afterwards Marquis Townsend, was then Lord Lieutenant, and the congeniality of their dispositions united them in the closest friendship. He enjoyed a great advantage in the union of one of his female cousins to Mr Sibthorpe, of the county of Down, a gentleman of high influence, who was the means of introducing him into much good society. Another female cousin, Miss Margaret Montgomery, daughter of Mr Montgomery of Lainshaw, accompanied him on the expedition; and not only added to his satisfaction by her own delightful company, but caused him to be received with much kindness by her numerous and respectable relations. This jaunt was the means of converting Boswell from a resolution, which he appears to have formed, to live a single life. He experienced so much pleasure from the conversation of Miss Montgomery, that he was tempted to seek her society for life in a matrimonial engagement. He had resolved, he said, never to marry—had always protested, at least, that a large fortune would be indispensable. He was now, however, impressed with so high an opinion of her particular merit, that he would wave that consideration altogether, provided she would wave his faults also, and accept him for better for worse. Miss Montgomery, who was really an eligible match, being related to the noble family of Eglintoune, while her father laid claim to the dormant peerage of Lyle, acceded to his proposal with corresponding frankness; and it was determined that they should be married at the end of the year, after he should have paid one parting visit to London.
Before this visit was paid, Mr Boswell was gratified in the highest degree, by the arrival of General Paoli, who, having been forced to abandon his native island, in consequence of the French invasion, had sought that refuge on the shores of Britain, which has never yet been refused to the unfortunate of any country. In autumn, 1769, General Paoli visited Scotland and Boswell; an account of his progress through the country, with Boswell in his train, is given in the Scots Magazine of the time. Both on this occasion, and on his subsequent visit to London, Boswell .attended the exiled patriot with an obsequious fidelity, arising no doubt as much from his desire of appearing in the company of a noted character, as from gratitude for former favours of a similar kind. Among other persons to whom he introduced his Corsican friend, was Dr Johnson; an entirely opposite being, in destiny and character, but who, nevertheless, was at some pains to converse with the unfortunate stranger Boswell acting as interpreter. It would be curious to know in what light Paoli, who was a high-minded man, beheld his eccentric ciceroné.
During the time of his visit to London, September, 1769, the jubilee took place at Stratford, to celebrate the birth of Shakspeare. As nearly all the literary, and many of the fashionable persons of the day were collected at this solemnity, Boswell entered into it with a great deal of spirit, and played, it is said, many fantastic tricks, more suited to a carnival scene on the continent, than to a sober festival in England. To pursue a contemporary account, "One of the most remarkable masks upon this occasion was James Boswell, Esq. in the dress of an armed Corsican chief. He entered the amphitheatre about 12 o'clock. He wore a short, dark-coloured coat of coarse cloth, scarlet waistcoat and breeches, and black spatterdashes; his cap or bonnet was of black cloth; on the front of it was embroidered in gold letters, Viva la liberta; and on one side of it was a handsome blue feather and cockade, so that it had an elegant as well as a warlike appearance. On the breast of his coat was sewed a Moor's head, the crest of Corsica, surrounded with branches of laurel. He had also a cartridge-pouch, into which was stuck a stiletto, and on his left side a pistol was hung upon the belt of his cartridge-pouch. He had a fusee slung across his shoulder, wore no powder in his hair! but had it plaited at full
