The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-23
BOzzY'S LOVE STORY.
Curious eIdslIShts on the Manners % the
Eighteenth Century.

AuoHsttn FiIoN IN ne Fortniohiib Rsriev.
have been recently introduced 70 q new
Boswell-S Boswell without johnson. q Boa
well who IL in love. or very near % II, and In
great danger OF being loved himself by one
Of the most charming and brilliantly gifted
women Who ever lived. For that Unexpected
pleasure I am indebted 20 Professor Philippe
Oodet Of NeUohatel and TO his new book on
Madame de ChaFriAre ct ses Amis,-
One Of the opening chapters tells US how
james Boswell. during his stay at Utrecht In
the winter Of l1s4. became acquainted with
Isabelle van Tuyll. and was for some time Q
prominent ngure in the group Of admirers
who surrounded the Dutch beauty. Isabelle
possessed every advantage which could at
tract the attention Of q young man OF twenty
four. Her family was one Of the nOblest In
the land, with suficisnt means to keep its
rank and dignity. Isabelle. or, as she was
fAmiIiarly called. Belle. vas not regularly
pretty. but the ever changing expression OF
her bright. eager face. her winning smile.
her large sea green eyes, the wealth Of her
fair hair. cut short after a fashion OF her own.
her gr aceful figure and easy department.
all ooncurred 10 makehsr extremely attractive.
a her portrait, painted by Latour shortly after
she had met Boswell. still bears witness.
She had a perfect mastery Of the French
language. We have abundant proof that she
could speak and write In EngIish almost
equally we'll. She had studied classical LAM
guages. history. and Mathematics; in paint
ing and music she had attained TO o proficiency
far above the average. Before she was
twenty-five she had become an authoress
by publishins q novelette, of . marked sa-
tirical character. which had aroused much
adverse criticism In polite circles at The
Hague and Utrecht. lie Noble In q few
pages teeming with trenchsnt and merciless
wit. exposed the vices OF an idle and corrupt
aristocracy.
The good people OF Utrecht had other
causes for wondering and goesiping about
Mile. de Zuylen's eccentricities. which were
many and startling. In an age in which every
word, every gesture Of an unmarried woman
was regulated by a tyrannical etiquette. she
showed an open disregard OF social conven-
tionalities. even. It was whispered. OF common
proprieties. She made the most pungent
and disparaging remarks about ladies OF high
rank; she addr essed men freely without wait
ing to be addressed by them: she received her
friends Of both sexes. sometimes late az night.
in her own room. even when she was In bed
or dressing or undressing. What would the
people have said. l wonder. II they had known,
a. we do, that she was. unknown to her
parents. carrying on q correspondence with
Colonel d'Hermenches. a middle aged married
man. who wished to get rid OF his wife by
divorced To this witty but stony hearted
proniRate she oOnfded unreservedly her inner
feelings. her most secret inclinations.
From I7eO TO ITO there was an %uninter-
rupted defB OF pretenders OF all ages, condi-
tons and tempers. from a royal prince and a
reiRninR rhingrave down TO an attainted lord
and a decayed French marquis. who wished
to repair his ruined castles with the money
Of the Tuyll family. Some came and went.
Some were always on the point OF coming.
but never came at all. II may be imagined
that they wore frightened away by what they
saw OF nv what they heard.
Such was the situation OF affairs when Bos-
well appeared on the scene.
Like Belle van Zuylen. James Boswell was
| OF noble birth. One OF his ancestors had re-
ceived the estate Of Auchinleck from King
James ". Of Scotland. and had been among
the glorious dead at Flodden Field. His
father, Lord ~Auchinleck. was a Judge. and
earnestly desired TO see his son devote him
self 70 the legal profession. To this James
Boswell demurred. 1t IL said that when a lad
he had shown some inclination to become a
Romish priest. Later on he wanted his father
70 buy him a commission In the Guards
not, indeed, that he had any taste for the
military profession. but In order that he might
be permitted 10 live in London and 10 move
in the best and highest circles Of society.
Al last he resigned. or pretended to resign.
himself to be a lawyer. but I fancy that when
he consented to 20 20 study law in Utrecht
durin q two years he never meant seriously 70
| adhere TO the compact, but simply meant to
extract from Lord AuChinleck the yearly
| allowance which he needed 70 live and travel
on the Continent.
What sort Of a fellow was he at the time?
"A very good humored. a very agreeable.
and a very mad Rentleuan.-
Thus does David hume describe him In a
letter to a friend dated January II. 1890. Very
mad" These two words seem TO have i'm
pressed the writer OF the article on James Bos-
we'll in the Dictionary OF National Biography
20 such an extent that he made all other par
ticulars At in with them. and 80 contrived "a
give us a view Of young Boswell's moral dis
~no~ition in the sos OF the eighteenth century
totally different from, II not radically oppo-
site 70. the real Boswell as he appears in his
after life and In his own letter. which will
he .oon under the eyes Of the reader. To
Humes Judgment we may oppose that oil
another man Of equal discernment, Adam
smith. He had been Boswellis teacher, and
told him once. several years before the stay
at Utrecht, that "he was too wise. too sys
fanatic for a young man" What proofs
then. can be Afforded OF his -madness"7 Il
4. That when . child he fancled himself IN h
a Jacobite, but changed his mind and con-
aented TO drink King Georges health on tbs
offer Of a shilling given by one Of his uncles
/ venture to think that. on the contrary, every
Scotsman and every Scotswoman will con
slider this a. a mark OF an early pTactlcal WIZ
dom and a good auRury OF future success. Ii
10 that when a boy Of eighteen he fell dee
p~erately in love with a girl known to us only
by the letters g. VT? But who has not beer
desperately In love at that tender aRe2 Lastly
IA IL that he visited Paoli in Corsica and In
tarviewed him on his past life and his PLAN
or that he escorted Therese Levasseur, Rous
seau's mistress. to England? This would b.
the most glazing OF oil mistakes. Boswell
was born un ~curieur II am surprised that
the word does not exist in English. since tn,
fault-or the quality-is decidedly character
irtic Of this nation. He was fond Of ap
preaching and studying celebrities. Before
he finally attached himself to Samuel John
son ne had made friends with David Hume
Adam Smith, Voltaire. Rousseau and Paoli
the hero Of Corsican independence. A com
bInatlon OF enthusiasm. self conceit and goo,
sense. a ~virtuous and honest prig. a NEEDLE
n YOU like mean a meddler Of the EOoC
sort. for he liked TO obliEe apd help-but
most sober and right minded man. l believe
when he met Mile. de Zuylen he was alread
regulating ali his actions. as he will soon ex
nlaIn, by self imposed rules. more tyrannical
Il may be, than any Of the social convention
AGAINST which she was in open revolt. II
were writing a novel Ia sin which I have com
b. ksN Z .kan ~ do 10 .wal,l