Very seldom. We were so much together there was little opportunity or occasion for it.
You do not happen to have any reliques of his hand-writing?
I don’t think I have; but when I get my breath a little better I will look among my papers to try if I can find any.
The kind old gentleman was warmed with the subject, and even set forward to his escritoire in the pursuit, but returned only with a letter from the late Dr. Armstrong, which he flattered himself contained something relative to Thomson. In this he was mistaken. It was a rhapsody of thanks in return for being presented with a large bottle of spirits; but it was well worth an airing. This, said Mr. R., will show you the intimate terms I was upon with Johnny Armstrong, who wrote that beautiful poem, the “Art of Preserving the Health.” He was a very ingenious and excellent man.
Did you know Dr. Patrick Murdoch, who wrote Thomson’s Life?
Ay, very well, and esteemed him. Pattie, as I always called him, had a good heart.
Pope, as I have heard, used often to visit Thomson?
Yes, frequently. Pope has sometimes said, Thomson, I’ll walk to the end of your garden, and then set off to the bottom of Kew-foot-lane and back. Pope, sir, courted Thomson, and Thomson was always admitted to Pope whether he had company or not; but Pope had a jealousy of every eminent writer; he was a viper that gnawed the file.
Was Pope a great talker?
Pope, when he liked his company, was a very agreeable man. He was fond of adulation, and when he had any dislike was a most bitter satirist.