The poetical works of James Thomson ...

MIE31OIR OF THOMISON. xlv
estimable as the Poet, honoured him with his
firiendship, spread his fame, and by introducing
him to Sir Chlarles Talbot, afterwards Lord
Chancellor, rendered him an important service.
In Thomson's next letter to IMr. Hill, who was
then in Scotland, lie thanks him for a flattering
notice which he had published of "Winter," and
sends him the news of the town:
TO AARON HILL, E;SQ.
" London, Oct. 20, 1726.
" DEAR SIR,
" MR. SAVAGE was so kind as to show me a letter you
lately favoured him with, by which I had the true
pleasure of learning your safe arrival at Berwick, intended tour, and halt at Inverness.
" It is with a mixture of joy, pride, and confusion,
I read the favourable mention you were pleased to
make of me: what unusual good fortune has thus intitled me to your kind regardl'Tis nothing, sure,
but your own generous goodness, which with your
other many matchless perfections, shall ever be my
love, and wonder, while truth and harmony are the
objects of these passions.
" Every Muse, every Virtue, here, languishes for
your return: to me your absence would be much severer, if my partial sympathy in the happiness of my
native country did not alleviate the misfortune. I congratulate her on the presence of such a kind inspirer
and candid observer: there, you may chance to find, in
that neglected corner of the world, depressed merit,
uninformed beauty, and good sense clothed in the rags
of langruagce. Nothing has appeared in print here,
VOL. I. 4