2»d s. No 72., May 16. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



381 



LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 16. 1857. 

 BOSWELIi's LEXTEBS TO THE REV. W. J. TEMPLE. 



There are many curious passages of ephemeral 

 allusion in the accidentally discovered, and re- 

 cently published, letters of James Boswell, which 

 would doubtless add to the interest and value of 

 the book, if ventilated in the pages of " N. & Q." 

 I shall beg leave to start the game by subjoining 

 the result of some researches relative to the 

 identity of Boswell's '■^'La belle Irlandaise." 

 (p. 154.) It is, perhaps, better worth insertion 

 than certain vague and unsatisfactory speculations 

 as to the drift of other allusions in the corre- 

 spondence which an English critic has elsewhere 

 volunteered. 



An impression has latterly gained ground, 

 among a class of unreflective persons, that the 

 documents in question are not genuine, and that 

 the editor has been imposed upon like Robert 

 Browning, as in the case of the letters of (?) 

 Percy Bysshe Shelley. Boswell's letters bear un- 

 doubted internal evidence of authenticity ; and it 

 is not possible for any person of real literary 

 knowledge or experience to doubt their genuine 

 character after a careful examination of them. 



In January last I had some correspondence 

 with the editor of Boswell. One of my letters 

 embodied the following " mem." The editor, in 

 reply, assured me that he intended to print it in 

 his second edition, the first having been then 

 almost exhausted. The publisher has since de- 

 cided, however, upon not risking a second edition 

 this season, and with the editor's concurrence, I 

 print in " N. & Q." the substance of the letter 

 referred to. The editor asked me whether I had 

 formed any opinion as to who Boswell's flame, 

 " La belle Mandaise" is, and if I should advise 

 the retention of the foot-note (p. 154.), which says 

 that " although she answers in some respects to 

 the description given of Mrs. Boswell, the two 

 cannot safely be identified." 



I directed the attention of some literary friends 

 to Boswell's letter, dated Aug. 24, 1768, de- 

 scribing "ia belle Irlandaise, in whom every 

 flower is united, and not a thorn to be found," 

 and asked their opinion as to who she could have 

 been ; but they smiled at the idea of being able to 

 trace the lady after, the lapse of such a consider- 

 able period, and declared that she must have been 

 some Dublin beauty of her day, probably for- 

 gotten ere the last century reached its termination. 



Having given a f^vi hours' thought and research 

 to the subject, I at length satisfied myself upon it, 

 and I trust that your correspondents may agree 

 with me. " She is cousin to some cousins of 

 mine," writes Boswell, " in this county [Ayr- 

 shire], I was at their house while she and her 



father were over upon a visit." Boswell's aunt, 

 Veronica, married David Montgomery, of Lain- 

 shaw, in Ayrshire. (Debrett's Baronetage, p. 

 407., 7th ed.) Burke's History of the Commoners 

 (vol. ii. p. 36.) also alludes to this alliance between 

 the houses of Boswell and Montgomery. The 

 connexion subsequently became double. Boswell 

 goes on to say, " La belle Irlandaise is just six- 

 teen, accomplished, with a Dublin education, her 

 father a barrister with lOOOZ. per annum, and 

 10,O00Z. ready money." "All i\iQ Scotch cousins 

 think I may be the happy man." 



From the list of Irish barristers recorded in 

 Watson's Dublin Directory for 1768, I observe 

 that " Archibald M'^Neil Montgomery " was called 

 to the bar in Hilary Term, 1756. I have no 

 doubt that this gentleman was the father of Bos- 

 well's La belle Irlandaise. The Montgomerys of 

 Ayrshire (her " cousins ") were nearly related to 

 Archibald Montgomery, Earl of Eglinton *, and the 

 Irish " Counsellor " was evidently called after his 

 lordship. Boswell mentions that the " charming 

 Mary Anne " was " always half the year in the 

 north of Ireland." Burke's History of the Landed 

 Gentry, p. 876., refers to a branch of the Ayrshire 

 family of Montgomery, which settled in the north 

 of Ireland, and has been seated for several ge- 

 nerations at Grey Abbey, in the co. Down. An- 

 other branch of the same stock (raised to a 

 baronetage in 1808) is mentioned by Debrett 

 (p. 336.) as having been established for two cen- 

 turies in Donegal. It was with these relations in 

 the north of Ireland, doubtless, that the fair 

 Irlandaise chiefly resided. Her father's city ad- 

 dress, Nicholas Street, is given for the first time 

 in Watson's Directory for 1765. In 1769 it 

 appears to have been " King Street, Stephen's 

 Green." In 1775 he removed to Barrack Street, 

 and at a late period to Capel Street. In 1776 we 

 find Mr. Montgomery decorated with a star, or 

 asterisk prefixed to his name, denoting, as an 

 editorial note informs the reader, that he " had 

 retired from the Bar." The " worthy counsel- 

 lor's" 10,000Z. in ready money, and 1000/. a-year, 

 rendered him, I should suppose, indiflTerent to 

 professional emolument, and disinclined for the 

 labour attendant upon it. In 1786 Archibald 

 Montgomery's name vanishes ; from which we 

 may infer that he had died the previous year. 



Some Irish readers of the present day may 

 smile at the idea of a barrister of good fortune 

 residing in Nicholas Street, Barrack Street, or 

 King Street, Dublin. In the last century, how- 

 ever, Irish barristers constantly established them- 

 selves in what we would now be disposed to re- 

 gard as strange localities. By the Directory of 

 the day, we find that Messrs. Burroughs, Cruik- 

 shank, Darley, Dixon, Prendergast, and Kings- 



* The present Earl of Eglinton's name is Archibald 

 Montgomery. ; 



