JAMES
BOSWELL
FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES
The following Volumes are now ready:—
THOMAS CARLYLE. By Hector C. Macpherson.
ALLAN RAMSAY. By Oliphant Smeaton.
HUGH MILLER. By W. Keith Leask.
JOHN KNOX. By A. Taylor Innes.
ROBERT BURNS. By Gabriel Setoun.
THE BALLADISTS. By John Geddie.
RICHARD CAMERON. By Professor Herkless.
SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON. By Eve Blantyre Simpson.
THOMAS CHALMERS. By Professor W. Garden Blaikie.
JAMES BOSWELL. By W. Keith Leask.
JAMES
BOSWELL
BY
W. KEITH
LEASK
FAMOUS
·SCOTS·
·SERIES·
PUBLISHED BY
OLIPHANT ANDERSON
& FERRIER · EDINBURGH
AND LONDON
The designs and ornaments of this volume are by Mr Joseph Brown, and theprinting from the press of Messrs Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh.
To
GEORGE BIRKBECK HILL,
D.C.L.;
M.A. Pembroke (Johnson's) College, Oxford;
CHIEF OF JOHNSON SCHOLARS AND EDITORS;
AND HIMSELF MOST "CLUBABLE" OF MEN.
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PREFACE
The literature of the Johnsonian period has assumed, in spite of thelexicographer's 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 appearhazardous to venture upon such a well-ploughed field where the pitfallsare so numerous and the materials so scattered. I cannot, however,refrain from the expression of the belief that in this biography ofBoswell will be found something that is new to professed students of theperiod, and much to the class of general readers that may lead them toreconsider the verdict at which they may have arrived from the brilliantbut totally misleading essay by Lord Macaulay. At least, the writercherishes the hope that it will materially add to the correctunderstanding and the enjoyment of Boswell's great work, the Life ofJohnson.
My best thanks are due to J. Pearson & Co., 5 Pall Mall Place, London,for the use of unpublished letters by Boswell and of his boyishcommon-place book. And if "our Boswell" could indulge an honest pride inavailing himself of a dedication to Sir Joshua Reynolds, as to a personof the first eminence in his department, so may I entertain the samefeeling in i