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"pended about three years rent of his Estate of Culloden on it, and putt. him in "debt otherwise considerably; which he never discovered untill he returned from "London, nor until the death of Stewart; that he himself had thrown out and spent "great sums of Money otherwise, whilst the late Rebellion subsisted; which he had not "adverted to, nor demanded Payment of, and for which he thought himself highly "blameable."

What is above, is exactly the meaning & substance of what his Lop exprest upon this Article; and I shall not be positive, if he did not express it in the same words. I hope to see you before you leave this place; and if I shou'd not, I wish you a happy journey; and that you may believe that I am, most sincerely,

D' Sir,

Your affectionate Cousin,

and most obedient faithfull Serv',

WILL. FORBES.

No. CCCLI.

From Sir Andrew Mitchel to the Revd Mr Murdock.

Richmond, in Surry, Saturday, 27 August. My Dear P. OUR dear friend Thomson died this morning about four o'Clock, after a very short illness. His distemper appeared first in the shape of a tertian; but soon ended in a continued fever. I am here to see the last duties fairly paid. I am almost sunk w this last stroke.

No. CCCLII.

Your's, affect,

A. M.

D' Armstrong to the Revd M' Murdock.

London, Aug 30, 1748. Dear Peter, YOU must have seen a piece of News, by this time, that could not fail to surprise and shock you. Poor Thomson died last Saturday morning of a fever, which at first appeared to be an intermittent; but in a short time degenerated from a fever, which I hoped would do him a great piece of service, by scouring his habit, into the low nervous malignant one which soon proved fatal to him, as it has to many. This blow makes a hideous gap; and the loss of such an agreeable Friend turns some of the sweetest scenes in England into a something waste and desolate; at least for the time: it will be so for a long time with me; for I question whether I shall ever be.. able to see Richmond again without sorrow & mortification. I am obliged to you, my dear Friend, and my Brother too gives you many thanks, for the hint in your last; but he is not yet so sick of London as I am.

I had a Letter not long ago from my Brother at Ruthwell, who desired his Com-pliments to you and John Lindsay. I dined in Company with 'M' Sargent to-day: hetold me, you had favour'd him lately with a Letter. Melvil and all other Friends are well; and whenever the toast goes round, John and Peter are amongst the first. I waited on Ms Millar and Miss Peggy this morning, but did not see Millar himself.

They

They arrived last night, and bestow great encomiums both upon the Country and people where they have been. George offers you his best compliments. I beg you will write to me soon, and let me know whether you are not to be in town soon. Farewell, my dear Peter; and may you live long and happy, is the selfish wish of

Your affectionate

JOHN ARMSTRONG.

No. CCCLIII.

The Rev. Mr Murdock to Mr John Forbes.

My Dearest J. Naiton, 2 Sept. 1748. YOU will have had the most unwelcome news of the death of our dear friend. I received it only this morning; and must own that nothing in life has ever more shocked and afflicted me: it makes such a gap, as the D' in his Letter to me calls it, in the circle of our acquaintance, as nothing can repair; yet we must bear this and every thing else in life, till we ourselves are released. My first concern, dear F. after I was able to recollect myself from the shock, was the pain and misery it must give your affectionate heart, and which nothing but time can alleviate. Yet remember, dearest J. there remain a few still, that love you as he did; and all we have to do is, to unite closer, and cherish his memory, and each other, till we are called where he is gone. I beg to have if it were but two lines, immediately on receipt of this; and altho' your friends in Town will have wrote you particularly on this melancholy occasion, I have thought fit to enclose the two Letters I received, which you will keep till we meet, which I hope may be in two or three months. I beg my kind remembrance to the D' . & J. Steel, and ever am, Dearest F. Your

P.M.

No. CCCLIV.

D' Armstrong to M' John Forbes, of Culloden.

My Dear John, London, Sep. 3a, 1748. GOD grant you the continuance of your health; and may you prosper in every thing while you live! It comforts me not a little, that, besides your natural right to outlive me, there are other circumstances in your favour; for, of all mortifications, the loss of a dear friend with whom one has been often happy, is to me the most insupportable. The loss of such an agreeable friend as poor Thomson is so much the more shocking, that it was unexpected by every body. He died of a malignant ner vous fever, that came upon the back of a tertian; and I had no notice of his being in any danger till I saw it in the most formidable shapes. It is certain, nature was oppressed in him with a great load of materials for a disease, not to be easily thrown off by a constitution so much worn as his was; and if he had struggled thro' that Fever, there are many reasons to believe, that it must almost unavoidably have been followed by some lingering disease, much worse than a speedy death: this is the most comfortable light in which I can view this shocking loss. Besides, I think him greatly to be envied, to have got fairly rid of this rascally world, and to have left it so universally regretted. We are to be pitied that are left behind; and if it was not for a very few friends whom I have still remaining, and who I have reason to hope will live as long as I, life would soon become too tedious and melancholy to be supported.

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ported. I have often been tempted to wish, that nature had made me a little more callous; but then we should lose sensations too that give perhaps the most exquisite pleasures: there is even a luxury in melancholy; and I do not know, whether it is not best to indulge it, at first, and give it a full vent, that it may exhaust itself, and leave the mind restored to its natural serenity, after those heavy clouds have fallen.

I have the pleasure to tell you, that all other friends are well; Mitchell, Millar, Melvil, Sargent, are all well. I had a short letter to-day from poor Peter, who is quite inconsolable. I beg, my dear Forbes, you will write to me soon, and let me know how soon we may hope to see you here. George offers you his best compliments; and I am always,

My dearest Friend,

Your most affectionate

JOHN ARMSTRONG.

No. CCCLV.

The Rev M' Murdock to M' John Forbes of Culloden.

My dearest Forbes, Ipswich, 8th Sept' 1748. ALTHOUGH I wrote you but two posts ago, I cannot let pass any opportunity of conversing with you; now, that I know you to be oppressed with the deepest melancholy, and in need of all the consolation your friends can lend. But, alas! what can I say? who myself as much stand in need of a comforter. We have lost, my dear F., our old, tryed, amiable, open, and honest-hearted Thomson, whom we never parted from but unwillingly; and never met, but with fresh transport; whom we found ever the same delightful Companion, the same faithful depository of our inmost thoughts, and the same sensible sympathising adviser. To pretend to be stoical on such a loss, would be an impertinent belying our characters; our tears must flow, and time alone can dry them. Yet we ought not entirely to abandon ourselves, nor overlook such considerations as may be useful on this occasion, and which ought indeed to have a very great weight with us; such as the happiness which our dear friend now enjoys; to doubt of it, of a Soul like his, would, I think, be little less than arraigning the divine goodness. We may likewise rest persuaded, that this so early period of his life (alas! too early for us) was yet for him the very fittest and best. Infinite wisdom does nothing in vain; and, without prying too curiously into its designs, it is easy to imagine a variety of events that might have rendered his life uncomfortable. Now he is risen from the banquet of life, not cloyed nor disgusted; his fame unsullied, his spirit unbroke; without tasting the distress and misery of old age: and perhaps it were too selfish, as well as impious in us, to murmur at what Heaven has undoubtedly ordered for his good. Think likewise on his own behaviour on the like occasions. He lost Charles Talbot, as we have him; and tho' he retained to his latest hour a most devout veneration of that excellent person, yet he did not consume himself in unavailing grief, He remembered, and commemorated him, in that pious and affectionate manner, that we shall ever remember them both. At the same time he acquiesced in the sovereign will of Providence; and bore his loss (the greatest, in all respects, that could possibly befall to him) with a manly fortitude. Think likewise, that if any thing earthly could disturb the happiness of our departed friend, it would be to see an unbecoming

excess of grief in those whom he loved. I think I hear him kindly chide us, and point to a passage in his Seasons*, that admirably suits our case.

Besides all this, my dearest F. you know you always stricktly enjoyn me to take care of my health: I am doing so at present; struggling hard against every thing that would sink me, in the dear hopes of being yet happy in your embraces; but remember, dear F. the tye is reciprocal; you must take care of yourself for my sake. You must call in the assistance of Company, business, and visits. And tell J. Steel, as he loves me, to see to this. I have time to say nothing more on this subject, which it were easy to enlarge on; but your own thoughts will supply the rest. God Almighty bless and preserve you. Let us ever cherish the Memory of our dear friend; profit by the inimitable lessons he has left us; and love one another with that affection which united the little Circle of his bosom friends, and with which I shall to my death subscribe myself,

Dearest F. Yrs.

P.M.

Dear Sir,

No. CCCLVI.

M' Millar to M' John Forbes of Culloden.

London, 10 Sept. 1748.

I THANK God, we all arrived safe here, after a most agreeable journey, on y* 29th of Aug. But ever since I have never been able either to act or think; for yt very evening our dear friend Thomson was buried. How it's dampt all my joy, you, who knew him well, and how I loved him, can best feel. I realy was not able to write you; and if y inclosed had not come last night, I question if I sha now. Mr. Mitchell spent the evening with me; we remembered you kindly, and all surviving friends. Poor M' Lyttelton is in great grief, as indeed are all his friends; and even those y

* The Passage alluded to by Mr Murdock, very probably, is this, the conclusion of Thomson's Winter: "'Tis come, the glorious morn, the second birth "Of heaven, and earth! awakening Nature hears "The new-creating word, and starts to life, "In every heightened form, from pain and death "For ever free. The great eternal scheme,

Involving all, and in a perfect whole
"Uniting, as the prospect wider spreads,
"To reason's eye refin'd clears up apace.
"Ye vainly wise! ye blind presumptuous! now,
"Confounded in the dust, adore that Power
"And Wisdom oft arraign'd: see now the cause,
"Why unassuming worth in secret liv'd,

"And dy'd neglected: why the good Man's share

"In life was gall and bitterness of soul:

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Why the lone widow and her orphans pin'd

"In starving solitude; while luxury,

"In palaces, lay straining her low thought

"To form unreal wants: why heaven-born truth,
"And moderation fair, wore the red marks
"Of superstition's scourge: why licens'd pain,
"That cruel spoiler, that embosom'd for,
"Imbittered all our bliss. Ye good distress'd!
"Ye noble few! who here unbending stand
"Beneath life's pressure, yet bear up a while,
"And what your bounded view, which only faw
"A little part, deem'd Evil is no more:
"The storms of Wintry Time will quickly pass,
"And one unbounded Spring encircle all."

did not know him; but I can add nothing to ye inclosed, and therefore shall leave that melancholly subject to us, tho' to him full of joy; on wch Acctt we ought to submit. M" Millar and Miss Johnston not only like but admire Scotland: the Country was all in its beauty, and the people all vied w' one another to make us happy; and indeed we were compleatly so; so much y' we are quite in love wt it, and think we shall be soon there again. We are extreamly oblidged to you for y' kind entertainment at Beltonford. Honest Mr. Baxter dined with us there; but was sent for, so y' he could not spend ye evening. We remembered you wth great affection. M" Millar and her sister, With my little boy, join wth me in remembering you w' great affection; and I ever am, Dear Sir,

Y' most affectionate hum. Servtt,
AND" MILLAR.

Note. How well all the Letters regarding Thomson show the truth of Johnson's remark in his Life, that he was much beloved by his intimate friends!

No. CCCLVII.

From the Rev. M' Murdock to Mr John Forbes.

My Dearest F. [probably Sept. 1748.] I RECEIVED yours long expected; and would have answered it last Week (when I was in Town), but for the hurry I was in the few days I staid there; and because an Affair, which was then under Consideration, has been just now settled. It is this: when my pupil was designed to go abroad, as he will in a fortnight, enquiry was made concerning a proper place for him, and a proper person to go along with him; and great difficulties occurred as to both. At last, to relieve the worthy father from this embarras, I have consented to conduct him to Geneva, and see him fairly entered upon. his studies and exercises; after which I am to leave him in the best hands I can find. We are to set out in a fortnight, the direct Road by Calais, &c. and it may take me near three months ere I can be back at London, where I shall then hope to meet you, and shall write you often while I am absent. This is a piece of service to my worthy patron which I could not shun, and all my friends approve of it; they are all affectionately mindful of you, and in good hopes of success, with patience and time. I shall write you once more before I go. The Admiral drinks your health twice a Day; and, with my love to J. Steel & D.F. I ever am,

Dearest J.
Your

P. M.

Mess" Lyttelton & Mitchell are acting a most excellent part in regard to our poor deceased friend's affairs.

No. CCCLVIII.

The Revd M' Murdock to Mr John Forbes.

16 May 1754.

My Dearest F. I HAVE received yours of the 20th April, in which you complain that I owe you two Letters; but you will have received one of mine since; and I need not repeat the excuse I then made. You will have heard, perhaps more particularly than I, the turn of M.'st affairs. He wrote me nothing himself (being always in hurry and uncertainty,

* Thomson the Poet, who died Aug. 27, 1748, leaving the Gentlemen here named his Executors. + Probably Sir Andrew Mitchell.

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