It is contended, therefore, that Boswell altered his written Johnsoniana in a way which could account for the differences we have observed between the versions of stories in 'Boswelliana' and those in the 'Life.' This proposition, however, casts no reflection upon his reputation for accuracy. He preserved the 'substance and language'; and if he changed some words he preserved the colouring and made the whole a better representation of Johnson.
Boswell himself gives some suggestion of his method when he presents a series of Johnsoniana for which he was indebted to Mr. Langton:
Very few articles in this collection were committed to writing by himself, he not having that habit.... The authenticity of every article is unquestionable. For the expressions, I, who wrote them down, am partly answerable.
By 'unquestionable authenticity' it was meant, no doubt, that the purport of what Johnson said had been correctly reported. In 'Boswelliana' a story told by Mr. Langton is written out with suggestions for its improvement. It may be quoted as a final example of the manner in which Boswell was partly answerable for the expressions:
Johnson had a sovereign contempt for Wilkes and his party, whom he looked upon as a mere rabble. 'Sir,' said he, 'had Wilkes's mob prevailed against Government, this nation would have died of _phthiriasis_! Mr. Langton told me this. The expression _morbus pediculosus_, as being better known, would strike more. _Lousy disease_ may be put in a parenthesis.'
[Footnote 1: _Miss Burney's Diary_, ii, 100.]
[Footnote 3: _Life of Johnson_, iii, 183.]
[Footnote 4: _Tour to the Hebrides_, p. 434 (Dr. Hill's edition).]
[Footnote 5: _Tour to the Hebrides_, Appendix 1.]
[Footnote 6: _Life of Johnson_, iii, 270.]
[Footnote 7: _Life of Johnson_, ii, 372.]
[Footnote 10: _Boswelliana_, Grampian Club, 1874. Preface.]
[Footnote 11: Boswell on one occasion told a lady that her joke should be included in _Boswelliana_.]
[Footnote 12: _Life of Johnson_, iv, 83.]
The method we have been examining has revealed, in a sense, a second aspect of Boswell as the biographer, the natural complement of that scientific spirit which inspired the acute observation, the delicate experiments, the methodical accuracy; for he brought to the work of recording not merely the faculty for stating truthfully what he had seen, but the power of expressing his feelings; and it was particularly this feeling--an interest at the same time full-blooded, comprehensive and minute--that insisted upon expression.