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Heiress Kate by the side of her wood. She told me that the knight Sir Sawney was never to rule her territories. But alas, what could I say to her while my heart was beyond the sea? So much for love!

A very dangerous relapse, however, in favour of the Princess now occurred. Sir Alexander Gilmour (or Sir Sawney, as Boswell had nicknamed him) had made off, and the wary mother, it seems, was not unwilling that James should again be received as a suitor. Once more, therefore, did he walk "whole hours" with Miss Blair, and once again did he kneel before her. Letters were written in the old manner, designed to melt down Kate's coldness. And then "came a kind letter from my amiable Aunt Boyd in Ireland, and all the charms of sweet Marianne revived."

This was in December. In the spring, somewhat later than had originally been intended, the proposed visit to Ireland was made. Boswell had, as a companion, his cousin Margaret Montgomery, the particular friend of Mary Anne; at Margaret's home in Lainshaw, it will be recalled, he had first met la belle Irlandaise. It is odd that Boswell should have said so little of this visit. It is not mentioned in the "Life of Johnson." Indeed, practically nothing has been known hitherto of Boswell's visit to that remarkable island; but the discovery of a letter to Sir Alexander Dick, written

from Donaghadee, on May 29, 1769, lights up the whole of this obscure period in Boswell's life. In Ireland Boswell ran true to form. He was careful to meet the Lord Lieutenant. Why should one cross the Irish Sea and fail to meet the most prominent man in the nation? But how to approach a lord lieutenant? As a friend of Corsica. Nothing more natural. By this device he had obtained an interview with William Pitt, the Prime Minister of England, three years before, when he had called on the great man, dressed in Corsican costume, and pleaded for his foreign friends. He now found the Irish naturally well disposed towards the Corsi

cans.

The Lord Lieutenant was remarkably good to me [he writes]. And I assure you I have not met a firmer and keener Corsican. I believe something considerable will be raised in this kingdom for the brave islanders. I am indefatigable in fanning the generous fire. I have lately received a noble, spirited letter from Paoli. This I have shewn to numbers, and it has had an admirable effect.

Boswell liked the country as well as the people. He thought Dublin "a noble city," and the life there "magnificent." He visited a number of country seats, and saw some rich and well-cultivated land. He planned, before his return, to visit Lough Neach and the Giants' Causeway.

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In the dress of an armed Corsican Chief, as he appeared at Shakespeare's Jubilee at Stratford-on-Avon, September, 1769, the year following his publication of

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He would like, he said, to come back and see a great deal more of Hibernia."

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But what of Mary Anne? A study of this young lady in her native land does not seem in any way to have diminished her charms. During this period no letters were written to Temple, so that we miss the opportunity to follow every shift in the lover's mood. But the confidences reposed in Sir Alexander Dick are no less frank, though much less voluminous.

I must not forget la belle Irlandaise, who is really as amiable as I told you I thought her. Only figure me dancing a jig (or strathspey) with her to the tune of Carrickfergus, played by an Irish piper.

This, I regret to say, is the last of Boswell's utterances about the Irish beauty. What it was that cooled the ardour of the young people we do not know; we must await the discovery of other letters written in the early summer of 1769. Perhaps the parents put an end to the affair. Be this as it may, before the month of June was out, Boswell was engaged to be married to his cousin, Margaret Montgomery, who had accompanied him on the Irish expedition.

Could anything be more unexpected? Hitherto, in Boswell's correspondence, Margaret had been a mere lay figure; not once is she mentioned in connexion with love. She was a quiet and admira

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