Part 27

[65] Mr. Croker relates the anecdote on the authority of the Marquess of Wellesley, who received it from Mr. Thomas Sydenham. That gentleman got the story from Mr. Knight, to whom it was communicated by Sir Joshua Reynolds.

[66] “Life of Johnson.”

[67] Throughout these papers Boswell adopts his peculiar system of orthography, presenting _judgement_ for judgment, _authour_ for author, _empannael_ for empannel.

[68] The Honourable Mary Monckton was youngest daughter of John, first Viscount Galway. She married, on the 17th January, 1786, Edmund, seventh Earl of Cork; she died in 1840.

[69] “Life of Johnson.”

[70] This gentleman was, we believe, father of Mr. John Murdoch, the first and most efficient instructor of the poet Burns.

[71] A Mr. Twamley invented a kind of box-iron for smoothing linen.

[72] Lord Lowther was son-in-law of the Earl of Bute, and brother-in-law of Boswell’s friend, Colonel Stuart. Boswell’s relations with this influential nobleman will form a prominent feature in the subsequent narrative.

[73] Life of Edmund Malone, by James Boswell, jun., contributed to the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, and reprinted for private circulation.

[74] Mr. Malone published in 1778 his “Attempt to ascertain the order in which Shakespeare’s Plays were written.”

[75] A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of the late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., with Notes by John Courtenay, Esq. Lond.: C. Dilly, 1786.

[76] The celebrated Flora Macdonald.

[77] The pseudonym of Dr. John Wolcott, the eminent satirist.

[78] From the Hebrides Dr. Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale in these terms:—“We had a passage of about twelve miles to the point where Sir Alexander Macdonald resided, having come from his seat, in the middle of the island, to a small house on the shore, as we believe, that he might with less reproach entertain us meanly. If he aspired to meanness, his retrograde ambition was completely gratified; but he did not succeed equally in escaping reproach. He had no cook, nor I suppose much provision; nor had the lady the common decencies of her tea-table; we picked up our sugar with our fingers. Boswell was very angry, and reproached him with his improper parsimony.... I have done thinking of Sir Alexander Macdonald, whom we now call Sir Sawney; he has disgusted all mankind by injudicious parsimony, and given occasion to so many stories, that Boswell has some thoughts of collecting them, and making a novel of his life.” (Letters to Mrs. Thrale, vol. i., p. 137.)

[79] Lady Macdonald, _née_ Elizabeth Diana Bosville, was a member of the eldest branch of the Boswell family, and was one of those gentlewomen to whom early in life Boswell thought of offering his hand (see page 67). Daughter of Godfrey Bosville, Esq., of Gunthwaite, Yorkshire, she married Sir Alexander Macdonald in 1768.

[80] Sir Alexander Macdonald, Bart., was raised to the peerage, as Baron Macdonald of Slate, on the 17th July, 1776.

[81] See _postea_.

[82] In the Library of the British Museum is contained a copy of the pamphlet which belonged to Mr. Wilkes. In Boswell’s handwriting it is thus inscribed:—

“Comes jucundus in via pro vehiculo est. “To John Wilkes, Esq., as pleasant a companion as ever lived. “From the Author. “...Will my Wilkes retreat, And see, once seen before, that ancient seat,” &c.

[83] This satirical allusion to Lord Monboddo is conceived in the very worst taste. His lordship had shown marked attention to Boswell in his youth, and had entertained him and Dr. Johnson at Monboddo, during the progress of their tour. Latterly his lordship and Dr. Johnson had differed, and probably on this account Boswell considered himself entitled to make this offensive allusion to his philosophical opinions.

[84] Boswell’s motion in Court, _quare adhæsit pavimento_, is preserved as a jest in the courts of Westminster.

[85] Letter from Boswell to Mr. Temple.

[86] Letter to Mr. Temple of 22nd May.

[87] Letter to Mr. Temple.

[88] Henry Seymour Conway, a General in the army, was brother of the first Marquess of Hertford. He was under the Rockingham administration Secretary of State for Ireland, and leader of the House of Commons. He died in 1795.

[89] Pitt was brought into Parliament for the close borough of Appleby by Sir James Lowther, afterwards Lord Lonsdale.

[90] Letter to Mr. Temple.

[91] Mrs. Piozzi’s Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson. London: 1785.

[92] Boswell called on Sir John Hawkins, and complained of being slighted in his book. “I know what you mean,” said Sir John; “you would have had me to say that Johnson undertook this tour with _the_ Boswell.” _Miss Hawkins’ Johnsoniana._

[93] Malone’s Edition of Shakspere, in ten volumes, was published in 1790.

[94] Lord Chancellor Thurlow.

[95] Boswell’s Life of Johnson, edited by the Right Hon. John Wilson Croker and others, London, 1848, 12mo., vol. x., pp. 209-220.

[96] “Sermons, in two volumes, by John Dun, V.D.M. Kilmarnock, 1790,” 8vo.

[97] John Courtenay, Esq., was born in Ireland in 1741, and died in 1816. He composed the “Poetical Review of Dr. Johnson” and other works. He was, when Boswell knew him, Surveyor of the Ordnance and M.P. for Tamworth. He was a warm friend and pleasant companion.

[98] See “Life of William Wilberforce,” Lond., 1838. Vol. iii., pp. 63, 70.

[99] From the Commissariat Register of Glasgow, preserved in the General Register House, Edinburgh, vol. 74, p. 194.

[100] “Life of James Beattie, LL.D.,” by Sir William Forbes, of Pitsligo, Bart., Edinb. 1807, 3 vols., vol. iii., p. 378.

[101] Statement of Mr. William Macfarlane, of Edinburgh, to Robert Chambers. “Traditions of Edinburgh,” 1869, 12mo., p. 74.

[102] See the Poetical Works of Sir Alexander Boswell, Bart., with memoir, by Robert Howie Smith, Glasgow, 1871, 12mo.

[103] Decisions of the Court of Session, 20th March, 1851.

[104] The celebrated Nell Gwynne, who is believed to have transmitted a benefaction to the starving poet, which did not reach till after his decease.

[105] The only son of Thomas Alexander Boswell, of Crawley Grange, died in India in his 18th year.

[106] Births Register of Auchinleck.

[107] The Rev. Robert Bruce Boswell published in 1842 a volume of “Psalms and Hymns, chiefly selected,” dedicated to Daniel, Lord Bishop of Calcutta.

[108] John Maclaurin, eldest son of Colin Maclaurin, Professor of Mathematics in the University of Edinburgh, was admitted advocate in August, 1756. After a period of successful practice at the bar, he was raised to the bench by the title of Lord Dreghorn in January, 1789. He died at Edinburgh 24th December, 1796. Maclaurin was one of Boswell’s early associates; he contributed several poems to the first volume of Donaldson’s “Collection,” Edinburgh, 1760. Three dramas from his pen, entitled, “Hampden,” “The Public,” and “The Philosopher’s Opera,” are of very ordinary merit. His collected works were published in 1798 in two octavo volumes.

[109] John Nichols, printer, the celebrated author of the “Literary Anecdotes,” was born in 1744 and died in 1826. A person of ripe and varied scholarship, he enjoyed the esteem of Dr. Johnson.

[110] John Johnston, of Grange, was one of Boswell’s early and more confidential associates. Professionally a writer to the signet, he owned the small estate of Grange, Dumfriesshire, which brought him a rental of about £100 per annum. In a letter to the Hon. Andrew Erskine, dated 8th May, 1762, Boswell alludes to Johnston in these terms:—“I shall be at Dumfries soon, when I hope to see my friend Johnston. We will talk much of old Scotch history, and the memory of former years will warm our hearts. Johnston is a very worthy fellow. I may safely say so, for I have lived in intimacy with him more years than the Egyptian famine lasted.” In his reply Erskine desires to be kindly remembered to “honest Johnston.” He inquires whether “his trees are growing well at his paternal estate of Grange; if he is as fond of Melvil’s Memoirs [“Memoirs of Sir James Melvil, of Halhill,” London, 1752, 8vo.] as he used to be; and if he continues to stretch himself in the sun upon the mountains near Edinburgh.” Johnston fell into bad health. He predeceased Boswell, who became a creditor on his estate. At Boswell’s death the trustees on Johnston’s estate were indebted to his representatives in the sum of £195. (See _supra_, p. 188.)

[111] Sir William Augustus Cunynghame, fourth baronet of Milncraig, Ayrshire, was eldest son of Lieutenant-General Sir David Cunynghame and his wife, Lady Mary Montgomery, only daughter of Alexander, ninth Earl of Eglinton. For many years he represented the county of Linlithgow in the House of Commons; he also held several important offices in the public service. He died 17th January, 1828.

[112] The Hon. Henry Erskine, a celebrated humorist, was second son of Henry David, tenth Earl of Buchan, and brother of Lord Chancellor Erskine: he was born at Edinburgh, in November, 1746. He passed advocate in 1768, and soon attained professional eminence. He was appointed Lord Advocate on the accession of the Coalition Ministry in 1783, and three years afterwards was chosen Dean of Faculty. On the return of the liberal party to power he was reappointed Lord Advocate, and was at the same time elected M.P. for the Dumfries burghs. After a period of broken health, he died on the 8th October, 1817. Many of his sparkling witticisms and humorous sallies are included in popular collections of _bonmots_.

[113] Mrs. Dundas, of Melville, was daughter of David Rennie, Esq., of Melville Castle, and first wife of Henry Dundas, subsequently Viscount Melville. She died about 1790.

[114] On the 2nd June, 1790, Lord George Gordon, M.P., a younger son of Cosmo George, third Duke of Gordon, led 100,000 persons in procession to the House of Commons, to present a petition against a measure for relieving Roman Catholics from certain disabilities and penalties. The procession was followed by a riot, which continued several days, and was attended with the destruction of Catholic chapels and private dwellings. The prisons of London, too, were thrown open by the rabble, and the mansion of the chief justice thrown down. Lord George Gordon was tried for high treason, but acquitted. Afterwards convicted of libelling Queen Marie Antoinette of France, and presenting a petition reflecting on the laws and administration of criminal justice, he was committed to Newgate, where he died on the 1st November, 1793. Lord George Gordon evidently laboured under mental aberration, and ought to have been placed in a lunatic asylum.

[115] This anecdote is included by Boswell in his “Life of Johnson.”

[116] Alexander, tenth Earl of Eglinton, was a friend of the Auchinleck family, and one of Boswell’s early patrons. Born in 1726, he succeeded his father in his third year. A zealous promoter of agriculture, he was much beloved by his tenantry and neighbours. He was mortally wounded by a poacher, whom he sought forcibly to deprive of his firelock: he died on the 25th October, 1769.

[117] Dr. Hugh Blair, the celebrated preacher and rhetorician, was a central figure in the literary society of Edinburgh. He was collegiate minister of the High Church, and professor of rhetoric in the University. The first volume of his “Sermons” was published by Strahan, on the recommendation of Dr. Johnson. Dr. Blair was an early patron of Burns, and to his encouragement and active assistance Macpherson was much indebted in producing his first specimens of Ossianic poetry. Dr. Blair died at Edinburgh on the 27th December, 1800, aged eighty-two.

[118] James Macpherson, the editor of Ossian, established his residence in London in 1766, in his twenty-eighth year. In 1780 he was elected M.P. for Camelford. He died at Belleville, Inverness-shire, on the 17th February, 1796, aged fifty-eight. Boswell’s allusion to John Bull is explained by the attacks made on Macpherson by Dr. Johnson and other English writers, in reference to the authenticity of Ossian’s poems.

[119] Lady Frances Montgomerie was daughter of Alexander, ninth Earl of Eglinton, and sister of the tenth and eleventh earls. She died unmarried.

[120] Dr. John Ogilvie, was minister of Midmar, Aberdeenshire. He composed many volumes of poetry, and several of his lyrics have obtained celebrity. He died in 1814, at an advanced age.

[121] Captain Robert Temple was younger brother of Boswell’s intimate friend, the Rev. William Johnson Temple, rector of Mamhead. (See _supra_, pp. 36, 47.)

[122] John Hall-Stevenson was a relative of Laurence Sterne, and the “Eugenius” of his “Tristram Shandy.” His “Crazy Tales,” which appeared anonymously in 1762, are described by Sir Walter Scott as “witty and indecent.” Bishop Warburton describes Hall-Stevenson as “a monster of impiety and lewdness.” He died in 1785. He is noticed in Dr. Alexander Carlyle’s Autobiography.

[123] George Dempster, M.P. (See _supra_, pp. 32-34.)

[124] Dr. William Robertson, the historian, was son of a Scottish clergyman, and claimed descent from the Robertsons of Struan, an important family in the Highlands. Born in 1721, he was appointed minister of Gladsmuir in 1743; he was translated to one of the city churches of Edinburgh in 1758, and three years afterwards was appointed Principal of the University. He became historiographer royal for Scotland, and received other offices attended with honours and emoluments. His “History of Scotland during the Reigns of Mary and James VI.” appeared in 1759, and at once attracted attention. His other historical works sustained his reputation. He died on the 11th June, 1793, aged seventy-one. His sister, Mrs. Syme, was grandmother of Henry, Lord Brougham.

[125] Thomas Sheridan, father of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, whose acquaintance Boswell formed at Edinburgh early in life. Mr. Sheridan was a lecturer on elocution, and author of a pronouncing dictionary. He was latterly at variance with Dr. Johnson. He died in 1788.

[126] Sir Robert Walpole, latterly Earl of Orford. This eminent statesman was born in 1676, and died 18th March, 1745.

[127] Captain Webster, only son of the Rev. Dr. Alexander Webster, minister of the Tolbooth church, Edinburgh, was Boswell’s maternal cousin. Captain Webster attained the rank of colonel; he fell in the American war.

[128] Hugh Home, third Earl of Marchmont, was celebrated for his elegant learning and remarkable powers of debate. He enjoyed the esteem of Chatham and Walpole. Lord Cobham placed his bust in the temple of worthies at Stowe; and Pope, who enjoyed his intimacy, has thus celebrated him in the grotto at Twickenham,—

“There the bright flame was shot through Marchmont’s soul.”

Dr. Johnson entertained a prejudice against him, but was induced by Boswell to wait on him for his recollections of Pope. Johnson was received by the earl with much cordiality, and at the close of a long interview he remarked to Boswell that he “would rather have given twenty pounds than not have come.” Lord Marchmont died on the 10th January, 1794, aged eighty-six.

[129] Captain Andrew Erskine (see _supra_, pp. 19-24).

[130] Sir William Maxwell, fourth Baronet of Monreith, Wigtonshire. He died 22nd August, 1771.

[131] Mr. Crawfurd succeeded the Rev. John Home in 1770, as Conservator of Scots Privileges at Campvere.

[132] C. H. Trotz, the great German jurisconsult, whose lectures on civil law Boswell attended at Utrecht in 1763. Professor Trotz was born in 1701, and died in 1773.

[133] James, Lord Hope, subsequently third Earl of Hopetoun, was born in 1741; he entered the army in 1758, and was present at the battle of Minden the following year; he left the army in 1764 to accompany his elder brother on a Continental tour; he succeeded to the earldom in 1781, and was afterwards elected a representative peer. He died on the 29th May, 1816, aged seventy-five.

[134] Samuel Foote, the celebrated comedian, was born in 1720, at Truro, in Cornwall; he belonged to a respectable family, but he soon wasted his inheritance and his wife’s fortune by a course of dissipation. Compelled by necessity, he became a player, making his _début_ in the Haymarket Theatre in 1747. From a grotesque imitation of leading persons he attained popularity, accompanied with a rancorous feeling on the part of those whom he subjected to ridicule. He was an entertaining companion, but possessed few amiable qualities. He died in October, 1777, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

[135] George Lyttleton was born in 1709. As a commoner he entered Parliament in his twenty-first year. He opposed Walpole, and in 1732 was appointed secretary to Frederick, Prince of Wales. On Walpole’s retirement he obtained a succession of offices, culminating in the Chancellorship of the Exchequer; in 1759 he was raised to the peerage. Henceforth he cultivated letters, producing various works in prose and verse. He was inclined to indolence, but was much esteemed for his high principle and moral worth. He died 22nd August, 1773.

[136] Boswell has inserted this anecdote in his Life of Dr. Johnson. Sir James Macdonald, Bart., the “Scottish Marcellus,” was eighth baronet of Sleat, and male representative of the Lords of the Isles. Born in 1741, he early distinguished himself at Eton by the variety of his accomplishments, and high hopes were entertained of his career. He was unhappily seized with a complication of disorders, of which he died on the 26th July, 1766, at the age of twenty-five.

[137] This anecdote is included by Boswell in his “Life of Johnson.”

[138] James Quin, the player, was extremely pugnacious; he fought two duels, in one of which he killed his antagonist. His latter years, on his partial retirement from the stage, were spent at Bath. He died on the 21st January, 1766, aged seventy-three.

[139] Boswell has published this anecdote in his “Life of Johnson.”

[140] Boswell was on terms of friendship with the Rev. Dr. James Fordyce, author of “Addresses to the Deity.” He died at Bath on the 1st October, 1796. His nephew, Dr. George Fordyce, an eminent physician in the metropolis, became in 1774 a member of the Literary Club. He published numerous professional works, and died 25th May, 1802.

[141] Miss Margaret Stewart, eldest daughter of Sir Michael Stewart, Bart., of Blackhall, married in 1764 Sir William Maxwell, Bart., of Springkell. She had a younger sister, Eleanora, who died unmarried.

[142] Voltaire visited England in 1724, when Dr. Samuel Clarke was in the zenith of his fame. His “Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion” appeared in 1705, and was followed by other theological and philosophical works. Dr. Clarke was born at Norwich in 1675, and died in 1729. He displayed a playful humour among his ordinary associates, but was grave and circumspect in the presence of strangers, especially of forward or eccentric persons.

[143] With the Rev. William Brown, minister of the Scottish Church at Utrecht, Boswell became acquainted during his residence in that city. Mr. Brown had a personal history, not uneventful. Son of the Rev. Laurence Brown, minister of Lintrathen in Forfarshire, he rescued when a theological student several officers captured by the rebels at the battle of Prestonpans. The rescue took place at Glammis, the captors being followers of Lord Ogilvie, a zealous adherent of the Prince. Soon afterwards Mr. Brown was ordained minister of Cortachy, a parish inhabited by Lord Ogilvie’s tenantry. Reports to his disadvantage soon spread, and in 1748 he demitted his charge on account of “the odium of the disaffected, the prejudices of the people, and his life being attacked by a ruffian.” Through the influence of the Duke of Cumberland he was appointed chaplain to a British regiment stationed in Flanders, and was subsequently admitted pastor of the Scottish church at Utrecht. In 1757 he received a commission from the Crown as Professor of Church History at St. Andrews, but he did not obtain induction for several years; his appointment, on account of the rumours at Cortachy, being resisted both by the university and the presbytery. He was at length admitted by decree of the General Assembly. His lectures were composed in Latin, but his theological attainments were less conspicuous than his patriotism. He died on the 10th January, 1791, aged seventy-two. His son was the celebrated William Laurence Brown, Principal of Marischal College, Aberdeen.

[144] The Rev. Thomas Hunter, minister of New Cumnock, Ayrshire, from 1706 to 1757, died in 1760, in his hundredth year.—_Dr. Scott’s “Fasti.”_

[145] Sir David Dalrymple, Bart., a judge in the Court of Session by the title of Lord Hailes, was one of Boswell’s earliest patrons. Admitted advocate in 1748, he was raised to the bench in 1766. He employed a portion of his time in literary and historical researches. He died on the 29th November, 1792, aged sixty-six (see _supra_ p. 10).

[146] Theodore Tronchin belonged to an eminent Protestant family at Geneva. On the mother’s side he was related to Lord Bolingbroke. Born on the 14th May, 1709, he studied medicine, and settled at Amsterdam in 1736. He attained eminence in his profession, chiefly as a promoter of inoculation. In 1757 he published “De Colica Pictorum.” He died 30th November, 1781.

[147] Boswell’s Journal was probably destroyed by his family. (See _supra_, p. 186.)

[148] Almack’s Hotel was thus originated: A sister of Dr. Cullen, the celebrated physician, was waiting-maid to the Duchess of Hamilton. She married the duke’s valet, whose name was Macall. They were both favourites of the duke and duchess, who resolved to establish them comfortably. As they inclined to open an hotel in London, the duke secured eligible premises. Macall was deemed a name unsuited for a London landlord, and on the duke’s suggestion it was changed to Almack.

[149] Helen Dempster, only sister of George Dempster, M.P., married General Burlington. On the death of her brother without issue, in 1818, she succeeded to the family estate of Dunnichen.

[150] An amiable man, but crushing satirist, Caleb Whitefoord was born at Edinburgh in 1734. He was intended for the Scottish Church, but preferring the concerns of business, settled in London as a wine merchant. He contributed satirical poems, in prose and verse, to the _Public Advertiser_, directing his shafts chiefly against Wilkes. He attracted the notice of Government, and on his recommendation Dr. Johnson was requested to prepare his pamphlet in defence of the recent negotiations respecting the Falkland Islands. He was secretary of the commissioners appointed to meet at Paris in 1782, to treat of a general peace with America on the separation of the colonies from the mother country. He latterly received a Civil List pension, and was honoured with the diplomas of the Royal and other societies. He is described by Goldsmith in his poem, “The Retaliation.” He died in 1809, aged seventy-five.

[151] The Rev. John Home, author of “Douglas,” was born at Ancrum, Roxburghshire, on the 22nd September, 1722. Having studied for the Church, he was in 1741 ordained minister of Athelstaneford. During the previous year he distinguished himself as member of a volunteer corps in support of Government; he was taken prisoner by the rebels at the battle of Falkirk, but contrived to escape from Doune Castle, where he was confined. In 1755 he produced his tragedy of “Douglas,” which soon became popular. On account of encouraging theatricals, he was assailed by his clerical brethren: he escaped deposition by resigning his charge. He obtained a Civil List pension of £300, with the sinecure office of conservator of Scots privileges at Campvere. He died 5th September, 1808, in his eighty-sixth year.

[152] A younger son of William, second Earl of Aberdeen.

[153] Secretary to the Prussian Embassy.