ritish volunteers, the overwhelming forces
which the French were able to put in the field, on the cession of the
island to them by the Genoese, brought to an end the stubborn resistance
of the inhabitants. In the August of 1768 Boswell had raised in Scotland
a subscription of L700 for ordnance furnished by the Carron Iron Work
Company, and in 1769 there had issued from the press a little duodecimo,
'_British Essays in favour of the Brave Corsicans_: collected and
published by James Boswell, Esq.' The papers are twenty in number, some
by himself, others by 'a gentleman whose name would do honour to any
cause (whom we think to have been Trecothick, the successor of Beckford,
as Lord Mayor of London), and the greatest part furnished by persons
unknown to me.' They deal with the dangers to trade from France and the
Bourbon Compact, and point at the value of Corsica as a station superior
to Gibraltar or Minorca. One paper signed 'P. J.' has the undoubted
Boswellian touch in dealing with the sailors thrown idle by the
cessation of the along-shore Mediterranean trade. 'None are less
avaricious than our honest tars, nor have they, in reality, any reason
to be discontented. Every common sailor has at least five and thirty
shillings a month, over and above which _he has his victuals and drink,
and that in great abundance_. There is no such thing as stinting aboard
a ship, unless when reduced to difficulties by stormy weather. The crew
have their three meals a day regularly, and if they should be hungry
between meals, _there is always a biscuit or a luncheon of something
cold to be had_.'

France had bought Corsica from Genoa in May 1768. Marboeuf, whom
Boswell had found in the island, had been superseded, and a descent of
the French under Count Vaux with 20,000 men ended the war. Paoli escaped
to a ruinous convent on the shore, and, after lying there in
concealment, he embarked on an English vessel bound for Leghorn. On
September 20th he reached London, and the _Public Advertizer_ of October
4th, through its faithful correspondent, informed its readers how 'On
Sunday last General Paoli, accompanied by James Boswell, Esq., took an
airing in Hyde Park in his coach.' On the evening of the 10th he was
presented by the traveller to Johnson, who was highly pleased with the
lofty port of the stranger and the easy 'elegance of manners, the brand
of the soldier, _l'homme d'epee_.'

An impression is abroad that Boswell's books were not ta