Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 9.djvu/292

556 a valuable and well-known publication, he states that he was born at Limekilns in Fife, and, as he supposes, about 1759, at least he was so informed; for at the time of writing, although touching on his eightieth year, he found himself so hale and vigorous, that, as he playfully adds, he could scarcely persuade himself that he was so old. His father was a teacher at Limekilns, and afterwards in the town of Banff; and at this latter place George was taught by his parent the elements of education, and afterwards sent to study Latin and Greek at the grammar-school. From Banff his father, who had been struggling for some time in vain for a moderate livelihood, removed to Edinburgh, and here his son, now seventeen years old, soon obtained a situation as clerk in the office of a writer to the signet. In this situation he remained till 1780, when, through the recommendation of Mr. John Home, author of the tragedy of Douglas, he was appointed junior clerk to the honourable Board of Trustees, and soon after, on the death of the principal clerk, he was promoted to that vacant office. Here he found himself so comfortable in worldly circumstances, and so highly esteemed by Mr. Robert Arbuthnot, the secretary of the board, and afterwards by Sir William, his son and successor, that he had no desire to risk his present happiness in search of more, and accordingly he continued in this situation until the close of his long and well-spent life. On having thus established himself in comfort, Mr. George Thomson performed what he calls the "wisest act of his life," for at the age of twenty-five he married Miss Miller, daughter of Lieutenant Miller, of the 50th regiment, a lady who made him the happy rather of two sons and four daughters.

The tastes of Thomson from an early period were those that are best qualified to foster such a happy contented spirit. He saw that there were other aims in life than that of seeking adventures, and purer pleasures to be enjoyed than that of making money. In boyhood, a love of the beautiful led his heart to the study of music and painting, and these attractive pursuits he continued to cherish in the society of their ablest professors. It was a most unwonted occupation, as some can still remember, for a young lawyer'a clerk in the city of Edinburgh, in the latter part of the 18th century; and in Mr. Thomson's case, no small amount of devoted enthusiasm must have been required to meet the ridicule of his companions, or resist their invitations, that would have drawn him from his path. But he persevered in his own way, and soon found that the fine arts, like virtue itself, are their own reward. As one of these is generally found sufficient for the final occupation of one man, music obtained the preference, and his retrospections, in old age, of the musical evenings of his early days among those who were of kindred spirit with himself, in some measure serve to redeem even the Edinburgh of that period from its notorious grossness. "Having studied the violin," he tells us, "it was my custom, after the hours of business, to con over our Scottish melodies, and to devour the choruses of Handel's oratorios, in which, when performed at St. Cecilia's Hall, I generally took a part, along with a few other gentlemen—Mr. Alexander Wight, one of the most eminent counsel at the bar; Mr. Gilbert Innes, of Stow; Mr. John Russel, W.S.; Mr. John Button, &c.—it being then not uncommon for grave amateurs to assist at the Cecilia concerts, one of the most interesting and liberal musical institutions that ever existed in Scotland, or, indeed, in any country. I had so much delight in singing those matchless choruses, and in practising the violin quartettes of Pleyel and Haydn, that it was with joy I hailed the hour when, like the young amateur in the good old Scotch