THOMSON, JAMES, adthor of " the Seasons," &c. was born on the 22d of September, (N. S.) 1700, at Ednam, Roxburghshire, a village about two miles from Kelso, delightfully situated on the Eden, from which it derives its name. His father, the Rev. Thomas Thomson, was minister of the pa rish of Ednam, in the Scottish Established Church, and is said by Murdoch, in his life of our poet, to have been highly respected for his piety and his diligence in the pastoral duty. He is several times mentioned, however, in that curious and scarce book, " Kirkwood's Plea with the Kirk," in his official character, as a member of the church courts, in a strain of irony and sarcasm, in which many of his brethren share. That ingenious and clever, but rash and somewhat coarse writer, had smarted under the long process to which he had been sub jected; and having gained his plea, through the fa vour of the Scottish Privy Council, he does not spare his former prosecutors and judges. The maiden name of the mother of the poet was Bea trix Trotter, daughter of Mr. Alexander Trotter of Widehope, in the parish of Morebattle, Roxburgh shire, though Murdoch, the intimate friend and earliest biographer of the poet, and several others who have copied the error, call her Hume. She was one of the co-heiresses of the small estate of Widehope, which now belongs to the Marquis of Tweeddale. The father of Thomson removed from the pastoral charge of Ednam, when James was little more than two years of age, to that of the parish of Southdean, a few miles south from Jed burgh, where he continued to perform his ministe rial duties till the time of his decease. Of this change of his residence, his biographers, probably ignorant of the fact, take no notice; though the af fectionate bard, who was alive alike to the percep tion of rural beauty and the charms of moral senti ment, refers, in his " Seasons," to Tweed, which runs along the southern part of the parish of Ed nam, as his "pure parent stream," and also to the " sylvan Jed," near which the years of his boyhood and early youth were passed.
He received the usual school education at the county town of Jedburgh. The school was then taught in an eastern aisle of the fine old Abbey, and some traditionary anecdotes connected with this part of his history still remain. From school, he was sent to the College of Edinburgh, where, in the second session of his course, his studies were pain fully interrupted by the illness of his father, whom he tenderly loved, but whom he was not so fortu nate as to see alive, though he is said to have has tened to his manse in the country with all the speed that filial duty could dictate. His sorrow on occa sion of his father's death was deep and lasting.
His now widowed mother, whose talents, piety, and worth made her beloved and respected by her family and friends, appears, from certain letters written to her by her son, to have been a severe sufferer under this domestic calamity; but though cast down, she was not in despair. By the advice of her friends, she mortgaged her share of the small inheritance which belonged to her, and removed with her family to Edinburgh, where she resided during her son James's college studies; and, after his removal to London, to the time of her decease. Thomson had been early designed to follow the profession of his father, as a clergyman of the Church of Scotland. But there is strong reason to
think that divinity was not at any time his favour ite study. Like Ovid and Pope, "he spoke in num bers for the numbers came." He cared so little, however, about the early productions of his muse, that he consigned them to the flames each new year's day, and wrote occasional verses on their de struction.
He was, nevertheless, enrolled among the stu dents of divinity, under Dr. Hamilton, senior, the professor of that science in Edinburgh. In the first of the prescribed exercises which he delivered in the Divinity Hall, as the class-room is called, and which exercise is believed to have been a lecture on the 8th Psalm, he indulged so much in a strain of poetic illustration and gorgeous phraseology, that the learned professor thought it his duty, in criticizing the production of his pupil, to censure him for his exuberance of ornament, and to counsel him to prefer in future the path of sober reasoning and scriptural illustration to the more flowery, but less becoming mazes of fancy. This critique seems to have been the immediate cause of his renounc ing studies which had no charms for him, and to have determined him forthwith to seek distinction in his more favourite pursuits, and in a different and wider sphere. Yet, among the predisposing causes which led him to the adoption of this im portant change in the fortune of his life, it is curi ous to remark, that he had been previously distin guished by the notice and kindness of Sir William Bennet of Grubet, at whose romantic residence of Marlefield, near the banks of the Kail and Teviot, he passed many pleasant days. This gentleman, distinguished as the friend and patron of Allan Ramsay, is remembered as a man of elegant litera ture, a scholar, and a wit. It is still more worthy of remark, that he enjoyed the unwearied attention and kindness of the Rev. Robert Riccaltoun of Hobkirk, incorrectly called Riccarton, by Murdoch and others, a co-presbyter and friend of his father. Mr. Riccaltoun was a man not only of great theo logical knowledge, of which his writings, and es pecially his posthumous works, afford ample proof; but what is more to the present purpose, and is very little known, was also endued with poetic taste and genius. We shall have occasion speedily to refer to this more particularly. In the meantime, we notice it for the purpose of observing that the society of this truly eminent person tended to fos ter his juvenile predilection for the muses. Previ ous to his bidding farewell to Scotland, his acade mical progress seems to have been very slow, hav ing probably suffered seasons of interruption by his residence in the country as a family tutor. Of this period of his life, few traces can now be found; but it is known that he passed a considerable time in the noble family of Cranston, then resident at Crail ing near Jedburgh, and afterwards in that of Lord Binning, who was married to the heiress of Mel lerstain. This lady, who was the grand-daughter, on the male side, of the celebrated patriot Robert Baillie; and on the female side, of Patrick Hume of Polwarth, afterwards Earl of Marchmont, was an early patron and friend of our poet. Thomson had also been distinguished by the friendship of the Elliots of Minto, in Roxburghshire.