"Alexander, eldest son of Johnson's biographer, inherited his father's love of literature. Some of the songs, such as Skeldon Haughs or the Sow flitted, Jenny's Bawbee and Jenny Dang the Weaver, and the singularly realistic domestic quarrel and reconciliation detailed in The East Neuk of Fife. Also included is his The New Whig Song, which after being published in The Glasgow Sentinel, led to a challenge from James Stuart, of Dunearn. In the ensuing duel Boswell was fatally wounded".

Some of these songs are traditional but Bosweel's son is accredited with quite a few Scottish songs.