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the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

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Listings for Author:  

Thom

 

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Francis Lathom : Midnight Bell, a German Story, Founded on Incidents in Real Life

'My father is now reading the Midnight Bell, which he has got from the library, and mother sitting by the fire.'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: George Austen      Print: Book

  

Benjamin Thompson : Philosophical Papers: being a collection of memoir

I have been reading lately "Maunders Geography" and working a little at "Thompson's Natural Philosophy["]

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Albert Battiscombe      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : The Seasons

'At age thirteen John Clare was shown The Seasons by a Methodist weaver and though he had no real experience of poetry, he was immediately enthralled by Thomson's evocation of spring'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: John Clare      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : 

'Shakespeare incited his appetite for poetry: Cowper, Pope, Dryden, Goldsmith, Thomson, Byron. Not only were they more interesting than the fifty volumes of Wesley's Christian Library: eventually Barker realised that "the reason why I could not understand them was, that there was nothing to be understood - that the books were made up of words, and commonplace errors and mystical and nonsensical expressions, and that there was no light or truth in them". When his superintendent searched his lodgings and found Shakespeare and Byron there, Barker was hauled before a disciplinary committee'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Joseph Barker      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : The Seasons

'By age fourteen Durham collier Jack Lawson would find... emancipation at the Boldon Miners' Institute... "And didn't I follow the literary trail, once I found it. Like a Fenimore Cooper Indian I was tireless and silent once I started. Scott; Charles Reade, George Eliot; the Brontes; later on Hardy; Hugo; Dumas and scores of others. Then came Shakespeare; the Bible; Milton and the line of poets generally. I was hardly sixteen when I picked up James Thomson's Seasons, in Stead's 'Penny Poets'... I wept for the shepherd who died in the snow".'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Jack Lawson      Print: Book

  

J. Thomson : unknown

Byron thanks J. Thomson (unidentified) for volume of poems, 27 September 1813: 'I have derived considerable pleasure from ye. perusal of parts of the book - to the whole I have not yet had time to do justice by more than a slight inspection.'

Unknown
Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: George Gordon, Lord Byron      

  

Margaret de Thomas : epitaph to Edmund Ludlow

Byron to Augusta Leigh, 17 September 1816 ("Alpine Journal"), on General Ludlow's monument at Vevey: 'black marble -- long inscription -- Latin -- but simple -- particularly the latter part -- in which his wife (Margaret de Thomas) records her long -- her tried -- and unshaken affection ...'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: George Gordon Lord Byron      Manuscript: tombstone epitaph

  

Thompson : book of prescriptions

Byron to John Murray, 9 October 1822, on his recent illness (painfully and ineffectually treated by a local doctor): 'At last I seized Thompson's book of prescriptions -- (a donation of yours) and physicked myself with the first dose I found in it ...'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: George Gordon Lord Byron      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : The Seasons

'[J.M. Dent's] reading was marked by the autodidact's characteristic enthusiasm and spottiness. He knew Pilgrim's Progress, Milton, Cowper, Thomson's Seasons and Young's Night Thoughts; but...did not read Shakespeare seriously until he was nearly thirty'.

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Joseph Malaby Dent      Print: Book

  

?James Thomson : unknown

Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere Journal, Sunday 15 November 1801: 'We sate by the fire and read Chaucer (Thomson, Mary read) and Bishop Hall.'

Unknown
Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Hutchinson      

  

Anthony Todd Thomson : A Conspectus of the pharmacopeias of the London [e

'Dr Scudamore, recommended and has just sent me to look at Thomsons Conspectus of the Pharmacopeias, a nice little 42mo. Price 5/-, 5th edition.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Lister      Print: Book

  

Anthony Todd Thomson : A conspectus of the pharmacopeias of the London

Dr Scudamore, recommended and has just sent me to look at Thomsons Conspectus of the Pharmacopeias, a nice little 42 mo. Price 5/-, 5th edition

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Lister      Print: Book

  

Alice Thompson : unknown poems

How the young Alice Meynell gained her family's support for her writing: ' ... [in c. 1867 Alice Thompson] had shown ... [her poems] to an American friend of the family, who had read them to Mr Thompson [her father] ...'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Thomas Thompson      Manuscript: Unknown

  

Francis Thompson : 

'While his widowed mother... worked a market stall, Ralph Finn scrambled up the scholarship ladder to Oxford University. He credited his success largely to his English master at Davenant Foundation School: "When I was an East End boy searching for beauty, hardly knowing what I was searching for, fighting against all sorts of bad beginnings and unrewarding examples, he more than anyone taught me to love our tremndous heritage of English language and literature". And Finnn never doubted that it was HIS heritage: "My friends and companions Tennyson, Browning, Keats, Shakespeare, Francis Thompson, Donne, Housman, the Rosettis. All as alive to me as thought they had been members of my family". After all, as he was surprised and pleased to discover, F.T. Palgrave (whose Golden Treasury he knew thoroughly) was part-Jewish'.

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Ralph Finn      Print: Book

  

Francis Thompson : The Hound of Heaven

"Enid Starkie claimed that reading Francis Thompson's 'The Hound of Heaven' when she was ten made her feel as though she had been taken hold of and mastered, and determined that she should be a nun when she grew up."

Century:      Reader/Listener/Group: Enid Starkie      Print: Unknown

  

David Thompson : History of the Late War Between Great Britain and

'I have been reading Thompson's "History of the Late War in Britain"; Decrees Blockades.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: William Richard Grahame      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : Edward and Elinora

[opinion of Thomson's Edward and Elinora, entered in diary]: 'A most affecting tale, pleasingly tender - fraught with virtuous sentiments.'

Unknown
Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Anna Larpent      

  

James Thomson : Seasons, The

[Marginalia]: a few pencil marginal marks (in form of bracketed lines of text eg p 79 has lines 203-7 bracketed), plus some ms notes in ink on binding page. The ink notes read 'Envy-Love 78'; 'Hope - Grief 78'; 'The Deluge 79'; 'Effects of changing weather 80'.

Century: 1700-1799 / 1800-1849 / 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group:      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : Seasons, The

[Maud Montgomery] 'wrote her first poem after reading "Seasons", a book of poems by James Thomson, written in blank verse. Maud was so enraptured by them that she had to sit down at once to write one of her own.'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Lucy Maud Montgomery      Print: Book

  

Robert Thomas : The modern practice of physic, exhibiting the characters, causes, symptoms, prognostic, morbid appearances, and improved method of treating, the diseases of all climates

[Marginalia]: pencil annotations on last binding page are in Latin and appear to be brief notes relating to 4 classes of disorders.

Century:      Reader/Listener/Group:      Print: Book

  

Ernest Seton Thompson : Trail of the Sandhill Stag, The

[alone in the sick bay] 'Read "Kidnapped". Not up to much... Dr came and said I couldn't go down [into lessons] until Monday. Damn. Felt miserable. Read "Trail of the Sandhill Stag" and tidied out the book cupboard.'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Hilary Spalding      Print: Book

  

Dora Olive Thompson : That Girl Ginger

[List of books read in 1943, in diary for 1943]: 'The Farthing Spinster; Guy Mannering; Whereas I was Blind; And So to Bath; The Story of San Michele; Attack Alarm; The Murders in Praed Street; Lover's Meeting; The Secret Battle; Witch Wood; MD - Doctor of Murder; Murder at the Keyhole; That Girl Ginger; Ten Minute Alibi; Diary of a District Officer; Tarzan the Untamed; Peter Abelard; Pip; Pied Piper; A Man Lay Dead; Random Harvest; Madame Curie; Stalky and Co; Bellarion; Down the Garden Path; The Three Musketeers vol 1; The House in Cornwall; A Tall Ship; The Two Saplings; Farewell Victoria; Quinneys; House of Terror; Penguin Parade 4; Guy Mannering[presumably a re-reading]; The Man Born to be King; Casterton Papers; Old Saint Paul's; The Moon is Down; 1066 and all That; My Brother Jonathon; Gulliver's Travels; Ensign Knightley; Men Against Death; Fame is the Spur; Gone with the Wind; Mesmer; First Nights; The Hound of the Baskervilles; Little Gidding; Beau Geste; Beau Sabreur; The Amazing Theatre; The Pleasure of Your Company; Dandelion Days; Humour and Fantasy; Juno and the Paycock; The Beautiful Years; Teach Yourself to Think; Salar the Salmon; The Cathedral; The Mysterious Mr I; The Picts and the Martyrs; The Dream of Fair Women; The Star-born; Three Short Stories; A Thatched Roof; The Surgeon's Log; The Healing Knife; Nine Ghosts; While Rome Burns; The Star Spangled Manner; The Day Must Dawn; The Tower of London; Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde; The Old Man's Birthday; A little Princess; Ego 5; The Lighter Side of School Life; Kidnapped; The Trail of the Sandhill Stag; Ballet Lover's Notebook; Lorna Doone; The Plays of JM Barrie; Jane Eyre; I'll Leave it to You; Henry Fifth; Longer Poems; Antony and Cleopatra; The Man in Grey; The House in Dormer Forest; The Writing of English; Miss Mapp; The Song of Bernadette; Happy and Glorious; Sixty Poems; The Birth of Romance; The Comedy of Life; Some Little Tales; Dream Days; Royal Flush.'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Hilary Spalding      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : The Seasons

'I had been made the more anxious to get some spare time, because several books which I had not before seen now fell in my way. This was through the courtesy of my young master whose kindly feelings I have already noticed. He now gave me free access to his little library, in which were Enfield's "Speaker", Goldsmith's "Geography", an abridged "History of Rome", a "History of England", Thomson's "Seasons", "The Citizen of the World", "The Vicar of Wakefield", and some other books the titles of which I do not now remember. These books furnished me with a large amount of amusing and instructive reading.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Thomas Carter      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : Seasons, The

'I pursued each of them with much interest, but especially the "Seasons". I found this to be just the book I had wanted. It commended itself to my warmest approbation, immediately on my perceiving its character and design...'[continues to describe impact of the book at length]

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Thomas Carter      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : Liberty, a Poem

'It was about this time that I first read that very beautiful poem, "The Pleasures of Hope". I also repersued a large portion of Cowper's Poems; and, in spite of the unfavourable accounts of it given by critics, resolved upon reading Thomson's "Liberty". This resolution I carried into effect, to my very considerable amusement, if not instruction. As to its poetical merits, I did not venture to sit in judgement upon them.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Thomas Carter      Print: Book

  

Francis Thompson : Hound of Heaven, The

[List of favourite things of 1945]: 'My favourite Books: The Keys of the Kingdom. The Good Companions Authors: Daphne du Maurier Poems: Squinency Wort. The Hound of Heaven Writers: Shaw. Galsworthy'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Hilary Spalding      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : The Seasons

'Thomas Carter [a nineteenth-century Colchester and London tailor] wrote of "The Seasons" that, "With the exception of the Bible, I know not that I ever read any other book so attentively and regularly. Its beautiful descriptions of nature were delightful to my imagination, while its fine moral reflections [...] were, as I believe, greatly instrumental in promoting my best interests"'.

Century: 1800-1849 / 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Thomas Carter      Print: Book

  

W Thomson : [essay in Revue des Cours]

'In the evening read aloud Bright's 4th speech on India, and a story in Italian. In the spectator some interesting facts about loss of memory, and "double life". In the Revue des Cours a lecture by Sir W. Thomson of Edinburgh on the retardation of the earth's motion round its axis'.

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: George Eliot [pseud.]      Print: Serial / periodical

  

Thomson : The Seasons [probably]

'Mary, William and Emma commenced their readings of Thomson.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary, William and Emma Cole     Print: Book

  

Thom : account of "Oxford Movement"

Harriet Martineau, Journal, 4 January 1840: 'Read Mr. Thom's account of the Oxford theology, drawn from their own writings: good [...] Have been reading Wilberforce: grows twaddling in his old age, through want of cultivation of mind. Very noble, however, -- his keeping back Brougham's pledge about the Queen, and silently suffering universal censure.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Harriet Martineau      Print: Unknown

  

Thomas Thomson : A System of Chemistry

[Marginalia]

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Samuel Taylor Coleridge      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : The Seasons

'Began to read Thomson's "Seasons".'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Joseph Hunter      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : The Castle of Otranto OR To Fortune

'To Fortune' 'I care not fortune what you deny me, ... J. Thompson'

Unknown
Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Beanlands group     

  

James Thomson : The Seasons (Winter)

'Lookd into Thompsons Winter there is a freshness about it I think superior to the others [...] the following minute descriptions are great favourites of mine [...] [he misquotes ll 104-5, 130-31]'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: John Clare      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : [a tragedy]

'I read today an English Tragedy by Thomson that pleased me much and made me like that author's works'.

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth (Betsey) Wynne      Print: Unknown

  

William Thomson : The New Testament. Translated from the Greek, 3 vols

'I received about a month ago the Revd Willm Thomson of Ochiltree's new translation of the Testament. Of course I am no judge of his 'new renderings'; but the stile both of writing & thinking displayed in those parts which I have looked at, is dull & sluggish as the clay itself. He brags of having altered the expressions of the old translation - every body I suppose will readily admit this - and be ready to wish him joy of all the honour than [that] can arise from such alterations...'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Thomas Carlyle      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : Castle of Indolence, The

[Mary Shelley's Reading List for 1815. Only those titles not mentioned in journal entries are given separate database entries. xs denote books also read by Percy Shelley] 'Posthumous Works. 3. Sorrows of Werter Don Roderick - by Southey Gibbons Decline & fall. x Paradise Regained x Gibbons Life and Letters - 1st edition 2 x Lara New Arabian Nights 3 Corinna Fall of the Jesuits Rinaldo Rinaldini Fo[n]tenelle's Plurality of the Worlds Hermsprong Le diable boiteux Man as he is. Rokeby. Ovid's Meamo[r]phoses in Latin x Wordsworth's Poems x Spenser's Fairy Queen x Life of the Philipps x Fox's History of James II The Reflector Wieland. Fleetwood Don Carlos x Peter Wilkins Rousseau's Confessions. x Espriella's Letters from England Lenora - a poem Emile x Milton's Paradise Lost X Life of Lady Hamilton De l'Alemagne - by Made de Stael 3 vols. of Barruel x Caliph Vathek Nouvelle Heloise x Kotzebue's account of his banishment to Siberia. Waverly Clarissa Harlowe Robertson's Hist. of america x Virgil xTale of Tub. x Milton's speech on Unlicensed printing x Curse of Kehama x Madoc La Bible Expliquee Lives of Abelard and Heloise The New Testament Coleridge's Poems. 1st vol. Syteme de la Nature x Castle of Indolence Chattertons Poems. x Paradise Regained Don Carlos. x Lycidas. x St Leon Shakespeare's Play. Part of which Shelley reads aloud Burkes account of civil society x Excursion Pope's Homer's Illiad x Sallust Micromegas x Life of Chauser Canterbury Tales Peruvian letters. Voyages round the World Pluarch's lives. x 2 vols of Gibbon Ormond Hugh Trevor x Labaume's Hist. of the Russian War Lewis's tales Castle of Udolpho Guy Mannering Charles XII by Voltaire Tales of the East'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Godwin      

  

James Thomson : Castle of Indolence, The

[Mary Shelley's Reading List for 1815. Only those titles not mentioned in journal entries are given separate database entries. xs denote books also read by Percy Shelley - only those not mentioned in journal entries are indicated separately in the database] 'Posthumous Works. 3. Sorrows of Werter Don Roderick - by Southey Gibbons Decline & fall. x Paradise Regained x Gibbons Life and Letters - 1st edition 2 x Lara New Arabian Nights 3 Corinna Fall of the Jesuits Rinaldo Rinaldini Fo[n]tenelle's Plurality of the Worlds Hermsprong Le diable boiteux Man as he is. Rokeby. Ovid's Metamo[r]phoses in Latin x Wordsworth's Poems x Spenser's Fairy Queen x Life of the Philipps x Fox's History of James II The Reflector Wieland. Fleetwood Don Carlos x Peter Wilkins Rousseau's Confessions. x Espriella's Letters from England Lenora - a poem Emile x Milton's Paradise Lost X Life of Lady Hamilton De l'Alemagne - by Made de Stael 3 vols. of Barruel x Caliph Vathek Nouvelle Heloise x Kotzebue's account of his banishment to Siberia. Waverly Clarissa Harlowe Robertson's Hist. of america x Virgil xTale of Tub. x Milton's speech on Unlicensed printing x Curse of Kehama x Madoc La Bible Expliquee Lives of Abelard and Heloise The New Testament Coleridge's Poems. 1st vol. Syteme de la Nature x Castle of Indolence Chattertons Poems. x Paradise Regained Don Carlos. x Lycidas. x St Leon Shakespeare's Play. Part of which Shelley reads aloud Burkes account of civil society x Excursion Pope's Homer's Illiad x Sallust Micromegas x Life of Chauser Canterbury Tales Peruvian letters. Voyages round the World Pluarch's lives. x 2 vols of Gibbon Ormond Hugh Trevor x Labaume's Hist. of the Russian War Lewis's tales Castle of Udolpho Guy Mannering Charles XII by Voltaire Tales of the East'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Percy Bysshe Shelley      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : The seasons

Reader makes 4 references to the work V.1 pp 61,64; V.2 pp 4, 251. Eg. p. 61 'The sun shone on our social repast, but when we set out, Eolus did not perform the task Thomson assigns him in the opening of spring'; p.64 'I am reformed, and amended, but cannot fatigue myself or you with the description of this day; you will find it in Thomson ?Deceitful, vain, and void, passes the day.?'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Grant [nee MacVicar]      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : The Seasons

Letter to Mrs Macintosh September 9 1797 'The cheerfulness of our work-people, and the soft serenity of the air, during these tepid gleams that Thomson speaks of so feelingly, have almost made us this autumn ?Taste the rural life in all its joy,? and elegance'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Grant [nee Macvicar]      Print: Book

  

Benjamin Thompson [trans.] : German Theatre

'I read Tacitus - 3 of Hume's essays VIII IX X - some of the German theatre - write - walk - Shelleys [sic] reads Political Justice & 8 Cantos of his poem.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Shelley      Print: Book

  

Benjamin Thompson (trans.) : German Theatre

'S. finishes reading his poem aloud. - read from the German theatre'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Shelley      Print: Book

  

D.V. Thomas : advertisement

'I can?t be more satisfactory [= about his travel plans]. I think I must be a relative of a man who advertises near here "[italics] D.V. Thomas [end italics], Purveyor of pure new milk?. Imagine anyone trusting to a man with so conditional a name for anything under heaven!'

Unknown
Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Louis Stevenson      

  

James Thomson : The Seasons

Sunday 14 October 1934: 'I cant write. When will my brain revive? in 10 days I think. And it can read admirably. I began [Thomson's] The Seasons last night; after Eddie [Sackville-West]'s ridiculous rhodomontade -- or so I judge it [...] a vast book called The Sun in Capricorn: a worthless book I think [...] No. I don't like him. Trash & tarnish; and this morbid silliness.'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Virginia Woolf      Print: Book

  

Francis Thompson : [poems]

'On my First Communion day, November 21st 1914, I felt nothing at the actual receiving of the sacrament but in reading Francis Thompson's poems that day (my mother had bought them for me not knowing what she was giving me) I found something terrible, sweet and transforming which really did make me draw breath and pant after it...'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Antonia White      Print: Book

  

Thomas Thomson : Annals of Philosophy

'Will you remember us kindly to Mr Dumont, and tell him that I have received his letter; and, that since I wrote to him, I have found No 1 and 2 of Thompson's "Annals of Philosophy" - the Report of the Committee of the H of commons on Transportation to Botany Bay (July 10 12)'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Maria Edgeworth      Print: Serial / periodical

  

James Thomson : [poems]

'On Thursday, July 28, we again supped in private at the Turk's Head coffee-house. Johnson. "Swift has a higher reputation than he deserves. His excellence is strong sense; for his humour, though very well, is not remarkably good. I doubt whether "The Tale of a Tub" be his; for he never owned it, and it is much above his usual manner." "Thomson, I think, had as much of the poet about him as most writers. Every thing appeared to him through the medium of his favourite pursuit. He could not have viewed those two candles burning but with a poetical eye."'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Samuel Johnson      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : [poetry]

'He allowed high praise to Thomson, as a poet; but when one of the company said he was also a very good man, our moralist contested this with very great warmth, accusing him of gross sensuality and licentiousness of manners. I was very much afraid that in writing Thomson's "Life", Dr. Johnson would have treated his private character with a stern severity, but I was agreeably disappointed; and I may claim a little merit in it, from my having been at pains to send him authentic accounts of the affectionate and generous conduct of that poet to his sisters, one of whom, the wife of Mr. Thomson, schoolmaster, of Lanark, I knew, and was presented by her with three of his letters, one of which Dr. Johnson has inserted in his "Life".'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Samuel Johnson      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : [letters to his sisters and accounts by them of his character]

'He allowed high praise to Thomson, as a poet; but when one of the company said he was also a very good man, our moralist contested this with very great warmth, accusing him of gross sensuality and licentiousness of manners. I was very much afraid that in writing Thomson's "Life", Dr. Johnson would have treated his private character with a stern severity, but I was agreeably disappointed; and I may claim a little merit in it, from my having been at pains to send him authentic accounts of the affectionate and generous conduct of that poet to his sisters, one of whom, the wife of Mr. Thomson, schoolmaster, of Lanark, I knew, and was presented by her with three of his letters, one of which Dr. Johnson has inserted in his "Life".'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Samuel Johnson      Manuscript: Letter

  

James Thomson : [letters to his sister and accounts by them of his character]

'He allowed high praise to Thomson, as a poet; but when one of the company said he was also a very good man, our moralist contested this with very great warmth, accusing him of gross sensuality and licentiousness of manners. I was very much afraid that in writing Thomson's "Life", Dr. Johnson would have treated his private character with a stern severity, but I was agreeably disappointed; and I may claim a little merit in it, from my having been at pains to send him authentic accounts of the affectionate and generous conduct of that poet to his sisters, one of whom, the wife of Mr. Thomson, schoolmaster, of Lanark, I knew, and was presented by her with three of his letters, one of which Dr. Johnson has inserted in his "Life".'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: James Boswell      Manuscript: Letter

  

James Thomson : [Poems]

'Dr. Johnson said, "Thomson had a true poetical genius, the power of viewing every thing in a poetical light. His fault is such a cloud of words sometimes, that the sense can hardly peep through. Shiels, who compiled Cibber's "Lives of the Poets", was one day sitting with me. I took down Thomson, and read aloud a large portion of him, and then asked,-Is not this fine? Shiels having expressed the highest admiration. Well, Sir, (said I,) I have omitted every other line".'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Samuel Johnson      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : Seasons, The - 'Spring'

'Goldsmith talks of cows shedding their Horns, & Thompson makes his Hens and Chicks to be Fed & defended by the fearless Cock. whereas the Cock hates the Chickens, & takes all their Meat from them. [Thrale continues to critique Goldsmith's knowledge of natural history] Pennant speaks most rationally about Natural History of any of our Countrymen, and among the Foreigners, Buffon makes amends to [italics] most [end italics] readers by his elegant Style & profound Ratiocination for his frequent Mistakes in the Facts.- Johnson in his Irene frequently mentions singing Birds though I believe the Birds about Constantinople are nearly mute: Thompson observes that in hot Climates the Birds scarce ever sing'

Century:      Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : Seasons, The - 'Summer'

'Goldsmith talks of cows shedding their Horns, & Thompson makes his Hens and Chicks to be Fed & defended by the fearless Cock. whereas the Cock hates the Chickens, & takes all their Meat from them. [Thrale continues to critique Goldsmith's knowledge of natural history] Pennant speaks most rationally about Natural History of any of our Countrymen, and among the Foreigners, Buffon makes amends to [italics] most [end italics] readers by his elegant Style & profound Ratiocination for his frequent Mistakes in the Facts.- Johnson in his Irene frequently mentions singing Birds though I believe the Birds about Constantinople are nearly mute: Thompson observes that in hot Climates the Birds scarce ever sing'

Century:      Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale      Print: Book

  

H. Thomas : As It Was

'It was an exhilarating coincidence that my re-reading of H.T.'s "As It Was" should follow just after I had made my diary entry on the "spiritual" type of women suggested by Mrs X.'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: William Soutar      Print: Book

  

James Thompson : The Castle of Indolence

Lady Harriet Cavendish to her grandmother, the Countess Dowager Spencer, 7 November 1808: 'I am glad that I mentioned the Castle of Indolence to you, as I am sure you will be pleased with it. There are descriptions of the Aeolian and British Harp, one of the Musick of Indolence and the other of Industry, and an address to Dreams, that I think beautiful poetry and 3 verses beginning "It was not by vile loitering in ease," that I beg you to admire. Lady Stafford pointed these last out to me, and, in this instance, I admire her taste and agree with her.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Lady Harriet Cavendish      Print: Book

  

James Thompson : The Castle of Indolence

Lady Harriet Cavendish to her grandmother, the Countess Dowager Spencer, 7 November 1808: 'I am glad that I mentioned the Castle of Indolence to you, as I am sure you will be pleased with it. There are descriptions of the Aeolian and British Harp, one of the Musick of Indolence and the other of Industry, and an address to Dreams, that I think beautiful poetry and 3 verses beginning "It was not by vile loitering in ease," that I beg you to admire. Lady Stafford pointed these last out to me, and, in this instance, I admire her taste and agree with her.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Lady Stafford      Print: Book

  

Edward Thomas : Light and Twilight

'Thanks for the little book ["Light and Twilight"] so full of good things. You know I have a prediliction for your prose with its quiet,flowing felicity of phrase and what I call "penetrative" power of expression.' Hence follow 11 lines of praise.

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Joseph Conrad      Print: Book

  

James Thomson : Ode: Tell me thou Soul of her I love

From the Commonplace book of Mrs Austen of Ensbury: Transcription of '"Tell me thou Soul of her I love" - Thomson', beginning 'Tell me thou Soul of her I love’.

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Century: 1800-1849 / 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Catherine Austen      

  

James Thomson : Tales of an Antiquary

Friday, 28 March 1828: 'Read Tales of an Antiquary, one of the chime of bells which I have some hand in setting a ringing. He really is entitled to the name of an Antiquary. But he has too much description in proportion to the action. There is a capital wardrope [sic] of properties but the performers do not act up to their character.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Walter Scott      Print: Book

  

Francis Thompson : Shelley

'A programme devoted to Shelley was arranged which included readings from Adonais, the Skylark & Francis Thompson's Essay on Shelley'.

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Members of XII Book Club     Print: Book

  

Thomas of Reading : [tale about murders in Reading]

'5. The Club now considered the subject for the evening - Berkshire - & the opening paper was by H.M. Wallis who touched upon the History of the County in his inimitable way from the Piltdown race to Archbishop Laud. Alfred & his battles. Reading & the 35 religious houses & the breweries are prominent features of the story & may be responsible for the saying Piety Spiders & Pride. 6. Rosamund Wallis read a gruesome story from Thomas of Reading about a couple of Reading inhabitants who had murdered 60 people by the simple device of a trapdoor floor to the spare bedroom & a cauldron of boiling water below. 7. 3 Berkshire folksongs were then given by Mrs Robson & E.E. Unwin. 8. S.A Reynolds read a Ballad entitled 'A Berkshire Lady', though speaking as a mere male I doubt whether her conduct would be considered quite lady-like today'.

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Rosamund Wallis      Print: Book

  

Dorothy Thompson : [article in the "Sunday Chronicle"]

'My first real understanding of the "terrific sensation" came from an article published in the "Sunday Chronicle" on March 12th by the American columnist, Dorothy Thompson. [Brittain then proceeds to quote from the article.]'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Vera Brittain      Print: Newspaper

  

Francis Thompson : ?"At Lords"

'Meeting held at Fairlight: 9 Denmark Rd. 18th April 1932.

Francis Pollard in the Chair.

1. Minutes of last read and approved.

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4. F. E. Pollard then spoke on the spirit of Cricket, telling some good anecdotes to illustrate its fun and its art, both for those who play & those who frequently see it.[...]

5. Readings were then given by Victor Alexander from Nyren, by Howard Smith from Francis Thompson, & by R. H. Robson from de Delincourt's "The Cricket Match".'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Howard Smith      Print: Book

 

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