James Boswell

Category

Library Item

Item no

40663

Title

James Boswell

Artist / maker

Dance, George (the Younger)

Engraver

William Daniell

Date

1808

Size

26.9 x 19.8 cm

Type

Engraving

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

James Boswell was born at Edinburgh, October 29, 1740, eldest son of Alexander Boswell, Esquire, and Judge in the Supreme Court of Session and Justiciary in Scotland, deriving the local title of Lord Auchinleck from an ancient Barony in Ayrshire.

Under paternal auspices he embraced the profession of the Law, and was an Advocate in the Court of Session; until, desirous of enlarging the sphere of his talents, he entered his name as a Student in the Inner Temple of London, and was enrolled among the Members of the English Bar.

In the Year 1763 he was first introduced to the acquaintance and friendship of the celebrated Dr Samuel Johnson, whose Memoirs from the pen of Mr Boswell, will long remain a monument of the virtues and singularities of the Philosopher, and of the biographical talents of the enthusiastic Author.

In 1764 he made the tour of a part of the Continent, and visited Pascal Paoli in Corsica, Voltaire at Fernay, and Rousseau amidst the Wilds of Neufchatel, and returned to his native land in 1766.

In 1769 he married Miss Margaret Montgomery, by whom he had two sons and three daughters.

In 1791 he received from the Royal Academy of Arts the honorary appointment of Secretary for Foreign Correspondence.

Besides his chief work, the Life of Dr Johnson, he published at various periods, occasional Essays in Prose and Verse: 'Letters to the People of Scotland', in which he approved himself a strenuous defender of the principles and liberties of his native country, and no less warm an advocate of those of England. An Account of Corsica, with Memoirs of General Pascal Paoli; and a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides.

Possessing a happy flow of conversation, ready abilities, and much general information, he lived in habits of familiar acquaintance with the most eminent persons of his time.

He died May 20, 1795.

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