Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-10-30
THE INTEL IGFlNCER.
BosweIl nnd hIs Rntnte.


By common consent Bos5Welrs Life Of. John.
son is pronounced among tile most entertaTnino,
biographies that was ever written. IN sTns,5s
respects tbs inimitable and uneoualled STt5 5haS
been said that Boswell's special missionon earth
was to write the Life of johnson. He certainly,
possessed a mbination oftalents for the work
that nc. other man of his age could boast His
Veneratlonl Tor johnson was so great that cvery-
thing he did or said, everything he liked oFdfs.
liked, every qualify and every infirmitIv that
marked hlmsw was deemed by Roswell5a thingiof
interest, 50 that alwas written down
ana together constituted an admirable photo-
graph OF the great Kahn of ofliterature.
Next to Johnson. Boswetl's predominant pas
sion was his pride of ancient blood Possibly
TINS sentiment outweighed seven 45thealoye and
reverence he felt for the author of tho Rambler.
lie traced the, origin of his family back to the
reign OF James W., when his ancestor who had
become one of the King s fnvorite, bestowed uo-
on him the lands of Auchinleck, and other pos
sessions in Ayrshire. These lands have conitin-;
ued in the family from the date of|thel original
grant, about the year 1906, down to the present.
time. That the name of Boswell and the estate
of f.Auchinleck might forever remain associated
Lord Auchlnleck, whofw Boswcls father and
one oil the Scottish judges, drew up with great
care q deed of entail, attaching the family. es-l
tate of Auchinleck to heirs male. But Sthe.
Mlsest schemes of men and mice aft gangaglee "
heaAuchinleck deed; executed in / l777, was
placed in 2lu6ticG cuStollid, and the renamed
unquestioned until the summer of 1851 At
that time, however, Sir James. Boswell, the
grandson of Johnson'ss biographer, having no
son, and us it would seem, being more solicitous
to provide for his daughters than to preserve the
name of Boswell. of Auchinlecl, had The deed Of
entail examined, to,diScover, if possible some
haW or informally that nigh enable him TO set
it aside.
To person of nice and sensitive honor, it
might seem hardlyj justifiable4to divert the sue
cesslon of IN estate, and defeat the wishes aud
purposes ofthe ancestor who 5estab blished5 that
succession, and whose controleoverit was 3abso.
lutte, by taking advantage of an oversight or in
Gorlnality. But Sir James Boswell was inf1uen-
ced by other considerations, His examiner Z
found that the deed, fronlthc blunders ia copy
ing clerk, was invalid. BY the law of Scotland,
when word Of any Importance in deed of en-
tall.is written on an erasure, without being a1.
thentlcated in the testing or prohibiting clause,
the effect is fatal to the object of the deed, by
rendering it improbative. It was discovered
that the clause prohibiting the right Of SALE in
the Auchinlcck deed was in this position. The
word ge6LeeDd6te had at first been written Ir1'e-
deensd6te. An erasure was made, and the Eve
letters, "irred" We're written on this erasure and
no notice was taken Of the circumstance in the
testing clause. The Scottish judges held thisto
be IA fatal objection, and thus says.a a Scottish
nulled the deed, so anxiousiy concocted, that.
was to crafty family pride, aud carry down to-
distant generations the name of Boswell of Au-
Butthough the name of Boswell and Auchin-
leck may be dissociated the name itself will last
as long as the English language. Estates may
be lost, but.the honors and triumphs of litera-
nre are imperishable and immortal. How vain
are heapurposes and wishes of man! Lord
Auchinleck in settling the succession of his es-
tate thought he had provided for the perpetuity
OF his family. That succession has vanished,
but the attachment of his son to johnson, an
attachment which the old Lord ridiculed, pro-,
duced q work which will transmit the name of
his family to the rcmotest postcrity. 9Phere's
nae hope for jamie, mon, ," said Lord Auchinleck
to FRIEND Jamie is gaen clean gyte What
do you think, mon? He's dom VII Paoli-he'st
off wi the land louping scoundrel of Corsican,
and whose tail do you think he has pinned him
self to now, mon?' Here the old judge sum-
moned up sneer f}sovereign contempt. "a
dominic, mon=-an aud dominic; he keeped