Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3b.pdf/409

THO reformation and covenanting period. A spirited sketch of his character is given in Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk. Besides his contributions to the Christian Instructor and the Edinburgh Encyclopædia, he published a great number of lectures, sermons, and addresses. Dr. Thomson had an exquisite ear and taste for music, and composed several beautiful psalm tunes. His eldest son, who died in the prime of life, was the first professor of music in the university of Edinburgh.—J. T.  THOMSON,, an eminent physician, was born in Edinburgh on January 7, 1778. His father held the offices of postmaster-general for the province of Georgia, and collector of customs for the town of Savannah. He happened to be on a visit to his native country at the time of the birth of his son. Dr. Thomson's mother died when he was a year old, and he was brought up under the care of a Mrs. Rainie, a lady whom his father eventually married. His father losing his office in America at the revolution, returned to Scotland, and settled in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh on a small pension. Dr. Thomson was partly educated at the high school. On leaving school he obtained, through the influence of his god-father, Anthony Todd, the postmaster-general, a clerkship at a small salary in the Edinburgh post-office. This occupied but little of his time, and he resolved to study medicine. He entered at the university, and after completing his courses graduated M.D. in 1799. He then came to England, and commenced general practice at Chelsea. For a time he did not appear to make much progress, but his name was brought into notice by a case of drowning in the Serpentine, in which he succeeded in restoring animation, and for which he was presented with the Humane Society's medal. From this time his career as a general practitioner was eminently successful. In his leisure he turned his attention to the departments of pharmaceutical chemistry, botany, and the materia medica. In 1810 he published the first edition of a small work, entitled "Conspectus Pharmacopœiæ," which has since gone through fourteen editions. In the following year appeared the first edition of his great work, "The London Dispensatory," which at the time was the most complete treatise of its kind that had appeared in England. This book went through ten editions. Dr. Thomson was the first lecturer on medical botany in England; a volume of his botanical lectures was published by Longmans. Conjointly with the late Dr. Burrows he edited "The Medical Repository." In 1826 he gave up general practice, and became a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians. On the opening of University college, he was appointed professor of materia medica, and to this he afterwards added the professorship of medical jurisprudence. He was also elected physician to the hospital. Shortly before the retirement of Sir Henry Halford he was chosen a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. He died at Ealing, July 3, 1849, aged seventy-two. Besides the works above mentioned, he was the author of "Elements of Materia Medica," London, 1832; a course of lectures on medical jurisprudence, published in the Lancet of 1836-37; and a work on the domestic management of the sick-room. He was one of the contributors to the Cyclopædia of Medicine; he edited Bateman on Cutaneous Diseases, with an atlas of plates; and he published a translation of Salvarte on the Philosophy of Magic Omens, &c.; and an edition of Thomson's Seasons, with notes. His valuable museum of materia medica was purchased after his death by government for the Queen's college at Cork. Dr. Thomson was twice married. His second wife is a lady well known in the literary world as the authoress of several historical romances; and of "Memoirs of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough," 1839; "Memoirs of the Court of Henry VIII.," 1826; "Memoirs of Lady Sundon," 1847; "Memoirs of the Jacobites;" "Recollections of Literary Characters and Celebrated Places," 2 vols., 8vo, 1854. Many of her novels are published in the Parlour Library.—F. C. W.  THOMSON,, R.A., fancy figure and portrait painter, was born at Portsea in 1773; his father was a purser in the navy. Thomson was elected a member of the Royal Academy in 1803, and in 1825 he succeeded Fuseli as keeper of the Academy; but owing to ill health he had to resign his post. He retired in 1808 to Portsea, and died there 6th April, 1843.—R. N. W.  THOMSON,, the author of "The Seasons," was born at Ednam, near Kelso, in Roxburghshire, on the 11th of September, 1700. His father was minister of that parish, and subsequently of Southdean, near Jedburgh, and his mother, Beatrice, was the daughter and co-heiress of Mr. Trotter of Fogo in Berwickshire. Thomson at an early age attracted the attention of the Rev. Robert Riccaltoun, minister of the adjoining parish of Hobkirk, who furnished him with books, and superintended his education at the grammar-school of Jedburgh, which he entered when he was about twelve years of age. Here he received many marks of kindness from Sir William Bennet of Chesters, Lord Cranstoun, and Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto; and encouraged by their approbation, he wrote numerous pieces, which, however, he committed to the flames on every new year's day. As he was intended for the church, Thomson was sent to the university of Edinburgh in 1715. He had the misfortune to lose his father very suddenly under peculiarly painful circumstances in 1718, and his widowed mother having raised what money she could on a small property of which she was coheiress, removed to Edinburgh with her nine orphan children. James entered the divinity hall in 1719, and in the following year his first published verses appeared in a volume entitled the Edinburgh Miscellany, published by a club called the Athenian Society. He prosecuted his theological studies for the usual period of four years; but discouraged by the unfavourable criticism which Mr. Hamilton, the professor of divinity, pronounced upon a flowery and exuberant paraphrase of the 104th Psalm (27th October, 1724), he resolved to try his fortune in the English metropolis. He reached London in the spring of 1725, and obtained, through the influence of Lady Grizel Bailie, the office of tutor in the family of her son. Lord Binning; but he left this situation in the course of a few months, and was reduced to such straits that he had to borrow a few pounds from his friend Cranstoun, pending the sale of the little property in Roxburghshire which fell to him on the death of his mother. He was at this time engaged in the composition of his "Winter," which had been suggested to him by a poetical piece of his early friend Riccaltoun on the same subject. The poem when completed was sold to a bookseller named Millar for the small sum of three guineas, and was published in March, 1726. It was dedicated to Sir Spencer Compton, speaker of the house of commons, afterwards earl of Wilmington, who presented the author with twenty guineas. At this period of his career Thomson was much indebted to his college friend Mallet, who was then tutor to the sons of the duke of Montrose, and was well qualified to instruct his shy, modest countryman in the art of pushing his fortune. He also obtained the notice and assistance of Aaron Hill, whom he addressed in return in a strain of adulation which Dr. Johnson terms servile. In 1727 appeared "Summer," which was followed by "A Poem sacred to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton." In the following year Thomson published his "Spring," for which he received fifty guineas; but he must still have been in straitened circumstances, for it is supposed to have been about this time that he was relieved from a spunging-house by the generosity of Quin the actor. Some allege, however, that this incident occurred on the loss of his place in 1737. In 1729 Thomson produced his "Britannia," and shortly after (February, 1729-30), his first tragedy, "Sophonisba," was acted at Drury Lane before a crowded and eagerly-expectant audience, but with very moderate success. His series on the seasons was completed by the addition of the fourth, "Autumn," inscribed to Speaker Onslow, in 1730, and the whole was collected and brought out by subscription in a quarto volume. Thomson was now at the height of his fame, and his poetical labours were for a time agreeably interrupted by an invitation, obtained through the influence of Dr. Randle, to attend the eldest son of Lord Talbot in his travels through France and Italy. On his return to England about the close of 1731, he commenced the poem of "Liberty," the first part of which was published in December, 1734, and the last in 1736. Meanwhile Lord Talbot was appointed chancellor in November, 1733, and immediately conferred upon Thomson the office of secretary of briefs in the court of chancery, of which, however, he was deprived on the death of his patron in 1737. But he was to some extent compensated for this loss by receiving from the prince of Wales a pension of £100 a year. In 1738 he produced his play of "Agamemnon," which was dedicated to the prince, and patronized by a crowd of influential friends, but it proved a failure. In the following year he tried the stage again, but with even less success; for his play, "Edward and Eleonora," was prohibited by the lord chamberlain, probably because it contained a flattering portrait of the prince of Wales, who was in open opposition to the court and the ministry. In 1740 he wrote in conjunction with Mallet the masque of "Alfred," which 