Excerpt from The Life of James ThomsonI could wish that the duty of writing this biography had been entrusted to one who had enjoyed the advan tage Of personal acquaintance with James Thomson. As, however, no such biographer was forthcoming, I have done my best to put together the scattered records already published, and to collect such further information as could still be obtained. It has been my object to avoid all fancy portraiture, and to give a clear and reliable narrative of the main facts of Thomson's life, allowing his letters as much as possible to tell their own tale, and quoting in many cases the actual words of those who have recorded their personal re miniscences.I gratefully acknowledge the cordial help I have received from a large number of Thomson's friends and correspondents. TO Mr. Bertram Dobell, in par ticular, I owe my best thanks for his untiring kindness and goodwill, and for the loan of numerous letters and manuscript poems. Mr. Percy Holyoake generously placed at my service his interesting collection of Thom son's papers, including the diaries kept between 1874 and 1881, without which this biography could hardly have been written. I am indebted to Mrs. John Thomson, Mr. J. W. Barrs, Mrs. Pelluet, Mr. W. M.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.