James Boswell

NAME James Boswell

WHAT FAMOUS FOR James Boswell is best known as the biographer of Dr Samuel Johnson, producing The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791), which remains one of the most celebrated biographies ever written. His candid diaries also offer a vivid and often unfiltered portrait of 18th-century life.

BIRTH James Boswell was born on October 29, 1740 (in Blair's Land on the east side of Parliament Close behind St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland. 

FAMILY BACKGROUND Boswell came from an ancient and distinguished Ayrshire family. The Boswells had held the barony of Auchinleck since 1504, when King James IV granted the estate to Thomas Boswell following his marriage to a daughter of Sir John Auchinleck. The family had greatly improved its position through intermarriage with the first ranks of Scottish nobility.

His father, Alexander Boswell (1707-1782), was a successful advocate who was raised to the bench in 1754 with the judicial title of Lord Auchinleck, becoming a judge in the Court of Session, Scotland's supreme civil court, and in 1755 he became Lord Justiciary. He was described as a strict Presbyterian Whig, practical, cold, and stern in temperament. Alexander attended the University of Edinburgh and read Civil Law at the University of Leyden in Holland. His coldness made Boswell's childhood unhappy. 

His mother, Euphemia Erskine (1718-1766), Lady Auchinleck, was descended from a minor branch of Scottish royalty. She was a strict Calvinist.

After Euphemia's death in 1766, Alexander married his cousin Elizabeth Boswell on the same day as his son James's marriage in 1769.

As the eldest son, James was heir to the family estate of Auchinleck in Ayrshire, eventually inheriting the title of 9th Laird of Auchinleck in 1782 upon his father's death. He had two brothers: John, who joined the Army but was obliged to resign on the grounds of insanity, and (Thomas) David (1748–1826), who was a merchant trading with Spain before becoming head of the Prize Department of the Navy.

CHILDHOOD Boswell's childhood was not a happy one. He was a delicate child who suffered from a nervous ailment that would afflict him sporadically throughout his life. Modern scholars, including Kay Jamison, Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins, in her book Touched with Fire, believe Boswell may have suffered from bipolar disorder. He had his first episode of low spirits when he was 16, being afflicted by a terrible bout of hypochondria.

In 1752, when he was twelve, Boswell suffered a serious affliction and was confined to the town of Moffat in northern Dumfriesshire. This afforded him his first experience of genuine society. His recovery was rapid and complete, and Boswell may have decided that travel and entertainment exerted a calming therapeutic effect on him. For a long period after this illness, he was so afraid of ghosts that he could not sleep alone.

The family lived in Edinburgh when the court was in session, and in spring and summer they lived on the family estate at Auchinleck, where James enjoyed riding with his father and planting trees. Samuel Johnson is reported to have remarked: "Boswell in the year 1745 was a fine boy, wore a white cockade, and prayed for King James, till one of his uncles (General Cochran) gave him a shilling on condition that he would pray for King George, which he accordingly did."

EDUCATION At the age of five, he was sent to James Mundell's academy, an advanced institution by the standards of the time, where he was instructed in English, Latin, writing, and arithmetic. However, Boswell was unhappy there, suffering from nightmares and extreme shyness. Consequently, he was removed from the academy at the age of eight and educated by a string of private tutors at home. The most notable and supportive of these was John Dunn, who exposed Boswell to modern literature, such as The Spectator essays, and religion.

At the age of thirteen in 1753, Boswell was enrolled in the Arts course at Edinburgh University, where he studied from 1753 to 1758. During this time he met fellow students John Johnston and William Temple, who both became his lifelong friends.

In 1756, whilst at university, he suffered a nervous breakdown and was sent to recuperate to the border village of Moffat. He did not settle back into student life following his illness. In 1758, he returned to Edinburgh University to study law. However, at eighteen years of age, much to the dismay of his father, he developed a great love for the theatre and fell for an Irish Catholic actress some ten years his senior.

This was the last straw for his father, who banished him to the University of Glasgow in 1759, where he attended the lectures of the great Enlightenment philosopher Adam Smith. Still under the influence of his Catholic mistress, he decided to convert to Catholicism. In Presbyterian Scotland and with a Calvinistic father, this was tantamount to political suicide for his future—as a Catholic in Scotland, detached from the Presbyterian Church, he could not serve in the military, hold public office, or inherit property. When his father learned of this, he ordered him home, but Boswell did not obey and ran away to London in 1760.

After being brought back by his father from London, Boswell was re-enrolled at Edinburgh University in the faculty of law. His father forced him to sign away most of his inheritance in exchange for an annual allowance of £100. He studied law from 1760 until 1762, seeking release from boredom in gallantry, in a waggish society called the Soaping Club, and in scribbling. His publications during this period (many in verse and most of them anonymous) give no indication of conspicuous talent. He passed his trials in civil law in July 1762, qualifying as an advocate.

In 1763-1764, Boswell studied civil law at the University of Utrecht in Holland, though he found the town too provincial. 

James Boswell by George Willison in Rome in 1765. 

CAREER RECORD Advocate/Lawyer 1766-1786 Boswell was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates on July 26, 1766, and practiced law at Edinburgh. His legal career was inconsistent; though he had some success, his temperament and literary passions often distracted him.

1768 Boswell published An Account of Corsica, The Journal of a Tour to That Island; and Memoirs of Pascal Paoli, which brought him immediate fame.

1785 Following Samuel Johnson's death, he published The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, with Samuel Johnson, LL.D., which was a bestseller

1786 Disliking the narrow provincialism of Scotland more and more, Boswell determined to transfer to the English bar. In 1786 he was called to the Inner Temple. Thereafter he had almost no legal practice, and his principal activity became writing the Life of Johnson.

1791 His masterpiece The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. was published in two volumes on May 16, 1791, in two quarto volumes, with 1,750 copies printed

APPEARANCE Boswell was of medium height (around 5 feet 7 inches) with a round, expressive face, dark hair and eyes and somewhat plump later in life. He had a round, expressive face. 

Portrait of James Boswell by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1785

FASHION Boswell was fond of dressing fashionably, sometimes extravagantly, though he could also be slovenly when depressed or drinking heavily.. On the Continent, he adopted flamboyant tastes, partly to impress his social betters. While traveling in Germany in 1764, he "loved to deck himself in velvet of five colours and preen himself conspicuously," enjoying splendour and show. Yet he also had "a wide earthy streak in his nature that made it positive pleasure to him to ride through the night in a jolting cart, or to sleep in his clothes ten nights running on the floors of inns or in haylofts."  (1)

His most famous fashion statement was in 1769, when he appeared at the Shakespeare Jubilee in Stratford-upon-Avon wearing an elegant suit and pistols that had been given to him by Pasquale Paoli, dressed as an armed Corsican chief with the words "Corsica Boswell" inscribed on the outside of his hat.

CHARACTER James Boswell was a man of contradictions — charming and maddening in equal measure, a mix of brilliance and self-sabotage that made him both unforgettable and, at times, unbearable. He could be the life of the party one moment and wallowing in despair the next, an endlessly fascinating tangle of ego, intellect, and insecurity.

Boswell was famously outgoing and social, the kind of person who would go to great lengths just to meet someone famous. He had an almost compulsive need to be in the company of notable people — and to record every detail of those encounters. Conversation was his oxygen. He thrived in the company of others and had a remarkable knack for putting people at ease.

His diaries reveal a mind both candid and forensic. Boswell had an uncanny ability to observe human behavior, including his own, with almost clinical precision. He didn’t shy away from documenting his flaws, weaknesses, and moral lapses. In fact, he dissected them with such honesty that reading his journals sometimes feels like eavesdropping on therapy sessions centuries ahead of their time.

But beneath the charm and the chatter was a man plagued by darkness. Boswell suffered from bouts of depression and anxiety that often left him feeling lost and despondent. He was prone to dramatic mood swings and periods of self-recrimination, which he also dutifully recorded in painful detail.

He was also, by his own admission, lustful and self-indulgent. His journals are full of accounts of heavy drinking, gambling, and visits to prostitutes — all described with startling frankness for an 18th-century gentleman. His appetite for pleasure was as insatiable as his appetite for approval.

SPEAKING VOICE Boswell's speaking voice and accent were subjects of considerable concern to him throughout his life. He spoke with a Scottish accent, which he regarded as unacceptable evidence of his lack of self-control, politeness, and even moral probity. He took diction classes from Thomas Sheridan in an attempt to rid himself of his Scottish accent, though with limited success.

He noted in his journals: "the Scotch tones and roaring freedom of manners which I heard today disgusted me a good deal. I am always resolving to study propriety of conduct." His attitude toward Scottish speech was intensified by anti-Scottish sentiment in London, particularly during the contentious appointment of the Scottish Earl of Bute as Prime Minister in 1762.

Boswell's voice was noted for its expressiveness and animation when he was excited about a subject. His love of conversation and ability to engage others in discussion was one of his most valuable qualities, even if his accent marked him as Scottish.

SENSE OF HUMOUR Boswell possessed a lively and often self-deprecating sense of humor. He was capable of wit, playfulness, and comic observation, though his humor was sometimes mixed with vanity and self-absorption. His journals reveal a man who could laugh at himself while also taking himself very seriously. 

Boswell's humor often emerged in his interactions with Samuel Johnson, where he would deliberately bait the great man to produce memorable responses. His famous first exchange with Johnson demonstrates this playful quality: when introduced and his Scottish nationality revealed, Boswell said, "Mr. Johnson, I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it," to which Johnson replied, "That, Sir, I find, is what a very great many of your countrymen cannot help."

Boswell composed bawdy songs and enjoyed theatrical performances and witty conversation. 

RELATIONSHIPS Boswell married his first cousin, Margaret Montgomerie, on November 25, 1769 in London. The witnesses to their marriage included Archibald Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas, Samuel Johnson, and the Corsican statesman Pasquale Paoli. Margaret was born around 1738 at Lainshaw in Ayrshire and had inherited an annuity worth £100 per year.

Boswell described Margaret as a "heathen goddess" and was often jealous when he thought she was too friendly with other men. However, he subjected her to gross double standards, as his own unfaithfulness with women resulted in at least two illegitimate children before their marriage—Charles Boswell (born to Peggy Doig in 1762, died 1764) and Sally (daughter of Mrs. Dodds, born around 1767-1768, probably died in infancy). 

Once married, their social life was based at their house in James Court in Edinburgh. 

James and Margaret had five children who survived to adulthood: Veronica (1773–1795), Euphemia (1774-ca. 1834), Alexander called Sandy (1775–1822), James the younger (1778–1822), and Elizabeth known as 'Betsy' (1780–1814). Two other sons died in infancy. Despite his many failings as a husband, his five children loved him deeply.

James and Margaret Boswell and three of their children

Margaret died at Auchinleck House on June 4, 1789 (aged about 51) from tuberculosis, just before her husband arrived after rushing from London to be with her. 

Boswell was compulsively unfaithful, picking up prostitutes throughout his life and feeling bad about it afterward. He contracted gonorrhea at least nineteen separate times during his life, according to his own journal entries. His treatment of women ranged from romantic idealization to crude exploitation.

Margaret would respond to his unfaithfulness by refusing his advances in what he called "a divorce," but she always forgave him in time. Their marriage, while affectionate on her part, was strained by Boswell's repeated infidelities and his insistence on living in London, which was terrible for her health.

His most famous friendship was with Samuel Johnson, whom he first met on May 16, 1763 in Thomas Davies's bookshop near Covent Garden in London. About three months after his first meeting with Doctor Johnson, James Boswell left for The Netherlands to study Law at Utrecht University. Despite an inauspicious beginning and a thirty-one-year age gap, they quickly became friends, though they spent no more than about 250 days together over their twenty-one-year friendship. 

Johnson gave Boswell the nickname "Bozzy." They both loved talking about literary matters and were both subject to bouts of melancholia. Boswell and Johnson parted in London, at Bolt Court, on Wednesday, June 30, 1784, with manly but heartfelt restraint. Johnson's last words to his friend included: "Nay, Sir…Endeavor to be as perfect as you can in every respect."

Other important friendships included John Johnston and William Temple from his university days, both lifelong friends. He cultivated relationships with many prominent figures including David Hume, Rousseau, Voltaire, John Wilkes, Edmund Burke, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Oliver Goldsmith, and General Pasquale Paoli.

MONEY AND FAME Despite coming from a wealthy landowning family, Boswell struggled financially throughout his life. His father provided him with an annual allowance of £100 (after forcing him to sign away most of his inheritance early on), and his wife Margaret also had an annuity of £100 per year. However, the couple were in debt throughout their marriage.

When he inherited the Auchinleck estate in 1782 (comprising approximately 20,000 acres), he managed it with attention and some shrewdness, yet he continued to face financial difficulties. Though straitened in income, Boswell gave his children expensive educations. His failure as a lawyer in London and his expensive education of his five children strained his finances considerably.

Boswell achieved considerable fame during his lifetime, though not always in a way that brought him satisfaction. His Account of Corsica (1768) made him famous across Europe. He appeared at social events capitalizing on this fame, most notably at the 1769 Shakespeare Jubilee.

The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785) was a bestseller but provoked charges of personal fatuity. The Life of Johnson (1791) brought him intense literary fame, with King George III himself saying, "I have read Boswell's book which is well written." The work was from the beginning a universal critical and popular success, though contemporary criticism set a pattern of acclaim for the work and derision for its author.

Despite his literary successes, Boswell felt himself to be a failure, particularly in his legal and political ambitions. His eccentricities of manner seemed merely self-indulgent, and his habit of getting drunk and noisy at other people's tables made him a difficult guest. People were afraid to talk freely in his presence, fearing their conversations would be reported.

FOOD AND DRINK Boswell enjoyed good food and the convivial atmosphere of dining with friends. He was a member of several dining clubs, including the London Catch Club (a men's singing and drinking fraternity) and The Club founded by Joshua Reynolds, which met regularly for dinner and conversation. These social dining occasions were central to his lifestyle and provided material for his biographical and journal writings. In his last letter to his son Sandy before his death, he wrote: "I am caressed without any interested view in this liberal metropolis. I have had one or two capital dinners at my house. I shall have some when you come." (1)

A literary party at Sir Joshua Reynolds' – 1781, including Boswell at left.

Boswell had a serious problem with alcohol throughout his adult life. He was never a solitary drinker but became notorious for getting drunk and noisy at other people's tables. On one occasion he fell off his horse while drunk and bruised his shoulder so badly he spent a week in bed His drinking increased in his later years and became one of several factors contributing to his early death. 

MUSIC AND ARTS Boswell had a genuine love for music and was an enthusiastic amateur musician. He played the German flute (an early type of transverse flute) and reported in a letter to Rousseau on  October 3, 1765 that while visiting Florence, Italy, he had played his instrument. During his visit to Corsica, the locals asked him to play his flute, and though he protested he played "very ill" by genteel company standards, he immediately complied with their request, recognizing that different social contexts called for different behaviors.

He was a member of the London Catch Club, a men's singing and drinking fraternity, and frequently sang songs in social settings. He would spontaneously compose songs, including bawdy ditties. His journals reveal extensive documentation of oral performances of songs across various social settings, showing how songs sung and cited invoked shared cultural experiences.

Theatre: Boswell had a passionate love for the theatre from his youth.  He was a particularly enthusiastic playgoer and an obvious "ham" who constructed himself theatrically in the scenes he depicted in his writings. He seemed to have staged himself as prominently as possible in the "real life" his writings represented. (1)

One of his favorite plays was John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728), and he dressed up as its rakish hero Macheath on more than one occasion and often referred to the play and its songs. The theatre functioned as an important reference point in his social discourse and literary commentary.

He had a keen interest in painting and architecture, often commenting on these subjects in his journals and travel accounts.

WRITINGS James Boswell was one of those rare people who managed to turn the act of writing about other people — and, quite often, himself — into an art form of lasting brilliance. His literary output was as substantial as it was eclectic. His Account of Corsica (1768) made him famous almost overnight, establishing him as a man who could wring international acclaim from a travelogue about a relatively obscure island. Then came The Hypochondriack essays (published between 1777 and 1783), a series of seventy confessions in which Boswell turned his own melancholy into both subject and cure. Writing, for him, was therapy — a way of prodding at his anxieties with a quill rather than a scalpel.

His Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785), chronicling his travels with Dr. Samuel Johnson, is often regarded as his most charming work — a delightful portrait of two utterly mismatched traveling companions trudging through windblown landscapes and whisky-fueled conversations. 

Yet his undisputed masterpiece came six years later with The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791), a biography so vivid and humane that it more or less redefined what a biography could be. Boswell didn’t just tell you what Johnson said — he made you feel as if you were sitting in the same room, eavesdropping on the great man as he thundered his opinions into the air.

That same year, however, Boswell also managed to demonstrate his capacity for terrible judgment by publishing No Abolition of Slavery; Or the Universal Empire of Love: A Poem, a pro-slavery work that has aged about as well as milk in the sun.

But the true jewel in Boswell’s legacy lies in his private journals, which cover more than thirty years (1762–1795) and fill eighteen volumes in their Yale University edition. They have completely reshaped our understanding of eighteenth-century life — not through grand historical commentary, but through the messy, funny, painfully honest details of one man’s existence.

Boswell’s genius was not in invention but in observation. He revolutionized biography by abandoning pompous prose and adopting the rhythms of conversation. He captured speech, quirks, and human absurdities with the eye of a novelist and the ear of a gossip. His trick was simple but transformative: he wrote about each event as though it were happening in real time, never letting hindsight smooth over the rough edges. From the age of twenty, he kept daily journals filled with sharp impressions and self-revelation — a lifelong chronicle of the eternal tug-of-war between ambition, vanity, and the better angels of his nature.

It’s tempting to imagine him writing it all down with a glass of wine in one hand, a sigh in his heart, and a faint smirk on his face — fully aware that no one before or since would ever be quite as candid, or as complicated, as James Boswell.

LITERATURE Boswell was deeply engaged with literature throughout his life, both as a consumer and producer. From childhood, his tutor John Dunn exposed him to modern literature such as The Spectator essays. At university, he had a thorough grounding in classical literature, Greek and Latin texts. Samuel Johnson recommended that he read Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy as therapeutic reading for his depression.

NATURE Boswell's relationship with natural scenery was complex and shaped by both his Augustan philosophical training and his Scottish patriotism. He was not primarily interested in landscape for its own sake—he was "preoccupied with Man and his culture" and believed that landscapes needed human figures to give them animation. This was characteristic of both his Augustan humanism and the dramatic nature of his writings.

As a Scot, Boswell had patriotic sentiments aroused by the Scottish Highlands, particularly locations where events of the Jacobite uprising of 1745 took place. For him, these places became sublime and striking scenery through their historical associations. He was more "Rousseauesque" than Johnson in his appreciation of the natural ways of life in the Highlands and recognized "something of a paradise on earth in the patriarchal simplicity of the Highland society and culture." This dialectical understanding of landscape and history, of the picturesque and the patriotic, reflected his dual nature as both an Enlightenment figure and a romantic Scottish patriot. (2)

PETS An early modern reference to the Pomeranian dog breed appears in his Grand Tour diary. On November 2, 1764, Boswell wrote: “The Frenchman had a Pomeranian dog named Pomer whom he was mighty fond of.” (3)

Boswell's famous biography contains extensive descriptions of Samuel Johnson's fondness for his cat Hodge. Boswell admitted to having "an antipathy to a cat" and frequently suffered "a good deal from the presence of this same Hodge," yet he recorded Johnson's affection for the animal with detailed observation. 

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Boswell enjoyed riding horses, an activity he shared with his father during summers at Auchinleck. However, his riding was sometimes hampered by his drinking—on one occasion he fell off his horse while drunk and bruised his shoulder so badly he spent a week in bed.

He was a founding member of the Soaping Club, a jovial society that met weekly in a tavern. He was also a member of various other clubs including the London Catch Club and The Club founded by Joshua Reynolds, which met regularly for dinner and conversation.

He was a passionate and frequent theatre-goer throughout his life.

Boswell loved traveling and considered it therapeutic for his hypochondria. His travels included multiple visits to London, his Grand Tour of Europe (1763-1766), and his journey to the Hebrides with Johnson.

Boswell and Johnson in the Scottish Highlands

SCIENCE AND MATHS Boswell had little interest in scientific or mathematical study, preferring philosophy, politics, and conversation.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Born into a strict Presbyterian household with a Calvinist mother, Boswell found Calvin's theology distasteful. In 1760, at age nineteen, after reading Catholic materials and under the influence of a Catholic actress, he converted to Catholicism. This caused enormous family distress—as a Catholic in Scotland, he could not serve in the military, hold public office, or inherit property. His father quickly forced him to recant.

However, the Church of Rome continued to fascinate Boswell throughout his adult life. He was drawn to "the pomp of worship, the solemnity of high mass, the music, the wax lights, the odour of the frankincense." He would drop into chapels and Catholic churches wherever he visited. On meeting the Pope, he knelt and "with warm devotion adored my God and was grateful to the Savior of the World." (4)

On Christmas Day 1763, influenced by Johnson's piety, he received communion for the first time in the ambassador's chapel in The Hague, and became quite involved in his new-found Anglican faith for a period. 

Throughout his life, Boswell wrestled with religious doubts, fears of death, and questions about free will versus determinism. He engaged Johnson in extensive theological discussions, during which Johnson defended Catholic doctrines including the invocation of saints, purgatory, and transubstantiation.

Boswell's philosophical orientation was shaped by the Scottish Enlightenment, particularly through his studies with Adam Smith at Glasgow. He was drawn to David Hume's philosophy but struggled with its implications. Hume's view that passion should guide reason made sense to Boswell intellectually, but as one observer noted, "Boswell's passions were greatly immoderate" compared to Hume's mild temperament. Boswell needed to construct a stable character on the Johnsonian model and enlisted Johnson as a mentor for this purpose. His philosophy was fundamentally humanistic, focused on "Man and his culture" rather than abstract speculation. His intellectual approach combined Augustan rationalism with romantic sensibility, creating productive tensions in his thought. (1)

POLITICS Boswell's political views were those of an orthodox, at times extreme, Tory, though their origins were complicated by personal and psychological factors. He described himself as a "zealous Tory" and stood as a Tory parliamentary candidate for Ayrshire in 1784, though unsuccessfully. He believed in government, in the constitution, and in loyalty to church and to a limited monarchy. In his anonymous 1785 Letter to the People of Scotland, he argued that "the true friends to the constitution in Church and State should meet them [the Whigs] with the opposite name, as Tories."

Boswell served as the Recorder of Carlisle (a minor judicial position) from 1788-1790, but it ended in disaster when he was forced to resign after quarreling with his patron, the Earl of Lonsdale. 

His political Toryism was complicated by his sense of personal unworthiness and doubts over succeeding his father as laird of Auchinleck. These fears sustained his temperamental hypochondria with its self-contempt and visions of futility. Political success would have provided stability and proof of worthiness, but its absence undermined his faith in land, order, male succession, and political office.

SCANDAL Boswell's dissolute lifestyle was well-known and frequently discussed. His repeated bouts of venereal disease, his habitual drunkenness, and his frequenting of prostitutes were matters of public knowledge and private shame. His treatment of his wife—insisting they live in London despite it being terrible for her health, and his constant infidelities—reflected poorly on his character.

The publication of The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785) provoked the charge of "personal fatuity" that has dogged Boswell's name ever since. He deliberately defied the literary convention that no author who wishes respect may publish his own follies without suggesting compensatory strengths of character. He ruthlessly subordinated his own personality in his Johnsonian scenes, reporting the blows Johnson gave him without reassuring readers that he understood the implications.

Perhaps his most enduring scandal was his pro-slavery stance. Despite initially opposing slavery (he was part of the defense team in the Knight case that established slavery was illegal in Scotland in the 1770s, and attended a meeting of the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1787), Boswell reversed his position. In 1791, he published No Abolition of Slavery; Or the Universal Empire of Love: A Poem, attacking abolitionists including William Wilberforce, William Pitt, and Edmund Burke. This stood in stark contrast to Samuel Johnson, who was one of the most vocal critics of slavery and called for violent slave rebellions if necessary. 

By his later years, Boswell's eccentricities and behavior made him increasingly unwelcome in polite society. It was said that after the publication of the Life of Johnson (1791), he was "so effectively locked out of good society" that his last years were marked by social isolation despite his literary fame.

MILITARY RECORD Boswell had no military service, though he sought it. In 1762, having qualified as a lawyer, he went to London hoping to obtain a commission in the foot guards. Lord Auchinleck agreed that if he passed his trials in civil law, he would receive a supplementary annuity and be allowed to go to London to seek a commission through influence. Boswell passed the examination in July 1762.

However, Boswell soon realized that his plan to join the foot guards was not a practicable proposition, and he gave in to his father's wishes that he become a lawyer instead. His brief conversion to Catholicism in 1760 would have made military service impossible in any case, as Catholics in Scotland could not serve in the military, hold public office, or inherit property at that time.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Boswell's health was poor throughout much of his life, marked by multiple recurring ailments. He suffered from what he called "hypochondria" (depression or melancholy) throughout his life, with periods of severe despondency alternating with high spirits.  In 1763, at the age of 23, James Boswell suffered his first bout of hypochondria while studying in Holland, arriving in Utrecht suddenly plunged into worry, lassitude and depression.

Modern scholars believe he likely suffered from bipolar disorder or, more specifically, cyclothymic disorder. James Boswell was well known to have suffered from bouts of melancholia, as well as episodic drunkenness, sexual excesses, irritability, and euphoric self-absorption. He experienced fears of death, religious anxieties, and profound self-doubt. His temperamental hypochondria involved self-contempt and visions of futility.

Boswell followed medical convention in attributing his anxious torpor to a rich diet and lack of exercise; among the remedies he tried were early rising, vigorous exercise, regular dining hours and moderate but healthy sexual activity. Decades later, in The London Magazine, he wrote more than 70 articles in the persona of "The Hypochondriack"; writing, he claimed, was the only cure he had found for his hypochondria.

He contracted gonorrhea at least nineteen separate times during his life, according to his journal entries. These repeated infections caused him ongoing pain and discomfort throughout his adult life. These constant – eventually chronic – venereal infections never stopped him writing. Only depression, usually in Edinburgh, could do that.

HOMES Boswell was born in Blair's Land, Parliament Close, near St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh. This was the family's Edinburgh house, maintained to allow his father to carry out his role as a high court judge. The family lived there when the court was in session. The location gave easy access to the courts for his father who was a lawyer and later a judge. This property no longer exists as, with many old buildings, it succumbed to fire. After his marriage in 1769, James and Margaret's social life was based at their house in James Court in Edinburgh.

The family's principal residence was the estate at Auchinleck in Ayrshire, where the Boswells had been settled since the sixteenth century. The current Auchinleck House was built between 1755 and 1760 by Boswell's father, Lord Auchinleck (Alexander Boswell, 8th Laird of Auchinleck). It was designed as a neo-Classical country villa where Lord Auchinleck could retreat when the Edinburgh courts were out of session. The design was long thought to be by the Adam brothers and is comparable to nearby Dumfries House, which is known to be their work. In fact, Auchinleck is more likely to be an artisan house, designed by Lord Auchinleck himself in consultation with his master craftsmen. The estate journals confirm that the four wings that flank the house were not added until 1773-4, topped with the pavilions whose baroque design evokes Vanburgh.

Auchinleck House, Ayrshire by Brian D Osborne,

In spring and summer, young James enjoyed staying at Auchinleck, riding with his father and planting trees. James Boswell inherited Auchinleck Estate in 1782 at age 41, becoming the ninth laird. He made no changes to the house itself, although he continued his father's tree planting schemes. The house featured a magnificent library with elaborate plasterwork in the dining room, where Samuel Johnson famously crossed swords with Lord Auchinleck over politics during their 1773 visit. Boswell kept a "Book of Company and Liquors" recording the "social glee" at the house. In 1783, Margaret was at Auchinleck House where she catalogued the valuable library of books at the house.

Boswell maintained various lodgings in London during his frequent visits from 1760 onward. After moving his family to London in late 1788, he lived in various accommodations. His final residence was an apartment at Great Portland Street, where he died.

TRAVEL Boswell was a passionate and extensive traveler who found travel therapeutic for his hypochondria. His first visit to London at age nineteen in 1760 began a lifelong love affair with the city. He returned in 1762-1763 (his second London visit lasted from November 1762 to August 1763), during which he kept his famous London Journal and first met Samuel Johnson on 16 May 1763.

About three months after his first meeting with Doctor Johnson, James Boswell left for The Netherlands to study Law at Utrecht University (1763-1764). After studying law at Utrecht, Boswell embarked on an extensive Grand Tour. He spent the happiest days of his life visiting Berlin and several German courts during summer and fall of 1764, attending concerts, operas, and meeting nobility. He traveled to Switzerland where he met Rousseau and Voltaire. Rousseau suggested he visit Corsica, which proved transformative. He also traveled through France and Italy.

After having travelled around Germany, Switzerland and Italy for a year, Boswell decided to go to the Mediterranean island of Corsica in the fall of 1765. The island was at the time the scene of sporadic skirmishes between occupational forces from Genoa and France on the one side and a Corsican independence movement led by General Paoli on the other. In 1765, Boswell made his daring journey to Corsica during a period of military and social upheaval. He gained passage from Italy to Corsica on an English ship and joined only by his man-servant travelled to the interior of the island and the stronghold of the rebel forces.

He undertook a grueling 120-mile trek to meet General Pasquale Paoli, who initially suspected him of being a spy. The visit lasted nearly two weeks, during which Paoli treated him royally and gave him gifts including an elegant suit of clothes, pistols, and a dog. This journey provided material for his first major book and made him famous as "Corsica Boswell." In 1768 Boswell published his account of the visit and of his meeting with Paoli, who had by then gone into exile in London and who was to be a lifelong friend of Boswell's.

On August 6, 1773, eleven years after meeting Boswell, Johnson set out to visit his friend in Scotland for "a journey to the western islands of Scotland." They traveled through the Scottish Highlands and islands for 101 consecutive days, visiting locations including the Isle of Skye and Auchinleck. At the end of their tour, they stayed at Auchinleck House where Johnson famously crossed swords with Boswell's father over politics. This journey resulted in two published accounts: Johnson's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775) and Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785).

Throughout his life in Edinburgh, Boswell made cherished trips to London, though they were not annual until 1784 and were always made during the vacations. These trips were essential to his sense of identity and happiness. He was "the best traveling companion in the world" according to Johnson, combining enthusiasm, curiosity, and social skills that made him an ideal observer and recorder of his experiences.

DEATH James Boswell's death came somewhat suddenly, though it was the culmination of years of declining health due to alcoholism and venereal disease. On April 14, 1795, Boswell suddenly fell ill during a meeting at The Club and had to be taken home to his lodgings. From this time on, until his death, he suffered from fever, shiverings, headache and stomach disorder. Despite these severe symptoms, he remained confident of a recovery until the last, although unable to read, write or even leave his bed.

In his last letter to his son Alexander (Sandy), written during his final illness, he expressed characteristic optimism: "In truth I am wonderfully happy at present. What a varied life do I lead! I am caressed without any interested view in this liberal metropolis. I have had one or two capital dinners at my house. I shall have some when you come."

Boswell died in the early morning of May 19, 1795, in his London apartment at Great Portland Street. He was 54 years old. William Ober, in Boswell's Clap and Other Essays: Medical Analyses of Literary Men's Afflictions (1978), suggests that the actual cause of death was uraemia provoked by an acute recrudescence of chronic urinary tract infections, a consequence of his nineteen episodes of gonorrhea over the years, compounded by the effects of chronic alcoholism. 

Death took him by surprise "at the outset of a delightful London season," and he died apparently still looking forward to future social engagements. 

He was buried at Auchinleck a few weeks later, in the family mausoleum in what is now the old Auchinleck Kirkyard in Ayrshire, Scotland. His wife Margaret had predeceased him by six years , and he was survived by his five children.

The discovery in the 1920s-1950s of his vast collection of journals and papers at Malahide Castle in Ireland and Fettercairn House in Scotland—long thought to have been destroyed—transformed his posthumous reputation from that of an eccentric who happened to write a great biography to recognition as one of the most important diarists and biographical innovators in the English language.

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Boswell for the Defence (1983) was a BBC TV movie directed by Gareth Davies, with David McKail as James Boswell, based on a case from Boswell's journal. 

Boswell's London Journal (1984) was a spin-off production following the 1983 TV movie. 

Boswell & Johnson's Tour of the Western Isles (1993) was a TV production starring John Sessions as Boswell and Robbie Coltrane as Johnson, an entirely fictional account based very loosely on their 1773 journey to the Hebrides. 

Vladimir Nabokov's acclaimed poem/novel Pale Fire uses an anecdote about Johnson's cat Hodge from Boswell's Life of Johnson as its epigraph. 

"I am lost without my Boswell" has entered common usage, referring to an indispensable biographer or companion. Sherlock Holmes uses the phrase about Dr. Watson in A Scandal in Bohemia. 

The "Boswell Test" has been proposed as a new milestone for AI development, measuring whether AI can become an indispensable companion (as Boswell was to Johnson).

ACHIEVEMENTS Authored The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791): Generally considered the greatest biography in English.

Authored A Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785): A popular and enduring travelogue.

Authored An Account of Corsica (1768): A groundbreaking work of history and politics that brought him his first fame.

His detailed record-keeping provided an unparalleled window into the conversations, manners, and minds of his era.

The discovery and publication of his extensive, candid private journals in the 20th century revealed him as a literary figure of great complexity and honesty in his own right.

Sources: (1) The Life and Works of James Boswell (1740-1795). Calgary Burns Club, (2) Romantic Travellers in the Highlands 1770–1830 (3) Encyclopaedia of Trivia (4) The Catholic Thing