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BOSWELL'S LETTERS 79
Boswell tells us that he " looks with horror
on adultery," and the love-affairs with which
his letters overflow appear, for the most part,
to have been sufficiently innocent ; for an
" Italian angel," Zelide (whom he knew at
Utrecht), Miss Bosville, and " La Belle Irlandaise
" he cherished at different times a chaste
flame ; while Miss Blair, a neighbour and
lady of fortune, very nearly caught him. But
Boswell decided that he would not have a
" "
Scots lass." You cannot say how fine
a woman I may marry ; perhaps
a Howard
or some other of the noblest in the kingdom."
" "
Rouse me, my friend ! he
"
cries Kate
;
has not fire enough she does not know the
;
"
value of her lover !
Nevertheless, he was
to have a " Scots lass " after all, for in the
autumn of 1769 he married Miss Margaret
Montgomerie, " a true Montgomerie, whom I
esteem, whom I love, after fifteen years, as
on the day when she gave me her hand "
(" Letter to the People of Scotland ").
After his marriage Boswell's life continued
at the
agitated and desultory : he practised
Scotch Bar, without much success, and was
called to the English ; almost every year he
visited London, where he cultivated Johnson,
enjoyed good company and fine, made the
most of his social and literary importance, and
revelled in the genuine and flattering friend-