that of 1762 by Murdoch; though they both find a place Two things are remarkable in Thomson's literary history. The other singular circumstance concerning him is, his having produced no copy of verses worthy of his future fame till he was full twenty-five years of age;* and then his genius burst forth with overpowering lustre, in his impressive "Verses on the Death of his Mother," and immediately afterwards in the hasty composition of his "Winter." In the latter of these, his biographer justly observes, “We see him at once assume the majestic freedom of an eastern writer, unhurt by the stiffness of formal method." I do not recollect one of our eminent poets to have been in a more favourable position than Thomson was, for the developement of his poetic capabilities, and yet none was so tardy as he in the display of them; nor do I remember any biographer who had to make such an apology for the imperfection of his hero's first attempts in verse, as Murdoch felt himself compelled to offer at the commencement of his brief Life of Thomson. But the brightness of Thomson's genius is not beclouded, nor is its strength attenuated, by these or similar remarks: on the contrary, its force and lustre must have been of the highest order, since its first display had the effect of suddenly elevating him far above all his former associates, and of liberating him from the bondage of poverty and indolence, under the malign influences of which he had previously suffered. I advert to the meagreness and inaccuracy of his youthful * See some remarks in note B, p. xxxviii. and note F, p. I. verses, for the purpose of exonerating myself from all blame, on account of having published only a few of them in this volume. In reference chiefly to these juvenilia, a prudent caution on the part of Lord Lyttelton, the first editor of Thomson's collected Works, deserves to be repeated :---" If any detached poems of his have appeared in other collections, or are to be found in manuscript in private hands, they are such as his judgment rejected; and the publication of them in any future edition of his Works, or otherwise, would be contrary to his will, and prejudicial to his memory.” Subsequent editors would have evinced a just regard for the reputation of the poet, had they refrained from making useless additions to that collection of which his Lordship was the editor. Yet had this caution been too literally observed, we should have been deprived of some of the most delightful of his lyrical pieces, composed in mature life; and, among the rest, of the song (p. 612) which was furnished from the Hagley scrinia by one of his Lordship's successors, and of the elegant verses in imitation of Tibullus which Mr. Phillimore received from the present noble inheritor of the title. These two contributions to the previous materia poetica are of greater value than the twentyfive pieces of juvenile poetry which are enumerated in note B, p. xxxix. Every future editor of Thomson's Works must feel greatly indebted to Allan Cunningham, Esq., and his accomplished son, to Sir N. H. Nicolas, to Bolton Corney, Esq., and, above all, to the Rev. John Mitford, for the information concerning the poet and his works which they have severally afforded. Personally unknown to these gentleman, I feel much pleasure in the performance of an act of literary justice, by thus publicly professing to have derived the most important aid from their labours. To the common stock of facts and sentiments respecting Thomson I have cheerfully contributed something; and should have added more, had I not considered it to be somewhat out of place in a miniature edition of his Works." vil The learned world has expressed its approval of the man- whose hallow'd name the Virtues saint, And his own Muses love; the best of kings! Here Virtues and Muses are familiar personifications, and saint is elegantly used as a verb. Yet I have found some editions, (and among them one in 8vo, and another in 4to, both superintended by clever men,) which have mangled the poet's language and perverted his meaning, by this dis graceful substitution: -whose hallow'd names the virtuous saint, And his own Muses love; the best of kings! The other passage is verse 113 of the "Hymn " at th close of the "Seasons: " Sustaining all yon orbs, and all their sons. in almost every incorrect copy in which the other spurious reading occurs, this is perverted into Sustaining all yon orbs, and all their suns. The two faulty readings which I have here adduced, and which seem to be venial when compared with others, find no countenance whatever from any copy printed during the life of the author, or from those impressions which were subsequently published under the auspices of Lyttelton and Murdoch. Both of them are sheer inventions on the part of men who, possessed of little poetic perception, could not comprehend the poet's meaning, and attempted, after their own fashion, to render it more intelligible to others. It was high time, therefore, for those who were aware of these blemishes, and who had sufficient leisure, to unite their efforts to establish a text of standard purity. This was deemed to be a desideratum by all the lovers of poetry; and in the laudable enterprise, Mr. Corney has justly obtained the honour of chieftainship. I have in this edition adhered to the commendable practice of our old poets, in allowing every verb which ends in silent e invariably to retain that vowel in the imperfect tense and in the perfect participle, and all verbs which terminate with a consonant to suffer elision and receive an apostrophe. An instance of each kind is given in the subjoined lines:-- Beyond the reach of art 't is copious bless'd. For, with hot ravin fired, ensanguined man Thomson has fewer SMALL CAPITALS and italics, to create emphatic distinctions, than any of his poetic contemporaries. He felt that good poetry requires little aid of this kind to render it easy of comprehension. His few distinctions I have usually retained; and have commenced with capitals all the personifications with which his verses abound. Aaron Hill, who assumed the office of critical ix dictator to all the rising poets of his time, once gave Thomson this advice:-" Italic demands for emphasis have sometimes the plea of almost a necessity in their favour, else injustice would be done to a strength or to an elegance; for these are infallibly lost to nine readers in ten: (I include even poetical readers :) so that it is not a vanity that would court admiration, but a help that would animate conception." But this novel canon of criticism the poet refused to adopt. To evince a predilection for fanciful alliterations, has Demand their fated food. The fearful flocks To the fair forms of Fancy's fleeting train. Other alliterations might be specified; but they occur so seldom, and on the part of the poet so unconsciously, as to free him from the charge of affectation. 46, HOXTON-SQUARE, December 2d, 1848. JAMES NICHOLS. |