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felt his inexperience and his poverty. A pair of shoes 

 was his first want ; his manuscript of ' Winter ' his only 

 property. A purchaser for this poem was found with 

 great difficulty ; but Mr. Millar consented to give a trifle 

 for it, and it was published in 1726. It was little read 

 till Mr. Whately and Mr. Spence spoke so favourably 

 pf it that attention was attracted, and it rose rapidly 

 into popularity, and one edition very speedily followed 

 another. 



This success procured him many friends, among whom 

 was Dr. Rundle, who introduced him to the lord chancellor 

 Talbot ; and some years after, when the eldest son of that 

 nobleman made a tour on the continent, Thomson was 

 appointed his travelling companion. Meanwhile his 

 poetical powers were fully employed, and in 1727 appeared 

 his 'Summer;' in 1728, his 'Spring;;' and in 1730, his 

 ' Autumn.' Besides these he published, in 1727, ' A Poem 

 sacred to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton,' and ' Britan- 

 nia,' a poetical invective against the ministry for the in- 

 difference they showed to the depredations of the Spaniards 

 in America. By this piece he declared himself a favourer 

 of the opposition, and therefore could expect nothing from 

 the court. 



The tragedy of ' Sophonisba' was acted in 1727, Wilks 

 taking 1he part of Masinissa, and Mrs. Oldfield that of 

 Sophonisba. So high were the expectations raised, that 

 every rehearsal was dignified with a splendid audience 

 collected to anticipate the pleasure that was preparing for 

 the public. Its success however was very equivocal. 

 ' There is,' says Johnson, ' a feeble line in the play : 



" O, Sophonisba, Sophonisba, 1 " 



This gave occasion to a waggish parody, 



" O, Jemmy Thomson, Jemmy Thomson, O ! ' 



vhich for awhile was echoed through the town.' 



At this time long opposition to Sir Robert Walpole had 

 filled the nation with clamours for liberty, and Thomson, 

 instinctively seizin;; the poet's office to utter in verse the 

 wants of the nation, determined on writing a poem on 

 ' Liberty.' He spent two years on this undertakin<r, and 

 viewed it as his noblest work, probably because it had cost 

 him the most trouble. It was divided into five parts, 

 which were published separately, thus : ' Antient and 

 Modern Italy compared ; being the first part of " Liberty," 

 a poem,' 1735. ' Greece ; being the second part, &c.,' 

 !":">. ' Rome ; being the third part, &c.,' 1735. ' Bri- 

 tain ; being the fourth part, &c.,' 1736. ' The Prospect ; 

 li< -ing the fifth part, &c.,' 1736. The poem of ' Liberty' does 

 not now appear in its original state, having been shortened 

 by Sir George 'afterwards Lord) Lyttelton. Of all Thomson's 

 works this is the least read, and deservedly so ; for, inde- 

 pendent of the feebleness of its execution, it is obvious, as 

 Johnson remarked, that ' the recurrence of the same 

 images must tire in time ; an enumeration of examples to 

 prove a position which nobody denied must quickly grow 

 disgusting.' 



His friend Talbot appointed him secretary of briefs, a 

 place requiring little attendance, suiting his retired indo- 

 lent way of life, and equal to all his wants. When his 

 patron died. Lord Hardwicke succeeded him, and kept the 

 office vacant for some time, probably till Thomson should 

 apply for it ; but either his modesty, pride, or depression 

 of spirits prevented his asking, and the new chancellor 

 would not give him what he would not request. This 

 reverse of fortune increased his literary activity. In 1738, 

 besides editing his own works in two volumes and writing 

 a preface to Milton's ' Areopagitica,' he produced the 

 tragedy of ' Agamemnon,' with Quin for his hero. For 

 this hr iriit ' no inconsiderable sum,' though it had but 

 poor success. Johnson says that on the first night Thom- 

 son seated himself in the upper gallery, and was so inter- 

 in its performance, that ' he accompanied the players 

 by audible recitation, till a friendly hint frighted him to 

 silence.' 



Thomson's next tragedy was ' Edward and FJeonora,' 

 which was not allowed to be represented on account of 

 (itain pretended allusions. He then wrote, conjointly 

 with Mallet, the masque of ' Alfred,' which was represented 

 re the prince and princess of Wales at Clifden in 

 1740. This masque contains the national song of ' Rule 

 Britannia,' which Mr. Bolton Coniey ascribes, 'on no slight 

 evidence," to Mallet, 



Thomson's next work was another tragedy, 'Tancred 

 and Sigismunda,' which, being taken from the interesting 

 stoiy in ' Gil Bias,' instead of the Grecian mythology, as 

 were his other pieces, had more success. Garrick and Mrs 

 Gibber played the principal parts. His friend Sir George 

 Lyttelton now appointed him surveyor-general of the Lee- 

 ward Islands, from which, after paying a deputy, he re- 

 ceived about 300/. a year. 



The 'Castle of Indolence,' which was many years under 

 his hands, was now finished and published (1748). It was 

 at first little more than a few detached stanzas, in the 

 way of raillery on himself, and on some of his friends who 

 reproached him with indolence, while he thought them at 

 least as indolent as himself. But the subject grew under 

 his hands till it became his masterpiece. 



A violent cold, which from inattention became worse, 

 at last carried him off, on the 27th August, 1748. 

 He left behind him a tragedy of ' Coriolanus/ which was 

 brought on the stage by Sir George Lyttelton for the 

 benefit of his family. A considerable sum was gained, 

 which paid his debts and relieved his sisters. The remains 

 of the poet are deposited in Richmond churchyard. 



Thomson was ' more fat than bard beseems;' of a simple, 

 unaffected, indolent, sensual character ; silent in com- 

 pany, but cheerful among friends, of whom he had many 

 and true. This character is discernible in his writings. 

 His simplicity is seen in the purity and warmth of his sen- 

 timents, sometimes even childish; his indolence in the 

 slovenliness of his versification, and the inappropriateness 

 of so many of his epithets : he never seems to have thought 

 anything worth the toil of polishing, and hence the per- 

 petual use of pompous glittering diction substituted for 

 thought or description ; his sensuality appears in the gusto 

 with which he describes all luxuries of the senses, and the 

 horrors of deprivation. Amidst much that is truly exqui- 

 site both in feeling and expression, he mingles the ab- 

 surdities of a schoolboy's trite commonplaces and mecha- 

 nical contrivances to piece out his verse. A sweet line of 

 almost perfect beauty is followed by a bombastic allusion, 

 or some feeble personification as tiresome as the first was 

 bewitching. A touch of nature is overloaded by super- 

 fluous epithets a picturesque description is often marred 

 by pedantry or carelessness. Hazlitt says that ' he is 

 affected through carelessness pompous from unsuspecting 

 simplicity of character. He is frequently pedantic and 

 ostentatious in his style, because he had no consciousness 

 of these vices in himself.' 



In spite of these drawbacks, Thomson is a charming 

 poet, and one whose works have always been the delight 

 of all classes. The popularity of his ' Seasons' equals that 

 of any poem in the language, and it is said that some one, 

 finding a .shabby copy of it lying on the window-seat of a 

 country ale-house, exclaimed, ' That's true fame !' Thom- 

 son's beauties are genuine : his descriptions of nature often 

 come with the force of reality upon the mind ; and no one 

 ever painted more successfully the ' changing scene' and 

 the ' rustic joys' of England. 



His ' Castle of Indolence' may be regarded as his best- 

 sustained effort, for, although separate passages of the 

 ' Seasons' may be superior, yet on the whole it has fewer 

 defects, while some of the stanzas, especially in the first 

 canto, fill the mind with lazy luxury. 



Of his tragedies we need say little : their neglect has. 

 been so signal, that we may accept so unanimous a ver- 

 dict without further examination ; indeed the genius of 

 Thomson was eminently undramatic. 



(Dr. Johnson, Lives of the Poets; Murdoch's Life of 

 Thomson ; Thomson's Seasons, edited by Bolton Corney ; 

 Hazlitt's Lectures on the English Poets ; Campbell's Spe- 

 cini"tis of the British Poets.) 



THOMSONITE. This mineral occurs generally in 

 masses. Structure fibrous and radiated, the fibres prolonged 

 into small columnar crystals in the occasional cavities. 

 Primary form a right rhombic prism. Cleavage parallel 

 to the diagonal planes of the primary form. Fracture un- 

 even. Hardness scratches fluor spar, or 5 - 0. Colourless, 

 translucent, and in small fragments transparent. Lustre 

 vitreous. Brittle. Specific gravity 2-35 to 2 '37. 



Before the blow-pipe it intumesces and becomes opaque, 

 but does not fuse ; at a red heat it loses water. 



It occurs at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in trap asso- 

 ciated with analcime and prehnite. 



