13803.] Memoir of Fames Bofwell, Eq. 
tain, fo that moft of the exports of the 
weitern territory mudt continue to find a 
vent through the channel of the Miffil 
fippi. . 
The defcent of the Ohio is fo extreme- 
ly rapid, that to navigate againit its cur- 
rent 18 impracticable ; and the fhoals and 
other impediments are fo numerous, that 
it would be extremely hazardous to ven- 
ture a cargo in a veffel which could go to 
D43 
fea. The natives, therefore, load their 
merchandize in boats, or ftow them on 
rafts, which can run down with the cur- 
rent at all feafons, and, with proper cau- 
tion, avoid all thofe impediments. The 
boats, or rafts, are rowed, or towed, with 
fetting poles, to New Orleans, where 
they are fold, and the goods depofited, 
until an opportunity of freight offers to 
the market for which they are fuitable, 
MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. 
MEMOIR of JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
AMES BOSWELL was. born about 
the year 1740. He was the eldeit fon of 
Alexander Bofwell of Auchinleck, the re- 
prefentative of a very ancient and refpect- 
able family, and one of the fenators of the 
College of Juftice, the fupreme civil court 
in Scotland. 
He received his early education at the 
{chools and in the univerfity of Edinburgh, 
where his father’s profeffional purfuits ne- 
ceflarily fixed his refidence. In his very 
boyifh years, he was diftinguifhed among 
his young companions for a quicknefs and 
precocity of parts, and for a playful viva- 
city of humour. During his attendance at 
the univerfity, the powers which he dif- 
played in his exercifes, and in the fo- 
cieties of his fellow-ftudents, ‘excited 
an applaufe which ‘warmed his opening 
mind with hopes of future literary great- 
nefs. 
Some eminent Scot{men, fuch as Hume, 
Kaimes, and Robertfon, had, about this 
time, diftinguifhed themfelves in litera- 
ture. Thofe ancient prejudices had been 
gradually effaced, by which the Scots 
were too long withheld from the liberal 
cultivation of every Englith art. A theatre 
for the exhibition of the works of the 
Englifh drama had, in fpite of prefbyte- 
rian prejudices, at length, begun to at- 
tra&, at Edinburgh, the refort of the 
leaders in the fphere of fafhion, Even 
the pleaders at the Scotrifh bar began to 
become ambitious of difcarding from their 
{peech the broad gabble of their native 
dialect, and anxioufly afked the players to 
tutor them to prattle Englith. The voice 
of fafhion, loudly echoing the fofter fug- 
geftions of academical erudition and talte, 
called all the gay and the young to cul- 
tivate and to prize elegant letters. 
Paffionately defirous to flutter and to 
fine among the young and fafhionable, 
as well as ambitious to merit the efteem 
of the learned, Bofwell, the farther he 
entered upon the fcenes of life, became 
fti]l more ardently the votary of wit and of 
the literary arts. ‘The greater number of 
the young men of fortune, in many coun- 
tries, are commonly fo idle, and of courfe 
fo filly, in the fir years of opening man- 
hood, that a very {mall portion of wit and 
common fenfe mut be eafily fufficient to 
conftitute a prodigy of parts among them, 
Bofwell, accordingly, found no difficulty 
in making himfelf the distator of a little 
circle. He was taught to believe himfelf 
a native genius, deftined to attain to all 
that was great in elegant literature, al- 
moft without the aid of ftudy. His fociety 
was eagerly courted; his fayings were re- 
peated; his little compofitions, however 
light and frivolous, were praifed, as flow- 
ing from an unrivalled felicity of humour, 
wit, and fancy. So much hafty applaufe 
would have been enough to fpoil any 
young man. Not pride, but the vanity of 
literary and colloquial eminence, was thus 
early rooted in Bofwell’s bofom, and be- 
came his ruling paffion. He learned to 
account it the fupreme felicity of life, to 
fparkle in gay convivial converfe over — 
wine, and to mingle with pafhlonate de- 
‘Jight ia the fociety of profeffed wits. He 
was encouraged to try his fortune, far 
too rafhly, as a youthfal author; and 
to fend to the prefs various levities in 
poetry and profe, which had been much 
more wifely condemned to the fire. OF 
thefe, feveral appeared in a {mali Collec- 
tion of Poems, by Scottith gentlemen, 
which was, about this time, publifhed at 
Edinburgh. Bofwell’s pieces in this Col- 
Ieftion poffefs fcarcely any other merit . 
than that of a giddy vivacity. It was 
fortunately enriched with fome more pre- 
cious materials, the compofitions of Dr. 
Thomas Blacklock, of Gilbert Gordon, 
Efq. of Halleaths, and of Jerome Stone, 
rector of the {chool of Dunkeld, A feries 
LA 2 of 
