ions of connecting links between Bruce and the
third of the Guelph dynasty on the throne.

From Veronica Sommelsdyck, the wife of this royal ancestor (whose title
is now merged in the earldom of Elgin), was 'introduced into our family
the saint's name,' born by Boswell's own eldest daughter, and other
consequences of a much graver nature were destined to ensue. 'For this
marriage,' says Ramsay of Ochtertyre, 'their posterity paid dear,' for
to it was due, increased no doubt as it was through the inter-marriages
in close degrees between various scions of the house, the insanity which
is now recognised by all students of his writings in Boswell himself,
and which made its appearance in the clearest way in the case of his
second daughter. His grandfather James adopted the profession of law in
which he obtained some distinction, and left three children--Alexander,
the father of the subject of this sketch, John, who followed the
practice of medicine, and a daughter Veronica, married to Montgomerie of
Lainshaw, whose daughter became the wife of her cousin Bozzy.

Alexander Boswell, Lord Auchinleck, married his cousin Euphemia Erskine.
In the writings of the son the father makes a considerable figure, while
his mother, 'of the family of Buchan, a woman of almost unexampled piety
and goodness,' as he styles her, is but a dim name in the background, as
with John Stuart Mill who has written a copious autobiography, and left
it to the logical instincts of his readers to infer that he had a
mother. The profession of law was adopted by the father, who, after a
residence abroad at Leyden where he graduated, passed as advocate at the
Scottish bar in 1729, from which, after a distinguished career, he was
appointed to the sheriffdom of Wigton, and ultimately raised to the
bench in 1754, with the title of Lord Auchinleck. He possessed, says his
son, 'all the dignified courtesy of an old baron,' of the school of
Cosmo Bradwardine as we may say, and not only was he an excellent
scholar, but, from the intimacy he had cultivated with the Gronovii and
other _literati_ of Leyden, he was a collector of classical manuscripts
and a collator of the texts and editions of Anacreon. His library was
rich in curious editions of the classics, and was in some respects not
excelled by any private collection in Great Britain, and the reputation
of the Auchinleck library was greatly increased by the black-letter
tastes and publications of his grandson. A st