The reader learns much about Boswell from his biography of Johnson. Write a brief character sketch of Boswell. Analyze the friendship between the two men and the influence each had on the other. Did their personal relationship compromise or enhance The Life of Samuel Johnson?

James Boswell was a young man from Edinburgh, although his family wanted him to be a lawyer he knew he was going to be a biographer. His father was a Lord, because he was a judge, so they were named lords and they could choose the place they would be Lords. Sometimes, he was considered as a ridiculous man who luckily met Johnson to write his biography.

They were completely different, Boswell was on his twenties, came from an aristocrat family, while Johnson was not that young, he was a famous man who came from a humble family. It is said that people are rejuvenated by younger people and this could have happened in the relationship between Boswell and Johnson.