BOSWELL AND THE GIRL FROM BOTANY
BAY — Frederick A. Pottle — Viking ($7.50).
When in 1794 James Boswell lay dying, he wrote to his brother in London, asking him to deposit £5 to the account of a Rev. Mr. Baron: “He takes charge of paying the gratuity to Mary Broad.” This letter set investigators whoofing on the trail of another promising secret of Boswell’s abundant life. At trail’s end was: no dirt, as had been half expected, but further data on a seldom-mentioned side of the little man—his interest in prison reform. Mary Broad, it turns out, was the alias of one Mary Bryant, who was convicted in 1786 of “stealing on the highway” and transported to the Australian prison colony. She escaped from there, was recaptured and finally returned to Newgate Prison in London. There Boswell met her, became interested in her case, finally obtained her release—after which, as so often happens to Good Samaritans, he found himself saddled with her keep for the rest of his life. Limited to 500 copies and appealing primarily to Boswell-addicts, Boswell and the Girl From Botany Bay has some claims to general interest as well, in its neat, well-documented picture of 18th Century underdog life.