544 
of letters between Bofwell and his friend, 
the late Hon. Andrew Erfkine, were, 
with fimilar imprudence, publifhed about 
the fame time, but certainly not at all to 
the honour of either of the young gentle- 
men. So little fitted is often that which 
has enlivened the gaiety of convivial con- 
verfation, or has, in manufcript, been ap- 
piauded, to meet, from the prefs, the exa- 
mination of an unprejudiced jury, ‘before 
which none but its genuine independent 
merits can have weight in its favour. 
Tus far, ycung Bofwell’s life had been 
gay and flattering: he was now to launch 
f@ther out upon the ocean of the world. 
In the choice of a profeflional deftination, 
he kefitated between a life of literature 
and bufinefs, and one of idlenefs and 
fafhion. Had it nct been for his father’s 
authority, the latrer would have gain<d 
his preference. But Lord Auchinleck, 
believing that the lively talents of his fon 
could not fail of fuccefs at the bar, urged 
him to become a lawyer, with flatteries, 
promifes, and fome threats, which at laft 
fubdued James’s paffion for a red coat, a 
cockade, and a commiffion in the Guards. 
A fort of compromife took place between 
the father and the fon; in confequence of 
which, the latter obtained permifiion, with 
a fuitable pecuniary allowance, to vifit 
London, to ftudy the civil Jaw at Urrecht, 
sand to make the tour of Europe, before 
he fliould, finally, fix himfelf at home 
as a practifing advocate. 
With a breatt agitated by a tumult of 
hopes, wifhes, and uncertain fancies, 
young Bolwell repaired to that great mart 
of bufnefs, knowledge, and pleafure, - 
London. He was impatient to mingle in 
Its f{cenes of amufement, to drink of al] 
that was elegant in its letters and its arts 
at the very fountain-head, to gratify an 
ingenuous curiofity, which he long conti- 
nucd to feel, of approaching the prefence, 
and obtaining the perfonal acquaintance, 
of all thole who were, on any account, 
the moft illuffrious among his contempo- 
raries. A young’man of manners fo lively 
and agreeable, talents fo promifGng, and a 
family and fortune fo refpetable, could 
not but meet with an eafy introduction, 
by means of his father’s friends aad his 
own, into the highe% and.the moft fafhioh- 
able circles of polite company which the 
metronolis afforded. The charm of his 
forightly converfation and good-natured 
manners was univerfally felt. He be- 
came a geveral favourite; and was quick- 
ly led to diffufe himfelf, if we may fo 
fp:ak, very widely in the fociety of Lon- 
don. He plunged eagerly into the ftream 
Memoir of Fames Bofwell, Efg.. 7 
[ July ly 
of ‘convivial feftivity and of gay amufe- ‘ 
No young man ever enjoyed with | 
ment. 
a keener and more exquiife gut the flat- 
teries of partial friends, the fuccefs of a 
briliant repartee, the attentions of that 
faicinating politenefs which aims to win 
your heart by making you in love with 
yourfelf, or that happy play of convivial 
converfation in which wiidom, wit, ele- 
gance, and good-breeding, temper fenfual 
and focial enjoyment with the generous 
flow of liberal intelligence. . For the fake 
of knowledge, of fecial converfe, of com- 
mendation, cf celebrity, he was fill ready 
to forlake bis ttudy to mingle with com~ 
pany; and he might perhaps gain in tne 
one way more than be foft in the other. 
But, ia the mean time, the difiipation ef 
perpetual company-keeping, and the ufe 
of the fentualities w.th which it was ac- 
companied, made themfelves ftill more 
and more neccflary to the young many, 
who thought only of enjoying them w.th- 
out making himfelf their flave. 
His paffion for the acquaintance of men 
of great intellectual eminence had, how- 
ever, in the firft inftance, the meritoof 
faving him trom the emptinefs of mere 
foppery, as from brutal and profligate de--_ 
bauchery. Even in the fociety ef a Wilkes 
and a Foote, in their loofeft and moft con- 
vivial hours, it was not poffible, that- 
there fhould not be mére of the feaft of - 
reaton, and the flow of foul, than of fen- 
fual groffnefs. Men of well-earned cele- 
brity tor any fort of intellectual excel.” 
lence, although they may have their hours 
of relaxation, can never be acceptable’ 
affociates to. the fottith debatchee) He 
who loves to converfe with them, even in 
thefe hours, -muf poffefs a mind fomewhat 
congenial] with theirs: nor will he long” ~~ 
jeck their company with fondnefs, unlels ~ 
his heart and underftanding become im-" 
pregnated with their fentiments. Attach- 
ing himfelf to Dr. Samuel Johnion, Bof- — 
well thus acquired a proteétion from fri- 
volity and vice, and the advantage of the 
leffons of an initruétor i wiféom, fearcely — 
lefs beneficial than when the Athenian” 
youth, with fudden emotion, dafhed his 
crcewn of refes on the ground, and, abjur- ~ 
ing the falfe joys of love and wine, devo-” 
ted all his future life to the ftudy of phi- ~ 
lofophy, and the praStice of auffere virtue. | 
The eloquence of the Ramblers, being” 
of that gorgeous and ftrongly difcrimi-) — 
nated character which the moft eafily en- ~~ 
gages the attention of youth, had power- © — 
fully imprefied the imagination of Bolwell | © 
‘during his ftudies at Edinburgh. John-'— 
fon’s Dictionary, prefenting its author i 
ee 
; 
the 
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