N ら 0 Geddes Famely THE LIFE OF JAMES THOMSON. Ir is commonly faid that the life of a good writer is best read in his works, which can scarce fail to receive a peculiar tincture from his temper, manners, and habits: the distinguishing character of his mind, his ruling passion, at least, will there appear undisguised. But however just this observation may be, and altho' we might fafely rest Mr. Thomson's fame as a good man, as well as a man of genius, on this fole footing, yet the defire which the public always shews of being more particularly acquainted with the history of an eminent author ought not to be disappointed, proceeds not from mere curiosity, but chiefly from affection and gratitude to those by whom they have been entertained and instructed. as it To give fome account of a deceased friend is often a piece of justice, likewife, which ought not to be refused to his memory, to prevent or efface the impertinent fictions which officious biographers are so apt to collect and propagate: and we may add, that the circumstances of an author's life will fometimes throw the best light upon his writings, instances whereof we fhall meet with in the following pages. Mr. Thomfon was born at Ednam, in the shire of Roxburgh, on the 11th of September, in the year 1700. His father, minister of that place, was but little known i beyond the narrow circle of his co-prefbyters, and to a few gentlemen in the neighbourhood, but highly respected by them for his piety and his diligence in the pastoral duty, as appeared afterwards in their kind offices to his widow and orphan family. The reverend Messrs. Riccarton and Gusthart particularly, took'a most affectionate and friendly part in all their concerns. The former, a man of uncommon penetration and good taste, had very early discovered, through the rudeness of young Thomson's puerile effays, a fund of genius well deserving culture and encouragement: he undertook, therefore, with the father's approbation, the chief direction of his studies, furnished him with the proper books, corrected his performances, and was daily rewarded with the pleafure of feeing his labour so happily employed. The other reverend gentleman, Mr. Gusthart, who is still living *, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, and fenior of the Chapel-Royal, was no less ferviceable to Mrs. Thomson in the management of her little affairs, which, after the decease of her husband, burdened as she was with a family of nine children, required the prudent counfels and assistance of that faithful and generous friend. Sir William Bennet likewise, well known for hisgay humour and ready poetical wit, was highly delighted with our young Poet, and used to invite him to pafs * This life was firft published in the year 1762. the summer vacation at his country-feat, a scene of life which Mr. Thomson always remembered with particular pleasure: but what he wrote during that time, either to entertain Sir William and Mr. Riccarton, or for his own amusement, he destroyed every new-year's day, committing his little pieces to the flames in their due order, and crowning the folemnity with a copy of verses, in which were humourously recited the feveral grounds of their condemnation. After the usual course of school education, under an able master at Jedburgh, Mr. Thomson was fent to the University of Edinburgh: but in the fecond year of his admission, his studies were for fome time interrupted by the death of his father, who was carried off so suddenly, that it was not possible for Mr. Thomson, with all the diligence he could use, to receive his last bleffing. This affected him to an uncommon degree, and his relations still remember fome extraordinary instances of his grief and filial duty on that occafion. Mrs. Thomson, whose maiden name was Hume,and who was co-heiress of a small estate in the country, did not fink under this misfortune. She consulted her friend Mr. Gufthart, and having, by his advice, mortgaged her moiety of the farm, repaired with her family to Edinburgh, where the lived in a frugal decent manner, till her favourite fon had not only finished his academical course, but was even diftinguished and patronized as a man of genius. She was, herself, a person of uncommon natural endowments, possessed of every focial and domestic virtue, with an imagination for vivacity and warmth scarce inferior to her fon's, and which raifed her devotional exercises to a pitch bordering on enthusiafm. But whatever advantage Mr. Thomson might derive from the complexion of his parent, it is certain he owed much to a religious education; and that his early acquaintancewith theSacred Writings contributed greatly to that fublime by which his works will be for ever diftinguished. In his first pieces, the Seafons, we fee him at once affume the majestic freedom of an Eastern writer, seizing the grand images as they rife, clothing them in his own expressive language, and preserving, throughout, the grace, the variety, and the dignity, which belong to a just compofition, unhurt by the stiffness of formal method. About this time the study of poetry was become general in Scotland, the best English authors being univerfally read, and imitations of them attempted. Addifon had lately displayed the beauties of Milton's immortal work, and his Remarks on it, together with Mr. Pope'scelebrated Essay, had opened the way to an acquaintance with the best poets and critics. But the most learned critic is not always the beft judge of poetry, taste being a gift of Nature, the want of which Ariftotle and Bossu cannot supply, nor even the study of the best originals, when the reader's fa culties are not tuned in a certain confonance to those of the poet; and this happened to be the cafe with certain learned gentlemen into whose hands a few of Mr. Thomson's first essays had fallen. Some inaccuracies of style, and those luxuriancies which a young writer can hardly avoid, lay open to their cavils and censure; fo far, indeed, they might be competent judges, but the fire and enthusiasm of the poet had entirely escaped their notice. Mr. Thomson, however, confcious of his own strength, was not discouraged by this treatment, especially as he had fome friends, on whose judgment he could better rely, and who thought very differently of his performances: only, from that time, he began to turn his views towards London, where works of genius may always expect a candid reception and due encouragement; and an accident foon after entirely determined him to try his fortune there. The divinity chair at Edinburgh was then filled by the reverend and learned Mr. Hamilton, a gentleman universally respected and beloved, and who had particularly endeared himself to the young divines under his care by his kind offices, his candour and affability. Our Author had attended his lectures for about a year, when there was prescribed to him, for the fubject of an exercise, a pfalm in which the power and majesty of God are celebrated. Of this pfalm he gave a paraphrafe and illustration, as the nature of the exerciserequired> |