biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1740–95)
|
| biography:
| Man of letters and biographer, the son of Lord Auchinleck, born in Edinburgh, EC Scotland, UK. He studied at Edinburgh High School and University, then studied civil law at Glasgow and Utrecht, and on his travels through Europe met Voltaire and Rousseau. At 18 he began his private, often scandalous journal, published in 18 volumes as The Private Papers of James Boswell from Malahide Castle (1928–34), and in 1760 ran away to London where, according to his own accounts, he led a debauched life. He first met Johnson in 1763, and took him on the memorable journey to the Hebrides. His Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785) appeared after Johnson's death. He had, with Johnson's agreement, been storing up material for his great work, the Life of Johnson, since 1763, and he completed it in 1791. |
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