffin on the dyke (wall), and, some of them being on one
side, some on the other, they lifted it over. They then had to send two
miles for a spade, and then the carter dug a grave and buried the
corpse. I got afterwards a circumstantial account of the burial in a
letter from the schoolmaster of the parish, Mr. Ritchie having written
to him that I was informed that the corpse was to be lifted, and that
they who did it should be prosecuted. It would have been a curious
question on the right of sepulture. John had, no doubt, a piece of bury-
ing-ground, but the voice of the country is that a malefactor cannot
be laid in an usual burying-place, though in a churchyard. Yet there
is no law as to that.

[Alexander Ritchie to Thomas Greenhill, Senior Clerk in the parish
of Muiravonside]

Edinburgh, 24 September 1774

SIR, I am desired to inform you that Mr. James Boswell, being
acquainted that an opposition being made by some persons against

te "Corpse" (generally spelled "corps") was often treated as a plural in eigh-
teenth-century Scotland and northern England.

Edinburgh, 24 September 1774 339

admitting the corpse of John Reid into his burying-place, and his wife
and some others, being obliged to force their way in with great diffi-
culty, got him interred but are in great apprehension of the body being
lifted out of the burying-place of his ancestors by some headstrong
persons, contrary to any law that yet exists, for as he has fulfilled the
law, there is no reason why he may not be laid in the burying-place of
his ancestors you'll be so good as notify to the Session and heritors
that if any violent measures be taken, whoever takes such will be
prosecuted in due course of law and be obliged to rebury the said
corpse in said place at their own expense. You may show this to all
concerned, both Session and others, and I remain yours, etc.,

ALEXR. RITCHIE.*

[Alexander Ritchie to Janet Reid]

Edinburgh, 27 September 1774

JANET, You know I told you before and after your husband's
death that you would meet with opposition, in burying him in the
churchyard belonging to the parish, from some persons. Your answer
to me was that the Session had given you liberty. But I understand
now that you could not get so much as the key of the churchyard door
nor obtain a spade or shovel from any in that neighbourhood, till you
was obliged to bring them from a considerable distance. I further un-
derstand that none of your friends gave you any assistance or counte-
nance at that time. Thus you may see how vain it is to trust in man,
for they commonly misgive us in the time of our greatest distress. The
use you should make of a disappointment from friends is ihat you
should trust in the Lord, for He will not disappoint the expectations
of any who trust in Him. I would now advise you that if any persons
have removed the corpse and buried them in another place or intend
to do it, you must quietly submit, as you are a poor widow and unable
to withstand them. And as your husband's soul is now in an unalter-
able state, and what happens to his body cannot touch his noble part,
this may compose your mind. You have fulfilled the promise you
made to him in laying him in his fathers' burying-ground, and the
whole parish will know that you have not sold him to the surgeons,
as some were pleased to report I entreat you therefore to compose

4 Ritchie's original letter somehow found its way into BoswelTs collection.

340 Edinburgh, 27 September 1774

yourself and take care of your fatherless children and instruct them
in the knowledge of the word of God and set a good example before
them, that they may shun the paths that lead to destruction, for you
have the part both of father and mother to fulfill towards them, and
that you cannot do unless God enable you. Seek Him, and He will not
forsake you. I entreat you at the same time not to quarrel with any
person whom you think has wronged your husband or yourself, but
rather forgive and pray for them and commit your whole cause to
God, who judgeth righteously. As to Mr. James Boswell, you know
what great trouble he put himself to in endeavouring to save your
husband's life. This was attended with great expense, and although
he did not succeed according to his wishes, that was not his fault, and
after your husband's death, he was at the expense of causing him to
be carried to the place of interment. But I apprehend it would be very
improper for you to desire Mr. Boswell to enter into a law plea with
the heritors and Session of Muiravonside about where that piece of
dead clay should lie. I expect therefore you will give him no more
trouble. I remain yours, a friend to the afflicted,

ALEXR. RITCHIE.
P.S. You may show this letter to any of your friends you please. 8

[Thomas Greenhill to Alexander Ritchie, "to be communicated to
Mr. James Boswell"]

Muiravonside School, i October 1774

SIB, I was favoured with yours yesterday, dated the twenty-
fourth of September last, anent John Reid's corpse. The history of that
matter is thus, that his wife after his getting a reprieve for fourteen
days applied to the Session anent having him interred in the church-
yard amongst his relations, but as the affair was entirely new to the
Session, and that there was no occasion for her transporting his corpse
at such a distance, the Session told her against that day fourteen days
they should inform her what was their resolution, but she never came
nigh them, and they agreed that upon her applying to the heritors,
they saw nothing to oppose it, in regard that the man was to satisfy
what the law required. It is true that his wife brought out his corpse
5 The letter is a copy, in Ritchie's own hand, with his signature.

Muiravonside, i October 1774 341

very early on Friday morning before the minister was up to get the
keys, and or ever she called for either minister or elder, she had put
bfm in over the gates, and thereafter she got some spades and digged
a grave for him in another person's burying-place at her own hand.
And upon that person's entering a complaint anent it to the minister,
the minister did all he could by advising the man to let Reid lie, since
he was now buried, for it would still be called Reid's grave. Besides,
I told the man it was not prudent to move Reid's corpse, and before he
could get proper evidence of the mistake, Reid's corpse would be in
such a condition that it was dangerous to move him, upon which the
man was satisfied. But Reid's relict, finding that she had mistaken the
burying-place of her husband, did upon Wednesday last lift his corpse
and reburied him above two of his own children and left the other
grave open and did not cover Reid's corpse decently, upon which the
minister and I caused our beadle cover him properly and fill up the
other grave distinctly. And although some people "whose heads have
been as light as their feet have made a great deal of noise anent the
matter, yet no people of sense or character would or will give Reid's
corpse any disturbance, and it has been greatly owing to the forward-
ness of his relict that there has been so much idle tattle anent the mat-
ter. And I can assure you that neither heritor or Session will give any
disturbance. I have troubled you with this history at large, as I find
Mr. James Boswell has been complained to, that he may know there
will be no more trouble anent that affair and am, Sir, your very hum-
ble servant,

THOS. GREENHIIA.

APPENDIX A

THE LAST SPEECH, CONFESSION, AND DYING WORDS OF JOHN REID,
Flesher in Hillend, near Avonbridge, who was execute in the Grass-
market of Edinburgh, on Wednesday the twenty-first 5 * day of Sep-
tember, 1 774, for the crime of sheep-stealing.

I, John Reid, aged forty-eight years past the twenty-second day of
November last, born in the shire of Stirling, in the parish of Muir-
avonside, and brought up there: I was determined once to make no
speech, but being informed that one would be made in my name and
the public imposed on thereby, I thought it proper to give the follow-
ing account, which may be depended on from me as a dying man. My
parents were in low circumstances, and I was sent to the herding when
eight years of age, by which means I got but small education. How-
ever, afterwards I learned to read and write a little. The masters I
served with were William Bryce in Blacktown, John Taylor in Get-
landertown, John Taylor in Kenmore, John Taylor in Candie, John
Calder in Hill; and since I was married, served John Brock in Hillend,
who had a very great regard for me, as all my former masters had. As
to my occupation, I learned with my father to be a flesher, which trade
him and his forefathers followed for several generations, and, as I was
informed, always maintained good characters.

My father and mother died with unblemished characters, and
when I got a little money, I began to do business for myself, and some-
times was apt to fall into company and drink too much. And one eve-
ning in coining from the town of Linlithgow, along with a comrade,
being pretty drunk, we went into a fold belonging to John Bell and
turned out his whole flock of sheep, of which flock I carried off four
and left all the rest on the ground at a little distance from the fold. The
sheep being a-missing, the next week thereafter John Bell came and
laid hold on me and affirmed that I had taken five of his sheep and
carried me before Mr. John Madeod to be examined; upon which I
was liberate, as no evident proof came out against me. This happened
in the month of June 1 752. But in the month of December thereafter,
John Bell and me being at a wedding together, and some of the com-
pany there, particularly Alexander Andrew in Ldnlithgow, William
fa The text reads "aad."

343

344 Appendix A

Miller, and William Marshall, advised and assisted him in appre-
hending me again for the said four sheep and carried me to Stirling.
But I there enlisted to be a soldier and so got clear of John Bell. But
I must acknowledge that I was actually guilty in taking these four
sheep, which was the beginning of my great misery and laid the foun-
dation for this my fatal end.

After I was enlisted, they neglecting to give me my pay regularly,
I therefore got friends and so got clear of them. Notwithstanding, I
was taken up seventeen different times as a deserter, and I was always
willing to go along with them, providing they would give me my pay
from the first day I was enlisted. But their not complying with this
my just demand, I always got clear of them as before.

The next remarkable thing that befell me was in the year 1753,
when I was indicted before the Lords Drummore and Strichen at Glas-
gow for stealing two cows and selling them to Mr. Gilbert, a flesher
in Leith. But that charge against me was false, for I proved by Mr.
Gilbert and his servant that these two cows I sold him were delivered
to him twelve days before the pursuer's cows were a-missing; upon
which I was dismissed, after a very short trial.

After this I went to London and stayed there some short time, but,
there being a hard press for men, I returned again to Scotland and fol-
lowed my trade as a flesher, as formerly. And soon thereafter I became
acquainted with Mr. John Birtwhistle, an eminent English drover,
who employed me for many years in driving his cattle from the north
of Scotland to England and also in taking grass-parks for them. I have
had eleven or twelve hundred head of cattle of his under my care at
one time, and there was never any of them a-missing that was com-
mitted to my charge. He likewise entrusted me with large sums of
money for clearing his accounts and paying the servants' wages who
I employed to assist in driving his cattle, of which I always give him
an honest account. This he will acknowledge if he is yet alive. And had
I followed his advice when he wanted me to move my family into
England, I might have been happy in his service to this day, for he was
an excellent master and dealt well with me on every occasion, as he
did with every other person with whom he had any dealings.

I have served several other drovers. I had always their approbation
for an honest servant. Notwithstanding, I had the misfortune of hav-

Last Speech of John Reid 345

ing many things laid to my charge of which I was innocent, and they
themselves were convinced of that afterwards. Of this I shall give you
one instance. Bailie John Addison in Borrowstounness having a parcel
of sheep about the number of thirty, they happened to stray from the
park in the winter season, and he was advised to get a warrant to ap-
prehend me upon suspicion of having stolen these sheep. But the sheep
being found, he declared that he was sorry that he had impeached me,
and indeed I was innocent. But it is not very easy to wipe off the
clamour in the country when once raised.

The next remarkable thing that happened to me worthy of notice
was that before the Lords of Justiciary in the year 1766, when I was
indicted for stealing six score of sheep, the property of Mr. Laidlaw at
Kingledoors. The circumstances as to this are as follows: I had been in
England with a drove of cattle for Mr. Birtwhistle, and on my return
home I met with a man on the way who called himself Wilson and
asked me if I would drive that parcel of sheep to a place near Glasgow,
for he had a mind to sell them to the fleshers there. And as he had busi-
ness by the way, he desired me to go on, and he would come up with
me against Saturday. He likewise mentioned the price he would sell
them at and desired me at the same time to sell them if I found mer-
chants. Accordingly I agreed to take them under my charge and drove
them full three days and arrived at the place appointed on Saturday,
when I gave information to the fleshers in Glasgow, some of whom
saw the sheep but would not come up to the price set upon them (being
five guineas the score, they only offering five pounds the score) ; so that
I was not at liberty to make a final bargain. I then went to look after
my employer, but he not coming up according to his promise, I asked
a friend what I should do in the matter, who advised me to leave the
sheep, as they would be safe in the park till the owner came up him-
self. His advice I f ollowed and left the sheep on the sabbath morning
and went to my own house and never saw my employer till about four
years after my trial was over, in a public market. I was determined
to seize him, but he prevented me by his sudden disappearing, so that
I never saw him since. I got the charge of these sheep about ten miles
distance from Kingledoors, but did not know them to be the property
of Mr. Laidlaw till I heard of it some time afterwards. And of that
whole six score of sheep, I disposed of none of them but one which fell

346 Appendix A

lame by the way and could not travel. That one I sold to my landlord
where I lodged one night, and to the best of my knowledge I received
for it 53. 6d. This is a true account of this matter concerning the six
score sheep.

But another branch in that trial: I was accused of stealing twenty-
seven ewes in 1763 from the farm of Maidengill* in the parish of
Douglas. As to this the fact was that I did not steal them, as my jury
found, but I confess that I was in concert with another man who stole
them and delivered them to me at a little distance from the farm to
carry away. Who that man was I have mentioned to my lawyer for
his satisfaction but do not choose to publish it to the world, as I hope
that he has repented. I must, however, inform the public that previous
to my trial I paid for all these sheep that I made use of. And the own-
ers would not have prosecute me if they had not been constrained to
do it After I was assoilzied and dismissed from the bar, I went home
and followed my business in the flesher way as formerly.

But as I am now condemned to die an ignominious death for steal-
ing or resetting nineteen sheep, knowing them to be stolen, the prop-
erty of Alexander Gray tenant in Lyne, in the county of Peebles, I
shall give the particulars of this matter: to wit, one of my neighbours,
William Gardner, with whom I had many transactions in buying and
selling both horses, cows, and sheep, and I had been several times em-
ployed by him in the way of my business as a flesher and has 7 sold his
meat for him several times and drawn the money, for which he always
paid me discreetly for my trouble. But about ten days before this
melancholy affair happened for which I am now soon to suffer, he
came to me and told me that he had a parcel of sheep which he had
bought and which he intended to give me to sell for him. As he had
told me that he was to get them in exchange, he was afraid they would
not be a bargain for me, but that I must kill and sell them for him to
the best advantage, and that he would pay me for my trouble. And as
I knew that he had several transactions in that part of the country
which he mentioned, I the more readily believed him, and he had

6 Supplied from the 1766 indictment. The broadside text has Maidweenhead,
apparently by confusion with the Medwenhead in Peeblesshire of the 1774 in-
dictment. The parish of Douglas is in Lanarkshire.

7 Scots grammar for "have." See above, p. 2 1 ore. 8.

Last Speech of John Reid 347

brought two sheep home some time before, which I killed for his own
use, and which confirmed me of the truth of his having more to bring.
Gardner and me parted at that time, and he promised to bring the
sheep as on the Tuesday thereafter, that I might loll and sell them
directly, as he wanted the money to go to a market that was to be the
week thereafter. But the sheep did not come at the time appointed, but
on the Thursday thereafter, early in the morning before I had got out
of bed, a young man named Thomas Russel chapped at my door and
told me that Gardner had sent me nineteen sheep and at same time
delivered me a line from him, in which he informed me that he could
not come on the Tuesday as he had promised, as he had been employed
in poinding a man that was owing him some money, but that he would
endeavour to see me as soon as possible. And he further desired me to
begin to kill and prepare the sheep for the market, which accordingly
I did. And on the morrow thereafter Gardner called at my house and
communed with me about a bargain, and he told me if I was to sell the
sheep on my own risk, the price would be 6. ios., 305. of which I paid
him directly, the other 5 1 was to give him on the Tuesday thereafter
providing that I had made a tolerable profit on them, and if not, I was
to give him what money they drew, and he was to pay me for my trou-
ble. Upon this Gardner went away home and took one of the carcasses
of the sheep along with him. And the next morning being Saturday, I
went to Falkirk and sold eight of the carcasses in the public market.
But on the Monday after, Alexander Gray's herd came inquiring
after the sheep, and he found two of them dead in my flesh-house, and
three living ones in a park near to my house. The rest I had sold
amongst my neighbours. I make no doubt but these were all the prop-
erty of Alexander Gray, but I knew nothing of that till this very time.
The discovery of the sheep on the Monday prevented Gardner from
calling for his money on the Tuesday, as he had promised, and I on
the other hand was filled with terror and kept myself secret but slept
in my own house every night for several weeks. And about four weeks
after the discovery, Gardner came to me and informed me how he
came by the sheep and entreated me not to discover him and he would
do all in his power to serve me.

However, my fears increasing, I went straight to the north of Eng-
land, where I remained several weeks and then was so infatuate as to

348 Appendix A

think of returning home. And in nay way home, I was informed that
Alexander Gray would trouble himself no further about the sheep,
and that the rumour would soon die away. I went to my own house,
where I kept myself secret for several weeks, but some of my neigh-
bours gave intelligence that I was at home. A messenger with a party
of dragoons came and apprehended me before I had got out of bed, and
when I found I was taken, I caused Gardner to be taken also, as I knew
that he was the mainspring of the whole action. But I did not tell at
that time that he sent the sheep to me, or that I had received a line
from him along with them, for I expected that we would be kept
prisoners together and I might have an opportunity of clearing myself
in his presence. But in this I was disappointed, for he was soon ^re-
moved from me by a warrant against him for several other crimes, for
which he is now banished to America; and Thomas RusseL, who
brought the sheep to me, has left the country also, so that I am left to
suffer for all.

As to the witnesses who appeared on my trial, there was some
contradictions among them, but I shall now pass them over. But as to
my friend William Black in Hillend, he fell into some mistakes which
were of fatal consequences to me, but I shall not trouble the public
with them. I wish the Lord may forgive him and may grant me a
heart to forgive him and all who have wished me evil.

As to the jury, I doubt not but my former character and the two
forementioned trials made an impression upon their minds. But as
both judges and jury are only accountable to the righteous Judge of
all the earth, I shall quietly submit to my awful fate.

I acknowledge I have sinned against God in many ways, but I
have been very much comforted with many passages of the Holy
Scripture, by which I see that He is great in mercy and rich in love
to the chief of sinners, even to such as me. He has declared that he has
no delight in the death of the sinner. O that He would be graciously
pleased to open my heart to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as my only
Saviour, that when I come to be deprived of this my natural life by
sentence of the law, I may be delivered from the power of the second
death and may have a part among the ransomed and redeemed of the
Lord, who shall praise Him for His redeeming love. I lament my poor
wife, with whom I have lived these sixteen years in great harmony

Last Speech of John Reid 349

and comfort. None needs impute any part of my misfortunes to her
advice or counsel, for she has given me all the good instructions that
was in her power, especially since my trial in the year 1 766, and she
has often told me that my connexion with Gardner would be of bad
consequences. (And indeed he has helped me to the gallows, for which
I -wish he may be forgiven.) I am sorry for my poor helpless children,
but I recommend them to the Lord, who is the orphans' help from His
holy habitation and is only able to take care of them. I return my
hearty thanks to my benefactors and in an especial manner to the
honourable gentleman who has plead my cause once and again with-
out fee or reward from me and has further ministered to my neces-
sities and after all has taken every step to save my life at last. (But
God, that rules all things, has not seen it meet that it should be so.)
I wish that all his lawful undertakings in behalf of unfortunate panels
may prosper, and that when he comes to leave the earthly bar, he may
find a welcome reception from the righteous Advocate at the Father's
right hand, and then he will be fully rewarded for the services done
to fellow men in their afflictions. Adieu, vain world.

JOHN REID,

JAMES ANDERSON, Witness.
PATRICK ANDERSON, Witness.

The above declaration was given to Richard Lock, inner turnkey of

the Tolbooth, Edinburgh, by the above John Reid.
[Edinburgh: printed by H. Galbraith. Price one penny.]

APPENDIX B
The Scottish Courts and Legal System

On 26 July 1766, James Boswell was admitted to the Faculty
of Advocates and three days afterwards he began to practise in the
Scottish courts. For the next twenty years, with complete regularity
and a fair degree of assiduity, he followed his professional career in
Scotland, not abandoning it until early in 1786, when, in fulfilment
of a long-cherished dream, he was admitted to the English bar and
took up residence in London. Since so much of his daily life from 1 766
onwards was spent in and about courts, especially the Court of Ses-
sion in Edinburgh, the reader may find himself helped by an extended
note on the principal features of the Scottish judicial system.

Both in its law and in its court procedure, the Scottish system dif-
fered widely from the usage of England. 2 The basis of Scots law was
the Roman civil law as expounded by the Dutch commentators, which
explains why so many Scots advocates, including Boswell, his father,
and his grandfather, studied for a time in Dutch universities. In one
respect, though following a different nomenclature, the Scots profes-
sional arrangements agreed with those of England as opposed to those
of the United States. In America, the vast majority of lawyers today
are members of the bar and hence are qualified to plead in court, as
well as to advise clients, to draw documents, and to manage cases

1 This sketch is an expansion of a draft offered to the editors by a good friend
and encourager of the Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell, Mr.
N. S. Curnow of Johannesburg, South Africa.

* Since the purpose of this appendix is merely to elucidate BoswelTs text, we have
used the past tense throughout, though a good deal of the information here given
would be as true for the present century as for the eighteenth. Our main sources
are Hugo Arnot, The History of Edinburgh, 1788; Robert Bell, A Dictionary
of the Law of Scotland,'* vols., 1807; [James Boswell] A Letter to . . . Lord
Braxfield, 1780; George Brunton and David Haig, An Historical Account of the
Senators of the College of Justice, 1832; Henry Cockburn, Memorials of His
Time, 1856; Sir Francis J. Grant, The Faculty of Advocates in Scotland, 1532-
1943, Scottish Record Society, 1944; C. A. Malcolm, "The Parliament House and
its Antecedents," in Stair Society Publications, xx. 449-458; and The Royal
Kalendar or Complete and Correct Annual Register ... for t\te If ear 774.

350

Scottish Courts and Legal System 351

(causes is the correct Scots terminology) . In England there is a sharp
division between solicitors, who prepare and manage cases, and bar-
risters, who plead them; and the same distinction obtained in Scot-
land, though the terminology there was writers and advocates. (A
Writer to the Signet was a writer whose membership in an ancient
legal society entitled him to certain privileges.) Boswell was an advo-
cate, which means that he was commonly engaged and briefed by a
writer who was managing the case. Advocates and Writers to the Sig-
net were as a rule members of the same social class upper middle,
many, indeed, being of the aristocracy but the profession of advo-
cate was considered rather more ambitious and "liberal" than that of
writer.

The principal courts in which Boswell appeared during the period
of his Scottish practice were the Court of Session, the High Court of
Justiciary, which sat in Edinburgh and at circuit towns in the coun-
try, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and the House
of Lords the last-named, of course, being situated in London.

The Court of Session was the supreme court for civil cases in Scot-
land. It sat in its own rooms in the Parliament House in Edinburgh on
all week-days except Monday from 12 June to 11 August (Summer
Session) and from 12 November to 11 March (Winter Session),
with a short recess at Christmas. The bench consisted of fifteen judges,
known as Senators of the College of Justice or Lords of Council and
Session: fourteen Ordinary Lords and a fifteenth or presiding judge
who was styled the Lord President. Each judge bore the style of Lord,
his further designation being usually that of his country estate. (Thus
Alexander Boswell was styled Lord Auchinleck; James Burnett, Lord
Monboddo. All judges, however, signed their Christian and family
names, even to official acts.) By custom only advocates of considerable
experience in the Court of Session were appointed judges, and such
eventual promotion was the aim of most advocates. In 1 774 the stated
salary of the Lord President was 13003 year and that of the Ordinary
Lords 700.*

The business of the Court was transacted in two divisions known

Arnot says (p. 479) that, though the stated salary remained unchanged, Lord
President Dundas was given an addition for his lifetime of 300 annually, be-
ginning in 1769.

352 Appendix B

as the Outer House and the Inner House. The courtroom of the Outer
House was the Parliament Hall, the stately apartment in which the
Scots Parliament had sat from 1639 until the Union of 1707. Each
week, in turn, one of the Ordinary Lords sat as a single judge in what
had been the Sovereign's throne, and summarily decided the simpler
legal actions. When his verdict was not acceptable to one of the parties,
appeal was made to the Inner House, where the Court of Session,
headed by the Lord President, sat to review the judgements of the
Ordinaries. The proceedings in the Court of Session were carried on
very largely in writing, advocates having to present their cases and
arguments by way of minutes, representations, informations, me-
morials, replies, etc. often in printed form for the judges to con-
sider. Only rarely, in cases of special importance, did the Court order
a hearing in presence, that is, permit the opposing advocates to argue
the cause viva voce. All cases in this Court were tried without juries.
Appeal could be taken to the House of Lords from its final judgement.
The Lords of Session wore gowns of purple doth with cape and facings
of crimson velvet On the cape and facings were knots of cloth which
had formerly been bows for tying the halves of the gown together in
front. Eighteenth-century portraits indicate that full-bottomed wigs
and long white cravats were normal accessories.

Six of the Lords of Session held dual appointments, and constituted
the High Court of Justiciary, the supreme court of Scotland for crim-
inal cases. This Court was in theory headed by the Lord Justice-Gen-
eral, a peer of exalted rank (the Duke of Queensbeny held the office
during the period covered by this volume) . But if the Lord Justice-
General did not hold the office as a pure sinecure, he no longer took
part in trials and may for our purposes be ignored. The actual head of
the Court was the Lord Justice-Clerk, one of the fifteen, who received
an addition of 500 to his salary as Lord of Session. The other five
Lords or Commissioners of Justiciary received an addition of 200
each. They met in their own room in the Council House adjoining the
Parliament Hall at its north-west end (the site now occupied by the
lobby of the Signet Library) during the terms of the Court of Session,
Mondays being entirely reserved for Justiciary business. Prosecutions
for the Crown were conducted by His Majesty's Advocate for Scotland
(commonly styled the Lord Advocate) and the Solicitor-General, gen-

Scottish Courts and Legal System 353

erally assisted by other advocates. Criminal cases were tried before
juries of fifteen citizens, a majority of votes being sufficient for a ver-
dict. Scots law permitted not two but three verdicts: Guilty, Not
Guilty, and Not Proven, the last being no less a full acquittal from
the pains of the law than Not Guilty. The Lords of Justiciary wore
scarlet gowns with cape and facings of white. Generally speaking, an
appointment as Ordinary Lord of Session was terminated only by
death or total incapacity to act, but a Justiciary Lord commonly re-
linquished his office on finding that age or infirmity was reducing his
capacity for work.

Some time in the spring after the rising of the Court of Session and
again in September, the Lords of Justiciary went on circuit: that is,
presided at criminal courts at various stated towns in three areas into
which Scotland was divided. The Western Circuit sat at Stirling,
Glasgow, and Inveraray ; the Northern at Perth, Aberdeen, and Inver-
ness; the Southern at Jedburgh, Dumfries, and Ayr. Two judges were
appointed for each circuit, but the duty was often actually performed
by one. Each judge was allowed from 300 to 360 a year for circuit
expenses, which included fairly lavish hospitality in circuit towns.
Young lawyers acquired practice by "going the circuits"; older and
better established lawyers were less likely to take the trouble.

No appeal lay from the sentence of the High Court of Justiciary,
and a prisoner capitally convicted in that court could hope for reversal
or mitigation of sentence only by exercise of the royal mercy. To al-
low time for appeal to the Crown, no capital sentence could be carried
into execution to the south of the Forth within less than thirty days,
or to the north of the Forth within less than forty.

There were only two changes in the bench from the time of Bos-
well's admission to the bar to the end of the period covered by this
volume. James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, was made Lord of Session
on 12 February 1767 to succeed Andrew Fletcher, Lord Milton, de-
ceased; and on 16 November 1769 Robert Bruce, Lord Kennet, re-
placed Andrew Pringle, Lord Alemoor, as Lord of Justiciary, Alemoor
continuing as Lord of Session. The following table gives the complete
roster of the "Fifteen" from the latter date to 15 February 1 775. Lords
of Justiciary are indicated by asterisks.

354

Judicial Title

Lord President
*Lord Justice-Clerk

Lord Alemoor

Lord Alva
*Lord Auchinleck
*Lord Coalston

Lord Elliock

Lord Gardenstone

Lord Hailes
*Lord Kames
*Lord Kennet

Lord Monboddo
"Lord Pitf our

Lord Stonefield

Lord Strichen

Appendix B

Family Name
Robert Dundas
Thomas Miller
Andrew Pringle
James Erskine
Alexander Boswell
George Brown
James Veitch
Francis Garden
Sir David Dalrymple
Henry Home
Robert Bruce
James Burnett
James Ferguson
John Campbell
Alexander Fraser

Appointed

Born/Died

Judge

1713-1787

1760

1717-1789

1766

d. 1776

1759

1722-1796

1761

17071782

1754

d. 1776

1756

1712-1793

1761

1721-1793

1764

1726-1792

1766

1696-1782

1752

1718-1785

1764

1714-1799

1767

1700-1777

1764

d. 1801

1763

1699-1775

1730

The Lord Advocate from 1766-1775 was James Montgomery
(1721-1803), the Solicitor-General, Henry Dundas (1742-1811).

The judges of another Scottish court receive frequent mention in
BoswelTs Journal, but he himself did little or no business there. The
Court of Exchequer tried cases relating to customs, excise, and other
matters concerning Crown revenue. It consisted of a Lord Chief Baron
and four other Barons. This court followed the forms of English law,
and English barristers as well as Scots advocates were eligible for ap-
pointment to its bench. The salaries of three of the Barons were the
same as those of the Ordinary Lords of Session, but Baron Winn re-
ceived 1200 and the Lord Chief Baron received 2000 annually. The
Judges in 1 774 were as follows:

Robert Ord (d. 1778)
John Grant (d. 1776)
John Maule ( 1 706-1 781 )
William Mure (1718-1776)
George Winn (1725-1798, resigned appoint-
ment 1776)

Boswell went every day during term to the Parliament House,
arriving at nine o'clock. (See above, 12 August 1774.) If he had no

Lord Chief Baron

Baron

Baron

Baron

Baron

Scottish Courts and Legal System 355

case to plead, he joined the other advocates in the Parliament Hall,
where they paced back and forth in the Outer House, which was prom-
enade and waiting-room as well as court-room. (An area at the north
end, fenced off by a slight wooden partition running half way to the
ceiling, was occupied by the stalls of stationers and booksellers, later
of jewellers and cutlers.) Scots advocates did not have offices or cham-
bers distinct from their dwellings. Boswell dictated his papers at home
and made appointments with clients in a tavern. As will be seen from
the dates given above, the sessions of the Courts covered only six
months of the year. During the long vacations, the professional de-
mands on an advocate were few. If he were ambitious and prudent,
he studied law then, for the Scots bar was crowded and a commanding
practice had to be fought for. As the present volume demonstrates,
Boswell did study law with his father in the autumn vacation of 1 771
and with his fellow advocate Charles Hay during the spring and au-
tumn vacations of 1 774. He had an appeal case in the House of Lords
as an excuse for his London jaunt of 1 772. But he had no such excuse
for that of 1 773; and he also spent the entire autumn vacation of that
year in a tour to the Hebrides with Dr. Johnson. He would come more
and more to feel that he had a right to rush off to London as soon as
the Court rose in the spring. But from 1 766 to 1 783 he did not once
absent himself from Scotland during term time.

The fact that it cut into vacation may have been one of the reasons
why he came to entertain such hearty dislike for the business of the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. This, the supreme
ecclesiastical court of the kingdom, sat each May in an apartment ap-
propriated to its use in St. Giles's church. It was made up of ministers
and elders elected annually from each presbytery, was presided over
by a Moderator chosen at each Assembly from its own members, and
was attended by a Lord High Commissioner representing the King.
The best known of Boswell's cases in this court concerned a clergyman
who was refused induction and ordination because of previous im-
moral behaviour. (See above, 5 April 1 772.) Most of his cases appear
to have dealt with the then very lively issue of patronage: whether
the chief landholder of a parish could present ministers, or whether
they should come at the direct call of the parish.

The House of Lords of the Parliament of Great Britain, besides
being a house of the legislature, was also the final court of appeal from

Appendix B

most of the courts in Great Britain though not (as has already been
mentioned) from the criminal courts of Scotland. 4 It sat as a court on
stated days of the week throughout the legal year, even during the
prorogation or dissolution of Parliament. Any member of the House
(aH the peers of England and of Great Britain, sixteen representative
Scots peers, and twenty-six bishops) could attend and could vote on
an appeal, and members sometimes exercised this privilege (see above,
1 1 April 1 773) , but the decisions were usually left to the "law lords,"
that is, to the Lord Chancellor and the judges of the supreme courts
of England who held the rank of peers. In 1772 there were only two
law lords: Lord Apsley, the Chancellor, and Lord Mansfield, Lord
Chief Justice of the King's Bench. Lord Mansfield deputized for Lord
Apsley and sat alone from 4 April to i May of that year. Cases in the
House of Lords were managed by solicitors and pleaded by advocates
or barristers. The respective cases of the appellant and the respondent,
forming the subject-matter of the appeal, were printed and bound in a
considerable number of copies at the expense of the appellant and
lodged with the House in advance of the trial; some of these were
bound in purple cloth for the use of the law lords. Only two counsel
could be heard on each side. Further details of the procedure are given
above, p. 114-115.

Glossary of Legal Terms

ASSOILZIE (pronounced assoilyie or assoilly) . To acquit by sentence
of a court.

BILL OF SUSPENSION. An appeal in form to a judge to prohibit execu-
tion of a sentence until further hearings have been held; a request
for an injunction.

COMPEAR. To appear in court personally or by attorney.

DECERN. To decree or adjudge.

DECREET ARBITRAL. The judgement of an arbiter in a private judicial
proceeding.

HABIT AND REPUTE. Having the general reputation of being.

* The sources for this part of the sketch are mainly Michael Macdonagh, The
Book of Parliament, 1897, and Sir Frank MacKinnon, "The Law and the Law-
yers," in Johnson's England, ed. A. S. Turberville, 2 vols., 1933.

Scottish Courts and Legal System 357

INFORMATION. A written pleading ordered by the Lord Ordinary

when he takes a cause to report to the Inner House.
INTERLOCUTOR. The judgement of the court, or of the Lord Ordinary,

which, unless reclaimed or appealed, has the effect of deciding the

cause.
LIBEL. Generally speaking, the part of the indictment stating the

grounds of the charge on which a civil or criminal prosecution

takes place. As a verb, to institute proceedings by filing a libel, or

complaint.

MEMORIAL. A statement of facts drawn up to be submitted for coun-
sel's opinion. Also, an advocate's brief.
MINUTE. A notice of intention presented to the court by a party to a

suit.

PANEL. The defendant (accused) in a criminal action.
POINDING (pronounced pinding). The process by which a creditor

seizes a debtor's property so as to become vested with the title and

right of sale or appropriation in satisfaction of his debt.
PRECOGNITION. A preliminary examination of witnesses by the Lord

Ordinary or by justices of the peace, in a criminal cause; also, the

evidence uncovered in this examination.
PURSUER. The plaintiff cr prosecutor.
RECLAIMING PETITION. A written pleading stating the grounds on

which a judgement of the Lord Ordinary or whole court is expected

to be altered.
RELEVANCY. In criminal actions, the correctness or propriety of the

indictment.
REPRESENTATION. A written pleading presented to the Lord Ordinary

when his judgement is brought under review.
RESET OF THEFT. Receiving goods knowing them to be stolen.

INDEX

This is in general an index of proper names with analysis of actions,
opinions, and personal relationships under the important names. Under
Edinburgh and London the buildings, streets, and other locations in the
cities are listed. Observations on a person are ordinarily listed under that
person; for example, BoswelTs characterization of Lord Mansfield will be
found under Mansfield and not under Boswell. An exception is made in
the case of Samuel Johnson, whose opinions on various people are listed
in Part III of the article under his name, and are not always specified
under the names of the persons in question. Sovereigns appear under
their Christian names; noblemen and lords of session under their titles.
The titles are usually those proper to the period 1769-1774. Maiden names
of married women are given in parentheses. Titles of books are listed under
the name of the author. Locations on the maps of Edinburgh and London
are indicated by letters and numbers in parentheses after names. The letters
A to D ( A2, DS, etc.) refer to the London map. The letter E, whether singly
(E) or with a number (4), refers to the map of the City of Edinburgh,
(Env.) to the map of the Environs of Edinburgh, both at p. viii. Habitations
of persons mentioned in the text are located on the maps if Boswell reports
visits to them. The following abbreviations are used: D. (Duke), M.
(Marquess), E. (Earl), V. (Viscount), B. (Baron), Bt (Baronet), W.S.
(Writer to the Signet), JB (James Boswell), SJ (Samuel Johnson).

Abbott, C. Colleer, xxvii, i lege, Oxford, nominal tutor of SJ, 175

Abercorn, James Hamilton, 8th E. of, Addison, John, bailie, 345

11572.1, 177 Addison, Joseph, 74*1.6; Spectator, 169

Abercrombie, Alexander, W.S., 234 Adventure, ship, 42

Aberdeen, 92, 193 Advocates, Faculty of, 140, 174, 335, 350

Aberdeen, University of, xxiii, 1277*. Advocates' Library (basement storey, Par-
Abergairn, 192 liament House, E), 24, i74-4, 228/1.5,

Abernethy, John, D.D., 102 265

Abyssinia, 262, 271 Aeschylus, 10572.3

Acts of Parliament of Scotland, 22271.8 Agag, Biblical character, 217

Adam, Agnes, tried for murder, 198, 199, Aikin, Anna Laetitia, See Barbauld

284 Ailesbury. See Bruce of Tottenham

Adam, Margaret, tried for murder, 198, 199 Ainsworth, Robert, Compendious Diction-
Adam, Robert, architect, 21771.9, 218, 219 ary of the Latin Tongue, 5571.9

Adams, William, Master of Pembroke Col- Aitkin, John, surgeon, 337

359

360

Akenside, Mark, Hymn to the Naiads,
74/2.6; Pleasures of Imagination, 74-75

Alemoor (Andrew Pringle), Lord (27;
HawkhiU, Env.), dines with JB, 229; JB
dines with, 234; asks if JB's wit is pre-
meditated, 235; mentioned, 130, 231, 232,

353

Alexander the Great, 43, 230
Alexander, Robert, in colliery cause, 1 77^-3
Alexander v. Montgomery, 176, 1771.3
Alison, Mrs., in Edinburgh, 322
Allen, Joseph, transcriber of music, 176/1.9
Alnwick, 21, 30
Alva (James Erskine), Lord (Argyll

Square, E), 256
Ambler, Charles, counsellor, 62
American Revolution, 220/2.8, 225/2.5, 279

n.2, 301

Anderson, William, tailor, 157
Andrei, Abbate, 34r-35, 54
Andrew, Alexander, in Linlithgow, 343
Andrews, John, malefactor, 199, 306
Ansley, Delight, xxviii
Anson, Thomas, of Shugborough, 117
Anstruther (Janet Fall), Lady, 95
Anstruther, Sir John, Bt, 95
Apsley, Henry Bathurst, Lord, later 2d E.

Bathurst, Lord Chancellor, 67, 81, 111,

356

Argyll, John Campbell, 5th D. of, 115
Argyllshire, 194
Aristotle, xvi
Armstrong, innkeeper, 33
Armstrong, John, 124; Forced Marriage,

124/2.2

Arniston. See Dundas, Robert
Arnot, Hugo, 140; History of Edinburgh,

35o-3

Ashburton. See Dunning

Auchinleck (Alexander Boswell), Lord,
father of JB (23), introductory account
of, 1-4; second marriage, $, JB's friends
disapprove, 6; grudgingly accepts JB's
marriage, 5; JB cannot live with, after
marriage, 5; illness, 7/2.3; JB tries to be
friendly, 10; JB visits at Auchinleck, 12,
13, 14; JB travels with, on the Western
Circuit, 13; instructs JB on law, antiqui-
ties, and pruning of trees, 14-15; enter-
tains Paoli, 22; characterization of Paoli
as a "landlouping scoundrel" doubted, 22;

JB dines with, 24, 28, 228; threatens to
disinherit JB, 50; dispute over entail of
estate, editorial comment on, x, 51/2.2,
SJ and JB discuss, 50-52, Sir John Pringle
agrees with JB, 59, Dr. Wood gives JB
advice on, 234; satisfied with improve-
ment of JB's conduct, 59, 84; hospitality,
85; strained relations with JB, 137-139,
200-201, 226, 228; in cause of Alexander
v. Montgomery, 176, 177; in trial of Cal-
lum McGregor, 192; SJ visits on return
from Hebrides, 195, 196; talks with con-
tempt of SJ, 201; in parliamentary elec-
tion for Ayrshire, 201-203, 258; in Edin-
burgh, 209; pleased with Veronica, 209,
259; JB spends Sundays with, 213, 216,
219, 232, 259; as judge in trial of John
Reid, 238, 241-244, 247, 254, 255 ; invites
JB to meet Lord President Dundas at
dinner, JB refuses, 257-258; returns to
Auchinleck, 267; mentioned, 95/1.2, 134,
212/2.5, 2 75; Observations on the Election
Law of Scotland, 15/2., 258/2.8

Auchinleck (Elizabeth Boswell), Lady, 2d
wife of Lord Auchinleck, marriage, 5;
JB doubts if she will have children, 10;
Temple thinks she is not ill-disposed to-
wards JB, 138; John Boswell estranged
from, 138/2.; mentioned, 24, 209, 226

Auchinleck (Euphemia Erskine), Lady, ist
wife of Lord Auchinleck, mother of JB,
i, 2, 50/2., 52/2., 133/2.

Auchinleck (house and estate), 12, 21, 22,
60/2., 81

Auckland. See Eden, William

Augusta, consort of Frederick Louis, Prince
of Wales, mother of George III, 60, 61,
77

Auld, Andrew, in trial of John Reid, 248,
249

Aylmer, Henry Aylmer, 4th B., 162/2.8

Aylmer, Rose, 162/2.8

Ayrshire, i, 12, 68, 161 ; JB considers ap-
plying for sheriffship of, 127; parliamen-
tary election, 201-203, 258

Aytoun, William, W.S., 227

Bacon, Francis (B. Verulam, V. St Al-

bans),6g

Baddinoch. See Macdonald, George
Baldwin, Henry, printer, 126, 127

Index

361

Baldwin, Mrs. Henry, 126

Baldwin, Richard, bookseller, loon.

Balfour, Andrew, advocate, 278

Balfour, John, bookseller (E8), a8a

Ballencrieff, 26/1.6

Balmuto. See Boswell, Claud

Banff, 210/2.9

Banks, Joseph, later Bt, expedition dis-
cussed by SJ and friends, 42-43; JB
meets, 54; story of Methodist sailor con-
verting savages, 66; visits JB in Edin-
burgh, 139-140; compared with James
Bruce, 260, 262-263; mentioned, 42, 65

Barbauld, Anna Lactitia (Aikin), Corsica,
103

Barber, Francis, servant to SJ, 39, 158, 171

Bargrave, Mrs., 74, 103

Barnet, 157

Barrett, Roger W., xxiii

Barrington, William Wildman Barrington-
Shute, ad V., 79

Barter, James, miller, 75

Bathurst. See Apsley

Baxandall, David, xxviii

Bayes, character in Rehearsal, 65, 85

Bearcroft, Edward, sen., K.C., 162

Beatson, John, commander of a brig, 286

Beattie, James, letters from JB, 20, 145;
introduced to SJ by JB, 20; SJ writes of,
to JB, 27, 145; SJ thinks him a fine fel-
low, 43; Mrs. Thrale wants him for a
second husband, 43; conceals his mar-
riage, 43; praised by Garrick, 124; perse-
cuted by William Robertson for attack on
Hume, 124-125; JB writes to, on plans
for tour of Hebrides, 193; mentioned, 41,
44; Essay on Truth, 20, 145; Minstrel,
20/2., 145

Beattie, William, xxviii

Beauclerk, Lady Diana (Spencer), comely
and well behaved, 183; entertains JB
while he waits for news from Literary
Club, 184; JB defends her divorce and re-
marriage, is rebuked by SJ, 185

Beauclerk, Topham, high-bred behaviour
resembles coldness, 165; JB values him
because of friendship with SJ, 165; tells
anecdotes of SJ, 165-166; JB dines with,
184; notifies JB of admission to Literary
Club, 184; mentioned, 126, 133, 183

Beccaria, Cesare Bonesana, Marchese di,

307

Becket, Thomas, bookseller, partner in o/z-
don Magazine, loo-toi; literary prop-
erty cause, see Donaldson v. Becket

Bedford, Francis Russell, 8th D. of, 7571.8

Bedlay. See Roberton

Belgrade, 106

Bell, Adam, W.S., 215, 221, 236, 257, 284,
307

Bell, John, bookseller (E6), 265

Bell, John, farmer, 343, 344

Bell, Robert, Dictionary of the Law of Scot-
land, 350/1.2

Bengal, 90/2.4

Bennet, Andrew, nephew of Rev. William
Bennet, 212

Bennet, Andrew, stabler (Grassmarket, E),
324-325, 326, 329

Bennet, Mrs. Andrew, wife of preceding,
324, 326

Bennet, Rev. William, 281

Bennett, Charles H., xxv, xxvi, xxvii

Berenger, Richard, gentleman of horse, 120

Bergin, Thomas G., xxviii

Bernera, isle of, 63

Berwick-upon-Tweed, 21/2.4, 40

Betts, landlord of the Queen's Arms, Lon-
don, 163

Bible, 47, 5^-57, 98, 126, 127, 170, 171,
228; i Corinthians, 170/2.1; Genesis, 259
n.a; James 276; John 46/2.6; Luke, 73/2.,
173/1.9; Matthew, 60 ; Revelation, 74,
170/7.1; i Samuel, 217/2.2

Biggleswade, 157

Binning, Mrs., 274

Binning, Charles Hamilton, styled Lord,
later 8th E. of Haddington, 121

Biographia Britannica, 66/2.6

Birrel, Robert, diary of, 265

Birtwhistle, John, drover, 286, 344

Black, William, in trial of John Reid, 243,
244-248, 313, 348

Black, William, Fiscal in the Lyon Office,
272/2.2

Blackhouse, 177/1.3

Blackshiels, 30, 196, 197

Blair, Capt Alexander, 330

Blair, Catherine, "the Heiress," later wife
of Sir William Maxwell of Monreith, 3,
86-87

Index

361

Baldwin, Mrs. Henry, 126

Baldwin, Richard, bookseller, loon.

Balfour, Andrew, advocate, 278

Balfour, John, bookseller (E8), 283

Ballencrieff, 26/2.6

Balmuto. See Boswell, Claud

Banff, 21072.9

Banks, Joseph, later Bt, expedition dis-
cussed by SJ and friends, 42-43; JB
meets, 54; story of Methodist sailor con-
verting savages, 66; visits JB in Edin-
burgh, 139-140; compared with James
Bruce, 260, 262-263; mentioned, 42, 65

Barbauld, Anna Lactitia (Aikin), Corsica,
103

Barber, Francis, servant to SJ, 39, 158, 171

Bargrave, Mrs., 74, 103

Barnet, 157

Barrett, Roger W., xxiii

Barrington, William Wildman Barrington-
Shute, 2d V., 79

Barter, James, miller, 75

Bathurst. See Apsley

Baxandall, David, xxviii

Bayes, character in Rehearsal, 65, 85

Bearcroft, Edward, sen., K.C., 162

Beatson, John, commander of a brig, 286

Beattie, James, letters from JB, 20, 145;
introduced to SJ by JB, 20; SJ writes of,
to JB, 27, 145; SJ thinks him a fine fel-
low, 43; Mrs. Thrale wants him for a
second husband, 43; conceals his mar-
riage, 43; praised by Garrick, 124; perse-
cuted by William Robertson for attack on
Hume, 124-125; JB writes to, on plans
for tour of Hebrides, 193; mentioned, 41,
44; Essay on Truth, 20, 145; Minstrel,
2on., 145

Beattie, William, xxviii

Beauclerk, Lady Diana (Spencer), comely
and well behaved, 183; entertains JB
while he waits for news from Literary
Club, 184; JB defends her divorce and re-
marriage, is rebuked by SJ, 185

Beauclerk, Topham, high-bred behaviour
resembles coldness, 165; JB values him
because of friendship with SJ, 165; tells
anecdotes of SJ, 165-166; JB dines with,
184; notifies JB of admission to Literary
Club, 184; mentioned, 126, 133, 183

Beccaria, Cesare Bonesana, Marchese di,

307

Becket, Thomas, bookseller, partner in Lon-
don Magazine, 100-101; literary prop-
erty cause, see Donaldson v. Becket

Bedford, Francis Russell, 8th D. of, 7571.8

Bedlay. See Roberton

Belgrade, 106

Bell, Adam, W.S., 215, 221, 236, 257, 284,
307

Bell, John, bookseller (E6), 265

Bell, John, farmer, 343, 344

Bell, Robert, Dictionary of the Law of Scot-
land, 3507Z.2

Bengal, 9072.4

Bennet, Andrew, nephew of Rev. William
Bennet, 212

Bennet, Andrew, stabler (Grassmarket, E),
324-325, 326, 329

Bennet, Mrs. Andrew, wife of preceding,
324, 326

Bennet, Rev. William, 281

Bennett, Charles H., xxv, xxvi, xxvii

Berenger, Richard, gentleman of horse, 120

Bergin, Thomas G., xxviii

Bernera, isle of, 63

Berwick-upon-Tweed, 2172.4, 40

Betts, landlord of the Queen's Arms, Lon-
don, 163

Bible, 47, 56-57, 98, 126, 127, 170, 171,
228; i Corinthians, 1 70/1.1; Genesis, 259
72.2; James 276; John 4672.6; Luke, 7372.,
17372.9; Matthew, 60; Revelation, 74,
17072.1; i Samuel, 21772.2

Biggleswade, 157

Binning, Mrs., 274

Binning, Charles Hamilton, styled Lord,
later 8th E. of Haddington, 121

Biographia Britannica, 66.6

Birrel, Robert, diary of, 265

Birtwhistle, John, drover, 286, 344

Black, William, in trial of John Reid, 242,
244-248, 313, 348

Black, William, Fiscal in the Lyon Office,
27272.2

Blackhouse, 17772.3

Blacfcshiels, 30, 196, 197

Blair, Capt Alexander, 230

Blair, Catherine, "the Heiress," later wife
of Sir William Maxwell of Monreith, 3,
86-87

362

Index

Blair, Hugh, D.D., sermons by, 213, a 16,
228, 233, 237, 259, 298

Blair, John, LL.D., 77

Blair, Capt. John, of Dunskey, 94724

Boccaccio, Giovanni, 34

Bolingbroke, Frederick St. John, ad V., 185

Bolingbroke, Henry St John, ist V., 270

Bolland, James, criminal, 36

Boothby, Lieut. (Capt.) William, later Bt,

37,39

Boston, William Irby, ist B., iis.i
Boston Port Bill, 220/1.8
Boston Tea Party, 220/2.8
Bosville, Diana (Wentworth), wife of God-

frey Bosville, behaves with civil formal-

ity, 53; SJ meets at Pantheon, 86; men-

tioned, 67, 128
Bosville, Elizabeth Diana. See Macdonald

(Elizabeth Diana Bosville), Lady
Bosville, Godfrey (Great Russell St.,

Bloomsbury, A4), family of, 53-54; JB

dines, sups with, 53, 99-100, 118, 160,

173, 179; mentioned, 38, 54, 128
Bosville, Julia, later Lady Dudley and

Ward, dau. of Godfrey Bosville, 54, 128
Bosville, Thomas, son of Godfrey Bosville,

54,128
Bosville, Capt William, son of Godfrey

Bosville, 54, 160
Boswell, Capt., in narrative of James Bruce,

261, 262
Boswell, Sir Alexander, Bt, son of JB,

Boswell, Charles, illegitimate son of JB,

Boswell, Claud Irvine, later Lord BaLmuto,

162, 209, 227
Boswell, David, dancing-master, 51*1.2, 59,

201
Boswell, David, brother of JB. See Boswell,

Thomas David
Boswell, Euphemia, dan. of JB, x, 208,

275, 309
Boswell, James, of Auchinleck, grandfather

of JB, 282

Boswell, James, of Balbarton, 218, 257, 309
BOSWELL, JAMES (Feb.-May 1770, Cowgate

near the Excise, E.; May 1770-May

1771, Chessel's Buildings, E.; May 1771-

Mav 1773, Hume's house in James's

Court, E.; May 1773-, another house in
James's Court)

[Part I, Biographical; Part II, Writ-
ings]

I. Biographical, Including States of
Mind, Traits of Character, and Opinions.
Summary of events in this volume, ix-
xxi; literary style, xvi-xxi; as man of
"feeling," xvii, xviii; sketch of life to
November 1769, 1-4; from marriage to
visit to London in 1772, 5-28; marriage,
5-17; moves to Chessel's Buildings, 7;
happy in marriage, ix-x, 8, 11-12, 76;
happy in work, 8, 25; birth and death of
first son, x, 11; reflections on death in
infancy, 11; indulges fits of passion or
gloom so his wife may comfort him, 12;
moves to James's Court, 13; accompanies
his father on the Western Circuit, 13;
takes his wife for a week's jaunt to the
South, 14; ill, 14, 67, 146, 147, 184, 191;
misses his wife when separated from her,
15, 29, 36, 91, 107, 135, 155, i 94; partner-
ship in London Magazine, 16, 100, 163,
272; literary activities continued, xii, 16-
17; interested in the theatre, xii, 16-17;
compares actor to barrister, 17; resolves
to give up former ways, 19; renewed
interest in London friends, 19; excursion
to Newcastle and Alnwick, 21; Carron
Ironworks duns him for cannon sent to
Corsica, 21; entertains Paoli on tour of
Scotland, 21-22; return to London in
1772, planned, 22, 25, 26; resents slight
to Paoli, 23; offends Lord Hailes, 23;
wonders whether practice of law is con-
sistent with moral rectitude, 23-24; jour-
ney to London, x-xi, 28, 29-33; eager to
see London again, 29; served by ugly,
stupid maid, 30; studies law papers and
sings from Beggar's Opera, 30; pierced
by a glance from a fine eye, 31; admires
English inns, 32; simile on principles
and causes in law, "a good idea," 32; com-
pares present cheerfulness with former
gloom, 33, 80; enjoys travelling, 33; ar-
rives in London, 33; decides not to lodge
with Paoli, 35; has trouble understanding
Italian, 35; tempted by prostitutes, 35,
66-67; resolves not to come to London
again without his wife, 35; at home in

Index

363

London, feels truly well, 36; finds lodg-
ings in Conduit Street, 37; thinks lodg-
ings more difficult to choose than wives,
37; renews old friendships, 37-38; ob-
jects of visit to London, 37-38; makes
puns, 38, 143, annoyed by puns, 108;
embarrassed by pretty maid, 39; thinks
of buying St. Kilda, 43-44, 63; remem-
bers former dissipated and sickly state,
44; enjoys conversation with strangers,
45, 157; interested in ghosts, 45-46, 74,
103, believes in them, 107, 306; dispute
over entail of estate, 50-52, 59-60, 234;
views on inheritance through male line,
51, 59, 60, 187, 200-201, 212, 230-231,
234; collects "good things" from conver-
sations, 53; caught in heavy thunder-
storm, 53; discusses allegorical paintings,
54-55; thinks English women of fashion
reserved and uncivil, 58; thinks he is
better for having been whipped in school,
xviii, 58, 116; attends House of Com-
mons, 59, 61, 161-162; feels manly con-
sciousness of improvement, 59; compares
life in London to a banquet, 61; hears
appeals in House of Lords, 61-62, 67, 80-
81, 92, 95, 99, 101, 102, 104, 120, 161/2.6,
162; interested in parliamentary proce-
dure, 62 ; no longer odd and extravagant,
62; admits invention of memorial on
Corsica by John Brown, 64-65; goes to
the theatre, 65, 179-180, 227; likes to be
praised, 65; at club meeting with Sir
John Pringle, 65, 102; at club meeting
at London Coffee-house, 65-66, 103; finds
that work keeps him from being de-
pressed and listless, 68, 128; friends think
he is like his father, 68; feels steady,
composed, calm, 68, 130; sitting up late
hurts his health, 75, 126, 127; fears meet-
ing bad company in streets, 75; attends
levees of Lord Mansfield, 78-80, 111-
112; shocked by jesting reference to mas-
sacre of St George's Fields, 78; on satire,
78; happy, in good spirits, 80, 87, 91, 95,
too, 118, 128, 209, 212; plan of removal
to English bar, 81, 135, 203; Scottish
patriotism, feelings, ideas, 81, 93, 100;
Auchinleck is his great object, 81; on
securing influence by hospitality, 84, by
lending money, 85; makes amends to his

father for past follies, 84; goes to the
Pantheon, 86-87; attends synagogue
services, 92, 93; attends service at St.
Paul's, is elevated and bettered, 93, 173;
appreciates a good breakfast, 95, 99; ad-
mires feudal system, 98-99; has art of
melting into the general mass, 100; is a
person of consequence, too, 104, 107;
hugs himself with joy, 100, 104; drinks,
but not to excess, 100, 134; has full relish
of life, 107; is considered a wit, 108;
breaks his custom by working on Sun-
day, 109; indulges every opportunity for
superstition or enthusiasm, no; should
have been born in early times or in
Spain, no; literary ambitions, 11172.1,
141; on conversation of Scots advocates,
in; has genius for biography, 112; de-
fends drinking, 122; has not Garrick's
perennial flow of spirits, 124; observes
Good Friday, breakfasts with Mrs. Mac-
dowal as a penance, 125; quite a labori-
ous author, 127; considers applying for
sheriff ship of Ayrshire, 127; attends mass
on Easter, 128; thinks wealthy men
should keep their fortunes in the country,
130; determined to try reviving good
manners in Edinburgh, 130; attends Lord
Mayor's dinner and ball, 130-133;
Wilkes says he has grown the gravest of
mortals, 132; gloomy, hypped, 134; goes
with bad women a little, 134; leaves Lon-
don for Edinburgh, 134, 135; life from
spring of 1772 to spring of 1773, 135-
154; intends to go to London every
spring, 135; plans to borrow money from
Johnston of Grange, 136; examinator in
Faculty of Advocates, 140; Masonic ac-
tivities, 140, 257, elected Master of Can-
ongate Kil winning Lodge, 191, 215, but
moderately in Mason humour, 215, social
glee at Lodge meeting, 221-222; drinks
heavily, xiii, 140, 214, 218, 221, 224, 229,
230, 235, 253, 269, 273, 279, 309, 314,
318, 320; gambles, 140; visits a woman
of the town, 140, 146; uneasy, fearful of
consequences, 140; on corruption of Scot-
tish manners by levelling, 142; buys wig
from Gast, recommended by Garrick,
143; contributes to Percy's catalogue of
SJ's writings, sends copy to Garrick, 143-

Index

144; attends masquerade as a dumb con-
jurer, 145-146; receives congratulations
on birth of Veronica, i49~ 1 50i writes
letters in hope of collecting answers, 151;
compares birth of Veronica with opening
of She Stoops to Conquer, i5i-*53J visit
to London in 1773, , 150, *5* *54;
journey to London, i55-*57; _ satisfied
with present soundness of mind, but
misses excitement of former fermenta-
tion, 157; finds lodgings in Piccadilly,
158; misses Lord Mansfield's rout for
want of breeches, 160; less anxious at
being absent from his wife than last year,
160; invents dialogue between David
Kennedy and his brother, Lord Cassillis,
161; hears Edmund Burke and Lord
North speak, 161-162; thinks speaking in
Parliament is not difficult, 162; an en-
thusiast in his profession, 162; talent for
being interested and pleased with small
things, 163; on character of Lord Ches-
terfield, 164; discusses "terrible objects"
in gardens, 167-168; observes Good Fri-
day, 171; observes Easter, 173; h * s no
firm conviction on religion, 173; dis-
cusses legal problems with Lord Mans-
field, 176-179; admitted to membership
in Literary Club, xi, 183-184; journal-
izes, but is not so able as formerly, 184;
has strange thought on fate, 184; leaves
London, 189; life from spring of 1773 to
June 1774, 190-209; travels to Cornhill
with Mr. and Mrs. Temple, 190; argues
with Temple, is severe and rough with
Mrs. Temple, 190; arrives in Edinburgh,
190-191; apologizes to Temple, 191; tour
of the Hebrides, editorial account of, xi,
193-196 (see also Johnson, Samuel, Part
II); accompanies SJ on road to London,
196; exhausted and languid after SJ's
departure, 197-198, 200; in parliamen-
tary election for Ayrshire, 201-203, 258;
plans for return to London discouraged
by Pringle and SJ, 203-205; finds con-
versation and merriment in Court of Ses-
sion, 209; has peculiar ability, at begin-
ning of sessions, to distinguish one from
another, 210; feels sameness in work,
210; thinks justice has improved because
friendships and family attachments are

weakened, 210; on feelings of inferiority
and superiority, an; plays bowls, 212,
219, 236, 276, 279, 291, 309, 3*5, 3i8,
321, 324; plays cards (sixpenny brag,
whist, loo), 212, 230, 297, 315, 319, 321;
attends New Church, 213, 216, 219, 225,
228, 232, 237, 258, 270, 277-278, 283,
298; reads sermons, 213; wonders how
much attention a lawyer should give to
causes, 213; wishes he were in London,
resents provinciality of Edinburgh, 213-
214, 216, 221; calm, easy, in good frame,
213, 215, 218, 227, 270, 297; remorseful
after drinking, 214, 224-225, 253-254,
321; finds pleasant associations are
formed by chance, 215; observes that
agreeable life is never long continued,
216; prefers England to Scotland, 216;
no longer gloomy on Sunday evening,
217; sees laying of foundation stone of
Register House, regrets absenc^ of cere-
mony, 217; a plain, good-humoured, hos-
pitable kinsman, 218; suggests setting up
a hogshead of wine as Lord of Session,
219; is social without rioting or drunken-
ness, 220, 226, 270; recites his ballad
Boston Bill, 220-221, 229; sympathizes
with Americans in Revolution, 220/7.8;
finds social dinners and law practice in-
compatible, 221, 225; loses two causes
unjustly, speaks with manly ease, 221;
in Highland humour, sings Gaelic song,
221; compares life to a monotonous jour-
nal of weather, 222; mind more lively
than usual, 222; pays bet by giving din-
ner, a complete riot, 224; feels necessity
to drink, but must beware of it, 226;
sober and diligent, 227; reads Walton's
Lives, 228, 236-237, 269, note on missing
leaves in Life of Sanderson, 228/1.5;
thinks of religious duty, 228, 269; may
use trifling means to do himself good,
228; in disagreeable humour, domineer-
ing and rude, 228-229; studies law with
Charles Hay, 229/2.8, 274, 278, 299, 310,
318; jests on immortality, 231; drinking
makes him ill-bred, 231; in sparkling
frame, witty among his colleagues, 231-
232; thinks judges should have dignity
and reverence, 232; resolves to check
violence of temper, 232; decides to fol-

low example of Sir William Forbes in
keeping record of expenses, 233; concern
for wife and children interferes with
principles of male inheritance, 234; does
not plan witty remarks beforehand, but
talks about them afterwards, 235; pre-
sents antiquities to Faculty of Advocates,
235; in debt, 236; prepares for trial of
John Reid, resolves to taste no wine till
it is over, 336 (see also following para-
graph and Reid, John); entertains jury
at tavern after verdict against John Reid,
253; elated by his appearance in court,
253, 254; encouraged by praise, hopes to
return to England, 257; sings Pope's
Universal Prayer to ridiculous tune, 257;
says reflections on the vanity of life are
part of the farce, 259; speaks against
drinking, but drinks, 260; interviews
James Bruce, traveller, 260-263; solidly
social, can adapt himself to any com-
pany, 264; compares mind to a glass,
265; last day of session, philosophizes on
death, 266; gives dinner for Lord Pem-
broke with ease and gentility, 266-267,
270; attends Assembly, 267; goes to
races, 267-268; disapproves of entertain-
ment on Sunday, 268; discusses whether
old soldiers are better than young ones,
270-271; rainy weather brings a cloud
of hypochondria, 273; counts a day lost,
"perdidi diem" 273-274, 279; plays the
bass fiddle, 275; on predestination and
crime, 276; on perjury, 278; finds that
drinking is the only cement of an ill-
assorted company, 279; on military train-
ing for boys, 279; makes rule to attend
every funeral to which he is invited, 280;
plans attempt to resuscitate John Reid
after hanging, 280, 284, 20 1-20,2, 322,
324-328; searches for place to hide body,
324-326; scheme is abandoned, 327; de-
pressed by sight of anatomical speci-
mens, 281; serves port because claret is
too expensive, 281-282; has solid coarse
ambition of making money, 283; has
idea of the Sheep-steal er's Progress in
Hogarthian prints, 283; orders portrait
of John Reid, 283-284; sees portrait
painted, 285, 288, 290; oppressed, agi-
tated by thoughts of Reid, 287-288, 293*

Index 305

294; on smuggling, 301; dismisses man-
servant for fear of smallpox infection,
309; prisoners in Tolboolh esteem him,
present a petition, 309; strangely
wearied, 319; in drunken frenzy after
failure of efforts to save Reid, 319-320;
shocked by his wife's account of his
cruelty to her, firmly resolves to be sober,
321; has character of speaking ill of his
friends, 321; cannot argue well on reli-
gion, has doubts, 322, 327; last interview
with Reid, 330-33 1 ; sees execution, 332-
335; writes account for newspapers, 335-
336; gloomy and frightened after death
of Reid, 336; begins to feel easy again,
336, 337

Law Practice: editorial comment on,
ix, xiii-xvi, 350, 354-355; summary of,
first year, 1766-1767, 7-8; in 1772, 24;
in 1772-1773, 140, 147-149; in summer
of 1773, 191-192; in winter of i773-*774
198-200, 205; before General Assembly,
7, *3, 94 1361 191; fit fee, 29/1.1; first
case in Court of King's Bench, 1786, 96
.i; interested in trial of Murdison and
Miller, 146-147, 149; sees trial of Callum
McGregor, 192; review of summer ses-
sion, 1774, 268-269; interested in Henry
McGraugh, 279-281, 309, 337

Consultations: 210, 220, 221, 222, 230,
234, 257, 272, 273, 284, 307; Lady Dun-
donald's suit against weaver, 226-227,
269, 272; Earl Fife, politics of, 210,
213, 218, 229, 256; Rev. William Mac-
queen's legacy, 222-223

Trials and causes: Margaret and
Agnes Adam, 198, 190; John Andrews,
William Wilson, and William Love, 199;
James Brown, 199; John Brown and
James Wilson, 192; James Cant and
Thomas Muir, 198, 200; Donaldson v.
Becket, 191, 205; Donaldson v. Hinton,
205; Douglas Cause, 3, 4, 37"-7, 78, 81,
178, 296; Thomas Gray, 191-192; Wil-
liam Harris, 8; John Hastie, xii-xiv, 26,
57, 108-109, presentation of appeal, 112-
116 (see also Hastie); Robert Hay, xiv;
George Macdonald, 24-25; meal riots,
Malcolm Cameron and Peter Tosh, 148,
Richard Robertson, 147-149; John Ray-
bould, xiv; John Reid, editorial account

366

Index

of, xv-xvi, xix, xx, 250-251, bibliography
of, xxiii-xxiv, 238, papers in JB's hand-
writing, 242-249, trial in 1766, 62/1.4,
22771.1, trial in 1774, 238-256, petition
for transportation, 264, 266, 271, 273,
275-277, letters on, 265-266, 277, 297,
300, 319, 320, 322-323, respite obtained,
293-294, memorial on evidence with
declaration by Mrs. Reid, 3*, 312-314
(see also under Reid)

II. Writings: 1. Journal of a Tour to
the Hebrides, 1785: bibliography of,
xxii-xxiii, xxv; writings of, 194-196,
205; quoted or referred to in foot-notes
on pp. xi, 30-31, 33, 78, 150, 159, 179,

184, 213, 223, 271

2. Life of Samuel Johnson, 1791: bib-
liography of, xxii, xxv, xxvi; plans for,
83, 144, 175; use of notes for, 133; 4th
ed., 1804, 1 0572.3 ; first draft, MS., text
of first draft printed on pp. 184-189;
published text used on pp. 97~99 i5-
107; quoted or referred to in foot-notes
on pp. x, xii, 18, 19, 49, 51, 55, 69, 84-86,
90, 97, 105-107, 109, 122, 166, 171, 179,

185, 187, 196, 203-204, 225, 234

3. Journal: editorial comment on, x,
xvi-xxi; bibliography of, xxi-xxii, xxv,
xxvi; begun with new year, 1772, in con-
densed form, 24; fully written, after 14
March 1772, x-xi, 28, after 30 March
1773, 154, after 14 June 1774, 209; re-
vised from memory years later for Life
of Johnson, 105/1.5; breaks off, 20 April
1772, 133, 14 April 1773, 182; rough
notes, 1772, 133, 1773, 182-183, 189;
brief entries, August 1772 to January
i773> 139-140; SJ's advice on keeping,
xvi, 174, 215; loss of pages from Holland,
174-175; "Review of My Life for Some
Time Previous to This Period," 1774,
197-198, 208; portions used in Life of
Samuel Johnson, xii, printed on pp. 41-
44, 46-51, 55-57, 68-71, 72-75, 82-84,
85-89, 94-95, 180-182; portions removed
for Life, not recovered, 97/1.3, 105/1.4;
quoted or referred to in foot-notes on pp.
xi, xvi-xx, i, 2, 18, 24-25, 40, 41, 61, 139,
140, 146, 147, 173, 175, 210, 230; text on
pp. 29-97, 99-105, 107-134, 155-187,
209-238, 253-254, 356-338

4. Letters: bibliography of, xxiii, xxv,
xxvi; specimens appear in the text on pp.
5-8, 10-15, 18-20, 22-26, 78/2.9, 135,
143-145, 150, 152-153, 183, 187, 193,
206, 207, 236/2.5, 265-266, 277, 300, 312
(see also names of correspondents)

5. Periodical items: bibliography of,
xxiv; specimens printed on pp. 17, 21-
22, 23, 64-65, 208, 315-316; in Cale-
donian Mercury, 336; in London Chroni-
cle, 16, 17, 64-65, attacks on Lord
Provost of Edinburgh, 23, Boston Bill,
ballad, 220-221, on John Reid, 315-316,
336/2.; in London Magazine, 16, 17, 126,
141, "On the Profession of a Player,"
xii, 17, 22, on Paoli's visit to Scotland,
21-22, "A Sketch of the Constitution of
the Church of Scotland,'* 44/2.8, 127/2.1,
141, "Sceptical Observations" on the
above, 141, sketch of Thomas Gray, 141,
"Debates in the General Assembly of the
Church of Scotland," 191, tribute to
Goldsmith, 208, essay on James Bruce,
262, 271, 272; in Public Advertiser, 172,
under pseudonym "Rampager," 173/2.,
279; in Scots Magazine, 16

6. Works projected, 1769-1774: essay
on Edward Young, 33; extracts from rec-
ords of Privy Council of Scotland, 141;
essay on the profession of a lawyer, 171;
life of Thomas Ruddiman, 174; history
of Edinburgh, 265

7. Other works: bibliography of, Tnriii,
xxiv; Letters between the Honourable
Andrew Erskine and James Boswell,
Esq., 1763, 215/2,6; De supellectile legato,
1766, 3; Dorando, 1767, 3; Letters of
Lady Jane Douglas, 1767, 3; Prologue at
the opening of the Theatre Royal
(verse), 1767, 17, 121; Account of Cor-
sica, 1768, 3, 16, 35*-9, mrc.1, ii7-5,
164; dedication of Edinburgh edition of
Shakespeare, 1771, xii, 18; Reflections on
the Late Alarming Bankruptcies in Scot-
land (anonymous), 1772, 142, review of,
in Edinburgh Advertiser, probably by
JB, 142; Decision of the Court of Session
upon the Question of Literary Property,
774, 205; Ten-Line Verses, 1774, 211;
"The Mournful Case of Poor Misfortu-
nate and Unhappy John Reid* 9 (broad-

Index

367

side), 1774, 3<>6, 318, text, 308-309;
Justiciary Garland, 1776, 209; Hypo-
chondriack, 1777-1/83, 141, 173"-, Let-
ter to . . . Lord Braxfield, 1780, 35071.2;
Boswelliana, 1874, 53, 309, an, 301/1.1;
Letters of James Boswell, 1924, xxv; Pri-
vate Papers of James Boswell, 1928-
1934, xxv; Boswell's London Journal,
1762-176$, 1950, 2, 44^.1, 761-1; Bos-
well in Holland, 1765-1764, 1952, a,
8on.; Boswell on the Grand Tour: Ger-
many and Switzerland, 1764, 1954, 2;
Boswell on the Grand Tour: Italy, Cor-
sica, and France, 1765-1766, 1955, a,
3571.7; Boswell in Search of a Wife,
1766-1769, 1956, 4, 7671.1, 7872.8, 87/1.4

Boswell, James, younger, son of JB, 10572.3

Boswell, John, M.D., brother of Lord Au-
chinleck (14), dines with JB, 226, 276,
321; asks JB for loan, 257; member of
Glassite sect, 310; argues on religion
with JB, 321-322; mentioned, 259, 319

Boswell, Lieut. John, brother of JB, JB
visits, 31; estranged from his step-
mother, 13871.; rides in coach with JB,
156; character of, 156; mentioned, 201

Boswell, John, of the Craigston line, 5971.3,
71.4

Boswell, John, of Knocfcroon, 6on.

Boswell, Margaret (Montgomerie), wife of
JB, introductory account of, 4; letters to
JB, 5, 7, 7671.1; letters from JB, 5-6;
wedding, 5; returns to Edinburgh with
JB, 5; JB worried about her health, 6;
dangerously ill in first childbirth, 11;
Temple admires her, 11-12; JB is fully-
sensible of his happiness with her, 12;
contented in spite of uncertain health,
12; visits her sister Mary Campbell, 13,
15; in good health, likes her house in
James's Court, 13; goes for a week's va-
cation to England, 14; visits Auchinleck,
15; Temple advises her on relations with
Lord Auchinleck, 15, 138; excursion to
Newcastle and Alnwick, 21; entertains
Paoli, 22; has miscarriage, 27-28; Paoli
praises her, 59; JB writes to, 91, 134,
i6on.i; JB plans to bring her to London,
112; JB hopes she will meet him at
Hawick on his return from London, 135;
health improved, 136; pregnant, 140,

203; understands and forgives JB, 140;
does not approve of JB's writing for
magazine, 141-142; dislikes JB's wig,
143; attentive in JB's illness, 147; bears
daughter Veronica, 147, 148; has anx-
ious temper, 155-156; sublets Hume's
apartment, moves into larger house in
same building, 191; entertains SJ, 193,
196; wishes for SJ's departure, annoyed
by his uncouth habits, 196; thinks SJ has
too much influence over JB, 196; visits
friends in company with JB, 214, 216,
220, 226, 227, 228, 230, 234, 256, 269, 274,
278, 279, 281, 307, 309; alarmed, dis-
tressed by JB's drinking, 214, 224, 231,
253; punishes JB for drunkenness by re-
fusing to deliver SJ's letter, 225; goes to
the theatre, 227, 230, 258; approves JB's
generosity to friends, 233, 298; in
Heriot's Gardens, 236, 273; takes good
care of JB, 237-238; is capable as hostess
at dinner for Lord Pembroke, 267, 270;
Lord Pembroke asks for her commands
from London, 375; ill, 283, 318; explains
Reid's reaction to respite, 294; reports
public opinion against Reid, 297; tells
JB of his outrageous behaviour in
drunken rage, 321; shocked by scheme
for resuscitation of Reid, 325; thinks JB
has gone too far in zeal for Reid, 336,
337; mentioned, 53, 16272.9, ai 7 21 8,
228, 259, 268, 277, 283, 314

Boswell, Robert, W.S., son of Dr. John Bos-
well, 319

BosweU, Sally, illegitimate dau. of JB, 3,
21571.4

Boswell, Thomas, ist Laird of Auchinleck,
5171.2

Boswell, Thomas David, brother of JB, JB
hopes to see settled in London, 38, 102;
JB writes to, 270; mentioned, 156, 215

Boswell, Veronica, dau. of JB, birth, x, 147,
148; baptism, 149; JB writes to Gold-
smith comparing her birth with opening
of She Stoops to Conquer, xiii, 151-153;
pleases Lord Auchinleck, 209, 259; in
Heriot*s Gardens, 236, 273; introduced to
Lord Pembroke, 267; begins to walk and
talk, 273; cheers her father, 288

Bouricius, Jacobus, De offido advocati,
33771.7

368

Bowie, Rev. John, vicar of Idmiston, 6371.6

Boyd, Mary Ann, 4

Bradshaw, Mrs., in Edinburgh, 256

Brady, Frank, xxvii, xxviii

Braxfield, Lord. See Macqueen, Robert

Breslaw, conjurer, in

Bridgehill, 245

Bridgetown, Barbados, 158

Bridgewater, John Egerton, ist E. of, 6471.

British Museum, xxiii, 2171.4

Brock, John, in Hillend, 343

Brodie, Capt. David, 165-166

Brodie, Mary (Aston), wife of preceding,
16571.8

Brompton, Richard, painter, 38

Brooks, Cleanth, xxviii

Brown, Alexander, librarian of Advocates*
Library, 274

Brown, James, horse-stealer, 199, 292, 318

Brown, John, author, memorial in favour
of Corsicans an invention by JB, 64^5;
Estimate of the Manners and Principles
of the Times, 6571.2

Brown, John, bailie of Edinburgh (per-
haps same as following), 293

Brown, John ("Buckram"), 301

Brown, John, messenger, 304

Brown, John, murderer, 192

Brown, Thomas, SJ's instructor in English,
175

Browne, Isaac Hawkins, the elder, poet,
Pi pe of Tobacco, 112

Browne, Mrs. Isaac Hawkins, widow of
preceding, 112

Bruce, Anne, dau. of Sir John Bruce-Hope,
cause of, 92, 95, 99

Bruce, James, of Kinnaird, traveller, JB
interviews, 260-263, 267; comments on,
271; Travels, 26171.

Bruce-Carstairs, James, of Kinross, cause
of, 6771.9, 92, 95, 99

Bruce of Tottenham, Thomas Brudenell
Bruce, ad B., later E. of Ailesbury,
11571.1

Brunton, George, and David Haig, Histori-
cal Account of the Senators of the Col-
lege of Justice, 35071.2

Bryce, William, in Blacktown, 343

Buccieuch, Francis Scott, 2d D. of, 180

Buccleuch, Henry Scott, 3d D. of, 11571.1

Index

Buchan, David Steuart Erskine, nth E. of,
96,98

Buchan, Hugh, City Chamberlain of Edin-
burgh, 93, 112

Buckden, 32

Buckingham, George Villiers, 5th D. of,
Rehearsal, 65, 85

Bulkeley, or Bulkley, Mrs. (Mrs. Barres-
ford), actress, 181, 208

Burke, Edmund, SJ can live well with, but
must avoid subjects of disagreement, 106;
JB meets, 133, 16571.7; JB hears his
speech in House of Commons, compares
Vn'm to an actor, 161-162, 169, would be
happy to be in his place, 162; JB long
believed him a Jesuit, 167; quotes Scrip-
ture, 170; sacrifices everything to wit,
170; at Literary Club, 184, 187; JB
thinly hiTnc^lf equal to, xx, 253; Vindi-
cation of Natural Society, 270

Burnet, Gilbert, Bishop of Salisbury, His-
tory of My Own Times, 171

Burnett, Arthur, son of Lord Monboddo,
211

Burney, Dr. Charles, 49

Burney, Frances (Mme. D'Arblay), 12871.4

Burns, Robert, 11171.3, 2311-3

Burrow, Sir James, 65

Burzynski, Count, Polish diplomat, 21,
12871,5

Busby, Richard, DJD., master of Westmin-
ster School, no

Bute, John Stuart, 3d E. of, 60, 61, 8871.

Bute, John Stuart, 4th E. and ist M of.
See Mountstuart

Butler, Samuel, author of Hudibras, B6n.

Byron, George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord,

Cade, Catharine (Whitworth), wife of
Philip Cade, later Lady Aylmer, 16271.8

Cade, Philip, 16271.8

Caesar, Julius, 125

Cairnie, John, M.D., 215

Caithness, Peerage of, 61, 6771.9

(Jalder, John, in Hill, 343

Calder, Dr. John, 16971.7

Caledonian Mercury, 149, 335, 336

Callander, John, of Craigforth, 30

Camden, Charles Pratt, ist E. of, 69, 81,
88n.

Index

369

Cameron, Malcolm, malefactor, 148

Camoens, Luiz de, Lusiad, translation of,
12472.1

Campbell, Miss, of Carrick, 218

Campbell, paving contractor of London,
brother of Duncan Campbell of Glenure,
no

Campbell, Alexander, advocate, no

Campbell, Archibald, Bishop of Aberdeen,
174

Campbell, Col. Donald, of Glensaddell, 71,
72

Campbell, Maj. Sir Duncan, of Barcaldine,
Records of Clan Campbell in the Mili-
tary Service of the Honourable East
India Company 1600-1858, 7273.

Campbell, Elenora (Ker), wife of Walter
Campbell, 229

Campbell, Lord Frederick, Lord Clerk
Register of Scotland, 217

Campbell, Hay, later Lord President and
Bt. (Brown Square, E), in cause of John
Hastie, 57; career of, 2210.4; JB con-
sults with, 221, 273; JB at Leith for
family dinner with, 282, 283; earnings
of, 282

Campbell, James, of Treesbank, 13/2.

Campbell, Jean, dau. of James Campbell of
Treesbank, mistakes figure of Justice for
a woman selling sweets, 55; Sir John
Pringle's friendship with, 137, 138, 150;
letter from him, 196, 197

Campbell, John (Queen's Square, A4), 110-
111, 174; Lives of the Admirals, 174;
Political Survey of Britain, i 10/1.9

Campbell, Mary (Montgomcric), wife of
James Campbell of Treesbank, 13/2.

Campbell, Col. Robert, of Finab, 297

Campbell, Susan (Murray), wife of Hay
Campbell, 282

Campbell, Walter, of Shawfield, 227, 229,
231, 232

Campbell et al. v, Hastie. See Hastie, John

Campbeltown, schoolmaster of. See Hastie,
John

Cant, James, malefactor, 198, 200

Carlisle, 13471.3, 135

Carlyle, Misses, of Waterbeck, Dumfries-
shire, xxiii

Carmichael, Poll, protegee of SJ, 17371.1

Carnegie, Misses, 34

Carnwath, 192, 248

Carron Ironworks, Stirlingshire, 21, 22

Carstares, William, statesman and minis-
ter, State-Papers and Letters . . . , 283

Cassillis, David Kennedy, loth E. of. See
Kennedy, David

Cassillis, Thomas Kennedy, gth E. of, 161,
201

Castle Stewart. See Stewart, William

Castlehaven, Mervin Tuchet, 2d E. of, 64/2.

Cathcart, Charles Schaw Cathcart, gth B.,
177

Cato, 125

Cave, Edward, printer, 103, 107

Cawdor, 46/1.7

Cervantes, Miguel de, Don Quixote, 63

Cha> -ers, James, W.S,, 93

Chalmers, Margaret (Forbes), wife of
Robert Chalmers, 214, 215

Chalmers, Robert, "writer," 214, 215, 260,
262

Chambers, Ephraim, Cyclopaedia, or an
Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sci-
ences, 127

Chambers, Robert, later knighted, lawyer,
187, 188, 189/1.

Chambers, Sir William, Dissertation on
Oriental Gardening, 167

Chapman, R. W., xxv, xxvii

Charlemont, James Caulfeild, 4th V. and
ist E. of, 184

Charles I, King of England, Scotland, and
Ireland, 47/1.2, 63/1.8, 171/2.5

Charles II, King of England, Scotland, and
Ireland, 159/1.7, 171

Charles Edward, Prince, the Young Pre-
tender, 53/1.4, 194-195

Charles, Norman Chodikoff, xxviii

Charlotte Sophia, Queen of George III, 36

Chatham, William Pitt, ist E. of, corre-
spondence in verse and prose with Gar-
rick, 119-120; mentioned, 75/1.8, 98,
161/2.6

Chaucer, Geoffrey, xvii

Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th
E. of, advises SJ on pronunciation, 71;
death, 163/1.2; character of, described by
Lord Lyttelton, 163-164; epigrams, on
Lord Tyrawley, 164, on Sir Thomas
Robinson, 164; wit of, discussed, by JB,
164, by SJ, 168; letter from SJ, men-

370

tioned, 168; reasons for SJ's grievance,
168-169

Chidester, Harriet, xxviii
Child, Sir Josiah, Bt., New Discourse of

Trade, 301

Chisholm, Maj. James, of Chisholm, 62
Christrora, Pehr, mathematician and phi-
lologist, 56

Church of England, 47
Church of Scotland, 44; General Assembly,

7, 13, 94, 136, 355

Gibber, Colley, SJ's epigram on Birthday
Odes of, 144; said to have been received
by Lord Chesterfield while SJ waited,
168-169; mentioned, 11272.7
Cicero, 89
Clarke, father-in-law of John Reid, 265,

291

Claxton, Miss, sister of following, 112
Claxton, John, F.S.A. (Lincoln's Inn, B$;

Great Ormond St., A4), 102, 112, 185
Cleland, John, 81-82; Memoirs of a

Woman of Pleasure (Fanny Hill), 81
Cleland, William, father of preceding, 8t
Clerk, Sir James, Bt., 295, 296, 31172.
Cleveland, John, poet, portrait of, 166
Cleveland, William, brother of preceding,

166/2.2

Clifford, James L., xxviii
Clifford, Martin, 86/2.
Clive, Robert Clive, ist B., 90/24, 161
Club, The. See Literary Club
Coalston (George Brown), Lord, 238, 243,

255
Cochrane, Archibald Cochrane, styled

Lord, later gth E. of Dundonald, 274
Cochrane, Basil, Commissioner of Customs,

22271.7, 3i8
Cochrane, Maj. Charles, son of 8th E. of

Dundonald, 222/1.7, 225
Cochrane, Lady Elizabeth, later Lady
Elizabeth Heron, 222, 259-260, 270, 272,
*74, 283, 307, 321

Cochrane, Henry, of Barbachlaw, 288
Cochrane, Hon. James, son of 8th E, of

Dundonald, 274
Cochrane, Lady Mary (Bruce), wife of

William Cochrane of Ochiltree, 213
Cockburn, Archibald, Sheriff-Depute, 240,

Index

Cockburn, Henry, Memorials of His Time,

9672., 35on.2
Coke, Sir Edward, 69
Coldstream, 14

Colebrooke, Sir George, Bt., 174
Coll, 194
Collingwood, Mrs., aunt to Mrs. Temple,

3*, *90

Colman, George, the elder, Garrick ad-
vises Mickle to offer Siege of Marseilles
to, 123; produces Good Naturcd Man and
She Stoops to Conquer, 151; mentioned,
92/1.1, 126/2.; Man of Business, 227

Colville, Lt-Gen. Charles, 230

Colville of Culross, Elizabeth (Erskine),
Lady (Drumsheugh, Env.), interested in
SJ's opinions on Purgatory, 47, 72; JB
is comforted and cheered by visiting,
215; JB dines with, 225-226, 228; at JB's
dinner for Lord Pembroke, 266, 267;
mentioned, 47/2.8, 170/2,2, 216/2., 259,
267, 278, 290, 298

Comano, Chevalier, Spaniard, 267

Cook, Capt. James, 42/2.1, 43/2.4

Cooke, William, Conversation, 119/2.9;
Life of Johnson, 119/2.9; (?) Theatrical
Biography, 119

Cornhill, 14, 190

Cornwallis, Charles Cornwallis, 2d E., later
ist M., letter to, on behalf of John Reid
from Col. James Webster and JB, 298-
299; mentioned, 323

Corpus Juris Civilis, 108

Corsica, 2, 14/2., 21, 35/2.7, 64

Corstorphine, 227

Corunna, 112/2.6

Coryate, Tom, humourist, 97; Coryats
Crudities, 97/2.4

Courant. See Edinburgh Evening Courant

Court of Session. See Session, Court of

Courts and legal system, 350-357

Coventry, Bishop of. See North, Brownlow

Covington. See Lockhart, Alexander

Crabtree, H, innkeeper at Grantham, 157

Craighouse, 219

Craigston, 59/2.3, 60/2.

Craufurd, Maj. (later Lieut-Col.) John
Walkinshaw, of Craufurdland, 68, 273

Crieff, 247

Croker, John Wilson, 42/1.3

Crosbie, Andrew, advocate (St. Andrew's

Index

371

Square, New Town, E.; Suffolk St., GS),
in cawe of John Hastie, 57, 62/1.4, 101,
112, 113, 116; character of, 62/2.4; at
Lord Mansfield's rout, 111, ii2j in trial
of Murdison and Miller, 147; in trial of
John Brown and James Wilson, 192; in
trial of Thomas Gray, 192; in trial of
Andrews, Wilson, and Love, 199, 306/2.7;
on legacy of William Macqueen, 223;
advice on John Reid, xv, 22772.1, 237,
271; dines, sups with JB, 229, 283; JB
dines with, 231-232; analysis of JB's wit,
235; comments on Abyssinian travels of
James Bruce, 271; indignant over sen-
tence of Henry McGraugh, 279; in plan
for resuscitation of Reid, 280; mentioned,
21, 77/2.6, 89, 90, 95, 111, 170, 198, an
rc-4, 218, 220, 234, 278, 282

Cullen (Sir Francis Grant), Lord, 282

Cullen, Robert, advocate, later Lord Cullen,
as a mimic, 49; in plan for resuscitation
of John Reid, 291; mentioned, 231, 232,
234, 278

Cullen, William, M.D., father of preceding
(28), in plan for resuscitation of John
Reid, 280, 291; mentioned, 49/2.6

Culloden, 53, 89/2.2

Cumberland, Duke of. See William Augus-
tus

Gumming, Rev. Patrick, 228/2.5

Cummyng, James, Lyon Clerk Depute,
271-272

Cuninghame, Alexander, son of Capt. Alex-
ander Montgomerie-Cuninghame, 180

Cunynghame (Mary Montgomerie), Lady
(Abbey Hill, Env.), 218

Curll, Edmund, bookseller, 158

Curnow, N. S., xxviii, 350/2.1

Currie, James, "writer," 224, 226

Gust, Sir John, Bt., 31

Cyclops, mythical character, 271

Daghlian, P, B,, xxviii

Dalblair, 68/2.6

Dalin, Olaf von, historian, 56

Dairymple (Anne Cunningham), Lady,

225
Dairymple, Sir Charles Mark, of New-

hailes, Bt., xxiii
Dairymple, Sir David, See Hailes

Dalrymple, John, Lord Provost of Edin-
burgh, JB's anonymous attack on, 22, 23

Dairymple, Sir John, Bt, in appeal for
John Hastie, 115; praises JB for conduct
in trial of John Reid, 257; Memoirs of
Great Britain and Ireland, 159

Darlington, 30-31, 156

Davenant, Charles, Essay on the East India
Trade, 301

D'Avenant, Sir William, 86/z.

Davidson, Rev. Mr., 217

Davidson, Harry, 162

Davidson, John, Crown Agent, 294, 320/2.

Decker, Sir Matthew, Bt., Essay on the
Causes of the Decline of the Foreign
Trade, 301

Defoe, Daniel, True Relation of the Ap-
parition of Mrs. Veal to Mrs. Bargraue,
74H-5

Delaware, 219/2.5

Democritus, 209

Demosthenes, 88, 169

Dempster, George, M. P. (Berners St., AS),
Indian servants, 45, 72; agreeable and
happy, 52; thinks Boswelliana will be
the greatest treasure of the age, 53;
leaves his dining-room in confusion, 72;
elected East India Director, 103; speaks
in House of Commons, 161 ; JB has philo-
sophical saunter with, 184; mentioned,
39,45,61, 104, 160,179

Denbigh, Basil Feilding, 6lh E. of, 62,
115/2.1

Derby, 134/2.3

Desmoulins, Elizabeth, 40-4,3

Dick, Sir Alexander, Bt. (Prestonfield,
Env.), 66/2.5, 108, 212

Dick, Andrew, W.S., 311

Dick, Rev. Robert, 278, 325, 333, 334, 337

Dickie, Matthew, "writer" (5), dines
with JB, 218, 315; as clerk to JB, 273;
JB dines with, 273; certifies declaration
of Mrs. Reid, 3 12

Dickson, Margaret, "half-hangit Maggie,"
289

Digges, West, actor, 28, 146

Dilly, Charles, bookseller (Poultry, 63),
welcomes JB to London, 36; converses in
City style, 36; goes with JB to syna-
gogue, 93; mentioned, 134

Dairymple, James, servant to JB, 209, 309 Dilly, Edward, bookseller (Poultry, 83),

372

Index

welcomes JB to London, 36; goes with
JB to synagogue, 92; partner in London
Magazine, loon., 163; in House of Lords
for appeal of John Hastie, 116; attends
Lord Mayor's dinner and ball, 130-132;
JB delivers copy to, 141; sympathizes
with publisher beaten by Goldsmith,
158-159; recommends JB as legal ad-
viser to Mrs. Macaulay, 179; gives din-
ner for Temple, Goldsmith, SJ, and
others, 185; visits JB in Edinburgh, 191;
firm of, JB sends order for loan to Francis
Gentleman to, 336; mentioned, 35, 72,
101, 126, 134, 157, 164, 172, 189

Diogenes, 118

Dives, Biblical character, 73

Dobson, Christopher S. A., xxviii, 115/2.

Dodds, Mrs., mother of JB's child, Sally, 3

Dodsley, Robert, dramatist and bookseller,
Collection of Poems by Several Hands,
7472.6, 112; Fugitive Pieces, 270

Donaldson, Alexander, bookseller (Ei6),
publishes edition of Shakespeare, 18;
literary property cause, 191, 205; after
victory in cause, may weep that he has
no more booksellers to conquer, 230; JB
dines with, 301; dines with JB, 309; men-
tioned, 65, 157, 337; Collection of Poems
by Scotch Gentlemen, 12472.1

Donaldson, Colin, innkeeper, 33

Donaldson, James, son of Alexander Don-
aldson, 230, 309

Donaldson, John, bookseller, 6571.4, 93

Donaldson v. Becket, literary property case,
191, 205

Donaldson v. Hinton, literary property
cause, 205

Doncaster, 31, 32

Douglas, Archibald James Edward, later ist
B. Douglas of Douglas (Pall Mall, Cs),
witnesses JB's marriage contract, 5; JB
thinks his house magnificent, 58; of-
fended by reference to Douglas Cause,
7872.7; cold to his supporters, 267; men-
tioned, 37, 38, 77, na

Douglas, Capt. Charles, 301

Douglas, Lady Lucy (Graham), wife of
Archibald James Edward Douglas, 58,
112

Douglas, Capt William, of Kelhead, later
Bt., 37

Douglas, Heron, and Company Bank, 7777.6

Douglas Cause, 3, 4, 37-7, 78, 81, 178, 296

Douglas parish, 286, 346

Dowdeswell, William, politician, 161

"Down the burn, Davie," tune, 257

Drake, ship, 42

Dreghorn, Lord. See Maclaurin

Dreghorn (place), 321

Drelincourt, Charles, Christian's Defence
against the Fears of Death, 7473.5, 103

Drogheda, 56

Drummond, Peter Auriol, 1 1 772.6

Drummond, Capt. PRobert, 273

Drummond, Robert Auriol, later loth E. of
Kinnoull, 11771.6

Drummond, Robert Hay, Archbishop of
York, 117, 118

Drummore (Hew Dalrymple), Lord, 344

Dry den, John, 85, 22172.9

Dublin, Theatre Royal, 70/7.

Duff, William, sheriff -depute of Ayr, 127

Dukeshire, Mary E., xxvii

Dumfries, Patrick Macdowall-Crichton, 5th
E. of, 202

Dun, Rev. John, minister of Auchinleck,
11672.

Dunant, Capt., Swiss, 58

Dunbar, Sir James, Bt., 264

Dunbar v. Lem, cause of, 62

Dunbar (place), 30

Dundas, Henry, later ist V. Melville, So-
licitor-General (George Square, Euv,),
at Lord Mansfield's rout, 112; in House
of Lords for appeal of John Hastie, 115;
ill from drinking, 235; career of, 23572.2;
in trial of John Reid, 240; mentioned, 24,
79, 192, 198, 199, 209, 210

Dundas, James, Laird of Dundas, 315

Dundas, Robert, Lord Arniston, younger,
Lord President of the Court of Session,
in parliamentary election for Ayrshire,
202; JB refuses to dine with, 203, 257-
258; animal spirits enliven the court,
218; JB resolves to make allowance for,
232; reasons for JB's dislike of, 258; men-
tioned, 209, 268

Dundee, 147, 148

Dundonald, Archibald Cochrane, gth E. of.
See Cochrane, Archibald

Dundonald, Jean (Stuart), Countess of,
dines with JB, 222; consults JB on law-

Index

373

suit against weaver, 226-237, 269, 272;

mentioned, 283, 307, 321
Dundonald, Thomas Cochrane, 8th E. of

(Belleville, Env.), family of, 222/2.7;

dines with JB, 222; JB dines with, 225,

230, 274, 318; swears and talks bawdy,

but shows sense of piety, 230; mentioned,

270, 283, 314
Dunning, John, later ist B. Ashburton, 70,

120-121

Duns (place), 156
Duns Scotus, John, 15672.3
Dunsinnan, Lord. See Nairne
Dunvegan Castle, 194
Dupont, Rev. Pierre Loumeau, 218, 279
Dutens, Louis, 2177.4
Dyson, Jeremiah, politician, 161

Eden, Sir Anthony, 32271.

Eden, Sir Robert, 3d Bt, of West Auckland,
322/2.

Eden, William, Under-Secretary of State
for the North, later ist B. Auckland,
letter to JB on John Reid, 322-323

EDINBURGH: Buildings and Apartments:
Advocates' Library (basement storey of
Parliament House, E), 24, 174/1.4, 228
72.5, 265; Assembly Hall (26), 267;
Bank (if the Bank of Scotland, probably
Parliament Close, E; if the Royal Bank,
Steil's Close, first close E. of Parliament
Close), 317; Canongate Kil winning
Lodge (St. John's Lodge) (30), 140,
191, 215, 221-222, 257, 324; Chcssel's
Land (Chess el's Buildings) (Canongate,
E), 7; Commissary Court (Parliament
House, E), 220; Council Chamber (west
end of St. Giles's, vicinity of 21), 293,
311; Excise Office (Cowgate, E), 7;
Heriot's Hospital (E), 213, Gardens,
Bowling Green of, 236, 273, 276, 279,
2 9 *i 397 3*5, 3*8, 321, 324; Holy rood-
house Abbey (E), 259; Justiciary Office
(PCouncil House; see p. 352), 282; Luck-
enbooths (Eig), 23; Parliament House
(E), 141, 231, 235, 351, 354; Register
House (Ei), 192, 217; Theatre Royal
(2), 17, 18, 121; Tolbooth prison (Ei8),
8, 149, 192, 198, 238, 256, 333; Watson's
Hospital (Env.), 321

Churches and Chapels: Lady Glen-
orchy's Chapel (4), 217; Greyfriars
Churchyard (E), 335; Methodists' Meet-
ing (3), 217; New Church (east end
of St. Giles's, 22), 213 (see also under
Boswell, James, Part I); Tolbooth
Church (west end of St Giles's, 21),
219; West Kirk (Env.), 321

Inns, Taverns, and Dram-shops: Bap-
tie's (Bruntsfield Links, Env.), 311; Ben-
net's (Grassmarket, E), 324-325, 326,
329; Bishop: see Mrs. Walker's in this
paragraph; Boyd's (29), 193; Fortune's
(Eio), 224, 315; Horse Wynd Tavern
(Horse Wynd, Cowgate, E), 219; Hutch-
inson's (High St., in vicinity of Town
Guard, E), 312, 335; Macfarlane's
(Grassmarket, E), 324, 325; Peter Ram-
say's (35), 295; Thorn's, 224; Walker's
Tavern (6), 252-253; Mrs. Walker's
(The Bishop, Grassmarket, E), 326, 329

Streets, Squares, Courts, Closes, and
Wynds: Back Stairs (32), 235, 334;
Canongate (E), 7, 193; Castle Hill (E),
21372.5, 278, 319; Cowgate (E), 7, 334;
Cross of Edinburgh (Market Cross)
(25), 212, 307, 312, 325; George Square
(Env.), 311; Gosford's Close (17), 259;
Grassmarket (E), 149, 192, 199, 256, 324,
326, 327, 329, 333"-; High Street (E),
155; Horse Wynd (Cowgate, E), 212/2.8;
James's Court (Lawnmarkot, E), 13, 137
M *93 21872.3, 257/2.7; Lawnmarket
(E), 191, 33372.; Leith Walk (Western
Rond to Leith, E), 200; Leith Wynd (E),
326; Miln's Square (En), 260; New
Street (30), 322; Parliament Close
(High St., E), 334; Potterow (E), 310;
Princes Street (New Town, E), 217/2.9;
St. Andrew's Square (New Town, E),
27171.7; St. Anne's Yards (E), 259, 274;
St. David Street (St. Andrew's Square,
New Town, E), 27171.7; West Bow (E),
333/2.; Young's Street (12), 264

Miscellaneous: Belleville (Env.), 269,
274; Bruntsfield Links (Env.), 311;
Drumsheugh (Env.), 21672., 284; King's
Park (E), 314; Meadows (Env.), 278,
294, 317; New Town (E), 104, 271/2.7,
284; North Bridge (Bridge, E), 217/2.9;
North Loch (E), 10472.2; Portsburgh

374

Index

(E), 524; Prestonfield (Env.), ioSn.3,

212, 2S771.7

Edinburgh, magistrates of, in cause against
feuars of New Town, 104, 1 1 1

Edinburgh, University of, i, 8, 9071.4

Edinburgh Advertiser, 142, 252, 254/1.5

Edinburgh Central Library, xxviii

Edinburgh Directory, 137/1.

Edinburgh Evening Courant, 335, 336

Eglinton, Alexander Montgomerie, loth E.
of (Queen St., 2), influence on JB, i;
ghost story, 46; sight of his house recalls
old memories, 76; death of, 76/1.1; men-
tioned, 95

Eglinton, Archibald Montgomerie, nth E.
of, ghost story, 45-46; in parliamentary
election for Ayrshire, 201; mentioned,
89, 99

Egmont, John Perceval, 2d E. of, 58

Elcho, 148

Elders &c. of Portpatrick v. McMaster, 94

/L4

Elgin, 210/1.9

Elibank, Patrick Murray, 5th Lord, SJ
never visits without learning something,
26/2.6, 89; on genius in literature, 89; JB
writes to, on plans for tour of Hebrides,
193; mentioned, 41

Eliock (James Veitch), Lord, 214, 231

Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, 78/2.1

Elliock. See Eliock

Elliot, Sir Gilbert, Bt., n

Ellis, A. J. M., xxiii

Elphinston, James, teacher, 65, 93, 94, 180
-3

Elphinston, Mrs. James (nee Gordon), 65

Elphinstone, Capt. John, later nth Lord
Elphinstone, 268

Elwall, Edward, 60, 66/1.7, 75; True Testi-
mony for God . . . against All the Trin-
itarians under Heaven, 60/2.5

Episcopal Church of Scotland, 73

Erasmus, Desiderius, 63

Enroll, James Hay, 15th E. of, letter from
JB on John Reid, 265-266; letter to JB
in reply, 291

Erskine, Hon. Andrew, regrets second mar-
riage of Lord Auchinleck, 6; comment
on JB's wig, 143; career of, 215/2.6; re-
minds JB of family, antiquity, and Tory-
ism, 216; at JB's dinner in payment of

bet, 324; JB lends money to, 298/2.7;
mentioned, 47/1.8, 170/1.2, 215, 226/1.6,
268; Letters between the Honourable
Andrew Erskine and James Boswell,
Esq., 215/2.6

Erskine, Lady Anne, 215, 259, 266, 267,
268, 278, 290

Erskine, Capt Archibald, later 7th E. of
Kellie, 226/2.6, 259, 266, 267, 268

Erskine, Euphemia (Cochrane), wife of
Lt-Col. John Erskine, 222/2.7

Erskine, Lady Frances, wife of James Er-
skine of Mar, 268/2.2

Erskine, Frances (Floyer), wife of John
Francis Erskine, 264

Erskine, Henry, later Lord Advocate, 94714,
192, 291-292; Patrick O'Connor's Advice
to Henry McGraugh, 198

Erskine, James, of Mar (Old Erskine), 268

Erskine, Capt James Francis (12), 264,
268, 270

Erskine, John, Institute of the Law of Scot-
land, 223/2.1, 274, 318

Erskine, Lt-Col. John, grandfather of JB,
22572.5

Erskine, John, of Aberdona, son of Lord
Alva, 256

Erskine, John Francis, of Mar, later i3th
E. of Mar, 264, 268/2.2

Erskine, Rachel, sister of James Erskine of
Mar, 268

Erskine, Ensign ("Captain") Thomas, later
ist B. Erskine, 96-98

Erskine family, 264/2.1, 268/2.2

Eskgrove, Lord. See Rae

Eton, 259

Eugene, Prince of Savoy, 106

Euripides, 105

Evans, Thomas, bookseller and publisher,
beaten by Goldsmith for publishing li-
bellous letter, 154, 158-159, 167

Ewing, John, D.D., of Philadelphia, 219,
337

Exchequer, Court of, 354

Eyre, Sir James, 132/2.4

Fairlie, Alexander, of Fairlie, 218

Falkirk, 239, 245-248

Faulkner, George, bookseller in Dublin, 50,

91; Dublin Journal, 167-168
Feilitzen, Olof von, xxviii

Index

375

Fergusson, Sir Adam, of Kilkerran, Bt, at
the Pantheon, 87; thinks luxury corrupts
a people, 87; argues with SJ, who calls
him a vile Whig, 88-89, 202; in parlia-
mentary election for Ayrshire, 203, 258
n.8

Fergusson, Alexander, of Craigdarroch, 1 1 1

Fergusson, Charles, brother of Sir Adam

Fergusson; wine-merchant in London,

102

Fergusson, Sir James, of Kilkerran, Bt,

xxviii, 217/1.2, 23271.
Fergusson, Rev. Joseph, of Tundergarth,

116/2.

Fernan-Nunez, Count de, 267
Fettercairn House, xxviii, i
Fielding, Henry, SJ's opinion of, 96-97;

Joseph Andrews, 97; Tom Jones, xx, 96
Fife, James Duff, ad ., JB consults on

politics of, 210, 213, 218, 229, 256
Fife, 283, 298
Fifer, Charles N., xxvii
Finlayson, John, W.S., letters to JB on

William Gardner, 263, 269
Fisherrow, 191

Fitzherbert, William, M.P., 90, 118
Fletcher, Miss, in Edinburgh, 219
Flodden Field, 14, 51/1.2
Floyer, Charles, 264/1.1
Floyer, Charles, Jr., 264, 268
Floyer, Mrs, Charles, wife of preceding,

268

Foote, Samuel, actor and manager (Suffolk
St, Cs; North End), ridicules SJ, 18, 49,
91; as an infidel, 18; in Edinburgh, 19;
mimics George Faulkner, 50, 91; thinks
Lord Mansfield's voice is false, 80; ridi-
cules Garrick, 80 ; serves an elegant din-
ner, 90; indulges talent at the expense of
visitors, gin.; mentioned, 182; Author,
gt/i.6; Nabob, 90/14
Forbes, Duncan, Lord President, 226, 232,

3*9

Forbes, Duncan, surgeon, 89, 95
Forbes, Sir William, 6th Bt. of Monymusk
(bank, 31; residence in New Town, E),
233, 273

Fordyce, Mr., in London, 87
Forres, xii, 195

Forrester, ? Alexander, lawyer, i6a
Foulis, Sir James, Bt, 321

France, Dp6t des Affaires Etrangeres, 159
72.7

Francis, Sir Philip, 75/2.8

Frank, servant to SJ. See Barber

Franklin, Benjamin, 66, 108/2.5

Fraser, Simon, gaoler in Tolbooth, 293,
333, 334

Frazer, George, excise officer, 209

Frederick II, D. of Saxe-Gotha, 61/2.9

Frederick II, "the Great," King of Prussia,
88

Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, 60/2.7, 6t

Freeport, Sir Andrew, character in Specta-
tor, 169

Fullarton, Barbara (Blair), widow of fol-
lowing, 226

Fullarton, Col. William, of Fullarton, 226

Fuller, Isaac, painter, 166/2.2

Gainslaw, to, 190

Galbraith, Henry, printer, 304, 306, 309,

349

Galloway, Synod of, 9472.4
Gardenstone (Francis Garden), Lord, 2 to,

34, 235
Gardner, William, dealer in cattle, convict,

in letters from John Finlayson, 263, 269;

in letters from Michael Nasmith, 302,

303, 306; John Reid mentions, 286, 289,

304, 305, 346-349; Mrs. Reid's statement
on, 298; mentioned, 237, 245-251, 277,
281, 308

Garrick, David (Adelphi, C4), editorial
comment, xii; letters from JB, 18, 19, 22,
25, 143-H5, 15 *, 207; letters to JB, 19,
25; praised by JB, 17; JB dedicates Edin-
burgh Shakespeare to, 18; his maid loses
JB's letter, 25; thinks rakes may be the
best husbands, 25; JB sees him play
Bayes, 65; ridiculed by Samuel Foote,
80; appears like a minister of state, 81 ;
attacked by William Kenrick, 92/2.1; in
House of Lords for appeal of John Hastie,
115; misunderstanding with SJ over use
of Shakespeare collection, 118-119, 144
n.8; JB invites him to Scotland, 119; tells
why he visited Ireland, 119; correspond-
ence in verse and prose with Lord Chat-
ham, 119-120; calls Chatham's flattery
his pass to fame, 120; thinks JB's speech
might have been more animated, 120;

376

JB offers Midde's Siege of Marseilles to,
123-124, 145; complains of John Arm-
strong's deception, 124; calls himself
"Rantum Scantum," 133; imitates SJ,
133; recites Macbeth to JB, xii, 133; JB
sends him catalogue of SJ's writings,
143-144; services in reviving Shake-
speare are not appreciated by SJ, i44-8;
writes to JB, 145; prologue to She Stoops
to Conquer, 151; admires SJ, 165; mis-
quotes SJ's parody of Percy's Hermit of
Warkworth, 170; at Literary Club, 184,
187; JB writes to, on tour of Hebrides,
195; on Goldsmith's rhymed epitaphs for
Literary Club members, 207; mentioned,
4371., 151, 164, 165, 183

Garrick, Eva Maria (Violetti), wife of
David Garrick, 118, 165

Garrick, George, brother of David Garrick,
80

Gascoigne, Charles, of Carron Ironworks,
21, 22

Gascoyne, Bamber, M.P., 3H

Gascoyne, Sir Crisp, 31472.8

Gast, wigmaker, London, 143

Gay, John, Beggar's Opera, 30

General Assembly. See Church of Scotland,
General Assembly

Genoa, 35

Gentili, Count, Corsican, learns to speak
Scots, annoys JB, 34; character of, 34;
described by Paoli, 101; mentioned, 35,
54, 59, 82, 125

Gentleman, Francis, actor and dramatist,
congratulates JB on marriage, 17; Gold-
smith lends money to, 167; asks JB for
loan, 233, 336; mentioned, 133

Gentleman's Magazine, 3671.2, 5211.3, 119
7z. i, 146

George II, King of Great Britain and Ire-
land, 75

George III, King of Great Britain and Ire-
land, 36, 75-8, 9371.3, 320, 32371.

Gibbon, Edward, 8971.8

Gibbons, Thomas, D.D., 126-127

Gilbert, Mr., flesher in Leith, 344

Gilmour, Sir Alexander, Bt, 87

Giuseppe, valet to Paoli, 34

Glasgow, 13, 21, 199, 286; Thistle Banking
Company, 8

Glasgow, University of, i

Index

Glassites, 31071.5

Glencairn, William f^nTmingrlinYTri 12th E.
of, 202

Glenelg, 193

Glenlee. See Miller, Thomas, and Miller,
William

Goldsmith, Rev. Henry, brother of Oliver
Goldsmith, 107

Goldsmith, Oliver (Brick Court, Middle
Temple, 85), editorial comment, xii-
xiii; letter from JB on birth of Veronica
and opening of She Stoops to Conquer,
xii, 151-153; letter to JB, 153-154; letter
from SJ, 183; dines with General Ogle-
thorpe, 104-107, 180-181; talks with
SJ, on duelling, 105, on friendship, 106-
107, on ghosts, 107, on cause of John
Hastie, 107; on pension, 165; on race de-
generated by luxury, 180-181; SJ on
character of, 109-110, 172, 174, 183;
lodges in farmer's house to write, 107;
opposes sentimental mode in comedy,
151 ; insulted by letter in London Packet,
thrashes Evans, 154, 158-159; talks of
successful play and of encounter with
Evans, 167; generosity, 167; takes his re-
ligion from the priest, 172; said to imi-
tate SJ, 174; sings songs from She Stoops
to Conquer, 181; chairman of Literary
Club when JB is admitted, 183, 184;
dines with Dilly, 185-186; SJ calls him
impertinent, 185, apologizes, 186; death,
xiii, 206, 207; tributes to, from JB, 206-
208, from Oglethorpe, 207; rhymed epi-
taphs for Literary Club members, 207;
mentioned, 8972.8, 9272.1, 133; Essay on
the Theatre, 151; Good Natured Man,
151; History of the Earth and Animated
Nature, 107; Life of Parnell, 83; Present
State of Polite Learning, 151; Retaliation,
20771.6, 229; She Stoops to Conquer,
xiii, first performance of, 150-151, JB is
highly pleased with, 179-180, dates of
performance, 18072.2, profit from, 18072.2,
song omitted from, 181, 208

Goodson, tailor, killed in chapel by light-
ring, 53

Gordon, Mrs., of Stair, 259; daughter of,
259724

Gordon, Lord Adam, 78

Gordon, Hon. Alexander, later Lord Rock-

Index

377

ville (15), JB shows Boswelliana and
Ten-Line Verses to, 211; JB dines with,
220; JB is godi f ather to son of, 258; men-
tioned, 212, 215, 2*8, 219, 227, 260

Gordon, Lt-Col. Alexander, son of Hon.
Alexander Gordon, 258

Gordon, Alexander Gordon, 4th D. of,
21077.9

Gordon, Cosmo, advocate, later Baron of
Exchequer, 209, 220, 221, 256

Gordon, Jane (Maxwell), Duchess of, 34

Gordon, William, bookseller, 252, 336/1.

Gordon riots, 12871.4

Gower, Granville Leveson-Gower, 2d E.,
11577.1, 116

Grafton, Augustus Henry Fitzroy, sd D.
of, 75-8

Graham, herdsman, 286

Graham, Capt. ("Colonel") Charles, 56

Granam, Thomas, later B. Lynedoch of
Balgowan, 112, 275

Grange. See Johnston, John, of Grange

Srant, Sir Francis J., Faculty of Advo-
cates in Scotland, 1 532-* p^3, 35071 2

jrant, Gregory, M.D. (James's Court, E),
dines, sups with JB, 218, 221, 283; JB
dines with, 218; opinion on resuscitation
after hanging, 281

Jrant, John, younger, of Rothmaise, ad-
vocate, 232

jrantham, 31, 157

jranthaxn School, 157

jray, Alexander, farmer, in case of John
Reid, 239, 244, 245, 346

5ray, George, "Nabob," 90, 91

Jray, Sir James, Bt, 98

Jray, Thomas, Chelsea Pensioner accused
of murder, 191-192

Jray, Thomas, poet, 20, 74, 26471.1;
sketches of, by Temple and JB in Lon-
don Magazine, 141

xreece, ancient, 88

rreenhill, Thomas, parish clerk of Muir-
avonside, letters from Ritchie on burial of
John Reid, 338-339; letter to Ritchie,
340-34*

rregory, John, M.D., 117, 164

rreville, Hon. Charles, son of Francis
Greville, E. of Warwick, 58

rnerchy, Claude Francois, Comte de,
French Ambassador in London, 164

Guilford. See North, Frederick

Gunthwaite, 38

Guthrie, William, 'Trial of a Saving In-
terest in Christ," Part I of Christian's
Great Interest^ 174

Haddington, Charles Hamilton, 8th E. of.
See Binning

Haddington, Thomas Hamilton, 7th E. of,
267

Haddington, 22, 26/1.6, 30, 59, 299

Hailes (Sir David Dalyrmple, Bt), Lord,
replies to JB's criticism of Lord Provost,
23; JB renews friendly relations with,
195; JB consults on institution of cattle
dowry, 206; interested in reprinting
Walton's Lives, 228, 237; mentioned, 22,
22971.7, 283; Annals of Scotland, 206

Haistwell, Edward, F.S.A., 112

Haldane (originally Cockbura), George,
advocate, 218

Hale, Sir Matthew, 69

Halkett, Sir Peter, Bt,, 286

Hall, Sir John, Bt., 254

Hall, William, nephew of Sir John Pringle,
129, 13011.8

Hallows, Mary, housekeeper to Edward
Young, 3371.2

Hamilton, Douglas Hamilton, 8th D. of,
17871.4

Hamilton, (Emma Lyon), Lady, 7872.3

Hamilton, Mary (Erskine), wife of follow-
ing, 2257Z.5

Hamilton, William, of Wishaw, 225/1.5

Hamilton, Sir William, 78

Hampton Court Palace, 9371.3, 11271,5

Harris, William, forger, 8

Harris, barony of, 63

Hart, Alexander, clerk of justiciary, *n,

112

Harvard College Library, xxiii

Hastie, John, schoolmaster of Campbel-
town, cause of, xiii-xiv, a6, 39/1.4; dit-
cusscd, by John Campbell, 111, by Lord
Denbigh, 62, by Garrick, 124, by Gold-
smith, 107, by SJ, 39-40, 55, 56, 57, 121,
14371.5, by Lord Mansfield, 178, by
Samuel Smith, 113, by Spottiswoode,
108; appeal to House ox Lords, xiii-xiv,
xviii, 26; preparation for, 101, 108-109,
1*3-114; printed, 108; SJ helps with, 55,

378

Index

56, 57, 108-109, 113; JB presents, 114-
116; comments on JB's speech, by Gar-
rick, 120, by Lord Mansfield, 117; re-
versed by Lord Mansfield, 17672.1, 180;
mentioned, 62724, no

Hawick, i34*-3, *35, *36

Hawkesbury, B. See Jenkinson

Hawkesworth, John, LL.D., 174; Account
of the Voyages . . . m the Southern
Hemisphere, 4 2 ~43

Hawkins, Sir John, 166

Hay, Charles, advocate, later Lord Newton
(36), JB dines with, 220, 315; on legacy
of William Macqueen, 223; dines, sups
with JB, 229, 230, 276; studies law with
JB, 22971.8, 274, 278, 299, 3io, 3i8; has
bet with JB on coming late to Court of
Session, 268; in case of John Reid, 275,
295, 297, 304, 3io-3, 314, 319, 3aa;
plays bowls, 276, 279, 309, 3*6, 3*4;
verse epitaph on, 27971.1; in plan for
resuscitation of Reid, 280, 291, 324-
327; dines at Leith with Hay Campbell,
282, 283; praises JB for conduct toward
Reid, 336; mentioned, 284, 287, 290, 293,
294,317,321

Hay, James, brother of Charles Hay,
21071.9, 315

Hay, Robert, malefactor, xiv

Heaton, PJohn, attorney, 179, 182

Hebrides, 43-44; tour of. See under John-
son, Samuel, Part U

Henderland. See Murray, Alexander

Henderson, John, son of Sir Robert Hender-
son, 260, 274

Henderson, Matthew, antiquary, 231

Henry in, King of England, 271

Henry, Matthew, Method for Prayer, 174

Hentzner, Paul, Journey into England,
270, 271

Hepburn, George, Keeper of the Rolls, 274

Heraclitus, 209

Herbert, John, of Auchencross, 279

Heriot, George, philanthropist, 21372.5

Heron, Jean (Home), first wife of Patrick
Heron, 7771.6

Heron, Patrick, 37, 77, 322

Herries, Rev. John, orator, 158

Herries, Mrs. John, 158

Hervey, Lady Amelia Caroline Nassau, 49

Hervey, John Hervey, B., of Ickworth,

49-7

Hessus, Helius Eobanus, 63

HIghgate Hill, 33

Hill, G. B., xxv, xxvi, 4071.5

Hillend, 238, 239, 244

Hinchcliffe, John, D.D., Bishop of Peter-
borough, 13172.

Hoadly, Benjamin, Suspicious Husband,
3272.1

Hogan, C. Beecher, xxviii

Hoggan, Capt. James, character, 36; helps
JB to find lodgings, 36-37; sympathizes
with JB, 67; travels with JB on return
to Scotland, 135; mentioned, 39, 55, 127,
130, 134

Holland, Henry Fox, ist B., 61

Holland (country), 2

Holroyd, John Baker, later ist E. of Shef-
field, 8972.8

Home, Alexander Home, gth E. of. 6771.9

Home, Earl of, v. William Wilson, 101,
102

Home, John, Douglas, a Tragedy, 337

Home, John, coachmaker, 30

Homer, 63

Horace, 78/2.9, 12472.3, 145, 22072.6

Home, George, Master of Magdalen Col-
lege, Oxford, projected edition of Wal-
ton's Lives, 228, 237

Horneck, Hannah, widow of Capt Kane
William Horneck, in London, 89

Horneck, Mary, 89, 15472.

House of Commons (D4), 4772.2, 59, 61,
9072.4, 161-162

House of Lords (D4), appeals in, x, 38,
61-62, 67, 80-81, 92, 95, 99, 101, 102,
104, 111, 120, 149, 161, 162, 176-179,
205 (see also Hastie, John) ; cases printed
for, 10972.6; description of, 9272.8, 114,
355-356; division in, 176; roll of, 11572.;
Journals of the House of Lords, 11472.

Howard, wigmaker in London, 45

Howard, Sir Robert, 86n.

Howell, Mrs. Henry W., xxviii

Howgate (Env.), 295

Hudson, Robert, musician, 17672.9

Hume, David (St. David St., St. Andrew's
Square, New Town, E), Temple asks for
advice on reading, 9; JB lives in his
apartment, 13, 191 ; criticizes Armstrong's

Index

Forced Marriage, 124/1.2; Seattle's attack
on, 124; rejects Temple's Essay Concern-
ing the Clergy, 200; prefers Scotland to
England, 216; gives JB particulars on
travels of James Bruce, 271; mentioned,

11, 19*
Humours of Balamagairy, tune, 181, 208

Hunter, Dr., at Moffat, 209

Hunter, Dr. PJames, 222

Hunter, Mrs. ?James, 222

Hunter, John, headmaster of Lichfield

School, 40

Hunter, Maj. William, 89
Hutcheson, Francis, philosopher, 74/2.6
Hutchinson, printer in Edinburgh, 318
Hutchison, R. E., xxviii
Hyde, Mr. and Mrs. Donald F., xxviii
Hyde Collection, Somerville, New Jersey,

xxiii

[celand, 42/1.1

[Ichester, Stephen Fox, ist E. of, 115/2.1,

118/1.7

[nchkenneth, 194, 257/1.5
[nglis, James, farmer, in trial of John Reid,

345, 247

[nnes, Alexander, W.S., 276

tones, John, anatomist (College, E), 322,
324, 326; Short Description of the Hu-
man Muscles, 324/1.

[nnes v. Gibson and Balfour, 120

[nveraray, 13, 195, 207

Cnverness, xii, 193

[nverness-shire, 38

[ona, 194, 195, 257/2.5

[reland, Ronald, xxviii

[reland, 119

[rish language, 56, 57, 185

[saac, Biblical character, 259

!sham, Lt.-Col. Ralph Heyward, 153

[slington, 134

[taly,2

Facobites, 68/1.4, 79/2.4, 91, 160, 182, 191,

194

Fames, servant to Dilly, 36, 189
Fames, servant to JB. See Dalrymple,

James
Fames Francis Edward Stuart, the Old

Pretender, 91/1.5, 132
Feffrey, Francis, 106/1.6

379

Jeffries, Joseph, LL.D., 92

Jenkins, Miss, in London, 54

Jenkinson, Charles, later B. Hawkesbury
and ist E. of Liverpool, 161, 176

Jewell, Mrs. William, actress, 19

Jews, 204-205; JB attends services of, 92, 93

Jiddah, 261

Johnson, James, D.D., Bishop of Worces-
ter, 115/2.1

Johnson, Michael, father of SJ, 175

JOHNSON, SAMUEL, LL.D. (Johnson's Court,
Fleet St., 65)

[Part I, Miscellaneous; Part II, Rela-
tions with JB; Part III, Opinions and Ob-
servations^ Part IV, Works]

I. Miscellaneous: ridiculed by Samuel
Foote, 18, 49, 91; health improved, 27;
Lord North proposes Oxford degree for
him, 41/1.8; friends imitate his weak-
nesses, 43; dines with Paoli, 82-83;
amazed by speed with which houses are
built, 82; argues with Sir Adam Fergus-
son, 87-89, 202; attacked by William
Kcndrick, 92; dines with Sir Alexander
Macdonald, 96-99; dines with General
Oglethorpe, 104-107, 180-181; never
tastes wine, drinks only lemonade, 107;
Fitzherbert calls him Diogenes, 118;
reads Greek New Testament, 126, 127,
171; Beauclerk comments on, 126, 165;
Langton thinks him deficient in active
benevolence, 126; writes to Mrs. Thrale,
140/1., 205; reaction to rudeness of Capt.
David Brodie, 165-166; pension discussed
by JB and Beauclerk, 166; Jacobite sym-
pathies, 166, 182; relations with Mrs.
Thrale, scandalous report in newspaper,
167; reasons for dislike of Lord Chester-
field, 168-169; Lord Mansfield praises
him, 178; argues with Rev. Henry Mayo
on toleration, 185-186; laughs immod-
erately at Langton's will, 188-189; ex-
amines Lord Monboddo's son in Latin,
2ii/z.i; admires Blair's sermons, recom-
mends their publication, 213/2.3; at
Eton, disapproves of merriment of par-
sons, 259; begins drinking wine again,
301

Relations with David Garnet: misun-
derstanding over use of Shakespeare col-
lection, 118-119, 144/1.8; may be fretted

380

Index

by success of Garrick, 119; docs not ap-
preciate Garrick's services in reviving
Shakespeare, 14471.8; Garrick admires
SJ, 165

Relations with Oliver Goldsmith:
flnnfcs Life of Parnell poor, 83; charac-
terizes Goldsmith, 109-110, 172, i74
183; likes She Stoops to Conquer, 150-
151, 15271.5; persuades Colman to pro-
duce it, 151; comments on Goldsmith's
attack on Evans, 159; does not reply to
Goldsmith's remark on pension, 165;
calls Goldsmith impertinent, 185; apolo-
gizes, 186; comments on death of Gold-
smith, 206.

II. Relations with 75: introductory ac-
count of, xi, xii, i, 3, 4; Otters from JB,
19, 25-26, 145; letters to JB, 19-20, 27,
146, 150151, 204205; witnesses JB*s
marriage contract, 5; advises JB not to
live with Lord Auchinleck, 5; JB pre-
pares Beattie for first interview with
SJ, ao; JB tells plans for return to Lon-
don, 25-26; glad JB is rising in his pro-
fession, 27; inclined to love JB because
other friends love him, 27; welcomes JB
to London, 39, 525 discusses cause of
John Hastie, 39-^0, "i; helps JB with
appeal, 55, 56, 57, 108-109, 113; plan for
purchase of St Kilda, 43-44; discusses
entail of Auchinleck estate, 5c-5 a 3 34;
JB suggests words for 4th edition of
Dictionary, 55; corrects JB's Scottish ac-
cent, 70; does not oppose JB's plan of
removal to English bar, 81 ; JB collects
material for Life, 83, 175; gloomy, 102;
annoyed when JB reads aloud, 119; JB
delights in his grand explosions, 122;
pleased with JB's appearance in House
of Lords, 123; advises JB not to apply for
sheriffship of Ayrshire, 127-128; hopes
JB will write biographies, 134; cannot
visit Scotland in 1772, 144-145; re-
proves JB for attending masquerade,
146; JB visits, on return to London in
*773 *58-i59; a* Thrale's home in
Southwark, 168-170; JB thinks him de-
ficient in delicate perception, 169; reads
Spectator, 169-170; at church with JB
on Good Friday, 171; JB thinks shadow
of STs great mind might obscure a ser-

mon, 172; JB dines with, at home on
Easter, 172-174; asks JB about religious
books, 174; advice on keeping a journal,
xvi, 174, 215; tells JB memories of early
life, 175; dictates argument to JB on
law of vicious intromission, 179/2.; JB
has veneration for Johnson's Court, 183;
proposes JB for membership in Literary
Club, 183; comments on his admission,
183, 184; dines with JB at Mitre, 184,
185; calls JB the most unscottified of his
countrymen, 185; rebukes JB for defend-
ing Lady Diana Beauclerk, 185; tour of
the Hebrides, editorial account of, xi,
193-196, planned, 26, 27, 193, mentioned,

44/1., 10271.3, 205, 21172.4, 212, 25 7 7L5,

26511.5 (see also Boswell, James, Writ-
ings} ; JB in high spirits waiting for S J,
193; SJ visits Edinburgh, receives hom-
age, 193, 196; visits Lord Auchinleck,
195, 196; returns to London, 196; dis-
courages JB's plan for visit to London,
203-205; does not appreciate literary
property cause, 205; JB negotiates ex-
change of information with Lord Hailes,
206; JB elated by compliment in Jour-
ney to the Western Islands, 216; writes
to JB on plans for tour of Wales, 2257*4;
recommends Walton's Lives to JB, 228;
JB t*""k of SJ's death in the future, 233;
mentioned, 21, 35, 37, 93, *43, *9<>

III. Opinions and Observations: Mark
Akenside, 74-75; Joseph Banks, 42, 43;
James Beattie, 43; Lady Diana Beauclerk,
185; Edmund Burke, 196, 170; Gilbert
Burnet, Bp. of Salisbury, 171; Charles
Burney, 49; Lord Camden, 69; John
Campbell, 174; Lord Chatham, 120; Lord
Chesterfield, 168; Sir Edward Coke, 69;
Sir John Dalrymple, 159; Lord Elibank,
89; James Elphinston, 93-94; Sir Adam
Fergusson, 88, 89; Henry Fielding, 96;
Samuel Foote, 18, 49, 50, 9171.; David
Garrick: see Part I of this article, f2;
Oliver Goldsmith: see Part I of this ar-
ticle, ^3; Thomas Gray, 74; John Hunter,
40, 41; Bennet Langton, 172; Robert
Lowth, 10872.4; Kenneth Macaulay, 46;
Lord Mansfield, 69-70; Lord Monboddo,
41; LordJNorth, 41; Francis Qgfrbrne,
127; Pasquale de Paoli, 83; Samuel

Index

381

Richardson, 96-97; Lord "William Rus-
sell, 159; Sir George Savile, 61; Thomas
Sheridan, 70-71; Algernon Sidney, 159;
Jonathan Swift, 139; Tacitus, 123; Ed-
ward Young, 33/t.a

Topics of conversation: action, influ-
ence on reasonable beings, 169; amuse-
ments, 87; animals, foreign, introduc-
tion of, 85; armorial bearings, 104-105;
Bayes, character in Rehearsed, 85;
beauty and utility, 82-63; Beggar* $
Opera, 30; Bible, 47, 170; chancellors of
England, 68-69; Charles I, fast in mem-
ory of, 48; Christian doctrines, Roman
Catholic and Presbyterian, 46; Church
of England, 46; Church of Scotland, 44;
clergymen, 94, 95; colours, distinguish-
ing by touch, 128-129; corporal punish-
ment in schools, 39-4<> 57, drinking,
122; duelling, 105-106; education, 85,
94, 122-123; equality undesirable, 182;
family attachments, 98; feudal system,
98-99; fornication, 94-95; friendship,
73, 105-107; gaming, 97, 99; general
warrants, 87-88; ghosts, 45-4<>, 74 *<>3
107; government, bishops as peers, 88,
choice of officials, 68, human nature as
protection against tyranny, 88, and in-
dividual happiness, 87-88; Greece, an-
cient, 88; hospitality, 84; idleness, 128;
immortality, 72-74; industry, 123; kelp,
manufacture of, 71; law and lawyers,
69-70, 171-172, 182; leisure, intellectual
improvement from, 182; luxury not re-
sponsible for degeneracy, 180-181;
Mahometans, 47; male succession to es-
tates, 187-188; marriage, 82; Methodists
expelled from Oxford, 122; mimicry,
49-50; money-lending, 85; music, 49, 74,
129; North America, 44; "original re-
touches," 119; the Pantheon, 87; pedan-
try, 120; philology, 56; political prin-
ciples reconciled with moral, 181182;
prayer, 95, 102-103; pronunciation, in
conversation, 96, in dictionaries, 70-71;
Purgatory, 46-47, 73-74; respect for old
families, 48; Royal Marriage Bill, 48;
Scotsmen, 41, 185; Scottish accent, 70;
Scottish and Irish languages, 56-57;
sounds, pleasant or unpleasant, 129;
Spectator, 169; Sunday* observance of,

109; supernatural powers, 46, 98; taste
and style, 129; travel, 42, 43; trees,
propagation of, 85; wealth, respect for,
48, responsibility of, 172, use of, 84, 85;
wine, 180; witches, 103

IV. Works: Catalogue of, by Thomas
Percy, 143-144; Prologue Spoken at the
Opening of the Theatre in Drury Lane,
1747, *45; Adventurer, 1753-1754, 43*-;
Dictionary of the English Language,
1755, 55; Basselas, 1759, 96; Idler, 1761,
29; Dedication to Kennedy's Complete
System of Astronomical Chronology,
*763i 57; Pl^ys of William Shakespeare,
Preface to, 1765, 118, 144; False Alarm,
1770, 41; Thoughts on the Late Transac-
tions Respecting Falkland's Islands, 1771,
41; Tourney to the Western Islands of
Scotland, 1775, 205, 206, 207, 216; Taxa-
tion No Tyranny, 1775, 4*.8; Lives of
the Poets, 1779-1781, 40/2.6, Dryden,
8571. i, Parnell, 8371., Swift, 84; parody of
Percy's Hermit of Warkworth, 170; Let-
ters of Samuel Johnson, 1952, xxv, xacvi
Johnston (trustee of Fairholm) v. Mitchell

and Buchanan of Mountvernon, 234
Johnston, Alexander, of Carnsalloch, 121
Johnston, James, merchant in Cumnock,

279

Johnston, John, of Grange (James's Court,
E), letters from JB, 8, 13-15, a I'M*
135; letter to JB, 136; suffers from
nervous weakness, 136; dines, sups with
JB, 215, 230, 276; at JB's dinner in pay-
ment of bet, 224; tells JB to avoid dreary
subjects, 288; opposes scheme for resusci-
tation of John Reid, 327; mentioned,
217X.3, 27, 259, 269, 274, 287, 321, 336
Johnston, Peter, of Carnsalloch, 121
Johnstone, George, Commodore, Governor

of West Florida, 161
Jonas, conjurer, 111
Jones, William, later knighted, oriental

scholar, 184

Joseph, servant to JB. See Ritter
Judd, Mrs., housekeeper to Dilly, 36
Junius, political writer, 75
Justice-Clerk. See Miller, Thomas
Justiciary, High Court of, xiv, 8, 24, 149,
*79 199, 238; editorial description of,
353-353; Western Circuit, 13, 353

3 82

Index

Kahrl, George M., xrriii

Kames (Henry Home), Lord, letter from
JB, 23-24; letter to JB, 24; in cause of
Alexander v. Montgomery, 176, 177; in
trial of John Reid, 238, 242, 349, 254;
mentioned, 226/2.9, 23272,; Dictionary of
Decisions, 24

Keith, Anne Murray, dau. of ambassador
Robert Keith, 212

Kellie, Thomas Alexander Erskine, 6th E.
of, letter to JB, 4971.6

Kelly, Hugh, False Delicacy, 151

Kelso, 156

Kendal, 1340.3

Kennedy, David, M.P., later loth E. of
Cassillis (Jermyn St., Ca), a joker and
nothing more, 161; in parliamentary
election for Ayrshire, 201, 258/1.8; men-
tioned, 37

Kennedy, Rev. John, Complete System of
Astronomical Chronology, 57

Kennet (Robert Bruce), Lord, JB charac-
terizes, 232; in trial of John Reid, 243,
255; mentioned, 353

Kenrick, William, JB meets, 92-93; sup-
posed author of attack on Goldsmith,
15472., 15872.6; Epistles, Philosophical
and Moral, 92; Letter to James BoswelL,
Esq., 92

Kensington, 65, 180

Kenwood, 7872.9

Ker, Miss Douglas, 229

Kilmaraock, William Boyd, 4th E. of,
68724

Kincaid, Alexander, printer, Lord Provost
of Edinburgh (34), 274

Kincaid, Caroline (Ker), wife of preced-
ing, 274

Kincardine, Veronica (van Aerssen van
Sommelsdyck), Countess of, 149

King, Mr., glover, JB's landlord in London
(Conduit St, 82), 37

Kingledoors, 345

Kinloch, George Farquhar, merchant in
London, 92

KinnoulL See Drummond, Robert Auriol

Kippis, Rev. Andrew, 66, 13772.

Kirkcaldy, 272

Kirkcudbright, 23071.1

Kirkcudbright peerage, cause of, 16172.6

Knight, Richard Payne, Analytical Inquiry

into the Principles of Taste, 168/2.5
Knockroon, 59^.3, 6on -
Knowles, Mary (Morris), 36
Kokeritz, Helge, xxviii

La Condamine, Charles Miarie de, scientist,
14072.

Lade, (Anne Thrale), Lady, wife of Sir
John Lade, 174

Ladso' Duns, tune, 156

Laidlaw, Mr., in trial of John Reid, 345

Laing, George, clerk, 335

Lainshaw, Ayrshire, 5, 6, 12

Lam, George, xxviii

Lamb, Charles, 176/2.8

Lancaster, John, Life of Darcy, Lady Max-
well, 280/2.4

Landor, Walter Savage, 162/2.8

Langholm, i34-3, *35, 136

Langton, Bennet, letter from JB, 206; at
Crown and Anchor with SJ and JB, 121;
marriage, 121/2.6; discusses education
and industry with SJ, 122-123; visits
JB in Edinburgh, 139; SPs opinion of,
172; dines with Dilly, 185186; argues
timidly with SJ on toleration, 186, 187;
JB writes to, yiii, 187, 193, 233; makes
will leaving his estate to three sisters,
187-188; SJ laughs immoderately at the
will, 188-189; JB acts as peacemaker,
says SJ's roughness was taken too se-
riously, 195; mentioned, 126, 165, 233,
267/2.7

Langton, Mrs. Sennet See Rothes

Laud, William, Archbishop of Canterbury,

73, 171

Lauraguais, Louis-Le~on-Fe*licite*, Comte de,
later Due de Brancas, 103-104

Laurie, Gilbert, Lord Provost of Edinburgh,
217

Lawrie, John, clerk to JB, character of,
155; papers, copies by, xxiv, 207/2.5,
34171., 352; goes on vacation, praised by
JB, 273; JB invests money for, 273; por-
trait drawn by George Keith Ralph,
284; mentioned, 219, 237, 272, 307

Lawson, William, farmer, 239

Le Despencer, Sir Francis Dashwood, B.,
115/2,1

Leeson, Mr., in London, 92

Index

Legal terms, glossary of, 356-357

Leibnitz, Gottfried Wilhelm, B. von, 56

Leicester, 134^.3

Leith, 59, 282, 286, 31$

Leith Sands, 26471.1

Leoni, singer, 92

Levett, Robert, self-taught medical prac-
titioner, 93, 171

Lewis, W. S., xxviii

Lichfield, Bishop of. See North, Brownlow

Lichfield, 40, 175

Liebert, Herman W., xxviii

Lilliburlero, song, 221

Lind, James, M.D., 231

Lindsay, Lady Anne, 226

Linlithgow, 239

T.i'nplnm cause of, 161, 162

Literary Club, 133, 187; JB admitted to,
xi, 183-184; Goldsmith's rhymed epi-
taphs for members, 207

Liverpool, . of. See Jenkinson

Livy, 129

Loch, James, W.S., 324

Loch Lomond, 21

LocheVs Military Academy, Chelsea, 279

Lock, Richard, turnkey of Tolbooth, brings
news of respite for Reid, 293; last speech
of Reid given to, 304, 349; brings Mrs.
Reid to sign declaration, 312; tells JB
that no further respite will be granted
for Reid, 319? tells Mrs. Reid she is not
to attend execution, 329; prepares Reid
for execution, 332, 333; with Reid's fam-
ily after execution, 3355 mentioned, 284,
287, 306, 318

Lockhart, Alexander, later Lord Coving-
ton (Adam Court, E.; Craighouse, 2%
m. S.W. of Edinburgh), JB dines with,
219; career of, 21977.4; JB consults with,
234; mentioned, 146, 148, 198, 2i2n.5
Lockhart, Maj.-Gen, James, of Carnwath,

266-267, 2 ?o

Lockwood, Miss, in London, 180, 206
Logan, Rev. John, 225, 277
LONDON, JB's life in, before 1769, i, 3;
City style distinguished from fashionable
style, 36; prodigious growth creates in-
convenience, 53

Buildings: Adelphx (C4), 133, 164,
165; Buckingham House (D2), 9371.3,
112/1.5; Christ's Hospital (B6), 173, 175-

383

176; Covent Garden Theatre (64), 152,
179; Cox's Museum (C3>, 52, 95; Drury
Lane Theatre (B 4 ), 38, 65, 152, 171,
183; Fleet Prison (B6), 40; Kensington
Palace, 93; Mansion House (63), 130-
131; Melbourne House (C4), 158; Mid-
dlesex Hospital (A2), 99; Northumber-
land House (4), 63, 166, 181; Pan-
theon (63), 86; St James's Palace
(C2, 3), 9371.3; Westminster Hall, 45

Churches and Chapels: Independent
Church at Haberdashers' Hall (B6),
12671.8; Polish Minister's Chapel (in
the house of the Minister, Count Burzyn-
sM, Jermyn St., GS), 128; St. Bride's
(Bs), IS*; St. Clement Dane's (85),
171, 172; St. Paul's (B6), 93, 126, 173,
17671.9, 204; Sardinian Minister's Chapel
(84, 5), "8; synagogues (B8), 92, 93;
Tottenham Court Road Chapel (As),
53; Westminster Abbey (D3, 4), no

Coffee-houses and Taverns: Chapter
Coffee-house (B6), 173; Clifton's Chop-
house (65), 127; Crown and Anchor
(85), i3i; Dolly's (B6), 44; Lemon-tree
Inn (Cs), 33, 35; London Coffee-house
(B6), 65, 103; Mitre (65), 57, 65, 184,
185; Mount (Ci), 82; Piazza (84), 162;
Queen's Arms (B6), 100, 163; St.
Clement's (65), 81; Turk's Head (64),

184, 201, 20371.

Parks and Gardens: Hyde Park (Ci),
67, 90; Ranelagh Gardens, 86; St. James's
Park (D 3 ), 133

Streets and Squares: Albemarle Street
(C2), 34, 3671.3; Berkeley Square
(B,C2), 183; Butcher Row (65), 127;
Cavendish Square (A2), 38; Conduit
Street (62), 37; Duke Street, West-
minster (D3), 108; Duke's Place, Aid-
gate (B8), 9272.9; Fleet Ditch (B6), 109;
Fleet Street (65), 39, 111; Gerard Street
(64), 184; Great Ormond Street (A4),
102; Great Russell Street (A4), 53; Half
Moon Street (C2), 164; Hanover Square
(B2), 160; Haymarket (Cs), 33; Hoi-
bora (A4, 5), 129; Jermyn Street (C3),
90, 158; Johnson's Court (65), 35, 39,
183; Leicester Fields (63), 45; Lincoln's
Inn (65), 38, 102, 104; Lincoln's Inn
Fields (84, 5), 8; Ludgate Hill (B6),

3 8 4

65; Oxford Street (Ba, 3), 86n.3, i*9;
Pall Mall (3), 54"-7, 58; Park Lane
(Bi, Ci), 129; Piccadilly (Ca, 3), "9,
158, 164; Portman Square (Ai), 53; the
Poultry (83), 36, 185; Queen's Square
(A*), no; St. John's Gate (A6), 103;
St Paul's Churchyard (B6), 65, 100, 163;
Sion Garden, Aldermanbury (A/), 130;
Snow Hill (B6), 129; Strand (D4, 5),
35, 63, 657M, 171

Miscellaneous: Blackfriars Bridge,
(B, C6), 301; Chelsea, 93; Hungerford
Stairs (GO, 168; Long Acre (B 4 ), 91,
157; Paul's "Wharf (C6), 92; St. George's
Fields (Ds, 6), 79; Tyburn (Bi), 36, 280

London Chronicle, 16, 17, 53-5, 6571,2, 119,
158, 159, 315-316, 33.

London Magazine, 20, 126, 20572.2; JB as
partner in, 16, 100, 163, 272; contribu-
tions by JB. See Boswell, James, Writ-
ings, Periodical items

London Packet, 1547^, 15872.6

Longlands, Mr., solicitor, 180, 370, 271

Lord Advocate. See Montgomery, James
William

Lord Chancellor. See Apsley

Lord Justice-Clerk See Miller, Thomas

Lord Mansfield, ship, 62

Lord Mayor of London. See Nash

Lord President See Dundas, Robert;
Forbes, Duncan

Lord Provost of Edinburgh. See Dalrymple,
John; Kincaid, Alexander; Laurie, Gil-
bert

Lord Register. See Campbell, Lord Fred-
erick

Loudotm, James Mure Campbell, 5th E.
of, 201

Loughborough, 13471.3

Louis XIV, King of France, 8471.6, 88

Love, James, stage name of James Dance,
actor and author, 38, 142-143, 171

Love, William, malefactor, 199

Lowth, Robert, D.D., Bishop of Oxford and
Bishop of London (Duke St., Westmin-
ster, D3), 108

Lumisden, Andrew, 8971.2, 191

Lyne, 239, 242714

Lynedoch. See Graham, Thomas

Lyon Court, 27171.9

Index

Lyon Office, 272

Lyttelton, George Lyttelton, ist B. (Hill
St., Ci), in House of Lords for appeal
of John Hastie, 115; dines with Mrs.
Montagu, 117; as a historian, 125; talks
of gardening, 125; talks lightly of Mickle
and of Jane Marshall's comedy, 125; on
character of Lord Chesterfield, 163-164;
death of, 16472.5; on Chesterfield's sup-
posed insult to SJ, 168-169; mentioned,
54; Dialogues of the Dead, 11772.5

Macaulay, Mrs. Catharine (Sawbridge),
historian (Berners St, AS), JB as coun-
sel for, in suit concerning MacLeod
estate, 179, 182; wonders how SJ recon-
ciles his political and moral principles,
181 ; mentioned, 190

Macaulay, Rev. Kenneth, History of St.
Kilda, 46

Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay,
B., 4^1.7

McCombe, Mrs. Joyce T., formerly Lady
Talbot de Malahide, xxix, 1571.

McCulloch, Capt, 93

Macdonagh, Michael, Book of Parliament,

Macdonald, Sir Alexander, of Sleat, Bt,
later ist B. (Cavendish Square, A2) t
shows JB House of Lords and House of
Commons, 61-62; JB dines, sups with,
62, 95, 96; talks with SJ, 68-71, 98; on
interruptions in conversation, 71; enter-
tains SJ at dinner, 96-99; JB really likes,
99; goes to Westminster Abbey, no;
takes JB to House of Lords for appeal of
John Hastie, 113; praises JB, 118; bores
JB by reading from peerage, 128; un-
satisfactory entertainment of SJ and JB
in Skye, 194; offended by JB*s criticism,
194; mentioned, 38, 53, 54, 72, 90, 127

Macdonald, Allan, of Kmgsburgh, 205

Macdonald, Archibald, later Sir Archibald,
Bt, brother of Sir Alexander Macdonald,
38,62,89,95,270,274

Macdonald (Elizabeth Diana Bosville),
Lady, wife of Sir Alexander Macdonald,
SJ in pleasant conversation with, 96, 99;
admires Rasselas, 96; gives masquerade,
145-146; mentioned, 38, 53, 71, 118, 194

Macdonald, Flora, Jacobite heroine, 194

Index

385

Macdonald, George, thief, alias Baddinoch,

Macdonald, Lady Margaret (Montgom-
erie), widow of Sir Alexander Macdon-
ald (d. 1746), 53, 95

Macdonald, William, W.S., 370, 271

Macdowal, Mrs. Christian, 125

McDowall, Archibald, cloth manufacturer,
301

McDowall, William, of Castle Seraple
(Adam Court, E), 77

Macfarlaue, George, stabler (Grassmarket,
E), 34, 325

McGeorge, John, of Cocklick, 214-215

McGraugh, Henry, malefactor, Crosbie in-
dignant over sentence of, 279-280; JB
visits in prison, 281; sentence suspended,
282; mentioned, 198, 309, 337

McGregor, Callum, trial of,' 192

Macgregor clan, 27371.6

McHarg, Archibald, W.S., 266

Mclntyre, Mrs., victim of murder, 199

Mackenzie, Mr., of Ardross, 210

Mackenzie, Alexander, W.S., 210, 226

Mackenzie, Sir George, Laws and Customs
of Scotland in Matters Criminal, 237, 243

Mackenzie, Henry, Man of Feeling, xviii

MacKinnon, Sir Frank, 356/1.

Mackye, John Ross, advocate, 58, 59, 62

Maclaurin, John, later Lord Dreghorn
(Brown Square, E), jokes in Court of
Session, 209; plays bowls, 219, 291, 321;
JB characterizes, 232; encourages JB to
go to England, 257; sings Pope's Univer-
sal Prayer to ridiculous tune, 257; in-
terested in travels of James Bruce, 260,
263; offends JB by profaneness in quot-
ing Scripture, 318-319; says mind of
man may be worked up like soap suds,
319; mentioned, 210, 21171.4, 260, 315,
317; Moderator's Advice to lames Bos-
well, Esq., 7

Maclean, Sir Allan, fit, 257

Maclean, John, of Lochbuie, 205

Maclellan, John, cause of, 161 n.6

MacLeod, Alexander, Jacobite, 160

MacLeod, Capt Alexander, late of Lord
Mansfield East Indiaman, 62, 6371.5

MacLeod, Bannatyne, advocate, 221

MacLeod, John, magistrate, 343

MacLeod, John, of Raasay, 194, 22 in. i

MacLeod, Norman (Laird of MacLeod),
"the old Laird," 179

MacLeod, Norman (Laird of MacLeod),
JB and SJ visit at Dunvegan, 194; visits
JB in Edinburgh, 283; mentioned, 63,

MacLeod, ?Norman, brother of John Mac-

Leod of Raasay, 221
McMaster, William, clergyman, 94724
Macpherson, James, author, 21272.7
MacPherson, Dr. John, 4671.7
Macpherson, PNonnan, watch-maker, 281
Macqueen, Mr., son of Rev. Donald Mac-

queen, 221
Macqueen, Rev. Daniel, of Edinburgh, on

belief in predestination among crim-

inals, 276; believes John Reid is not

guilty, 325, 3^9; mentioned, 333, 337
Macqueen, Rev. Donald, of Skye, letter to

JB with collection of antiquities, 235-

236; mentioned, 205, 212
Macqueen, George, bailie of Edinburgh,

Macqueen, Robert, later Lord Braxfield
(George Square, Env.), to see him walk-
ing is an emblem of idleness, 212; on
legacy of Rev. William Macqueen, 223;
JB consults, 257; earnings of, 282; men-
tioned, 21272.5, 234, 235

MacQueen, Rev. William, of Skye, dines
with JB, 212, 221; JB gives advice on
legacy, 222-223

Madan, Patrick, malefactor, 280, 316

Mahometans, 47

Maidment, James, Court of Session Gar-
land, 19871.4, 2790.1

Malahide Castle, xrvii, 4171.7

Malcolm, C. A., xxviii, xxix, 35072.2

Mallet, David, 70

Malone, Edmond, 86n., 196

Malwa, 97

Mamhead, 8, 135

Manchester, 13472.3

Mandoa (Mandu), 97

Mann, Sir Horace, 8771.5

Mansfield, William Murray, B., later ist
E. of (Bloomsbury Square, A4), letter
from JB, 7871.9; in House of Lords, 67,
80-81, 99, 104, 162, for appeal of John
Hastie, 114-116, 17671.1, 180; JB admires
behaviour and speech of, 67, 81, 99, 104,

386 Index

162; Srs opinion of, 69-70; angry with Miller, Thomas, Lord Glenlee, Lord Justice-

JB for speaking well of Wilkes, 78;
levees of, 78-80, 111-112; involved in
massacre of St. George's Fields, 795 ap-
pearance and voice, 80, 81 ; method of
reversing appeals, 111-112; curries fa-
vour with Scots, 112; praises JB's speech,
117; JB discusses legal problems with,
176-179; is col^i reserved, artificial, 176,
178; mentioned, xiv, xviii-xix, 75/1.8,
323/2.9, 356

Mar. See Erskine, John Francis

Marchmont, Hugh Hume, sd E. of, 115/2.1,
177

Marcoucci, Signora, dancing-mistress
(James's Court, E), 257

Marischal, George Keith, loth E., a, 3&n.i

Marseilles, 261

Marshall, Jane, Sir Harry Gaylove, 125

Marshall, William, in trial of John Reid,

245, 344

Martinelli, Vincenzio, author, 34
Marvel, Will, character in Idler, 29/2,1
Mason, William, Heroic Epistle to Sir Wil-
liam Chambers, 167; Life of Gray, 20,

74

Maxwell, Charles, of Cowhill, 214

Maxwell (Darcy Brisbane), Lady, wife of
Sir Walter Maxwell of Pollock, Bt.,
280/1.4

Maxwell, Hugh, W.S., 6

Maxwell, Sir Walter, of Pollock, Bt., 280/1.4

Mayne, Robert, banker, 90

Mayo, Henry, editor, 163/1.1

Mayo, Rev. Henry, 172, 185-186

Meal riots, 147-148, 179

Medwenhead, 239, 242

Melville. See Dundas, Henry

Menander, rvi

Merritt, Amos, malefactor, 280/1.5, 316

Merse Road Bill, 59, 130/1.8

Mersky, Roy M., xxix

Methodists, 123

Metzdorf, Robert F., xxviii

Mickle, William Julius, 124/1.1, 125; Con-
cubine, 123, 124/1.1; Cwnnor Hall,
124/1.1; Lusiad, translation, 12411.1; Siege
of Marseilles, 123-124, 145

Milford Plain, 14

Miller, John, sheep-stealer, 146, 147, 149,
313

Clerk, later Lord President and Bt., in
trial of John Reid, 238, 243, 244, 249, 255-
256, 294/2., 303; refuses to permit attempt
at resuscitation of a hanged man, 292;
judgement on Douglas Cause, attack on
acquittal of Reid in 1766, 296, 302, 316;
letter from Lord Suffolk, 319/1.7; JB in-
dignant with him, but will take no action
till later, 322; mentioned, 29/1.2, 212/2.5,

337

Miller, William, son of Thomas Miller,
later Bt. and Lord Glenlee, 315/1.3

Miller, William, mentioned by John Reid,
343-344

Miln, Robert, lay preacher, 326

Minorca, 97

Minto, Charles S., xxix

Mitchelson, Samuel, Sr., W.S., 227

Mitchelson, Samuel, Jr., W.S., 61, 95

Monboddo (James Burnett), Lord (30),
maintains superiority of savage life, 41;
theories on kinship of men with orang-
outangs, 140, 182; JB celebrates triumph
over, in literary property cause, 205; dis-
cusses death of his son, 211; JB feels in-
ferior to, 211; JB dines with, 219; ad-
mires JB's ballad Boston Bill, 220-221;
dines with JB, 229; interested in travels
of James Bruce, 260, 262; mentioned,
162/1.9, 231, 353; Account of a Savage
Girl, 140/1.; Origin and Progress of Lan-
guage, 140/2.

Moncrieffe, David Stewart (Horse Wynd,
Cowgate, E), sumptuous entertainments
of, 79-80, 212/1.8; JB plays cards with,
212, 230; mentioned, 78-79, 220, 231, 235

Monro, Dr. Alexander, of Edinburgh Uni-
versity (36), in plan for resuscitation of
John Reid, 291-292; mentioned, 199, 297,
322, 324

Montagu, Anthony Joseph (Browne), 7th
V., 115/2.1

Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson), author
(Hill St., Ci), 117-118, 127, 183

Montagu, Frederick, M.P., 117

Montgomerie, Jean (Maxwell), wife of
James Montgomerie of Lainshaw, visits
friends in company with JB, 214, 216,
aao, 226, 227, 228, 230; goes to the thea-

Index

387

tre, 227, 230; JB is unable to bid her
adieu, 231; mentioned, 209, 213, 217

Montgomerie-Cuninghame. See also Cun-
inghame

Montgomerie-Cuninghame, Capt. Alexan-
der, of Kirktonholra, 180

Montgomerie-Cuninghame, Sir Walter, fit,
160, 162-163, 180

Montgomery, Barbara, dau. of James Wil-
liam Montgomery, 111

Montgomery, James William, Lord Advo-
cate, later Chief Baron of Exchequer and
Bt., (Pall Mall, GS), speaks in House of
Lords, 67, 162; JB dines with, 111; in
appeal of John Hastie, 114, 115; in trial
of John Reid, 238, 240, 241, 24872.7, 249-
251; JB consults on transportation pardon
for Reid, 294-297; mentioned, 8, 260

Montgomery, Matthew, W.S., 314

Moore, Anthony, xxviii

Moore, Sir John, 11272.6

More, Henry, theologian, 73

Moredun, estate, 21272.7

Morpeth, 31, 190

Mossner, Ernest G, xxix

Mounsey, James, physician, 78

Mountstuart, John Stuart, styled V., later
4th E. and ist M. of Bute, receives JB
cordially, 58; character of, 62; does not
realize that JB has changed, 62; says
Lord Mansfield is angry with JB, 78; in
House of Lords for appeal of John
Hastie, 115; JB calls him cams Maece-
nas, 214; mentioned, 2, 38, 80, 130, 182

Muir, Thomas, malefactor, 198, 200

Muiravonside, 238, 239, 285, 286, 338

Mulgrave. See Phipps

Mull, 194, 195

Mundell, James, schoolmaster, 9072.4, it6n,

Murdison, Alexander, sheep-stealer, 146,
147, *49, 288, 313

Mure, Anne, dau. of William Mure, 214,

2*5

Mure, Anne (Graham), wife of William

Mure, 214, 215
Mure, William, B. of Exchequer (Abbey

Hill, Env.), 214, 215, a 18
Murphy, Arthur, author, 104; Apprentice,

18072.2; Grecian Daughter, 104; Life of

David Garrick, 133/2.1

Murray, Alexander, later Lord Hender-

land, 223, 260
Murray, Col. James, son of Lord George

Murray, 230

Murray, John, xxvii, 222/2.
Murray, John, bookseller and publisher, 35,

111
Murray, Margaret, of Stormont, sister of

Lord Mansfield, 178
Murray, Peter, advocate, 235
Mylne, Robert, architect, 301, 309
Mylnefield, 147, 148

Nairne, William, later Lord Dunsinnan
(32), on legacy of William Macqueen,
223; dines, sups with JB, 226, 283; in case
of John Reid, 240, 295; JB dines with,
279; mentioned, 21171.4, 230, 231, 278,
a88, 29271.8

Nash, William, Lord Mayor of London,
130-132

Nasmith, Michael, W.S. (Eig), on legacy
of William Macqueen, 223; dines, sups
with JB, 230, 252, 276, 337; in case of
John Reid, 236, 237, 276, 304, 306, 310-
3", 314, 319, 322, 329; letters from, on
verdict, 253, on new evidence, 297-298,
301-304, on printing of broadside,
30971.4; arranges copying of petition, 273,
275; praises JB's charge, 303; urges JB to
abandon scheme for resuscitation, 324,
letter, 327-328; with Reid before execu-
tion, 330, 332, 333, 334; helps JB write
account of execution for newspapers,
335-336; mentioned, 279, 293, 294, 299,
321

National Library of Scotland, 1571.

Neilson, Jean, mentioned in Reid trial, 246

Nelson, Horatio Nelson, Admiral, V., 7871.

Newark, 157

Newcastle, 21, 31, 39, 1387:., 156, 193

Newhall (Sir Walter Pringle), Lord, 275

Newton, Lord. See Hay, Charles

Newton colliery, 17772.3

Nicholls, Rev. Norton, 264, 267, 268, 269

Nile River, 26072.6

Nimmo, Mr., in Edinburgh, 284, 307

North, Brownlow, D.C.L., Bishop of Lich-
field and Coventry, 11572.1

North, Frederick, styled Lord North, later
ad E. of Guilford, 41, 134, 162

388

North Briton, BSn.
Northington, Robert

Index

Henley, 2d E. of,

Northumberland, Elizabeth (Seymour),

Duchess of, 63
Northumberland, Hugh (Smithson) Percy,

istD. of, 21714,63
Northumberland, Hugh Percy, 2d D. of,

7772.2

Norton, 14

Nowell, Rev. Thomas, 47-2, 121-122
Nubia, 261
Nugent, Christopher, M.D., 184

Gates, John, xxviii

Oban, 194

O'Brien, Lady Susan Sarah Louisa (Fox-

Strangways), 118
O'Brien, William, actor, 118; Cross Pur-

poses, 227
Ogden, Samuel, D.D., Sermons on Prayer,

102, 213
Ogilvy, Katherine (Nairne), wife of

Thomas Ogilvy, 29272.8
Ogilvy, Lieut Patrick, 771.3, 292
Ogilvy, Thomas, of Eastmiln, 29271.8
Oglethorpe, Elizabeth (Wright), wife of

following, 104, 207

Oglethorpe, Gen. James Edward (Lower
Grosvenor St., 82), introduced to SJ, 86;
neglected by court, 104; JB dines with,
ad, 104-107, 180-181; talks with SJ and
Goldsmith, on duelling, 105, on ghosts,
107, on siege of Belgrade, 106; encour-
ages JB before presentation of appeal for
Hastie, 1 13; in House of Lords for appeal,
115; JB values friendship of, 164; serves
Canary wine, 180; JB writes to, on plans
for tour of Hebrides, 193; plots to bring
Goldsmith and Miss Lockwood together,
206; letter on death of Goldsmith, 207;
writes to JB, 213; mentioned, 82, 83, 183,
216
Old Pretender. See James Francis Edward

Stuart

OHphant, Mr., tutor to Lord Binning, 121
Oliver, Anne, early teacher of SJ, 175
Ord, John, lawyer and politician, 271
Ord, Robert, Chief B. of Exchequer (Queen
St, New Town), 15071., 271

Osborne, Francis, 127; Advice to a Son,

JB's notes on, 141

"Our Polly she's a sad slut," tune, 257
Ovid, 64/1.9, 10771.2
Oxford, Edward Harley, 4th E. of, 78, 79,

11571.1

Oxford English Dictionary, 5572.2
Oxford University, 47, 122, 175, 274

Paget, Henry (Bayly) Paget, loth B.,
11572.1

Paine, Thomas, 9672.1

Paisley, 199, 30672.7

Palmer, Rev. Richard, 31

Paoli, Pasquale de (Albemarle St, C2; Jer-
myn St, GS), witnesses JB's marriage
contract, 5; visits Scotland, 21-22;
slighted by Lord Provost of Edinburgh,
22-23; welcomes JB in London, 34; in-
vites JB to lodge with him, JB declines,
35; pensioned by British government,
3571.8, 101 ; JB dines with, 38, 67, 182;
talks of allegorical painting, 54-55;
praises Mrs. Boswell, 59; interested in
John Brown's supposed memorial in
favour of Corsicans, 64; lends his coach
to JB, 67, 130; talks with SJ, on beauty
and utility, 82, on marriage, 82, on pro-
fanity, 83, on sense of touch, 129, on
sounds, 129; SJ thinks he has lost some
grandeur of deportment, 83; quotes
Shakespeare, 101; is kind to Count Gen-
till, who troubles him, 101; secures in-
vitation from Mrs. Montagu for JB, 117;
calls Cato a Tory, Caesar a Whig, 125;
JB spends Easter with, 128; urges SJ to
see him often, 129; on Roman historians,
129; receives JB with open arms, 158;
JB cannot collect memorabilia in London
as well as in Corsica, 170-171; JB intro-
duces Lord Pembroke to, 259; JB writes
to, 270; mentioned, 2, 39, 58, 118, 160

Parkhead, 248

Parkhill v. Chalmers, 178

Parliament See House of Commons; House
of Lords

Parnell, Thomas, poet, 5572.2, 8372.; Life o/,
by Goldsmith, 83; by SJ, 8372.; Night
Piece on Death, 8372.

Paterculus, 89

Index

389

Paterson, boy, son of following, in trial of
John Reid, 243-244

Paterson, Robert, shepherd, in trial of John
Reid, 239, 242-243, 2 45

Paterson, Samuel, Coryate Junior, 97

Paton, George, customs officer, 265

Paton, Thomas $., Reports of Cases Decided
in the House of Lords upon Appeal from
Scotland from 1757 to 17^4, 40/1.5, i77/-3

Peacock, Thomas Love, Headlong Hall,
168/1.5

Pembroke, Henry Herbert, toth E. of, is
affable to JB, 258, 259; JB gives dinner
for, 266-267, 270; asks for Mrs. Boswell's
commands from London, 275; shares JB's
interest in the bass fiddle, 275; letters
from JB on petition for John Reid, 277,
299, 300; letters to JB in reply, 297, 320,
323; promises to see the King on behalf
of Reid, 319-320; mentioned, 322

Pembroke, Philip Herbert, 4th E. of, 63-64

Penicuik (10 m. S. of Edinburgh), 295

Pennant, Thomas, 139, 167; Tour to Scot-
land, 167

Penrith, 288

Percy, Lord Algernon, 2272.

Percy, Anne (Stuart), Countess, 77

Percy, Rev. Thomas (Northumberland
House, 4), letters from JB, 21, 150, 183;
JB visits, 21; diary quoted, 21/1.4; shows
JB his library at Northumberland House,
63; literary projects, 63, 167; calls on
Paoli, 64; catalogue of writings of SJ,
143-144; shows JB picture of Cleveland,
the poet, 166; in Literary Club, 183; vis-
its JB in Edinburgh, 191; mentioned, 143,
182; Hermit of Warkworth, parody of, by
SJ, 170; Key to Don Quixote, 63; Rel-
iques of Ancient English Poetry, 21;
Spectator ; plan for new edition of, 169

Perry, Col. Charles, regiment of, 286

Perry, John, steward of Christ's Hospital,
176

Perth, 45, 147, 307

Peyre, Henri, xxix

Peyton, ?Y. J., amanuensis to SJ, 55, 56

Pharaoh, 46

Philadelphia, 219

Philips, Ambrose, 112/2,7

Philips, Charles Claudius, 144

Phipps, Capt Constantine John, later B.
Mulgrave, 179

Piccolomini, Girolama, 2

Pickworth, William, hanged for robbery,
289/2.3

Pierpont Morgan Library, xxiii

Pingo, John, medallist, 118

Piozzi, Mrs. See Thrale, Hester

Pitcairn, Maj. John, 225

Pitcairne, Archibald, physician and poet,
170

Pitfour (James Fergusson), Lord, 243, 244,
54

Pitt, A. Stuart, xxvii

Pitt, William. See Chatham

Place, Mrs., sister of Godfrey Bosville, 54

Poggi, Anthony, painter, 58

Pope, Alexander, 49/2.7, 70, 107/3.2, 112/2.7,
117/2.5; Essay on, by Warton, 83-84;
Life of, by Ruffhead, 83

Potter, Thomas, Essay on Woman, 121/14

Pottle, Frederick A., xxv, xxvi, xxvii

Pottle, Mrs. Marion S., xxvii, xxix

Powell, L. F., xxv, xxvii, xxviii

Preston, Agnes, dau. of Sir George Preston,
212, 228, 237, 281, 309

Preston (Anne Cochrane), Lady, wife of
Sir George Preston, 212/2.6, 228, 229, 237,
281, 309

Preston, Sir George, of Valleyfield, Bt.
(Castle Hill St., E), relationship to JB,
212/2.6, 222/2.7; JB sups with, 214, 216,
218, 226, 256, 275, 279, 314; dines with
JB, 281, 309; mentioned, 212, 228, 232,
337, 259, 315

Preston, Capt. Robert, son of Sir George
Preston, offers to write letter on behalf of
John Reid, 314, 315; mentioned, 161, 162,
310

Priestley, Joseph, LL.D., JB thinks him
civil, his religious works insolent, 66; de-
scribes oxygen in letter to Sir John Prin-
gle, 66/2.7; reads poem, Corsica, 103;
mentioned, 60/2*5

Pringle, Eleanor, sister of Lord Alemoor,
229

Pringle (Elizabeth MacLeod), Lady, wife
of Col. James Pringle, 129

Pringle, Col. James, later Sir James Prin-
gle of Stichell, Bt., 129, 130/2.8*

390

Index

Pringle, Sir John, ad Bt. of Stichell, father
of following, 254/1,3

Pringle, Sir John, Bt (PaU Mall, 63), let-
ters to JB, 136-139, 149-150, 200-201,
203; receives JB affectionately, 54; gives
JB advice on family relationships, 59-60,
137-139, 200-201; talks on dissenters,
60; on scandals in royal family, 60-61;
invites JB to meeting of his club, 65, 102;
brings Benjamin Franklin to call on JB,
66/1.5; JB dines with, 89, 129-130, 167;
JB consults on appeals for Hastie, 112;
encourages JB to come to London every
spring, 125; visits JB in Edinburgh, 136-
138, 191; mentions bringing a lady with
him, 136; fond of Jeanie Campbell, 137,
138, 150; letter to her, 196-197; con-
gratulates JB on birth of Veronica, 149-
150; JB warns SJ to avoid discussing him
with Lord Auchinleck, 196; discourages
JB's idea of a London career, 203; men-
tioned, 58, 65, 75, 102, 160, 179, 25471.3

Pringle, John, of Haining, brother of Lord
Alemoor, 130, 167, 234

Pringle, Sir Robert, of Stichell, Bt, 13671.

Prior, Matthew, 70

Public Advertiser, 7572.8, 132, 172, 379

Pufendorf, Samuel, B. von, 57

Pulteney, William, M.P., 161

Quan, porter to Duke of Queensberry, 37

Quebec, 6172.9

Queensberry, Charles Douglas, sd D. of

(Burlington Gardens, 2), 37, 38, 78,

322, 352

Rae, David, later Lord Eskgrove (24), pe-
culiarities of speech, 95-96; stupefied and
silly, 112; in trial of Murdison and
Miller, 147; falls asleep in consultation,
213; JB consults on politics of Earl Fife,
229, 256
Raleigh, ship, 42
Ralph, George Keith, painter, 384, 285, 388,

290

"Rampager," pseudonym of JB, 1737*., 279
Ramsay, Michael, of Mungall, 239
Ramsay, Peter, stabler (35), 295
Ranger, character in Hoadly's Suspicious
Husband, 32

Raphael, 112

Raybould, John, forger, xv

Reichardt, Konstantin, xxix

Reid, Benjamin, son of John Reid, 286, 326

Reid, Daniel, son of John Reid, 326

Reid, George, printer, 318

Reid, Janet (Clarke), wife of John Reid,
applies to JB for petition, 264; wants
Reid to die dressed in white, 289, 339;
gives Nasmith new evidence, 298; imag-
ines Reid has a chance for life, 306-307;
declaration of, 310, 312, text, 313-314;
plans to bring Reid's body to Walker's
tavern, 326, 329; does not know of
scheme for resuscitation, 327; dissuaded
from watching execution, 329, 333-334;
takes leave of Reid, 330-331, 332, 333;
claims body after execution, 335-336; dif-
ficulties with burial, 337-341; letter
from Ritchie, 339-340; mentioned, 265,
275, *86, 319, 336

Reid, Janet, dau. of John Reid, 326, 334,
335, 336

Reid, John, sheep-stealer, editorial account
of, xv-xvi, xix, xx, 22772.1, 250-251; bib-
liography on, xxiii-xxiv; trial in 1766,
62724, 286; verdict attacked by Lord Jus-
tice-Clerk Miller, 296, 302, 316; JB visits
in prison, 227, 236, 264, 280; trial in 1774,
238-256; witnesses, 237, 242-350; indict-
ment, 238-340; plea on relevancy, 340-
241; jury, 242, 252, 253; declaration after
arrest, 247-248; Lord Advocate's charge,
251; JB's charge, 252, 303; verdict, 252,
254; JB moves for delay, 254-256; sen-
tence of death, 256; promises to write
story of his life, 264; petition for trans-
portation, 264, 266, 271, 273, 275-277,
letters on, 265-266, 277, 297, 300, 319,
320, 322-323; JB exhorts *TO to tell the
truth, 275, 305-306, 319, 331; believes in
predestination, 275-376, 287, 306; plan
for resuscitation of, after hanging, 380,
384, 391-293, 323, 324-328; tells of his
dreams, 381, 285, 317; portrait, ordered
by JB, 283-284, painted by Ralph, 285,
288, 290, Reid's comments on, 290, 306;
JB drinks to him, is embarrassed by
toast, 285; tells story of his life, 385-286;
discusses his execution, 286, 289, 390,
336; wants his wife and children to see

Index

his death, 286; vanity, 286, ago, 306; re-
ligious beliefs, 287, 306; complains of
Peter Reid's failure to speak for him, 287;
last speech, JB and Ritchie urge prep-
aration of, 287, mentioned by Nasmith,
301-303, published, 304, prepared by
Ritchie, 310, re ad to Reid by *&, 331*
text of, 343-345. amused by anecdote,
288; JB tells him of other hangings, 288-
289; troubled by something done long
ago, 289, 329; IB resolves to ask for truth
from, at last moment, 293; respite ob-
tained, 393; weeps in despair, 293, 294;
JB applies to Lord Advocate for help,
294-297; new evidence, letters from Na-
smith on, 297-298, 30^304; JB and Col.
James Webster write to Lord Cornwallis,
298-299; frightens JB with talk of ghost,
306; 'The Mournful Case of Poor Mis-
fortunate and Unhappy John Reid,"
broadside by JB, 306, 308-309, 318; me-
morial on evidence with declaration from
Mrs. Reid, 310-314; petition to magis-
trates, 310-311; letter from JB in London
Chronicle, 315-316; confesses other thefts
which troubled him, 317, 330, 331;
grateful to JB, 317; further respite is de-
nied, 319; little affected by news that he
must die, 319; failure of last efforts to
obtain mercy, 322; clergymen believe
him innocent, 325; with wife and chil-
dren on night before execution, 396;
preparations for execution, 329-333; last
interview with JB, 330-331; prayers,
330; takes leave of his wife, 330-331, 332,
333; speaks of his children, 332, 334; JB
gives book of devotion to, 332/1.6; pro-
cession to gallows, 333-334; execution,
334-335; last words, 334, 335; accounts of
execution written by Nasmith and JB,
335-336; burial, 335-336; letters on, by
Ritchie, 337-340, by Thomas Greenhill,
340-341; mentioned, 198, 227, 237, 263,

297, 3*, 337

Reid, Peter, in trial of John Reid, 287

Resolution) ship, 42

Reynolds, Mrs., in Edinburgh, 260

Reynolds, Sir Joshua (Leicester Square,
83), SJ dines with, 44; JB dines with,
133, 165; with Goldsmith, meets SJ and
JB in Berkeley Square, 183; in favour of

JB's admission to Literary Club, 183;
mentioned, 6972.7, 184

Richardson, Samuel, 96-97, 176

Rickson, Mrs. William, 222

Ritchie, Alexander, independent lay
preacher, with John Reid in prison, 284,
285, 286-287, 289, 326; on omens accom-
panying executions, 289-290; prepares
last speech of Reid, 310; religious profes-
sion of, 310; persuades Reid to confess
former theft, 317; interprets Reid's
dream, 317; with Reid before execution,
329, 330, 333; secures cart after execu-
tion, 337; letters on Reid's burial, to JB,
337-338, to Thomas Greenhill, 338-339,
reply from Greenhill, 340-341, to Janet
Reid, 339-340; Short Account of the Be-
haviour of William Pickworth, 289

Ritter, Joseph, servant to JB, in grandeur
for Lord Mayor's dinner, 130-131; sad at
parting from JB, 134; forgets JB's
breeches, 160; on tour of the Hebrides,
193; mentioned, 39, 67, 93, 158, 185

Ritterbush, Philip, xxix

Rivington, John, bookseller, partner in
London Magazine, ioon., 163; JB meets
at St. Paul's, goes to Christ's Hospital
with, 173, 175-176

Roberton, Archibald, of Bedlay, advocate,
273, 336

Robertson, John, in Edinburgh, 324

Robertson, PJohn, the elder, printer, 318

Robertson, John, printer, 252, 336

Robertson, Richard, malefactor, 147, 148,

149 *

Robertson, William, DJD., historian, perse-
cutes Beattie, 134-125; JB writes to, on
plans for tour of the Hebrides, 193; pre-
fers Scotland to England, 216; History of
Charles V, 279

Robinson, Morris, later 3d B. Bokeby, 256

Robinson, Sir Thomas, fit, 164

Rochford, William Henry Zuylestein, 4th
E. of, signs respite for Reid, 29371.9; JB
sends declaration of Mrs. Reid with
memorial to, 312-313; mentioned, 315,
322

Rodringham, Charles Watson-Wentworth,
2d M. of, 106

Rockville. See Gordon, Hon. Alexander

Roebuck, Miss, 270, 272

392

Rokeby. See Robinson, Morris

Rome, ancient, 88

Romney, George, painter, 7811.

Ronald, William, shopkeeper in Edinburgh,

3*9

Rose, William, steward to Earl Fife, 320
Rosebery, Neil Primrose, sd E. of, 115/1.1,

177

Ross, Da-rid, actor, 17, 121
Ross, Fanny (Murray), wife of David Ross,

121

Ross, Walter, W.S., 121
Ross of Auchnacloich v. Mackenzie of

Ardross, 210
Rothes, Mary (Lloyd), Countess of, wife of

Bennet Langton, 121/1.6, 139
Rotterdam, 77/2.3, 80
Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 2, 116/2,, 173
Royal Kalendar, 350^.2
Royal Society, 65, 6672.7
Ruddiman, Thomas, 174
Ruflhead, Owen, Life of Pope, 84
RuncimaxL Alexander painter 284. 206
Russel, Thomas, in trial of John Reid, 303,

304,348

Russell, Lord William, 159
Russia, 64-65
Rye House Plot, 159/2.7

St Albans, 134

St Andrews, 193

St. George's Fields, massacre of, 79

St. James's Chronicle, 132/2.6

St.Kilda, 43-44, 63

St Petersburg, 64

St. Vincent, island, 230/2.1

Sallust, 106/1.8, 129

Salvador family, 56/2-4

Samson, Biblical character, 143

Index

Sands, William, bookseller in Edinburgh,

280

Sandwich, John Montagu, 4th E. of, 115/2.1
Sandys, Edwin Sandys, ad B., 115/2.1
Sappho, 107

Saunders, Admiral Sir Charles, 61
Saunderson, Nicholas, mathematician, 129
Savile, Sir George, Bt, 61
Sawbridge, Rev. Wanley, 179
Scarsdale, Nathaniel Curzon, ist B., 115/2.1
Schaw, Miss, dau. of following, 218

Schaw, Capt. Frederick Bridges (James's
Court, E), 218, 258, 270, 272, 274, 283,
307

Schaw, Isabella (Thomson), wife of pre-
ceding, 218, 258, 270, 272, 274, 283

Scotland (Scots manners, speech, &c.),
manners corrupted by levelling, 142; few
books printed in, before Union, 174;
heavy drinking common, 235; narrow-
ness of judges, 299; Scots more national-
istic than Irish, 185; Scots do not make
good players, 185; Scots speech, acquired
by an Italian, 34, hard to correct, 70, 92-
93; Scotticisms, 160, 198, 210, 338, 346,
interpreted by JB, 285, 287-290, 317;
Erse and Irish languages similar, 56-57

Scotland, Privy Council of, 141

Scots Magazine, 16, 149^, 267/2.8, 282/2.8,
291/2.

Scott, Miss, in London, 180

Scott, Geoffrey, xxv, xxvi

Scott, George Lewis, mathematician, 93,
127

Scott, Maj.-Gen. John, 78

Scott, Sarah (Robinson), wife of George
Lewis Scott, 127

Scott, Sir Walter, Bt, aa; Guy Manuring,
285/2.6

Scottish courts and legal system, 178/2.6,
350-357

Scottish Record Office, 241/1., 248/2.7

Scougal, Henry, Life of God in the Soul of
Many 174

Seceders, 243/2.8

Selden, John, 69; De jure naturae et gen-
tium, 271

Session, Court of, 8, 62, 67/2.2, 81, 141,
W*-3, *79., 191, 196, 198, 205, 260, 268,
283; appeal of John Hastie, 111, 112, 113$
description of, 209, 210, 351-352, 354-
355; Lords of, 351, 352, 354

Seton, Grant, 299

Seton, Col. James, 230, 231, 235

Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3d
E. of, 74/2.6

Shakespeare, William, 89, 144; Plays, 1765,
preface by SJ, 118, 144; Edinburgh edi-
tion, 1771, 18; t Henry IV, 67-68; 3
Henry VI, 101; Macbeth, xii, 133, 195;
Merchant of Venice, 152/2^,; Romeo and
Jutiet, 43/2.5

Index

393

Shap, 134*3

Sharp, Mr., tutor, 212

Sharp, L. W., xxix

Shaw, Robert, in trial of John Reid, 946-

247

Sheffield. See Holroyd

Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 231/1.4

Shepard, Brooks, xxix

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 70/1.

Sheridan, Thomas, 7, 7* General Dic-
tionary of the English Language, 70

Shirley, 102/2.

Shrewsbury, 175

Sidney, Algernon, 159

Sinclair, Robert, advocate, 240, 243, 270

Skye, 53-4, 96, *9*, 193, 194, 212/1.7, 222

Smith, Mr., in London, 118

Smith, Adam, political economist, 301/2.2

Smith, Gen. Richard, gin.

Smith, Robert, xxix

Smith, Dr. Samuel, headmaster of West-
minster School, 76-77, 113, 116

Smith, Warren H., xxix

Smollett, James, commissary of Edinburgh,

3*i

Smollett, Tobias George, 31 in.

Solander, Daniel Charles, JB meets, 54;
visits JB in Edinburgh, 139-140; men-
tioned, 43, 43, 65, 66

Solicitor-General See Dundas, Henry

Southerne, Thomas, Oroonoko, 17

Southwark, 26/1.7, 168

Spain, 98

Sparta, 99

Spectator, 81, 169-170

Speirs, Alexander, banker, 264

Spencer, G. H., xxix

Spottiswoode, Andrew, son of John Spottis-
woode the younger, 10871.5

Spottiswoode, John, solicitor, 108, 160, 161

Spottiswoode, John, son of preceding, 108
71.5

Spottiswoode, Margaret (Strahan), wife of
John Spottiswoode the younger, 108/1.5

Spottiswoode, Robert, son of John Spottis-
woode the younger, 108/1.5

Stanley, Hans, politician, 161

Stationers' Company, 163

Sterne, Laurence, 97

Steuart, Archibald, of Steuart Hall, 272-
273, 284, 291

Steuart, David, W.S., son of preceding

(28), 291
Steuart, Sir James, political economist,

79-8o,93
Stevenage, 32
Stevenson, Robert Louis, Weir of Hermu-

ton, 212/1.5

Stewart, Miss, of Shambellie, 283
Stewart, Andrew, W.S., 220, 226
Stewart, Archibald, of Tobago, 3d son of

Sir Michael Stewart of Blackball, 77, 80,

116
Stewart, Capt Keith, ultimately Vice-

Admiral, 267
Stewart, William, of Castle Stewart, 230,

231, 235
Stichell, 136/2.

Stirling, 245, 248/1.7, *76 307
Stobie, John, clerk to Lord Auchinleck, 273
Stockdale, Rev. Percival, 40-43; Elegy on

the Death of Dr. Johnson's Favourite

Cat, 40/1.6; Remonstrance, 40/1.6
Stone, G. W. f xxix
Stopford, Col. Edward, 259, 267, 270, 283,

307

Strachan, T. W., xxix
Strahan, William, printer, 108/2.5, 116,

124/1.2, 183, 213/1.3
Strahan, William, the younger, printer

(Snow Hill, B6), 108, 116
Strange, Isabella (Lumisden), wife of

Robert Strange, 89

Strange, Robert, later knighted, 89/1.2
Stranraer, Presbytery of, 94/2.4
Stratford Shakespeare Jubilee, xii, 4, 126/2.
Streatham, 26/2.7

Strichen (Alexander Fraser), Lord, 344
Stuart, House of, 182
Stuart, Andrew, W. $,, Letters to the Right

Honourable Lord Mansfield, 178
Stuart, Gilbert, historian and reviewer, 92
Stuart, Rev. James, 57/-7
Stuart, James, of Dunearn, W.S., 106/2,6
Stuart, Lt-Col. James Archibald, later

Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie (Queen St,

C2), 76, 163
Stuart, Margaret (Cunyngliame), wife of

preceding, friendship with Mrs. Boswell,

76, 160; on matrimonial infidelity, 76;

anecdote of Dr. Smith of Westminster

394

School, 76-77; on gallantry and love,
134; mentioned, 113
Sturges, Charles, prebendary of St. Paul's,

93

Suetonius, 274718

Suffolk, Henry Howard, lath E. of, Secre-
tary of State, petition for John Reid sent
to, 277; letter to Lord Justice-Clerk on
Reid, 319*2.7; mentioned, 320, 322

Sun Fire Office of London, 200

Surat, 97

Sweden, 56

Swift, Jonathan, 83/1., 112/2.7, 129

Switzerland, 2

Syme, Robert, W.S., 271, 272

Tacitus, 123, 129

Tait, James, town clerk of Edinburgh, 320,

335
Talbot de Malahide, James Boswell Talbot,

6th B., 153

Talbot de Malahide, Lady. See McCombe
Tankerville, Charles Bennet, 4th E. of, 156
Taylor, John, in Candie, 343
Taylor, John, in Getlandertown, 343
Taylor, John, in Kenmore, 343
Taylor, William, advocate's clerk, 210
Temple, Anne (Stow), wife of William
Johnson Temple, JB has better opinion
of her, 9; son born, 10; distracts her hus-
band, 13; in London, 185; travels from
London to Cornhill with her husband
and JB, 190; JB is rude to her, 190; for-
gives JB, but does not want to visit hv"\
190

Temple, Rev. William Johnson, letters
from JB, 10-12, 190, 224/1.2; letters to
JB, 10-13, 15-16, 28, 135, 138, 141-142,
150, 190, 200; letter to Mrs. Boswell, 9;
regrets second marriage of Lord Auchin-
leck, 6; changes in JB's correspondence
with, 8-9; JB visits, 8-9; JB is godfather
to his first son, 9; literary ambitions frus-
trated, 9; asks JB for help, 9; advises JB
on family relationships, 10, 138, 201;
visits JB in Edinburgh, 10, 11, 191; con-
soles JB on death of his first son, 11;
domestic problems, 13; complains of his
own troubles, 15-16, 150, 200; writes
character of Thomas Gray, 20; friend-
ship with John Claxton, 10271.2; son John

Index

James named for Claxton and JB, 10272.2;
JB declines to visit, 135; thinks JB's tal-
ents are wasted in writing for magazine,
141-142; congratulates JB on birth of
Veronica, 150; in London, entertained
by Dilly, 185; travels from London to
Cornhill with JB, 190; argues with JB on
government and aristocratic privilege,
190; not worried by JB's despondency,
200; mentioned, 40, 127, 17372., 264, 269;
Essay Concerning the Clergy* 200

Thebes, 105

Thelwall, John, 9672.1

Thistle Banking Company, Glasgow, 8

Thompson, Capt. Edward, 16372.1

Thomson, Capt, in India service, 161, 162

Thomson, Isabella. See Schaw, Isabella
(Thomson)

Thomson, James, poet, 11272.7, 117/2.6

Thornhill, Capt, in narrative of James
Bruce, 261

Thorpe, 38

Thrale, Henry, 2672.7, 35, 118, 183, 22572-4

Thrale, Hester Lynch (Salusbury), later
Mrs. Piozzi (Bankside, Southwark, C6),
SJ says she loves JB, 27; notes in Life of
Samuel Johnson, 4972.7, 17372.1; invites
JB to bring his wife to London, 134; SJ
writes to, 14072., 205; relations with SJ,
scandalous report in newspaper, 167; JB
visits, 168-170, 185; disagrees with SJ,
169; JB writes to, 205; with SJ in Wales,
22572.4; mentioned, 2672.7

Thurlow, Edward Thurlow, ist B., 62, 161

Tickle, Tom, pseudonym, 154/2. (see also
Kenrick)

Tinker, C. B., xxv

Tobago, 77

Todd, Mr., chaplain to Lady Maxwell, 280

Tollie, estate of, 21072.7

Tooke, John Home, politician, 9672.1

Topham, Edward, journalist, Letters from
Edinburgh, 33372.

Toplady, Rev. Augustus Montague, 185,
186

Tony, James, bailie of Edinburgh, 31 1

Tosh, Peter, malefactor, 148

Trecothick, Barlow, alderman of London,
132

Tuxford, 157

"Tyburn," letter from, to JB, 310

Index

395

Tyrawley, James 0*Hara, 2d B., 164
Tyrie, John, notary, 3* a

Ulva, 194

Unitarians, 60/1.5

Universal Magazine, xxiii

Urquhart, George, solicitor in London, 81,

20371.
Utrecht, 121, 175

Valleyfield, 315

Veal, Mrs., apparition of, 73, *<>3

Veale, Capt.-Lieut. Samuel Buck, 45-46

Victor, Alexander, xxix

Virgil, 89, 257/1.6, 271

Voltaire, Francois Marie Arouet de, 84/1.7

Vowel, Lieut Richard, 270, 274

Waingrow, Marshall, xxvii, xxix
Wales, Prince of. See Frederick Louis
Wales, Princess Dowager of. See Augusta
Wales, 45

Walker, Mrs., keeper of tavern or dram-
shop (Grassmarket, E), 226, 229
Walker, Ralph, xxix
Walker, Rev. Robert, 213, 217/1.8, 298
Wallace, George, advocate, son of following

(E 3 3), 378

Wallace, Rev. Robert, treatise on taste, 278
Wallace, Robert Paterson, of Holmstone,

W.S., 273
Walpole, Horace, 4th E. of Orford, 87/2.5,

115711, 270
Walton, Izaak, Lives, 228, 236-237, 269;

Life of Sanderson, 228
Warrender, Hugh, deputy Crown agent,

Edinburgh, 320

War-ton, Joseph, Essay on Pope, 83-84
Watson, John, housebreaker, 149 .
Waugh, John, merchant, 130
Waugh, Mrs. John, 130
Webster, Alexander, D.D. (13), character

of, 213/1.4; JB has Sunday supper with,

213, 217, 219, 225, 228, 232, 278, 298,

299; at JB's dimmer in payment of bet,

224; unsympathetic with John Reid, 278,

298; visits Reid before execution, 329;

mentioned, 214, 216, 220, 226, 258, 259,

279, 83, 310, 336, 337
Webster, Alexander, son of preceding, 278,

281, 337

Webster, Annie, dau. of Dr. Alexander
Webster, 218, 220, 314, 318, 337

Webster, George, son of Dr. Alexander
Webster, argues with his father on pa-
tience, 232-233; dines with JB, 276, 281;
visits John Reid in prison, 276; on per-
jury, 278; harangues wonderfully, 299;
mentioned, 209, 213, 216, 228, 230, 279,
3*8

Webster, Col. James, son of Dr. Alexander
Webster, dines with JB, 218, 267; dis-
cusses whether old soldiers are better
than young ones, 270; writes to Lord
Cornwallis on behalf of John Reid, 298-
299; mentioned, 214, 216, 225, 274, 279,
281, 314, 318

Weis, Charles McC., xxvii

Wellek, Rene", xxix

Wellwood, Mary (Preston), mother of fol-
lowing, 309

Wellwood, Lieut. Robert, 213, 299

Wemyss, John, Lt.-Governor of Edinburgh
Castle, 299

Wentworth, Arabella, sister of Mrs. God-
frey Bosville, 54, 100

Wesley, John, 53, 280/1.4

West, James, antiquary, 166

West Muir of Fintry, 147

Westminster Magazine, 151

Westmorland, John Fane, loth E. of, 115

B.1

Wetherby, 156

Weymouth, Thomas Thynne, 3d V., 115/1.1

Wharton, Rev. Henry, History of the
Troubles and Tryal of . . , William
Laud, 172/1.

Wharton, Thomas, commissioner of excise,
131

Wharton, Rev. Thomas, of Barbados, 158

Wharton, Mrs. Thomas, 158

Whim, country seat of James William
Montgomery (14 m. S. of Edinburgh),
294, 95

Whitaker, Rev. John, History of Manches-
ter, 65

Wight, Alexander, advocate, later Solicitor-
General, 59, 90, 1 1 1, 1 12

Wigtown, 230/1.1

Wilkes, John, Lord Mansfield angry with
JB for speaking well of, 78; rumour of

396

Index

his release leads to massacre of St.
George's Fields, 79^7; arrest of, 88n.; JB
meets for first time since 1766, *3;
career of, 132/1.3, 71.5; consoles JB after
death of his mother, 331.; mentioned,
6971.7; Essay on Woman, 12172-4

William III, King of England, Scotland,
and Ireland, 1711.3, 283, *9 6

William Augustus, D. of Cumberland, 48/1.

William Henry, D. of Gloucester, 48/1.

Williams, Anna, poetess, entertains JB, 44,
58, 74, loa, 109, 133, 17* to 11 * story f
second sight, 45; entertained by Sir Alex-
ander Macdonald, 99; talks of ghosts,
103; charmed with Paoli, ia8; JB is a
favourite with her, 158; interested in
Goldsmith's attack on publisher, 158,
159; mentioned, 2771., 36, 64, lai, 173;
Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, 144

Williams, Sir Charles Hanbury, author,

221

Williams, John, Free Enquiry into the Au-
thenticity of the First and Second Chap-
ters of St. Mattheufs Gospel, 6071.6

Williams, Robert, rxix

Willock et al. v. George Ouchterlony, 67,
80

Wilson, Mr., barber at Stevenage, 33-33

Wilson, Andrew, M.D., sons visit JB in Ed-
inburgh, 218, aao; mentioned, 3172.5*
13871., 156

Wilson, Christopher, canon residentiary of
St. Paul's, 173

Wilson, James, murderer, 192, 293

Wilson, John, son of William Wilson, 3972.3

Wilson, John, *Vriter" in Glasgow, letter
from Nasmith on John Reid, 303-304;
letter to Nasmith in reply, 307-308

Wilson, William, W.S. (9), character, 29;
gives JB his first fee, 29; travels to Lon-
don with JB, 39-33; interprets song from
Beggar's Opera, 30; JB dines with, 81;
JB consults -with, 334, 364; mentioned,
35, 111, 130

Wilson, William, malefactor, 199

Windsor, Alice (Clavering), Viscountess,
58

Windsor Castle, 93^-3

Winn, George, B. of Exchequer, 219

Wolfe, Gen. James, 6172.9

Wolverhampton, 75

Wood, Alexander, surgeon (Chessel's
Court: vicinity of Chessel's Buildings,
E), in plan for resuscitation of John Reid,
380, 284, 333, 334, 337; ideas on im-
mortality, 327; mentioned, 147, 279, 381

Woodfall, Henry Sampson, printer, 172,
17372.

Woodward, Henry, actor, 19

Wooler, 156, 190

Worcester, Bishop of. See Johnson, James

Wright, Charles, stationer in Edinburgh,
393

Wright, John, advocate, 67

Wright, Thomas, father of preceding, 67

Wright v. Ure, 67

Wurttemberg, Prince of, 106

Wyvill, Rev. Christopher, 327

Yates, Mrs. Mary Ann, actress, 104

Yates, Richard, actor, 146

Yeats, John, trumpeter of Court of Justici-
ary, 282, 319

Yonge, Sir William, Bt^ 71

York, Archbishop of. See Drummond, Rob-
ert Hay

Young, Edward, poet, story of his supposed
mistress, 32, 3372.2; doubted, by JB, 32-
33, by SJ, 3372.2, by Dr. Percy, 64; men-
tioned, 11272.7; Complaint, or Night
Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortal-
ity, 32/1.9

Young, Frederick, son of Edward Young,
3*, 33

Young, Thomas, physician and Professor of
Midwifery at Edinburgh University, 209,
264, 310

Young Pretender. See Charles Edward

Zuylen, Belle de, a

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