Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 1.djvu/307

 who married the Princess Mary, daughter of king James II., and was ancestor of the Hamilton family; Sir Robert Dalzell of Glenae, ancestor of the Earls of Carnwath [the same gentleman had for his second wife, a daughter of Lord Ochiltree;] Crawford of Kerse; Sir John Wallace of Cairnhill [2nd wife, a daughter of Sir Archibald Stewart of Blackball ]; Cunningham of Gleng-arnock; Hamilton of Dalzell; Earl of Kincardine; Colonel John Erskine, grandson of the lord treasurer Earl of Mar.

James Boswell was the eldest son of Alexander Boswell of Auchinleck, and of Euphemia Erskine. The father was an advocate in good practice at the Scottish bar; who was, in 1754, elevated to the bench, taking, on that occasion, the designation of Lord Auchinleck. James Boswell, father of Lord Auchinleck, had also been a Scottish barrister, and, as we learn from Lord Kames, one of the best of his time; his wife was a daughter of Alexander Bruce, second Earl of Kincardine, whose mother was Veronica, a daughter of the noble house of Sommelsdyk in Holland. For an account of Auchinleck, reference may be made to Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands.

The father of the biographer was a stern and rigid presbyterian, and a zealous supporter of the House of Hanover: young Boswell, on the contrary, from his earliest years, showed a disposition favourable to the high church and the family of Stuart, Dr Johnson used to tell the following story of his biographer's early years, which Boswell has confessed to be literally true. "In 1745, Boswell was a fine boy, wore a white cockade, and prayed for King James, till one of his uncles (General Cochran) gave him a shilling, on condition that he would pray for King George, which he accordingly did." "So you see," adds Boswell, who has himself preserved the anecdote, "whigs of all ages are made in the same way."

He received the rudiments of his education at the school of Mr James Mundell, in Edinburgh, a teacher of considerable reputation, who gave elemental instruction to many distinguished man. He afterwards went through a complete academical course at the college of Edinburgh, where he formed an intimacy with Mr Temple of Allardeen in Northumberland, afterwards vicar of St Gluvies in Cornwall, and known in literary history for a well-written character of Gray, which has been adopted both by Dr Johnson and Mason in their memoirs of that poet. Mr Temple and several other young English gentlemen were fellow-students of Boswell, and it is supposed that his intercourse with them was the original and principal cause of that remarkable predilection for English society and manners, which characterized him through life.

Boswell very early began to show a taste for literary composition; in which he was encouraged by Lord Somerville, of whose flattering kindness he ever preserved a grateful recollection. His lively and sociable disposition, and passion for distinguishing' himself as a young man of parts and vivacity, also led him, at a very early period of life, into the society of the actors in the theatre, with one of whom, Mr David Ross, he maintained a friendship till the death of that individual, in 1791, when Boswell attended as one of the mourners at his funeral. While still at college, Lady Houston, sister of Lord Cathcart, put under his care a comedy, entitled, "The Coquettes, or the Gallant in the Closet," with a strict injunction that its author should be concealed. Boswell exerted his interest among the players to get this piece brought out upon the stage, and made himself further conspicuous by writing the prologue, which was spoken by Mr Parsons. It was condemned at the third performance, and not unjustly, for it was found to be chiefly a bad translation of one of the worst plays