After a short time at the University, during which he could have learned nothing, we find him wandering about Europe in search of celebrities,—big game,—the hunting of which was to be the chief interest of his life. He succeeded in bagging Voltaire and Rousseau,—there was none bigger,—and after a short stay in Rome he turned North, sailing from Leghorn to Corsica, where he met Paoli, the patriot, and finally returned home, escorting Thérèse Levasseur, Rousseau’s mistress, as far as London. Hume at this time speaks of him as “a friend of mine, very good-humored, very agreeable and very mad.”
Meanwhile his father, Lord Auchinleck, who had borne with admirable patience such stories as had reached him of his son’s wild ways, insisted that it was time for him to settle down; but Boswell was too full of his adventures in the island of Corsica and his meeting with Paoli, to begin drudgery at the law. His accounts of his travels made him a welcome guest at London dinner-parties, and he had finally decided to write a book of his experiences.
At last the father, by a threat to cut off supplies, secured his son’s return; but his desire to publish a book had not abated, and while he finally was admitted to the Scotch bar, we find him corresponding with his friend Mr. Dilly, the publisher, in regard to the book upon which he was busily employed. From an unpublished letter, which I was fortunate enough to secure quite recently from a book-seller in New York, Gabriel Wells, we may follow Boswell in his negotiations.
Edinburgh, 6 August, 1767.
Sir
I have received your letter agreeing to pay me One Hundred Guineas for the Copy-Right of my Account of Corsica, &c., the money to be due three months after the publication of the work in London, and also agreeing that the first Edition shall be printed in Scotland, under my direction, and a map of Corsica be engraved for the work at your Expence.
In return to which, I do hereby agree that you shall have the sole Property of the said work. Our Bargain therefore is now concluded and I heartily wish that it may be of advantage to you.
I am Sir
Your most humble Servant
James Boswell.
To Mr. Dilly, Bookseller, London.