In James Boswell's London Journal he reports, among other significant doings on Sunday, December 12, 1762: "I had my feet washed with milk-warm water". The editor of my edition, Frederick Pottle, drops the following footnote: "One of Boswell's keenest sensual pleasures."
Given Boswell's descriptions of his other sensual pleasures, this seems like kind of an overstatement. (In a letter written five years after the above diary entry, he confided to a friend: "I got myself quite intoxicated, went to a Bawdy-house and past a whole night in the arms of a Whore. She indeed was a fine strong spirited Girl, a Whore worthy of Boswell if Boswell must have a whore.") Let's not forget that this is the same Boswell who is reported to have contracted gonorrhea at least seventeen independent times.
Regardless, let's give credit where credit is due: in addition to writing one of the greatest biographies of all time, James Boswell was an early and unblushing advocate of the male pedicure. Here's to hoping that he found a pedicure worthy of Boswell, if Boswell must have a pedicure.
