Capital’s literary son honoured at last

Boswell, best known as Samuel Johnson’s biographer, knew and wrote about Edinburgh intimately, from encounters with intellectual leaders of the Scottish Enlightenment, such as David Hume, to its brothels and drinking dens. But critics have argued he is barely recognised a son of the city.

The leading playwright and artist John Byrne hopes to change that when he unveils a memorial paving stone in Makars’ Court off the Royal Mile. Guests are expected to include Martyn Wade, the chief executive of the National Library of Scotland, and Scottish-born novelist Candia McWilliam.

“We’re terribly, terribly bad at recognising our heroes. It’s not before time,” said Byrne, who wrote a BBC film version of Dr Johnson and Boswell’s 1773 tour of the Western Isles, chronicled in books by both men, starring Robbie Coltrane and Bill Sessions.

“I just love Boswell and all his adventures, being lost in admiration for Dr Johnson but by writing one of the great biographies of all time, of one of the great figures of English literature, proving himself to be a great Scottish writer,” he said.

Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson was published in 1791 and has remained a literary landmark for two centuries, a founding milestone in modern biography for its intimate account of the great lexicographer.

Boswell centred his career as an advocate in Edinburgh, writing articles for the racy and readable journals that became best-sellers when they were rediscovered and published in the 1950s.

The stone carries a quote from 15 November, 1762: “I rattled down the High Street in high elevation of spirits.”

He lived in two or three different city addresses, ranging from the high life to low.

He famously interviewed the philosopher David Hume on his deathbed, testing him to see if approaching death had changed his sceptical views on the afterlife.

Recent moves to raise Boswell’s profile have seen a new Boswell Book Festival at his family home in Ayrshire, with organisers confirming that it will return with an expanded venue next year, and a £1.5 million drive to restore his family mausoleum there as a museum.

James Knox, chairman of the Boswell Museum and Mausoleum Trust, suggested it was now time for Edinburgh’s Writers Museum to feature Boswell alongside the writers Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott.

Mr Knox praised the museum for leading the effort to memorialise Boswell with the stone in Makars’ Court alongside other Scottish writers, backed by the American scholar on 18th century Scottish literary figures, Dr William Zachs.

Boswell’s descendant, Margaret Boswell Elliot, said the inscribed stone was “entirely appropriate”.

“His journals record his life at the heart of the Scottish Enlightenment, his work as a lawyer and more. It is brilliant that he is getting some fresh air again on the streets of Edinburgh.”