Boswell, a Scottish lawyer, kept a detailed daily journal from the age of twenty. In 1763 he met, and subsequently became friends, with Johnson. Their meetings were included in the journal. Johnson travelled to Scotland, spending some 83 days and including a trip to the Hebrides. It was after Johnson's death that the trip to the Hebrides was published as a trial before Boswell embarked on writing The Life of Johnson, a subject taken up by a number of writers and so speed became necessary to beat the competition.