To this enthusiastic industry we owe the ‘Life,’ published in 1791, a book allowed on all hands to fulfill the purpose of a biography, in giving an exact and lively picture of the central figure and of his environment better than any other ever written.  Previous to this, Boswell had spent some time on the Continent, and, driven by the peculiar form of hero-worship which was his overmastering impulse, he visited Corsica and became intimate with Pascal Paoli, the patriot who freed the island from the Genoese, but was subsequently conquered by the French, In 1768 Boswell published ’An Account of Corsica, Memoirs of Pascal Paoli, and a Journal of a Tour to the Island.’  Of this Johnson said, “The history is like other histories, but the journal is in a high degree delightful and curious.”  Gray said the journal was “a dialogue between a green goose and a hero.”

[Illustration:  James Boswell]

In 1793 Boswell was admitted a member of the famous “Literary Club,” and soon after persuaded Dr. Johnson to make a tour of the Hebrides, a journey at that time presenting almost as many difficulties as a trip to Labrador does now.  His journal, a book quite as entertaining as the ‘Life,’ was not published till 1786, two years after Johnson’s death.  As stated before, Boswell’s great book, the ‘Life,’ was published in 1791.  The author also published a number of minor works which are not worth enumerating.

The position of James Boswell as a classic author is as well established as it is unique.  It depends entirely on the two books mentioned:  ’The Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson’ and the ‘Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides,’ which may be considered as one, and indeed were amalgamated into one in Croker’s edition.  Further, the interest of these books depends more on the subject-matter than on the style.  No books are better known than these, and none are buried deeper in oblivion than his other productions, with the possible exception of the Corsican journal.  One is as obscure as the other is immortal, though from the artistic standpoint they do not differ greatly in literary merit.  But it is not just to say that the value of Boswell’s ‘Life of Johnson’ depends entirely on the subject-matter.  It depends rather on a happy relation or co-ordination between the subject and the author.  In consequence, it is hardly possible to consider Boswell as a writer without some reference to Samuel Johnson.  Not only is Johnson the central figure in the book, but in a sense he is a joint author of it.  About one-third of the book is in Johnson’s words, and this third is decidedly the best part.  Boswell’s reputation as a great writer is unique in that it depends upon greatness as an interviewer and reporter.