are not always the most correct. For instance: had the interests of a lovely wife and hopeful children been placed in jeopardy by the threatened "inquiry into the fees and offices of the Courts of Justice," Thomson might have thrown aside his usual supineness, and, pending the discussion on the subject, might have displayed as much promptitude and energy in calling attention to the equitable adjustment of his vested interest, and with as good success, as Sir Walter Scott did on a similar occasion. In this case, after such a powerful demonstration, we should feel inclined to ascribe his previous listlessness more to habit than to nature. But Thomson, not having any such strong inducement for exertion, was content to let the patent expire, and calmly await the course of events. As a bachelor, and with much of the indolence of the poet about him, (partly natural, and partly acquired,) he was evidently disinclined to place himself in the ranks of more eager applicants, and dance attendance in the ante-room of the youthful Chancellor, for permission to continue in an office over which was suspended a threat of extinction, and which, he knew, would be much more likely to be abolished, on account of its being held by one who was known to be a favourite of the Muses. An application to the Chancellor, Lord Hardwicke, ought to have been made in his favour by some of his noble friends, whose solicitation would have been successful in securing his situation, and saving him from all needless anxiety.

N.-Page xxviii.

Lord Lyttelton's Account of the Death of Thomson.

To every good man it must be highly satisfactory to know, that Thomson's views and feelings in reference to Christianity were much altered a few months before his death; and the fact affords strong corroboration to the soothing assurance of St. Ambrose to the distressed mother of Augustine while he was a gay and careless youth: "The son of so many prayers and tears can never be lost." For personal piety Thomson's mother was as exemplary as

66

Monica; and the result of her maternal solicitude for the best interests of her son is very encouraging. At his entrance on public life he was cast among bad associates: worse guides in many respects for a young man than Mallet, Hill, and Savage, cannot be imagined. To be acknowledged as a wit" in those days, it was necessary for a man to forget all the religious impressions which he had received in his boyhood, and to show himself expert in casting ridicule on Christianity and on those who expounded its doctrines. Providential occurrences appear to have gradually prepared Thomson's mind for the reception of sounder views and better principles. His variable income, the recent marriage of his Amanda, and the death of Lady Lyttelton, exercised a salutary influence on his sensitive spirit. After these events, his correspondence with his intimate friends assumed a more serious tone, and contained appropriate allusions to a future state of reward and enjoyment. The letter to his friend Paterson, to be found in the Appendix, and the following passage from a letter to one of his sisters, dated October 4th, 1747, are of this description: "Would to God Lizzy had lived longer, to be a farther witness of the truth of what 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 again on a safer shore, where to recollect the storms and difficulties of life will not perhaps be inconsistent with that blissful state."

I

say,

It was the commencement of a happier era in our poet's life, when he was removed from the contagion of his former companions, and introduced to the notice and favour of the Talbot family and their virtuous connexions. But to no one was he more deeply indebted than to Sir George Lyttelton, afterwards Lord Lyttelton, for every thing which could render this life pleasant, and eternity hopeful. It is only within the last few years that we have become acquainted with the extent of Thomson's obligations to his noble friend, in reference to these matters, by the publica

tion of PHILLIMORE'S "Memoirs and Correspondence of George Lord Lyttelton." The author says, "It is but too probable that Lyttelton's intimacy with Bolingbroke, Chesterfield, and others, had for a while shaken his faith, in an age when scepticism was certainly far more fashionable, if not far more common, than that in which we live. There is good reason to believe, that the sweet influence of his pious and amiable wife completed, during her life, the good work begun by his friend [West]. Undoubtedly grief for her death conspired, with the influence of West, and with habits of deep thinking, to re-instate him in the belief of the doctrines of Christianity; which found no obstacle to their admission in hardness of heart, or profligacy of life." Dr. Johnson's account cannot be too often repeated: "Lyttelton thought the time now come when it was no longer fit to doubt or believe by chance; and applied himself seriously to the great question. His studies, being honest, ended in conviction. He found that religion was true: and what he had learned he endeavoured to teach, (1747,) by 'Observations on the Conversion of St. Paul;' a treatise to which Infidelity has never been able to fabricate a specious answer.' This treatise, we now for the first time learn, was composed in 1746, with a special view to meet some of Thomson's objections against divine revelation. In a letter to the poet, dated May 21st, 1747, Lyttelton thus introduces the subject, after having mentioned the death of Captain Grenville in the famous action off Cape Finisterre :-"I never saw in any man a finer mixture of spirit, temper, and judgment. He fought and died with the gallantry of Sir Philip Sidney. How grievously has our family felt, within these few months, the condition of mortality, and uncertainty of our happiness! Who was happier than I? Who so fortunate as the Grenvilles at the beginning of this year? I will say no more on this subject: your mind will supply the rest. My refuge and consolation is in philosophy, Christian philosophy; which I heartily wish you may be a disciple of, as well as myself. Indeed, my dear friend, it is far above the Platonic. I have sent you a pamphlet upon a subject relative to it, which we have formerly talked of. I writ it in

Kew-lane last year, and I writ it for your satisfaction. You have therefore a double right to it; and I wish to God it may appear to you as convincing as it does to me, and bring you to add the faith to the heart of a Christian."

About a month after our poet's death, Lyttelton mentions, in a letter to Dr. Doddridge, the hopes which he was induced to entertain concerning his deceased friend's eternal welfare" It has pleased His Providence to afflict me with a new stroke, in the sudden death of poor Mr. Thomson, one of the best and most beloved of my friends. He loved my Lucy too, and was loved by her. hope and trust in the Divine Goodness, that they are now together in a much happier state." In another communication to the same correspondent, dated November 7th, 1748, he adds: "Thomson, I hope and believe, died a Christian. Had he lived longer, I do not doubt but he would have openly professed his faith; for he wanted no courage in what he thought right but his mind had been much perplexed with doubts, which I have the pleasure to think my book on St. Paul had almost entirely removed. He told me so himself, and in his sickness declared so to others. This is my best consolation in the loss of him; for as to the heart of a Christian, he always had that in a degree of perfection beyond most men I have known."

:

O.-Page xxix.

Robertson's Account of Miss Young, the Amanda of
Thomson.

WHEN Thomson went in 1736 to reside in Kew-lane, Richmond, it is supposed to have been only in the character of a lodger or an occasional visiter; but in 1742 he obtained a small house, which became his abode to the time of his decease. While there, he renewed his acquaintance with James Robertson, Esq., who then held the office of Surgeon to the Household at Kew. In an interesting conversation with Thomas Park, Esq., in October, 1791, the old Surgeon gave the following account of Amanda, the loss of whom is said to have accelerated the poet's death:-"I became

acquainted with Thomson in the year 1726, when he published his poem of 'Winter.' He lived opposite to me in Lancaster-court, in the Strand. I went to the East Indies soon after, which caused a chasm in our acquaintance; but, on my return, our intimacy was strengthened, and continued to the hour of his death. I do not know any man, living or dead, I ever esteemed more highly; and he was attached to me. I had once a complaint of a consumptive nature, which confined me much at home; and he was so good as to come often from Kew-lane to sit with me. Amanda was a Miss Young, daughter to Captain Gilbert Young, of the Gulyhill family, in Dumfries-shire; and was married afterwards to Admiral Campbell. She was a fine sensible woman, and poor Thomson was desperately in love with her. I married her sister. Armstrong and myself were with him till his last moments. I was in the room with him when he died. A putrid fever carried him off in less than a week. He seemed to me to be desirous not to live; and I had reason to think that my sister-in-law was the occasion of this. He could not bear the thoughts of her being married to another. I believe he was more truly attached to my little wife and her sister than to any one else, next to Amanda."

Thomson was undoubtedly “a great lover," in the best sense of that word, notwithstanding Dr. Johnson's insinuations to the contrary; and the marriage of Miss Young long preyed on his mind as a personal calamity. When he accepted Lord Lyttelton's first invitation to Hagley in 1743, at the close of his elegant reply he says, "My compliments attend all at Hagley, and particularly HER who gives it charms for you it never had before." The sight of such rare connubial felicity as the shades of Hagley then exhibited, and his knowledge of Amanda having been already bespoken by a more powerful and less dilatory suitor, induced him to send her a most delightful letter, which was first published in Sir N. H. Nicolas's edition of "Thomson's Poetical Works." After a warm description of the fairy scenery around him, and of his own feelings, he says, "Nor is the society here inferior to the scene.

It is