The New York herald., 1922-04-09

lantlc Monthly Press.
Prof. Tinker believes James Bos-
well had genius, an extraordinary
capacity for friendship, and that his
flow of animal spirits and high good
humor was not alone marked asset
in his success in life but also afforded
genuine pleasure to his friends. And
to demonstrate all this he has writ
ten what he calls "a group of con-
nected essays eleven in number,
which proves to be a most interest
ing-yes. fascinating-life of John
sons biographer. Moreover, there is
considerable new information in the
text drawn from Prof. Tinker's
studies for his forthcoming edition
of Boswell's correspondence.
He summarizes his opinions of
Boswell in the preface to this work,
i'm which he says: James Boswell
has Jared rather badly at the hands
of most people who have written
about him. For myself frankly
admit that | have enjoyed my asso-
citation with him, and that l have no
desire either to patronize him or sit
in judgment on his occasional lapses
from social propriety and moral
standards. That Boswell was at
times very foolish young man any
reader may see; but he was not, l
think. so foolish as many of his
critics have been. When all is said,
he had genius, and of that | have
tried to make a sympathetic study,
preferling to err, if I must err, on
the side of appreciation"
OF his reasons for giving so senti-
mental a title to his book. Prof.
Tinker writes: Il have called this
book Young Boswell because it
seemed TO me that the spirit which
imbued his entire literary work was
essentially youthful. Even in the
role of hero -worshipper-a simple
conception of him which has satis-
fed many critics-there is something
of youth and its illusions. When
Boswell was at his best there were
present in him the qualities asso-
ciated with youth-confidence buoy
ancy. hope and an appetite for ex-
perience-as we'll as the common
faults of youth h-self-indulgence and
self-esteem."
In neither of these appreciations
curiously enough does Prof. Tinker
mention one qnality possessed by
Boswell that stands out very con-
spicuously in his life. This is his in
domitable pursuit of making the
acquaintance of distinguished men,
OF gaining his ends with uncommon
and varied shrewdnesses and of max
ing firm friends of most of the great
men so variously approached. We
get the first glimpse of this per-
sistency in the manner he fell in
with his fathers plan that James
should go TO Utrecht to study law. or
to continue the studies begun in
Edinburgh To James Holland was
but the port of entry for wider
travels in Europe, and by attending
classes in Utrecht he eventually
made his way to Germany, Switzer-
land and Italy and Corsica.
Each of the last mentioned three
countries furnished him with a lion,
a friend and, in the case of Corsica,
not only a friend but material for
his first literary success. Switzer-
land brought him to Rousseau. Italy
to Wilkes and Corsica gave him Gen.
Paoli and his AN Account of Cor
sica," which had a great vogue and
was of some moment politically.
There is surely something approach
ing genius in the manner in which
Boswell so variously approached
three such different men as Rous-
seau. Wilkes and Paoli. And surely
there is genius in friendship in con-
yerting the suspicious Paoli of their
first interview TO the admiring friend
the elder man became when he took
NJ residence in England. With Prof.
Tinker the Corsican had an intense
admiration for Boswell's lively
humor. quality SO inimitable that
even Fanny Burney, mach as she