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 he gets Temple (who happens to be in the north) to pay her a visit, and instructs his friend to speak to the lady of his good qualities, and also to mention his oddness, inconstancy, and impetuosity, and to ask her whether she does not think 'there is something of madness in that family' (Letters to Temple, p. 99). The effect of these remarkable instructions does not appear. In August all is well; but she tells him in December that she wishes that she liked him as well as Auchinleck. In February 1768 he is jealous of a Sir A. Gilmour, and amuses himself by getting his rival to frank a letter to her. Then he and a Mr. Fullerton agree to make her offers on the same morning, and are both refused in favour, as they suppose, of Gilmour. In April, after temporary thoughts of a 'fine, healthy, young, amiable Miss Dick,' he returns for a time to Zelide, and begs his father's leave to go to Utrecht, but is deterred by Temple's advice. In August he feels 'quite a Sicilian swain' under the influence of 'sixteen, innocence, and gaiety,' united in the person of Mary Anne, called also la belle Irlandaise (a Miss Montgomery, see Notes and Queries, 2nd series, iii. 381). Finding, however, that Miss Blair has broken with Sir A. Gilmour, his passion for her is awakened for a time; she is cold, and 'all the charms of sweet Mary Anne' revive. In May 1769 he visited Ireland in order to see this lady, who only laughed at him. He complained to his cousin, Margaret Montgomerie, who sympathised and consoled him by accepting his hand (, Boswell, p. 79). The marriage to a sensible and amiable woman took plnce 26 Nov. 1769. On the same day, to Boswell's great disgust, his father married his cousin, Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Boswell of Balmuto. Boswell's open expressions of dislike increased his domestic difficulties, but no family rupture resulted, and after his father's death he was 'on decent terms' with his stepmother, who was 'exceedingly good' to his daughter (Letters to Temple, p. 313). In August 1768 Boswell sent 700l. of ordnance, raised by private subscription, from Carron to Paoli. In June 1769 Paoli, overwhelmed by the French, had left Corsica and retired to London. Boswell came to town in the autumn to attend him. On his way he attended the Shakespeiire jubilee at Stratford (August 1769), and appeared in a masquerade in the dress of an armed Corsican chief with 'Viva la Libertà' embroidered in gold letters on his hat. He contributed a minute account of his appearance and his dancing with a very pretty Irish lady to the 'London Magazine,' of which he 'was a proprietor' (see, Illustrations, vii. 365, and Letters to Temple, p. 184), of September 1769. His portrait in costume is given as an illustration. In London he saw Johnson and tried to extract advice upon marriage from his master. He renewed an acquaintance, formed in the previous year, with Mrs. Thrale, and brought about a meeting between Johnson and Paoli. In latter visits to London Boswell stayed at Paoli's handsome house (Life of Johnson, 11 April 1776; Letters, p. 200), and the general tried to break him of his drinking habits.

After Boswell's marriage, a cessation of eighteen months took place in the correspondence between him and Johnson, and they did not again meet until Boswell's return to London in March 1772. The intercourse with Johnson, upon which Boswell's title to fame chiefly rests, was kept up during the remaining years of Johnson's life, who died 13 Dec. 1784. Boswell spent about a couple of months during the spring vacation of the Scotch courts (which at this period (1751–1790) lasted from 12 March to 12 June) in visits to Johnson, chiefly in London. He paid such visits in 1772, 1773, 1775, 1776, 1778, 1779, 1781, 1783, and 1784. Johnson's letters show that he was kept away by pecuniary difficulties in 1774, 1780, and 1782. In 1777 the death of a son seems to have prevented his annual journey (Letter to Johnson, 4 April 1777). Besides these visits, Boswell met Johnson at Ashbourne (Taylor's living) in September 1777, and saw him in October 1779 during a tour with Colonel James Stuart. The journey to the Hebrides took place in 1773, Johnson reaching Scotland 8 Aug. and leaving 22 Nov. According to Croker (preface to Life of Johnson, 1831), Boswell met Johnson on 180 days, or 276 including the Scotch tour. The details of the intercourse between the two men are set forth with incomparable skill in the most popular biography in the language. It is enough to mention here that Boswell was elected a member of the Literary Club 30 April 1773, owing, as it seems, to his own active canvassing as well as Jolinson's influence, and against the wishes of several members. After his election they were reconciled, Burke saying that he had so much good humour naturally, that it was scarcely a virtue (Tour to the Hebrides, 21 Aug. 1773).

During this period Boswell was suffering various domestic troubles. Neither his wife nor his father sympathised with his enthusiasm for Johnson. The wife was a sensible woman, who, unlike her husband, preferred staying at home. When Johnson took Boswell on his tour, she remarked that though