Biography

John Johnston. (Ca. 1729-1786)

Son of John Johnston (d. 1749 or 1759) of Heithat (Later of Grange and Upperbanks). He was a writer in Edinburgh (a position resembling that of an English solicitor).

In early biographies of Boswell, including the 1951 Yale edition of Boswell in Holland, Johnston was thought to be of the same age as Boswell. However, an appendix to the Correspondence of James Boswell and John Johnston of Grange (1966) argues that Johnston was probably born in 1729 and certainly no later than 1731.

Life with James Boswell:

Boswell's oldest friend, whom he probably met in Robert Hunter's Greek class at the University of Edinburgh in 1755. Their correspondence from September 1759 to Johnston's death in 1786 was published in 1966 as the first volume of the Yale research editions.

Although there is a consensus, that Johnston and Boswell met in Hunter's greek class, it is curious that Johnston and William Temple (whom Boswell also met in that same class) did not know each other until 1767 (acc. to Pottle in The Early Years). Pottle probably infers that they did not know each other from a letter from Boswell to Temple of March 30, 1767, in which Boswell writes about Johnston, in a way which suggests that Temple didn't even know about Johnston's existence. Also, Boswell never referred to Johnston as a former classmate, or mentioned their (supposed) time together at the University of Edinburgh in his correnspondance. This would suggest, that the John Johnston listed in the enrollment papers of Hunter's greek class is not identical to Boswell's friend. Most researchers still seem to believe that Boswell met both of them in that class, but I am not so sure anymore.

Literature:

It is usually possible to acquire a copy of The Correspondence of James Boswell and John Johnston of Grange via the Abebooks used books search engine, and at rather decent prices too.

This article was last updated at February 24 2008 12:30:11 CET

Other links of possible interest