place soon, and suddenly. The fulfilment of this melancholy anticipation
took place on the 9th of February, 1831. On that day, he appeared in his
usual health, and went through the ordinary routine of business with his accustomed activity and energy, taking the same interest in everything that came
under his consideration, as he had been accustomed to do ; and altogether presenting nothing, in either manner or appearance, to indicate the near approach
of that catastrophe which was to deprive religion and morality of one of their
ablest supports, and society of one of its brightest ornaments. Having completed the out-door business of the day, Dr Thomson returned home about five
o'clock in the afternoon, and while standing on the threshold of his own door,
just previous to his entering the house, he suddenly fell down, and expired
without a struggle or a groan. His remains were interred in St Cuthbert's
church-yard; and if anything were wanting to impress those who have only
read or heard of him, with a full conception of the estimation in which he was
held by all ranks and denominations in the metropolis, it would be found in a
description of his funeral, the most numerously attended, perhaps, that had
ever been witnessed in the Scottish capital. Dr Thomson's literary labours exhibit a long array of religious works of various descriptions, including lectures, sermons, and addresses. To these there is to be added, a volume of posthumous "Sermons and Sacramental Exhortations," published in Edinburgh in the same year in which he died; with a memoir prefixed.
THOMSON, James, a celebrated poet, was born, September 11, 1700, at Ednam, near Kelso, of which parish his father was minister. Beatrix Trotter, the mother of the poet, was daughter and co-heiress of a small portion of land at Foggo in Berwickshire, and is described as having been a woman of "a singular fervour of imagination," at the same time that she shone in the domestic and social virtues. The difficulty with which his father supported his family, having nine children, occasioned his removal, in the early childhood of the poet, to the parish of Southdean, in the presbytery of Jedburgh, where the stipend, though not large, was somewhat better than that which he had enjoyed at Ednam. The change was from a low and beautifully ornamented part of the country, and the close neighbourhood of a considerable market town, to an elevated pastoral district, enlivened only by the slender waters of the Jed, and frequented by few except the lonely angler. In the church-yard of Southdean, may yet be seen the humble monument of the father of the poet, with the inscription almost obliterated. The manse in which that individual reared his large family, of whom one was to become so illustrious, was what would now be described as a small thatched cottage.[1] The poet received the rudiments of his education at the school of Jedburgh, and was not distinguished among his youthful companions, by remarkable superiority of parts. He was still, however, very young, when his talents for writing verses attracted the attention of several respectable individuals in that part of the country. Mr Riccarton, minister of the neighbouring parish of Hobkirk, and a man of taste and learning, observed and encouraged this talent; and young Thomson was occasionally invited, on account of his promising abilities, to spend his vacations at the country seats of Sir William Bennet of Cheaters, Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto, and lord Cranstoun. He was so little pleased, however, with the poetry he produced at this early period, that on every new-year's day he burnt all that he had composed during the foregoing year. At a proper age he was sent to the university of Edinburgh. According to tradition, a servant of his father conducted him to the capital, seated behind himself on horseback; but such was his reluctance to forsake the country, that he had no sooner been left to himself in the city, than
- ↑ Information by Mr Richmond, the present minister of Southdean.
