excellence, undertook to superintend his education, and provide him books. 2 He was taught the common rudiments of learning at the school of Jedburg, a place which he delights to recollect in his poem of Autumn'; but was not considered by his master as superior to common boys', though in those early days he amused his patron and his friends with poetical compositions, with which, however, he so little pleased himself, that on every new-year's day he threw into the fire all the productions of the foregoing year3. 3 From the school he was removed to Edinburgh, where he had not resided two years when his father died, and left all his children to the care of their mother, who raised upon her little estate what money a mortgage could afford, and, removing with her family to Edinburgh, lived to see her son rising into eminence. 4 The design of Thomson's friends was to breed him a minister. He lived at Edinburgh, as at school, without distinction or expectation, till, at the usual time, he performed a probationary exercise by explaining a psalm 5. His diction was so poetically splendid that Mr. Hamilton, the professor of Divinity, reproved him for speaking language unintelligible to a popular audience, and he censured one of his expressions as indecent, if not profane". * He describes Caledonia as Wash'd lovely, from the Tweed 'Thomson, a borderer and a poet of rural life, has scarcely any allusion that bears a distinct reference to the scenery of his childhood, and celebrates the heroism of almost every land but his own. In that age, however, to be national in Scotland was to be provincial in Britain; and, unless an author chose to aim at the restricted reputation of a Ramsay or a Pennecuik, he must carefully shun allusions to his native country.' J. H. BURTON, Life of Hume, i. 10. [Mr. Logie Robertson points out that The Seasons owe much to the Jed vale scenery. The Seasons, 1891, P. 3.] 2 ‘Thomson,' writes Dr. Warton, 'was well acquainted with the Greek tragedies, on which I heard him talk learnedly, when I was introduced to him by Mr. W. Collins [the poet].' Warton's Pope, iv. 10 n. 3 He crowned the solemnity with a copy of verses in which were humorously recited the several grounds of their condemnation.' Works, Preface, P. 5. "There is probably no English poet of whose early writings so much that is absolute rubbish has been preserved.' Tovey's Thomson, Preface, P. II. 4 [In 1716. The Seasons, 1891, p.6.] 5 One licensed to preach, but not yet ordained, is called a Probationer.' Boswell's Johnson, ii. 171. 'In progress of time Abel Sampson, probationer of divinity, was admitted to the privileges of a preacher.' Guy Mannering, ch. ii. Thomson was not yet admitted a Probationer. In the Life prefixed to the This rebuke is reported to have repressed his thoughts of an 5 ecclesiastical character', and he probably cultivated with new diligence his blossoms of poetry, which however were in some danger of a blast; for, submitting his productions to some who thought themselves qualified to criticise, he heard of nothing but faults, but, finding other judges more favourable, he did not suffer himself to sink into despondence. He easily discovered that the only stage on which a poet 6 could appear, with any hope of advantage, was London; a place too wide for the operation of petty competition and private malignity, where merit might soon become conspicuous, and would find friends as soon as it became reputable to befriend it. A lady, who was acquainted with his mother, advised him to the journey 2, and promised some countenance or assistance, which at last he never received; however, he justified his adventure by her encouragement, and came to seek in London patronage and fame. At his arrival he found his way to Mr. Mallet, then tutor to 7 the sons of the duke of Montrose 3. He had recommendations to several persons of consequence, which he had tied up carefully in his handkerchief; but as he passed along the street, with the gaping curiosity of a new-comer, his attention was upon every thing rather than his pocket, and his magazine of credentials was stolen from him ". His first want was of a pair of shoes". For the supply of all 8 Works, 1775, it is only said (p. 7) that Mr. Hamilton told Thomson, smiling, that if he thought of being useful in the ministry he must keep a stricter rein upon his imagination, and express himself in language intelligible to an ordinary congregation.' 1 For his firm resolve to pursue divinity' after his arrival in London see Tovey's Thomson, Preface, p. 20. 2 She repeated the advice of Auditor Benson, who had seen his Paraphrase of Psalm civ. Works, Preface, p. 8. For Benson see ante, MILTON, 155; POPE, 195. [According to B. Corney (The Seasons, Pref. p. 15.) this lady of quality,' as Murdoch in the Life calls her, was Lady Grisell Baillie, daughter of Sir Patrick Hume, afterwards Earl of Marchmont. She was therefore a 9 2 his necessities his whole fund was his Winter, which for a time could find no purchaser; till, at last, Mr. Millan was persuaded to buy it at a low price 3: and this low price he had for some time reason to regret; but, by accident, Mr. Whatley, a man not wholly unknown among authors, happening to turn his eye upon it, was so delighted that he ran from place to place celebrating its excellence. Thomson obtained likewise the notice of Aaron Hill, whom, being friendless and indigent, and glad of kindness, he courted with every expression of servile adulation 5. Winter was dedicated to Sir Spencer Compton, but attracted Sure the most bitter is the scornful Of Pope he writes:-'The great topic of his ridicule was poverty.' Ante, POPE, 269. "The Eng. Poets, liv. 159. Winter was first written in detached pieces, or occasional descriptions; it was by the advice of Mr. Mallet they were made into one connected piece.' Cibber's Lives, v. 195 n. See Spence's Anec. p. 327. It was published in March, 1726. Judge Willis shows good reason for the belief that 'before Thomson finished Winter he contemplated a poem on each of the Seasons.' Winter, 1900, pp. 6, 17. Collins told Warton 'that Thomson informed him that he took the first hint of writing his Seasons from the titles of Pope's four Pastorals! Warton's Pope's Works, i. 115. * On the title-page of the first edition of Winter he is described as 'J. Millan, at Locke's-Head, in Shug Lane, near the Upper End of the Hay-market.' 3 ['He would advance no more than £3 for it.' The Seasons, 1770, Pref. p. 9 n. If the sum is correctly stated it is probable, as M. Morel points out in James Thomson, sa vie et ses œuvres, Paris, 1895 (p. 46), that it was only an advance. In 1728 Thomson received fifty guineas for Spring from A. Millar. This was Millar's first connexion with Thomson. It was Millar who published Sophonisba in 1730. For this tragedy he gave Thomson £137 10s. od., but the sum included the price already paid for Spring. In 1730 J. Millan and A. Millar together published a complete edition of Thomson's Works, and again in 1735 a collected edition. In 1738 Millar became Thomson's sole publisher by the purchase of the copyrights in Summer, Autumn, Winter, Britannia, A Poem to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton and The Hymn. For all these Millan is said to have given Thomson £105. Donaldson v. Beckett in Brown's Parliamentary Cases, ii. 129. In 1769 Millar's executors sold the Thomson copyrights to Beckett for £505. 76. p. 130. For the two famous cases, Millar v. Taylor (1769) and Donaldson v. Beckett, decided in the House of Lords in 1774, both arising from alleged perpetual copyright in The Seasons, see Burrow's Reports, 2303, Speeches or Arguments of the Judges of the King's Bench in Millar v. Taylor, 1771, and Brown's Parl. Cases. The facts are differently stated, but the account given in Brown's Parl. Cases has been followed in this note.] 46 'One Mr. Whatley [Rev. Robt. Whatley, Nichols's Lit. Anec. vi. 119], a man of some taste in letters... went from Coffee-house to Coffee-house, calling upon all men of taste to exert themselves in rescuing one of the greatest geniuses that ever appeared from obscurity. In a short time the impression was bought up.' Cibber's Lives, v. 196. 5 In the Preface to Winter, third edition, 1726, pp. 14, 18. For Aaron Hill see ante, SAVAGE, 55; POPE, 154; post, MALLET, 8. In the complete edition of The Seasons, 1730, Thomson omitted the no regard from him to the author; till Aaron Hill awakened his attention by some verses addressed to Thomson, and published in one of the newspapers, which censured the great for their neglect of ingenious men1. Thomson then received a present of twenty guineas, of which he gives this account to Mr. Hill: 'I hinted to you in my last that on Saturday morning I was 10 with Sir Spencer Compton. A certain gentleman without my desire spoke to him concerning me; his answer was, that I had never come near him. Then the gentleman put the question, if he desired that I should wait on him? he returned, he did. On this, the gentlemen gave me an introductory letter to him. He received me in what they commonly call a civil manner; asked me some common-place questions, and made me a present of twenty guineas. I am very ready to own that the present was larger than my performance deserved; and shall ascribe it to his generosity, or any other cause, rather than the merit of the address.' The poem, which, being of a new kind, few would venture at 11 first to like, by degrees gained upon the publick; and one edition was very speedily succeeded by another. Thomson's credit was now high, and every day brought him 12 new friends; among others Dr. Rundle, a man afterwards unfortunately famous, sought his acquaintance, and found his qualities such, that he recommended him to the lord chancellor Talbot 3. According to Dr. Warton (Essay on Pope, i. 151) it was 'the honourable mention by Spence in his Essay on the Odyssey [ante, POPE, 137] which made the poem universally known.' 'Winter was in a fourth [? third] edition before Spence's Essay appeared.' Cunningham's Lives of the Poets, iii. 228. 2 He was famous for imputed heresy. Ante, SAVAGE, 188. Thomson describes him as 'from native sunshine driven By slanderous zeal and politics infirm.' To the Memory of Lord Talbot, 1. 236, Eng. Poets, lv. 160. 3 In the same poem Thomson, speaking of Talbot, says: And thou, O Rundle, lend thy strain, Thou darling friend, thou brother of his soul!' 1.223. 13 Winter was accompanied in many editions not only with a preface and a dedication, but with poetical praises by Mr. Hill, Mr. Mallet (then Malloch), and Mira 3, the fictitious name of a lady once too well known. Why the dedications are, to Winter and the other seasons, contrarily to custom, left out in the collected works, the reader may enquire. 14 The next year (1727) he distinguished himself by three publications: of Summer 5, in pursuance of his plan; of A Poem on the Death of Sir Isaac Newton, which he was enabled to perform as an exact philosopher by the instruction of Mr. Gray'; and of Britannia, a kind of poetical invective against the ministry, whom the nation then thought not forward enough in resenting the depredations of the Spaniards. By this piece he declared himself an adherent to the opposition, and had therefore no favour to expect from the Court 9. In the Preface to Winter (third ed. 1726, p. 14) the poet mentions one of the pendent gardens in Cheapside, watered every morning by the hand of the Alderman himself.' 2 Post, MALLET, 9. 3 In the Preface to the third edition, p. 19, Thomson writes:-' Every reader, who has a heart to be moved, must feel the most gentle power of poetry in the lines with which Mira has graced my poem.' The following is a specimen of her poem: In thee, sad winter, I a kindred find, kind; To thee my gently-drooping head I Thy sigh my sister, and thy tear [According to Bolton Corney, Athenaeum, 1859, vol. ii. p. 78, 'Mira' was Martha Fowke, the daughter of a Major Fowke. She was known to poetical admirers indifferently as 'Mira' and as 'Clio.' Dict. Nat. Biog. Ivi. 247. The Epistles of Clio and Strephon, 1720, are ascribed to her. Brit. Mus. Cata.] For Granville's 'Mira' see ante, GRANVILLE, 8, 27. The first edition of Winter, folio, 1726, has the dedication only; the second and third editions, octavo, 1726, have both dedication and preface; the collected edition of The Seasons, 1729-30, has neither. Autumn, the last published, had no prose dedication. Judge Willis thus explains the omissions noticed by Johnson: 'Not intending to dedicate Autumn in prose, and there being already a poetical dedication to Spring, Thomson decided that each of the Seasons should have only a poetical dedication.' Winter, 1900, p. 15. 5 Eng. Poets, liv. 45. 6 Ib. iv. 145. ''A gentleman well versed in the Newtonian philosophy.' Works, Preface, p. 18. 'Died on July 17, 1769, John Gray, Esq., F.R.S., well known to the learned world.' Gent. Mag. 1769, p. 367. He became Rector of Marischal College, Aberdeen, in 1765. Tovey's Thomson, Pref. 29. • Britannia begins with a splendid praise of peace, and goes on, addressing her Britons, to say :'Then ardent rise! Oh, great in vengeance rise! And as you ride sublimely round the world, [state Make ev'ry vessel stoop, make ev'ry At once their welfare and their duty know.' Eng. Poets, liv. 269. See post, THOMSON, 22. Nevertheless this same year he dedicated his Poem to the Memory of |