ch grew up in my fancy into a
kind of mysterious veneration, by figuring to myself a state of solemn
elevated abstraction, in which I supposed him to live in the immense
metropolis of London.' Such were the links, the advice of this obscure
player to keep a journal, and the report given to the youth by the
judge in their postchaise. As early as December 1758 we hear of his
having 'published now and then the production of a leisure hour in the
magazines,' and of his life in Edinburgh he writes, 'from nine to ten I
attend the law class; from ten to eleven study at home, and from one to
two attend a class on Roman Antiquities; the afternoon and evening I
always spend in study. I never walk except on Saturdays.' A full
allowance, surely, all this for one who regrets his sad impotence in
study, and writes the letters to Lord Hailes which we shall quote later.

Even at this period he betrays the fatal defect which remains with him
through life, the indulgence in 'the luxury of noble sentiments,' and
the easy and irritating Micawber-like genteel roll with which he turns
off a moral platitude or finely vague sentiment, in the belief that good
principles constitute good character. 'As our minds improve in
knowledge,' he writes, 'may the sacred flame still increase until at
last we reach the glorious world above when we shall never be separated,
but enjoy an everlasting society of bliss.... I hope by Divine
assistance, you shall still preserve your amiable character amidst all
the deceitful blandishments of vice and folly.' While still at Edinburgh
he produced _The Coquettes, or the Gallant in the Closet_, by Lady
Houston, but it was ruined on the third night, and found to be merely a
translation of one of the feeblest plays of Thomas Corneille. This play
was long believed to be by Boswell, but his part was merely the
providing the translator with a prologue, nor was the fact revealed till
long after by the lady herself.

In November 1759 he entered the class of moral philosophy under Adam
Smith at Glasgow. Perhaps his father had thought that in the more sedate
capital of the West, and in close propinquity to Auchinleck, there
would be less scope for the long career of eccentricities upon which he
was now to enter. If such, however, had been the intention, it was
destined to a rude awakening. All his life Bozzy affected the company of
players, among whom he professed to find 'an animation and a relish of
existence,' and at this