Note 4: — Chapter IV

There were no doubt some special reasons, connected with his attitude towards the law itself, which may account in a large degree for Boswell's failure at the Bar. We have mentioned already the aversion which Boswell had for the society of lawyers. This in itself was likely to be a hindrance in his legal career; but it is only the result of the general unfittedness of Boswell for the Bar. He was not unwilling, when his plan of being a soldier had been abandoned, to enter upon a legal career; it would offer the kind of opportunities for distinction which he wanted. Possibly he was attracted too by the formalism of the Courts; one may suppose that the mere wearing of a wig and gown would give him pleasure. But the mind of Boswell was entirely unlegal. He had no capacity for estimating the value of evidence, and was readily convinced by a plausible story. He applied to his work rather the common sense of the layman (being actually advised very often by Johnson, who knew nothing of Scotch law) than the exact reasoning required by his profession. And though Boswell could apply himself at times with continued effort to any work which he particularly wanted to do, the dislike which he had for his legal studies made him tire of them so soon that he never knew very much about any body of laws. 'Mr. Boswell,' says Malone, 'professed the Scotch and the English Law; but had never taken very great pains on the subject. His father, Lord Auchinleck, told him one day that it would cost him more trouble to hide his ignorance in these professions than to show his knowledge. This Boswell owned he had found to be true.'4 Boswell himself wrote to Temple on the subject of his chances of success at the English Bar: 'To confess fairly to you, my friend, I am afraid that, were I to be tried, I should be found so deficient in the forms, the quirks and quiddities which early habit acquires, that I should expose myself.'