gain a tutorship in London, his companion also started for the
metropolis in search of money and fame. It was a desperate venture, and
the young poet's difficulties were increased by the loss of his letters
of introduction. Scotchmen however have always countrymen willing to
help them, and Thomson whose pedigree on the mother's side connected him
with the famous house of Home, found temporary employment as tutor to a
child of Lord Binning who belonged by marriage to the same family.
Afterwards he resided with Millan, a bookseller at Charing Cross, and
then having finished _Winter_ (1726), on which he had been at work for
some time, he sold it to the publisher for three guineas. Before long
it was read and warmly praised by Aaron Hill, then a man of mark in the
world of letters. Sir Spencer Compton, the Speaker, to whom the poem was
dedicated, gave the poet twenty guineas for the compliment; Rundle, the
Bishop of Derry, and several ladies of rank cheered him with their
praise, and Thomson's success was assured. It was the age of patrons,
and he practised without shame and without discrimination the art of
flattery. Each book of _The Seasons_ had a dedication, and the honour
was one for which some kind of payment was expected. _Summer_ appeared
in 1727 and _Spring_ in the year following. In 1729 the appearance of
_Britannia_ showed the popularity of the poet and of his theme, for
three editions were sold. It is a distinctly party poem, and contains an
attack upon Walpole--whom he had previously praised as the 'most
illustrious of patriots'--for submitting to indignities from Spain. The
British Lion roars loudly in it, but there is more of fustian in the
piece than of true patriotism. 'How dares,' the poet exclaims, 'the
proud Iberian rouse to wrath the masters of the main:'

'Who told him that the big incumbent war
Would not ere this have rolled his trembling ports
In smoky ruin? and his guilty stores,
Won by the ravage of a butchered world,
Yet unatoned, sunk in the swallowing deep,
Or led the glittering prize into the Thames?'

In February, 1729-30, Thomson's tragedy of _Sophonisba_, a subject
previously chosen by Marston (1606), and by Lee (1676), was acted at
Drury Lane. The play was dedicated to the queen, and on the opening
night the house was crowded, but the success of the piece was slight.
Thomson's genius was not dramatic, and while his characters declaim,
they do not act. His next play