Author: Boswell, James
Biography:
BOSWELL, James (1740-85: ODNB)
He was the father of Alexander Boswell and uncle of Robert Boswell (qq.v.). Best-known now for his monumental Life of Samuel Johnson, he also wrote verse which was published pre-1770. The poem listed here, No Abolition of Slavery, or, The Universal Empire of Love (1791), was long believed to be lost or suppressed. It is dedicated to “West-India Planters” and uneasily blends harsh political criticism of abolitionists with a celebration of love. It also argues for the inevitability of slavery: “Slavery, subjection, what you will,/ Has ever been, and must be still.” Boswell was born in Edinburgh on 29 Oct. 1740, the eldest son of Alexander Boswell, Lord Auchinleck (d 1782), and his first wife Euphemia Erskine (d 1766). He was educated at James Mundell’s school in Edinburgh and by tutors before studying at Edinburgh university (1753-59). His father, with whom he had a difficult relationship, intended him for the law but from an early age Boswell was attracted by literary pursuits. Although he eventually became a Scottish advocate (1766), Boswell also took a tour of Europe and alternated living in Scotland with living in London where, in 1763, he met Samuel Johnson for the first time. He published An Account of Corsica in 1768 and its success first ensured his fame: he became known as Corsica Boswell. He married Margaret Montgomerie of Lainshaw on 25 Nov. 1769, the same day that his father remarried. He and Margaret had five surviving children. As his friendship with Johnson developed, he kept in mind the idea of writing his biography. In 1773 the two men went on a tour of the highlands and Hebrides; Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides was published in 1785, a year after Johnson’s death. He became the ninth laird of the Auchinleck estate in 1782 but the property was a financial burden in part because of his father’s extensive settlements on his widow. Margaret died in 1789 and Boswell moved the family to London where he established a home at 47 Great Portland Street. The first edition of his Life of Johnson was published in 1791 and Boswell prepared the second in 1793. In Apr. 1795 he became severely ill in London and died, possibly of uraemia, on 19 May 1795. He was interred in the family vault at Auchinleck on 8 June 1795. His middle daughter, Euphemia (1774-1837), sought a career as a writer and composed an opera which was never performed. She applied to the RLF in 1811 and was initially granted £10 as Boswell's daughter. (ODNB 8 Aug. 2023; DNB; C. Rogers, Boswelliana 1874; ESTC; RLF file 269) SR
Other Names:
- James Boswell, the elder