Note 12: — Chapter XIII
Reading edition
As a father, Boswell was no less kind. He had had six children altogether, three sons and three daughters;12 one of the sons had died early in 1777. His interest in his children no doubt increased very much after their mother's death. Frequently in the 'Letters to Temple' after that event (June, 1789) one or other of them is mentioned, and Boswell shows anxiety both for their present happiness and for their future welfare. Malone, in answering a detractor of Boswell's, says: