Grampian Club > Boswelliana

MEMOIR OF JAMES BOSWELL. 167
Whether I shall take any svich step I doubt much. The loss
I have experienced is perpetually recurring."
Boswell resolved closely to watch his opportunity. His
leti/Cr to Mr. Temple of the 2nd April, 1791, contains the
following : —
" I am to dine with Sir WiUiam Scott, the King's Advocate,
at the Commons to-morrow, and shall have a serious consulta-
tion with him, as he has always encouraged me. It is to be a
family party, where I am to meet Miss Bagnal (his lady's
sister) who may probably have six or seven hundred a year.
She is about seven and twenty, and he tells me lively and gay —
a Eanelagh girl — but of excellent principles, insomuch that she
reads prayers to the servants in her father's family every
Sunday evening. * Let me see such a woman,' cried I ; and
accordingly I am to see her. She has refused young and fine
gentlemen. ' Bravo,' cried I, ' we see then what her taste is.'
Here then I am, my Temple, my flattering self ! A scheme —
an adventure seizes my fancy. Perhaps I may not like her ;
and what should I do with such a companion, unless she
should really take a particular liking to me, which is surely
not probable ; and, as I am conscious of my distempered mind,
could I honestly persuade her to unite her fate with mine. As
to my daughters, did I see a rational prospect of so good a
scheme, I shoidd not neglect it on their account, though I
should certainly be liberal to them."
Miss Bagnal's name does not re-appear. But he informs
Mr. Temple on the 22nd of August that his matrimonial
plans were still active : —
" You must know," he writes, " I have had several matri-
monial schemes of late. I shall amuse you with them from
Auchinleck. One was Miss Milles, daughter of the late Dean
of Exeter, a most agreeable woman ' d\m certain age,' and with
a fortune of £10,000 ; she has left town for the summer. It
was no small circumstance that she said to me, ' Mr. Temple is
a charmins: man.' "