everything concerning my Landed Estate so far as is in my power as
an heir of Entail, so that my mind is quiet respecting my dear wife
and children, do now when in perfect soundness of mind but under
the apprehension of some danger to my life which however may prove
a false alarm, thus make my last Will and Testament containing also
clauses of another nature which I desire may be valid and effectual.
I resign my soul to God my almighty and most merciful Father trusting
that it will be redeemed by the awfull and mysterious Sacrifice of
our Lord Jesus Christ and admitted to endless felicity in heaven. I
request that my body may be interred in the family burial place in the
church of Auchinleck. I appoint my much valued spouse Mrs. Margaret
Montgomerie and my worthy friend Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo,
Baronet, to be my Executors and in case of the death of either of
them the office shall devolve solely to the survivor. And whereas my
honoured and pious grand mother Lady Elizabeth Boswell devised to
the heir succeeding to the barrony of Auchinleck from generation to
generation the Ebony Cabinet and the dressing plate of silver gilt,
which belonged to her mother Veronica, Countess of Kincardine, leaving
it however optional to her son my father that entail thereof or not
as he should think fit, and he having neglected to do so, whereby the
said Ebony Cabinet and dressing plate are now at my free disposal, I
do by these presents dispose the same to the heir succeeding to the
barrony of Auchinleck from generation to generation. And I declare
that it shall not be in the power of any such heir to alienate or
impignorate the same on any account whatever. And I do hereby dispose
to the said heirs of Entail in their order, all lands and heritages
belonging to me, in fee simple, after payment of my debts, but under
this provision, that in case any of them shall alienate the said Ebony
Cabinet and dressing plate, the person so alienating shall forfeit
the sum of One Thousand Pounds sterling, which shall be paid to the
next heir succeeding by entail. And I declare that the heir of Entail
first succeeding to these my unentailed lands, shall within six months
after his succession thereto execute a deed of Entail thereof to the
same series of heirs with that in the Entail executed by my Father
and me, which if he fails to do they shall then go to the next heir
of Entail, and it is also an express condition that he shall divest
himself of the field thereof and reserve only his life-rent. I mean
this to apply to the said first succeeding heir. Furthermore as my
late honoured Father made a very curious collection of the classics
and other books, which it is desireable should be preserved for ever
in the family of Auchinleck, I do by these presents dispose to the
successive heirs of Entail of the barrony of Auchinleck” [here there
is a word torn off] “Greek and Latin books, as also all manuscripts
of whatever kind, lying in the house of Auchinleck, under the same
conditions and under the same forfeiture as I have mentioned with
regard to the Ebony Cabinet and dressing plate, and all my other
moveable Estate or Executory I leave equally among my other children,
the furniture in the house of Auchinleck to be valued by two sworn
appreazers, and the heir to keep it at that value and pay the same to
my younger children, excepting however all my pictures which I dispose
to the said successive heirs of Entail under the same conditions and
forfeiture as above mentioned, and excepting also the furniture in
my house at Edinburgh which I bequeath to my dear wife. I bequeath
one hundred pounds sterling to my dear brother Thomas David Boswell
Esquire banker in London, to purchase a piece of plate to keep in
remembrance of me in his family and to my dear brother Lieutenant John
Boswell being a batchelor, I bequeath Fifty Guineas to purchase a ring
or whatever other thing he may like best to keep for my sake. To my
friends the Reverend Mr. Temple in Cornwall, John Johnston Esquire
of Grange, Sir John Dick Baronet, Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo,
Baronet, Captain John Macbryde of the Royal Navy, and Mr. Charles
Dilly of London, bookseller, Alexander Fairlie of Fairlie, Esq. and
Edmund Malone Esq. of the kingdom of Ireland, The Hon. Colonel James
Stewart and George Dempster Esquire, I bequeath each a gold mourning
ring, and I hereby leave to the said Sir William Forbes, the Reverend
Mr. Temple and Edmund Malone Esquire all my manuscripts of my own
composition, and all my letters from various persons to be published
for the benefit of my younger children, as they shall decide, that is
to say they are to have a discretionary power to publish more or less.
I leave to Mr. James Bruce my overseer Twenty Pounds yearly during his
life and if he shall continue to reside at Auchinleck I leave to him
the house he now possesses with his meal and all other perquisites.
And to Mrs. Bell Bruce my housekeeper I leave Ten pounds yearly during
her life with two pecks of meal weekly in case of her not liveing in
the family of Auchinleck. Lastly, as there are upon the estate of
Auchinleck several tenants whose families have possessed their farms
for many generations, I do by these presents grant leases for nineteen
years and their respective lifetimes of their present farms to John
Templeton in Hopland, James Murdoch in Blackstown commonly called the
Raw, James Peden in Old Byre, William Samson in Mill of Auchinleck,
John Hird in Hirdstown, William Murdoch in Willocks town, and to any
of the sons of the late James Caldow in Stivenstown whom the ministers
and elders of Auchinleck shall approve of, a lease of that farm in the
above terms, the rents to be fixed by two men to be mutually chosen
by the laird of Auchinleck for the time and each tenant. I also grant
a lease in the like terms to Andrew Dalrymple in Mains of Auchinleck,
my Baron officer. And I do beseech all the succeeding heirs of Entail
to be kind to the Tenants and not to turn out old possessors to get a
little more rent. And in case my nomination of Tutors and Curators to
my children being written upon unstamped paper should not be valid,
I here again constitute and appoint my dear wife, Mrs. Margaret
Montgomerie and my worthy friend Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo, or
the survivor of them, to the said office with all usual powers and
with the recommendations contained in the said unstamped deed. In
witness whereof, these presents written with my own hand (of which I
consent to the registration in the books of Council and Session that
they may have full effect and thereto constitute my procurators) are
subscribed by me at London this twenty eight day of May, One thousand
Seven hundred and Eighty five, before these witnesses Mr. Edward Dilly
bookseller there, and Mr. John Normaville his clerk. (signed) James
Boswell. Chs. Dilly witness, John Normaville witness.”
The three persons nominated as literary executors did not meet, and the
entire business of the trust was administered by Sir William Forbes,
Bart., who appointed as his law agent Robert Boswell, writer to the
signet, cousin german of the deceased. By that gentleman’s advice,
Boswell’s manuscripts were left to the disposal of his family; and it
is believed that the whole were immediately destroyed. The _Commonplace
Book_ escaped, having been incidentally sold among the printed books.
The following inventory of Boswell’s moveable effects, presented for
registration in the Commissariat Register is not without interest:
“In the first place there pertained and belonged to the said defunct
at the time aforesaid of his death, the articles aftermentioned of
the values underwritten, whereof the Executor herein gives up in
inventary the sum of Twenty Shillings sterling of the value of each
article viz., Imprimis Four hundred and eighty three pounds fourteen
shillings as the amount of sales of furniture books pictures &c. in
the defunct’s house in London. Item, Five hundred and Seventy six
pounds eight shillings and two pence as the value of furniture in
the house of Auchinleck estimated by two sworn appraisers. Item, One
hundred and five pounds as the value of silver plate at Auchinleck
exclusive of the family plate devised to the heir estimated at or near
the bullion value. Item, One hundred pounds supposed about the value
of the books at Auchinleck per catalogue in the hands of the Executor
exclusive of Greek and Latin classics and manuscripts there, also left
to the heir. Item, Seventy seven pounds three shillings as the value
of cattle and stocking at Auchinleck per estimate in the hands of the
Executor. Item, Three hundred pounds as the value of the remaining
copies of the Life of D^{r.} Johnson written by the defunct and sold
to Mr. Dilly bookseller. And One hundred pounds as the supposed value
of manuscripts left by the defunct.
“In the second place there was indebted and owing to the said defunct
at the time aforesaid of his death, the sums of money after mentioned
for the reasons after specified, viz., One Pound sterling part of the
sum of Ninety Seven Pounds eight shillings and Eleven pence sterling
being a balance of cash in the hands of Mr Thomas David Boswell
brother to the defunct per accompt. Item, One pound sterling, part of
the sum of Ninety one pounds sixteen shillings and six pence being a
claim Mr Alexander Boswell the heir for cash advanced to him by Mr
Thomas David Boswell at the time of the defunct’s death and credited
to Mr Thomas David Boswell in his account with the Executor. Item, One
pound Sterling part of the sum of Two hundred and twenty five pounds
fourteen shillings and three pence as arrears of rent of the estate
of Auchinleck for accounts transmitted by the factor. Item, One pound
sterling part of the sum of Nine hundred and forty two pounds six
shillings and seven pence sterling as the claim against the heirs of
said estate under the Entail act for three fourths of the defunct’s
expenditure in improving the Entailed estate bearing interest from
Martinmas seventeen hundred and ninety five. Item, One pound sterling,
part of the sum of nine hundred and fifty pounds sterling as half a
year’s rent of said estate due to the Executor by law for the year
Seventeen hundred and ninety five, being the year in which the defunct
died per rental furnished by the factor. Item, one Pound sterling
part of the sum of forty two pounds nine shillings and one penny
being a balance of account due by Mr Dilly, bookseller. Item, One
pound sterling, part of the sum of six hundred and eighty four pounds
sixteen shillings and eight pence being debt due by Capt^n Bruce
Boswell of Calcutta of Principal and Interest paid to the Executor
since the defunct’s death. Item, One pound sterling, part of the sum
of one hundred and ninety five pounds sterling being a balance of debt
due by the Trustees of the late Mr Johnston of Grange, as stated by
the defunct in a holograph view of his affairs made out by him, as at
the first day of January Seventeen hundred and ninety five. And One
pound sterling, part of the sum of seven hundred pounds sterling and
upwards of debts due from various turnpike roads in Ayrshire for money
advanced by the late Lord Auchinleck.”
In the terms of his Will, Boswell’s remains were conveyed to
Auchinleck, and there deposited in the family vault. Robert Boswell
proposed that a memorial tablet should be placed at his grave and
offered the following metrical inscription:—
“Here Boswell lies! drop o’er his tomb a tear,
Let no malignant tongue pursue him here;
Bury his failings in the silent grave,
And from unfriendly hands his memory save.
Record the praise he purchased, let his name
Mount on the wings of literary fame,
And to his honour say,—‘Here Boswell lies,
Whose pleasing pen adorned the good and wise,
Whose memory down the stream of time shall flow
Far as famed Johnson’s or Paoli’s go!’”
Robert Boswell’s proposal was not entertained, and the preceding
epitaph was found among his papers after his own decease many years
subsequently. By his descendants the memory of Johnson’s biographer has
not been honoured, yet the family of Boswell, with a pedigree dating
from the Conquest, cannot point to a more distinguished kinsman.
The marriage of persons nearly related by blood is apt to engender
cerebral weakness in the offspring. The first-born of cousins-german,
James Boswell suffered from an imperfect and morbid organization. Mr.
Carlyle’s analysis of his mental condition we cordially accept, “The
highest [quality],” writes Mr. Carlyle, “lay side by side with the
lowest, not morally combined with it and spiritually transfiguring it,
but tumbling in half-mechanical juxtaposition with it; and from time
to time, as the mad alternative chanced, irradiating it, or eclipsed
by it.” Around his intellectual nature hovered a dark cloud, while
there was light within; the cloud was malformation or disease, but
the morbid element did not extinguish the internal fire. Boswell’s
perceptive power was of the highest order; he could retain and
reproduce scenes and conversations with the naturalness of reality.
A literary Pre-Raffaelite, his observation was acute in proportion
as his reflective powers waned or slept; what he saw and heard he
set forth forcibly and without embellishment. The assertion of Lord
Macaulay that the “Life of Johnson” was due to the author’s weakness
requires no serious refutation. Boswell produced the best biography in
the language, because he was the best fitted for the task. Like the
astronomer who points his telescope to the heavens in a darkened room,
he concentrated his mental energies on the objects of his reverence,
and with photographic accuracy depicted all that he surveyed. In
proportion as he failed to develop his own intellectual nature, he
succeeded in delineating the intellectual character of others. A mirror
true and transparent lay under the opaque cloud, and reflected outward
what a healthier intellect had appropriated and transfused. If in
respect of mental phenomena the figure is admissible—the reflective
faculty which is ordinarily concave and thereby receptive, was in the
mind of Boswell convex and radiating outwards. The cords which fettered
his understanding braced his perception and nerved his memory. He
showed strength in weakness. The dry rod budded. The grey ruin was
mantled by the green ivy.
The fool prates unconscious of his folly; the maniac is happy in his
chain. Boswell was conscious of his weakness,—hence his habitual
melancholy. To Mr. Temple he early spoke of madness existing in his
family, and afterwards described himself as partially insane. In his
journal he compares his head to a tavern usurped by low punch drinkers,
whom he could not displace. Such an unhappy consciousness might
have led to reckless perversity, or hopeless inaptitude. In Boswell
it stimulated to untiring effort, life-long energy. His vanity and
vacillation and rashness were attendant on a distempered brain—his
literary achievements were the result of a successful conflict with
constitutional disorder.
Boswell lived at a period when social excesses, especially in North
Britain, prevailed greatly. Into these excesses he fell, but he freely
acknowledged his errors, and sincerely repented. Ambitious of personal
honour, he nevertheless promoted sedulously the interests of others. A
fervid patriot, he was an obliging neighbour, a generous companion,
and an unfailing friend. He exercised an abundant hospitality. Angry at
times he was easily reconciled, and hastened to forgive. His religious
views, long unfixed, were never wholly obscured; he passed through the
ordeals of credulity and scepticism, and at length returning to his old
moorings, determined to know nothing but a Saviour crucified. In his
Will, prepared within the retirement of his closet, he made this record
of his trust,—“I resign my soul to God, my almighty and most merciful
Father, trusting that it will be redeemed by the awful and mysterious
sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, and admitted to eternal felicity in
heaven.” Dr. Johnson, who knew his weaknesses, commended his piety, and
Sir William Forbes, another enlightened judge of human character, has
borne concerning him this testimony:—
“I have known few men who possessed a stronger sense of piety, or
more fervent devotion (tinctured no doubt with some little share of
superstition, which had probably been in some degree fostered by his
habits of intimacy with Dr. Johnson), perhaps not always sufficient to
regulate his imagination or direct his conduct, yet still genuine, and
founded both in his understanding and his heart.”[100]
Of Boswell’s personal aspects, the full length portrait by Langton,
engraved for this volume, is understood to convey a correct
representation. Rather above the middle height, and inclined to
corpulency, he walked with a stately gait, and in his costume observed
the latest fashion. He had a large head, and wore a powdered wig; his
prominent but well set features beamed with perpetual good humour. “It
was impossible,” remarked a contemporary, “to look in his face without
being moved by the comicality which always reigned upon it.”[101]
He talked much and with rapidity, but his observant faculty was not
apparent to those who only met him in society.
Boswell left two sons and three daughters; James, the younger son,
entered Brazenose College, Oxford, of which he was elected a fellow
upon the Vinerian foundation. He was afterwards called to the English
Bar, and became a Commissioner of Bankruptcy. An accomplished scholar
and of industrious habits, he was by Mr. Malone appointed his literary
executor. Under his care appeared Mr. Malone’s enlarged edition of
Shakespeare, completed in 1821, in twenty-one octavo volumes. In the
first volume he defended, in an able and ingenious essay, Mr. Malone’s
reputation from an attack made on his statements and opinions by a
writer of eminence. He inherited his father’s _bonhommie_ and love of
sociality. He died unmarried in the Middle Temple, London, on the 24th
February, 1822, aged forty-three; his remains were deposited in the
Temple Church. By his elder brother his death was lamented in these
lines,—
“There is a pang when kindred spirits part,
And cold philosophy we must disown;
There is a thrilling spot in every heart,
For pulses beat not from a heart of stone.
“Boswell, th’ allotted earth has closed on thee,
Thy mild but generous warmth has passed away:
A finer spirit never death set free,
And now the friend we honour’d is but clay.
“His was the triumph of the heart and mind,
His was the lot which few are blessed to know:
More proved, more valued—fervent, yet so kind,
He never lost one friend, nor found one foe.”
Alexander Boswell, the biographer’s elder son, succeeded to the family
estate. He studied at Westminster School, and the University of Oxford;
and, after making the tour of Europe settled at Auchinleck. A lover
of historical and antiquarian learning, he established a private
printing-press, and reproduced many rare tracts preserved in the family
library. Early devoted to poetical composition, he published several
volumes of poetry and song. His poems abound in drollery, but are
generally fragmentary. Of his songs, “Jenny’s Bawbee,” “Jenny Dang
the Weaver,” “The Lass o’ Isla,” and “Bannocks o’ Barley Meal,” have
long been popular. To public affairs he devoted no inconsiderable
attention. He was in the Conservative interest elected M.P. for
Ayrshire, and became Colonel of the Yeomanry Cavalry, in the same
county. He originated the proposal of erecting a public monument to
the poet Burns, on the banks of the Doon, and raised £2,000 on behalf
of the undertaking. In 1821 his patriotism and public enterprise
were rewarded by a Baronetcy. His career terminated under painful
circumstances. Indulging a tendency to sarcasm, he published in a
Glasgow newspaper a severe pasquinade against Mr. James Stuart, younger
of Dunearn, a leader of the liberal party at Edinburgh. Challenged by
Mr. Stuart to mortal combat, he accepted the _cartel_, and the parties
met at Auchtertool, Fifeshire. Sir Alexander fell, the bullet from his
opponent’s pistol having entered the middle of the right clavicle,
which it severely fractured. He lingered till the following day. His
death took place on the 27th March, 1822, and his remains were interred
at Auchinleck. In the following verses, John Goldie, an Ayrshire poet,
celebrated his obsequies:—
“O! heard you the trumpet sound sad on the gale,
O! heard you the voice of weeping and wail?
O! saw you the horsemen in gallant array,
As in sorrow and silence they moved on their way.
“The people’s deep wailing, the trumpet’s shrill tone,
Were the breathings of sorrow for him that is gone;
And yon dark plumes of death that did mournfully wave,
Deck’d the bier that bore on their lov’d chief to the grave.
“When the train of lone mourners arrived at the path,
That leads to the desolate mansions of death,
O! marked you each horseman lean sad on his sword,
When the corse slowly passed of the chief he adored.
“And mark’d you each manly heart heave with a sigh;
And mark’d you the tear-drop that gush’d in each eye
Of those who were robed in the garments of woe,
When they saw him in Death’s dreary mansion laid low.
“Thy halls, Auchinleck! are all desolate now,
Aye! roll on in sorrow, in solitude flow;
For low lies thy bard who so sweetly did sing,—
Thy chieftain so true to his country and king.”[102]
Sir Alexander married in November, 1799, Grace, fifth daughter of
Thomas Cumming, banker, Edinburgh, representative of the ancient family
of Erenside. By this marriage he became father of one son and three
daughters. Grace Theresa, the eldest daughter, married Sir William
Francis Eliott, Bart., of Stobs, and became mother of the present
baronet, with other issue. Grace Jane died in childhood, and Margaret
Emily, the youngest daughter, is wife of Major-General Vassall, and
resides at Balhary, Perthshire. James, only son of Sir Alexander
Boswell, was born in December, 1806. He studied at Brazenose College,
Oxford, and after succeeding to Auchinleck resided chiefly on his
estate. In 1830 he espoused his cousin, Jessie Jane, elder daughter of
Sir James Montgomery Cunningham, Bart., of Corsehill; of which marriage
were born two daughters. In 1850, Sir James Boswell instituted a
legal process to prove the invalidity of the Auchinleck entail. He was
opposed by Thomas Alexander Boswell, of Crawley Grange, next heir-male,
but it was held by the judges that as the material word “irredeemably”
was written upon an erasure, the entail was inoperative.[103] Relieved
from the settlement of 1776, Sir James Boswell bequeathed Auchinleck
to his two daughters as co-heiresses. Sir James died in 1857 when the
baronetcy became extinct. Julia, his elder daughter, married George
Mounsey, solicitor, Carlisle, some time mayor of that city. Emily
Harriet, the younger daughter, married in 1873, the Hon. Richard Wogan
Talbot, eldest son of Lord Talbot de Malahide.
The biographer’s three daughters were Veronica, Euphemia, and
Elizabeth. Veronica, the eldest, survived her father only four months;
she died of consumption on the 26th September, 1795, aged twenty-three.
Euphemia, the second daughter, inherited her father’s literary tastes,
combined, unhappily, with cerebral weakness. Leaving the protection
of her family she fixed her abode in London, resolved on supporting
herself as an operatic writer. She composed an Opera for Drury Lane
Theatre, which, according to her narrative, was accepted by the
manager, and was being prepared for the stage, when the theatre was
in 1809 destroyed by fire. Thereafter, she made eleemosynary appeals
by private letters and public advertisements. She entreated pecuniary
aid from the Lord Chancellor Eldon, the Earl of Moira, Lord Lonsdale,
and Lord Sidmouth. On the death of the Princess Amelia, in 1810, she
composed a “Soliloquy,” which she forwarded to the Prince Regent, in
the belief that she would be rewarded by a pension on the Civil List.
From private lodgings in Northumberland street she in 1811 despatched
a missive, setting forth that being “neglected by those bound by the
ties of blood to cherish her,” she had “pledged her pianoforte,—though
a composer is as much at a loss for an instrument as a carpenter
without his tools.” In another letter of the same year she writes, “If
dragged to a jail, which must be my fate, I shudder at it, and implore
your aid.”
“Let me not suffer Otway’s fate,
When Nelly’s[104] tears were sent too late:
Where Genius pierced through darkest gloom,
Though hungry Death has marked his tomb.”
The charge of neglect preferred against her relatives by this unhappy
gentlewoman having obtained some credit, we have instituted on the
subject a careful inquiry. Euphemia Boswell, we find, was the victim
of a diseased imagination. By her relatives she was regarded with
affectionate solicitude, while they severely suffered from her painful
hallucinations and groundless complaints. She died about the age of
sixty. In her Will she expressed a desire that her remains should be
deposited in Westminster, Abbey near the grave of Dr. Johnson. She was
buried elsewhere. She composed a small work which she dedicated to
Bishop Porteous; no copy has been found.
Elizabeth, the biographer’s youngest daughter, married 23rd December,
1799, her second cousin, William Boswell, advocate, who became
Sheriff of Berwickshire. Of this marriage were born three sons and
one daughter. Robert Cramond, the eldest son, died in 1821, shortly
after being admitted advocate. James Paoli, second son, joined the
army, and died in India in 1820; Bruce, the third son, also joined
the army, and attained the rank of Colonel. The daughter, Elizabeth
Margaret Montgomery, married November, 1849, John Williams, of
H.E.I.C’s. Civil Service, Bombay, who died in 1853. Mrs. Elizabeth
Boswell died 1st January, 1814; her husband in January, 1841. On the
death of Thomas Alexander Boswell, son of the biographer’s brother,
Thomas David, in March, 1852,[105] the fine estates of Crawley Grange,
Buckinghamshire,[106] and Astwood, Berkshire, together worth nearly
£2,000 per annum, became possessed by Colonel Bruce Boswell, who
dying in October, 1856, was succeeded by his sister, who survives.
Mrs. Williams was mother of twin sons, who died in infancy; her only
surviving child, Elizabeth Anne, was married in 1860 to the Rev.
Charles Cumberlye, who assumed the name of Ware on the death of his
grand-uncle, Mr. Samuel Ware. Mr. Cumberlye Ware died in May, 1870,
and his widow in March, 1871. Their family consist of one son and
three daughters. The son, Charles Edward Ware, is precluded by a
family settlement from succeeding to the maternal property, and the
heiress of Crawley Grange is Edith Caroline, his eldest sister, who, on
succession, will assume the name of Boswell. The two younger daughters,
Elizabeth Mary and Catherine Augusta, retain the family name of
Cumberlye.
William Boswell, Advocate and Sheriff of Berwickshire, who married
the youngest daughter of the biographer, was eldest of four sons of
Robert Boswell, the biographer’s cousin-german, and law agent under
his will. This gentleman was born at Auchinleck House, on the 19th
January, 1740; his father was Dr. John Boswell, younger brother of
Lord Auchinleck, and his mother, Anne, daughter of Robert Cramond, of
Auldbar, Forfarshire. Robert Boswell was a writer to the signet, in
Edinburgh; he subsequently held office as Lyon Depute, and latterly
removed to London. Possessed of literary tastes and unflagging
industry, he qualified himself to read the Scriptures in the original
tongues. He composed hymns, some of which were after his decease
printed for private circulation. His metrical epitaph on his cousin,
the biographer, has been quoted. Eminently pious, he exhorted publicly.
He died at London in April, 1804, in his 65th year.