24. A Great Biographer’s Hidden Habit
Diarist James Boswell (1740 – 1795) was a friend of Samuel Johnson, the writer and poet who compiled the first comprehensive English dictionary. Boswell’s biography of Johnson is considered one of the best biographies ever written. Indeed, so close had Boswell been to Johnson, that “Boswell” became a term for a close companion who observes and records the deeds of a great figure. Less known about Boswell is that he hankered after women nonstop. Boswell had a difficult relationship with his father, which made him depressed and melancholic. Intimacy cheered him up. Between ages 20 and 29, as gleaned from his diary, Boswell slept with three married gentlewomen, four actresses, and kept three mistresses. He also had a fling with Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s mistress.
Those figures were eclipsed by the more than sixty working women he slept with in that period. Those women lifted his spirits, at least temporarily, and the habit cheered him up. Boswell chased after them wielding his “Armour” – a reusable condom made of sheep guts that had to be moistened with water before use. A typical escapade from Boswell’s diary went thus: “As I was coming home this night I felt carnal inclinations raging thro’ my frame. I determined to gratify them. I went to St. James’s Park and like Sir John Brute, picked up a Woman. For the first time did I engage in Armour which I found but a dull satisfaction. She who submitted to my lusty embraces was a young shropshire Girl only seventeen, very well-looked, her name Elizabeth Parker. Poor being. She has a sad time of it!“
Related: Historic Figures Who Visited Brothels on a Regular Basis.
