About this time (1737) the Act was passed for licensing plays, of
which the first operation was the prohibition of Gustavus Vasa, a
tragedy of Mr. Brooke, whom the public recompensed by a very liberal
subscription; the next was the refusal of Edward and Eleonora,
offered by Thomson. It is hard to discover why either play should
have been obstructed. Thomson likewise endeavoured to repair his
loss by a subscription, of which I cannot now tell the success.
When the public murmured at the unkind treatment of Thomson, one of
the Ministerial writers remarked that "he had taken a Liberty which
was not agreeable to Britannia in any Season." He was soon after
employed, in conjunction with Mr. Mallet, to write the masque of
Alfred, which was acted before the Prince at Cliefden House.

His next work (1745) was, Tancred and Sigismunda, the most
successful of all his tragedies, for it still keeps its turn upon
the stage. It may be doubted whether he was, either by the bent of
nature or habits of study, much qualified for tragedy. It does not
appear that he had much sense of the pathetic; and his diffusive and
descriptive style produced declamation rather than dialogue. His
friend Mr. Lyttelton was now in power, and conferred upon him the
office of Surveyor-General of the Leeward Islands; from which, when
his deputy was paid, he received about three hundred pounds a year.

The last piece that he lived to publish was the "Castle of
Indolence," which was many years under his hand, but was at last
finished with great accuracy. The first canto opens a scene of lazy
luxury that fills the imagination. He was now at ease, but was not
long to enjoy it, for, by taking cold on the water between London
and Kew, he caught a disorder, which, with some careless