31 32 About this time the Act was passed for licensing plays, of which the first operation was the prohibition of Gustavus Vasa, a tragedy of Mr. Brooke, whom the publick recompensed by a very liberal subscription; the next was the refusal of Edward and Eleonora3, offered by Thomson. It is hard to discover why either play should have been obstructed. Thomson likewise endeavoured to repair his loss by a subscription, of which I cannot now tell the success *. When the publick murmured at the unkind treatment of Thomson, one of the ministerial writers remarked that he had taken a Liberty which was not agreeable to Britannia in any Season, 33 He was soon after employed, in conjunction with Mr. Mallet, he had 'sent the other day to a particular friend.' Corrected theyconclude the Prol. Sat. Pope's Works (E. & C.), iii. 274, x. 30. Warton, in a note on Prol. Sat. 1. 15, mentions Pope sending some lines to Thomson. Warton's Pope's Works, iv. 10. Thomson was in Italy in 1731. Ante, THOMSON, 21. Before the Licensing Act was passed (in 1737) the Master of the Revels licensed plays. 'When,' writes Cibber, Richard III (as I altered it from Shakespeare) came from his hands he expunged the whole first act. The reason he gave for it was that the distresses of Henry VI would put weak people too much in mind of King James, then living in France. We were forced for some few years to let the play take its fate with only four acts divided into five.' Cibber's Apology, 1826, p. 159. Adams said he was sorry to hear sermons compared to plays. "Not by me, I assure you," cried the bookseller; "though I don't know whether the licensing act may not shortly bring them to the same footing; but I have formerly known a hundred guineas given for a play." Joseph Andrews, Bk. i. ch. 17. For Johnson's attack on the Licensing Act see Boswell's Johnson, i. 140. 2 This subscription is recommended in Gent. Mag. March, 1739, p. 146. The play was published in the following May. Ib. May, 1739, p. 276. See also Boswell's Johnson, i. 140. 3 Works, iv. I; advertised in Gent. Mag. May, 1739, p. 276, price 1s. 6d. The sentiments are just and noble, the diction strong, smooth, and elegant, and the plot conducted with the utmost art, and wrought off in a most surprising manner.' WESLEY, Journal, 1827, iii. 465. 4 According to Biog. Brit. Supple. p. 169, the refusal was due to Court jealousy of one who was in favour with the Prince of Wales. The play was dedicated to the Princess, whose husband is likened to Prince Edward, as being the darling of a great and free people.' Works, iv. 4. In Thomson's Works, Preface, p. 25, it is said that William Patterson, Thomson's deputy and successor in the Surveyorship (post,THOMSON, 35), who acted as his amanuensis, himself wrote a play on Arminius. 'No sooner had the censor cast his eyes on the handwriting in which he had seen Edward and Eleonora than he cried out, "Away with it!"' Of Thomson's play' 3,500 common and 1,000 fine royal copies were printed, and of Arminius 2,000 common and 400 fine copies.' N. & Q. I S. xii. 218. to write the masque of Alfred, which was acted before the Prince at Cliefden-house 1. His next work (1745) was Tancred and Sigismunda, the most 34 successful of all his tragedies, for it still keeps its turn upon the stage2. It may be doubted whether he was, either by the bent of nature or habits of study, much qualified for tragedy 3. It does not appear that he had much sense of the pathetick, and his diffusive and descriptive style produced declamation rather than dialogue *. His friend Mr. Lyttelton was now in power, and conferred 35 upon him the office of surveyor-general of the Leeward Islands; from which, when his deputy was paid, he received about three hundred pounds a year". The last piece that he lived to publish was The Castle of 36 Indolence', which was many years under his hand, but was at I The refrain in the original is Works, iii. 220. Southey, writing two years after Trafalgar, calls Rule Britannia 'a song which will be the political hymn of this country as long as she maintains her political power.' Specimens, &c., ii. 107. 2 Works, iv. 75. Its publication is advertised in Gent. Mag. Aug. 1745, p. 168, price 1s. 6d. Garrick took the part of Tancred. Pitt attended the rehearsal. Davies's Garrick, i. 85. 'It was some years afterwards revived with the highest applause.' Murphy's Garrick, p. 69. In the first edition, 'He seems not to be either,' &c. 4 In the 'Advertisement' Thomson states that 'the play is considerably shortened in the performance.' Works, iv. 78. Horace Walpole wrote on March 29, 1745-The town flocks to a new play of Thomson's. It is very dull; I have read it. I cannot bear modern poetry; these refiners of the purity of the stage and of the incorrectness of English verse are most wofully insipid.' Letters, i. 347. Grimm in 1763, after mentioning Le mariage de vengeance in Gil Blas, bk. iv. ch. 4, continues:- Le célèbre poète anglais Thomson en a fait une tragédie qu'on joue à Londres, sous le titre de Tancrède et Sigismonde. Il y a environ deux mois qu'on a lu dans Le Mercure de France une traduction en prose de cette pièce. M. Saurin vient de la mettre sur le théâtre de Paris, sous le titre de Blanche et Guiscard, tragédie librement traduite en vers de l'anglais.' Mémoires, &c., de Grimm, 1814, ii. 229. 5 He was made a Lord of the Treasury in Dec. 1744. Post, LYTTELTON, II. [According to Murdoch, his friend and biographer, Thomson enjoyed the Surveyorship the last two years of his life. Works, 1762, Pref. p. II. See also ib. 1793, Pref. p. 39.] 1 Works, ii. 185. Published in 37 38 39 last finished with great accuracy. The first canto opens a scene of lazy luxury, that fills the imagination 1. He was now at ease, but was not long to enjoy it; for, by taking cold on the water between London and Kew, he caught a disorder, which, with some careless exasperation 2, ended in a fever that put an end to his life, August 27, 17483. He was buried in the church at Richmond, without an inscription; but a monument has been erected to his memory in Westminsterabbey 5. Thomson was of stature above the middle size, and 'more fat than bard beseems, of a dull countenance, and a gross, unanimated, uninviting appearance; silent in mingled company, but chearful among select friends, and by his friends very tenderly and warmly beloved. He left behind him the tragedy of Coriolanus', which was, by the zeal of his patron Sir George Lyttelton 3, brought upon the stage for the benefit of his family, and recommended by May, 1748, price 3s. Gent. Mag. 1748, p. 240. To Thomson's Castle of Indolence Johnson vouchsafed only a line of cold commendation.' MACAULAY, Essays, i. 411. I do not see the coldness. The first canto is rightly selected for praise. Wordsworth blames Gray for the same coldness. Post, THOMSON, 50 n. 2. "The fine weather having tempted him once more to expose himself to the evening dews, his fever returned with violence.' Works, Preface, p. 28. In Johnson's Dictionary there is no instance of exasperation in this sense, though there is of exasperate. 3 Gent. Mag. 1748, p. 380. When Thames in summer 5 However he was neglected when living his memory has been honoured in an ample subscription for a new edition of his works. The profits were employed in erecting a monument in Westminster Abbey. The surplus was distributed among his poor rela. Castle of Indolence, i. 68. In a note it is stated that the rest of the stanza was written by a friend -probably Lyttelton. Eng. Poets, liv. 231. 7 Campbell believed that 'Shakespeare's Coriolanus was never acted genuinely from 1660 till 1820.... The elder Sheridan, in 1764, brought out a piece in which he jumbled together the Coriolanus of Shakespeare with that of Thomson.' Kemble preserved some of 'Thomson's absurdity.' Campbell's Mrs. Siddons, 1834, ii. 154 8 He became a baronet in 1751. Post, LYTTELTON, 13. 9 According to Smollett he died in debt. Hist. of Eng. v. 383. a Prologue, which Quin, who had long lived with Thomson in fond intimacy, spoke in such a manner as shewed him 'to be,' on that occasion, 'no actor'.' The commencement of this benevolence is very honourable to Quin, who is reported to have delivered Thomson, then known to him only for his genius, from an arrest, by a very considerable present; and its continuance is honourable to both, for friendship is not always the sequel of obligation 3. By this tragedy a considerable sum was raised, of which part discharged his debts, and the rest was remitted to his sisters, whom, however removed from them by place or condition, he regarded with great tenderness, as will appear by the following letter, which I communicate with much pleasure, as it gives me at once an opportunity of recording the fraternal kindness of Thomson, and reflecting on the friendly assistance of Mr. Boswell, from whom I received it *. 'My dear Sister, 'Hagley in Worcestershire, 'I thought you had known me better than to interpret my silence into a decay of affection, especially as your behaviour has always been such as rather to increase than diminish it. Don't imagine, because I am a bad correspondent, that I can ever prove an unkind friend and brother 5. I must do myself the justice to tell you, that my affections are naturally very fixed and constant; and if I had ever reason of complaint against you (of which by the bye I have not the least shadow), I am conscious of so many defects in myself, as dispose me to be not a little charitable and forgiving. 'He lov'd his friends (forgive this gushing tear; Alas! I feel I am no actor here), warmth of heart,' &c. Thomson's Works, iv. 181. 'The tears gushed from Mr. Quin's eyes. The beautiful break in these lines had a fine effect in speaking. He never appeared a greater actor than at this instant when he declared himself none.' Cibber's Lives, v.216. Works, Preface, p. 16. At the end of Anstey's New Bath Guide Quin's kindness to Thomson is celebrated. 3 For Reynolds's observation about 'being relieved from a burthen of gratitude' see Boswell's Johnson, i.246. Satan, in Paradise Lost, iv. 52, felt 'The debt immense of endless gratitude, So burthensome, still paying, still to owe.' 'Gratitude,' wrote Chesterfield, 'is a burthen upon our imperfect nature.' Letters to his Godson, p. 167. 4 Boswell had two more of Thomson's letters to his sister. Boswell's Johnson, ii. 64, iii. 360. 5 In one of his letters to his sister he says:-"All my friends who know me know how backward I am to write letters; and never impute the negligence of my hand to the coldness of my heart.' Ib. iii. 360. This backwardness has made his autographs very rare. 1 40 41 42 'It gives me the truest heart-felt satisfaction to hear you have a good kind husband, and are in easy contented circumstances; but were they otherwise, that would only awaken and heighten my tenderness towards you. As our good and tender-hearted parents did not live to receive any material testimonies of that highest human gratitude I owed them (than which nothing could have given me equal pleasure), the only return I can make them now is by kindness to those they left behind them: would to God poor Lizy had lived longer, to have been a farther witness of the truth of what I say, and that I might have had the pleasure of seeing once more a sister, who so truly deserved my esteem and love. But she is happy, while we must toil a little longer here below: let us however do it chearfully and gratefully, supported by the pleasing hope of meeting yet again on a safer shore, where to recollect the storms and difficulties of life will not perhaps be inconsistent with that blissful state. You did right to call your daughter by her name; for you must needs have had a particular tender friendship for one another, endeared as you were by nature, by having passed the affectionate years of your youth together; and by that great softner and engager of hearts, mutual hardship. That it was in my power to ease it a little, I account one of the most exquisite pleasures of my life.-But enough of this melancholy though not unpleasing strain. 'I esteem you for your sensible and disinterested advice to Mr. Bell, as you will see by my Letter to him: as I approve entirely of his marrying again, you may readily ask me why I don't marry at all. My circumstances have hitherto been so variable and uncertain in this fluctuating world, as induce to keep me from engaging in such a state: and now, though they are more settled, and of late (which you will be glad to hear) considerably improved, I begin to think myself too far advanced in life for such youthful undertakings, not to mention some other petty reasons that are apt to startle the delicacy of difficult old batchelors. I am, however, not a little suspicious that was I to pay a visit to Scotland (which I have some thoughts of doing soon) I might possibly be tempted to think of a thing not easily repaired if done amiss. I have always been of opinion that none make better wives than the ladies of Scotland; and yet, who more forsaken than they, while the gentlemen are continually running abroad all the world over? Some of them, it is true, are wise enough to return for a wife. You see I am beginning to make interest already with the Scots ladies.-But no more of this infectious subject.-Pray let me hear from you now and then; and though I am not a regular correspondent, I ''He never returned to Scotland.' Boswell's Johnson, iii. 117. |