Thomson, the author of the “Seasons,” was a very awkward reader of his
own productions. His patron, Doddington, once snatched a MS. from his
hand, provoked by his odd utterance, telling him that he did not
understand his own verses! A gentleman of Brentford, however, told the
late Dr. Evans, in 1824, that there was a tradition in that town of
Thomson frequenting one of the inns there, and reciting his poems to the
company.