n, the bold champion had often considerable difficulty in
_saving himself_ from the floor, in his efforts to regain his seat! Miss
Burnet of Monboddo, celebrated by Burns, and Miss Betty Home, he
describes as the reigning beauties of the time deeply involved in thus
causing the fall of man. Boswell was not behind, and he ascribes his
aberrations to the 'drinking habit which still prevails in Scotland,'
renewing good intentions, only to be broken in the same letter that
reveals the Moffat lady again, 'like a girl of eighteen, with the finest
black hair,' whom he loves so much that he is in a fever. '_This_,' he
adds truly enough, '_is unworthy of Paoli's friend_.'

The May of 1769 saw him in Ireland, where his relations in County Down
secured his entry into the best society. A dispatch to the _Public
Advertizer_, of July 7th, informed the public that 'James Boswell, Esq.,
dined with His Grace the Duke of Leinster at his seat at Carton. He went
by special invitation to meet the Lord Lieutenant; came next morning
with his Excellency to the Phoenix Park, where he was present at a
review of Sir Joseph Yorke's dragoons; he dined with the Lord Mayor, and
is now set out on his return to Scotland.' The _belle Irlandaise_ had
forgotten him, but it is to this occasion that we may refer some verses
that were published by his son Sir Alexander. Chambers thinks they refer
to his cousin, but the general belief tends in the direction of the
notorious Margaret Caroline Rudd, the associate in later years of the
brothers Perreau, who were executed for forgery. In the _Life of
Johnson_ we find Boswell, in 1776, expressing to his companion a desire
to be introduced to this person, so celebrated for her address and
insinuation, and later on he is shewn, on his own confession, to have
visited her, 'induced by the fame of her talents and irresistible power
of fascination,' and to have sent an account of this interview to his
wife, but to have offered its perusal first, 'as it appeared to me
highly entertaining,' to Temple, who was indignant over it. It would
appear, then, that Boswell did not reveal to Johnson his former
flirtation with this notorious woman, but we think that the obvious
marks of the brogue in the verses shew conclusively that either the
feeling was imitative and based on an earlier Irish song, or that the
verses were judged by Boswell's son, not too devoted, as we shall find,
to his father's memory, to be free from offence.