l*jgi. T/jomson^s last letter to' Paterson. 329 



hope of another living in SufFolk, that country of 

 tranquillity, where he will then burrow himself in a 

 wife, and be happy. Good natured obliging Millar 

 is as usual. Though the doctor increases in his busi- 

 nefs, he does not decrease in his spleen ; but there is 

 a certain kind of spleen that is both humane aad a- 

 greeable, like Jacques in the play ; I sometimes too 

 have a touch of it. But I must break off this chat 

 with you, about your friends, which, were I to in- 

 dulge it, would be endlefs. 



As for politics, we are, I believe, upon the brink 



of a peace. The French are vapouring at present in 



the seige of Maestricht, at the same time they are 



mortally sick in their marine, and through all the 



vitals of France. It is pity we cannot continue the 



war a little longer, and put their agonizing trade 



.quite to death*. This siege (I take it) they mean 



93 their last flouriili in the war. May your health, 



which never failed you yet, still continue, till you have 



scraped together enough to return home, and live in 



some snug coraer, as happy as the Corycius Senex, 



in Virgil's fourth Georgic, whom I recommend both 



to you and myself, as a perfect model of the truest 



• happy life. Believe me to be ever most sincerely 



rand affectionately, 



Yours, iifc. James Thomson. 



ANECDOTE. 

 The leader of a gang of banditti in Corsica, who 

 , had long been famous for his exploits, was at length 



• Good Thomson here speaks the language of the tinacs. Honest 

 1! He did not dive dtcp into the system of political depravity, ami 

 ^■ulleJ by plausible words, as many an honest man before and since 

 liji been. Edit. 



VOL. viii. T T f 



