Boswell, James

Boswell, James (1740–95). Writer. Educated at Edinburgh High School and Edinburgh University, the son of Lord Auchinleck, Boswell owes his significance to the writer and poet Samuel Johnson. Their friendship enabled him to write Life of Johnson (1791) as well as Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785). Boswell's non-Johnsonian literary achievement was his Account of Corsica (1768). The Life is a milestone in English literature. It provides witty yet profound insights into one of Britain's finest writers and a strong flavour of 18th-cent. society. The power of Johnson's personality shines through every page. However, Boswell and Johnson met for the first time only in 1763 with the latter already in his fifties, and though they had a strong friendship, they were not as inseparable as the Life may suggest. Boswell was a vain man who found it difficult to control his emotions, being prone to depression, drink, and whoring. He was a fame hunter, obsequious to his targets (notably Corsican General Paoli, the reckless politician John Wilkes, and Johnson), but occasionally rude and haughty to those he considered ‘lesser men’. He lacked sufficient dedication to be a successful lawyer and his hopes of entering Parliament were never realized. Without Johnson, Boswell's life would have been one of high but unfulfilled aspirations.

Andrew Iain Lewer