Page:Life of Edmond Malone.djvu/236

216 I have not had any information of the Boswell family since an affecting letter from Sir William Forbes of Edinburgh, giving an account of his attendance at the last solemn office of our poor friend’s interment at Auchinleck. I find, sir, the poor man had referred to you, jointly with Sir William and Mr. Temple, the friendly task of judging which and what parts of his writings left behind him may be thought of for publication.

Absence from town was frequent during the year, caused, perhaps, by attachment to the lady in Lancashire, of whom his old friend Chetwood thus writes in January, 1795—

My wishes for your success in your matrimonial pursuit were strong when I saw you, and much stronger afterwards when, in the neighbourhood of Warrington, I heard a character of the lady that attracted me most warmly to her. Among other traits, I was charmed with one—namely, that she is almost adored by the poor of that country.

In March of the same year, the monument to Dr. Johnson being nearly ready for erection, Malone, as an active member of the managing committee, wrote for the epitaph which had been promised by Dr. Parr. An assenting answer was given, to which early in April Malone replies—

“I am sure it is unnecessary to tell you that it was not from any want of attention I did not immediately answer your letter. The truth is, I wished to consult some of the gentlemen to whom the management of Dr. Johnson’s monument had been assigned, and had not opportunity of doing so till yesterday. The epitaph which you have written will, I have no doubt, be everything that they could wish; but as they and the surviving executor (Sir Wm. Scott) cannot properly