'd sigh filled up the heart felt pause;
grief spread o'er all the countenance; the tear started to the eye, the
muscles fell, and,

'The whiteness of his cheek
Was apter than his tongue to speak his tale.'

They all expressed the tender feelings of a manly heart, becoming a
Thomson's friend. His pause, his recovery were masterly; and he
delivered the whole with an emphasis and pathos, worthy the excellent
lines he spoke; worthy the great poet and good man, whose merits they
painted, and whose loss they deplored.

The epilogue too, which was spoken by Mrs. Woffington, with an exquisite
humour, greatly pleased. These circumstances, added to the consideration
of the author's being no more, procured this play a run of nine nights,
which without these assistances 'tis likely it could not have had; for,
without playing the critic, it is not a piece of equal merit to many
other of his works. It was his misfortune as a dramatist, that he never
knew when to have done; he makes every character speak while there is
any thing to be said; and during these long interviews, the action too
stands still, and the story languishes. His Tancred and Sigismunda may
be excepted from this general censure: But his characters are too little
distinguished; they seldom vary from one another in their manner of
speaking. In short, Thomson was born a descriptive poet; he only wrote
for the stage, from a motive too obvious to be mentioned, and too strong
to be refilled. He is indeed the eldest born of Spenser, and he has
often confessed that if he had any thing excellent in poetry, he owed it
to the inspiration he first received from reading the Fairy Queen, in
the very early part of his life.

In August 1748 the world was deprived of this great ornament of poetry
and genius, by a violent fever, which carried him off in the 48th year
of his age. Before his death he was provided for by Sir George
Littleton, in the profitable place of comptroller of America, which he
lived not long to enjoy. Mr. Thomson was extremely beloved by his
acquaintance. He was of an open generous disposition; and was sometimes
tempted to an excessive indulgence of the social pleasures: A failing
too frequently inseparable from men of genius. His exterior appearance
was not very engaging, but he grew more and more agreeable, as he
entered into conversation: He had a grateful heart, ready to acknowledge
every favour he received, and he never forgot his old benefactors,