New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-09-03

A MONG the books that might
IA have been written, but never
were. the one whose loss is
most deplored is the Life of
Boswell, by Johnson. Could the great
Doctor Johnson, by some happy chance,
have been induced to write in his turn
an account of his own biographer, the
results would most certainly have con-
stituted an Incompatible addition to
literature. But in the place of that
non-existent book, the very idea Of
which suggests such infinite possibili-
ties, we have far from unworthy
substitute in Prof. Tinker's admirable
and delightful volume en- the Young
Boswell"
Boswell has become so completely
Identified with DIR. johnson that it is
difficult to conceive of him as aassepa-
rate entity. We are apt to think of
him only as a man who existed in
order to accompany DR.. Johnson wher-
ever he went, to ask him innumerable
questions on all conceivable subjects,
and to record infinitely DR.. Johnson's
deeds and opinions for the benefit of
posterity. He has paid the penalty of
the predictions fame that his chief
world at large, solely as the author
of the "Life of Johnson. And yet Bos-
we'll, himself, was something more
than the biographer of great man
and the sole interest of his life is by
no means confined to his relations with
DR.. Johnson. His singular character
which found so complete an expression
In his career, energies from the shadow
OF Johnson's massive figure and is
depicted for us in Prof. Tinker's
pages, where we are made acquainted
with that extraordinary parsonage,
James Boswell of Auchinleck, who was
incidentally the author of the greatest
biography in the English language
Professor Tinker has the inestimable
advantage of knowing his subject as
thoroughly as he likes it. He not only
possesses all the available information
about Boswell, he is also immensely
fond of him. Boswell is handled
throughout with an insight that is in
variably sympathetic. And in Boswelfs
case, such an attitude is Indispensable
Boswell is a man whom it is easier to
ridicule than to understand. His
themselves most readily to satire, and
he has already been very severely
handled even by those who are devout
admirers Of his masterpiece. Professor
Tinker is one Of the few who have
done him justice, and who have arrived
at full comprehension of that as
founding blend of genius and folly
which made up his character.
PROFESSOR TINKER is principally
M concerned with Boswell's youth.
And Boswell, as a young man, repays
study. He said of himself, "There have
been many people who built castles in
the air, but l believe l am the first
tina ever attempted to live in them"
The confession is the key to his char
acter. The son of Scotch law lord
and landed proprietor, Boswell was in
curably romantic and experimental,
and rebelled against the montonous life
his family had mapped out for him.
Professor Tinker gives an entertaining
account of how Boswell circumvented
his austere father, who sent him to
Utrecht in order to complete his legal
studies, Boswell, instead, seized the
opportunity of seeing as much of Eu-
people as he could. The law, indeed,
was the least important thing that Bos-
we'll learned during the time he spent
on the Continent. 1t was there that
he first displayed in marked manner
his strong inclination for the society
of famous men. For Boswell had an
innate and ineradicable taste for
celebrities. AS Thomas Gray said of
him, Boswell has rage for knowing
anybody that was ever talked Of"
He was undoubtedly the greatest
lion-hunter that ever lived 1t is
probable that if he had not succeeded
IN establishing the intimacy which he
did with DR.. johnson he would have
attached himself to some other fam
Gus man, and devoted himself to him
just as assiduously. Boswelps genius,
as Professor Tinker points out, was
primarily social. Indeed, it might be
said that he had genius for human re-
lationships, and he preferred to employ
it in cultivating the friendship of men
of distinction. During his stay on the
Continent Boswell was so far success
full in indulging in this taste that he
not only spent some time in the COM
pany of John Wilkes. the noted dema-
gogue and politician, then at the height
of his spectacular career, but he also
succeeded in making the acquaintance
of Voltsire and Rousseau.
Professor Tinker quotes the letter
which Boswell wrote to Rousseau re-
questing an interview. In it Boswell
described himself for Rousseau's ben
eft "as man of unique merit, man
with sensitive heart and spirit
lively yet melancholy" He spoke Of
the great influence that Rousseau's
works had exerted on him and limited
that he was in great need of Rous-
seau's advice on an affair of the heart.
1t is no small tribute to the skill
which Boswell displayed in gratifying