[100] “Life of James Beattie, LL.D.,” by Sir William Forbes, of Pitsligo, Bart., Edinb. 1807, 3 vols., vol. iii., p. 378.
[101] Statement of Mr. William Macfarlane, of Edinburgh, to Robert Chambers. “Traditions of Edinburgh,” 1869, 12mo., p. 74.
[102] See the Poetical Works of Sir Alexander Boswell, Bart., with memoir, by Robert Howie Smith, Glasgow, 1871, 12mo.
[103] Decisions of the Court of Session, 20th March, 1851.
[104] The celebrated Nell Gwynne, who is believed to have transmitted a benefaction to the starving poet, which did not reach till after his decease.
[105] The only son of Thomas Alexander Boswell, of Crawley Grange, died in India in his 18th year.
[106] Births Register of Auchinleck.
[107] The Rev. Robert Bruce Boswell published in 1842 a volume of “Psalms and Hymns, chiefly selected,” dedicated to Daniel, Lord Bishop of Calcutta.
[108] John Maclaurin, eldest son of Colin Maclaurin, Professor of Mathematics in the University of Edinburgh, was admitted advocate in August, 1756. After a period of successful practice at the bar, he was raised to the bench by the title of Lord Dreghorn in January, 1789. He died at Edinburgh 24th December, 1796. Maclaurin was one of Boswell’s early associates; he contributed several poems to the first volume of Donaldson’s “Collection,” Edinburgh, 1760. Three dramas from his pen, entitled, “Hampden,” “The Public,” and “The Philosopher’s Opera,” are of very ordinary merit. His collected works were published in 1798 in two octavo volumes.
[109] John Nichols, printer, the celebrated author of the “Literary Anecdotes,” was born in 1744 and died in 1826. A person of ripe and varied scholarship, he enjoyed the esteem of Dr. Johnson.