JAMES BOSWELL - PREFACE - THE literature of the Johnsonian period has assumed, in spite of the lexicographers own dislike of that adjective, prodigious dimensions. After the critical labours of Malone, Murphy, Croker, J. B. Nichols, Macaulay, Carlyle, Rogers, Fitzgerald, Dr Hill and others, it may appear hazardous to venture upon such a well-ploughed field where the pitfalls are so numerous and the materials so scattered. I cannot, however, re frain from the expression of the belief that in this biography of Boswell will be found something that is new to professed students of the period, and much to the class of general readers that may lead them to reconsider the verdict at which they may have amved from the brilliant but totally misleading essay by Lord Macaulay. At least, the writer cherishes the hope that it will materially add to the correct understanding and the enjoyment of Boswells great work, the Lfe of ohnson. My best thanks are due to J. Pearson Co., 5 Pall Mall Place, London, for the use of unpublished letters by Boswell and of his boyish common-place book. And if our Boswell could indulge an honest pride in availing himself of a dedication to Sir Joshua Reynolds, as to a person of the first eminence in his department, so may I entertain the same feeling in inscribing this sketch to Dr Hill who, amid the pressure of other Johnson labours, has yet found time to revise the proof sheets of my book. W. K. L. ABERDEEN Dc , - 1896 - C O N T E N T S CHAPTER I EARLY D AYS-MEETSJ OHNSON-I7 40-63 . CHAPTER I1 THE CONTINENT-CORSICA-1763-66 . CHAPTER I11 EDINBURGBHA R-STRATFORDJ UBILEE-1766-69 CHAPTER IV LOVE A FFAIRS-LITERARCY u-1766-73 . CNAPTER V TOUR T O THE . IEBRIDF, S-I . . CHAPTER V1 EDINBURGLHI FE-DEATH O F JOHNSON-1773-84 CNAPTER V11 THE ENGLISHR A R - D E A T H - I - CHAPTER V111 IN LITERATURE m m a PAGE 0 JAMES BOSWELL CHAPTER I EARLY DAYS-MEETS JOHNSON. I 7 40-I 7 6 3 Behind yon hills, where Lugar flows.-BURNS. EVERY Scotchman, says Sir Walter Scott, has a pedigree. It is a national prerogative, as inalienable as his pride and his poverty. My birth was neither distinguished nor sordid. What, however, was but a foible with Scott was a passion in James Boswell, who has on numerous occasions obtruded his genealogical tree in such a manner as to render necessary some acquaintance with his family and lineage. The family of Boswell, or Bosville, dates from the Normans who came with William the Conqueror to Hastings. Enter ing Scotland in the days of the sore saint, David I., they had spread over Berwickshire and established themselves, at least in one branch, at Balmuto in Fife. A descendant of the family, Thomas Boswell, occupies in the genealogy of the biographer the position of prominence which Wat of Harden holds in the line of the novelist. He obtained a grant of the lands in Ayr shire belonging to the ancient house of Affleck of that ilk, when they had passed by forfeiture into the hands of the king... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.