Dunearn.


BOSWELL, JAMES (1740-1795).--Biographer, _s._ of Alexander B. of
Auchinleck, Ayrshire, one of the judges of the Supreme Courts of
Scotland, was _ed._ at the High School and Univ. of Edin., and practised
as an advocate. He travelled much on the Continent and visited Corsica,
where he became acquainted with the patriot General Paoli. Fortunately
for posterity he was in 1763 introduced to Dr. Johnson, and formed an
acquaintance with him which soon ripened into friendship, and had as its
ultimate fruit the immortal _Life_. He was also the author of several
works of more or less interest, including an _Account of Corsica_ (1768),
and _Journal of Tour to the Hebrides_ (in the company of Johnson) (1786).
Vain and foolish in an exceptional degree, and by no means free from more
serious faults, B. has yet produced the greatest biography in the
language. _The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D._ appeared in 1791, and at
once commanded an admiration which has suffered no diminution since. But
by this time a cloud had fallen upon the author. He had lost his
excellent wife, his health had given way, the intemperance to which he
had always been subject had mastered him, and he _d._ four years after
the appearance of his great work. B. was called to the English as well as
to the Scottish Bar, but his various foibles prevented his reaching any
great success, and he had also vainly endeavoured to enter on a political
career. The question has often been raised how a man with the
characteristics of B. could have produced so unique a work, and has been
discussed at length by Macaulay and by Carlyle, the former paradoxically
arguing that his supreme folly and meanness themselves formed his
greatest qualifications; the latter, with far deeper insight, that
beneath these there lay the possession of an eye to discern excellence
and a heart to appreciate it, intense powers of accurate observation and