BOSWELL'S POLITICAL CAREER.

ByFrank Brady '46. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1965. 200 pp.$5.00.

As his life drew to a close, James Boswell regarded himself as a failure. It is the central irony of Professor Brady's book that this great writer, the author of the Life ofJohnson — perhaps the greatest of all biographies - and of the immensely interesting and valuable journals, devoted himself year after year to securing a seat in parliament, and, ever unsuccessful, felt a bitter frustration which literary eminence could not assuage. The practical politicians, the borough managers, and the leaders of political factions saw Boswell, for all his frankness and charm, as indiscreet and undependable, and from their point of view this judgment undoubtedly was correct.

Professor Brady is an editor of Boswell's journals and is soon to collaborate on a biography of Boswell. In this book he provides a detailed examination of one aspect of this complex man, and also examines at length the intricacies of 18th Century Scottish politics, a mighty maze for which Boswell himself had no plan. This book adds valuably to our knowledge of Boswell, yet it is fair to say that it is intended for 18th Century specialists rather than for the educated general reader.

Assistant Professor of English