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. 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.

"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. "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

66

66

dispose me to be not a little charitable and for

giving.

"It gives me the truest heartfelt satisfaction to "hear you have a good, kind husband, and are in

66

66

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 grati"tude 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 cheerfully and gratefully, "supported by the pleasing hope of meeting yet 66 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 friend

66

ship for one another, endeared as you were by "nature, by having passed the affectionate years "of your youth together; and by that great softener "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 un. "pleasing 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 men"tion some other petty reasons that are apt to startle "the delicacy of difficult old bachelors. I am, how"ever, 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 re"turn 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, yet perhaps I may mend in "that respect. Remember me kindly to your hus"band, and believe me to be

"Your most affectionate brother,

"JAMES THOMSON."

(Addressed) "To Mrs. Thomson in Lanark."

.

The benevolence of Thomson was fervid, but not active; he would give on all occasions what assistance his purse would supply; but the offices of intervention or solicitation he could not conquer his sluggishness sufficiently to perform. The affairs of others, however, were not more neglected than his own. He had often felt the inconveniences of idleness, but he never cured it; and was so conscious of his own character, that he talked of writ ing an Eastern Tale" of the Man who loved to be "in Distress."

Among his peculiarities was a very unskilful and inarticulate manner of pronouncing any lofty or solemn composition. He was once reading to Dodington, who, being himself a reader eminently elegant, was so much provoked by his odd utterance, that he snatched the paper from his hands, and told him that he did not understand his own verses.

The biographer of Thomson has remarked, that an author's life is best read in his works: his observation was not well-timed. Savage, who lived much with Thomson, once told me, he heard a lady remarking that she could gather from his works three parts of his character, that he was a "great Lover, a great "Swimmer, and rigorously abstinent;" but, said Savage, he knows not any love but that of the sex; .he was perhaps never in cold water in his life; and he indulges himself in all the luxury that comes within his reach. Yet Savage always spoke with the most eager praise of his social qualities, his warmth and constancy of friendship, and his adherence to his first acquaintance when the advancement of his reputation had left them behind him.

As a writer he is entitled to one praise of the highest kind; his mode of thinking, and of expressing his thoughts, is original. His blank verse is no more the blank verse of Milton, or of any other poet, than the rhymes of Prior are the rhymes of Cowley. His numbers, his pauses, his diction, are of his own growth, without transcription, without imitation. He thinks in a peculiar train, and he thinks always as a man of genius; he looks round on Nature and on Life with the eye which Nature bestows only on a poet; the eye that distinguishes, in every thing presented to its view, whatever there is on which imagination can delight to be detained, and with a mind that at once comprehends the vast, and attends to the minute. The reader of the "Seasons" wonders that he never saw before what Thomson shews him, and that he never yet has felt what Thomson impresses.

His is one of the works in which blank verse seems properly used. Thomson's wide expansion of general views, and his enumeration of circumstantial varieties, would have been obstructed and embarrassed by the frequent intersection of the sense, which are the necessary effects of rhyme.

His descriptions of extended scenes and general effects bring before us the whole magnificence of Nature, whether pleasing or dreadful. The gaiety of Spring, the splendour of Summer, the tranquillity of Autumn, and the horror of Winter, take in their turns possession of the mind. The poet leads us through the appearances of things as they are successively varied by the vicissitudes of the year, and