your friend is sick, it may be that there is a remedy that will restore him to health; but so long as he does not use it, he will remain sick. It may well be that Boswell's melancholy was of a sort which afflicts the majority of men, and which the majority of men get rid of by a little dogged pluck; but the fact remains that Boswell did not get rid of his, except at moments, and we shall understand him the better if we do not belittle his suffering. Imaginary or not, it was there, and there it remained. He talked about it too much, and for that his friends have found it hard to forgive him.

The letter that follows was addressed to one of his dearest friends, but one of whom the readers of his biography know little-John Johnston of Grange. He was, as the following letter makes evident, a boyhood friend, who had become a solicitor and who had taken charge of Boswell's private affairs during his absence from Scotland. There was nothing literary about the friendship between the two, and therefore Boswell never had occasion to mention Johnston, as he did almost all his other friends, when he published the "Life of Johnson." But Johnston was apparently a quiet and affectionate person, and is mentioned in the letters several times as "worthy Grange. This is the only letter of Boswell's to him which is known to exist.

LONDON, 30 June, 1768.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

I have been dissapointed in not hearing from you a second time before now, and as I intended to answer that expected letter, I have delayed writing for a post or two.

I hope you approve of my plan of going abroad. I never could be able to make anything of my army schemes. My father's rooted aversion would have allways prevented me from rising in that way. By falling in with his schemes, I make him easy and happy, and I have a better prospect of doing well in the world, as I will have no up-hill work, but all will go smooth. I have had a letter from my father in which he expresses much affection, and declares that he has not had so much satisfaction these four years. I wish from my heart that I may be able to make myself a Man, and to become steady and sensible in my conduct. But, alas, this miserable melancholy is allways weighing me down, and rendering me indifferent to all pursuits. For these two days past, I have been very bad (owing to thick, rainy weather) and have been viewing all things in the most dissagreeable light. I have now got relief and am pretty easy and chearfull. I sympath[ise] very heartily with your distress. It is indeed a most severe affliction. You are right in thinking that we cannot drive it away. I advise you to study it carefully. Observe its effects, and find out by what methods to render yourself tollerably easy while it lasts. What I want to do is to bring myself to that aequality of behaviour that, whether my spirits are high or low, people may see little odds upon

me. I am perswaded that when I can restrain my flightiness and keep an even external tenour, that my mind will attain a settled serenity. My dear friend! do all you can to keep free of it. Mix business and amusement, so that your mind may be allways employed and no time left for the gloomy broodings of a distempered fancy.

My father inclines that I should pass next winter at Utrecht and afterwards proceed to the south of Europe. At Utrecht I am told that I shall have a most beautifull city to live in; very genteel people to be acquainted with; an opportunity of learning the French language, and easy opportunity of jaunting about to the Hague, Roterdam, and, in short, up and down all the seven Provinces. I am also to hear the lectures on civil law, and put myself on the plan of acquiring a habit of study and application. Too much of that would be bad for me. But idleness is still worse. And now, my friend, don't you think that I am upon a better plan than forcing myself into the Guards, in time of peace, where I should be continaly fighting - not against the French but against my father's inclination? Don't you think, too, that I am now upon a more independent and extensive plan, and that a Man with such a mind as I have should rather embrace soft measures? My dear Johnston! you may figure the many spirited, gay ideas which I entertain when I consider that I am now a young man of fortune, just going to set out on his travels. That time which I have often at a distance looked forward to is arrived. My father wants to have me go as soon as possible. So that I shall set out in a fortnight or less.

As to my affairs, Love has payed me £10, and still owes me £30, which I believe I must allow to lie over a little. My boy's maintenance, I imagine, will come to £10 a year. I have a notion to make out three bills, each of that sum, which I will cause Love sign, payable at different future terms, and these I will indorse to you; so that you can be supplied from time to time. I am anxious to hear of Charles. Meet with Cairnie and get his accounts of him. I shall send you some journal next Tuesday. You shall hear every post from me now till I leave Britain. I ever am

Your sincere friend,
JAMES BOSWELL.

If letters went astray, as they do in the old comedies, and this one had been delivered into the hands of the Laird of Auchinleck, instead of to John Johnston of Grange, what a rumpus there would have been! From the first word to the last, this letter, despite its easy chatter, is strictly secret intelligence, by no means intended for the eye or ear of parents. "Jaunting about to the Hague and Roterdam," indeed! "Up and down all the Seven Provinces," quotha! James Boswell was being sent to Holland to read the law, and he knew it. Nothing had been said, we must believe, about those "very genteel people" he hoped to meet, and no promise had been extracted from the father by which one might be justified in asserting that it was planned that he should afterwards

"proceed" to the south of Europe. To the Laird of Auchinleck it is all strictly practical. James is being sent to Utrecht to acquire a professional education; he is not being sent off on the Grand Tour. He had wasted his time and opportunities when he had been put to the work in Scotland, and now some other plan must be tried. But as for holiday junketings...

And now note the skill with which youth goes at the management of parents. Nothing had come of Boswell's proposal to get a commission in the Guards. Part of the attractiveness of the proposal, anyhow, was that the road to a commission led immediately to London. And then his father had grumbled and protested from the beginning. Dreams of martial glory must be laid aside. But not without getting something for them. The plan is to sell them to the father for the Grand Tour through Europe, "proceeding" as far as Rome, or who knows?- Corsica. Seem to fall in with your father's plans. The first thing to do is to regain the parental favour. The first step toward the Grand Tour is to get a foothold on the Continent. It is unfortunate that it must be Utrecht, but perhaps something can be made of Utrecht. At any rate, there will be the opportunity of learning- the French language. There are the Seven Provinces to go jaunting about in, and,