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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Islington , Sir , August 1 , 1822 . PASSTNG my sunmaer vacation at Richmond , I one morning went in quest of the ^ got where Thomson , breathiBg out tus soul into the bosom of his Creator , quitted this sublunary sphere for a better world .
We bent our way to Kew-joat Lane in the vicinity of Richmond . It is a row of cettageg , with , occasionally a house of larger dimensions . Inquiring of a servan , t-ji > aid where Thomson lived and died— -she asked , whether I
meant" thepoet writerJ * I answered , * ' Yes "—when she directed me further up to a large handsome brick mansion , Rasdale-ffopcse , the residence of the COUNTJSSS € > f SaAFTKSBUitY . Ou ringing ihe jbell * a woiwn appealed , of whpm X mqiured , whether
Thomson hajt lived aud di ^ d there ; she replied in < h ^^ fl 5 urmative . I then asked respecting anvreUea of t&e . poet which were to be inspected by , strangers .
She said , there were a few and many called to see them . Begging to he similarly indulged * $ he wjt ^ drew to ask the Countess * and immediately re * turned with leave of admission .
On entering the house you axe shewn two small rooms on the ground floor connected by an arch-way , and thrown into a kind of halh On the left is the room in which , Thomson breathed his last , being his bed-chamber : and on
wms right is his sitting ^ Foom , where m passed hia time , mth Ams * hooks axed rouud , upon whitfh he hung * his ^ and cdii ^ alao the /< r 6 / e on which he wrote , a&d , lastly ,, tha very fir&-Ptace , before winch he bo doubt sat ^ muauig ^ deep , when
Winter nji gued treinetujoi ^ a ! er tfc © mxtr quer * a year ! , *? ls * »« at round mahofifany table . lettin g itself *> vm on Its stand , with P ^ S ? tion * ^ Whftq scrdfl in th ^ t atitm of haad-writin ^ -
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u tlils ; table James Thomson constantly wrote ; it was therefore purchased of hia servant ; who also gave these brass hooks on which his hat and cane were hung in this his sitting-room . F . B : " These initials * F . B ., signify Frances JBosctxwen , the Hon . Mrs . Boscawen , widow of Admiral Boscaw € sn , whahere ended her days . She is said to have been the immediate successor of the
poet , and with whose merits she appears to have been impressed . The young woman who shewed us these rooms informed us , that in ThoMsok ' b time , these were the only apartments . Since tliat period , two-win ^ s had been added , as well as two stories , sjo that it is the most handsome house in
Kewfoot L ^ uie . much the praise of the present noble owner that this portion of the original cottage should have been thus sacredly preseirved amidst a profusion of modern improvements . Too often have the proprietors of an edifice of this kind , with a barbarous vandalism , levelled it to
the dust . The vttkt of Pope , as to the interior , is said to have undergone such a demolition . Its gardens and grattQ alone remain to satiate the gaze of posterity . With respect to Thomson it should be added , that over : the fire-pluce , the carvfed ornaments are after the fashion of former
times , whilst at the opposite end of the sitting-room , between the windows , may be seen a 6 udt of the Bti ¥ d 9 which imparts to the ^ lios ari air of classic celebrity . Stepping into ihe
garden , you ane conducted ty a neat gravel walk through a serpentine avenue of shady trees to an ale&ve , painted green , on whose front are these words , emblazoned :
" Here Thomson sung the Seasons and their change /' In the alcove is a rustic table , and suapended over the back seat ia a board with this inscription : ** ' 4 ajubs Tkcimson died at this nloqe August > 27 th , 1748 ^
On die jreverae of tie boara , wnen taken down ^ I i ^ aB the fbBo \ ving T sylvan memorial * ' ¦ '*" - ¦ 4 t Wit \ dn tlu ^ pleaainj ^ -Jcetijrement , tOl ^ fed ty th& 'in 9 ^> w ^ -Aciv 4 # ittegmPp i ^ hfefe , w ^^ l ed in isoft ulaiaon ^ to the melody of his aoul ia xiaaffected
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y i ? #% J . Evan&s VisU to the House cf Thomson , the Roet . SSA
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JQeiog called " Lindsay ' s New Tes tament , " it mapharo imposed latterly on some unlettered pei ^ ona as a wot » k of Mr . Lindsey ' s , of Essex Street , or even of T ) r . Lrindsay * s , of MdnfcweM Street . It fell into my hands through such a mistake of the owner ' s .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1822, page 531, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2516/page/11/
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