The measure of success which attended the issue of his two volumes of poems[1] naturally gave him much pleasure: but it was too late for that or any change in his circumstances to benefit him much. The same degree of success, had it been obtained ten or twelve years earlier, would doubtless have had the happiest results. How unfortunate it was that appreciation of his gifts came so late will be seen when it is considered that for nearly or quite seven years (1875 to 1881) he almost entirely discontinued the writing of verse. How much might have been accomplished in those years, if only he had been encouraged by the sunshine of success! But his spirit was now in a great degree broken, his energies were relaxed, and the tough constitution that had enabled him to endure so long a pilgrimage of sorrow, was at last breaking down. For these results I am bound to say that his misfortunes were not alone responsible. That he should become during these latter years a victim of intemperance was hardly surprising, however much it was to be deplored. His early loss, his poverty, his comparative failure as an author, the sense of isolation and despair that possessed him, and which at night deprived him even of sleep; that he sought refuge from the consciousness of such miseries as these in the temporary forgetfulness derived from drink, could not be wondered at. Let the reader peruse the poems of "Mater Tenebrarum" and "Insomnia," both of which depict with
- ↑ "Vane's Story, and other Poems," was issued in October 1880. "Essays and Phantasies," which was issued in 1881, had only a qualified success. Only a few critics recognised the great excellence of Thomson's matter and style in prose.
