1803.] 
congratulations. In campliance with the 
withes of his literary friends, he then pre- 
pared to give to the public, through the 
prefs, -thofe ‘obfervations which he had 
made in the Corfican part of his travels. 
From his books, and from the information 
of his learned friends, he fought a know- 
ledge of all thofe fa&s concerning the an- 
cient and modern ftate of that ifle, with 
which his perfonal, obfervation and inqui- 
ries in the ifle had not already furnifhed 
him. His book at length appeared: and 
as Corfica was, jut at that time, a very 
popular fubject of converlation and in- 
quiry; a work upon it, from a young man 
of whom the fathionable diftators in lite- 
rature were incliced to {peak favourably, 
could not be otherwife than well received, 
Its genuine merits deferved no lefs, It is 
written in a pure, lively, correst, and eafy 
ftyle.and flow of compofition. With the 
anecdetical {prightlinefs of Bolwell him- 
felf, it mingles in no {paring proportion 
a feafoning of the erudition of his friend 
Lord Hailes, and of the light philofophi- 
cal fpeculation of Lord Kaimes. ‘The 
hiftory, natural, civil, and military, which 
it exhibits, of the ifle of Corfica, is, as 
propriety required, on a fmall {cale, but 
in all its parts wonderfully complete. It 
marks the charagter of the Corfican people 
with a picturefque felicity which few hifta- 
rians have excelled. Above all, he paints 
the character of Paoli, it may be, witha 
very flattering pencil, but certainly with 
exquifite fkill and effeé&t, and with many 
nice and delicate touches which befpeak 
the hand of the arrift of genius ; bur, 
after all, this book is not the work ofa 
powerful mind, It difplays neither pier- 
cing difcernment, nor any extraordinary 
vigour of imagination. It is, plainly, the 
compofition of a man who poffeffed no rich 
ftores of learning, fo familiar to his mind 
as to intermingle itfelf imperceptibly with 
the ordinary current of his thoughts. Even 
the learning which it fhews, comes in fuch 
a fhape, as to evince the author to have 
poffeffed very little erudition at all, fave 
what he fought from books or friends 
for this expre{s occafion. An ill-natured 
critic might fay, that the PaoLiana, 
which fill a part of this volume, are at 
Jeaft not faperior to the jefts of Joe Miller, 
or Swift’s well known J ritical Effay. But 
the author’s friends praifed the book ; the 
world, in general, were amuled with it ; 
‘and Bolwell was made fupe erlatively happy: 
* Compared with his more juvenile per- 
formances, his Account of ‘Corfica unde- 
niably proves his mind to have made very 
“great advances in knowledge and good 
Memoir of Fames Bofwell, Efq. 
‘fenfe, in the time which intervened be- 
547 
tween the publication of the former works 
and that of the latter. 
About the fame period, he Grtentied 
to the ufual courfe ef trials which the 
candidates for admifiion into the Scottifh 
‘faculty of advocates are, by the regula- 
tions of this incorporated body, required 
to undergo, before they can be received: 
into it as members. He paffed through 
thefe trials with honour. Called to the 
bar, he diiinguifhed himfelf in his firk 
appearances by an ingenious invention of 
arguments, a brilliancy of eloquence, and 
a quicknefs of wit, fuch as fufficiently 
confirmed that favourable opinion of his 
talents, which his friends had long enter- 
tained. The famous lecal conteft for the 
fucceffion to the elkates of the Houle of 
Douglas, being, about this time, in its 
progrefs, engaged the attention, and di- 
vided the wifhes, of the Scottifh public, 
almoft as if it had been a matter of great 
national concern. Young Bofwell’s paf- 
fions were, for a time, interefted to a pitch 
of extraordinary enthufiafm in favour of 
the heir, whom it was attempted to ex- 
clude from his inheritance upon the pre- 
tence that he was /wppofititious. Lady 
Margaret Macdonald gave a mafquerade, 
a {pecies of amufement very unufual at 
Edinburgh ; 2nd James Bofwell, almoft 
alone of all the mafqued characters, was 
admired as having acted the part he had 
affumed with charming felicity. To. fix 
his fon the more effedtually toa faber, ha- 
bitual application to bufinefs, it was the 
earneft defire of Lord Auchinleck to fee 
him fettled in marriage with fome amiable 
and deferving woman. James obeyed, 
‘and gave his hand to his coufin Mifs 
Montgomery. He was extenfively ac- 
quainied in the country, and was beloved 
among his acquaintance: he was an inge- 
nious and winning pleader, if not yet a 
profound lawyer : In the papers, manu- 
{cript or printed, which he had eccafion: 
to prepare for the information of the 
Judges in thofe caufes in which he was 
employed, there appeared commonly a . 
grace, an eloquence, a correctnefs of com- 
pofition, which were as little to be expect- 
ed from moft of his brcther-advecates, as 
ai air of Haydn’s from a dying faw. The 
Court, too, were not difpeted to frown on 
his merits; and the partiality of the 
Court towardss any advocate never fails 
to recommend him to increafing employ- 
ment at ‘the bar. Allthings concurréd, 
therefore, to encetnage this young g lawyer 
with the hopes of acquirieg, in cue time, 
whatever honours and emoluments. his. 
protefMfion 
