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Schaum s Outline of Data Structures with Java Second
Edition John Hubbard Digital Instant Download
Author(s): John Hubbard
ISBN(s): 9780071509930, 0071509933
Edition: 2
File Details: PDF, 7.16 MB
Year: 2007
Language: english
 SCHAUM’S
OUTLINE OF

DATA
STRUCTURES
WITH JAVA
This page intentionally left blank
 SCHAUM’S
OUTLINE OF

DATA
STRUCTURES
WITH JAVA
Second Edition

JOHN R. HUBBARD, Ph.D.

Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science
University of Richmond

Schaum’s Outline Series

McGRAW-HILL
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Copyright © 2007, 2001 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Except
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To Anita
This page intentionally left blank
 PREFACE

Like other Schaum’s Outlines, this book is intended to be used primarily for self study. It is
suitable as a study guide in a course on data structures using the Java programming language. In
American universities, this is typically the second course in the computer science major. The
book is also serves well as a reference on data structures and the Java Collections Framework.
The book includes more than 200 detailed examples and over 260 solved problems. The
author firmly believes that programming is learned best by practice, following a well-constructed
collection of examples with complete explanations. This book is designed to provide that
support.
This second edition is a major improvement over the original 2001 edition. Most of the
chapters have been completely rewritten. Three entirely new chapters have been added, on
object-oriented programming, linked structures, and the Java Collections Framework.
Java 6.0 is used throughout the book, with special attention to these new features of the
language:
• The Scanner class.
• The StringBuilder class.
• Formatted output, including the printf() method.
• The enhanced for loop (also called the for-each loop).
• Static imports.
• enum types.
• Variable length parameter lists.
• Autoboxing.
• Generic classes
• The Deque , ArrayDeque , EnumSet , and EnumMap classes, and the Queue interface
in the Java Collections Framework.
Source code for all the examples, solved problems, and supplementary programming
problems may be downloaded from the author’s Web site
http://www.mathcs.richmond.edu/~hubbard/books/
I wish to thank all my friends, colleagues, students, and the McGraw-Hill staff who have
helped me with the critical review of this manuscript, including Stephan Chipilov and Sheena
Walker. Special thanks to my colleague Anita Huray Hubbard for her advice, encouragement,
and supply of creative problems for this book.

JOHN R. HUBBARD
Richmond, Virginia

vii
This page intentionally left blank
 For more information about this title, click here

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 Object-Oriented Programming 1

Software Design and Development 1
Object-Oriented Design 2
Abstract Data Types 3
Java Interfaces 4
Classes and Objects 5
Modifiers 8
Composition, Aggregation, and Inheritance 10
The Unified Modeling Language 13
Polymorphism 14
Javadoc 16

Chapter 2 Arrays 26
Properties of Arrays 26
Duplicating an Array 28
The java.util.Arrays Class 29
The Sequential Search Algorithm 30
The Binary Search Algorithm 31

Chapter 3 Linked Data Structures 46

Maintaining an Ordered Array 46
Indirect Reference 47
Linked Nodes 50
Inserting an Element into a Linked List 55
Inserting at the Front of the List 58
Deleting from a Sorted Linked List 59
Nested Classes 59

Chapter 4 The Java Collections Framework 69

The Inheritance Hierarchy 69
The Collection Interface 70

ix
x CONTENTS

The HashSet Class 72

Generic Collections 74
Generic Methods 76
Generic Wildcards 76
Iterators 77
The TreeSet Class 79
The LinkedHashSet Class 83
The EnumSet Class 83
The List Interface 85
The ArrayList and Vector Classes 86
The LinkedList Class 86
The ListIterator Interface 87
The Queue Interface 87
The PriorityQueue Class 90
The Deque Interface and ArrayDeque Class 91
The Map Interface and Its Implementing Classes 92
The Arrays Class 95
The Collections Class 96
Autoboxing 97

Chapter 5 Stacks 103

Stack Operations 103
The JCF Stack Class 103
A Stack Interface 104
An Indexed Implementation 104
A Linked Implementation 106
Abstracting the Common Code 108
Application: An RPN Calculator 109

Chapter 6 Queues 117

Queue Operations 117
The JCF Queue Interface 117
A Simple Queue Interface 118
An Indexed Implementation 119
An Indexed Implementation 120
Application: A Client-Server System 121

Chapter 7 Lists 131

The JCF List Interface 131
The Range-View Operation sublist() 132
List Iterators 133
Other List Types 136
Application: The Josephus Problem 140
Application: A Polynomial Class 141
 CONTENTS xi

Chapter 8 Hash Tables 148

The Java Map Interface 148
The HashMap Class 149
Java Hash Codes 150
Hash Tables 151
Hash Table Performance 153
Collision Resolution Algorithms 154
Separate Chaining 156
Applications 157
The TreeMap Class 159

Chapter 9 Recursion 165

Simple Recursive Functions 165
Basis and Recursive Parts 166
Tracing A Recursive Call 167
The Recursive Binary Search 168
Binomial Coefficients 169
The Euclidean Algorithm 171
Inductive Proof of Correctness 171
Complexity Analysis 172
Dynamic Programming 173
The Towers of Hanoi 173
Mutual Recursion 175

Chapter 10 Trees 186

Tree Definitions 186
Decision Trees 188
Transition Diagrams 189
Ordered Trees 191
Traversal Algorithms 192

Chapter 11 Binary Trees 200

Definitions 200
Counting Binary Trees 201
Full Binary Trees 202
Identity, Equality, and Isomorphism 203
Complete Binary Trees 205
Binary Tree Traversal Algorithms 207
Expression Trees 209
A BinaryTree Class 211
Implementations of The Traversal Algorithms 216
Forests 219
xii CONTENTS

Chapter 12 Search Trees 230

Multiway Search Trees 230
B-trees 232
Binary Search Trees 234
Performance of Binary Search Trees 236
AVL Trees 237

Chapter 13 Heaps and Priority Queues 245

Heaps 245
The Natural Mapping 245
Insertion Into A Heap 246
Removal From A Heap 247
Priority Queues 247
The JCF PriorityQueue Class 248

Chapter 14 Sorting 255

Code Preliminaries 255
The Java Arrays.sort() Method 256
The Bubble Sort 256
The Selection Sort 257
The Insertion Sort 258
The Shell Sort 259
The Merge Sort 260
The Quick Sort 263
The Heap Sort 265
The Speed Limit For Comparison Sorts 269
The Radix Sort 270
The Bucket Sort 271

Chapter 15 Graphs 285

Simple Graphs 285
Graph Terminology 285
Paths and Cycles 286
Isomorphic Graphs 288
The Adjacency Matrix for a Graph 290
The Incidence Matrix for a Graph 291
The Adjacency List for a Graph 291
Digraphs 292
Paths in a Digraph 294
Weighted Digraphs and Graphs 295
Euler Paths and Hamiltonian Cycles 295
Dijkstra’s Algorithm 297
Graph Traversal Algorithms 300
 CONTENTS xiii

APPENDIX Essential Mathematics 319

The Floor and Ceiling Functions 319
Logarithms 319
Asymptotic Complexity Classes 320
The First Principle of Mathematical Induction 321
The Second Principle of Mathematical Induction 322
Geometric Series 323
Other Summation Formulas 323
Harmonic Numbers 324
Stirling’s Formula 325
Fibonacci Numbers 326
INDEX 329
This page intentionally left blank
 SCHAUM’S
OUTLINE OF

DATA
STRUCTURES
WITH JAVA
This page intentionally left blank
 CHAPTER 1

Object-Oriented Programming

SOFTWARE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

Successful computer software is produced in a sequence of

stages that are typically managed by separate teams of develop-
ers. These stages are illustrated in Figure 1.1.
The first stage is a recognition of the problem to be solved. In
a corporate setting, this determination could come from market
research.
The second stage, which might be omitted as a formal
process, is a study of whether the project is feasible. For
example, do the development tools exist to produce the
software?
In the third stage, a document is typically produced that
specifies precisely what the software should do. This require-
ments document should have enough detail to be used as a
standard when the completed software is tested.
In the fourth stage, a thorough analysis is done before any
effort or resources are spent designing and implementing the
project. This could include a survey of comparable software
already available and a cost-benefit analysis of the value of
spending the anticipated resources.
Once a decision has been made to proceed, the software
design team works from the requirements document to design
the software. This includes the specification of all the software
components and their interrelationships. It may also require the
specification of specialized algorithms that would be imple-
mented in the software.
The implementation consists of programmers coding the
design to produce the software. Figure 1.1 Software life cycle
The testing team attempts to ensure that the resulting
software satisfies the requirements document. Failure at this point may require a redesign or even
some fine-tuning of the requirements. Those eventualities are represented by the two feedback
loops shown in Figure 1.1.

1
2 OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING [CHAP. 1

Testing occurs at several levels. Individual classes and methods have to be tested separately,
and then their success at working together must be verified. Finally, the product as a whole is
tested against the requirements document.
One final aspect of software development that is not shown in the figure is the maintenance
process. After the software has been delivered, its developers remain obliged to maintain it with
corrected versions, service packages, and even major revisions. Any major revision itself would
follow the same life cycle steps.

OBJECT-ORIENTED DESIGN

One common approach to software design is a top-down design strategy that gradually breaks
the problem down into smaller parts. This is also called step-wise refinement. It focuses on the
functional aspects of the problem and the implementation of algorithms. This procedure-oriented
design is common in scientific programming.
In contrast, object-oriented design focuses on the data components of the software, organizing
the design around their representatives. For example, an air traffic control system might be
designed in terms of airplanes, airports, pilots, controllers, and other “objects.”
The Java programming language is particularly well-suited for implementing object-oriented
designs. All executable code in Java is organized into classes that represent objects. For this
reason, Java is regarded as an object-oriented programming language.
An object is a software unit that is produced according to a unique class specification. It is
called an instance of its class, and the process of creating it is called instantiating the class. For
example, this code instantiates the java.util.Date class:
java.util.Date today = new
java.util.Date();
The variable today is a reference to the object, as shown in
Figure 1.2. Ignoring the distinction between a reference and
the object to which it refers, we would also say today is the Figure 1.2 A Java object
name of the java.util.Date object.
A Java class consists of three kinds of members: fields, methods, and constructors. The fields
hold the data for class objects, the methods hold the statements that are executed by the objects,
and the constructors hold the code that initializes the objects’ fields.
An object-oriented design specifies the classes that will be
instantiated in the software. That design can be facilitated and
illustrated by the Unified Modeling Language (UML). In
UML, each class is represented by a rectangle with separate
parts for listing the class’s name, its fields, and its methods and
constructors.
Figure 1.3 shows a UML diagram for a Person class with
four fields (name, id, sex, and dob), a constructor, and three
methods (isAnAdult(), setDob(), and toString()). Each
of the eight class members is prefaced with a visibility symbol: Figure 1.3 A UML diagram
+ means public
# for protected
for private
(Package visibility has no UML symbol.)
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Boswell thought meet to censure the philosopher and his work. That a
literary club which had added to its membership Edward Gibbon and Adam
Smith should thereby have lost “its select merit,” reads strangely, even as a
dictum of James Boswell.
Boswell’s personal habits remained much the same. He informed Mr.
Temple that his “promise under the solemn yew” had not been “religiously
kept.” He had lately given “his word of honour” to General Paoli that “he
would not taste fermented liquor for a year.” He adds, “I have kept the
promise now about three weeks; I was really growing a drunkard.”
At the end of April Boswell proceeded to Bath, and there joined Dr.
Johnson at the residence of the Thrales. He accompanied Dr. Johnson to
Bristol, where they inspected the church of St. Mary, Redcliff, and
discoursed on the genius and errors of Chatterton. Returning to London,
Boswell realized a project on which he had set his heart—that of bringing
together Dr. Johnson and Mr. Wilkes. On this subject he writes:—
“My desire of being acquainted with celebrated men of every description had
made me much about the same time obtain an introduction to Dr. Samuel
Johnson and to John Wilkes, Esq. Two men more different could perhaps not be
selected out of all mankind. They had even attacked one another with some
asperity in their writings; yet I lived in habits of friendship with both. I could fully
relish the excellence of each, for I have ever delighted in that intellectual
chemistry which can separate good qualities from evil in the same person.”

Boswell contrived a meeting between Dr. Johnson and Mr. Wilkes by the
exercise of considerable craft. Having been invited to meet Mr. Wilkes at
the table of Mr. Edward Dilly, he bore a message from that gentleman to
Dr. Johnson, requesting him to join the party. In conveying it he played on
the Doctor’s “spirit of contradiction.” Having repeated Mr. Dilly’s message
without reference to the other guests, the following conversation ensued:
—
Johnson: “Sir, I am obliged to Mr. Dilly; I will wait upon him.”
Boswell: “Provided, sir, I suppose, that the company which he is to have is
agreeable to you?”
Johnson: “What do you mean, sir? What do you take me for? Do you think I
am so ignorant of the world as to imagine that I am to prescribe to a gentleman
what company he is to have at his table?”
Boswell: “I beg your pardon, sir, for wishing to prevent you from meeting
people whom you might not like. Perhaps he may have some of what he calls his
patriotic friends with him.”
 Johnson: “Well, sir, and what then? What care I for his patriotic friends? Poh!”
Boswell: “I should not be surprised to find Jack Wilkes there.”
Johnson: “And if Jack Wilkes should be there, what is that to me, sir? My
dear friend, let us have no more of this. I am sorry to be angry with you, but it is
treating me strangely to talk to me as if I could not meet any company whatever
occasionally.”[61]

Johnson and Wilkes met not unpleasantly, and Boswell had his triumph.
In May he returned to Edinburgh. Before leaving London he repeated to
Dr. Johnson his former promise that he would devote a portion of his time
to reading. Johnson despatched to him at Edinburgh several boxes of
books, thereby relieving his collection of supernumerary volumes, and by
placing on the books a marketable value discharging a debt which he owed
on the Hebridean journey. After an interval Boswell reported that owing to
a renewed attack of melancholy the boxes remained unopened. Johnson in
these words administered reproof:
“To hear that you have not opened your boxes of books is very offensive. The
examination and arrangement of so many volumes might have afforded you an
amusement very seasonable at present, and useful for the whole of life. I am, I
confess, very angry that you manage yourself so ill.”

Boswell opened the boxes, and found what he describes as “truly a

numerous and miscellaneous stall library thrown together at random.” It
was not further disturbed.
Boswell’s melancholy did not proceed from any constitutional disorder.
He was involved in debt, and his creditors were importunate. His father
was again appealed to, and the liabilities were discharged. Rejoicing in his
deliverance he communicated the good news to Dr. Johnson. On the 16th
November the Doctor thus conveyed his congratulations:—
“I had great pleasure in hearing that you are at last on good terms with your
father. Cultivate his kindness by all honest and manly means. Life is but short: no
time can be afforded but for the indulgence of real sorrow, or contest upon
questions seriously momentous. Let us not throw away any of our days upon
useless resentment, or contend who shall hold out longest in stubborn malignity.
It is best not to be angry, and best, in the next place, to be quickly reconciled.
May you and your father pass the remainder of your time in reciprocal
benevolence!”

In December Mrs. Boswell presented her husband with a second son,

who was christened David. A delicate child, he survived only a few months.
 Writing to Dr. Johnson on the 8th July, 1777, Boswell claims merit in
having refrained from visiting London since the spring of 1776, and
proposes that the Doctor should meet him at Carlisle, and from thence
complete his tour of the English cathedrals. To this proposal Johnson did
not accede, but the friends agreed to meet in September at Ashbourne, in
the hospitable residence of Dr. Taylor. At this meeting Boswell intimated his
desire to obtain a permanent residence in London as an English barrister.
This scheme Dr. Johnson warmly disapproved, and entreated his
companion to be satisfied with his prospective advantages as a Scottish
landowner.
In his more important legal causes Boswell had recourse to Dr.
Johnson’s assistance. At Ashbourne he asked help in a case of importance.
Joseph Knight, a negro, having been brought to Jamaica in the usual
course of the slave trade, was purchased by a Scottish gentleman in the
island, who afterwards returned to Scotland. Soon after his arrival Knight
claimed his freedom, and brought an action to enforce it.[62] The case was
now pending, and Boswell induced Dr. Johnson to dictate an argument on
the negro’s behalf. In recording it he is careful to add that he was
personally an upholder of the slave trade. He writes:—
“I record Dr. Johnson’s argument fairly upon this particular case; where,
perhaps, he was in the right. But I beg leave to enter my most solemn protest
against his general doctrine with respect to the slave trade. For I will resolutely
say that his unfavourable notion of it was owing to prejudice and imperfect or
false information. The wild and dangerous attempt which has for some time
been persisted in to obtain an Act of our Legislature to abolish so very important
and necessary a branch of commercial interest must have been crushed at once,
had not the insignificance of the zealots, who vainly took the lead in it, made the
vast body of planters, merchants, and others, whose immense properties are
involved in that trade, reasonably enough suppose that there could be no
danger. The encouragement which the attempt has received excites my wonder
and indignation; and though some men of superior abilities have supported it,
whether from a love of temporary popularity when prosperous, or a love of
general mischief when desperate, my opinion is unshaken. To abolish a status
which in all ages God has sanctioned and man has continued, would not only be
robbery to an innumerable class of our fellow-subjects, but it would be extreme
cruelty to the African savages, a portion of whom it saves from massacre, or
intolerable bondage in their own country, and introduces into a much happier
state of life, especially now when their passage to the West Indies, and their
treatment there, is humanely regulated. To abolish that trade would be to—

“——Shut the gates of mercy on mankind.”

 The political success of Edmund Burke induced Boswell to indicate his
readiness to co-operate with him in regard to the American colonies. To Mr.
Burke he wrote as follows:—
“Edinburgh, March 3, 1778.
“Dear Sir,—Upon my honour I began a letter to you some time ago, and did
not finish it because I imagined you were then near your apotheosis, as poor
Goldsmith said upon a former occasion, when he thought your party was coming
into administration; and being one of your old Barons of Scotland, my pride
could not brook the appearance of paying my court to a minister amongst the
crowd of interested expectants on his accession. At present I take it for granted
that I need be under no such apprehension, and therefore I resume the
indulgence of my inclination. This may be perhaps a singular method of
beginning a correspondence; and in one sense may not be very
complimentative. But I can sincerely assure you, dear sir, that I feel and mean a
genuine compliment to Mr. Burke himself. It is generally thought no meanness to
solicit the notice and favour of a man in power; and surely it is much less a
meanness to endeavour by honest means to have the honour and pleasure of
being on an agreeable footing with a man of superior knowledge, abilities, and
genius.
“I have to thank you for the obligations which you have already conferred
upon me by the welcome which I have, upon repeated occasions, experienced
under your roof. When I was last in London you gave me a general invitation,
which I value more than a Treasury warrant:—an invitation to ‘the feast of
reason,’ and, what I like still more, ‘the flow of soul,’ which you dispense with
liberal and elegant abundance, is, in my estimation, a privilege of enjoying
certain felicity; and we know that riches and honour are desirable only as means
to felicity, and that they often fail of the end.
“Most heartily do I rejoice that our present ministers have at last yielded to
conciliation. For amidst all the sanguinary zeal of my countrymen I have
professed myself a friend to our fellow-subjects in America, so far as they claim
an exemption from being taxed by the representatives of the King’s British
subjects. I do not perfectly agree with you; for I deny the Declaratory Act, and I
am a warm Tory in its true constitutional sense. I wish I were a commissioner, or
one of the secretaries of the commission for the grand treaty. I am to be in
London this spring, and if his Majesty should ask me what I would choose, my
answer will be, to assist in the compact between Britain and America. May I beg
to hear from you, and in the meantime to have my compliments made
acceptable to Mrs. Burke?—I am, dear sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
“James Boswell.”[63]

On the 18th March Boswell arrived in London, and at once renewed his
intercourse with Dr. Johnson. They spent Good Friday together, Boswell
accompanying the lexicographer to morning and evening service in St.
Clement’s Church. Next evening, while taking tea with him, Boswell
severely experienced Dr. Johnson’s resentment. The narrative we present
in his own words:—
“We talked of a gentleman (Mr. Langton) who was running out his fortune in
London, and I said, ‘We must get him out of it. All his friends must quarrel with
him, and that will soon drive him away.’ Johnson: ‘Nay, sir, we’ll send you to him;
if your company does not drive a man out of his house, nothing will.’ This was a
horrible shock, for which there was no visible cause. I afterwards asked him why
he had said so harsh a thing. Johnson: ‘Because, sir, you made me angry about
the Americans.’ Boswell: ‘But why did you not take your revenge directly?’
Johnson (smiling): ‘Because, sir, I had nothing ready. A man cannot strike till he
has his weapons.’ This,” adds Boswell, “was a candid and pleasant
confession.”[64]

Dr. Johnson made a second attack a fortnight afterwards, which

Boswell endured with less patience. On the 2nd May they met at Sir
Joshua Reynolds’. The wits of Queen Anne’s reign were talked of, when
Boswell exclaimed, “How delightful it must have been to have lived in the
society of Pope, Swift, Arbuthnot, Gay, and Bolingbroke! We have no such
society in our days.” Sir Joshua answered, “I think, Mr. Boswell, you might
be satisfied with your great friend’s conversation.” “Nay, sir, Mr. Boswell is
right,” said Johnson, “every man wishes for preferment, and if Boswell had
lived in those days he would have obtained promotion.” “How so, sir?”
asked Sir Joshua. “Why, sir,” said Johnson, “he would have had a high
place in the Dunciad.” Boswell felt so much hurt that, contrary to his
custom, he omits the conversation.[65] He refers to the occurrence in
these terms:—
“On Saturday, May 2, I dined with him at Sir Joshua Reynolds’s, when there
was a very large company, and a great deal of conversation; but owing to some
circumstance, which I cannot now recollect, I have no record of any part of it,
except that there were several people there by no means of the Johnsonian
school, so that less attention was paid to him than usual, which put him out of
humour, and upon some imaginary offence from me, he attacked me with such
rudeness that I was vexed and angry, because it gave those persons an
opportunity of enlarging upon his supposed ferocity, and ill-treatment of his best
friends. I was so much hurt, and had my pride so much roused, that I kept away
from him for a week, and perhaps might have kept away much longer, nay, gone
to Scotland without seeing him again, had we not fortunately met and been
reconciled.”

The reconciliation is thus described:—

 “On Friday, May 8, I dined with him at Mr. Langton’s. I was reserved and
silent, which I supposed he perceived, and might recollect the cause. After
dinner, when Mr. Langton was called out of the room and we were by ourselves,
he drew his chair near to mine and said, in a tone of conciliating courtesy, ‘Well,
how have you done?’ Boswell: ‘Sir, you have made me very uneasy by your
behaviour to me at Sir Joshua Reynolds’s. You know, my dear sir, no man has a
greater respect and affection for you, or would sooner go to the end of the world
to serve you. Now to treat me so——’ He insisted that I had interrupted, which I
assured him was not the case, and proceeded, ‘But why treat me so before
people who neither love you nor me?’ ‘Well, I’m sorry for it. I’ll make it up to you
twenty different ways, as you please.’ Boswell: ‘I said to-day to Sir Joshua, when
he observed that you tossed me sometimes, I don’t care how often or how high
he tosses me when only friends are present, for then I fall upon soft ground; but
I do not like falling on stones, which is the case when enemies are present. I
think this is a pretty good image, sir.’ Johnson: ‘Sir, it is one of the happiest I
have ever heard.’”

Boswell left London on the 19th of May. On his return to Edinburgh he

was seized with an irrepressible longing for an early settlement in London,
and forthwith communicated his sentiments to Dr. Johnson. He had the
following answer:—
“I wish you would a little correct or restrain your imagination, and imagine
that happiness such as life admits may be had at other places as well as London.
Without affecting stoicism, it may be said that it is our business to exempt
ourselves as much as we can from the power of external things. There is but one
solid basis of happiness, and that is, the reasonable hope of a happy futurity.
This may be had everywhere. I do not blame your preference of London to other
places, for it is really to be preferred if the choice is free; but few have the
choice of their place or their manner of life, and mere pleasure ought not to be
the prime motive of action.”

In August Mrs. Boswell gave birth to her third son, who was christened
James. Dr. Johnson sent suitable congratulations.
In March, 1779, Boswell again repaired to the metropolis. He spent
Good Friday with Dr. Johnson, attending him at both diets of worship in St.
Clement’s Church. Johnson, he relates, preferred silent meditation during
the interval of worship, and for his improvement handed him “Les Pensées
de Paschal,” a book which he perused with reverence. On Easter Sunday
he worshipped in St. Paul’s, and afterwards dined with Dr. Johnson.
A letter to Mr. Temple, which Boswell commenced at London on the
31st May, and finished at Newcastle on the 8th June, contains the
following passages:—
 “Had you been in London last week, you would have seen your friend sadly
changed for a little. So trifling a matter as letting the nails of my great toes grow
into the flesh, particularly in one foot, produced so much pain and inflammation
and lameness and apprehension, that I was confined to bed, and my spirits sank
to dreary dejection.... I am now much better, but still unable to walk; and having
received a very wise letter from my dear, sensible, valuable wife, that although
my father is in no immediate danger, his indisposition is such that I ought to be
with him, I have resolved to set out to-morrow, being the very first day after
completing another term at the Temple.... Is it not curious that at times we are
in so happy a frame that not the least trace of former misery or vexation is left
upon the mind? But is not the contrary, too, experienced?—Gracious Author of
our being, do Thou bring us at length to steady felicity.—What a strange,
complicated scene is this life! It always strikes me that we cannot seriously,
closely, and clearly examine almost any part of it. We are at pains to bring up
children, just to give them an opportunity of struggling through cares and
fatigues; but let us hope for gleams of joy here, and a blaze hereafter.... I got
into the fly at Buckden, and had a very good journey. An agreeable young widow
nursed me, and supported my lame foot on her knee. Am I not fortunate in
having something about me that interests most people at first sight in my
favour?... You ask me about Lowth’s ‘Isaiah.’ I never once heard it mentioned till
I asked Dr. Johnson about it.... I do not think Lowth an engaging man; I sat a
good while with him this last spring. He said Dr. Johnson had great genius. I give
you this as a specimen of his talk, which seemed to me to be neither
discriminating, pointed, nor animated; yet he certainly has much curious
learning, and a good deal of critical sagacity.... I did not know Monboddo’s new
book, ‘The Metaphysics of the Ancients,’ had been advertised. I expect it will be
found to be a very wonderful performance. I think I gathered from a
conversation with him that he believes the ‘metempsychosis.’”

On his arrival in Edinburgh, learning that the celebrated Mr. John

Wesley was on a visit to the city, Boswell waited on him with a letter from
Dr. Johnson. The writer expressed a wish that “worthy and religious men
should be acquainted with each other.” Mr. Wesley received Boswell with
politeness, but did not encourage any closer intimacy.
For two months after his return to Scotland Boswell despatched no
letters to Dr. Johnson. He in this fashion made trial of his friend’s fidelity.
At length receiving a letter from the Doctor inquiring for his welfare, he
resolved “never again to put him to the test.”[66]
The friendship which subsisted between Mrs. Boswell and Mrs. Stuart,
wife of the second son of John, third Earl of Bute, has been referred to.
Boswell was, we have seen, also a favourite with Mrs. Stuart. To her
regard for him Boswell delighted to refer, however, inopportunely. In his
Boswelliana he relates that Lord Mountstuart having remarked that he
resembled Charles Fox, Colonel Stuart (Mrs. Stuart’s husband) ejaculated,
“You are much uglier.” Boswell replied, looking his tormentor in the face,
“Does your wife think so, Colonel James?” Colonel Stuart knew Boswell
intimately, and, in common with his wife, enjoyed his humour and excused
his egotism. Being in command of the Bedfordshire Militia, he invited
Boswell to accompany him and the regiment to London and some other
stations. Boswell readily complied. He delighted “to accompany a man of
sterling good sense, information, discernment, and conviviality,” and he
hoped in his society “to have a second crop, in one year, of London and
Johnson.”
On Monday, 4th October, Boswell waited on Dr. Johnson, thereafter
attending him daily during a fortnight’s residence in London. On the 18th
October he departed for Chester, in company with Colonel Stuart. He
tarried a few hours at Lichfield, where he visited some of Dr. Johnson’s
relatives. His proceedings at Chester are related in the following letter to
Mr. Temple, dated Edinburgh, 4th January, 1780:—
“From London, after an excellent fortnight there, I accompanied Colonel
Stuart to Chester, to which town his regiment was ordered from Leeds, and there
I passed another fortnight in mortal felicity. I had from my earliest years a love
for the military life, and there is in it an animation and relish of existence which I
have never found amongst any other set of men, except players, with whom you
know I once lived a great deal. At the mess of Colonel Stuart’s regiment I was
quite the great man, as we used to say; and I was at the same time all joyous
and gay. Such was my home at Chester. But I had the good fortune to be known
to the bishop, who is one of the most distinguished prelates for piety and
eloquence, and one of the most pleasing men in social life that you can imagine.
His palace was open to me, morning, noon, and night; and I was liberally
entertained at his hospitable board. At Chester, too, I found Dean Smith, the
translator of ‘Longinus,’ with whom you and I were so well acquainted when we
were studying under Mr. John Stevenson. I was surprised to find him, for I
somehow had imagined that he was an ancient English author, comparatively
speaking. He is very old, but is quite cheerful and full of anecdotes. He lives very
retired, with a disagreeable wife, and they told me I was the only man who had
been in the deanery for a long time. I found too at Chester Mr. Falconer, a
gentleman of fortune and extraordinary learning and knowledge, who is
preparing a new edition of Strabo, at the desire of the University of Oxford; he
was exceedingly obliging to me.”

At Chester Boswell found the young ladies to be especially charming.

Forgetting that he and his correspondent were both married, he informed
Mr. Temple that several of the ladies had “capital fortunes.” He wrote to Dr.
Johnson that he had complimented Miss Letitia Bainston, niece of one of
the prebendaries, in these words:—“I have come to Chester, madam, I
cannot tell how; and far less can I tell how I am able to get away from it.”
In his journey from Chester to Scotland Boswell lingered at Carlisle. He
wrote to Dr. Johnson that he had received the sacrament in the cathedral,
and that it was “divinely cheering to him that there was a cathedral so
near Auchinleck.” Dr. Johnson reminded his correspondent that Carlisle
cathedral was at least one hundred and fifty miles from Auchinleck,
adding, “If you are pleased, it is so far well.”
In the spring of 1777 Boswell obtained a connection with the London
Magazine. He then commenced in its pages a series of papers, which he
styled “The Hypochondriack.” These papers are generally short, and often
disconnected; they abound in allusions to the writer’s personal tastes and
peculiar opinions, while classical quotations are interspersed without point
and without purpose. But Boswell was pleased to see himself in print, and
so he complacently reports to Mr. Temple, in January, 1780, that his
“Hypochondriack gets on wonderfully well.” In his paper for March, 1780,
he thus alludes to his love of dissipation:—
“I do fairly acknowledge,” he writes, “that I love drinking; that I have a
constitutional inclination to indulge in fermented liquors, and that were it not for
the restraints of reason and religion, I am afraid I should be as constant a votary
of Bacchus as any man.”[67]

At the close of his letter of January he informs Mr. Temple that his
father had been ill of fever, with his pulse at ninety-five; he then begs a
loan of £200, to satisfy a demand which his father could not be informed
of. The loan was not granted, and Boswell afterwards sought repayment of
an advance made to his friend at a former period, and which remained
undischarged.
In September Boswell experienced a family loss in the death of Dr.
John Boswell, his father’s brother. Of his deceased relative he writes to Mr.
Temple that he was “a good scholar and affectionate relative,” but “had no
conduct.” He adds, “He had a strange kind of religion, but I flatter myself
he will be ere long, if he is not already in heaven.” This passage might
imply that in abandoning the Romish faith he had not abjured the doctrine
of purgatory; yet that doctrine is inconsistent with the following aspiration
contained in the same letter:—
 “I comfort myself with the Christian revelation of our being in a state of
purification, and that we shall, in course of time, attain to felicity. It is delightful,
Temple, to look forward to the period when you and I shall enjoy what we now
imagine. In the meantime let us be patient, and do what we can.”

Writing to Mr. Temple in November, Boswell thus refers to an

unpleasantness which had for some months subsisted between him and
his father:—
“I could not help smiling at the expostulation which you suggest to me to try
with my father. It would do admirably with some fathers, but it would make mine
much worse, for he cannot bear that his son should talk with him as a man. I
can only lament his unmelting coldness to my wife and children, for I fear it is
hopeless to think of his ever being more affectionate towards them. Yet it must
be acknowledged that his paying £1,000 of my debt some years ago was a large
bounty. He allows me £300 a year; but I find that what I gain by my practice and
that sum together will not support my family. I have now two sons and three
daughters. I am in hopes that my father will augment my allowance to £400 a
year. I was indeed very imprudent in expressing my extreme aversion to his
second marriage; but since it took place I am conscious of having behaved to
himself and his lady with such respectful attention, and imposed such restraint
upon myself as is truly meritorious. The woman is very implacable, and I imagine
it is hardly possible that she can ever be my friend. She, however, behaves much
better to the children than their grandfather does. We are all to dine at my
father’s to-day; he is better now than he has been for several years.”

In thus writing Boswell lacked candour. Had he chosen to observe his

usual frankness he would not have heaped censure on his father’s wife,
but attributed the paternal resentment to its true cause—the payment of
that sum of £200 which Mr. Temple had declined to lend. His
correspondent’s advice respecting the plan for a London settlement was,
for the time not unacceptable. On this subject he writes:—
“Your counsel to me to set my mind at rest, and be content with promotion in
Scotland, is, I believe, very wise. My brother David enforced it earnestly. If my
father lives a few years longer, age will, I suppose, fix me here without any
question; for to embark in a new sphere when one is much after forty is not
advisable. Yet, my dear Temple, ambition to be in Parliament or in the metropolis
is very allowable. Perhaps my exalted notions of public situation are fallacious,
for I begin to think that true elevation is to be acquired from study and thinking,
and that when one is used to the most eminent situations they become familiar
and insipid, and perhaps vexatious.”

The embarrassed condition of his affairs kept Boswell in Scotland

during the whole of 1780. In March, 1781, he again presented himself in
London. Good Friday was, as usual, spent with Dr. Johnson, the friends
worshipping together in St. Clement’s church. On Easter Sunday he
performed his wonted devotions in St. Paul’s Cathedral. Not long
afterwards he afforded sad evidence of persistent recklessness. Dining
with the Duke of Montrose, he became inebriated, and in this condition
joined an evening party at the Honourable Miss Monckton’s. He talked
incoherently, and Dr. Johnson, who was present, endeavoured to shield
him from observation.[68] Next, day being made conscious of his
lamentable aberration, he despatched to his hostess the following verses
as an apology for violating good manners:—
“Not that with th’ excellent Montrose
I had the happiness to dine;
Not that I late from table rose,
From Graham’s wit, from generous wine;

“It was not these alone which led

On sacred manners to encroach,
And made me feel what most I dread,
Johnson’s just frown and self-reproach:

“But when I entered, not abashed,

From your bright eyes were shot such rays,
At once intoxication flashed,
And all my frame was in a blaze.

“But not a brilliant blaze, I own;

Of the dull smoke I’m yet ashamed,
I was a dreary ruin grown,
And not enlightened, though enflamed.

“Victim at once to wine and love,

I hope, Maria, you’ll forgive;
While I invoke the powers above,
That henceforth I may wiser live.”

Boswell remained in London till the beginning of June. En route for

Scotland, he accompanied Dr. Johnson to Southill, Bedfordshire, on a visit
to Mr. Charles Dilly, publisher, who had there established his country seat.
The friends reached Southill on Saturday, the 2nd June. Next day they
accompanied Mr. Dilly’s family to the parish church. Boswell remained
behind to receive the sacrament. During the evening he sought religious
conversation with Dr. Johnson, commencing thus:—“My dear sir, I would
fain be a good man; and I am very good now. I fear God and honour the
king; I wish to do no ill, and to be benevolent to all mankind.” Dr. Johnson
said impressions were deceitful and dangerous, and explained the nature
of the Christian atonement. Boswell requested him to repeat his remarks,
and proceeded to record them.[69]
Neglecting the practice of his profession, Boswell became wholly
dependent on his allowance from Lord Auchinleck, and again ran himself
aground. He explained his condition to Dr. Johnson as a reason why he
could not visit London in the spring of 1782, adding that could he possibly
reach the metropolis, he might obtain a post which would restore his
fortunes. Dr. Johnson replied as follows:—
“To come hither with such expectations at the expense of borrowed money,
which I find you know not where to borrow, can hardly be considered prudent. I
am sorry to find, what your solicitations seem to imply, that you have already
gone the length of your credit. This is to set the quiet of your whole life at
hazard. If you anticipate your inheritance, you can at last inherit nothing; all that
you receive must pay for the past. You must get a place, or pine in penury, with
the empty name of a great estate. Poverty, my dear friend, is so great an evil,
and pregnant with so much temptation, and so much misery, that I cannot but
earnestly enjoin you to avoid it. Live on what you have; live if you can on less;
do not borrow either for vanity or pleasure; the vanity will end in shame, and the
pleasure in regret; stay therefore at home till you have saved money for your
journey hither.”

In a letter written some months subsequently, Johnson resumed his

discourse on the miseries of improvidence:—
“Whatever might have been your pleasure or mine, I know not how I could
have honestly advised you to come hither with borrowed money. Do not
accustom yourself to consider debt only as an inconvenience; you will find it a
calamity. Poverty takes away so many means of doing good, and produces so
much inability to resist evil, both natural and moral, that it is by all virtuous
means to be avoided. Consider a man whose fortune is very narrow; whatever
be his rank by birth, or whatever his reputation by intellectual excellence, what
can he do, or what evil can he prevent? That he cannot help the needy is
evident; he has nothing to spare. But perhaps his advice or admonition may be
useful. His poverty will destroy his influence; many more can find that he is poor
than that he is wise; and few will reverence the understanding that is of so little
advantage to its owner. I say nothing of the personal wretchedness of a debtor,
which, however, has passed into a proverb.”
 After a long illness, patiently borne, Lord Auchinleck died at Edinburgh
on the 31st August. He had settled on his eldest son the ancestral estate,
with an unencumbered rental of £1,600 a year. On receipt of the tidings,
Dr. Johnson wrote to Boswell as follows:—
“Your father’s death had every circumstance that could enable you to bear it;
it was at a mature age, and it was expected; and as his general life had been
pious, his thoughts had doubtless for many years past been turned upon
eternity. That you did not find him sensible must doubtless grieve you; his
disposition towards you was undoubtedly that of a kind, though not of a fond
father. Kindness, at least actual, is in our power, but fondness is not; and if by
negligence or imprudence you had extinguished his fondness, he could not at
will rekindle it. Nothing then remained for you but mutual forgiveness of each
other’s faults, and mutual desire of each other’s happiness. I shall long to know
his final disposition of his fortune.”

At Auchinleck the deceased judge was deeply revered. In the Kirk-

Session Records of that parish, Mr. David Murdoch,[70] schoolmaster and
session clerk, has accompanied the entry of his death with the following
lines, entitled “Essay towards a character of Lord Auchinleck:”—
“For every sovereign virtue much renowned,
Of judgment steady, and in wisdom sound,
Through a long life in active bus’ness spent,
For justice and for prudence eminent;
Well qualified to occupy the line
Allotted him by Providence divine;
Employed with indefatigable pains
In very num’rous and important scenes;
And as his fame for justice was well known,
His clemency no less conspicuous shone;
Reliever of the needful and opprest,
The gen’rous benefactor of distrest,
Ready to hear and rectify a wrong,
To re-establish harmony among
Contending friends, or such as disagreed,
And of his interposing aid had need;
Successfully he laboured much and long
As healer of the breaches us among;
And still from jarring order brought about,
Carefully searching unknown causes out.
A foe to vice, detesting liars much,
Of shrewd acuteness in discerning such;
Averse to flattery, hating all deceit,
Though in resentment mod’rate and discreet;
And ready still, with sympathizing grace,
To wipe the tear from every mourning face.
Whether we see him talking at the Bar,
Or on the Bench, a step exalted far,
Display the spirit of his country’s laws,
Or ruminate the merits of a cause;
Or in retirement from such legal strife
View him a gentleman in private life,—
In all connections, and in him we find
The husband loving and the parent kind,
The easy master and the faithful friend,
The honest counsellor, as all will own,
And most indulgent landlord ever known.
In all departments on the earthly stage,
In every scene in which he did engage,
Such steadiness, such truth and candour shone,
As equalled is by few, surpassed by none;
In everything important less or more,
Supporting well the character he bore.
A person thus disposed and thus endowed
Must have been universally allowed
The tribute of our praises heretofore,
And claims our tears when now he is no more.
All ranks in him a mighty loss sustain,
Both rich and poor, the noble and the mean;
For why? his services did far extend
Through town and country to the kingdom’s end;
The whole to him in obligations bound,
As to his honour ever will redound.
Revere his memory, and his death lament,
As well becomes, with uniform assent;
Your high concern by loud encomiums show,
Unite the shout of praise and tear of woe;
Your warm effusions only can reveal
(And faintly too) what every heart must feel.
This benefactor lost, the meaner man
May quiver, and so he will, that’s all he can;
Let those descended of a station higher,
To imitate his virtuous life aspire;
Transcribe the bright example set by him,
Best way to evidence their true esteem.
May after generations who succeed,
From Register, his famed remembrance read.
Alive his character afar was known,
So may it long continue when he’s gone;
And let the undissembled voice of fame
 To distant ages celebrate his name—
A name of veneration and respect,
Of honour and esteem, Lord Auchinleck.”

On Friday, the 21st March, 1783, Boswell arrived in London. He found

Dr. Johnson at Mrs. Thrale’s in feeble health. As on former occasions, the
friends worshipped together in St. Clement’s Church on Good Friday, while
Boswell again kept Easter in St. Paul’s. When congratulating his friend on
his position as a landowner, Dr. Johnson unsparingly exposed his egotism.
“Boswell,” said he, “you often vaunt so much, as to provoke ridicule. You
put me in mind of a man who was standing in the kitchen of an inn with
his back to the fire, and thus accosted the person next him:—‘Do you
know, sir, who I am?’ ‘No, sir,’ said the other, ‘I have not that advantage.’
‘Sir,’ said he, ‘I am the great Twamley, who invented the new floodgate
iron.’”[71]
Boswell left London for Scotland on the 29th of May. From Dr. Johnson
he received these parting counsels:—“Get as much force of mind as you
can. Live within your income. Always have something saved at the end of
the year. Let your imports be more than your exports, and you’ll never go
far wrong.”
On the opening of Parliament in November, 1783, Mr. Fox introduced in
the House of Commons his celebrated East India Bill. By this measure he
proposed to vest the Government of India for five years, in a commission
of seven, who were to be appointed by Parliament, and to be irremovable
by the Crown. The Bill was accepted by the Commons, but was, on the
17th December, rejected in the Upper House, through the influence of the
King. The rejection of this measure compelled the coalition ministry to
resign, and Mr. Pitt became Prime Minister on the understanding that he
would appeal to the country without loss of time. Having become a
landowner, Boswell conceived himself a fit candidate for parliamentary
honours, and in prospect of a dissolution resolved to offer his services to a
constituency. He published a pamphlet entitled “A Letter to the People of
Scotland on the Present State of the Nation” (43 pp. 12mo.). In this
composition he denounces Mr. Fox’s India Bill as “an attempt to deprive
the sovereign of his lawful authority;” and urges “his fellow-countrymen in
their several counties” to express their satisfaction that the Bill had been
rejected by the Lords. He celebrates the memory of Sir John Lowther,
ancestor of Lord Lowther,[72] who had lately promised him support. Then,
passing to his favourite theme, he announces himself as “a firm loyalist,
holding an estate transmitted to him by charters from a series of kings.”
He concludes by the offer of parliamentary service. His composition he
transmitted to Dr. Johnson, begging his opinion. The lexicographer was in
declining health, and was proportionally amiable. He complimented the
writer on his knowledge of constitutional history, adding that his pamphlet
would “raise his character, though it might not make him a Minister of
State.” Mr. Pitt sent a polite acknowledgment, commending “the author’s
zeal in the cause of the public.”
His “Letter to the People of Scotland” Boswell followed up by the
following address to the Ayrshire constituency:—
“To the Real Freeholders of the County of Ayr.

“Gentlemen,—If my friend Colonel Montgomerie shall not be a candidate at the

next election, I intend to offer my services as your representative in Parliament.
If Colonel Montgomerie stands, he shall have my warmest support; for I have
never ceased to think that great injustice was done both to you and him when
he was deprived of the seat given him by your voice; and I am very desirous to
have ample reparation made for that injustice. Indeed, gentlemen, you have at
the two last general elections been disappointed of your representation by the
unconstitutional means of those votes, which, upon a notice that I glory in
having made, were, at a meeting of this county, 29th October, 1782, declared to
be nominal and fictitious.
“Colonel Montgomerie and I will probably at no time be on different sides. We
are both connected with the respectable old interest of the county; and I trust
we should both be exceedingly sorry to hurt it by a division, of which its enemies
are eagerly watchful to take advantage.
“I pledge my word and honour that if there is not a greater number of the
real freeholders for me than for any other candidate, I shall retire from the
contest. I disdain to avail myself of what I condemn; and I am not callous
enough to bear the indignant and reproachful looks of my worthy neighbours,
who would consider that, by an artful use of the letter of that law which so
loudly calls for reformation, I had triumphed over their wishes, and annihilated
their most valuable privileges.
“My political principles I have avowed, in the most direct and public manner,
to be those of a steady Royalist, who reveres monarchy, but is at the same time
animated with genuine feelings of liberty; principles which, when well
understood, are not in any degree inconsistent, but are happily united in the true
British Constitution.
“The confidences with which I have been honoured by many of you in my
profession as a lawyer, and other marks of attention which you have been
pleased to show me, emboldens me to believe that you think well of my integrity
and abilities. On the other hand, I declare that I should pay the utmost
deference to your instructions as my constituents; and as I am now the
 representative of a family which has held an estate in the county, and
maintained a respectable character for almost three centuries, I flatter myself
that I shall not be reckoned too presumptuous when I aspire to the high
distinction of being your representative in Parliament, and that you will not
disapprove of my indulging an ambition that this family shall rather advance than
fall off in my time.
“Though I should not be successful at the next, or at any future election, I
am so fortunate as to have resources enough to prevent me from being
discontented or fretful on that account; and I shall ever be, with cordial regard,
“Gentlemen,
“Your very faithful, and most obedient, humble servant,
“James Boswell.
“Auchinleck, March 17, 1784.”

Boswell was at York on the 28th March, 1784, en route for London,
when he was informed that Parliament was dissolved. Having in a brief
note intimated to Dr. Johnson his political aspirations, he posted to
Ayrshire, to contest the county. From Johnson he received a letter
entreating him to be “scrupulous in the use of strong liquors,” as “one
night’s drunkenness might defeat the labour of forty days well employed.”
On reaching Auchinleck, Boswell learned what he might have
ascertained sooner, that Colonel Montgomerie was re-soliciting the
suffrages of the constituency. He was the successful candidate. Boswell
again proceeded southward, and on the 5th May reached London. He
dined out almost daily, frequently meeting Dr. Johnson, who though an
invalid, rejoiced in the intercourse of his friends. By his physicians Johnson
had been advised to proceed to Italy, and as the journey was delayed,
Boswell apprehended that his friend was suffering from lack of funds. He
applied to Lord Chancellor Thurlow, entreating an augmentation of
Johnson’s pension, or a special grant for the Italian journey. To the
Treasury the Chancellor presented the application, but it was not
entertained. Dr. Johnson expressed his grateful sense of Boswell’s
consideration and enterprise.
After a period of severe suffering, Dr. Johnson expired on the 13th
December, 1784. He had prepared an autobiography, but destroyed it, with
a portion of his correspondence, some weeks before his decease. He
appointed no literary executor, nor left instructions respecting a memoir.
Boswell contemplated a different result, but did not publicly complain.
From respect to Johnson’s wishes he had abstained from publishing his
Hebridean tour. He now seriously employed himself in preparing it for the
printer. As the first proof-sheet was being sent him from Mr. Baldwin’s
printing office, it happened to attract the attention of Mr. Edmund Malone,
who proceeded to read the account of Dr. Johnson’s character. He was
struck with the fidelity of the representation, and begged Mr. Baldwin to
introduce him to the writer.[73] Boswell rejoiced to cultivate the
acquaintance of one who not only belonged to Dr. Johnson’s circle, but
was himself a celebrity, as editor of Goldsmith’s works, and as a writer on
Shakespeare’s plays.[74] He visited Mr. Malone almost daily, submitting to
his revision the MS. of his work. Accompanied by a flattering dedication to
Mr. Malone, the work appeared in 1786 as a bulky octavo, bearing on the
title-page the following copious inscription:—
“The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, with Samuel Johnson, LL.D., by
James Boswell, Esq., containing some poetical pieces by Dr. Johnson, relative to
the Tour, and never before published: a series of his conversation, Literary
Anecdotes, and Opinions of Men and Books, with an authentick account of the
Distresses and Escape of the Grandson of King James II. in the year 1746.

‘O! while along the stream of time, thy name

Expanded flies, and gathers all its fame,
Say, shall my little book attendant sail,
Pursue the triumph, and partake the gale?’
“Pope.”

Above the imprint was placed a small woodcut representing a falcon—

the author’s crest, with his family motto, vraye foy. The work was
published by Mr. Charles Dilly, and the edition was rapidly distributed. The
author was thus commended by Mr. Courtenay in his “Poetical Review:”[75]
—
“With Reynolds’ pencil, vivid, bold and true
So fervent Boswell gives him to our view:
In every trait we see his mind expand;
The master rises by the pupil’s hand:
We love the writer, praise his happy vein,
Graced with the naiveté of the sage Montaigne;
Hence not alone are brighter parts display’d,
But e’en the specks of character portray’d:
We see the ‘Rambler’ with fastidious smile
Mark the lone tree, and note the heath-clad isle;
But when the heroic tale of ‘Flora’[76] charms,
Deck’d in a kilt, he wields a chieftain’s arms;
 The tuneful piper sounds a martial strain,
And Samuel sings ‘The King shall have his ain.’
* * * *
“Can Boswell be forgot,
Scarce by North Britons now esteem’d a Scot?
Who to the sage devoted from his youth
Imbib’d from him the sacred love of truth;
The keen research, the exercise of mind,
And that best art, the art to know mankind.”

Much as his performance was appreciated by friendly persons, it was

impossible that Boswell’s morbid egotism should escape ridicule. Thomas
Rowlandson, the noted caricaturist, issued twenty cartoons, presenting the
unguarded tourist in absurd and grotesque scenes and attitudes, founded
on descriptions in his book. They were placed in the shop windows and
hawked about the streets, while the laughter-rousing Peter Pindar[77]
addressed Boswell in a “Poetical and Congratulatory Epistle,” mercilessly
castigating him in sarcastic and crushing rhymes. Here is a specimen:—
“At length, ambitious Thane, thy rage
To give one spark to Fame’s bespangled page
Is amply gratified. A thousand eyes
Survey thy book with rapture and surprize!
Loud of thy tour, a thousand tongues have spoken,
And wonder’d that thy bones were never broken.
* * * * *
Nay, though thy Johnson ne’er had bless’d thine eyes,
Paoli’s deeds had rais’d thee to the skies;
Yes! his broad wing had rais’d thee (no bad luck)
A tomtit twitt’ring on an eagle’s back.”

Equally pungent was the savage Pindar in a subsequent poem, entitled

“Bozzy and Piozzi.” He wrote:—
“For thee, James Boswell, may the hand of Fate
Arrest thy goose-quill and confine thy prate!
Thine egotism the world disgusted hears—
Then load with vanities no more our ears.
Like some lone puppy, yelping all night long,
That tires the very echoes with his tongue.
Yet, should it lie beyond the pow’rs of Fate
To stop thy pen, and still thy darling prate;
To live in solitude, oh! be thy luck
A chattering magpie on the Isle of Muck.”
 Than the shafts of ridicule, Boswell experienced even more substantial
discomfort. Respecting Sir Alexander Macdonald, Bart., chief of the
Macdonalds, he had written thus unguardedly:—
“Instead of finding the head of the Macdonalds surrounded with his clan, and
a festive entertainment, we had a small company, and cannot boast of our cheer.
The particulars are minuted in my Journal, but I shall not trouble the publick
with them. I shall mention but one characteristick circumstance. My shrewd and
hearty friend Sir Thomas (Wentworth) Blacket, Lady Macdonald’s uncle, who had
preceded us on a visit to this chief, upon being asked by him if the punch-bowl
then upon the table was not a very handsome one, replied, ‘Yes,—if it were full.’
Sir Alexander Macdonald having been an Eton scholar, Dr. Johnson had formed
an opinion of him which was much diminished when he beheld him in the Isle of
Skye, where we heard heavy complaints of rents racked, and the people driven
to emigration. Dr. Johnson said, ‘It grieves me to see the chief of a great clan
appear to such disadvantage. This gentleman has talents, nay, some learning;
but he is totally unfit for this situation. Sir, the Highland chiefs should not be
allowed to go farther south than Aberdeen. A strong-minded man, like his
brother Sir James, may be improved by an English education, but in general they
will be turned into insignificance.’ I meditated an escape from this house the very
next day; but Dr. Johnson resolved that we should weather it out till Monday.”

In charging the chief of the Macdonalds with an unwarrantable

parsimony, Boswell is justified in a letter written by Dr. Johnson to Mrs.
Thrale.[78] But he evinced his wonted imprudence in making public what
had better have been concealed, and in dragging into the controversy Sir
Thomas Blacket, a near relative of Sir Alexander’s wife.[79] Both baronets
made loud complaint, and the chief of the Macdonalds spoke of vengeance
by personal chastisement. To this threat Peter Pindar thus pungently
alludes:—

“Let Lord Macdonald[80] threat thy breech to kick,

And o’er thy shrinking shoulders shake his stick
Treat with contempt the menace of this Lord,
’Tis Hist’ry’s province, Bozzy, to record.”

The displeasure which Boswell had excited was appeased by a

compromise. He agreed in his next edition to exclude Blacket’s anecdote,
and to substitute allusion to Macdonald’s shabbiness by quoting his Latin
verses, welcoming the lexicographer to Skye.
In 1786 Boswell executed his Will, and it seems probable that “the
apprehension of danger to his life”[81] to which in that document he refers
was due to the menace of the Highland chief. If this conjecture is well
founded, it is interesting to remark that Boswell especially provides that his
own tenantry should in the matter of rent be treated with leniency.
In the preface to his third edition, issued in 1786, Boswell vigorously
denounces his critics on both sides the Tweed. His Scottish compeers, he
alleges, have displayed “a petty national spirit unworthy of his
countrymen.” The English critics are styled “shallow and envious cavillers.”
In opposition to their assertions that he has lessened Dr. Johnson’s
character, he maintains that he was assured by persons of taste that he
had greatly heightened it. He appeals to the judgment of posterity.
Elated by his popularity as a tourist, he determined to reassert his
political pretensions. An opportunity for displaying patriotic ardour
seasonably occurred. A Bill was introduced into the House of Commons by
Mr. Islay Campbell, the Lord Advocate, and Mr. Dundas, Dean of Faculty,
for reconstructing the Court of Session. By this Bill it was proposed to
reduce the judges from fifteen to ten, and with the funds secured by the
reduction to augment the salaries of those who remained. In opposition to
this measure Boswell issued a pamphlet, sensationally entitled “A Letter to
the People of Scotland on the alarming attempt to infringe the Articles of
Union, and introduce a most pernicious innovation, by diminishing the
number of the Lords of Session.” This composition, extending to 107
octavo pages, was published by Dilly, and sold for half a crown. There
were few sales, but copies of the pamphlet were presented to the author’s
friends.[82]
In his characteristic manner Boswell sets forth that the number of
judges was fixed unalterably by the Act of Union, “an Act which, entering
into the constitution of Parliament itself, Parliament dare not alter.” The
number of fifteen was declared by George Buchanan to be small enough to
avoid the character of a tyrannical junto.—“Is a court of ten,” he proceeds,
“the same with a court of fifteen? Is a two-legged animal the same with a
four-legged animal? I know nobody who will gravely defend that
proposition, except one grotesque philosopher, whom ludicrous fable
represents as going about avowing his hunger, and wagging his tail, fain to
become cannibal and eat his deceased brethren.”[83] Lords of Session, he
argues, do the work of English juries in civil cases, and exercise the
functions of English Grand Juries. Mr. Dundas he denounces as “Harry the
Ninth,” and Mr. Islay Campbell is censured, though less abusively. Boswell
next introduces himself, and proceeds to expatiate on his personal merits.
He had in his previous letter “kindled the fire of loyalty and saved the
constitution.” He is “a true patriot,” and begs that he may not be
misunderstood by associating with Mr. Wilkes, “he being so pleasant,” and
an “old classical companion.” He declares himself a scholar and a
gentleman—“a scholar,” as he is familiar with Latin authors; and a
gentleman, “since his friends were persons of title and influence.” His wife,
whom “he loved as dearly as when she gave him her hand,” is “a relation
of Lord Eglinton, a true Montgomery.” The M.P. for Plymouth, Captain
Macbride, is “the cousin of his wife, and the friend of his heart.” His
intimate friend, Colonel Stuart, has “sterling good sense, information,
discernment, honour, honesty, and spirit.” Lord Lowther is apostrophised
thus:—
“Let not the Scottish spirit be bowed. Let Lowther come forth and support us.
We are his neighbours. Paries proximus ardet. We all know what HE can do. He
upon whom the thousands of Whitehaven depend for three of the elements. He
whose soul is all great; whose resentment is terrible, but whose liberality is
boundless. I know that he is dignified by having hosts of enemies; but I have
fixed his character in my mind upon no slight inquiry. I have traversed
Cumberland and Westmoreland; I have sojourned at Carlisle and at Kendal; I
know of the Lonsdale Club at Lancaster. Lowther! be kindly interested. Come
over to Macedonia, and help us. With such personal qualities and such friends
Boswell holds himself admirably qualified for a seat in the Legislature. He will
present himself at next election as a candidate for Ayrshire. I have reason to
hope,” he proceeds, “that many of the real freeholders of Ayrshire will support
me at the election for next Parliament, against which I have declared myself a
candidate. I shall certainly stand upon the substantial interest of the gentlemen
of landed property; and if upon a fair trial I should not succeed in that object of
ambition, which I have most ardently at heart, I have resources enough to
prevent me from being discontented and fretful.”

The project of settling in London and forming a connection with the

English Bar, which Boswell had long cherished, was now to be carried out.
After keeping his terms, according to the usual practice, he was called to
the English Bar, at Hilary term, 1786. His professional debût prognosticated
failure. Some of the junior barristers, to whom he was known as Johnson’s
Bozzy, prepared an imaginary case full of absurdity, which was submitted
for his opinion. Unsuspecting a trap, he prepared an elaborate note of
judgment. The laughter was prodigious, and the merriment penetrated
into private circles. A ridiculous appearance in court, made soon
afterwards, put a final check on his career as a practising barrister.[84]
About three years after joining the English Bar he represented his
condition to Mr. Temple in these terms:—
 “London, January 10th, 1789.
“I am sadly discouraged by having no practice nor probable prospect of it; and to
confess fairly to you, my friend, I am afraid that were I to be tried, I should be found
so deficient in the forms, the quirks, and the quiddities, which early habit acquires,
that I should expose myself. Yet the delusion of Westminster Hall, of brilliant
reputation and splendid fortune as a barrister, still weighs upon my imagination. I
must be seen in the courts, and must hope for some happy openings in causes of
importance. The Chancellor, as you observe, has not done as I expected; but why did
I expect it? I am going to put him to the test. Could I be satisfied with being Baron
of Auchinleck, with a good income for a gentleman in Scotland, I might, no doubt, be
independent. But what can be done to deaden the ambition which has ever raged in
my veins like a fever? In the country I should sink into wretched gloom, or at best
into listless dulness and sordid abstraction. Perhaps a time may come when I may by
lapse of time be grown fit for it. As yet I, really from a philosophical spirit, allow
myself to be driven along the tide of life with a good deal of caution not to be much
hurt; and still flattering myself that an unexpected lucky chance may at last place me
so that the prediction of a fortunate cap appearing on my head at my birth will be
fulfilled.”

Not long after writing this letter Boswell obtained his only professional
appointment; he was, through the influence of Lord Lowther, appointed
Recorder of Carlisle. The emoluments of the office were small, and as an
attendance of several weeks was required annually, the acquisition was
inconsiderable. But the wits did not permit the new Recorder to enter on his
post without ridicule. The following jeu d’esprit obtained circulation:—
“Boswell once flamed with patriot zeal,
His bow was ever bent;
How he no public wrongs can feel
Till Lowther nods assent.

To seize the throne which faction tries,

And would the Prince command,
The Tory Boswell coolly cries,
My King’s in Westmoreland.”

At the close of the first edition of Boswell’s Tour to the Hebrides, appeared
the following advertisement:—
“Preparing for the Press, in one volume quarto,
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
By James Boswell, Esq.

“Mr. Boswell has been collecting materials for this work for more than twenty
years, during which he was honoured with the intimate friendship of Dr. Johnson; to
whose memory he is ambitious to erect a literary monument, worthy of so great an
authour, and so excellent a man. Dr. Johnson was well informed of his design, and
 obligingly communicated to him several curious particulars. With these will be
interwoven the most authentick accounts that can be obtained from those who knew
him best; many sketches of his conversation on a multiplicity of subjects, with
various persons, some of them the most eminent of the age; a great number of
letters from him at different periods, and several original pieces dictated by him to
Mr. Boswell, distinguished by that peculiar energy which marked every emanation of
his mind.”

This advertisement, more befitting the announcement of a play than the

memoir of a moralist, did not escape the witty criticism of the sarcastic Pindar.
In a postscript to his “Poetical Epistle” he has thus written:—
“As Mr. Boswell’s ‘Journal’ hath afforded such universal pleasure, by the relation of
minute incidents and the great moralist’s opinion of men and things during his
northern tour, it will be adding greatly to the anecdotical treasury, as well as making
Mr. B. happy, to communicate part of a dialogue that took place between Dr. Johnson
and the author of this congratulatory epistle, a few months before the Doctor paid
the great debt of nature. The Doctor was very cheerful that day, had on a black coat
and waistcoat, a black plush pair of breeches, and black worsted stockings, a
handsome grey wig, a shirt, a muslin neckcloth, a black pair of buttons in his shirt-
sleeves, a pair of shoes ornamented with the very identical little buckles that
accompanied the philosopher to the Hebrides; his nails were very neatly pared, and
his beard fresh shaved with a razor fabricated by the ingenious Mr. Savigny.
“P. P.: ‘Pray, Doctor, what is your opinion of Mr. Boswell’s literary powers?’
“Johnson: ‘Sir, my opinion is, that whenever Bozzy expires, he will create no
vacuum in the region of literature—he seems strongly affected by the cacoëches
scribendi; wishes to be thought a rara avis, and in truth so he is—your knowledge in
ornithology, sir, will easily discover to what species of bird I allude.’ Here the Doctor
shook his head and laughed.
“P. P.: ‘What think you, sir, of his account of Corsica?—of his character of Paoli?’
“Johnson: ‘Sir, he hath made a mountain of a wart. But Paoli hath virtues. The
account is a farrago of disgusting egotism and pompous inanity.’
“P. P.: ‘I have heard it whispered, Doctor, that should you die before him, Mr. B.
means to write your life.’
“Johnson: ‘Sir, he cannot mean me so irreparable an injury,—which of us shall die
first, is only known to the Great Disposer of events; but were I sure that James
Boswell would write my life, I do not know whether I would not anticipate the
measure by taking his.’ (Here he made three or four strides across the room, and
returned to his chair with violent emotion.)
“P. P.: ‘I am afraid that he means to do you the favour.’
“Johnson: ‘He dares not—he would make a scarecrow of me. I give him liberty to
fire his blunderbuss in his own face, but not murder me, sir. I heed not his [Greek:
autos epha]. Boswell write my life! why, the fellow possesses not abilities for writing
the life of an ephemeron.’”

Naturally indolent and procrastinating, Boswell was, like persons of his

temperament, aroused to enterprise by harsh and ungenerous criticism.
Johnson’s “Life” was commenced at once, and for some time prosecuted
vigorously. Abandoned for many months, it was taken up in 1787, and worked
upon at intervals in the year following.
The progress of the undertaking is in February 1788, thus reported to Mr.
Temple:—
“Mason’s Life of Gray is excellent, because it is interspersed with letters which
show us the man.... I am absolutely certain that my mode of biography, which gives
not only a history of Johnson’s visible progress through the world, and of his
publications, but a view of his mind in his letters and conversations, is the most
perfect that can be conceived, and will be more of a life than any work that has ever
yet appeared. I have been wretchedly dissipated, so that I have not written a line for
a fortnight; but to-day I resume my pen, and shall labour vigorously.”

To Mr. Temple a further report is presented in January, 1789:—

“I am now very near my rough draft of Johnson’s Life. On Saturday I finished the
Introduction and Dedication to Sir Joshua, both of which had appeared very difficult
to be accomplished. I am confident they are well done. Whenever I have completed
the rough draft, by which I mean the work without nice correction, Malone and I are
to prepare one-half perfectly, and then it goes to press, whence I hope to have it
early in February, so as to be out by the end of May.”

After joining the English Bar, and establishing his headquarters in London,
Boswell rented inexpensive chambers near the law courts; but in the winter of
1788-9 he removed to a house in Queen Anne Street West, Cavendish Square.
He was joined by his two sons, and his daughter Veronica,—the sons attending
an academy in Soho. His attendants were “a butler and Scotch housekeeper,”
whom he kept “on account of their fidelity and moderate wages.”[85]
Mrs. Boswell made a trial of London, but soon returned to Auchinleck. She
disapproved her husband’s preference for the English Bar, and feared that the
fogs of London would prove injurious to her health. She had been an
asthmatic patient, and at the commencement of 1789 the complaint returned
in an aggravated form. Writing to Mr. Temple on the 5th March, Boswell
expresses himself deeply concerned about his “valuable and affectionate wife,”
but he feels that joining her in the country would destroy the completion of the
Life of Johnson, and remove him from “the great whirl of the metropolis,” from
which he hoped “in time to have a capital prize.” He had visited Ayrshire at the
close of 1788, and there prosecuted an active canvass among his supposed
friends, the parliamentary freeholders. The visit and its prospective results are
thus detailed to Mr. Temple:—
“London, 10th January, 1789.
 “As to my canvass in my own county, I started in opposition to a junction between
Lord Eglintoun and Sir Adam Fergusson, who were violent opponents, and whose
coalition is as odious there as the Great One is to the nation. A few friends and real
independent gentlemen early declared for me; three other noble lords, the Earls of
Cassilis, Glencairn, and Dumfries, have lately joined and set up a nephew of the Earl
of Cassilis: a Mr. John Whitefoord, who as yet stands as I do, will, I understand,
make a bargain with this alliance. Supposing he does, the two great parties will be so
poised that I shall have it in my power to cast the balance. If they are so piqued that
either will rather give the seat to me than be beaten by the other, I may have it.
Thus I stand, and I shall be firm. Should Lord Lonsdale give me a seat he would do
well, but I have no claim upon him for it. In the matter of the regency he adds that
he had ‘almost written one of his very warm popular pamphlets in favour of the
Prince;’ but as Lord Lonsdale was ill, and he had no opportunity of learning his
sentiments, he had ‘prudently refrained.’ He accuses Pitt of ‘behaving very ill,’ in
neglecting him, and denounces Dundas ‘as a sad fellow in his private capacity.’”

Boswell returned to Ayrshire in April. Mrs. Boswell had written that she was
“wasting away,” and her physician was not hopeful of her improvement. Her
husband thus describes her condition to Mr. Temple:[86]—
“I found,” he writes, “my dear wife as ill, or rather worse than I apprehended. The
consuming hectic fever had preyed upon her incessantly during the winter and
spring, and she was miserably emaciated and weak. The physician and surgeon-
apothecary, whom she allows occasionally, though rarely, to visit her, told me fairly,
as to a man able to support with firmness what they announced, that they had no
hopes of her recovery, though she might linger they could not say how long.... No
man ever had a higher esteem or a warmer love for a wife than I have for her. You
will recollect, my Temple, how our marriage was the result of an attachment truly
romantic; yet how painful is it to me to recollect a thousand instances of inconsistent
conduct! I can justify,” he adds, “my removing to the great sphere of England upon a
principle of laudable ambition, but the frequent scenes of what I must call dissolute
conduct are inexcusable; and often and often, when she was very ill in London, have
I been indulging in festivity with Sir Joshua Reynolds, Courtenay, Malone, &c., and
have come home late and disturbed her repose.”

In these expressions of affection Boswell was sincere, but he would have

better indicated regret for past inattention to his suffering helpmate if his
conduct during her last illness had been more suited to her condition. During
the five weeks he remained at Auchinleck, he was, according to his own
acknowledgment, “repeatedly from home,” and both “on these occasions, and
when neighbours visited him, drank too much wine.” Returning from a
neighbour’s house in a state of inebriety, he experienced an accident, the
particulars of which he thus related to Mr. Temple:—
“On Saturday last, dining at a gentleman’s house where I was visiting for the first
time, and was eager to obtain political influence; I drank so freely that, riding home
in the dark without a servant, I fell from my horse and bruised my shoulder severely.
 Next morning I had it examined by a surgeon, who found no fracture or dislocation,
but blooded me largely to prevent inflammation.”

The presence in Auchinleck House of one whose habits were so irregular,

and who had narrowly escaped death in a fit of drunkenness, was not likely to
soothe the dying gentlewoman. Some days after the occurrence of his
accident, Boswell was invited by a friend of Lord Lonsdale to accompany his
lordship in an early journey to London. Though still a sufferer and in bed on
account of his fall, he resolved to obey the summons, and Mrs. Boswell
“animated him to set out.” With his arm in a sling he posted to Carlisle.
Reaching Lowther Castle, he found Lord Lonsdale “in no hurry to proceed on
the London journey.” Meanwhile his shoulder became more uneasy, the pain
extending to the breast and over the entire arm, so that he was unable to put
on his clothes without help.[87]

Two weeks after he had reached London a letter from the Auchinleck
physician informed him that Mrs. Boswell was rapidly sinking. He at once set
out for Ayrshire, accompanied by his two sons, and, as he is particular in
relating, the journey was performed in “sixty-four hours and a quarter.” On his
arrival he found that Mrs. Boswell had died four days before. In a letter to Mr.
Temple, dated 3rd July, he wrote thus:—
“I cried bitterly and upbraided myself for leaving her, for she would not have left
me. This reflection, my dear friend, will, I fear, pursue me to my grave.... I could
hardly bring myself to agree that the body should be removed, for it was still a
consolation to me to go and kneel by it, and talk to my dear, dear Peggy.... Her
funeral was remarkably well attended. There were nineteen carriages followed the
hearse, and a large body of horsemen, and the tenants of all my lands. It is not
customary in Scotland for a husband to attend a wife’s funeral, but I resolved, if I
possibly could, to do her the last honours myself; and I was able to go through it
very decently. I privately read the funeral service over her coffin in presence of my
sons, and was relieved by that ceremony a good deal. On the Sunday after Mr. Dun
delivered, almost verbatim, a few sentences which I sent him as a character of her.”

Boswell’s religious views were still unsettled. During his wife’s illness he
wrote to Mr. Temple, “What aid can my wife have from religion, except a pious
resignation to the great and good God? for indeed she is too shrewd to receive
the common topics; she is keen and penetrating.” What “the common topics”
were, belief in which Boswell regarded with contempt, he has not informed us,
and it might be hazardous to conjecture.
The dissolution of Parliament expected in the spring of 1789 did not occur,
but the representation of Ayrshire became vacant in July, owing to the
acceptance of a public office by the sitting member, Colonel Montgomerie.
Obtaining intimation of the vacancy, Boswell, four weeks a widower, hastened
from London to Ayrshire to renew his claims. There were two other candidates
—Sir Adam Fergusson and Mr. John Whitefoord. The former was chosen.
Boswell informed Mr. Temple that “he would make an admirable figure even if
he should be unsuccessful.” He stood alone!
Since his failure at the English Bar, Boswell had been most energetic in the
pursuit of patronage. He rested his hopes on Mr. Dundas and Mr. Pitt, but more
especially on Mr. Burke and Lord Lonsdale. Concerning the two former he thus
communicated with Mr. Temple in the spring of 1789. After censuring Mr.
Dundas for neglecting to promote his brother David, he proceeds:—
“As to myself, Dundas, though he pledged himself (as the modern phrase is) to
assist me in advancing in promotion, and though he last year assured me, upon his
honour, that my letter concerning the Scottish judges made no difference; yet,
except when I in a manner compelled him to dine with me last winter, he has entirely
avoided me, and I strongly suspect has given Pitt a prejudice against me. The
excellent Langton says it is disgraceful; it is utter folly in Pitt not to reward and attach
to his administration a man of my popular and pleasant talents, whose merit he has
acknowledged in a letter under his own hand. He did not answer several letters
which I wrote at intervals, requesting to wait upon him; I lately wrote to him that
such behaviour to me was certainly not generous. ‘I think it is not just, and (forgive
the freedom) I doubt if it be wise. If I do not hear from you in ten days, I shall
conclude that you are inclined to have no further communication with me; for I
assure you, sir, I am extremely unwilling to give you, or indeed myself, unnecessary
trouble.’ About two months have elapsed, and he has made no sign. How can I still
delude myself with dreams of rising in the great sphere of life.”

Mr. Burke knew Boswell’s good qualities, and had sought to befriend him.
In 1782 he recommended him for employment to General Conway,[88] though
without success. Boswell still hoped to obtain a post through his influence, and
not infrequently reminded him that he was unprovided for. To Mr. Temple, in
March, 1789, he describes Mr. Burke in these terms:—
“I cannot help thinking with you that Pitt is the ablest and most useful minister of
any of those whom we know; yet I am not sure that after the pericula which should
give caution, others (and amongst them Burke, whom I visited yesterday, and found
as ably philosophical in political disquisition as ever) might not do as well; and if he
has treated me unjustly in his stewardship for the public, and behaved with
ungrateful insolence to my patron,[89] who first introduced him into public life, may I
not warrantably arraign many articles, and great ones too, in his conduct which I can
attack with forcible energy? At present I keep myself quiet, and wait till we see how
things will turn out.”

While thus distrusting or despising his other patrons, Boswell rested

strongly on Lord Lonsdale. To Mr. Temple he communicated in March that his
lordship showed him “more and more regard.” He was his last star of hope;
but the setting was at hand.
Checked in his legal, political, and parliamentary aspirations, Boswell began
to devote some attention to family affairs. By his brother David he was advised
to return to Scotland, and there attend to the education of his children.
Concerning this proposal he remarks to Mr. Temple:—
“Undoubtedly my having a house in Edinburgh would be best for them (the
children); but, besides that my withdrawing thither would cut me off from all those
chances which may in time raise me in life, I could not possibly endure Edinburgh
now, unless I were to have a judge’s place to bear me up; and even then I should
deeply sigh for the metropolis.”

He determined to remain in London. Plans for the disposal of his children

were, after much wavering, at length resolved upon. Alexander, his eldest son,
having “begun to oppose him,”[90] was removed from Soho Academy to Eton.
He was afterwards to be sent to the University of Edinburgh, and latterly to
Holland and Germany for the study of civil law. James, the second son,
described to Mr. Temple as “an extraordinary boy, much of his father,” was to
be educated as a barrister. Meanwhile, being in his eleventh year, he was to be
continued at the Soho school. Veronica, the eldest daughter, was kept in
London under the charge of Mrs. Buchanan, a widow. Euphemia, the second
daughter, was sent to a boarding-school in Edinburgh; and Elizabeth, the
youngest, was placed in an educational institution at Ayr. By thus dispersing
the members of his family, Boswell secured himself against any interference
with his habits. For his children the arrangement was salutary, since they could
not have profited by the exhibition of his weaknesses.
Amidst incessant place-hunting and a round of social indulgences, the “Life
of Johnson” proceeded slowly. The public were meanwhile entertained by Mrs.
Piozzi’s Anecdotes.[91] This work and the “Life of Johnson,” by Sir John
Hawkins, seemed to satisfy general curiosity. The latter work, which appeared
in 1787, deeply mortified Boswell; he was mentioned in it only once, and then
as “Mr. James Boswell, a native of Scotland.”[92] Indignation inspired him with
energy. As specimens of his forthcoming work, he issued in quarto form two
portions of its contents, with these titles:—“The Celebrated Letter from Samuel
Johnson, LL.D., to Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, now first
published, with notes by James Boswell, Esq. London: Printed by Henry
Baldwin for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry, 1790. [Price Half a Guinea.]” “A
Conversation between His Most Sacred Majesty George III. and Samuel
Johnson, LL.D., illustrated with Observations by James Boswell, Esq. London:
Printed by Henry Baldwin for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry, 1790. [Price Half a
Guinea.]”
The former of these fasciculi occupied four, and the latter eight quarto
pages. Intimating to Mr. Temple that “a part of his magnum opus was ready
for the press,” he added that Hawkins should not be spared. His labours were
interrupted by Mrs. Boswell’s illness and his return to inebriate habits. On the
28th November he wrote to Mr. Temple:—
“Let me first address you from Cato:—

‘Thou best of friends,

Pardon a weak distemper’d soul that swells,
In sudden gusts, and sinks again in calms.’

Your last letter supposes too truly my situation. With grief continually at my heart,
I have been endeavouring to seek relief in dissipation and in wine, so that my life for
some time past has been unworthy of myself, of you, and of all that is valuable in my
character and connections. For a week past, as the common phrase is, ‘I have taken
up,’ and by a more regular and quiet course find myself, I think, rather better.”

As in the case of his “Tour to the Hebrides,” Boswell submitted each

successive chapter of the “Life of Johnson” to the revision of Mr. Malone. In his
letter to Mr. Temple of the 28th November he remarks:—
“The revision of my ‘Life of Johnson’ by so acute and knowing a critic as Mr.
Malone is of most essential consequence, especially as he is Johnsonianissimus; and
as he is to hasten to Ireland as soon as his Shakspere[93] is fairly published, I must
avail myself of him now. His hospitality and my other invitations, and particularly my
attendance at Lord Lonsdale’s, have lost us many evenings; but I reckon that a third
of the work is settled, so that I shall get to press very soon. You cannot imagine
what labour, what perplexity, what vexation I have endured in arranging a prodigious
multiplicity of materials, in supplying omissions, in searching for papers, buried in
different masses, and all this besides the exertion of composing and polishing. Many
a time have I thought of giving it up. However, though I shall be uneasily sensible of
its many deficiencies, it will certainly be to the world a very valuable and peculiar
volume of biography, full of literary and characteristical anecdotes (which word, by
the way, Johnson always condemned, as used in the sense that the French, and we
from them, use it, as signifying particulars), told with authenticity, and in a lively
manner. Would that it were in the booksellers’ shops! Methinks, if I had this magnum
opus launched, the public has no further claim upon me; for I have promised no
more, and I may die in peace, or retire into dull obscurity, reddarque tenebris.”

Writing to Mr. Temple on the 8th February, 1790, Boswell thus reports
progress:—
“I am within a short walk of Mr. Malone, who revises my ‘Life of Johnson’ with me.
We have not yet gone over quite a half of it, but it is at last fairly in the press. I
 intended to have printed it upon what is called an English letter, which would have
made it look better; but upon calculation it would have made two quarto volumes,
and two quarto volumes for one life would have appeared exorbitant, though in truth
it is a view of much of the literature, and many of the literary men of Great Britain
for more than half a century. I have therefore taken a smaller type, called Pica, and
even upon that I am afraid its bulk will be very large. It is curious to observe how a
printer calculates; he arranges a number of pages, and the words in them at
different parts of the ‘copy’ (as the MS. is called), and so finds the number of words.
Mine here are four hundred and one thousand six hundred. Does not this frighten
you. By printing a page the number of words it holds is discovered; and by dividing
the sum-total of words by that number we get the number of pages. Mine will be
eight hundred. I think it will be, without exception, the most entertaining book you
ever read. I cannot be done with printing before the end of August.”

In excellent terms with himself, and rejoicing in his literary aptitude, he

thus addresses Mr. Temple on the 13th February:—
“I dine in a different company almost every day, at least scarcely ever twice
running in the same company, so that I have fresh accessions of ideas. I drink with
Lord Lonsdale one day; the next I am quiet in Malone’s elegant study revising my
Life of Johnson, of which I have high expectations, both as to fame and profit. I
surely have the art of writing agreeably. The Lord Chancellor[94] told me he had read
every word of my Hebridean Journal; he could not help it.”

On the 4th December Boswell addressed Mr. Malone:[95]—

“The magnum opus advances. I have revised p. 216. The additions which I have
received are a Spanish quotation from Mr. Cambridge, an account of Johnson at
Warley Camp from Mr. Langton, and Johnson’s letters to Mr. Hastings—three in all,—
one of them long and admirable; but what sets the diamonds in pure gold of Ophir is
a letter from Mr. Hastings to me, illustrating them and their writer. I had this day the
honour of a long visit from the late Governor-General of India. There is to be no
more impeachment. But you will see his character nobly vindicated, depend upon
this.”

Though still ambitious of professional advancement, Boswell began to

dread the merriment of the Circuit mess, promoted too frequently at his
personal cost. On the plea of saving £50, and “avoiding rough, unpleasant
company,” he informed Mr. Temple in February, 1789, that he would omit the
spring Northern Circuit. In August he communicated to the same
correspondent that he had proceeded to Lord Lonsdale’s with the intention of
joining the autumn Circuit at Carlisle; but that considering his “late severe
loss,” and “the rough scenes of the roaring, bantering society of lawyers,” he
preferred to remain at Lowther Castle. At the castle he was subjected to a
practical jest, which as an annoying incident he thus describes to Mr. Temple:—
 “A strange accident happened; the house at Lowther was so crowded that I and
two other gentlemen were laid in one room. On Thursday morning my wig was
missing; a strict search was made, all in vain. I was obliged to go all day in my night-
cap, and absent myself from a party of ladies and gentlemen who went and dined
with the Earl on the banks of the lake,—a piece of amusement which I was glad to
shun, as well as a dance which they had at night. But I was in a ludicrous situation. I
suspected a wanton trick which some people think witty; but I thought it very ill-
timed to one in my situation. Next morning the Earl and a colonel, who I thought
might have concealed my wig, declared to me, upon honour they did not know
where it was; and the conjecture was that a clergyman who was in the room with
me, and had packed up his portmanteau in a great hurry to set out in the morning
early, might have put it up among his things. This is very improbable; but I could not
long remain an object of laughter, so I went twenty-five miles to Carlisle on Tuesday,
and luckily got a wig there fitted for me in a few hours.”

On the 13th October Boswell informed Mr. Temple that on lately visiting
Lowther Castle he received back his wig. “The way in which it was lost,” he
adds, “will remain as secret as the author of Junius.”
Mr. Temple became urgent for repayment of a loan of £200, and in
obtaining the necessary means Boswell severely taxed his resources. Referring
to the debt, he assured his correspondent that he had, after deducting family
costs, a free income of not more than £350, and that while he had been in
straitened circumstances for twenty years, he dreaded that his
embarrassments would continue. In a letter dated 28th November he returns
to his pecuniary difficulties.
“The state of my affairs is very disagreeable; but be not afraid of your £200, as
you may depend upon its being repaid. My rent-roll is above £1,600; but deducting
annuities, interest of debts, and expenses absolutely necessary at Auchinleck, I have
but about £850 to spend. I reckon my five children at £500 a year. You see what
remains for myself.”... “I am this year to make one trial of the Lord Chancellor. In
short, I cast about everywhere. I do not see the smallest opening in Westminster
Hall; but I like the scene, though I have attended only one day this last term, being
eager to get my ‘Life of Johnson’ finished. And the delusion that practice may come
at any time (which is certainly true) still possesses me.” He adds, “I have given up
my house, and taken good chambers in the Inner Temple, to have the appearance of
a lawyer. O Temple! Temple! is this realizing any of the towering hopes which have so
often been the subject of our conversation and letters? Yet I live much with a great
man, who, upon any day that his fancy shall be so inclined, may obtain for me an
office which would make me independent.”

Boswell could cherish no reasonable hope of professional advancement,

save through the patronage of Lord Lonsdale. And the recent escapade at
Lowther Castle might have shown him that sentiments of respect were
unassociated with his lordship’s friendship. What he could not perceive in
August, 1789, was made sufficiently plain in the following June. The narrative
must be presented in his own words. Writing from Carlisle to Mr. Temple on
the 21st June, 1790, he proceeds:—
“At no period during our long friendship have I been more unhappy than at
present. The day on which I was obliged to set out from London I had no time
allowed me after a most shocking conversation with Lord Lonsdale, and I hastened
home in hopes of finding you, but you were gone out. It was to inform you that upon
his seeing me by no means in good humour, he challenged it roughly, and said, ‘I
suppose you thought I was to bring you into Parliament. I never had any such
intention.’ In short, he expressed himself in the most degrading manner, in presence
of a low man from Carlisle, and one of his menial servants. The miserable state of
low spirits I had, as you too well know, laboured under for some time before made
me almost sink under such unexpected insulting behaviour. He insisted rigorously on
my having solicited the office of Recorder of Carlisle; and that I could not, without
using him ill resign it until the duties which were now required of it were fulfilled, and
without a sufficient time being given for the election of a successor. Thus was I
dragged away as wretched as a convict; and in my fretfulness I used such
expressions as excited him almost to fury, so that he used such expressions towards
me that I should have, according to the irrational laws of honour sanctioned by the
world, been under the necessity of risking my life, had not an explanation taken
place.... I am down at an inn, in wretched spirits, and ashamed and sunk on account
of the disappointment of hopes which led me to endure such grievances. I deserve
all that I suffer. I may be kept hanging on for weeks, till the election and Midsummer
Sessions are over; and I am at the same time distracted what to do in my own
county, as to the state of which I expect letters every day. I am quite in a fever. O my
old and most intimate friend, what a shocking state am I now reduced to! I entreat
of you, if you possibly can, to afford me some consolation, directed to me here, and
pray do not divulge my mortification. I will endeavour to appear indifferent; and as I
now resign my Recordership, I shall gradually get rid of all communication with this
brutal fellow.”

In Boswell’s correspondence Lord Lonsdale’s name only reappears once.

Writing to Mr. Temple on the 21st July, he remarks, “I parted from the northern
tyrant in a strange equivocal state, for he was half irritated, half reconciled;
but I promise you I shall keep myself quite independent of him.”
Parliament was dissolved in July, and Boswell proposed once more to offer
his services to the Ayrshire constituency. He ultimately determined more
wisely, remarking to Mr. Temple that “he did not go to Ayrshire, finding that he
could only show how small a party he had.”
Amidst these distractions, Boswell found leisure warmly to interest himself
in two objects to which he had pledged his support. The first of these was to
obtain subscribers for two volumes of sermons, published by his former tutor
and early friend, Mr. John Dun, parish minister of Auchinleck.[96] In these
volumes the reverend author attempted to ridicule the poet Burns. The
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