most popular poem among them, he printed a greater num ber of that part of the impression to be sold as a separate volume. The preceding remarks therefore apply equally to the "Works" and to the "Seasons."

The first edition of the Works" was that of 1730, published by subscription, in one quarto volume. It contained the "Seasons," and the "Poem to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton;" and to it are usually subjoined four of his minor pieces, with a separate paging, in the form of an appendix. In the year 1736 a very handsome volume was printed as the second of his "Works," comprising "Sophonisba," "Britannia," and "Liberty." This was numbered as the second volume on the title, and sold as a companion to that of 1730.

The next was that of 1738, in 2 vols. 8vo., " with alterations and additions." It comprised "Agamemnon," in addition to the contents of the two quarto volumes.

The third, in 1744, was a beautiful and correct edition, in 2 vols. 8vo., and comprehended all Thomson's poems published previously to that date. This I believe to be the last edition printed under the author's supervision; for I have never seen a fourth edition, of the year 1746.

After the poet's death, his noble friend Lord Lyttelton collected all his Poetical Works, and published them in 1750 in 4 vols. 12mo.; which contained all those poems that afterwards appeared in Murdoch's edition of 1762. A copy of it, on fine paper, has been long in my possession: the typographical execution is very respectable.

The high opinion which the noble editor entertained of his own labours may be gathered from an extract of a letter which he addressed to Dr. Doddridge, March 22d, 1750:"You will find this edition much preferable to any of the former, though not entirely free from false prints. Great corrections have been made in the diction; and many redundancies have been cut off, which hurt the spirit, and weakened the force, of the more sublime and nervous parts. So that, upon the whole, I am persuaded you will think Mr. Thomson a much better poet, if you take the trouble to read over his Works' in their present form, than you ever thought him before. Nor will such an amusement misspend your time; for a divine spirit of piety, virtue, and goodness breathes through them all." I have already animadverted on his Lordship's treatment of the "Seasons," in his un

were entertained concerning that which appeared in 1762, and the onerous duties which consequently devolved on Murdoch. His unassuming title is, "The Works of James Thomson, with his last Corrections and Improvements." Under the peculiar circumstances which have now been detailed, the responsible task which the new editor undertook was well fulfilled; and, to this day, no whisper has been heard of any undue influence having been employed by him either for or against the admission of a single phrase or epithet. It was published by subscription in two noble quarto volumes, and dedicated to his Majesty King George the Third, who headed the List of the Encouragers" with a royal gift of "a hundred pounds." There were at least two editions of it in 12mo., before the appearance, in 1768, of a new one in two vols. 4to., with a few emendations in the Life. The public evinced their confidence in Murdoch as an editor, by the rapid sale of the collected "Works" and of the "Seasons;" and all subsequent editors have had recourse to his quarto volumes, as containing the standard text of the author.

V.-ALTERATIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE 66 SEASONS" " BY THOMSON AND POPE.

As early as the year 1816, the Rev. John Mitford, in his Life of Gray, announced to the world the interesting circumstance, that he had an interleaved copy of the "Seasons," containing numerous emendations, of which he gave a few specimens. In a more ample communication to the Gentleman's Magazine" in 1841, he informs us that for one shilling and six-pence he purchased, what he "would not exchange for the great ruby in the royal crown, the edition of the Seasons' of 1738, 8vo. interleaved, filled with Thomson's alterations in his own hand in every page, and with numerous emendations and alterations by Pope, in his small and beautiful writing." From this gentleman's communication I proceed to borrow a few instances of the alterations made in the "Seasons."

1. BY THOMSON.

IN "Spring," the paragraph commencing at verse 356 of the edition of 1738, reads thus :