France had bought Corsica from Genoa in May 1768. Marboeuf, whom Boswell had found in the island, had been superseded, and a descent of the French under Count Vaux with 20,000 men ended the war. Paoli escaped to a ruinous convent on the shore, and, after lying there in concealment, he embarked on an English vessel bound for Leghorn. On September 20th he reached London, and the _Public Advertizer_ of October 4th, through its faithful correspondent, informed its readers how 'On Sunday last General Paoli, accompanied by James Boswell, Esq., took an airing in Hyde Park in his coach.' On the evening of the 10th he was presented by the traveller to Johnson, who was highly pleased with the lofty port of the stranger and the easy 'elegance of manners, the brand of the soldier, _l'homme d'epee_.' An impression is abroad that Boswell's books were not taken seriously. Nothing could be more remote from the truth. The Whigs were in favour of his views, and Burke, together with Frederick the Great, believed our interests would suffer by the increase of French power in the Mediterranean. Shelburne, for Chatham had resigned before November 1768, was the advocate of similar views, telling our ambassador at Versailles to remonstrate with the French court, while Junius, in his letter to the Duke of Grafton, told the country that Corsica would never have been invaded by the French, but for the sight of a weak and distracted ministry. When the hand of Napoleon was heavy on the Genoese, they remembered that their cession of the island had made their master, by his birth at Ajaccio on August 15, 1769, a Frenchman. But the nation at the time of Boswell's books was weary of war, and their influence, though great, was not visible in any actual political results. Boswell had expected to draw the sage on the subject of matrimony, having promised himself, as he says, a good deal of instructive conversation on the conduct of the married state. But the oracles were dumb. On his return to the north he was married, on the 25th November 1769, to his cousin. We find in the _Scots Magazine_ of that month the following extracts under the list of marriages:-- 'At Lainshaw, in the shire of Air, JAMES BOSWELL, Esq., of Auchinleck, advocate, to MISS PEGGY MONTGOMERY, daughter of the late DAVID MONTGOMERY of Lainshaw, Esq.' 'At Edinburgh, ALEXANDER BOSWELL, Esq., of Auchinleck, one of the Lords of Session and Justiciary, to Miss BETTY BOSWELL, second daughter of JOHN BOSWELL, Esq., of Balmuto, deceased.' His father, now past sixty, had married again, and married a cousin for the second time, like his son on the present occasion. That they were married on the same day and at different places affords a clear indication that the father and son were no longer on the best of terms. CHAPTER IV LOVE AFFAIRS--LITERARY CLUB. 1766-73 'How happy could I be with either, Were t'other dear charmer away.'--GAY.