Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets, Vol. 1 (of 2)Howitt, William
History
Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Howitt, William
Literary landmarks -- Great Britain; Poets, English -- Homes and haunts
It is a pleasure to find that the spot where these noble sentiments were
penned is still preserved sacred to the memory of the poet of truth and
virtue. As far as the restless and rapid change of property would permit
so near London, the residence of Thomson has been kept from destruction:
changed it is, it is true, but that change has been made with a
veneration for the Muse in the heart of the new inhabitant. The house of
Thomson, in what is called Kew-foot Lane, at Richmond, as shown in the
wood-cut at the head of this article, was a simple cottage; behind this
lay his garden, and in front he looked down to the Thames, and on the
fine landscape beyond. The cottage now appears to be gone, and in the
place stands the goodly villa of the Earl of Shaftesbury; the cottage,
however, is not really gone: it is only swallowed up in the larger house
of the present time. After Thomson's death, his cottage was purchased by
George Ross, Esq., who, out of veneration for his memory, forbore to
pull it down, but enlarged and improved it at the expense of £9000. The
walls of the cottage were left, though its roof was taken off, and the
walls continued upward to their present height. Thus, what was Thomson's
cottage forms now the entrance hall to Lord Shaftesbury's house. The
part of the hall on the left hand was the room where Thomson used to
sit, and here is preserved a plain mahogany Pembroke table of his, with
a scroll of white wood let into its surface, on which are inlaid, in
black letters, this piece of information:
"On this table James Thomson constantly wrote. It was
therefore purchased of his servant, who also gave these
brass hooks, on which his hat and cane were hung in this
his sitting room.
F. B."
These initials, F. B., are those of the Hon. Frances Boscawen, the widow
of Admiral Boscawen, who came into possession of the property after the
death of Mr. Ross, whose name, however, still attaches to it, being
called Rossdale, or, more commonly, Rosedale House. Mrs. Boscawen it was
who repaired the poet's favorite seat in the garden, and placed in it
the table on which he wrote his poems there; she it was, too, no doubt,
who hung the inscriptions there, her initials being again found appended
to one of them. Her son, Lord Falmouth, sold the place. No brass hooks
are now to be seen, that I could discover or learn any thing of.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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