Grampian Club > Boswelliana

126 MEMOIR OF JAMES BOSWELL.
In thus writing Boswell lacked candour. Had he chosen to
observe liis usual frankness he would not have heaped censure
on hi3 father's wife, but attributed the paternal resentment to
its true cause — the payment of that sum of £200 which
Mr. Temple had declined to lend. His correspondent's advice
respecting the plan for a London settlement was, for the time
not unacceptable. On this subject he writes : —
"Your counsel to me to set my mind at rest, and be content
with promotion in Scotland, is, I believe, very wise. My brother
David enforced it earnestly. If my father lives a few years
longer, age will, I suppose, fix me here without any question ;
for to embark in a new sphere when one is much after forty is
not advisable. Yet, my dear Temple, ambition to be in Parlia-
ment or in the metropolis is very allowable. Perhaps my
exalted notions of public situation are fallacious, for I begin to
think that true elevation is to be acquired from study and
thinking, and that when one is used to the most eminent
situations they become familiar and insipid, and perhaps
vexatious."
The embarrassed condition of his affairs kept Boswell in Scot-
land during the whole of 1780. In March, 1781, he again pre-
sented himself in London. Good Friday was, as usual, spent
with Dr. Johnson, the friends worshipping together in St.
Clement's church. On Easter Sunday he performed his wonted
devotions in St. Paul's Cathedral. Not long afterwards he
afforded sad evidence of persistent recklessness. Dining with the
Duke of Montrose, he became inebriated, and in this condition
joined an evening party at the Honourable Miss Monckton's.
He talked incoherently, and Dr. Johnson, who was present,
endeavoured to shield him from observation.* Next, day being
* The Honourable Mary Monckton was youngest daughter of John,
first Viscount Galway. She married, on the 17th January, 178G,
Edmund, seventh Earl of Cork ; she died in 1840.