JAMES, an excellent British poet, the son of a Scotch divine, was born in the shire of Roxburgh in 1700, and was educated in the university of Edinburgh with a view to the ministry. But his genius inclining him to the study of poetry, which he soon found would be incompatible with that of theology, or at least might prevent his being provided for in that way in his own country, he relinquished his views of engaging in the sacred function, and repaired to London in consequence of some encouragement which he had received from a lady of quality there, a friend of his mother.

The reception he met with wherever he was introduced, emboldened him to risk the publication of his excellent poem on Winter.—This piece was published in 1726; and from the universal applause it met with, Mr Thomson's acquaintance was courted by people of the first taste and fashion. But the chief advantage which it procured him was the acquaintance of Dr Rundle, afterward bishop of Derry, who introduced him to the late lord chancellor Talbot; and some years after, when the eldest son of that nobleman was to make his tour on the continent, Mr Thomson was chosen as a proper companion for him. The expectations which his Winter had raised, were fully satisfied by the successive publications of the other seasons; of Summer, in the year 1727; of Spring, in the following year; and of Autumn, in a quarto edition of his works, in 1730. Beside the Seasons, and his tragedy of Sophonisba, written and acted with applause in the year 1729, he had, in 1727, published his poem to the memory of Sir Isaac Newton, with an account of his chief discoveries; in which he was assisted by his friend Mr Gray, a gentleman well versed in the Newtonian philosophy. That same year the resentment of our merchants, for the interruption of their trade by the Spaniards in America, running very high, Mr Thomson zealously took part in it, and wrote his Britannia, to rouse the nation to revenge.

With the honourable Charles Talbot, our author visited most of the courts in Europe, and returned with his views greatly enlarged; not only of exterior nature and the works of art, but of human life and manners, and of the constitution and policy of the several states, their connections, and their religious institutions. How particular and judicious his observations were, we see in his poem of Liberty, begun soon after his return to England. We see at the same time to what a high pitch his care of his country was raised, by the comparisons he had all along been making of our happy government with those of other nations. To inspire his fellow-subjects with the like sentiments, and show them by what means the precious freedom we enjoy may be preserved, and how it may be abused or lost, he employed two years in composing that noble work, upon which he valued himself more than upon all his other writings. On his return to England with Mr Talbot (who soon after died), the chancellor made him his secretary of briefs; a place of little attendance, suiting his retired indolent way of life, and equal to all his wants. From this office he was removed, when death, not long after, deprived him of his noble patron. He then found himself reduced to a state of a precarious dependence. In this situation, having created some few debts, and his creditors finding that he had no longer any certain support, became inexorable; and imagined by confinement to force that from his friends, which his modesty would not permit him to ask. One of these occasions furnished Quin, the celebrated actor, with an opportunity of displaying the natural goodness of his heart, and the disinterestedness of his friendship. Hearing that Thomson was confined in a spunging house for a debt of about 70l. he repaired to the place; and, having inquired for him, was introduced to the bard. Thomson was a good deal disconcerted at seeing Quin, as he had always taken pains to conceal his wants; and the more so, as Quin told him he was come to sup with him. His anxiety upon this head was however removed, upon Quin's informing him, that, as he supposed it would have been inconvenient to have had the supper dressed in the place they were in, he had ordered it from an adjacent tavern; and, as a prelude, half a dozen of claret was introduced. Supper being over, and the bottle circulating pretty briskly, Quin said, "It is time now we should balance accounts." This astonished Thomson, who imagined he had some demand upon him; but Quin perceiving it, continued, "Mr Thomson, the pleasure I have had in perusing your works I cannot estimate at less than a hundred pounds, and I insist upon now acquitting the debt." On saying this, he put down a note of that value, and took his leave, without waiting for a reply.

The profits arising from his works were not inconsiderable; his tragedy of Agamemnon, acted in 1738, yielded a good sum. But his chief dependence was upon the prince of Wales, who settled on him a handsome allowance, and honoured him with many marks of particular favour. Notwithstanding this, however, he was

(A) Sibilla and Banister Anglicus are mentioned in the time of Edward IV. (MSS. Cot. Dom. A. IX.) A long Latin prophecy of Bridlington is there given. Waldhave and Eltraine seem also English prophets. In the whole collection, therefore, Thomas is the only Scottish one. Thomson was refused a licence for his tragedy of Edward and Eleonora, which he had prepared for the stage in the year 1736, for some political reasons. Mr Thomson's next performance was the Mafque of Alfred, written in the year 1740 jointly with Mr Mallet, by the command of the prince of Wales, for the entertainment of his royal highness's court at Clifden, his summer residence.

Mr Thomson's poem, entitled the Castle of Indolence, was his last work published by himself; his tragedy of Coriolanus being only prepared for the theatre, when a fatal accident robbed the world of one of the best of men and best of poets. He would commonly walk the distance between London and Richmond (where he lived) with any acquaintance that offered, with whom he might chat and rest himself, or perhaps dine by the way. One summer evening being alone in his walk from town to Hammersmith, he had over-heated himself, and in that condition imprudently took a boat to carry him to Kew; apprehending no bad consequence from the chill air on the river, which his walk to his house, towards the upper end of Kew-lane, had always hitherto prevented. But now the cold had so seized him, that the next day he was in a high fever. This, however, by the use of proper medicines, was removed, so that he was thought out of danger; till the fine weather having tempted him to expose himself once more to the evening dews, his fever returned with violence, and with such symptoms as left no hopes of a cure. His death happened on the 27th of August 1748.

Mr Thomson had improved his taste upon the finest originals, ancient and modern. The autumn was his favourite season for poetical composition, and the deep silence of the night he commonly chose for his studies. The amusement of his leisure hours were civil and natural history, voyages, and the best relations of travellers. Though he performed on no instrument, he was passionately fond of music, and would sometimes listen a full hour at his window to the nightingales in Richmond gardens; nor was his taste less exquisite in the arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture. As for the more distinguishing qualities of his mind and heart, they best appear in his writings. There his devotion to the Supreme Being, his love of mankind, of his country, and friends, shine out in every page; his tenderness of heart was so unbounded, that it took in even the brute creation. It is not known, that through his whole life he ever gave any person a moment's pain, either by his writings or otherwise. He took no part in the political squabbles of his time, and was therefore respected and left undisturbed by both sides. These amiable virtues did not fail of their due reward; the applause of the public attended all his productions, and his friends loved him with an enthusiastic ardour.

"As a writer (says Dr Johnson), 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 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 represented 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 shows him, and that he never yet has felt what Thomson impregnes."

His testamentary executors were the lord Lyttelton, whose care of our poet's fortune and fame ceased not with his life; and Mr Mitchell, a gentleman equally noted for the truth and constancy of his private friendship, and for his address and spirit as a public minister. By their united interests, the orphan play of Coriolanus was brought on the stage to the best advantage; from the profits of which, and the sale of manuscripts and other effects, a handsome sum was remitted to his sisters. His remains were deposited in the church of Richmond, under a plain stone, without any inscription. A handsome monument was erected to him in Westminster abbey in the year 1762, the charge of which was defrayed by the profits arising from a splendid edition of all his works in 4to; Mr Millar the bookseller, who had purchased all Mr Thomson's copies, giving up his property on this grateful occasion. A monument has also been erected to him at the place of his birth.