THOMSON,
GEORGE.—Independently of the merited reputation he acquired for his
successful labours in Scottish music and song, he will go down to posterity
as the "friend and correspondent of Burns." In the very brief sketch which
he has given of his own life till 1838, written for "The Land of Burns," a
valuable and well-known publication, he states that he was born at Limekilns
in Fife, and, as he supposes, about 1759, at least he was so informed; for
at the time of writing, although touching on his eightieth year, he found
himself so hale and vigorous, that, as he playfully adds, he could scarcely
persuade himself that he was so old. His father was a teacher at Limekilns,
and afterwards in the town of Banff; and at this latter place George was
taught by his parent the elements of education, and afterwards sent to study
Latin and Greek at the grammar-school. From Banff his father, who had been
struggling for some time in vain for a moderate livelihood, removed to
Edinburgh, and here his son, now seventeen years old, soon obtained a
situation as clerk in the office of a writer to the signet. In this
situation he remained till 1780, when, through the recommendation of Mr.
John Home, author of the tragedy of Douglas, he was appointed junior clerk
to the honourable Board of Trustees, and soon after, on the death of the
principal clerk, he was promoted to that vacant office. Here he found
himself so comfortable in worldly circumstances, and so highly esteemed by
Mr. Robert Arbuthnot, the secretary of the board, and afterwards by Sir
William, his son and successor, that he had no desire to risk his present
happiness in search of more, and accordingly he continued in this situation
until the close of his long and well-spent life. On having thus established
himself in comfort, Mr. George Thomson performed what he calls the "wisest
act of his life," for at the age of twenty-five he married Miss Miller,
daughter of Lieutenant Miller, of the 50th regiment, a lady who made him the
happy father of two sons and four daughters.
The tastes of Thomson from an
early period were those that are best qualified to foster such a happy
contented spirit. He saw that there were other aims in life than that of
seeking adventures, and purer pleasures to be enjoyed than that of making
money. In boyhood, a love of the beautiful led his heart to the study of
music and painting, and these attractive pursuits he continued to cherish in
the society of their ablest professors. It was a most unwonted occupation,
as some can still remember, for a young lawyer’s clerk in the city of
Edinburgh, in the latter part of the 18th century; and in Mr. Thomson’s
case, no small amount of devoted enthusiasm must have been required to meet
the ridicule of his companions, or resist their invitations, that would have
drawn him from his path. But he persevered in his own way, and soon found
that the fine arts, like virtue itself, are their own reward. As one of
these is generally found sufficient for the final occupation of one man,
music obtained the preference, and his retrospections, in old age, of the
musical evenings of his early days among those who were of kindred spirit
with himself, in some measure serve to redeem even the Edinburgh of that
period from its notorious grossness. "Having studied the violin," he tells
us, "it was my custom, after the hours of business, to con over our Scottish
melodies, and to devour the choruses of Handel’s oratorios, in which, when
performed at St. Cecilia’s Hall, I generally took a part, along with a few
other gentlemen—Mr. Alexander Wight, one of the most eminent counsel at the
bar; Mr. Gilbert Innes, of Stow; Mr. John Russel, W.S.; Mr. John Hutton,
&c.—it being then not uncommon for grave amateurs to assist at the Cecilia
concerts, one of the most interesting and liberal musical institutions that
ever existed in Scotland, or, indeed, in any country. I had so much delight
in singing those matchless choruses, and in practising the violin quartettos
of Pleyel and Haydn, that it was with joy I hailed the hour when, like the
young amateur in the good old Scotch song, I could hie me hame to my Cremona,
and enjoy Haydn’s admirable fancies:--
‘I still was pleas’d, where’er I went;
and when I was alone
I screw’d my pegs, and pleas’d myself with John o’ Badonyon.’"
Although music was his
recreation, not his profession, George Thomson could not long content
himself with being merely a musical dilettante. Like Burns, he resolved to
do something for "puir auld Scotland’s sake," in the way that nature and
training had best qualified him. Might he not make a national collection of
our best melodies and songs, and obtain for them suitable accompaniments?
With this patriotic ambition he was inspired by the arrival of that
celebrated musico, Signor Tenducci, into Scotland—the first man
of his kind, be it observed, who had ever visited the country, and who
brought to Scottish ears a style of singing of which they previously could
have little or no conception. The enterprise which Mr. Thomson thus
contemplated was one of the most daring and self-denying description. There
was the toil of collecting, arranging, and improving to be undergone; there
was the expense of publishing such a costly work to be encountered. If it
succeeded, there was no hope of profit to be obtained from it, or, at least,
of profit adequate to the toil; and if it failed, he was certain to be
buried in the ruin of the downfall, amidst the jeers of those who would
wonder that a lawyer should have embarked in such an undertaking. But it was
now the great business of his life, and he was ready to stake life itself
upon the issue.
At the very commencement of
his labour, he was confronted by difficulties under which most persons would
have succumbed. "On examining with great attention," he says, "the various
collections on which I could by any means lay my hands, I found them all
more or less exceptionable; a sad mixture of good and evil, the pure and the
impure. The melodies in general were without any symphonies to introduce and
conclude them; and the accompaniments (for the piano only) meagre and
common-place; while the verses united with the melodies were, in a great
many instances, coarse and vulgar, the productions of a rude age, and such
as could not be tolerated or sung in good society." He first obtained the
melodies themselves, both in print and manuscript, and after comparing
copies, and hearing them sung by his fair friends, he selected the copy
which he found the most simple and beautiful. His next work was to obtain
accompaniments to these airs, and symphonies to introduce and conclude them;
and for this purpose he applied to Pleyel, at that time at the height of his
musical popularity. As the collection grew upon his hands, Thomson found
that more extensive aid than that of Pleyel was necessary; and accordingly,
after dividing the numerous airs which he thought worthy of preservation
into different portions, he transmitted them to Haydn, Beethoven, Weber,
Hummel, and other musicians, at that time the most distinguished in Europe,
to whom his commission was a welcome one—for they at once appreciated the
beauties of our national melodies, at that time little known beyond the
boundary of the Tweed, and composed for them such rich original
accompaniments, as have imparted to them all the superiority as well as
permanence of an established classical music. It was, indeed, a glorious
achievement that made such hits as the "Broom of the Cowdenknowes," "O’er
the muir amang the heather," or "Logan Water," become almost as much at home
on the banks of the Seine, the Rhine, or the Dneiper, as they had hitherto
been among their native streamlets. From the Grampians to the Himalayas,
every mountain was thenceforth to re-echo with the music of Scotland.
The poetry, which was the
last, was also the greatest of Thomson’s difficulties. It was needful that
such lays, now so beautiful and adorned, should be "married to immortal
verse;" but where was he to find the Cupid of such a Psyche? Some, indeed,
of the old songs were every way worthy of the music with which they were
embodied; but these were so few, that while of the Scottish muse it was too
justly said,
"High-kilted was she
As she gaed o’er the lea,"
our worthy countryman felt
that in such a trim she could not be allowed to go inland, to provoke the
scoff and merriment of proud conceited foreigners. But the hour brought the
man—the soul of Scottish song to the body of Scottish melody--the Promethean
fire to the beautifully modelled clay. Burns was living, for whose poetry no
loveliness or grandeur of music could be too much; and when Thomson, in a
happy hour, applied to him for co-operation, and unfolded to him the nature
of his work, the great bard threw himself into the undertaking with all his
characteristic enthusiasm. It needed but this to make the work perfect, for
when has the world ever seen such a song-maker? It needed also a noble
occasion like this to make Burns put forth his uttermost, and surpass all
that he had as yet accomplished, for by far the choicest of his poetry is
certainly to be found in Thomson’s Collection. The correspondence between
the musical lawyer and the poetical ploughman, which extended from 1792 till
the death of the latter in 1796, while it is full of wit, vivacity, and
hearty patriotic ardour in the good work in which they were engaged,
reflects high credit not only upon the critical taste and vigorous intellect
of George Thomson, but also upon his affectionate feelings, and honourable
upright disposition. It is the more necessary to announce this fact, as,
after the death of Burns, certain anonymous biographers presumed to state
that Thomson, after securing the services of the poet to a large extent, had
churlishly and unjustly refused to refund them. A single glance at the
correspondence between them, which was published by Dr. Currie, is
sufficient to refute this odious calumny, independently of the subsequent
attestations of Thomson himself. It will there be seen that the latter,
although engaged in so precarious and costly an undertaking, invited the
assistance of the bard with offers of a fair remuneration; and that although
Burns gladly embarked in the enterprise, he sturdily stipulated that his
contributions should be accepted gratuitously, or not at all. It will also
be seen that, after some time, Thomson, impatient at receiving such rich
donations without requital, ventured, in the most delicate manner, to
transmit to the poet a sum of money, at which the latter was so indignant,
that he vowed, if the offence was repeated, he would drop the correspondence
at once and for ever. It is well known that Burns entertained, among his
other peculiarities, such lofty notions of independence as would have
stopped all reciprocity in the interchange of favours, and thrown an
impassable gulf between giver and receiver, or even debtor and creditor. He
would bestow, and that largely and freely, but he would not for an instant
stoop to receive; his songs must be considered as either beyond price or not
worth purchase. Had he lived in the present day, when genius and poetical
inspiration are as marketable as the commodities in the bakehouse or
shambles upon which they are nourished; and had he seen, not starveling
threadbare authors, but highborn dames and mighty earls, haggling about the
price of their productions, and stickling upon a few shillings more or less
per sheet, against the calculating and demurring publisher; he would have
learned, that even poetry has its price, and that a Milton himself might
exact it to the last doit, without impinging upon his dignity.
Of these matchless
contributions which Burns transmitted to Thomson, it is enough to state,
that during the course of four short years, they amounted to more than 120.
He also fully empowered Mr. Thomson to make use of all the songs he had
written for Johnson’s "Scots Musical Museum." But during the lifetime of
Burns, only six of his productions appeared in Thomson’s collection. On the
death of the poet, Mr. Thomson, had he been avaricious, might have turned
the rich contributions which he had on hand to his own account, by
publishing them as a separate work; for they had been unreservedly given to
him, and were his own unquestionable property. But on learning that the
poetical works of his friend were about to be republished in behalf of the
poet’s family, he transmitted the whole of these contributions to Dr.
Currie, as well as the correspondence, by which the value of the publication
was immeasurably enhanced, and ample profits realized for the bereaved
survivors. Little, indeed, did Burns imagine, that such a controversy would
ever have been raised; and still less would he have thanked the ill-advised
zeal of those who endeavoured to heighten the public sympathy in behalf of
his memory, by traducing the character of a man whom he had so highly and
justly esteemed.
After the completion of his
great national work, little remains in the life of George Thomson that is of
public interest. He left the Trustees’ office in 1838, after a long course
of usefulness in that department; and on the Septemher of that year he went
to London, where he took up his residence, and afterwards to Brighton. In
June, 1845, he returned to Edinburgh, and three years afterwards went again
to the British metropolis; but after little more than a year of residence
there, he came back at the close of 1849 to the city in which all his early
affections were enshrined. He was now so old that it seemed as if the day of
his death could not be distant; and as he trode the streets of Edinburgh,
now one of the oldest of its inhabitants, he must have felt that this was no
longer the world in which he had once lived. But still his cheerfulness was
unbroken, and his enjoyment of happiness undiminished, and his letters of
this period, written in the regular formal text-like hand of our
great-grandfathers, are as juvenile and buoyant as his productions of a
former century. In this way the "time-honoured" lived till the 16th of
February, 1853, when he was gathered to his fathers after a few days’
illness, and with a gentle departure, in which he suffered little pain, and
enjoyed the full possession of all his faculties to the last. Independently
of his invaluable services to Scottish Song, his name will go down to
posterity from being associated with that of Burns, whose memory ages will
continue to cherish. |