Boswell's London Journal, 1762-1763 by James Boswell

First published: 1950

Type of work: Diary

Principal Personages

• James Boswell, the author, a young Scotsman
• Samuel Johnson, the great critic, lexicographer, essayist, and poet
• William Temple, Boswell’s friend, a sensible young law student
• Lord Eglinton, a wealthy young nobleman, another of Boswell’s friends
• The Hon. Andrew Erskine, a Scotsman who befriends Boswell in London
• Lady Anne Erskine, his sister

The Work

James Boswell left his family at home near Edinburgh in the autumn of 1762 to spend the winter in London, where he hoped to obtain a commission in the Guards. He was convinced that the military life, which would allow him to live in the city he loved so much, would suit him far better than the legal profession chosen for him by his father, a noted Scottish jurist. He recorded the activities, the hopes, and the disappointments of this year in London in a diary, which he sent in regular installments to a young friend who remained in Scotland. This journal, which miraculously survived for two hundred years and came to light in the twentieth century, is a remarkably revealing document, for reticence was not one of Boswell’s characteristics. The frankness of his account of his activities brings him vividly to life.

Boswell was only twenty-two when he traveled south into England. He passed his legal examinations, and his father at last grudgingly agreed to give his son an allowance to allow him to pursue the career he thought he wanted. Lord Auchinleck’s decision proved to be a wise one, for, after months of discouragement, Boswell finally realized that he was not going to obtain the desired commission, even with the help of noble friends, and he agreed to take up law again, on the condition that he might travel on the Continent before he returned to Scotland to begin his practice.

These experiences were frustrating to Boswell, but they provide fascinating reading. The author’s youth is evident in many of the actions and impressions he records. He went to the city to turn himself into a polished gentleman, and the pages of his diary are filled with resolutions for the improvement of his character and manners. At times this desire for sophistication manifested itself as a rather unattractive snobbery. Boswell records his disgust at the familiarity with which some of his Scottish friends treated him, at the provincialism of their conversation, and at the lack of restraint in their manners. In these moods he overlooked the fact that these hospitable people, especially Captain Andrew Erskine and his sister, did much to alleviate his loneliness.

Boswell was, however, usually perceptive about his relationships. He knew that William Temple, an old comrade from university days and a reserved and studious young man, was a good influence on him and that Lord Eglinton, who introduced Boswell to various dissipations during his first trip to London in 1760, encouraged those vices for which his inclination was already too strong. Toward the end of the journal Boswell comments that Temple and Johnston, the Scottish friend to whom he was sending the diary, were those in whom he could confide his deepest feelings, while he feared to expose his sentiments to Erskine and Eglinton, though he valued their company for amusement. Boswell did, on occasion, lay himself open to their scorn with his sensitivity regarding his own dignity. He violently resented criticism of his writing, and he sent indignant letters to Lord Eglinton when he got the feeling that he was not treated with the civility to which he thought he was entitled. This overblown sense of his own importance was perhaps the hardest of Boswell’s faults for him to recognize. It never occurred to him to doubt that courtiers, ladies, and distinguished literary figures would consider themselves privileged to make his acquaintance.

Boswell was, however, acutely aware of many of his other shortcomings. His daily memoranda constantly reminded him to correct them. His resolutions were short-lived. A vow of increased economy was sure to be followed by some extravagance, generally charitable but prodigal. Intense remorse over his profligate relations with women generally preceded new debauchery. Promised rejection of his more frivolous acquaintances often led only to renewed amity. His later works show him still at his youthful routine, repenting and renewing his wrongdoing with equal fervor.

He was often the victim of his essentially trusting nature, especially in his relations with women, as the first entries of his diary show in the account of his affair with Louisa, an actress. Anxious to see himself as a romantic hero, he trusted her protestations of affection, fidelity, and morality, lent her money, pursued her ardently, and as a reward spent five weeks in his rooms convalescing from the venereal disease with which she infected him.

For all Boswell’s bravado and his apparent self-assurance, he suffered at times from a deep sense of melancholy and inferiority, probably the lingering result of a nervous disorder that struck him when he was in his late teens. He had a childish fear of ghosts, and in his darker fits, when he could not bear to sleep alone in his lodgings, he would seek refuge for the night with one of his friends. This melancholy strain in his personality may have been one of the things that drew Boswell close to the great lexicographer, critic, and essayist Samuel Johnson, whom he met for the first time during the winter of the time of the London journal. Johnson was himself subject to inexplicable terrors, and throughout his life he showed great compassion for this type of human weakness.

It is sometimes difficult to understand just what drew Boswell and Johnson together, but the account of their early acquaintance shows the appealing quality of Boswell’s easygoing, candid nature, however brash it was at times. Boswell’s hero-worship for Johnson, his anxiety to please, and his eagerness for the older man’s counsel are also clearly evident. Johnson’s attitude toward Boswell, as scholars have pointed out, was in many respects paternal. He responded warmly to both the adulation and the appeals for help, and he seemed to find Boswell’s enthusiasm refreshing. His insistence on accompanying his young friend to Harwich to see him sail for his studies in the Netherlands provides touching testimony of the older man’s affection.

Boswell’s friendship with Johnson changed the character of the London journal to a degree. From the time of their meeting, Boswell recorded more and more about Johnson’s opinions on life and literature and less about his own feelings, although the latter were never ignored. Boswell’s widening interests tended to decrease his introspection.

The London journal is not simply jottings of the day’s activities, but a conscious literary effort. Boswell likely composed the account several days at a time, basing the diary on sketchy memoranda, and this practice allowed him to build some dramatic suspense. His ability to capture the conversations of his day, the remarks of London citizens at Child’s coffee house, and the discussions of Johnson and his circle shows the gift for narration that makes the Life of Johnson a masterpiece. Spurred on by Johnson’s praise of the practice of keeping a journal, Boswell strove with great diligence to improve the literary quality of the latter portions of his work. As a result the book presents a remarkably lively and accurate picture of life in Boswell’s time.

Bibliography

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Heitman, Danny. "Love Letter to London." Wall Street Jour. 259.23 (July 2012): C13–C13. Print.

Ingram, Allan. Boswell’s Creative Gloom: A Study of Imagery and Melancholy in the Writings of James Boswell. London: Macmillan, 1982. Print.

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