11 NOVEMBER 1922, Page 44

BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE.

This month's Blackwood is a little less entertaining than usual, though the account of the strange meeting between "Rousseau and Boswell" is delightful. The arch-interviewer's letter by which he introduces himself is so characteristic that its opening deserves setting down again :—

" 310:C51El:11,-1 am a gentleman of an old Scots family. You know my rank. I am twenty-four years old. You know my age. I present myself, sir, as a man of unique merit, as a man with a sensitive heart, a spirit lively yet melancholy. Ah ! if all I have suffered gives me no special merit in the eyes of M. Rousseau, why was I ever so created, and why did he ever write as he has done 1"

We are also given a glimpse of Boswell's fantastic Corsican adventure. "Musings Without Method" begins with a well- considered indictment of the late Prime Minister and his policy, whilst in " An Unrealised Asset " horses and racing are amusingly discussed.