Charles Johnstone is best remembered (when he is remembered at all) as the author of Chrysal; or, The Adventures of a Guinea (1760-1765), a novel described by Sir Walter Scott as "the Scandalous Chronicle of the time." This rambling collection of journalistic essays, character portraits, historical set pieces, and moral reflections set the tone and established the patterns that would mark Johnstone's later and far less successful forays into the world of fiction. According to Boswell, Dr. Johnson first recommended Chrysal for publication; and his judgment of the novel's chances for success was apparently correct. The original version in two volumes, published in 1760, sold so well that Johnstone had an additional two volumes published in 1765. This four-volume version met with equal success and by 1800 Chrysal had gone through some twenty editions.

At the heart of Johnstone's popularity lay his knack for etching slightly distorted but unmistakable portraits of...