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ment of rural scenery the didactic poet paid this merited eulogy, while he was living to enjoy it:

Him too, the living leader of thy powers,

Great Nature! him the Muse shall hail in notes
Which antedate the praise true Genius claims
From just posterity. Bards yet unborn
Shall pay to Brown that tribute, fitliest paid
In strains the beauty of his scenes inspire.

MASON.

Instead of trim formality, irregular groups of trees adorning beautiful swelling lawns, interspersed with shrubberies, broken clumps, and solemn woods; through the recesses of which are walks, that lead to various parts of these delightful gardens. The banks, along the margin of the Thames, are judiciously varied, forming a noble terrace, which extends the whole length of the gardens; in the south-east quarter of which a road leads to a sequestered spot, in which is a cottage, that exhibits the most elegant simplicity. These gardens are open to the public, every Sunday, from Midsummer till toward the end of

autumn.

At the font of Richmond Hill, on the Thames, is the duke of Buccleugh's villa. From the lawn a subterraneous communication with the pleasure grounds on the opposite side of the road, extends almost to the summit of the hill. Near this is the charming residence of the late lady Diana Beauclerk, who herself decorated one of the rooms with lilacs and other flowers, in the same manner as at her former residence at Twickenham.

On Richmond Green is a house belonging to viscount Fitzwilliam, whose maternal grandfather, Sir Matthew Decker, bart. an eminent Dutch merchant, built a room here for the reception of George I. In this house is an antient painting of Richmond Palace, by Vinkeboom; another, said to be the work of one of Reuben's scholars, is supposed to represent the lodge in the Old Park, before it was pulled down by the duke of Ormond. Richmond Green is surrounded by lofty elms, and, at one corner of it, is

a theatre,

[graphic][merged small]

a theatre, in which, during the summer season, dramatic entertainments are performed.

The town runs up the hill; above a mile, from East Sheen to the New Park, with the royal gardens sloping all the way to the Thames. An elegant stone bridge, of five semicircular arches, from a design by Paine, was erected - here in 1777. The parish church was repaired and enlarged in 1750.

The summit of Richmond Hill commands a luxuriant prospect, which Thomson, who resided in this beautiful place, has thus celebrated in his Seasons:

Say, shall we ascend

Thy hill, delightful Sheen? Here let us sweep
The boundless landscape: now the raptur'd eye,
Exulting swift, to huge Augusta send;
Now to the sister-hills that skirt her plain,
To lofty Harrow now, and now to where
Majestic Windsor lifts his princely brow.
In lovely contrast to this glorious view,
Calmly magnificent, then will we turn

To where the silver Thames first rural grows.
There let the feasted eye unwearied stray:
Luxurious, there, rove through the pendent woods,
That nodding hang o'er Harrington's retreat;
And, sloping thence to Ham's embowering walks,
Here let us trace the matchless vale of Thames;
Fair-winding up to where the muses haunt
In Twitnam's bow'rs; to royal Hampton's pile,
To Claremont's terrac'd height, and Esher's groves,
By the soft windings of the silent Mole.
Enchanting vale! beyond whate'er the muse
Has of Achaia or Hesperia sung!

O vale of bliss! O softly-swelling hills!
On which the power of cultivation lies,

And joys to see the wonder of his toil.

Heav'ns! what a goodly prospect spreads around,

Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and spires,
And glitt'ring towns, and gilded streams, till all

The stretching landscape into smoke decays.

Thomson's

Thomson's residence was at Rossdale House, in Kew Foot Lane. It was purchased, after his death, by George Ross, Esq. who, out of veneration to his memory, forebore to pull it down, but enlarged and improved it at the expence of 9000l. The honourable Mrs. Boscawen has repaired the poet's favourite seat in the garden, and placed in it the table on which he wrote his verses. Over the entrance is inscribed:

"Here Thomson sung the Seasons and their change."

The inside is adorned with suitable quotations from authors who have paid due compliments to his talents; and in the centre appears the following inscription:

"Within this pleasing retirement, allured by the music of the nightingale, which warbled in soft unison to the melody of his soul, in unaffected cheerfulness, and genial though simple elegance, lived James Thomson. Sensibly alive to all the beauties of Nature, he painted their images as they rose in review, and poured the whole profusion of them into his inimitable Scasons. Warmed with intense devotion to the Sovereign of the Universe, its flame glowing through all his compositions; animated with unbounded benevolence, with the tenderest social sensibility, he never gave one moment's pain to any of his fellow-creatures, save only by his death, which happened at this place, on the 22d of August, 1748,"

Thomson was buried at the west end of the north aisle of Richmond church. There was nothing to point out the spot of his interment till a brass tablet, with the following inscription, was lately put up by the earl of Buchan: "In the earth below this tablet are the remains of James Thomson, author of the beautiful poems, entitled, The Seasons, The Castle of Indolence, &c. who died at Richmond on the 22d of August, and was buried there on the 29th, O. S. 1748. The earl of Buchan, unwilling that so good a man and sweet a poet should be without a memorial, has denoted the place of his interment, for the satisfaction of his admirers, in the year of our Lord 1792." Underneath is this quotation from his Winter:

Father

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