Thomson, JAMES (1700-48), poet, was one of the nine children of the parish minister of Ednam, Roxburghshire, where he was born 11th September 1700. He was educated first at Jedburgh, and then at the university of Edinburgh, where he studied for the church. From his earliest years he had written poetry, though he is said to have, with uncommon discretion, regularly burned his juvenile efforts. Soon after his father's death, deserting theology for letters, he removed to London provided with little money but much manuscript. Where and how he lived at first is not quite clear, but in 1726 he began with Winter the publication of his poem on the Seasons. The copyright brought him only three guineas, but Lord Wilmington, to whom it was dedicated, fulfilled the expected duty of a patron by presenting him with twenty guineas. The piece was immediately successful, and Thomson's place as a poet was assured. Summer and Spring followed in the next two years. The second of these is inscribed to the Countess of Hertford, who invited the author to her country-seat 'to hear her verses and assist her studies.' Johnson records that 'he took more delight in carousing with Lord Hertford and his friends,' and that the lady was in consequence exceedingly indignant. In 1730 Autumn completed the Seasons. It was published with his collected works, which now included a Poem on the Death of Sir Isaac Newton, and Britannia (1727), a tirade against Spain's interference with English commerce, and a eulogy of Frederick, Prince of Wales, then in opposition to the court. In 1729 his tragedy of Sophonisba was produced. The audience was numerous and splendid, but 'nobody was much affected.' One luckless line, 'O Sophonisba, Sophonisba O,' is still remembered for the famous parody, 'O Jemmy Thomson, Jemmy Thomson O,' which, repeated by everybody, killed what little life there was in the piece. His other tragedies were Agamemnon (1738), Edward and Eleonora (1739), Tancréd and Sigismunda (1745, in which Garrick and Mrs Cibber played the principal parts), and Coriolanus (produced after his death to pay his debts and aid his sisters). In 1731 Thomson was chosen to accompany Charles Talbot, son of Lord Chancellor Talbot, on the conventional continental tour, then a necessary part of the education of a young man of quality. The travellers visited France, Switzerland, and Italy, and something at least of the improvement in the poet's later work may be ascribed to the fresh impressions received on this delightful journey. On his return Lord Talbot gave him the sinecure office of Secretary of Briefs, but first the son and then the father died, and a new favourite got the appointment. He was not long destitute. The poem of Liberty (1732), inspired by his travels, was dedicated to the Prince of Wales, who was induced by Lyttleton to see Thomson. The result of the interview was a pension of £100 a year. He afterwards obtained the appointment of surveyor-general of the Leeward Islands. A deputy did what work there was to be done, and Thomson pocketed £300 a year. In 1740 the Masque of Alfred was produced at Clifden before the Prince and Princess of Wales. It contains the song Rule Britannia, still, for want of a better, the popular patriotic ode. Thomson's last years were spent at Richmond, where English scenery is seen at its best. Here he finished his finest work, The Castle of Indolence. It was published May 1748. He died on 27th August following. As a man he was kindly, easy, gay, indolent, and of a rare modesty. No wonder he was universally popular. Stanza lxviii. Canto 1 ('written by a friend of the author'—Lord Lyttleton) of his last work pictures him as 'more fat than bard beseems,' as 'void of envy, guile, and lust of gain,' as all
The world forsaking with a calm disdain,
Here laughed he careless in his easy seat;
Here quaff'd encircled with the joyous train,
Oft moralising sage: his ditty sweet,
He loathed much to write, nor cared to repeat.
Thomson's poems bear traces of minute and accurate observations of nature at first hand. His impressions were received early, for it is the rustic sights and sounds of the Border that are most prominent in his verse. He was not without a quaint if sometimes coarse humour. He has long passages of pleasing melody, though the exquisite note in his description of the Hebrides, 'placed far amid the melancholy main,' is but rarely heard. His thought is usually conventional and commonplace. No real feeling pulsates through his verse. He is verbose and straggling beyond endurance. His best work is professedly based on and full of echoes of Spenser; but that only reminds us how far the Castle of Indolence is below the Faery Queen.
See the Lives by Dr Johnson, Gilfillan, and W. M. Rossetti; and Prof. Léon Morel, James Thomson: Sa Vie et ses Œuvres (1895).