Francois Mazerac

Biography

Servant. A short time before, and for 3 years after serving Boswell, he had attended William Thomas Wishart (d. 1799)

Life with James Boswell

Mazerac functioned as Boswell's servant in Holland from August 1763 until June, 1764, when Boswell left for his grand tour of the continent. There seems to have been some genuine affection between the two. Thus, in a letter which Boswell asked Mazerac to write, giving Boswell's character as a master, Mazerac finished by writing "I shall never forget Monsieur.- Permit me to beg you, Monsieur, that, should you ever have a chance, you will let me know how you are. Your very grieved and faithful servant, Fancois Mazerac".

From a letter from the Rev. Robert Brown, one of Boswell's friends during his stay in Utrecht, we know, that Mazerac actually visited Scotland in the summer or fall or 1767, and that he brought back with him a letter from Boswell to Brown. No further details are known about the trip. In a letter from Brown dated December 25, 1769, he writes, that Mazerac had acted as his servant since he returned from Scotland, but that he had by that time gone almost blind, and was of very little use. Brown forwarded a request from Mazerac to Boswell for an annual annuity of £9 in return for Mazerac sending Boswell his savings of £90. I don't know if any response was made to this request. Brown at the same time announced Mazerac's intention to returning either into Germany or Switzerland - it seems, however, that Mazerac stayed in Utrecht where he died in 1790.

Notes

The main sources for this entry are Boswell in Holland 1763-64 and [GC1766].

Mentioned in

Francois Mazerac is mentioned in:

• Boswell in Holland 1763-1764