LIBRARY

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land and Wales, &c., 1822-25, 6 vols. r. 8vo. Prefixed to vol. i. is a Dissertation concerning the National Melodies of Scotland. See TANNAHILL, ROBERT. The value of these collections is well known to connoisseurs. notice of Thomson will be found in Chambers's and Thomson's Biog. Dict. of Em. Scots., ed. 1855, v. 555. His correspondence with Burns, published by Dr. Currie, is well worthy of perusal.

Thomson, H. T. Esther; a Sacred Poem, Lon., p. 8vo.

Thomson, Henry. Papers in Med. Obs. and Inq.,

1762.

Thomson, Henry, D.D., of Penrith, England. Discourses on Passages selected from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, Lon., 1822, 8vo. Subject, the fulfilment of prophecy. Commended by Edin. Chris. Instruc., June, 1823, 404; Horne's Bibl. Bib., 344. Thomson, Henry. 1. Address to Communicants, Lon., 1839. 12mo. 2. Sacramental Addresses, 1839, fp. 8vo. 3. Female Characters, 1846, 12mo.

Thomson, Henry Byerley, of the Inner Temple, Second Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of Ceylon. 1. The Laws of War affecting Commerce and Shipping, 2d ed., Lon., 1854, 8vo. See 20 Law Rev., 163. 2. The Military Forces and Institutions of Great Britain, 1855, 8vo. 3. The Choice of a Profession, 1857, p. 8vo.

"An excellent manual for the middle classes."-Lon. Athen., 1857, $77.

4. Institutes of the Laws of Ceylon, 1866, 2 vols. 8vo. Thomson, Henry F. Intrigues of a Nabob, Lon., 1780, 8vo.

Thomson, Ignatius. Genealogy of John Thomson who landed at Plymouth in the Month of May, 1622, Taunton, 1841, 4to, pp. 84.

"Three rarer books of this class can hardly be mentioned."Whitmore's Hand-Book of Amer. Geneal., 1862, 44.

Thomson, J., Captain R.R. of Artillery. 1. Treatise on Gunpowder, Fire-Arms, and Artillery; from the Italian, Lon., 1792, 8vo. 2. Philosophical Dissertations on the Egyptians and Chinese; from the French of M. de Pauw, 1795, 2 vols. 8vo.

"A work of extraordinary merit."-Lon. Quar. Rev. See WEBB, DANIEL.

Thomson, Rev. J. Poems, Moral, Descriptive, &c., 1807, 12mo.

Thomson, J., minister at Leith. See FAIRBAIRN, REV. PATRICK, No. 3, and also No. 6; KEITH, REUEL, D.D.; PRATTEN, REV. B. R.; ROBBINS, R. D. C.; RYLAND, JONATHAN EDWARDS.

Thomson, J. Cockburn, one of the most learned of the Sanskrit pupils of the late Horace Hayman Wilson The Bhagavad-Gitá; or, A Discourse between Krishna and Arjuna on Divine Matters; a Sanskrit Philosophical Poem Translated, [into English prose,] with Copious Notes, an Introduction on Sanskrit Philosophy, and other Matter, Hertford, 1855, 2 vols. in 1, imp. 16mo, pp. cxix., 155.

"Le travail de M. Cockburn Thomson est le plus développé dont la Bhagavad Guitá ait été jusqu'à présent l'objet."-Jour. des Savans,

“Précédée d'une longue et savante introduction."-Rap. An. Asiat. Soc. of Paris, 1854, by M. J. Mohl.

The text is very correct."-Westm. Rev.

Ably translated and explained."-Lon. Leader.

See, also, Lon. Athen., 1855, 840; N. Amer. Rev., lxxxvi. 435, (by Rev. W. R. Alger;) JONES, SIR WILLIAM; MULLER, MAX.

Thomson, J. M. Practical Dyer's Assistant, Lon., December, 1849, 12mo; 2d ed., May, 1850, 12mo.

Thomson, J. R. A Missionary Church and Missionary Churches; a Letter, Lon., 1865, 8vo.

Thomson, J. T. 1. Some Glimpses into Life in the Far East, 2d ed., Lon., 1865, 8vo. 2. Sequel to Some Glimpses, &c., 1865, 8vo.

Thomson, James, the author of "The Seasons," a son of the Rev. Thomas Thomson, was b. at Ednam, Roxburghshire, Scotland, September 11, 1700, and educated at the Grammar-School at Jedburgh and at the University of Dublin, where in 1719 he was entered as a student of divinity; abandoned his design on the pulpit, and in 1725 came to London in pursuit of fortune and fame; in 1726 sold to John Millan, for three guineas, his poem of Winter, (consisting when first published of only 413 lines,) of which three editions (the first fol., the 2d and 3d 8vo) were issued in this same year; in 1727 published Summer, 8vo, and a Poem on the Death of Sir Isaac Newton, fol.; in 1728 appeared Spring,

in 1729, the poem of Britannia, (anonymously,) and a Poem on the Death of Congreve, (recovered by the Rev. H. F. Carey, and reprinted by Peter Cunningham for the Percy Society in 1843, p. 8vo, pp. 32;) and Feb. 28, 1729-30, was first acted-published 1730, Svo and 4tothe Tragedy of Sophonisba; in 1730, 4to, was issued by subscription a collective edition of The Seasons. (including Autumn, then first published,) of which 387 subseribers took 454 copies; in the same year, by the influence of Dr. Rundle, accompanied Charles Talbot, eldest son of the Chancellor, in a tour on the Continent, where his observations of the working of despotic rule inspired his poem of Liberty, published in five separate 4to parts, 1735-36, but shortened after his decease, for his collective Works, by Sir George Lyttelton; rewarded for his attendance upon Mr. Talbot by the post of Secretary of Briefs, the loss of which (in 1737) was partially supplied by a pension from the Prince of Wales of £100, and perhaps more than compensated by the subsequent appointment of Surveyor-General of the Leeward Islands, from which, after paying his deputy, he received about £300 per annum; in 1737 he published A Poem to the Memory of Lord Talbot, 4to; in 1738 edited his own Works, in 2 vols. 8vo, wrote a preface to Milton's Areopagitica, and produced and published his tragedy of Agamemnon, 8vo; in 1739 published-the representation was prohibited-his tragedy of Edward and Elenora, Svo; in 1740, in conjunction with David Mallet, wrote the masque of Alfred, (1740, 8vo,) in which appears the national anthem Rule Britannia, ascribed by Bolton Corney, "on no slight evidence," to Mallet; in 1745 published his tragedy (taken from Gil Blas) of Tancred and Sigismunda, Svo; in 1748 gave to the world his Castle of Indolence, an Allegorical Poem, written in imitation of Spenser, 4to; and on the 27th of August, in the same year, was gathered to his fathers,"-a union hastened by imprudent exposure on the water between London and his cottage in Kew-foot Lane, Richmond, where now stands the villa of the Earl of Shaftesbury. His tragedy of Coriolanus, left in MS., was, by the zeal of Sir George Lyttelton, brought upon the stage "for the benefit of his family," and recommended by a Prologue, [by Lyttelton,] which Quin, who had long lived with Thomson in fond intimacy, spoke in such a manner as showed him "to be," on that occasion, "no actor." It was published in 1748, (some 1749,) 8vo.

"Mr. Thomson was at the Leasowes in the summer of 1745, and in the autumn of 1746, and promised when he came again into the country to make a longer visit; but at the time he was expected came an account of his death. It seems he waited too long for the return of his friend, Dr. [John] Armstrong, [p. 68, supra,] and did not choose to employ any other physician. He had nothing of the gentleman in his person or address; but he made amends for the deficiency by his refined sense, spirited expressions, and a manner of speaking not unlike his friend Quin. He did not talk a great deal, but after a pause of reflection produced something or other that accounted for his delay.

"The Seasons would make a fine poem in Latin. Its turgid phrases would lose their stiffness, and its vulgar idioms acquire a proper majesty; its propriety and description shine the same." -W. S., (.e. WILLIAM SHENSTONE:) MS. note in his copy of The Seasons: see Lon. Gent. Mag., 1823, i. 226.

Collins's beautiful Ode on the Death of Thomson, "In yonder grave [or grove?] a Druid lies," is doubtless familiar to many of our readers. For arguments (by Bolton Corney, &c.) on "grave" and "grove," see Lon. Gent. Mag., 1843, i. 493, 602.

EDITIONS OF THOMSON'S WORKS. Of these we notice the following:

I. Lon., 1730-36, 2 vols. 4to. II. 1732, 2 vols. 4to; 1. p., r. 4to. III. 1733, 4 vols. 12mo. IV. 1738, 2 vols. 8vo. V. 1750, 4 vols. 12mo. VI. 1752, 4 vols. 12mo. VII. 1757, 4 vols. 12mo. VIII. With the Author's last Corrections and Improvements, to which is Prefixed An Account of his Life and Writings by Patrick Murdoch, D.D., 1762, 2 vols. 4to; 1. p., r. 4to. See Dibdin's Lib. Comp., ed. 1825, 740, n. The Dedications and Prefaces of the author are omitted. The Account by Murdoch is prefixed to some of the later editions of Thomson's Writings. IX. 1762, 4 vols. 12mo. X. 1773, 4 vols. 12mo. XI. Glasgow, 1784, 2 vols. fol., (Foulis.) XII. With plates by Stothard, Burney, &c., Lon., 1788, 3 vols. 8vo; 1. p., r. 8vo. XIII. 1802, 3 vols. 8vo. XIV. By Thomas Park, 1805, 2 vols. 18mo. XV. Aldine edition: Poems, with an Original Memoir and many new Poems, now first Published, 1830, vols. fp. 8vo, (Pickering.) New ed., 1847, 2 vols. fp. 8vo, (Pickering;)

2399

Bost., 1854, &c., 2 vols. 16mo, (Little, Brown & Co.) See Lon. Athen., 1847. 784.

"The Life,' by Sir Harris Nicolas, prefixed to the Aldine edition of Thomson in 1847, contains the largest series of Thomson's Letters."-PETER CUNNINGHAM: in his ed. of Johnson's Lives of the Poets, 1855, iii. 240, n. New ed., Revised, and the Memoir annotated, by Peter Cunningham, Esq., F.S.A., Jan. 1862, 2 vols. fp. 8vo, 10s., (Bell & Daldy.)

XVI. Poems and Plays, Dec. 1840, 8vo, 58., (Smith's Stand. Lib.) XVII. Poetical and Dramatic Works, with Life by P. Murdoch, D.D., and Notes by James Nichols, Dec. 1848, fp. 8vo, 78., (Tegg.) New ed., Dec. 1860, fp. 8vo, 58. XVIII. With Life, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes, by Rev. R. Gilfillan, Edin., 1853, demy Svo, (Nichol.) XIX. Poetical Works, Edited by Robert Bell, 1855, &c., 2 vols. fp. 8vo, 58., (Parker & Son.) See Lon. New Month. Mag., 1855, (same in Bost. Liv. Age, xlvi. 346.) XX. Poetical Works: comprising the Pastoral, Dramatic, Lyrical, and Didactic Poems, new ed., Lon. and Glasg., Dec. 1858, r. 8vo, 28. 6d., (Griffin.) XXI. Poetical Works, with Illustrations, Edin., 1864, 12mo, and Red Line, p. 8vo. XXII. Poetical Works, Leipzig, Tauchnitz, 1867, 16mo. We also notice: XXIII. Poetical Works of Thomson, Milton, and Young, Edited by Rev. H. F. Cary, A.M., 1839, med. 8vo, 18., (W. Smith.) XXIV. Thomson and Beattie's Poetical Works, 1853, 12mo, 58., (Routledge.) XXV. Thomson, Goldsmith, and Gray, Illustrated, 1855, 12mo, 48. 6d.; gilt, 58., (Nelson.) XXVI. Poetical and Dramatic Works of James Thomson and Edward Young; with Memoirs by Samuel Johnson, Lon. and Glasg., 1859, 8vo, 78. 6d., (Griffin.)

EDITIONS OF THE SEASONS.

Of these we notice the following: I. With plates by Kent, Lon., 1730, 4to. II. 1730, 8vo. III. 1746, 12mo. IV. Edin. and Lon., 1746, 12mo. V. 1761, 12mo. VI. 1764, 12mo. VII. With Life, and an Essay by R. Heron, 4to. VIII. With Illustrations by J. Wright, Lon., 8vo. IX. With Life by P. Murdoch, D.D., 1774, 12mo. X. With Essay on the Plan and Character of the Poem, by J. Aikin, (also pub. separately, 1778, 8vo,) 1778, 8vo. This Essay is prefixed to many editions of The Seasons. XI. With Life and Notes by G. Wright, 12mo. XII. With Illustrative Remarks by J. Evans. XIII. With plates, 1792. 8vo. XIV. With Notes by P. Stockdale, 1793, 8vo. XV. 1794, 4to. XVI. 1794, 12mo. XVII. Parmi, (1794, r. 4to, Bodoni.) One copy on vellum: Junot, 124, £15 48. 6d. XVIII. Large type, with plates after W. Hamilton, R.A., by Bartolozzi and Tomkins, Lon., 1797, imp. fol., (Bensley.) Roxburghe, 3457, £8 188. 6d. See Dibdin's Lib. Comp., ed. 1825, 741, n. XIX. Duroveray's edition, with plates, 1802, 8vo. Large paper, r. 8vo: Williams, 1780, £4 108. Largest paper, Fonthill, 3373, with two sets of plates; one set being India proofs, £2 68. XX. Les Saisons, traduites en Vers François par J. Poulin, avec Gravures, Paris, 1802, 2 tom. 8vo.

"Upon the whole, without being unfaithful, it is perhaps an improvement on the original."-Edin. Rev., Jan. 1806, 328–336. There are several versions in French prose; a version in Latin verse by Brownell, (see Shenstone's remarks, supra ;) versions in other languages; and a translation of Spring and Winter into Danish by Peter Foersom, pub. in the posthumous collection of his poems,-Digte af Peter Foersom, Kiöbenhavn, 1818, 8vo. XXI. With Bewick's cuts, 1805, r. 8vo. Stanley, 419, £1 138. XXII.

With Life by P. Murdoch, D.D., and Essay by Aikin, 1811, 12mo. Large paper, Svo: Williams, 1781, £2 48. XXIII. 1808, 24mo. XXIV. Edin., 1816. XXV. With Essay by Aikin, 12mo, 58.; p. 8vo, 108. 6d., (Longman.) XXVI. With Notes by Williams, 12mo, 78., (Whittaker.) XXVII. With plates by Westall, 1825, 16mo, 48.; 12mo, 88.; new ed., 1840, 18mo, 48., (Rivington.) XXVIII. 12mo, 59., (Tegg.) XXIX. With illuminated title, 1840, 32mo, 2s., mor. 48., (Bogue.) XXX. With Life by Allan Cunningham, 1841, p. 8vo, 128., (Bogue.)

"The amplest and ablest account of Thomson is contained in a Memoir by Allan Cunningham, prefixed to an edition of The Seasons,' &c. published in 1841."-PETER CUNNINGHAM: in his ed. of Johnson's Lives of the Poets, 1855, iii. 240, n.

XXXI. With Life by P. Murdoch, D.D., and Notes by Bolton Corney, with 77 engravings on wood from Designs by Members of the Etching Club, 1842, (some 1843,) sq. cr. 8vo; 2d ed., 1847, sq. cr. 8vo; 3d ed., 1852, sq. cr. 8vo, £1 18.: mor. by Hayday, £1 168.; a few copies on prepared paper: ultramarine cloth, £2 28.; mor. by Hayday, £2 178.; Russia, £3, (Longman.) A splendid book in any cover.

"How under all these friendly alterations and additions the original poem swelled in size, may be seen in Mr. Bolton Corneys handsome and correct edition."-REV. JOHN MITFORD: Lon. Gent. Mag., 1845, ii. 450. See, also, 1843, i. 493, 602.

"Most of the designs are in accordance with the spirit of the author, some of them beautiful."-Lon. Athen.

See, also, Blackw. Mag., lii. 674-686; CORNEY, BOLTON. XXXII. With Notes, illustrative of the Natural History, Biography, Classical Allusions, and General Philosophy contained in the Poems, by Anthony Todd Thomson, M.D., F.L.S., &c., 1847, fp. 8vo, pp. 450, 78. 6d., (Longman.)

"His edition of The Seasons is the book for those who wish to read James Thomson to advantage."- Lon. Spec.

XXXIII. With Life by J. Murdoch, D.D., and Notes by James Nichols, Dec. 1848, 8vo, 58., (Tegg.) XXXIV. Illustrated, N. York, 8vo, $2.75, mor. $4, (Harper.) XXXV. Illustrated, 8vo, $2.50, (A. S. Barnes & Co.) XXXVI. Illustrated, Philadelphia, Svo, $4.50, (Butler.) XXXVII. Lon., 1851, 32mo, 6d., (Piper.) XXXVIII. 1857, 12mo, 28., (Groombridge.) XXXIX. Illustrated by Foster, Pickersgill, Wolf, Thomas, and Humphreys, Nov. 1858, 8vo, pp. 230, 148., (Nisbet.) XL. Edited by Robert Bell, Nov. 1861, fp. 8vo, 18. 6d., (Griffin.) We also notice: XLI. Spring, with a Life of the Poet; for Schools, by Walter McLeod, 1863, 12mo, and-XLII. Winter, by the same, 1864, 12mo. XLIII. Thomson's Seasons, Part 1; Spring, with Notes on the Analysis and Parsing, and a Life of Thomson by C. P. Mason, B.A., Fellow of University College, London, 1863, 12mo, and-XLIV. Winter, by the same, 1864, 12mo. XLV. Seasons, with Notes by J. R. Boyd, Phila., 1864, 8vo. XLVI. Seasons, Edited by W. J. Jeaffreson, 1869, 2 vols. 18mo, (Brit. India Classics.)

The Rev. Mr. Mitford, in a notice of Thomson's works, excited the curiosity, not to say the cupidity, of collectors, by the following statement:

"As 'fortune not only favours fools,' but is also not seldom seen at the elbow of the diligent and industrious, she crowned our earliest efforts by putting into our hands, at the price of one shilling and sixpence, what we would not exchange for the great ruby in the royal crown,-the edition of The Seasons of 1738, 8vo, Miller, interleaved, filled with Thomson's alterations in his own hand in every page, and with numerous alterations and emendations by Pope in his small and beautiful writing." Lon. Gent. Mag., Dec. 1841, 564, (q. v.) by Mitford, ii. viii., (ed. 1836.) See, also, (by same,) Nov. 1845, 449, and Gray's Works,

Mr. Peter Cunningham, an acute critic, remarks, "These corrections were in very many cases adopted by Thomson; but I cannot help thinking that the writing bears a greater resemblance to Lord Lyttelton's handwriting than to Pope's. The edition is that of 1736."- Cunningham's ed, of Johnson's Lives of the Poets, 1855, iii. 233, n.

See to the same effect a writer (whether Mr. C. or not we are not informed) in Lon. Athen., 1847, 485. At the volume was knocked down at £46. sale of Mr. Mitford's library, in the spring of 1860, this

EDITIONS OF THE SEASONS AND CASTLE OF INDOLENCE

BOTH IN THE SAME VOLUME.

Of these we notice the following:

I. Edin., 1789, 12mo. II. 1814, 12mo. III. Aldine edition, Lon., 1830, fp. 8vo, some 1. p.; new ed., 1845, fp. 8vo, 58., (Pickering.) New ed., Revised, with Meham, Esq., F.S.A., Jan. 1862, fp. 8vo, (Bell & Daldy.) moir by Sir N. H. Nicolas, annotated by Peter CunningIV. 12mo, 58., (Tegg.) V. 32mo, 28., (Orr.) VI. With Introd. by Allan Cunningham, and 48 Illust. by S. Williams, 1841, cr. 8vo, 128., (Bogue.) New ed., 1859, cr. 8vo. See Lon. Gent. Mag., 1843, i. 492. VII. 1845, 24mo, 18. 6d., (Clarke.) VIII. 1848, 12mo, 38., (Chapman & Hall.) IX. With Life by P. Murdoch, D.D., X. With Illustrations, and Life by Gilfillan, Edin., 1857, and Notes by James Nichols, Dec. 1848. Svo, 58., (Tegg.) (some 1859,) 8vo, 188., (J. Blackwood.) XI. Edited by 58., (Griffin.) We also notice: XII. Illustrations of R. Bell, Lon. and Glasg., Dec. 1862, &c., 2 vols. 12mo, Thomson's Castle of Indolence, by W. Reimer, Lon., 1845, 14 plates, (Art Union :) and Text to the Outlines, 1845, fol., (Simpkin.) XIII. Castle of Indolence, 1851, 18mo. XIV. Il Castello dell' Ozio, Poema in due Canti, recento in Verso Italiano detta ottava rima da Tommaso Jacopo Mathias, Napoli, 1826, 4to. Privately printed. Specimens of Thomson's poetry will be found in many collections of English poetry.

CRITICAL OPINIONS ON THOMSON'S WRITINGS.

"As a writer, 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 he thinks always as a man of genius; he looks ound on Nature and on life with the eye which Nature bestows only on a poet,-the eye that distinguishes, in every thing presented to its view, whatever there is on which imagination can delight to be detained, and 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 impresses,

"His is one of the works in which blank verse seems properly used. Thomson's wide expansion of general views, and his enumeration of circumstantial varieties, would have been obscured and embarrassed by the frequent intersections of the sense which are the necessary effects of rhyme. His descriptions of extended scenes and general effects bring before us the whole magnificence of Nature, whether pleasing or dreadful. The gaiety of Spring, the splendour of Summer, the tranquillity of Autumn, and the horror of Winter, take in their turns possession of the mind. The poet leads us through the appearances of things as they are successively varied by the vicissitudes of the year, and imparts to us so much of his own enthusiasm that our thoughts expand with his imagery and kindle with his sentiments. Nor is the naturalist without his part in the entertainment; for he is assisted to recollect and to combine, to arrange his discoveries, and to amplify the sphere of his contemplation. The grand defect of The Seasons' is want of method; but for this I know not that there was any remedy. Of many appearances subsisting all at once, no rule can be given why one should be mentioned before another; yet the memory wants the help of order, and the curiosity is not excited by suspense or expectation. "His diction is in the highest degree florid and luxuriant, such as may be said to be to his images and thoughts both their lustre and their shade;' such as invests them with splendour, through which perhaps they are not always easily discerned. It is too exuberant, and sometimes may be charged with filling the ear more than the mind. . . . It may be doubted whether he was, either by the bent of nature or habits of study, much qualified for tragedy. It does not appear that he had much sense of the pathetic; and his diffusive and descriptive style produced declamation rather than dialogue.... Liberty,' when it first appeared, I tried to read, and soon desisted. I have never tried again, and therefore will not hazard either praise or censure. Upon this great poem two years were spent, and the author congratulated himself upon it as his noblest work; but an author and his reader are not always of a mind. Liberty called in vain upon her votaries to read her praises and reward her encomiast : her praises were condemned to harbour spiders, and to gather dust: none of Thomson's performances were so little regarded.

"The judgment of the public was not erroneous: the recurrence of the same images must tire in time; an enumeration of examples to prove a position which nobody denied, as it was from the beginning superfluous, must quickly grow disgusting." -DR. JOHNSON: Lives of the Poets, Cunningham's ed., 1855, iii. 239, 240, 241.

On this criticism see Sir S. E. Brydges, in his ed. of Phillips's Theat. Poet. Anglic., 1800, xli.

“Thomson had a true poetical genius, the power of viewing every thing in a poetical light. His fault is such a cloud of words sometimes that the sense can hardly peep through. Shiels, who compiled Cibber's Lives of the Poets,' was one day sitting with me. I took down Thomson and read aloud a large portion of him, and then asked-Is not this fine? Shiels having expressed the highest admiration, Well, sir,' said I, I have omitted every other line."-DR. JOHNSON: Boswell's Johnson, by Croker, chap. Iv. See, also, chaps. xvii., xxi.. 1., lvii., lviii., Ixvii., lxxi., n.

"Are then The Seasons and The Task great poems? Yes. Why? We shall tell you in two separate articles. But we presume you do not need to be told that that poem must be great which was the first to paint the rolling mystery of the year and to show that all its Seasons were but the varied God? The idea was original and sublime; and the fulfilment thereof so complete that, some six thousand years having elapsed between the creation of the world and of that poem, some sixty thousand, we prophesy, will elapse between the appearance of that poem and the publication of another, equally great, on a subject, external to the mind, equally magnificent."-PROFESSOR JOHN WILSON: Blackw. Mag., xxx. 483: An Hour's Talk about Poetry.

See, also, references to Blackw. Mag. and Wilson's Works, (infra.)

"Habits of early admiration teach us all to look back upon this poet as the favourite companion of our solitary walks, and as the author who has first or chiefly reflected back to our minds a heightened and refined sensation of the delight which rural scenery affords us. The judgment of cooler years may somewhat abate our estimation of him, though it will still leave us the essential features of his poetical character to abide the test of reflection. ... It is almost stale to remark the beauties of a poem so universally felt,-the truth and genial interest with which he carries us through the life of the year; the harmony of succession which he gives to the casual phenoniena of nature; his pleasing transitions from native to foreign scenery; and the soul of exalted and unfeigned benevolence which accompanies his prospects of the creation.... Between the period of his composing The Seasons' and 'The Castle of Indolence' he wrote several works, which seem hardly to accord with the improvement and maturity of his taste exhibited in the latter production. To The Castle of Indolence' he brought not only the full nature but the perfect art of a poet. The materials of that exquisite poem are derived from Tasso; but he was more immediately in

debted for them to 'The Fairy Queen; and in meeting with the

paternal Spirit of Spenser he seems as if he were admitted more intimately to the home of inspiration. There he redeemed the jejune ambition of his style, and retained all its wealth and 151

luxury without the accompaniment of ostentation. Every stanza of that charming allegory, at least of the whole of the first part of it, gives out a group of images from which the mind is reluctant to part, and a flow of harmony which the ear wishes to hear repeated."-THOMAS CAMPBELL: Essay on Poetry, P. Cunningham's ed., 1848, 265, 266.

Mr. Cunningham adds some criticisms from Cowper, Beattie, Coleridge, and Wilson, viz. :

"Thomson was admirable in description; but it always seemed to me that there was somewhat of affectation in his style, and that his numbers are sometimes not well harmonized. I could wish, too, with Dr. Johnson, that he had confined himself to this country; for when he describes what he never saw, one is forced to read him with some allowances for possible misrepresentation. He was, however, a true poet, and his lasting fame has proved it."-COWPER: Letter to Mrs. King, June 19, 1788.

"Thomson was an honour to his country and to mankind, and a man to whose writings I am under very particular obligations; for, if I have any true relish for the beanties of nature, I may say with truth that it was from Virgil and from Thomson that I caught it."-BEATTIE.

"The love of nature seems to have led Thomson to a cheerful religion, and a gloomy religion to have led Cowper to a love of nature. The one would carry his fellow-men along with him iuto nature, the other flies to nature from his fellow-men. In chastity of diction, however, and the harmony of blank verse, Cowper leaves Thomson immeasurably below him; yet I still believe the latter to have been the born poet."-COLERIDGE.

"Thomson's genius does not so often delight us by exquisite minute touches in the description of nature as that of Cowper. It loves to paint on a great scale, and to dash objects off sweepingly by bold strokes. Cowper sets nature before your eyes,Thomson, before your imagination."-PROFESSOR WILSON. Hazlitt's estimate of Thomson was very high: "Thomson is the best of our descriptive poets; for he gives most of the poetry of natural description. Others have been quite equal to him, or have surpassed him, as Cowper, for instance, in the picturesque part of his art, in marking the peculiar features and curious details of objects; no one has yet come up to him in giving the sum total of their effects, their varying influences on the mind. ... It has been supposed by sonie that the Castle of Indolence is Thomson's best poem; but that is not the case. He has in it, indeed, poured out the whole soul of indolence, diffuse, relaxed, supine, dissolved into a voluptuous dream; and surrounded himself with a set of objects and companions in entire unison with the listlessness of his own temper. But still there are no passages in this exquisito little production of sportive ease and fancy equal to the best of those of The Seasons. Thomson's blank verse is not harsh,

nor utterly untuneable, but it is heavy and monotonous; it seems always labouring uphill.. The moral descriptions and reflections in The Seasons are in an admirable spirit, and written with great force and fervour. . . . His poem on Liberty is not equally good. . . . His plays ... are never acted, and seldom read. The author could not, or would not, put himself out of his way to enter into the situations and passions of others, particularly of a tragic_kind.”—Lectures on the Eng. Poets, Lect. V.: on Thomson and Cowper.

See, also, MILTON, JOHN, p. 1303, supra, (quotation from Hazlitt.)

We give some extracts from the Letters of the lively Horace Walpole :

"The town flocks to a new play of Thomson's, called 'Tancred and Sigismunda.' It is very dull; I have read it. I cannot bear modern poetry; these refiners of the purity of the stage and of the incorrectness of English verse are most woefully insipid. I had rather have written the most absurd lines in Lee than 'Leonidas' [by Richard Glover] or 'The Seasous;' as I had rather be put into the round-honse for a wrong-headed quarrel than sup quietly at eight o'clock with my grandmother."-To Sir H. Mann, March 29, 1745.

“You are very particular, I can tell you, in liking Gray's Odes; but you must remember that the age likes Akenside, and did like Thomson! Can the same people like both?"-To George Montagu, August 25, 1757.

Lord Buchan is screwing out a little ephemeral fame from instituting a jubilee for Thomson. I fear I shall not make my court to Mr. Berry by owning I would not give him this last week's fine weather for all the four Seasons in blank verse. There is more nature in six lines of L'Allegro and Penseroso than in all the laboured imitations of Milton. What is there in Thomson of original?"-To the Miss Berrys, Sept. 16, 1791. "Thomson has lately published a poem called The Castle of Indolence, in which there are some good stanzas."-GRAY. "Who could have expected this sentence from the pen of Gray?"-DUGALD STEWART: Philos. Essays, 8vo, 513.

See Lon. Gent. Mag., 1850, ii. 259; Stewart's Prelim. Dissert. to Encyc. Brit., 7th ed., 147, n.

"There is no imitation of Spenser to approach it [The Castle of Indolence] in genius and in manner."-PETER CUNNINGHAM, in his ed. of Campbell's Essays, &c., 266, n.

"The Seasons of Thomson would have been better in rhyme, although still inferior to his Castle of Indolence."-LORD BYRON: Moore's Byron, ii., after Letter CCCXCV.

See, also, Howitt's Homes and Haunts; Lives of Thomson, in Encyc. Brit., 7th ed., xxi., and (by Robert Carruthers) 8th ed., xxi., (1860) Martinus Scriblerus; Warton's ed. of Pope's Works; Warton's Essay on Pope; Spence's Anec., by Singer; Wool's Mem. of J. Warton; Cens. Lit., vols. ii., iii., iv.; Brydges's Prelim. Remarks to L'Allegro and Il Penseroso; Nichols's Lit. Anec., vii.

2401

(Index) 419, 690; Nichols's Illust. of Lit., vi. 494, viii. 530; Records of My Life, by John Taylor; Disraeli's Miscell. of Lit.; Montgomery's Lects. on Gen. Lit., Poet., &c., Lects. III., IV.; R. Chambers's Picture of Scotland; Blair's Rhetoric, Lects. XVI., XL.; Goodhugh's E. G. Lib. Man., 256; Memoirs of Lord Lyttelton, by Phillimore; Tuckerman's Thoughts on the Poets, (see, also, South. Lit. Mess., vii. 605;) W. H. Prescott's Miscell., ed. 1855, 470, n.; G. P. Marsh's Lects. on the Eng. Lang., Nos. 6, n., 24; Lon. Quar. Rev., xvii. 257; Edin. Rev., xviii. 282, (by Lord Jeffrey,) xxv. 496, (by Sir J. Mackintosh,) xlii. 62; Blackw. Mag., ii. 681, xx. 688, xxii. 548, xxvii. 633, 833, xxviii. 872, 873, xxix. 27, 294, xxx. 483, 858, xxxi. 981, xliii. 576, xlv. 136, 581, 645, xlvi. 15, xlviii. 96, (see, also, Wilson's Works, by Ferrier; Wordsworth's Essay Supp. to the Preface, &c. :) Lon. Gent. Mag., 1841, i. 145, (by Bolton Corney,) 1853, i. 368, (by P. Cunningham,) ii. 364, (by A. B. G.;) Analec. Mag., v. 321; BUCHAN, DAVID STEWART ERSKINE, (500 pub. ;) MORE, J., (8vo;) POPE, ALEXANDER; SEYMOUR, ROBERT, No. 3; WHATELY, THOMAS; YOUNG, EDWARD, D.D.

Nor must the collector of Thomsoniana fail to procure: James Thomson and David Mallet: Communicated by Peter Cunningham, (Printed in the Miscellanies of the Philobiblon Society, vol. iv., 1857-58;) containing eight new letters of Thomson. See Lon. Athen., 1859, ii. 77. Thomson, James. 1. The Commentaries of the Emperor M. Antoninus; from the Greek, Lon., 1747, 8vo. 2. Meditations of the Emperor M. Antoninus; with Notes and Life, Glasg., 1749, 2 vols. 12mo; 4th ed., 1764, 2 vols. 12mo.

"Correct in the main, but deficient in point of elegance."Lon. Mon. Rev.

This translation and that of R. Graves, (p. 722, supra,) Bath, 1792, 8vo,-the best of the old English versions,

and always valuable for its Notes,-will be supplanted by the new translation of George Long, (p. 1123, supra :) The Thoughts of the Emperor M. Aurelius Antoninus, Lon., 1862, 12mo; 2d ed., Revised and Corrected, 1869, p. 8vo, (Bohn's Class. Lib.)

"The English reader will find in Mr. Long's version the best means of becoming acquainted with the purest and noblest work of antiquity."-REV. F. W. FARRAR: Seekers after God.

12mo;) 4th ed., 1847, 12mo. 6. Differential and Integral Calculus, 2d ed., 1848, 12mo; 3d ed., 12mo. Thomson, James, D.D. 1. Letters on the Moral and Religious State of South America, Lon., 1827, 12mo. "Replete with interesting information."-Congreg. Mag.

2. Union Liturgy, 1837, 12mo. 3. Missionary Prayer, 1850, 12mo. 4. Incense for the Christian Altar, 3d ed., 1850, 18mo. 5. Incense for the Private Altar, 1850, 18mo. 6. British Liberty Abroad, 1851, 8vo.

Thomson, James. Retreats: a Series of Designs for Cottages, Villas, &c., Lon., 4to; new ed., 1854, 4to, £1 48.; col'd, £2 28.

Thomson, James. Value and Importance of the British Fisheries, Aberd., 1849, 12mo.

Thomson, James Bates, LL.D., a native of Springfield, Vermont; graduated at Yale College, 1834. 1. School Algebra, N. Haven, 1843, 12mo, and Key. 2. Key to Legendre's Geometry, 1844, 12mo. 3. Practical Arithmetic, N. York, 1845, 12mo, and Key. 4. Mental Arithmetic, 1846, 16mo. 5. Higher Arithmetic, 1847, 12mo, and Key. 6. Table Book, 1848, 16mo. 7. Rudiments of Arithmetic, 1852, 12mo. 8. Arithmetical Analysis, 1854, 12mo. 9. Practical Surveying, 8vo; in preparation.

"Ivison & Phinney circulate 100,000 copies of Thomson's Arithmetical works yearly, and pay Mr. Thomson the sum of $10,000 yearly.”—Trübner's Bibl. Guide to Amer. Lit., ed. 1859, lxxxvi., lxxxix.

Thomson, John. 1. Tables of Prices, Edin., 1761, 12mo. 2. Tables of Interest, &c., 1768, '94, 1812, 8vo; last ed., 1859, 18mo. 3. Universal Calculator, 1784, 8vo; new ed., 12mo. 4. Arithmetic made Easy, 1807, 12mo. 5. Key to ditto, 1809, 12mo.

Thomson, John. Remarks on a Sermon entitled "Masonry the Way to Hell," Lon., 1768, 8vo.

Thomson, John, M.D., Professor of Military Surgery, and subsequently, until 1841, of Medicine and General Pathology, in the University of Edinburgh.

1. Elements of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy, &c., by A. F. De Foureroy, with Notes, 5th ed., Edin., 3 vols. 8vo: i., ii., 1799; iii., 1800. 2. Observations on Lithotomy, &c., 1808, 8vo; Appendix, 1810, 8vo. 3. Lectures on Inflammation, 1813, 8vo; Phila., 1831, 8vo. 4. Edinburgh New Dispensatory, Edin., 1813, 8vo. 5. The Pharmacopoeias, in English, 1815, 8vo. 6. Report

Thomson, James. Rudiments of Music; with a Collection of Tunes, Hymns, &c., Edin., 1778, 12mo. Thomson, Rev. James. 1. The Denial; a Novel, Lon., 1790, 3 vols. 12mo. 2. Major Piper; or, The Ad

ventures of a Musical Drone, 1793, 5 vols. 12mo.

Thomson, James, D.D., b. at Crieff, Perthshire, May, 1768, and educated at the College of Edinburgh, became colleague with Dr. (afterwards Bishop) Gleig in the editorship of the third edition Encyc. Brit., 1795, and contributed to it the articles Ruddiman, (Thomas,) Scripture, Septuagint, Spectre, Suicide, Superstition, Thrashing, Water, (all in 1796;) contributed (on the Philosophy of Mind and Literature) to James Mill's (p. 1278, supra) Literary Journal, 1803-5; minister of Eccles, 1805 to 1847, when he removed to London, where he d., Nov. 28, 1855.

1. Rise, Progress, and Consequences of the New Opinions and Principles lately introduced into France, Edin., 1799, 8vo. Had a rapid sale. 2. Expository Lectures on the Gospel of St. Luke, Lon., 3 vols. 8vo: i., 1849; ii., iii., 1851. 3. Do. Acts of the Apostles, 1854, 8vo. He also edited an edition of The Spectator, with lives of the authors, (still prefixed to some editions,) and contributed a Sketch of Agriculture in Berwickshire to Thom. Ann. Philos., 1813. He was the elder, and a very kind, brother of Thomas Thomson, M.D., the eminent chemist, (infra.) See Lon. Gent. Mag., 1856, i. 309, (Obituary.)

Thomson, James, of Quarrelwood. Theological Discourses, Paisley, 1808, 2 vols. 8vo.

Thomson, James. On the Analysis of the Sulphate of Barytes; Nic. Jour., 1809.

Thomson, James, LL.D., late Professor of Mathematics in the University of Glasgow. 1. Treatise on Arithmetic, Belfast, 1819; 38th ed., 12mo; Key, 12mo. 2. Modern Geography, 26th ed., 12mo; atlas, 4to. 3. Elements of Plane and Spherical Trigonometry, 4th ed., 1845, 8vo; 5th ed., 8vo. 4. Elements of Euclid, 12mo, Pt. 1, 3d ed., and Pt. 2, sep., or in 1 vol., 1845. 5. Elementary Treatise on Algebra, 1844, 12mo, (Key, 1846,

Varioloid Epidemic in Scotland, 1819, 8vo; Lon., 1820,

8vo. 8. Sketches of the Varieties of Small-Pox, 12mo. 9. The Works of William Cullen, M.D., Edin., 1827, 2 vols. 8vo. See, also, CULLEN, WILLIAM, M.D., No. 9, (infra.) 9. Account of the Life, Writings, and Lectures of William Cullen, M.D., &c., 8vo: vol. i., 1832. Reviewed in Edin. Rev., lv. 461, (by Sir William Hamilton: repub. in his Discussions on Philosophy, &c.;) Lon. Month. Rev., cxxx. 444; Lon. Athen., 1832, 271; Lon. Lit. Gaz., 1832, 343. Dr. Thomson died before completing vol. ii.: it was continued by William Thomson, M.D., and after his death by David Craigie, M.D., and published, (it contains a Biographical Notice of Dr. John Thomson,) together with a new edition of vol. i., in 1859.

"The two volumes contain an immense mass of sifted scientific detail, accompanied by important illustrations of the historical progress of medicine during the last century. It claims a place in all well-selected professional libraries."-Lon. Athen, 1859, ii. 498.

Thomson, John, D.D., minister of Markinch, Scotland. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Fife, Edin., 1800, 8vo.

"The work has always enjoyed a very deserved reputation." -Donaldson's Agr. Biog., 84.

Thomson, John, M.D. Facts in Favour of the Cow-Pox, 1809, 8vo.

Thomson, John, Private Secretary to the Marquis of Hastings. Etymons of English Words, Edin., 1826, 4to. Rare. See Lon. Quar. Rev., lxxxi. 502.

Thomson, John, an eminent landscape-painter, known as "the Scottish Claude Lorrain," b. at Dailly, Ayrshire, 1778, was minister of Dailly, 1800-1805, and of Duddingston from 1805 until his death, Oct. 27, 1840. He contributed several valuable articles on subjects of physical science to the Edinburgh Review. See Chambers's and Thomson's Biog. Diet. of Em. Scots., ed. 1855, v. 559; Blackw. Mag., xv. 388, 567, xxi. 354, xxvii. 664, xl. 76; Lon. Gent. Mag., 1840, ii. 667, (Obituary.)

Thomson, John, and Dun, Finlay. The Vocal Melodies of Scotland, new ed., Edin., 4 vols. See Lon. Gaz., 1839, 61.

Thomson, John. New Universal Gazetteer and

Geographical Dictionary, Lon., 1843, 8vo; 1845, 8vo; 1857, Svo. He edited The Universal Atlas, &c.

Thomson, John. Domestic Circle; or, Home Life, Edin., 1866, 12mo.

Thomson, John Cockburn. See WHARTON, GRACE. Thomson, John Lewis. Historical Sketches of the Late War between the United States and Great Britain, Phila., 1816, 12mo; 5th ed., 1818, 12mo; 1828, 12mo; continued, 1848, 4to; last ed., History of the Wars of the United States, &c., 1854, 2 vols. in 1, r. 8vo.

Thomson, Katherine, daughter of Mr. Thomas Byerley, of Etruria, Staffordshire, and the wife of Anthony Todd Thomson, M.D., (supra,) d. at Dover, December 17, 1862.

1. Life of Wolsey, Lon. Written for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.

2. Constance, 3 vols. p. 8vo. Anon. 3. Rosabel; or, Sixty Years Ago, 3 vols. p. 8vo; last ed., 1859, 12mo. 4. Memoirs of the Court of Henry the Eighth, 1826, 2 vols. 8vo.

"A work of much good sense, impartiality, and research."Edin. Rev., xlv. 321, n.

"Performed with ability."-Lon. Month. Rev., June, 1826. 5. Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Raleigh, 1830, 8vo; N. York, 18mo; Phila., 1841, 12mo. See Edin. Rev., 1xxi. 4; Fraser's Mag., v. 469. 6. Lady Anabetta, Lon., 1837, 3 vols. p. 8vo. 7. Memoirs of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and of the Court of Queen Anne, 1838, (some 1839,) 2 vols. 8vo. See Lon. Athen., 1839, 482. 8. Anne Boleyn, 1842, 3 vols. p. 8vo; last ed., 1857, 12mo. 9. Widows and Widowers, 1842, 3 vols. p. 8vo; last ed., 1856, 12mo. 10. Ragland Castle, 1843, 3 vols. cr. 8vo. 11. White Mask, 1844, 3 vols. p. 8vo; last ed., 1857, 12mo. 12. Chevalier, Dec. 1844, 3 vols. p. 8vo; last ed., 1861, fp. 8vo. 13. Lady of Milan, 1845, 3 vols. p. 8vo; N. York, 8vo. 14. Memoirs of the Jacobites of 1715 and 1745, Lon., 1845-46, 3 vols. p. 8vo. See Lon. Gent. Mag., 1846, i. 392; Lon. Lit. Gaz., 1845-46. Memoirs of Viscountess Sundon, Mistress of the Robes to Queen Caroline, Consort of George II.; including Letters, &c., now first Published, 1847, (some 1848,) 2 vols. 8vo; 1850, 2 vols. 8vo.

15.

"The original materials are very scanty,-almost worthless,and the artifices by which they have been bloated out into two volumes are monstrous."-Lon. Quar. Rev., lxxxii. 94.

"We conscientiously recommend the volume."-Britannia. See, also, Lon. Lit. Gaz. and Lon. Atlas, both 1847; Liv. Age, xiv. 310, (from Britannia.)

16. Tracey; or, The Apparition, 1847, 3 vols. p. 8vo; last ed., 1858, 12mo. See Lon. Athen., 1847, 571; Lon. Lit. Gaz., 1847, 361. 17. Recollections of Literary Characters and Celebrated Places, 1854, 2 vols. p. 8vo. Consist partly of a series of articles originally pub. in Bentley's Miscellany and Fraser's Magazine, under the signature of A Middle-Aged Man. See Lon. Athen., 1854, 1357. 18. Carew Ralegh, 1857, 12mo. 19. Court Secrets, 1857, 3 vols. p. 8vo. Condemned by Lon. Athen., commended by Lon. Exam., Lon. Crit., John Bull, &c., all 1857. 20. Faults on Both Sides, 1858, 3 vols. p. 8vo. 21. Life and Times of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, 1860, 3 vols. p. Svo.

These volumes will increase the well-earned reputation of their clever and popular author."-Lon. Exam.

22. Celebrated Friendships, 1861, 2 vols. p. 8vo. Condemned by Lon. Athen., 1861, ii. 684; commended by Lon. Spec., Lon. Observ., &c. In Mrs. Thomson's last appearances in literature she used the nom de plume of Grace Wharton, (q. v.)

Thomson, M., Lord Haversham. See HAVER

SHAM.

Thomson, M. System of General Night Signals, Malta, 1850, sm. 4to.

Thomson, Captain Mowbray, Bengal Army, one of the only two survivors from the Cawnpore garrison. The Story of Cawnpore, Lon., 1859, p. 8vo. "Indispensable to future writers on this part of Indian history."-Lon. Athen,, 1859, i. 774.

Thomson, Murray. Analytical Tables for Students of Practical Chemistry, Lon., 1861, 8vo.

Thomson, Rev. Patrick, of Chatham, England. The Soul: its Nature and Destinies, Lon., 1850, sm. 8vo. "An excellent volume."-Method, New Connexion.

Thomson, Rev. Peter. See THOMSON, ADAM, No. 1. Thomson, R. S. Calisthenic and Hygienic Exercises, Lon., 1854, 12mo.

Thomson, Rev. R. Wodrow, a divine of the Church of Scotland. 1. Ben Rhydding, the Asclepia of England: its Beauties, &c., 1862, 18mo; 4th ed., 1867. 2. Amateur's Rosarium, Edin., 1862, 12mo.

"His manual is not well written, and his information is scanty."-Lon. Athen., 1862, ii. 150.

Thomson, Reginald, late of King William's College, Isle of Man, and Pleader in the Zillah Court of Tinnevelly. A Manual of Hindu Law, on the Basis of Sir Thomas Strange; and illustrated by Decisions from the High Court Reports, Madras, 1867, 8vo.

Thomson, Richard, Cambridge. 1. Elenchus Refutationis Torture Torti, contra Mart. Becanum, Lon., 1611, 8vo. 2. De Amissione Gratia et Justificationis, Lugd. Bat., 1618, 4to.

Thomson, Richard, for more than thirty years Librarian of the London Institution, d. Jan. 2, 1865, in his 71st year. 1. A Faithful Account of the Processions and Ceremonies observed in the Coronation of the Kings and Queens of England, &c., Lon., 1820, 8vo. 2. The Book of Life; a Bibliographical Melody, (presented to the Roxburghe Club,) 1820, r. 8vo: 50 copies, and 2 on vellum. 3. Chronicles of London Bridge; by an Antiquary, 1827, cr. 8vo, £1 88.; 1. p., demy 8vo, India proofs, £2 88. Also India proofs separate, 8vo; also 1. p., 318. 6d.

-Lon. Lit. Gaz. "A sterling record, both for literary recreation and reference."

4. Illustrations of British History, 1828, 2 vols. 18mo, (Constable's Miscell.) 5. Tales of an Antiquary, chiefly illustrative, &c. of London, 1828, 3 vols. 12mo. 6. Historical Essay on the Magna Charta of King John; to which is added the Great Charter in Latin and English, and other Charters, with Notes, 1829, 8vo, £1 11s. 6d. ; 1. p., printed entirely on India paper, r. 8vo, £2 128. 6d. Pp. 99, with 4 plates, 4to.

"A book as beautifully and appropriately adorned as it is elaborately and learnedly compiled,"-ROBERT SOUTHEY.

See, also, Lon. Quar. Rev. and Lon. Lit. Gaz. 7. Legends of London, 1832. 8. Catalogue of the Library of the London Institution, Systematically Classed; with an Historical and Biographical Account of the Establishment, 1835-52, 4 vols. r. 8vo. Not printed for sale.

"In the original formation of this library (between the years 1806 and 1812) the sum of £16,533 was expended; and from that date to the present liberal accessions have been regularly made. Richard Porson was the first librarian, but his early death (25) Sept. 1808) made his term of office a very brief one. Nor, indeed, despite his brilliant scholarship and his other eminent endow ments, was the office congenial to him. His successor, Mr. Maltby, has told us in the Porsoniana (appended to the TableTalk of Samuel Rogers) that his attendance was so irregular as to draw from the directors on one occasion the pointed reproof, We only know you are our librarian by seeing your name attached to the receipts for your salary,' and from devoted friends the admission that the censure was merited. But he had an excellent assistant in Mr. William Upcott, who filled the office of sub-librarian for twenty-eight years. Mr. Maltby, too, con tinued to fill the office of principal librarian from the death of Porson to the midsummer of 1834. He was succeeded by Mr. Richard Thomson and Mr. E. W. Brayley as joint-librarians. To these gentlemen is mainly due that Catalogue of the Library of the London Institution, Systematically Classed, which is one of the best productions extant in its kind. The present number of volumes exceeds 62,000. The right of admission belongs of course exclusively to the proprietors and their nominees; but for a long time the library has been easily accessible for literary purposes."-EDWARD EDWARDS: Memoirs of Libraries, 1859, ii. 96.

"There is an excellent printed catalogue of this library, chiefly compiled by Mr. Thomson, in 4 vols. 8vo, printed between the years 1835 and 1852.... This catalogue comprehends, first, a synoptical table of the classes; secondly, a plan of the arrangement, in classes, of the books themselves; thirdly, a general classed catalogue of all the books; fourthly, an index of authors' names and works; and, fifthly, an index of anonymous works, and of many different subjects of which some account is to be found in the library."-Ibid.: Encyc. Brit., 8th ed., xiii. 394.

2.

Thomson, Robert, writer in Edinburgh. 1. Duty and Office of a Messenger-at-Arms, Edin., 1790, 8vo. Divine Authority of the Bible, &c.; being a Refutation of Paine's Age of Reason. 3. Diatessaron; or, The Gospel History from the Text of the Four Evangelists, in a Connected Series, with Notes, Edin. and Lon., 1807, (some 1808,) Svo; Edin., 1811, 8vo.

"Not a work of much value."-Orme's Bibl. Bib., 429.

4. Treatise on the Law of Bills of Exchange, Promised., 1836, 8vo; 3d ed., by John Dove Wilson, 1865, r. sory Notes, Bank Notes, &c. in Scotland, 1825, 8vo; 2d

Svo.