the year of his death: but of this no proof is in existence. Many lines are omitted which appeared in the editions of 1744 and 1746: For instance, Nature from the storm Shines out afresh.-" Summer," verse 1226. Even charm the pains to something more than joy. "Autumn," verse 607. In several of the epithets, too, much difference exists between the impression of 1746 and that of 1762; yet those of the latter edition are generally so choice and appropriate, as to entitle it, in the estimation of critics, to be recognised as containing an excellent textus receptus. Leaving this point to be discussed by those who feel an interest in it, we may safely affirm, that those who faithfully adhere to the text of 1744, 1746, or 1762, will not be greatly in error, but will produce a creditable edition of the "Seasons." But the claims to be considered as the editio princeps are paramount in behalf of the impression of 1746; those therefore who adopt its readings, will produce the best edition, and that which most nearly expresses the mind and intentions of the author. But Millar was a clever publisher, and acquainted with the most approved methods of obtaining the best profits from the sale of his publications. Whenever he issued a new edition of Thomson's Works, the "Seasons" being the most popular poem among them, he printed a greater number of that part of the impression to be sold as a separate volume. The preceding remarks therefore apply equally to the "Works" and to the "Seasons." The first edition of the "Works" was that of 1730, published by subscription, in one quarto volume. It contained the "Seasons," and the "Poem to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton;" and to it are usually subjoined four of his minor pieces, with a separate paging, in the form of an appendix. In the year 1736 a very handsome quarto was printed as the second volume of his "Works," comprising "Sophonisba," “Britannia," and "Liberty." This was numbered as the second volume on the title, and sold as a companion to that of 1730. 66 The next was that of 1738, in 2 vols. 8vo., "with alterations and additions." It comprised Agamemnon," in addition to the contents of the two quarto volumes. The third, in 1744, was a beautiful and correct edition, in 2 vols. 8vo., and comprehended all Thomson's poems published previously to that date. This I believe to be the last edition of "the Works" printed under the author's supervision; for I have never seen a fourth edition, of the year 1746. After the poet's death, his noble friend Lord Lyttelton collected all his Poetical Works, and published them in 1750, in 4 vols. 12mo.; which contained all those poems that afterwards appeared in Murdoch's edition of 1762. A copy of it, on fine paper, has been long in my possession: the typographical execution is very respectable. The high opinion which the noble editor entertained of his own labours may be gathered from an extract of a letter which he addressed to Dr. Doddridge, March 22d, 1750:"You will find this edition much preferable to any of the former, though not entirely free from false prints. Great corrections have been made in the diction; and many redundancies have been cut off, which hurt the spirit, and weakened the force, of the more sublime and nervous parts. So that, upon the whole, I am persuaded you will think Mr. Thomson a much better poet, if you take the trouble to read over his 'Works' in their present form, than you ever thought him before. Nor will such an amusement mis-spend your time; for a divine spirit of piety, virtue, and goodness breathes through them all." I have already animadverted on his Lordship's treatment of the "Seasons," in his unauthorized separation of "the Return from the Fox-Chase from the verses with which it was naturally connected in "Autumn." But this was a venial offence when compared with the unbridled licence which he gave to the spirit of innovation in altering the poem of "Liberty," and for which he tenders his reasons in a 66 Preface to the Reader:" "The following poem being entirely of the historical and political kind, unornamented with fiction, except in a few lines, the author was sensible of its being too long. It has been therefore considerably shortened, by reducing the five parts into three; the rather, because the matter of several verses, now struck out here, occurs in his other writings, and some, upon a revisal, appeared not to be pertinent or proper to the subject." The mildest term which one can apply to such wholesale destruction as this, is "a lamentable defect of judgment!" Besides, this was Thomson's favourite poem.* In its composition he had expended much time and care; and its unseemly mutilation "by hands profane" had never been among his anticipations. But the expected consequences soon showed themselves in the tardy sale of the impression, although Millar is said to have tried to give it a fresh impulse by prefixing a new title to each of the four volumes, bearing the date of 1752. It is supposed that the edition was not exhausted till 1762; and the strong reprehension of Lyttelton's conduct to which Johnson long afterwards gave utterance in his "Life of Thomson," was only a manly echo of public opinion on the subject. "The poem of 'Liberty,'" says Johnson, "does not now appear in its original state; but, when the author's 'Works' were collected after his death, was shortened by Sir George Lyttelton, with a liberty which, as it has a manifest tendency to lessen the confidence of society, and to confound the characters of authors, by making one man write by the judg ment of another, cannot be justified by any supposed propriety of the alteration, or kindness the friend. I wish to see it exhibited as its author left it." To the surviving friends of Lord Lyttelton this sentence always seemed to be too severe; and they often made the honest expression of his opinion on this matter a source of annoyance to the aged moralist and lexicographer. I have been the more particular in my notice of this edition, because it tends to prove the high anticipations that were entertained concerning that which appeared in 1762, and the onerous duties which consequently devolved on Murdoch. His unassuming title is, "The Works of James Thomson, with his last Corrections and Improvements." Under the peculiar circumstances which have now been *See his "Life" by Murdoch, p. xxiv. detailed, the responsible task which the new editor undertook was well fulfilled; and, to this day, no whisper has been heard of his having been under any undue influence in determining either for or against the admission of a single phrase or epithet. The "Works" were published by subscription in two noble quarto volumes, and dedicated to His Majesty King George the Third, who headed the "List of the Encouragers" with a royal gift of "a hundred pounds." There were at least two editions of them in 12mo., before the appearance, in 1768, of a new one in two vols. 4to., with a few emendations in the Life. The public evinced their confidence in Murdoch as an editor, by the rapid purchase of the collected "Works," and of the "Seasons" in a separate form; and all subsequent editors have had recourse to his quarto volumes, as containing the standard text of the author. Lord Lyttelton lived upwards of twelve years after the publication of the "Works" by Murdoch, to which he was not a subscriber; and saw them pass through four or five editions, and acquire deserved popularity. But neither his Lordship, nor any of his amiable acquaintances of the "blue-stocking" sisterhood, ever discovered in them a single flaw, or made any complaint, though they contained the poem of Liberty in its unmutilated form, and "the Return from the Fox-Chase," restored to its proper place in "Autumn," as it had been left by Thomson. V.-ALTERATIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE "SEASONS" BY THOMSON AND POPE. As early as the year 1816, the Rev. John Mitford, in his Life of Gray, announced to the world the interesting circumstance, that he had an interleaved copy of the "Seasons," containing numerous emendations, of which he gave a few specimens. In a more ample communication to the "Gentleman's Magazine" in 1841, he informs us that for one shilling and six-pence he purchased, what he "would not exchange for the great ruby in the royal crown, the edition of the 'Seasons' of 1738, 8vo. interleaved, fille cc with Thomson's alterations in his own hand in every page, and with numerous emendations and alterations by Pope, in his small and beautiful writing." From this gentleman's communication I proceed to borrow a few instances of the alterations made in the "Seasons." I. BY THOMSON. IN "Spring," the paragraph commencing at verse 356 of the edition of 1738, reads thus: Hence in old time, they say, a deluge came; Into the gulf, and o'er the highest hills Thomson made his first alteration in this style :- When the deep-chapt [parch'd] [chapt] [cleft] disparting orb, The rarefied abyss, whose searching streams And o'er the high-piled hills of fractured earth Another alteration was : -deep-cleft, disparting orb, that arch'd The central waters round, impetuous rush'd, With universal burst, into the gulf, And o'er the high-piled [new-form'd] hills of fractured earth The preceding paragraph contains verses 309-316 in the present impression. In the edition of 1738, the verses 376-379 are: But now from clear to cloudy, moist to dry, And hot to cold, in restless change revolved, Our drooping days are dwindled down to nought, The fleeting shadow of a Winter's sun. His alteration is this, as it stands in the present copy : But now, of turbid elements the sport, From clear to cloudy toss'd, from hot to cold, |