I . j 
 
 i 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 THOMAS Q.RAY AND WILLIAM MASON, 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED 
 
 SOME LETTERS ADDRESSED BY GRAY 
 
 THE REV. JAMES BROWN, D.D. 
 
 MASTER OF PEMBROKE COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 BY THE REV. JOHN MITEORJ), 
 
 VICAR OF BENHALL. 
 
 LONDON: 
 RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 
 
 1853. 
 
fit M* 
 
 WESTMINSTER : 
 
 JOHN BOWYER NICHOLS AND SONS, 
 
 25, PARLIAMENT STREET. 
 

 THE EEV. ALEXANDER DYCE, ,„ 
 
 WHOSE EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR EAELY POETRT, 
 
 ADDED TO A FAMILIAR ACQUAINTANCE WITH THAT OF GREECE AND ROME, 
 
 AND WHOSE SUCCESSFUL LABOURS ON THE WORKS OF THOSE 
 
 WHO FLOURISHED IN THE BEST PERIOD OF THE DRAMA, 
 
 FROM THE DAYS OF SHAKSPERE TO SHIRLEY, 
 
 BY RESTORING THE AUTHENTIC PURITY OF THE TEXT, 
 
 Br EXPLAINING THE OBSOLETE AMBIGUITIES OF THE LANGUAGE, 
 
 AND BY HIUSTRATING THE FORGOTTEN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE AGE, 
 
 HAVE PLACED HEM AS A COMMENTATOR AND CRITIC 
 
 IN HONOURABLE EQUALITY WITH TYRWHITT AND WARTON ; 
 
 THIS VOLUME, 
 
 IN MEMORY OF A LONG FRIENDSHIP, 
 
 COMMENCED BY THE ATTRACTION OF SIMILAR STUDIES, 
 
 AND CONTINUED IN THE CONFIDENCE OF MUTUAL REGARD, 
 
 IS INSCRIBED 
 
 BY HIS FAITHFUL SERVANT, 
 
 THE EDITOR. 
 
 Benkall, 
 September 1 5th, 1853, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The Correspondence between Gray and Mason, 
 which is now published in its entire form, was 
 carefully preserved and arranged by the latter, 
 from which he made a partial selection in his 
 Memoirs of Gray. This volume at his death 
 was bequeathed to his friend Mr. Stonhewer, 
 and from him it passed into the hands of his 
 relative, Mr. Bright of Skeffington Hall, Leices- 
 tershire. When, in the year 1845, the library 
 of Gray was sold by the sons of that gentleman, 
 then deceased, this volume of Correspondence 
 was purchased by Mr. Penn of Stoke Park, and 
 by him was kindly placed in my hands for 
 publication.^ 
 
 Some engagements at the time prevented my 
 preparing it for the press ; and further delay 
 
 * One letter, addressed to West, and the " Travels," have 
 been placed in the beginning of this Correspondence, as 
 forming part of the manuscripts collected by Mason; the 
 letter to West being imperfectly printed by Mason, and the 
 Travels having been printed only in the late edition of Gray, 
 will probably not be unacceptable to the readers of the volume. 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 arose from the difficulty experienced in ex- 
 plaining the obscure allusions, and identifying 
 the persons mentioned in it. This was only to 
 be removed by inquiries to be made at a dis- 
 tance, which occupied much time, and which, 
 often proving unsatisfactory, had to be renewed 
 in other channels. In the Correspondence of 
 Lord Chesterfield, of Walpole, and others, we 
 meet with names more or less familiar to the 
 reader from the literary eminence, or social rank, 
 or political notoriety attached to them, and less 
 difficulty is felt in giving such notice of them 
 as is required for the reader's instruction ; but 
 Gray's correspondence was maintained for the 
 most part in the seclusion of a collegiate life, 
 and often relates to the small private circle of 
 friends with whom he was connected, and to 
 events only of local and partial importance. 
 To give some personality to names, most of 
 them new, even to those who are acquainted 
 with the common biographies of Gray, has 
 been found, from the lapse of time, a matter 
 of some difficulty ; and success has only been 
 attained by the assistance of various friends. 
 To have passed over this part of the task would 
 have been unsatisfactory, and considered a 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 dereliction of duty ; and, though many of the 
 persons whom the reader will meet with in 
 these letters have remained unnoticed, and their 
 names publicly unknown, they formed the 
 select and intimate society of one who was 
 not remarkable for the facility with which his 
 acquaintance was gained, and who required 
 some more than ordinary proofs of excellence 
 in that select few on whom the confidence of 
 his friendship was bestowed. This part of my 
 task has been performed to the best of my 
 ability ; less successfully, perhaps, than I could 
 have wished, but scarcely short of my expecta- 
 tions when I first entered upon it, as more 
 than a century has passed since the Corre- 
 spondence commenced, and those who could 
 best have explained it have long passed away.* 
 Perhaps the effect of it, on the whole, will be 
 to remove some portion of the general im- 
 pression of Gray's solitary and secluded life, 
 and to show that, though deprived of domestic 
 
 * From the Venerable J. Oldershaw, Archdeacon of Norfolk, 
 and Rector of Redenhall, and from Mr. Professor Smyth, of 
 Cambridge, I received some few anecdotes of the persons who 
 were the contemporaries of Gray, with a faint remembrance of 
 him from their communication ; and I believe that with these 
 two all further knowledge from personal recollection has closed. 
 
Vlll PIIEEACE. 
 
 endearments, he had a small enlightened circle 
 of friends in his own and in other colleges, by 
 whom he was esteemed, and to whose society 
 he could always resort : and with many also 
 beyond the precincts of the university he held 
 correspondence. At Mason's rectory at Aston, 
 at Dr. Wharton's, further north, in Durham, 
 at Mr. Chute's at the Vine, he was a frequent 
 visitor; and at Stoke, once his mother's re- 
 sidence, he could always enjoy the leisure and 
 quiet that were so welcome and necessary to 
 him. # In his later years, such was his high 
 reputation and character, that whoever received 
 him as a guest felt that an honour had been 
 conferred. His friends treasured up his little 
 familiar sayings and manner of expression ; f 
 
 * Amidst many changes, the room in this house at Stoke 
 which Gray occupied has been very piously preserved, as 
 a spot of classic interest, not to be disturbed or defaced, 
 when all around it has undergone alteration. A view of it 
 may be seen in the Eton edition of Gray published by Mr. 
 Williams. 
 
 ■f As, for instance, in one of Mason's unpublished letters, 
 in his Correspondence with Lord Harcourt, he says, — " My 
 servants are in what Mr. Gray called the fever of packing up 
 for my York residence." — Aug. 10, 1793. For the notice of 
 this passage I am indebted to my friend Mr. Samuel Rogers, who 
 met with it when reading the Correspondence preserved at 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 and a gentleman, who long after the death of 
 Gray paid a visit to Mr. Mcholls of Blundeston, 
 told me that for the week he remained in the 
 honse the conversation turned almost entirely 
 upon Gray. # 
 
 It may perhaps be asked, why a narrative 
 containing a more complete account of the 
 circumstances of Gray's life, which would have 
 included also a fuller mention of his friends, 
 did not appear in Mason's Memoirs — a work 
 that has formed the foundation of all subse- 
 quent biographies. That volume, which was 
 dedicated by a grateful hand to the memory 
 of his illustrious friend, and which has been 
 ever esteemed a model of elegant composition 
 and structure, was made with great and careful 
 consideration of the duty to be performed, and 
 with an unusual delicacy in the selection of 
 the materials ; and this was deemed requisite 
 at the time, which followed so closely on Gray's 
 
 Nuneham, which has subsequently been very kindly lent to 
 me by the present proprietor, and for which I publicly 
 express my thanks. 
 
 * The anecdotes of Gray given in Mr. Mathias's observa- 
 tions on his character and writings are all derived from Mr. 
 Nicholls. Mr. Mathias was resident at Cambridge during the 
 last year of Gray's life, but he never saw him. 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 death. Notwithstanding the general bright- 
 ness of the poet's reputation, and the consent 
 of the " chosen few " in the admission of his 
 superior genius, the Elegy * was in truth the 
 only one of his poems that was universally 
 popular. The subject of it was attractive ; the 
 imagery recommended by its elegance ; and 
 the sentiments and reflections were not too 
 deep for the common apprehension. " The 
 Churchyard, " Johnson says, " abounds with 
 images which find a mirror in every mind, and 
 with sentiments to which every bosom returns 
 an echo. The four stanzas beginning c Yet e'en 
 these bones ' are to me original. I have never 
 seen the notions in any other place. Yet he 
 that reads them here persuades himself that 
 he has always felt them." t This was not 
 the case with the Odes.J The principles 
 
 * As a curiosity in criticism, I give the notice of Gray's 
 Elegy as it appeared in the leading review of the day — the 
 Monthly Review. "An Elegy in a Country Churchyard. 4to. 
 Dodsley. Seven pages. — The excellence of this little piece 
 amply compensates for its want of quantity " 
 
 j" " C'est le coeur, il faut l'avouer, plus que l'esprit, qui lit la 
 poesie." 
 
 \ I am speaking of those Odes on which his high reputation 
 is chiefly founded, and which were the matured products of 
 his later years. The Ode to Eton College has always and 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 on which they were formed, and the orna- 
 ments they required, were less adapted to 
 the public taste and knowledge. They were 
 of too high a flight. The system was too re- 
 fined, the ideal abstractions too remote, and 
 the language perhaps too learned and elabo- 
 rate. There was no story to unfold by which 
 passion could be excited, nor any narrative to 
 allure by which curiosity could be gratified. 
 The reviewers of the day cavilled at them ; 
 the men of wit endeavoured to hold them up 
 to ridicule ; and even Hurd, the leading critic 
 of that age, mentioned them with a courteous 
 and attempered praise, as beyond the common 
 vein of such things. Mason, therefore, was 
 careful in the additions he made to what already 
 had appeared, and did not even dare to present 
 
 deservedly been a great favourite; and what we possess of 
 the beautiful Fragment on Vicissitude makes us lament its 
 unfinished form, for it would probably have equalled the other 
 in merit and popularity. It is curious that Dr Barnard, a 
 scholar in the first rank and a poet, should have been unfa- 
 vourable to the publication of this fragment, unless he thought 
 it injurious to Gray's reputation to have the " sweepings of 
 his study " made public. On the new lyrical metre of these 
 noble Odes, the Bard and the Progress of Poetry, unknown 
 before Gray, and on their surpassing excellence, see Mathias's 
 Observations on Gray's Writings, p. 71. 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 that beautiful torso or fragment alluded to in 
 the note without repairing and completing it 
 with his own hands. While to enlarge the 
 circle of personal anecdote, and to admit the 
 public with open confidence into a more inti- 
 mate knowledge of Gray's private life and 
 habits of intercourse, Mason would have con- 
 sidered as almost treacherous to his friend, as 
 it was also directly opposed to his own temper 
 and conduct, which was, to all but his intimate 
 friends, cold and reserved, and not without a 
 disposition to form austere and perhaps un- 
 favourable judgments of others.* 
 
 * Mason was much governed in his opinions and judg- 
 ments by his strong political feelings. He hated a Tory, 
 and this must have been the chief cause of his dislike of his 
 Diocesan, which he too openly showed, both in conduct and 
 in correspondence ; but the manner in which he speaks, in a 
 letter I possess, of two ladies whose recent loss society is now 
 lamenting, and whose varied attainments formed only one part 
 of the fascinations they possessed, must have arisen, I think, 
 from their having superseded him in the friendship of the 
 master of Strawberry Hill. Mason's satirical powers were 
 dormant at no period of his life. The world only knew them 
 as they appeared from him "jam senior Peleus ;" but they 
 burst out when he was yet at the university, " nee adhuc 
 maturus Achilles" and continued in various flashes through 
 his whole life. 
 
PREFACE. Xlil 
 
 Vigilantly to guard Gray's memory from 
 any attack upon it, nor by imprudent or 
 incautious admissions of his own to afford 
 ground for critical animadversion or envious 
 cavil, was his object. Eor this he kept some 
 poetical pieces in reserve ; # for this he used the 
 large epistolary stores, placed from various 
 quarters in his hands, with a severe ceconomy 
 of selection ; and, with this in view, he abridged 
 and transposed the letters he did publish so 
 that scarcely one is entire or unaltered. Yet 
 that Mason performed his work of love in the 
 best manner it could have been done must be 
 acknowledged ; and into no other hands could 
 it have been with such safety entrusted,! for 
 there were then difficulties in more freely open- 
 ing the volume of private life. Within the 
 walls of the university and without, there were 
 private jealousies and personal animosities that 
 might have been awakened ; and in one or two 
 
 * Mr. Fox used to lament that Mason withheld any of 
 Gray's Translations from the Classics, so valuable to an English 
 reader. 
 
 j I have heard that he asked and obtained the assistance 
 of his frieDd Dr. Hurd in the selection of the papers; but 
 there is no authority for the report that I am aware of, except 
 a casual and private letter. 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 instances, where Mason has seemed to break 
 through his usual chain of reserve, I question 
 whether he was not incited by the dislike which 
 he himself felt for the persons held up to ridi- 
 cule and contempt by his friend. 
 
 Some difficulties have arisen, which, how- 
 ever, I hope are mostly overcome, from Gray's 
 habit of mentioning those of whom he wrote 
 only by the initial letters of their name. This 
 was partly a matter of habit, partly of usage 
 by others, and partly, I think, it grew out of 
 a general distrust of the post-office at that 
 period. Walpole has repeated his suspicions 
 or complaints on the subject ; and I found 
 that much of Mason's correspondence with him 
 was transmitted through private hands. Gray 
 also indulged in a habit, that seemed very 
 amusing to him, of designating his friends 
 and others by what the French call le so- 
 briquet, by us termed nicknames. # Thus, 
 
 * Nicknames were commonly given to political characters 
 in those days. Lord Temple was called " Tiddy-doll ;" the 
 Duke of Cumberland " the Butcher;" Lord Shelburne's title 
 is well known ; and many may be seen in the newspapers of 
 the time, and some are mentioned in the notes to the Grenville 
 Correspondence, iv. p. 171-2, and iii. Pref. xxxiii. 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 King George the Second is styled " the 
 Old Horse;" the Duke of Newcastle "Old 
 Pobus;" Lord Sandwich " Jemmy Twitcher;" 
 Mr. Brown, the Fellow of Pembroke, " Le 
 Petit Bon Homme;" the Rev. Mr. Palgrave 
 " Old Pa. ;" and Mason himself was " Scrod- 
 dles." Through these verbal masks, however, 
 the real persons were easily discovered; but 
 why Lord Harcourt, in his Manuscript Corre- 
 spondence with Mason, always calls Horace 
 "Walpole "your wine merchant," is an enigma 
 that I have not yet been able to decipher. 
 
 The university in which Gray resided so large 
 a portion of his life, # could not with justice be 
 censured if it did not bestow its voluntary 
 honours on one, who lived there as a private 
 person, almost unconnected with it, and without 
 any official capacity or rank ; nor could he be 
 said to be neglected, whose characteristic re- 
 serve forbade any ready approach to him ; but 
 he was treated with the general respect due to 
 his great talents and acquirements, and some 
 few of the most enlightened and illustrious 
 members of the society are ranked among his 
 
 * He was entered a fellow commoner of Pembroke Hall;, 
 and in that capacity he resided there. 
 
XVI PREFACE. 
 
 friends. # In his later years, from growing in- 
 firmity, he did not often appear in public, 
 unless occasionally a day of sunshine, and the 
 softer breath of spring, allured him to the 
 Botanic Garden, to watch the progress of vege- 
 tation (one of his daily occupations in his own 
 rooms), and to make an addition to his floral 
 calendar.! Beyond his own college, therefore, 
 he was personally but little known ; and his 
 studies and pursuits were totally unconnected 
 with those of the society among which he 
 lived. In the Letters, however, now printed, 
 his opinions of men and things may be dis- 
 
 * These observations have been occasioned by the remark 
 made by a late writer, " Cambridge, indeed, though honoured 
 by the education of almost all the great poets of our country, 
 has not been very propitious to the votaries of the Muse. 
 Spenser, Milton, Dryden, Cowley, Otway, and Gray, were 
 dismissed by their respective societies, if not without an 
 acknowledgment, at least without the reward of their 
 genius," &c. To this reproach the university, I think, may 
 readily find an answer from a better hand than mine : 
 Non nostrum est, inquam, tantas attingere laudes. 
 
 "j" Gray, during the chief part of his life, kept a daily record 
 of the blowing of flowers, the leafing of trees, the state of the 
 thermometer, the quarter from which the wind blew, and the 
 falling of rain: these he entered into his pocket journals, in 
 his delicate and correct handwriting, with the utmost pre- 
 cision, and sometimes into a naturalist's calendar in addition. 
 
PREFACE. XV11 
 
 closed, without the imputation of any improper 
 or offensive freedom, for time has removed all 
 objections that could once have been reasonably 
 made ; while, through them, a fuller and more 
 lively portrait of himself may be obtained. 
 The close reserve of his general manner may 
 be advantageously contrasted with his playful 
 humour and kindness to his friends ; his warm 
 attachments and his affectionate language may 
 be seen coming more brightly out of the cold 
 surface of his common demeanour ; perhaps 
 showing that some part of it was assumed, 
 as a necessary defence against intrusion and 
 curiosity. " The melancholy Gray " will not 
 indeed disappear altogether ; and there were 
 events and disappointments which had affected 
 him deeply, the effects and remembrance of 
 which he never could remove ; but, more than 
 all, " the long disease of life" accompanied 
 him from his earliest to his latest years, 
 and clouded with a constant and melancholy 
 shadow the best and brightest days of his ex- 
 istence. His private journals, some of which I 
 possess, and others which I have read, mark, 
 day by day, the fatal presence and progress of 
 disease, and the vigilant attention and careful 
 
 b 
 
XV111 PREFACE. 
 
 means by which, however ineffectually, he en- 
 deavoured to meet its influence. He kept the 
 records relating to his health in Latin, and 
 such expressions as the following occur in 
 almost every page : — " Insomnia crebra, atque 
 expergiscenti surdus quidem doloris sensus ; 
 frequens etiam in regione sterni oppressio et 
 cardialgia gravis, fere sempiterna." A com- 
 plete decay of the powers of nature, long 
 threatening and steadily advancing, preceded 
 his death. # 
 
 Much has been said of the fastidious delicacy 
 of his manners and habits of life; this, how- 
 ever, he had in common with Walpole, being 
 probably acquired or increased by both during 
 their residence abroad ; and it would have been 
 less noticed, or more readily overlooked, in 
 one to whose rank and fortune it might be 
 supposed to belong; but in Gray it appeared 
 in stronger contrast with his circumscribed 
 means, his slender fortune, and his humbler 
 
 * The Rev. Mr. Carey, through whom the great Florentine 
 Poet has become our own, has mentioned his conversing with 
 the college servant who helped to remove Gray from the 
 dinner table in the hall, when suddenly attacked by his last 
 fatal illness. 
 
PREFACE. XIX 
 
 station, which brought him into the society 
 of persons of a different character and habits : 
 perhaps, too, some part of it, in any excess 
 beyond what was natural to him, was as- 
 sumed, to keep his secluded path of life as 
 clear from interruption and inquisitive approach 
 as he could. His main resource against the 
 depressing influence of disease Avas in constant 
 employment. Mason, in a letter to Lord Har- 
 court, says, " ' To be employed, is to be happy,' 
 said Gray ; and if he had never said anything 
 else, either in prose, or even in verse, he would 
 have deserved the esteem of all posterity."* He 
 certainly practised as he spoke ; for his library 
 bore witness to an extent of curiosity, a per- 
 severance of research, and an accuracy of ob- 
 servation, with a minute diligence in recording 
 what he had gained, and gathering in the 
 harvest of the day, that is hardly to be pa- 
 ralleled in any one who was so gifted with 
 original genius, and the power of forming his 
 own creations of thought. Moreover, this in- 
 defatigable attention was not always devoted 
 to the accomplishment of any one particular 
 
 * From an unpublished letter, Feb. 20, 1792. See also 
 Dr. Wharton's letter in the present volume, p. 465. 
 
 b 2 
 
XX PREFACE. 
 
 object, or the completion of any favourite in- 
 quiry, but extended over every branch of lite- 
 rature remote from common curiosity, and was 
 pursued through the minutest and most distant 
 channels of research ; so that on many subjects 
 it would appear as pointing to no other end but 
 that of making time subservient to the abstract 
 investigation of truth, and the general enlarge- 
 ment of knowledge. It was said of a contem- 
 porary of his, " that he never touched any 
 subject which he did not adorn ;" # but of 
 Gray it may with as much truth be observed, 
 that he seldom closed his laborious inquiries 
 till he had exhausted the means of further 
 investigation. To him, the Genealogical Re- 
 searches of Dugdale were incomplete ; the 
 scientific language of Linnaeus imperfect ; and 
 the History of the Chinese Dynasties, in fifteen 
 quarto volumes, by Grosier, needed his verbal 
 corrections, and supplemental improvements, 
 before it was worthy of being enrolled in the 
 archives of Pekin. 
 
 Gibbon, it is well known, in a Note to his His- 
 
 * Dr. Johnson said of Goldsmith, " Nullum tetigit quod 
 non ornavit," though in Latinity somewhat dubious. 
 
PREFACE. XXI 
 
 tory, lamented, "that Gray, instead of compiling 
 tables of chronology and natural history, did 
 not apjriy the powers of his genius to finish the 
 philosophical poem, of which he left so ex- 
 quisite a specimen;" but a later writer, # in 
 his admiration of Gray's genins, has far ex- 
 ceeded the cautious language and the moderate 
 desires of the Historian ; and has regretted to 
 behold " the fatal gulf of pertinacious industry 
 in which the Poet's fire and genius was seen to 
 drop, and which perhaps extinguished in its 
 first conception some great epic work, which 
 would have placed the author on a level, which 
 he was entitled to ascend, with Spenser and 
 Tasso." The answer however to the reason- 
 able wish of Gibbon, in which all mnst par- 
 ticipate, will also suffice for the more am- 
 bitious vision of the other admirer, and show 
 why such lofty aims could not be accom- 
 plished. When a friend once asked of Gray, 
 why he never finished the fragment of " The 
 Alliance of Education and Government," he 
 
 * I allude to Dr. Whitaker, the historian, antiquary, and 
 philologer, &c. a person of learning, talents, and high character, 
 and who added to great acquirements much of the elegance 
 and enthusiasm of the poetic mind. 
 
Xxil PREFACE. 
 
 said, " Because he could not;" and then ex- 
 plained himself somewhat to this effect, ' I 
 have been used to write chiefly lyric poetry, in 
 which, the poems being short, I have accus- 
 tomed myself to polish every part of them with 
 care, and, as this has become a habit, I can 
 scarcely write in any other manner ; the labour 
 of this in a long poem would hardly be to- 
 lerable, and, if accomplished, it might possibly 
 be deficient in effect, by wanting the chiaro- 
 scuro;' Mr. Mathias also says, that when 
 one asked Gray why he had written so little 
 poetry, he answered, " It was from the great 
 exertion it cost him in the labour of compo- 
 sition." # 
 
 That this limce labor was irksome and un- 
 satisfactory may be seen in the number of 
 unfinished pieces which he left behind him, 
 the Agrippina — the Ode to Vicissitude — the 
 Fragment on Government— the Hymn to Ig- 
 norance — the Latin poem De Principiis Cogi- 
 tandi; and even The Bard itself — called his 
 great lyric master-piece — was for some years 
 lying by him, and only finished by an accident. 
 
 * " Me juvat raris auribus placere." Martial, Ep. ii. 86. 
 
PREFACE. XX111 
 
 And now we may safely hesitate before we 
 repeat the complaint of the misapplication of 
 the Poet's studies and occupation. 
 
 Each species of poetry seems distinguished 
 from another by its peculiar and characteristic 
 style, and it is praise enough, when the attain- 
 ment of excellence is so rare, to have acquired 
 a mastery over one. " The nearest approach 
 to perfection," says a writer on a kindred art, 
 " can only be in carrying to excellence one 
 great quality with the least alloy of collateral 
 defects." 
 
 Thus we find that Gray's delicately enamelled 
 language, sparkling with the gems culled from 
 the remoter treasures of our early poetry, woven 
 into lyric harmony, and set off with depth 
 of colour and variety of imagery, could not 
 be successfully transplanted into the broader 
 spaces of a different species, without losing 
 its characteristic and congenial beauty, — that 
 the structure of the Epic fable demanded a dif- 
 ferent treatment from the language of the Lyre, 
 which requires a greater elevation of diction, 
 bolder figures, transitions less smoothly con- 
 nected, and digressions more sudden and re- 
 mote. Nor must it be forgotten that in the 
 
XXIV PREFACE. 
 
 construction of works of great length and high 
 design, which appeal to the hest faculties of the 
 intellect, where reason must approve what ima- 
 gination admires, there is wanted an energy of 
 will, and a vigorous concentration of the powers, 
 that will not weary under the pressure of the 
 duty that is undertaken; that can awaken at 
 will Inspiration from her repose, and send 
 Imagination on the wing after new conquests ; 
 and, readily acknowledging his commanding 
 genius, we must confess that this great task 
 could scarcely have been accomplished by the 
 author of the Bard. To him the calmer occu- 
 pation of research, and the studious contem- 
 plation of the thoughts of others, through the 
 medium of some favourite pursuit, would be 
 better adapted ; and then, if the Muse did visit 
 him in his happier hours, she would come to 
 gather the fruits which leisure had accumu- 
 lated ; and to find a mind willing to welcome 
 her, enriched with study and invigorated by 
 repose; with new sentiments to warm the 
 heart, and fresh knowledge to animate the 
 mind. 
 
 Perhaps too it might be said, that under the 
 shelter of academic bowers is not to be found 
 
PREFACE. XXV 
 
 the most favourable residence of the Muse, nor 
 that the seat of science and learning is most 
 congenial to the exercise of the poetic faculty, 
 which expands freely when concentrating its 
 powers in its own domain. The means of 
 gratifying an extended curiosity with ease, 
 among the rich libraries of an university, and a 
 natural sympathy with the pursuits of others, 
 must have a strong tendency to disengage the 
 mind from its own proper exercise and con- 
 genial occupations ; from the thoughts that 
 find their best culture in solitary reflection ; 
 and from the steadfast contemplation of those 
 ideal creations that are reflected in the mirror 
 of the visionary world. 
 
 The letters which contain the verbal correc- 
 tions and criticisms on Mason's Poetry will not 
 be read without interest, at least by those who 
 know the great attention paid by Gray to pro- 
 priety and perspicuity of expression, and to the 
 language transparently representing the image 
 of the thought. They will, I think, not only 
 admit the general correctness of Gray's obser- 
 vations, but feel somewhat surprised that a 
 person like Mason, cradled in poetry, should 
 have given room for them in so great a degree ; 
 
XXVI PREFACE. 
 
 but there is a passage, for which we are in- 
 debted to the recollection of Mr. Mcholls, 
 which will throw some light on the subject ; 
 and though the name of the person alluded to, 
 from obvious motives, is not mentioned by him, 
 that of the author of Oaractacus is to be under- 
 stood. — ; " Speaking of a modern writer, whose 
 poetry was sometimes too languid, Mr. Gray 
 said, ' it was not a matter of words, for he never 
 gave himself time to think, but he imagined 
 that he should succeed best by writing hastily 
 in the first fervour of his imagination; and 
 therefore he never waited for epithets if they 
 did not occur at the time readily, but left spaces 
 for them, and put them in afterwards. This 
 enervated his poetry, and will do so universally 
 if that method is adopted ; for nothing is done 
 so well as at the first concoction;' and he 
 added, ' We think in words ; poetry consists 
 in expression, if that term be properly under- 
 stood.' " * 
 
 I have still some materials by me which I 
 think will not be unacceptable to the public, 
 partly relating to Gray and partly to those con- 
 
 * See Mathias's observations on Mr. Gray's Writings, p. 51. 
 
PREFACE. XXV11 
 
 nectecl with him and his history, that may 
 serve to illustrate what is already published, 
 and complete in some points our acquaintance 
 with the circumstances of his life. It was the 
 intention of Gray to collect and publish the 
 poetical remains of his friend Richard West ; 
 and probably this tablet, inscribed by the hand 
 of friendship, would have given us in words 
 warm from the heart, such a portrait of one 
 whose genius and virtues were laid in too early 
 a tomb, as would have shewn from what a rich 
 and copious source the few, but beautiful, re- 
 mains we possess had sprung, and what might 
 have been expected from him in the maturity 
 of his powers. Why Gray left his design un- 
 accomplished is not known; but it may be 
 endeavoured, with the assistance of new ma- 
 terials, not indeed to supply the office which 
 he left unfulfilled, but to raise the best monu- 
 ment to the memory of West from his own 
 works which, at so late a period, can be done. 
 Together with these it is proposed to give 
 extracts from a few unpublished manuscripts of 
 Mason, and chiefly from his correspondence 
 with his friends, and some letters from other 
 hands, which may form no unpleasing commen- 
 
XXV111 PREFACE. 
 
 tary on the character and writings of Horace 
 Walpole. 
 
 In this manner the little circle of friends 
 may again he Drought together, and the few 
 additional touches that will he the result, may 
 perhaps he considered as not without their 
 value. In the meantime I present my readers 
 with some brief notes on Gray by the hand 
 of Waipole; I do not know the time when 
 they were written. They are indeed very 
 unfinished, and seem to have been composed 
 in haste ; but they have added something 
 to our knowlege of the Poet's history, and 
 they acquire an authentic value from the quar- 
 ter from which they come. And now it only 
 remains for me publicly to express my thanks 
 to those who, in the most friendly manner, have 
 assisted me in my inquiries ; — to the Rev. J. 
 Power, Pellow of Pembroke College, I am under 
 deep obligations ; and, while I scarcely know 
 what apologies will excuse the trouble which I 
 gave, I yet most gratefully acknowledge the 
 value of the information it produced : — in my 
 friend Mr. T. Watts, of the British Museum, 
 I possess a treasure-house of literary infor- 
 mation, to which I have never applied in vain ; 
 
PREFACE. XXIX 
 
 for his power to instruct is always accompanied 
 by his readiness to oblige : — my learned friend 
 the Rev. Joseph Hunter never refused me a 
 request, though sometimes not very reason- 
 ably made : — nor am I under obligations of 
 less weight to Mr. Charles Wright, Libra- 
 rian to Mr. Penn, who, in the most liberal 
 manner, placed all the manuscripts and books, 
 which consisted of the most valuable portion 
 of Gray's library, at my command, and assisted 
 me by his knowledge in the examination and 
 use I made of them. 
 
 Gray's Correspondence with the Rev. James 
 Brown, which I received from the same quarter 
 as the other, will be found to form a valuable 
 addition to it. The Master of Pembroke Col- 
 lege was honoured by the friendship of the 
 Poet during his life, and to him was committed 
 the sacred duty of accompanying his remains 
 to the grave. 
 
 It would have been of advantage if I could 
 have had access once more to the original 
 manuscripts of this Correspondence, by a colla- 
 tion of which I believe a few slight errors 
 might be corrected, and the orthography of 
 one or two names rectified. This, however, 
 
XXX PREFACE. 
 
 from circumstances that occurred, it was not in 
 Mr. Wright's power to bestow ; and I believe 
 that no mistake has occurred in the transcript 
 which can be considered of real importance. 
 A few words, however, used in the freedom of 
 familiar correspondence, have been omitted in- 
 tentionally by me. 
 
 If the notes which I have added serve to ex- 
 plain the text and assist the reader, my purpose, 
 which is a very humble one, is fulfilled. " Illam 
 arrogantiam a me vehementer amolior, et ob- 
 nixe postulo, ut credar eruditos docere voluisse. 
 Sentio enim quam sint pleraque in his per- 
 vulgata, et quotidianse apud literatos observa- 
 tionis. Sint mo do iis accepta, qui adhuc in 
 discendo occupantur. Si quae apud Graium 
 obscura sunt, aliquatenus illustrent, si quae 
 errata, forte corrigant; effecero quod volui, et 
 liberavero, in quantum potui, fidem meam." 
 
" ME. THOMAS GEAY. 
 
 (BY THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE.) 
 
 " He was the son of a money scrivener, by 
 Mary Antrobus, a milliner in Cornhill, and 
 sister to two Antrobus' s who were ushers of 
 Eton School. He was born in 1716, and edu- 
 cated at Eton College, chiefly under the di- 
 rection of one of his uncles, who took prodigious 
 pains with him, which answered exceedingly. 
 He particularly instructed him in the virtues 
 of simples. He had a great genius for music 
 and poetry. Erom Eton he went to Peter 
 House at Cambridge, and in 1739 accompanied 
 Mr. H. "W. in travelling to Prance and Italy. 
 He returned in 1741, and returned to Cambridge 
 again. His letters are the best I ever saw, 
 and had more novelty and wit. One of his 
 first pieces of poetry was an answer in English 
 verse to an epistle from H. W.* At Naples he 
 wrote a fragment, describing an earthquake, 
 and the origin of Monte Nuovo, in the style of 
 
 * This poem I do not know. 
 
XXX11 MEMOIK OF GRAY. 
 
 Virgil ; # at Eome an Alcaic ode, in imitation 
 of Horace, to It. West, Esq.t After his return 
 he wrote the inimitable ode, On a Distant 
 Prospect of Eton College ; another moral ode ; 
 and that beautiful one on a cat of Mr. Wal- 
 pole's drowned in a tub of gold fishes. These 
 three last have been published in Dodsley's 
 Miscellanies. He began a poem on the re- 
 formation of learning, but soon dropped it, on 
 finding his plan too much resembling the 
 Dunciad. J It had this admirable line in it : 
 
 ' And gospel-light first flashed from Bullen's eyes.' 
 
 He began, too, a philosophical poem in Latin, § 
 and an English tragedy of Agrippina, a,nd 
 some other odes, one of which, a very beautiful 
 one, entitled, ' Stanzas written in a Country 
 Churchyard,' he finished in 1750. He was a 
 very slow, but very correct writer. Being at 
 
 * Fragment of a poem on the Gaurus. Se*e Works, 
 i. 192. 
 
 f Carmen ad Favonium Zephyrinum, p. 189. 
 
 \ Walpole seems to have confounded the Hymn to Ig- 
 norance (see Works, i. 140) with the Alliance of Education 
 and Government (p. 143), and he has substituted flashed for 
 dawned. 
 
 § The poem De Principiis Cogitandi. See Works, i. 204. 
 
MEMOIR OF OKAY. XXX111 
 
 Stoke in the summer of 1750, he wrote a kind 
 of tale, addressed to Lady Schaub and Miss 
 Speed, who had made him a visit at Lady Cob- 
 ham's.* The Elegy written in the Churchyard 
 was published by Dodsley Eeb. 16, 1751, with 
 a short advertisement by Mr. H. W., and im- 
 mediately went through four editions. He had 
 some thoughts of taking his Doctor's degree, 
 but would not, for fear of being confounded 
 with Dr. Grey, who published the foolish 
 edition of Hudibras. 
 
 " In March, 1753, was published a fine edition 
 of his poems, with frontispieces, head and tail 
 pieces, and initial letters, engraved by Grignion 
 and Muller, after drawings of Richard Bentley, 
 Esq. He lost his mother a little before this,t 
 and at the same time finished an extreme fine 
 poem, in imitation of Pindar, On the Power of 
 Musical Poetry, which he began two or three 
 years before. J In the winter of 1755, George 
 Hervey, Earl of Bristol, who was soon afterwards 
 sent Envoy to Turin, was designed for Minister 
 to Lisbon : he offered to carry Mr. Gray as his 
 
 * The Long Story. See Works, I. 111. 
 f His mother died March 11, 1753. 
 J The Progress of Poesy. See Works, i. 22. 
 C 
 
XXXIV MEMOIR OP GRAY. 
 
 secretary, but he declined it. In August, 1757, 
 was published two odes of Mr. Gray ; one, On 
 the Power and Progress of Poesy, the other, 
 On the Destruction of the Welsh Bards by 
 Edward I. They were printed at the new press 
 at Strawberry Hill, being the first production 
 of that printing-house. In October, 1761, he 
 made words for an old tune of Geniiniani, at the 
 request of Mrs. Speed. * It begins, 
 
 ' Thyrsis, when we. parted, swore.' 
 
 Two stanzas ..... the thought from the 
 French." 
 
 * Song. See Works, i. 157. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Gray to James West, Esq., May 8, 1736 
 
 Gray to Dr. Wharton, March 12, 1740 
 
 Gray to Mason, July 24, 1753 
 
 Gray to Mason, Sept. 21, 1753 
 
 Mason to Gray, Sept. 23, 1753 
 
 Gray to Mason, Sept. 26, 1753 
 
 Gray to Mason, Nov. 5, 1753 
 
 Mason to Gray, March 1, 1755 
 
 Mason to Gray, June 27, 1755 
 
 Mason to Gray, Sept. 10, 1755 
 
 Mason to Gray, Nov. 26, 1755 
 
 Mason to Gray, Dec. 25, 1755 
 
 Gray to Mason, 1756 
 
 Gray to Mason, July 25, 1756 
 
 Gray to Mason, July 30, 1756 
 
 Gray to Mason, Dec. 19, 1756 
 
 Gray to Mason, April 23, 1757 
 
 Gray to Mason, May — , 1 757 
 
 Gray to Mason, June 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, July 25, 1757 
 
 Gray to Mason, August 1 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, August 14, 1757 
 
 Gray to Mr. Hurd, August 25, 1757 
 
 Gray to Mason 
 
 Gray to Mason, Sept. 28, 1757 
 
 Gray to Mason, Oct. 13, 1757 
 
 Gray to Mason, Dec. 19, 1757 
 
 Gray to Mason, Jan. 3, 1758 
 
 Mason to Gray, Jan. 5, 1758 
 
 Gray to Mason, Jan. 13, 1758 
 
 Mason to Gray, Jan. 16, 1758 
 
 Gray to Mason, Jan. — , 1758 
 
 Mason to Gray, Jan. 22, 1758 
 
 c2 
 
XXXVI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Gray to Mason, Good Friday, 1758 . 
 
 Gray to Mason, June 20, 1758 
 
 Gray to Mason, August 11, 1758 
 
 Gray to the Rev. Mr. Browne, Sept.- 7, 1758 
 
 Gray to the Rev. Mr. Browne, Oct. 28, 1758 
 
 Gray to Mason, Nov. 9, 1758 
 
 Mason to Gray, 1758 
 
 Gray to Mason, Jan. 18, 1759 
 
 Mason to Gray, Jan. 25, 1759 
 
 Gray to Mason, March 1, 1759 
 
 Gray to Mason, April 10, 1759 
 
 Gray to Mason, July 23, 1759 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, Aug. 8, 1759 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, Aug. 9, 1759 
 
 Gray to Mason, Oct. 6, 1759 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, 1759 
 
 Gray to Mason, Dec. 1, 1759 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, April, 176*0 
 
 Gray to Mason, June 7, 1760 
 
 Gray to Mason, June 27, 1760 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, July, 1760 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, August, 1760 
 
 Gray to Mason, Aug. 7, 1760 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, Oct. 23, 1760 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, Oct. 25, 1760 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, Nov. 8, 1760 
 
 Mason to Gray, Nov. 28, 1760 
 
 Gray to Mason, Dec. 10, 1760 
 
 Mason to Gray, Jan. 8, 1761 
 
 Gray to Mason, Jan. 22, 1761 
 
 Gray to Mason, Feb. 5, 1761 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, Feb. 9, 1761 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, May 26, 1761 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, 1761 
 
 Mason to Gray, July 20, 1761 
 
 Gray to Mason, August, 1761 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, Sept. 21, 1761 
 
 Gray to Mason, Oct. 1761 
 
 (hay to the Rev. James Brown, Nov. 1761 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Gray to Mason, Dec. S, 1761 
 
 Gray to Mason, Jan. 11, 1762 
 
 Gray to Mason, March 17, 1762 
 
 Gray to Mason, 1762 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, July 19, 1762 
 
 Gray to Mason, Dec. 21, 1762 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, Jan. 15, 1763 
 
 Gray to Mason, Feb. 8, 1763 
 
 Gray to Mason, March 6, 1763 
 
 Mason to Gray, June 28, 1763 
 
 Gray to Mason, 1763 
 
 Gray to Mason, 1764 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, Oct. 13, 1764 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, 1764 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, October 25, 1764 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, Oct. 29, 1764 
 
 Gray to Mason, May 23, 1765 
 
 Gray to Mason, July 16, 1765 
 
 Mason to Gray, July 22, 1765 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, Aug. 1765 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, 1765 
 
 Gray to Mason, 1765 
 
 Gray to Mason, 1765 
 
 Gray to Mason 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, May 15, 1766 
 
 Gray to Mason, Oct. 5, 1766 
 
 Gray to Mason, Oct. 9, 1766 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, Oct. 23, 1766 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, Nov. 18, 1766 
 
 Gray to Mason, Jan. 27, 1767 
 
 Mason to Gray, Feb. 2, 1767 
 
 Gray to Mason, Feb. 15, 1767 
 
 Gray to Mason, March 28, 1767 . 
 
 Mason to Gray, April 1, 1767 
 
 Gray to Mason, May 23, 1767 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, June 2, 1767 
 
 Gray to the Rev. James Brown, June 6, 1767 
 
 Gray to Mason, June 6, 1767 
 
 Gray to Mason, July 10, 1767 
 
 XXXV11 
 
 PAGE 
 
LETTERS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE POET GRAY. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 TO JAMES WEST, ESQ. 
 MY DEAR WEST, Cantabr. May 8, 1736. 
 
 My letter enjoys itself before it is opened, 
 in imagining the confusion yon will be in when 
 yon hear that a coach and six is just stopped at 
 Christ Church gates, and desires to speak with 
 you, with a huddle of things in it, as different 
 as ever met together in Noah's Ark ; a fat one 
 and a lean one, and one that can say a little 
 with his mouth and a great deal with his pen, 
 and one that can neither speak nor write. But 
 you will see them ; joy be with you ! I hope 
 too I shall shortly see you, at least in congratu- 
 latione Oxoniensi. 
 
 B 
 
LETTERS OE 
 
 My dear West, I more than ever regret yon : 
 it wonld be the greatest of pleasnre to me to 
 know what yon do, what yon read, how yon 
 spend yonr time, &c, and to tell yon what I 
 do not do, not read, and how I do not, for 
 almost all the employment of my honrs may 
 be best explained by negatives. Take my word 
 and experience npon it, doing nothing is a most 
 amnsing business, and yet neither something 
 nor nothing give me any pleasnre. For this 
 little while last past I have been playing with 
 Statins ; we yesterday had a game at qnoits 
 together. Yon will easily forgive me for having 
 broke his head, as yon have a little piqne to 
 him. 
 
 E lib. 6 t0 Thebaidos, vs. 646—688. 
 
 Then thus the King : — Adrastus. 
 
 Whoe'er the quoit can wield, 
 And furthest send its weight athwart the field, 
 Let him stand forth his brawny arm to boast. 
 Swift at the word, from out the gazing host, 
 Young Pterelas with strength unequal drew, 
 Labouring, the disc, and to small distance threw. 
 The band around admire the mighty mass, 
 A slipp'ry weight, and form'd of polish'd brass. 
 The love of .honour bade two youths advance, 
 Achaians born, to try the glorious chance; 
 A third arose, of Acarnania he, 
 Of Pisa one, and three from Ephyre ; 
 
THE POET GRAY. 6 
 
 Nor more, for now Nesimachus's son, — (Hippomedon,) 
 By acclamations roused, came tow'ring on. 
 Another orb upheaved his strong right hand, 
 Then thus: " Ye Argive flower, ye warlike band, 
 Who trust your arms shall rase the Tyrian towers, 
 And batter Cadmus' walls with stony showers, 
 Receive a worthier load ; yon puny ball 
 Let youngsters toss :" — 
 
 He said, and scornful flung th' unheeded weight 
 Aloof ; the champions, trembling at the sight, 
 Prevent disgrace, the palm despair'd resign; \ 
 
 All but two youths th' enormous orb decline, 
 These conscious shame withheld, and pride of noble line. J 
 As bright and huge the spacious circle lay, 
 With double light it beam'd against the day : 
 So glittering shows the Thracian Godhead's shield, 
 With such a gleam affrights Pangsea's field, 
 When blazing 'gainst the sun it shines from far, ' 
 And, clash'd, rebellows with the din of war. 
 Phlegyas the long-expected play began, 
 Summon'd his strength, and call'd forth all the man. 
 All eyes were bent on his experienced hand, 
 For oft in Pisa's sports, his native land 
 Admired that arm, oft on Alpheus' shore 
 The pond'rous brass in exercise he bore ; 
 Where flow'd the widest stream he took his stand ; \ 
 
 Sure flew the disc from his unerring hand, 
 Nor stopp'd till it had cut the further strand. j 
 
 And now in dust the polish'd ball he roll'd, 
 Then grasp'd its weight, elusive of his hold ; 
 Now fitting to his gripe and nervous arm, 
 Suspends the crowd with expectation' warm ; 
 B 2 
 
4 LETTERS OE 
 
 Nor tempts he yet the plain, but hurl'd upright, 
 Emits the mass, a prelude of his might ; 
 Eirmly he plants each knee, and o'er his head, 
 Collecting all his force, the circle sped ; 
 It towers to cut the clouds ; now through the skies 
 Sings in its rapid way, and strengthens as it flies ; 
 Anon, with slacken'd rage comes quiv'ring down, 
 Heavy and huge, and cleaves the solid ground. 
 
 So from th' astonish'd stars, her nightly train, 
 The sun's pale sister, drawn by magic strain, 
 Deserts precipitant her darken'd sphere : 
 In vain the nations with officious fear 
 Their cymbals toss, and sounding brass explore; 
 Th' ^Emonian hag enjoys her dreadful hour, 
 And smiles malignant on the labouring power. 
 
 I will not plague yon too much, and so break 
 the affair in the middle, and give you leave to 
 resume your Aristotle instead of 
 
 Your friend and servant, 
 
 T. Gray.* 
 
 * This letter may be compared by the reader with the one 
 given under the same date (May 8, 1736) by Mason, from 
 which it widely differs. The specimen of the translation 
 from Statius here printed, precedes that which appeared in 
 Mason, vol. ii. p. 12. The whole consisted of about 110 lines. 
 Mason believes it was Gray's first attempt in English verse, 
 and says that he had imbibed much of Dryden's spirited 
 manner. This translation was written at the age of twenty. 
 See for the other portion, Gray's Works, ed. Aid. vol. i. p. 126. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 5 
 
 LETTER II. 
 TO DR. WHARTON.* 
 
 Florence, March 12, 1740. 
 
 My dear, dear Wharton, 
 
 (Which is a dear more than I give any body 
 else. It is very odd to begin with a paren- 
 thesis, hut) you may think me a beast, for not 
 having sooner wrote f to you, and to be sure a 
 beast I am; now, when one owns it, I do not see 
 what you have left to say. I take this oppor- 
 tunity to inform you (an opportunity I have 
 had every week this twelvemonth) that I ar- 
 rived safe at Calais, and am at present at Flp- 
 
 * Thomas Wharton, M.D. of Old Park, near Durham, 
 who died in 1794, aged 77. With this gentleman Mr. Gray 
 contracted an acquaintance very early, and, though they 
 were not educated together at Eton, yet afterwards at Cam- 
 bridge, when the Doctor was Fellow of Pembroke Hall, they 
 became intimate friends, and continued so to the time of 
 Mr. Gray's death. Dr. Wharton was a physician, and Richard 
 Wharton, Esq. one of the Secretaries of the Treasury, and 
 M.P. for Durham in 1802 and 1806, 1807, and 1812, Chair- 
 man of the Ways and Means, also author of Fables from 
 Dante, Berni, and Ariosto, imitated in English Verse, 1804, 
 8vo. was his second son, in whose possession Gray's Corres- 
 pondence with his father remained, or at least by whose per- 
 mission it was printed in 1816, 
 
 | " Wrote," so the MS. Mason has " written:' 
 
6 LETTERS OE 
 
 rence, a city in Italy in I do not know how 
 many degrees north latitude. Under the Line 
 I am sure it is not, for I am at this instant 
 expiring with cold. 
 
 You must know, that, not being certain 
 what circumstances of my history would par- 
 ticularly suit your curiosity, and knowing that 
 all I had to say to you would overflow the 
 narrow limits of many a good quire of paper, 
 I have taken this method of laying before 
 you the contents, that you may pitch upon 
 what you please, and give me your orders 
 accordingly to expatiate thereupon ; for I con- 
 clude you will write to me, won't you ? oh yes, 
 when you know, that in a week I set out for 
 Rome, and that the Pope is dead,* and that I 
 shall be (I should say, God willing), if nothing 
 extraordinary intervene, and if I am alive and 
 well, and in all human probability, at the coro- 
 nation of a new one. Now, as you have no 
 other correspondent there, and as, if you do 
 not, I certainly shall not write again (observe 
 my impudence), I take it to be your interest to 
 send me a vast letter full of all sorts of news and 
 politics, and such other ingredients as to you 
 shall seem convenient, with all decent expedi- 
 tion. Only do not be too severe upon the Pre- 
 
 * Clement XII. died on the 6th February 1740. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 7 
 
 tender ; and, if yon like my style, pray say so ; 
 — this is a la Frangoise, and if yon think it a 
 little too foolish and impertinent, yon shall be 
 treated alia Toscana, with a thousand Signoria 
 Ulustrissima's : in the mean time I have the 
 honour to remain, 
 
 Your lofing frind tell deth, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 Proposals for printing by subscription, in 
 
 THIS LARGE LETTER * 
 
 The Travels of T. G. Gentleman, which will 
 consist of all the following particulars : — 
 
 Chap. 1. — The author arrives at Dover ; his 
 conversation with the mayor of that corpora- 
 tion ; sets out in the pacquet boat ; grows very 
 sick; with a very minute account of all the 
 circumstances thereof ; his arrival at Calais ; 
 how the inhabitants of that country speak 
 Prench, and are said to be all Papishes ; the 
 author's reflections thereupon. 
 
 Chap. 2. — How they feed him with soupe, and 
 what soupe is ; how he meets with a Capucin, 
 and what a Capucin is ; how they shut him up 
 
 * The MS. from which this is given differs in a few unim- 
 portant particulars from that which is in the Aldine edition 
 of Gray's Letters, vol. ii. p. 83. 
 
8 LETTERS OE 
 
 in a postchaise and send him to Paris ; he goes 
 wondering along during six days, and how there 
 are trees and houses just as in England ; arrives 
 at Paris without knowing it. 
 
 Chap. 3. — A full account of the river Seine, 
 and of the various animals and plants its 
 borders produce ; a description of the little 
 creature called an Abbe, its parts and their 
 uses, with the reasons why they will not live 
 in England, and the methods that have been 
 used to propagate them there; a cut of the 
 inside of a nunnery ; its structure wonderfully 
 adapted to the use of the animals that inhabit 
 it ; a short account of them, how they propagate 
 without the help of a male, and how they eat 
 up their own young ones, like cats and rabbits ; 
 supposed to have both sexes in themselves, like 
 a snail ; the dissection of a duchess, with some 
 copper plates, very curious. 
 
 Chap. 4. — Goes to the Opera, grand orchestra 
 of humstrums, bagpipes, salt-boxes, tabors, and 
 pipes ; the anatomy of a Erench ear, showing 
 the formation of it to be entirely different from 
 that of an English one, and that sounds have a 
 directly contrary effect upon one and the other. 
 Earinelli at Paris said to have a fine manner, 
 but no voice; a grand ballet, in which there 
 is no seeing the dance for petticoats, old women 
 
THE POET GRAY. 9 
 
 with flowers and jewels stuck in the curls of 
 their grey hair, red-heeled shoes, and roll-ups 
 innumerable, hoops and panniers immeasurable, 
 paint unspeakable; tables, wherein is calcu- 
 lated with the utmost exactness the several 
 degrees of red now in use, from the rising blush 
 of an advocate's wife to the flaming crimson of 
 a princess of the blood, done by a limner in 
 great vogue. 
 
 Chap. 5. — The author takes unto him a tailor ; 
 his character ; how he covers him with silk and 
 fringe, and widens his figure with buckram 
 a yard on each side ; waistcoat and breeches so 
 straight he can neither breathe nor walk ; how 
 the barber curls him en beqitille and a la neg- 
 ligee, and ties a vast solitaire about his neck ; 
 how the milliner lengthens his ruffles to his 
 fingers' ends, and sticks his two arms into a 
 muff; how he cannot stir, and how they cut 
 him in proportion to his clothes. 
 
 Chap. 6. — He is carried to Versailles ; despises 
 it infinitely ; a dissertation upon taste ; goes to 
 an installation in the chapelle royale. Enter the 
 king and fifty fiddlers solus. Kettle drums and 
 trumpets, queens and dauphins, princesses and 
 cardinals, incense and the mass, old knights 
 making curtsies, holy ghosts and fiery tongues. 
 
 Chap. 7. — The author goes into the country 
 
10 LETTERS OF 
 
 to Hheims in Champaign; stays there three 
 months; what he did there (he mnst beg the 
 reader's pardon, hut) has really forgot. 
 
 Chap. 8. — Proceeds to Lyons ; the vastness 
 of that city (cannot see the streets for houses),* 
 how rich it is, and how much it stinks. A poem 
 upon the confluence of the Rhone and the Saone, 
 by a friend of the author's, very pretty. 
 
 Chap. 9. — Makes a journey into Savoy, and 
 in his way visits the Grande Chartreuse ; he is 
 set astride upon a mule's hack, and begins to 
 climb up the mountain, rocks and torrents 
 beneath, pine-trees and snows above ; horrors 
 and terrors on all sides. The author dies of the 
 fright. 
 
 Chap. 10. — He goes to Geneva; his mortal 
 
 * Mons. le Due de M. disoit, que les maisons de Paris 
 etoient si hautes, qu'elles empechoient de voir la ville. Mena- 
 giana, vol. i. p. 13. " One feels like the countryman, who 
 complained ' that the houses hindered him from seeing Paris.' " 
 See Walpole's Fugitive Pieces, vol. i. p. 222 ; also Bishop 
 Hall's Satirized Sizar, p. 72, 
 
 " That sees not Paris for the houses' height." 
 See the story to which the above alludes in the Editor's note, 
 as given in the Bigarrures du Seigneur des Accords. " Quand 
 il (Sieur Gaulord) fut a Paris, passant par les rues il disoit, 
 Chascun me disoit que je verrois une si grande et belle ville ; 
 mais on se mocquoit bien de moi, car on ne peut pas voir, a 
 cause de la multitude des maisons, qui empeschent la vue." 
 
THE POET GRAY. 11 
 
 antipathy to a presbyterian, and the cure for it ; 
 returns to Lyons; gets a surfeit with eating 
 ortolans and lampreys ; is advised to go into 
 Italy for the benefit of the air. 
 
 Chap. 11. — Sets out the latter end of Novem- 
 ber to cross the Alps ; he is devoured by a wolf, 
 and how it is to be devoured by a wolf. The 
 seventh day he comes to the foot of Mount 
 Cenis. How he is wrapped up in bearskins 
 and beaverskins, boots on his legs, caps on his 
 head, muffs on his hands, and taffety over his 
 eyes ; he is placed on a bier, and is carried to 
 heaven by the savages blindfold. How he lights 
 amongst a certain fat nation called Clouds ; how 
 they are always in a sweat, and never speak, but 
 they — - — ; how they flock about him, and think 
 him very odd for not doing so too. He falls 
 plump into Italy. 
 
 Chap. 12. — He arrives at Turin, goes to 
 Genoa, and from thence to Placentia; crosses 
 the river Trebbia ; the ghost of Hannibal ap- 
 pears to him ; and what it and he says upon 
 the occasion ; locked out of Parma, in a cold 
 winter's night; the author by an ingenious 
 stratagem gains admittance; despises them and 
 that city, and proceeds through Heggio to 
 Modena. How the duke and duchess lie over 
 
12 LETTERS OP 
 
 their own stables, and go every night to a vile 
 Italian coinedy ; despises them and it, and 
 proceeds to Bologna. 
 
 Chap. 13. — Enters into the dominions of the 
 Pope of Rome ; meets the Devil, and what he 
 says on the occasion. Very public and scanda- 
 lous doings between the vines and the elm-trees, 
 and how the olive-trees are shocked thereupon. 
 The author longs for Bologna sausages and 
 hams, and how he grows as fat as a hog. 
 
 Chap. 14. — Observations on antiquities. The 
 author proves that Bologna was the ancient Ta- 
 rentum ; that the battle of Salamis, contrary to 
 the vulgar opinion, was fought by land, and not 
 far from Ravenna ; that the Romans were a 
 colony of the Jews, and that Eneas was the 
 same with Lhud. 
 
 Chap. 15. — His arrival at Elorence ; is of opi- 
 nion that the Yenus of Medicis is a modern 
 performance, and that a very indifferent one, 
 and much inferior to the King Charles at 
 Charing Cross. Account of the city, and 
 manners of the inhabitants, with a learned dis- 
 sertation on the true situation of Gomorrah. 
 
 And here will end the first part of these 
 instructive and entertaining voyages ; the sub- 
 scribers are to pay twenty guineas, nineteen 
 
THE POET GRAY. 13 
 
 down, and the remainder upon delivery of the 
 book. N. B. — A few are printed on the softest 
 royal brown paper, for the use of the curious. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 DEAR SlR, Durham, July 24, Tuesday, 1753: 
 
 We performed our journey, a very agreeable 
 one, within the time appointed, and left out 
 scarcely anything worth seeing in or near our 
 way. The Doctor and Mrs. Wharton had ex- 
 pected us about two hours, when w« arrived at 
 Studley on Friday, We passed that night at 
 Ripon, and the next at Richmond ; and on 
 Sunday evening got to Durham. I cannot now 
 enter into the particulars of my travels, be- 
 cause I have not yet gathered up my quota- 
 tions from the Classics to intersperse, like Mr. 
 Addison ; but I hope to be able soon to enter- 
 tain you with a dish of very choice erudition. 
 I have another reason, too, which is, that the 
 post is just setting out. Suffice it to tell you, 
 that I have one of the most beautiful vales here 
 in England to walk in, with prospects that 
 change every ten steps, and open something 
 
14 LETTERS OF 
 
 new wherever I turn me, all rude and roman- 
 tic; in short, the sweetest spot to break your 
 neck or drown yourself in that ever was be- 
 held. I have done neither yet, but I have 
 been twice at the races, once at the assembly, 
 have had a visit from Dr. Chapman,* and dined 
 with the Bishop, f 
 
 * Prebendary of Durham, and Master of Magdalen College, 
 Cambridge, from 1746 to 1760, author of a Dissertation on the 
 Roman Senate 1750, praised and translated by Larcher 1765, 
 reviewed by Hooke 1750. In December 1751, Gray writes 
 to Dr. Wharton, " Oh, by the way, I wish you joy of that 
 agreeable creature, who has got one of your prebends of 400Z. 
 a year, and will visit you soon with that dry piece of goods 
 his wife." He died 1760; see Gray's Letters, ed. Aid. vol. iii. 
 pp. 246, 253, 230. In a copy of Hornby's Remarks on Dug- 
 dale's Baronage, which belonged to Mr. Cole, he wrote as fol- 
 lows : " The marginal notes at pp. 107, 108, are by Dr. Chap- 
 man, the conceited and overbearing Master of Magdalen Col- 
 lege, Cambridge, who died in the summer of 1760 ;" to which 
 Gray's remark may be added as a codicil : " Chapman, you 
 see, is dead at last, which signifies not much, I take it, to 
 any body." — The very humorous account which Gray gave in 
 his letters, referred to above, of the cause of the Doctor's death, 
 gave great offence, I have heard, to his family. There is a 
 severe character of him given by Bishop Hurd, in a Letter 
 to Warburton, No. cxlii. p. 306. He calls him " a vain and 
 
 f Doctor Richard Trevor, translated from St. David's. He 
 succeeded Dr. Joseph Butler in 1752. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 15 
 
 I am very shabby, for Stonhewer' s box, with 
 my coat in it, which went by sea, is not yet ar- 
 rived. You are desired therefore to send Lee, 
 the bedmaker at Peterhouse, to the master of 
 the Lynn boats, to inquire what vessel it was 
 sent by, and why it does not come. It was 
 directed to Dr. Stonhewer, of Houghton, to be 
 left with the rector of Sunderland. Another 
 trouble I have to give you, which is to order 
 Barnes to bring any letter Stonhewer* or I 
 
 busy man, who had not virtue enough to prefer a long and 
 valuable friendship to the slightest, nay, almost to no prospect 
 of interest, on which account I dropped him," &c. This Dr. 
 Thomas Chapman must not be confounded with Dr. John 
 Chapman, who lived at the same time, and was author of 
 many learned works, as the Translation of Eusebius. A 
 ludicrous story is told of him in Walpole's Letters to Lady 
 Ossory, vol. ii. p. 10. 
 
 * Mr. Stonhewer, son of Dr. Stonhewer, of Houghton, 
 Durham, was Secretary to the Duke of Grafton, in conjunc- 
 tion with Mr. Bradshaw. " He was," says Horace Walpole, 
 " a modest man, of perfect integrity, invariably attached to 
 Lord Grafton from his childhood." See Memoir of George in. 
 vol. iv. p. 66. He appears to have taken a high degree in 
 1749-50, by the Cambridge Calendar, as late Fellow of 
 St. Peter's and after of Trinity College. He held for a con- 
 siderable time the post of Commissioner of Excise, and lived 
 in Curzon Street, in a house nearly opposite to the Chapel. 
 It was through his interest with the Duke of Grafton that 
 Gray obtained the Professorship of Modern History. 
 
16 LETTERS OF 
 
 may have to you, and direct them hither. The 
 Doctor and Mrs. Wharton desire their parti- 
 cular compliments to you, and are sorry you 
 could not be with us. Adieu. I am ever sin- 
 cerely yours, T. G 
 
 P f S. — I have left my watch hanging (I be- 
 lieve) in my bed-room : will you be so good as 
 to ask after it. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, Durham, Sept. 21, 1753.* 
 
 It is but a few days since I was informed by 
 Avison,f that the alarm you had on your sister's 
 
 * Compare this letter, Sept. 21, with that given in the 
 Aldine edition, vol. iii. p. 116, No. xlix. dated Dec. 26, 
 1753, beginning " A little while before I received your 
 melancholy letter I had been informed by Mr. Charles Avison 
 of one of the sad events you mention, &c." It will afford a 
 good example of the alterations which Mason may have thought 
 it advisable to give to Gray's Correspondence. 
 
 t Mason, in his Essays on Church Music, mentions Mr. 
 Avison, the author of the Essay on Musical Expression, as 
 Ms friend. See Works, vol. iii. p. 385 and p. 396. He 
 adopted an opinion of Mason's on ancient and modern music, 
 and published it in his Works. " Mason," says Mr. Boaden, 
 
THE POET GRAY. 17 
 
 account served but to prepare you for a greater 
 loss, which was soon to follow. I know what it 
 is to lose a person that one's eyes and heart 
 have long been used to, and I never desire to 
 part with the remembrance of that loss, nor 
 would wish you should. It is something that 
 you had a little time to acquaint yourself with 
 the idea beforehand, if I am informed right, 
 and that he probably suffered but little pain, 
 the only thing that makes death terrible. 
 
 It will now no longer be proper for me to see 
 you at Hull, as I should otherwise have tried 
 to do. I shall go therefore to York, with inten- 
 tion to make use of the stage coach, either on 
 Friday or Monday. I shall be a week at Cam- 
 bridge, and then pass through London into 
 Buckinghamshire. If I can be of any use to 
 you in any thing it will give me great pleasure. 
 Let me have a line from you soon, for I am 
 very affectionately yours, 
 
 T. Gray. 
 
 in his Life of Kemble, i. 184, " was not meanly skilled in 
 choral and scientific composition." It has been said that Avi- 
 son's Essay on Musical Expression was written by Dr. John 
 Brown, author of the Estimate, mentioned hereafter at page 
 73. See Moore's Irish Melodies, p. 227. 
 
18 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER V. 
 THE REY. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 
 Dear Mr. Gray, Hull, Sept. 23, 1753. 
 
 You have been rightly informed that I have 
 lost a most affectionate father. I have felt for 
 him all that a heart not naturally hard, and at 
 the time already softened by preceding anxiety, 
 could feel. But my griefs rest not on him 
 alone. Only last Tuesday my most intimate 
 friend, Dr. Pricket,* followed him ; a man who, 
 I assure you, had more good qualities of the 
 heart than the brightness of the head could out- 
 balance, either in mine or your estimation. 
 We were brought up together from infancy, 
 and ever lived in the sincerest affection. In 
 my long illness at London he attended me with 
 a care and assiduity almost unparalleled. I 
 endeavoured to repay that care in my turn ; 
 but, alas, his fate did not give me time to dis- 
 charge half the debt ; yet what I could I did. 
 
 Oh, Mr. Gray, how dreadful is it to sit beside 
 a dying friend ; to see, as I did, reason with- 
 draw herself gradually, often return by starts, 
 
 * " Dr. Marmaduke Pricket, a young physician of my own 
 age, with whom I was brought up from infancy, also died of the 
 same infectious fever." — Mason. See Gray'sWorks, vol. iii. p. 1 1 6 . 
 
THE POET GRAY. 19 
 
 to a memory every minute less capable of fur- 
 nishing her with ideas, and a tongue less able 
 to give them utterance. I talk nonsense, I be- 
 lieve ; but let me do it — it gives me some relief. 
 What makes his loss to me more deplorable is, 
 that I am afraid either the physician who con- 
 stantly attended him mistook his case, or that 
 the other who was called in afterwards hastened 
 his end ; for a sudden change ensued the altera- 
 tion of his medicines. But I will check myself 
 till I see you, and then you must bear with 
 me, if I am even a child or a woman in my 
 complainings. I must add, however, that in a 
 will he made five years ago, his friendship 
 bequeathed to me two hundred pounds, which, 
 when my debt is discharged to his executor, 
 will be reduced to one ; yet the sum will come 
 at present as opportunely as anything of the 
 kind possibly could, as my father, by the 
 strangest disposition of his affairs that can be 
 conceived, has left all my paternal estate to my 
 mother-in-law for her life, and entailed it so on 
 my little sister that I can take up no money 
 upon it ; so that without this legacy I should 
 not have had a shilling at present. 
 
 I believe I shall be obliged to take a journey 
 to Mr. Hutton's,* near Kichniond, and may 
 
 * In December 1756 Archbishop Hutton gave Mason the 
 
 c 2 
 
20 LETTERS OF 
 
 perhaps be at York next Sunday ; but this is 
 so exceedingly uncertain that I only just nanie 
 it, but would not have you alter your schemes 
 upon it for the sake of a meeting, because my 
 mother is at present in a fever, with three 
 blisters, but I hope on the recovery ; yet I can- 
 not leave her till there appears a greater cer- 
 tainty. Tom has been also in a fever, and got 
 out only to-day; therefore I do not know whether 
 he will be in a condition to travel, and I cannot 
 easily relinquish the pomp of travelling with a 
 servant all on a sudden ; and my father's ser- 
 vant, a lad of the same age, died the week after 
 his master, of a fever also. 
 
 Prom all this you may guess what a time I 
 have gone through lately; yet I am well myself 
 at present, except that my hands tremble, and 
 my spirits often, very often sink; yet have they 
 supported me hitherto surprisingly. Pray tell 
 
 prebend of Holme, in the cathedral of York. " John Hutton, 
 Esq. Marsk, near Richmond, Yorkshire, died June 12, 1768, 
 by which death an estate in the East Riding came to me in 
 reversion/' — Dates of principal events relating to myself. 
 Mason MS. All Mason's landed property was bequeathed 
 to Mr. William Dixon, son of his half-sister, Anne Dixon, wife 
 of Rev. Henry Dixon, Vicar of Wadworth, Yorkshire. Gray 
 says it was considerable. See Letter to Nicholls, Feb. 3, 1768. 
 Archbishop Hutton died in March 1718, and was succeeded 
 by Seeker. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 21 
 
 Mr. Brown when you see him, that I fear I 
 cannot he up at college by the tenth of October, 
 yet I shall get there as soon as ever I can niake 
 any end of my perplexed affairs here. I wish 
 you had told me how long you would stay in 
 Buckinghamshire : I hope it will be short, and 
 that we may meet again at Cambridge soon. 
 Adieu. My best compliments to Dr. Wharton. 
 I am, dear Sir, 
 
 Yours, with sincerity and affection, 
 
 W. Mason. 
 
 Do write to me again very soon. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON.* 
 MY DEAR MASON, Durham, Sept. 26, 1753. 
 
 I have just received your letter, and am both 
 surprised and angry (if you will suffer me to say 
 so) at the weakness of your father ; perhaps I 
 ought not to use such words to a person whose 
 affliction for him is perhaps heightened by that 
 very weakness ; for I know it is possible to feel 
 
 * This Letter should be compared with the one dated Dec. 
 26, in Mason's edition of Gray, Letter xvm. which is the 
 foundation of the present. 
 
22 LETTERS OF 
 
 an additional sorrow for the faults of those we 
 have loved, even where that fault has heen 
 greatly injurious to ourselves. This is certain, 
 he has been (whether from his illness or some 
 other cause) at least guilty of a great weakness ; 
 and it is as sure that there must have been a 
 great fault somewhere, probably in the person 
 who took advantage of his weakness, upon whom 
 your care and kindness is very ill bestowed, 
 though you do not at present show any resent- 
 ment, nor perhaps ever will. At least let me 
 desire you not to expose yourself to any fur- 
 ther danger in the midst of that scene of sick- 
 ness and death, but withdraw as soon as pos- 
 sible to some place at a little distance in the 
 country, for I do not at all like the place you 
 are in. 
 
 I do not attempt to console you on the situa- 
 tion your fortune is left in ; if it were far worse, 
 the good opinion I have of you tells me you 
 will never the sooner do any thing mean or 
 unworthy of yourself, and consequently I can- 
 not pity you on this account, but I sincerely do 
 so on the new loss you have had of a good and 
 friendly man, whose memory I honour. May 
 I remind you how like a simpleton I used to 
 talk about him ? It is foolish to mention it ; 
 but it feels I do not know how like a sort of 
 
THE POET GRAY. 23 
 
 guilt in me, though I believe you know I could 
 not mean any thing by it. I have seen what 
 you describe, and know how dreadful it is ; I 
 know too I am the better for it. We are all 
 idle and thoughtless things, and have no sense, 
 no use in the world any longer than that sad 
 impression lasts ; the deeper it is engraved the 
 better. I am forced to break off by the post. 
 Adieu, my dear Sir. 
 
 I am ever yours, T. Gr. 
 
 P. S. I shall be at York on Sunday, at the 
 place the stagecoach goes from, having a place 
 taken for Monday. Pray remember James's 
 powder ; I have great faith in its efficacy ; I 
 should take it myself. Here is a malignant 
 fever in the town. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 MY DEAR MASON, Stoke, Nov. 5, 1753. 
 
 I am not in a way of leaving this place yet this 
 fortnight, and consequently shall hardly see you 
 in town. I rejoice in the mean time to think that 
 you are there, and have left, I hope, a part of 
 
24 LETTERS OF 
 
 your disagreeable reflections in the place where 
 they grew.* 
 
 Stoke has revived in me the memory of many 
 a melancholy hour that I have passed in it, 
 and, though I have no longer the same cause 
 for anxiety, I do not find myself at all the hap- 
 pier for thinking that I have lost it, as my 
 thoughts now signify nothing to any one but 
 myself. I shall wish to change the scene as 
 soon as ever I can. 
 
 I am heartily glad to hear Mr. Hutton is so 
 reasonable, but am rather sorry to find that de- 
 sign is known to so many. Dr. Wharton, who, 
 I suppose, heard it from Avison, mentions it in 
 a letter to me. Were I you, I should have taken 
 some pleasure in observing people's faces, and 
 perhaps in putting their kindness a little to the 
 trial ; it is a very useful experiment, and very 
 
 * Gray had hastened to Stoke on being informed that Mrs. 
 .Rogers, his aunt, had had a stroke of the palsy. See Letter 
 XLvn. to Dr. Wharton, Oct. 18, 1753, ed. Aid. vol. iii. p. 
 111. His mother, to whom he was affectionately attached, died 
 in March 1753. The inscription which Gray wrote on his 
 mother's tomb may be seen in his Life and Works, vol. i. 
 p. xxxi. Sir James Mackintosh used to speak with high 
 praise of the expression in it, " the careful, tender mother of 
 many children." It occurs, however, in an older writer, 
 " These were tender nurses, careful mothers." See Braithwaite's 
 English Gentlewoman, 4to. p. 100. 1633. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 25 
 
 possibly you will never have it in your power 
 to put it in practice again. Pray make your bar- 
 gain with all the circumspection and selfishness 
 of an old hunks ; when you are grown as rich 
 as Croesus, do not grow too good-for-nothing, 
 — a little good-for-nothing to be sure you will 
 grow ; every body does so in proportion to their 
 circumstances, else, indeed, what should we do 
 with one's money? My third sentence is, do not 
 anticipate your revenues, and live upon air till 
 you know what you are worth. You bid me 
 write no more than a scrawl to you, therefore 
 I will trouble you, as you are so busy, with no- 
 thing more. Adieu. 
 
 I am very sincerely and affectionately yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 I should be obliged to you, if you had time, 
 to ask at Roberts's,* or some place in Jermyn 
 Street, whether I could be there about a fort- 
 night hence. I will not give more than half- 
 a-guinea a week, nor put up with a second floor 
 unless it has a tolerable room to the street. 
 Will you acquaint me of this ? 
 
 * When Gray came to London he lodged in Jerinyn-street , 
 at Eoberts's the hosier's, or at Frisby's the oilman's. The_y are 
 towards the east end, on different sides of the street. — Norton 
 .Nicholls. 
 
26 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 THE REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 DEAR SlR, Arlington Street, March 1, 1755. 
 
 I am gathering together my disjecta membra, 
 and as a specimen I send yon the inclosed Ode, 
 of which, perhaps, you may remember one 
 stanza. It is not what I can make it at present, 
 but I will not give myself any more trouble 
 with it till it has had yonr desperate hooks;* bnt 
 spare it as much as you can, for I do not mean 
 to draw you into any scrape by the conclusion 
 of it, but shall leave you quite at your liberty 
 to write my epitaph or no, as you please. As 
 soon as you have interlined it, send it me 
 back again, and do not let any body see it ex- 
 cept the President f . . . . and old Cardale, $ 
 
 * " Not that I'd lop the beauties from his book, 
 Like slashing Bentley with his desperate hook." 
 
 Pope's Imitation of Horace, book ii. i. 
 t Dr. Roger Long was Master of Pembroke College, Mr. 
 Brown President, and Cardale a Fellow. There is a Life of 
 Dr. Long in Nichols's edition of J. Taylor's Tracts, p. liv.-lviii. 
 See also Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. i. pp. 94, 639 ; iv. 
 p. 683; ix. p. 643; and Literary Illustrations, vol. i. p. 134. 
 He was Professor of Astronomy and Geometry from 1749 to 
 1771, and author of a treatise on Astronomy. 
 
 \ " His college, which had much declined for some time, is 
 picking up again ; they have had twelve admissions this year, 
 
THE POET GRAY. 27 
 
 and the Master ; Marcello* has set out from 
 Newcastle, and is travelling hither as fast as a 
 Northumberland waggon can bring him : you 
 must not expect him at Cambridge this fort- 
 night. Pray, is the Thane of Grlamist come? I 
 wish I could put that good creature Eraser ;£ 
 up in his own frank, to transcribe your Ode for 
 me, for I want it vastly. 
 
 I have no news yet about Hanover. My Lord§ 
 
 and are just filling up two fellowships with a Mr. Car dell y 
 whom I do not know, but they say he is a good scholar, 
 and a Mr. Delaval, a fellow-commoner (a younger son to old 
 Delaval, of Northumberland), who has taken a degree in an 
 exemplary manner, and is very sensible and knowing." See 
 Gray's Works (Letter to Dr. Wharton), vol. iii. p. 78. I pre- 
 sume that it is not of this Mr. Delaval that a ludicrous story 
 is told by Gray as happening to him at the college, for this was 
 in 1746. See Notes, vol. iii. p. 28. 
 
 * Edward Delaval, of Pembroke College. 
 
 f Lord Strathmore. The title of Strathmore takes with it 
 that of the Thane. He entered at Pembroke College. See on 
 him Walpole's Letters to Mason, vol. i, p. 154; Gray's Letters, 
 vol. iii. p. 130; Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. viii. p. 388; 
 Literary Illustrations, vol. vi. p. 602. 
 
 | William Fraser, Esq, held a situation in Lord Holder- 
 nesse's office. 
 
 § Robert D'Arcy, fourth Earl of Holdernesse, to whom 
 Mason was appointed chaplain in 1754, at this time was 
 Secretary of State. He died in 1778, when the earldom 
 became extinct; his only daughter married the Duke of Leeds. 
 For Lord Holdernesse's character see Waldegrave's Memoirs, 
 
28 LETTERS OF 
 
 did speak to Lord Hertford* to make me chap- 
 lain to his embassy, but he was pre-engaged : 
 tell this to nobody but old Cardale and the 
 master. 
 
 I send you also an epistle which folks say 
 Voltaire t wrote lately to himself, but you must 
 
 p. 123; and Walpole's Memoirs of George II. vol. i. p. 198; 
 vol. iii. pp. 27, 34, 341 ; Geo. III. vol. i, p. 42, and note of 
 the Editor ; and frequent notices of him are to be found in 
 Walpole's Miscellaneous Letters ; those in vol. i. are in 
 pages 91, 100, 250, 271, 342; vol. iv. pp. 31, 34. 
 
 * The Earl of Hertford, a man of most unblemished 
 morals, but rather too gentle and courteous to combat so pre- 
 sumptuous a court, was sent Ambassador to Paris, whither, 
 Mons. de Mirepoix was desired to write, " that if they 
 meaned well, we would send a man of the first character 
 and quality." See Walpole's Mem. of George II. vol. ii. p. 2. 
 Lord Hertford's going was suspended. — Ibid. See Grenville 
 Papers, vol. ii. p. 514. " The King sometimes observes to 
 Mr. Grenville, that there are not among his servants too 
 many people of decent or orderly character ; that Lord Hert- 
 ford is respectable in that light, and therefore not lightly to be 
 cast aside." See also Walpole's Misc. Lett. vol. iii. p. 105; vol. 
 iv. p. 303. 
 
 t Is there any epistle answering to this title among Vol- 
 taire's Poems? Is it the Epitre lxxvi. vol. -13, dated this 
 year, 1755 ? " L'auteur arrivait dans sa terre. ' O maison 
 d'Aristippe, O jardin d'Epicure,' " &c. This was translated 
 under the title of An Epistle of M. de Voltaire upon his 
 arrival at his estate near the Lake of Geneva, March 1755. 
 — Monthly Review, 1755, vol. ii. p. 285. Mason says he does 
 
THE POET GRAY. 29 
 
 judge whether they are right in their assertion ; 
 you must return it in a post or two. I am, as 
 you must say, if you have any gratitude in you, 
 Your very obliging friend, 
 
 W. Mason. 
 
 I am disappointed of Voltaire's verses, but 
 you shall have them very soon. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 THE REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 DEAR SiR, Hanover, June 27, 1755. 
 
 Amongst the variety of rational entertain- 
 ments that travel affords to a thinking mind, I 
 have always ranked with the principal that 
 fund which it presents of new ideas peculiarly 
 proper to be thrown upon paper, in order to 
 form that which we call a free epistolary cor- 
 respondence. An easy communication of senti- 
 ments neither obscured by a cloud of reserve, 
 
 not recollect the title of the poem, but it was a small one, which 
 Voltaire wrote when he first settled at Ferney. Gray says, 
 " There are parts in it that are excellent, and everywhere above 
 mediocrity." — Works, vol. iii. p 141. 
 
30 LETTERS OF 
 
 which is always disagreeable to an amicable 
 reader, nor embarrassed by a burthen of terms 
 recherche, which is always fully as unpleasing 
 to a negligent writer, — is the very thing which 
 I should always labour to attain in my produc- 
 tions of this kind, though perhaps my aim is 
 totally chimerical, as the style I speak of may 
 be called with the poet 
 
 " A faultless monster, which the world ne'er saw." 
 
 Therefore, without further apology, I shall trust 
 to the sincerity of your friendship for a plenary 
 absolution in this case, and proceed in all the 
 simplicity of narration. 
 
 Germany is a country— but why should I 
 tell my friend who has seen France, who has 
 seen Italy, what kind of a country is Germany? 
 and yet perhaps he will not despise me for it ; 
 for though France is remarkable for its savoir 
 vivre and Italy for its virtu, yet Germany is the 
 reservoir of solid literature, and therefore not 
 unworthy of the attention of a person who 
 unites all these qualifications in his own par- 
 ticular, and may be called without flattery a 
 microcosm of the talents both of his own island 
 and the continent ; but hard, very hard, is my 
 fate, that I cannot give him any satisfactory 
 account of the state of the Germanic learning, 
 
THE POET GRAY. 31 
 
 having only as yet had a single interview with 
 
 Myn Herr , the royal librarian of this 
 
 place. Mynn Herr is of a roundish, squab 
 
 figure, and of a face corresponding, that is, as 
 his body is cylindrical, his face is rather circular 
 than oval ; he apparels himself generally in a 
 decent grass-green suit, with a fair full peruke, 
 not too full to break upon the spherical form of 
 his cheeks, and yet full enough to add a grace- 
 ful squareness on each side of them ; the alti- 
 tude of his square-toed shoe heels, the breadth 
 of his milk-and-watered rollups, and the size of 
 his amber-headed cane, are all truly symbolical, 
 not only of his own genius, but of that of all 
 his compatriots. When I say that Myn Herr 
 
 — is the only erudite person whom I have 
 
 yet seen, I must be understood to mean in this 
 place ; for when I lately made a tour to Ham- 
 burg I met with another, though of a different 
 sex, her name Madam Belcht, her person I 
 will not attempt to describe, but will endeavour 
 to give you a morceau of her conversation, for 
 I was honoured with it. She asked me who was 
 the famous poet that writ the " Mtt Toats ;" I 
 replied Doctor Young. She begged leave to 
 drink his health in a glass of sweet wine, adding 
 that he was her favourite English author. We 
 toasted the Doctor, upon which, having a mind 
 
32 LETTERS OF 
 
 to give my Parnassian toast, I asked Madame 
 Belclit if she had ever read La petite JElegie 
 dans la Cimetiere Hustique?* C'est beaucoup 
 jolie, je vous assure, — for I had said fort jolie 
 very often before. Qui, Monsieur, replied 
 Madame Belcht, je Vai lu, et elle est Men jolie 
 et melaneolique. Mais elle ne touehe point le 
 coeur, comme mes tres cheres Witt Toats. 
 
 The prudence you recommend to me at part- 
 ing, and which you yourself are so remarkable 
 for, I shall strictly observe, and therefore will 
 say nothing of the place I am in. Indeed, I have 
 nothing to say, if I was not prudent, only that 
 it is the noisiest place I ever was in, and that I 
 want to get out of it, which I hope is- no treason. 
 I have sent Lord John Cavendish f a list of the 
 
 * Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard. 
 t Fourth son of William third Duke of Devonshire. Mason 
 was his tutor at Cambridge. To him, the Elegy beginning 
 
 " E'er yet, ingenuous youth, thy steps retire," 
 
 was addressed. During the Rockingham administration, in 
 1760, he was a Lord of the Treasury; in March 1762 he was 
 appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer; and he died in 1796. 
 See Cavendish Debates, ii. p. 17; Rockingham Papers, i. 225, 
 ii. 511; Walpole's Misc. Letters, v. 29, 207; Memoirs of 
 George III. vol. ii. pp. 24, 128, 136; iii. p. 93;iv. p. 129; and 
 Collins's Peerage, vol. i. p. 318. He was the warm friend of 
 Lord Rockingham, under whose second administration he 
 
THE POET GRAY. 33 
 
 noises and their times of beginning, which will 
 give you some idea, if he shews you the letter. 
 
 Oh, Mr, Gray ! I bought at Hamburg such 
 a pianoforte, and so cheap ! It is a harpsichord 
 too of two unisons, and the jacks serve as 
 mutes when the pianoforte stop is played, by 
 the cleverest mechanism imaginable, — won't 
 you buy my Kirkman ? 
 
 Pray, Mr. Gray, write soon (how strangely is 
 my style changed since the beginning !) and tell 
 me about Rousseau, or any thing : it is great 
 charity I do assure you. I would have written 
 to you before, but Hamburg and Reviews pre- 
 vented me. Whitehead* is here with his lord- 
 lings; you would delight in Lord Nuneham, f he 
 is so peevish, and hates things so much, and has 
 
 filled the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer. His fair little 
 person, and the quaintness with which he untreasured, as by 
 rote, the stores of his memory, occasioned George Selwyn to 
 call him " the learned canarybird." 
 
 * William Whitehead went abroad as travelling tutor to 
 George Simon Harcourt, Viscount Nuneham — son of the first 
 Earl of Harcourt, who was Governor to George III. when 
 Prince of Wales, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1772, and died 
 in 1777 — and George Bussey, Lord Villiers, eldest son of the 
 Earl of Jersey. 
 
 f Lord Nuneham succeeded to the earldom of Harcourt. He 
 was the intimate friend of Mason and Whitehead, The entire 
 correspondence between Mason and Lord Nuneham has been 
 
 D 
 
34 LETTERS OF 
 
 so much sense ; Lord Villiers # is Pluiner ex- 
 ceedingly polished. Whitehead talks rather too 
 much of Princesses of the Blood, in a way be- 
 tween jest and earnest, that most people must 
 mistake and take for admiration. The rest of 
 the English are, Earl of Peterhouse, Sutton, and 
 just now Bagnal of Trinity, with grooms, dogs, 
 tutors, and all. Whit worth is also soon expected; 
 so that I think we shall soon have a pretty party 
 enough. O, the deuce take that confounded 
 drum and fife ! it plagues me past endurance ; I 
 cannot write a word more. Adieu, and believe 
 me yours with the greatest sincerity, 
 
 W. Mason. 
 
 preserved, and shows him to have been a person of talent and 
 accomplishment. See on him Gray's Letters, vol. iii. lxv. p. 159 ; 
 Walpole's Misc. Lett. iv. p. 377; Memoirs of George II. ii. 
 p. 59; Letters to Mason, vol. i. p. 50; and p. 310, " He is all 
 good nature, and deserved a fonder father." 
 
 * George Bussey, afterwards fourth Earl of Jersey, born 
 1735, succeeded to the peerage Aug. 28, 1769, (vide Walpole's 
 Memoirs of George III. vol. ii. p. 58, note,) died in 1809, 
 aged 63. — See Lord Mahon's History, vol. v. p. 90; Kock- 
 ingham Papers, i. p. 159; Life of Lord Keppel, i. p. 392. 
 General Keppel proposes to his brother, in anticipation of the 
 Bedfords and Kockinghams coming into office in 1767, to 
 make examples of the Onslows, Townshends, Shelleys, not for- 
 getting the little Lord Villiers. See also Selwyn Correspond- 
 ence, vol. ii. p. 214. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 35 
 
 LETTER X. 
 THE REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 
 Dear Mr. Gray, Tunbridge, Sept. io, 1755. 
 
 I was told yesterday by Lady H.* that it was 
 her birthday, and she wondered I had not written 
 her some verses ; so I did, and here they are : 
 
 Had R d bad my Muse essay 
 
 To hail her on her natal day, 
 I soon had ransack'd Nature's bowers 
 For blushing fruits and fragrant flowers, 
 And sworn, till fops believed it true, 
 That all their sweetness, all their hue, 
 Were nought to what her cheeks advance, 
 Adorned tout a-la-mode de France : 
 Or had gay Lady C * * * * 
 Been bent on such an odd design, 
 And deigned my verses to receive 
 (For verse is all I have to give), 
 It soon had been my tuneful pray'r 
 To beg propitious Fate to spare 
 The bliss she has, and always lend 
 An easy lord and gen'rous friend : 
 But how to suit my song to you 
 Is mighty hard, for, entre nous, 
 You're most unfashionably fair, 
 Content with your own face and hair ; 
 
 * i. e. Holdernesse. 
 D 2 
 
36 LETTERS OF 
 
 And, more unfashionably true, 
 
 A husband bounds your utmost view. 
 
 This then the case, my rhymes I'll close, 
 
 And wish, in verse as plain as prose, 
 
 That Tunbridge from her springs may grant 
 
 The little added health you want ; 
 
 And that for many a happy year 
 
 You need not to her fount repair, 
 
 Unless to see, as now you see, 
 
 Each varied form of vanity, 
 
 And candid laugh, as now you do, 
 
 At all the fools her walks can shew. 
 
 Yet one wish more, — may Fortune kind 
 
 Soon briskly blow a North-east wind ; 
 
 And then, some few days past and gone, 
 
 You'll scarce pull coifs for St. Simon. 
 
 You must observe this is not the St. Simon 
 mentioned in a book you have formerly read, 
 called the Testament, but another quite of a 
 different family, and whose name is pronounced 
 Sensimmong, like a dactyle. Well, how do you 
 like my verses ? whether shall I call them " To 
 
 Lady H on her Birth-day," or a " Lampoon 
 
 on Lady R and Lady ?" One talks 
 
 of nothing but lampoons here. Pray unde 
 derivatur lampoon ? # You have a pretty knack 
 at an old-fashioned Welsh ode, but you are 
 
 * It is derived, acccording to the dictionaries, from the old 
 French word tamper, potare. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 37 
 
 nothing like me at an impromptu. If you write 
 to me, direct " To the young man my aunt Dent 
 had liked to have ravished." Axton wrote to 
 me yesterday about his Fellowship; it was rather 
 a sesquipedalian letter. However, I answered it 
 to-day, and hoped he would behave gratefully 
 to Mr. Brown, who I said was much his friend, 
 and would secure him his Fellowship; and so, 
 having concluded my paper, I am yours. 
 
 Pray give my best compliments to Dr. Whar- 
 ton and his lady, and the ejected statesman ; 
 and, if you will write to me immediately to Hull, 
 I will tell you when I'll meet you at Cam- 
 bridge. Do you know what Whitehead's place 
 is worth ?* 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 THE REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 
 DEAR Mr GRAY, Wadworth, Nov. 26, 1755. 
 
 It is not true that I again make interest to be 
 transported into Ireland, and yet I believe too it 
 will be my fate; I am totally passive in the whole 
 
 * In 1755 Whitehead, through the interest of Lady Jersey, 
 was made secretary and registrar of the Right Honourable 
 Order of the Bath. — See Mason's Life of Whitehead, p. 86. 
 
db LETTERS OF 
 
 affair, and shall remain so. The only step I 
 ever took which could he called active, was to 
 write a letter to Mr. Bonfoy,* simply to inquire 
 whether it was true that the Marquis t intended 
 to take me next, which he has now answered 
 in the affirmative ; but, as Lowth is still to con- 
 tinue first chaplain, the time when is uncertain, 
 and cannot be these two years, in which space, 
 you know, a man may die or do a hundred 
 pretty things. But I hear, since I came into 
 these parts, that Seward J the critic is very 
 anxious about taking my place, and has made 
 offers of making over to me a great living in 
 the Peak, if he may go in my stead (here too 
 I preserve my passivity), it being totally indif- 
 ferent to me whether they thrust me into the 
 
 * Of Abbot's Ripton, Huntingdonshire. His name occurs 
 several times in the Correspondence. He is mentioned by 
 Walpole to West as being at Paris in April 1789, when 
 Walpole and Gray were there. See note to Lett, xxxvu. of this 
 volume, and a letter of the Rev. Mr. Jones, in Nichols's Lite- 
 rary Anecdotes, vol. viii. p. 378. "All was attention and 
 delight in Mr. Bonfoys parlour, when he (Mr. Parnham) sang 
 Mat. Prior's song," &c. 
 
 ■f Marquis of Hartington, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, May 
 1755, afterwards Duke of Devonshire. 
 
 \ The Rev. Thomas Seward, canon of Lichfield, and editor 
 of Beaumont and Fletcher, father of Anna Seward. The great 
 living was, I presume, " Eyam," of which he was rector. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 39 
 
 Devil's A or an Irish bog. Yet, though I 
 
 say I am indifferent to both these, I will in 
 my present circumstances embrace either. The 
 world has nothing to give me that I really care 
 for ; therefore whatever she gives me, or how- 
 ever she gives it, does not matter a rush, and 
 yet I own I would have something more of her 
 too, merely because I have not philosophy, or 
 a better thing, economy, to make what I have 
 a competency. 
 
 Whitehead has sent me some verses from 
 Vienna,* treating of my indolence and other 
 weighty matters, and exhorting me not to 
 detach myself too much from the world. The 
 verses are really very easy and natural, and 
 I would transcribe them for you, if it was not 
 too much trouble ; and yet you would not like 
 them if I did, because of some words which 
 I know would not digest upon your stomach, 
 neither do they on mine. For I do not know 
 how it is, but the slops you have given me 
 have made my digestive faculties so weak, that 
 several things of that sort, which were once as 
 easy to me as hasty pudding, never get through 
 
 * I do not see these verses in Whitehead's collected works. 
 I possess a copy of the tragedy of (Edipus, left unfinished by 
 Whitehead, and finished by Mason, privately printed at York, 
 alluded to in the Garrick Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 90. 
 
40 LETTERS OP 
 
 the first concoction, and lay as heavy in the 
 prima via as toasted cheese, all which I impute 
 to your nursery, where you would never let 
 one eat any thing that was solid, as I did at 
 St. John's. Write (you say) something stately 
 at Aston ; * I write nothing there but sermons, 
 and those I only transcribe. Write yourself, if 
 you please ; at least finish your Welsh ode, and 
 send it me to Hull ; for there is an alderman 
 there that I want to give his opinion about it. 
 
 But pray why, Mr. Gray, must I write, and 
 you not ? Upon my word, Sir, I really do not 
 mean it as a flattery or any thing of that sort ; 
 no, Sir, I detest the insinuation ; but, Mast my 
 laurels, Sir, if I do not think you write vastly 
 better than I do. I swear by Apollo, my dear 
 Sir, that I would give all my Elfrida (Odes 
 included) to be the author of that pretty Elegy 
 that Miss Plumtree can say off book. And I 
 protest to you that my Ode on Memory, t after it 
 
 * Mason was instituted to the rectory of Aston, and ap- 
 pointed chaplain to the Earl of Holdernesse, Nov. 1754. This 
 living he held till his death, in 1797, when he was succeeded 
 by the Eev. Christopher Alders on, who was followed by his 
 son the Rev. William Alderson, who died in the autumn of 
 1852. 
 
 t This ranks first of his Odes. In his Works, vol. i. 
 
 p. 19: 
 
 " Mother of Wisdom, thou whose sway 
 
 The throiig'd ideal hosts obey," &c. 
 
THE POET GBAY. 41 
 
 has gone through all the limce labor that our 
 friend Horace prescribes, nay, Sir, prematur 
 nonum in. annum (above half of which time it 
 has already, I assure you, been concealed malgre 
 my partiality to it), — I say that that very Ode 
 is not, nor ever will be, half so terse and com- 
 plete as the fragment of your Welsh Ode, # which 
 is, as one may say, now just warm from your 
 brain, and one would expect as callow as a new- 
 hatched chicken (pardon the barn-door simile). 
 But all your productions are of a different sort; 
 they come from you armed cap-a-pie, at all 
 points, as Minerva is said to have issued from 
 the head of Jupiter. I have thus said enough 
 to show you, that, however I may have laid 
 aside the practical part of poetry, I retain all 
 that internal force, that ignea vis which in- 
 spires every true son of Parnassus ; with all 
 which I am fervently yours, 
 
 W. Mason. 
 
 See on the opening lines of it, Hurd's Dissertation on the 
 Marks of Imitation, addressed to Mr. Mason, p. 190, which 
 lines he traced to a passage in the Prolusiones of Strada. 
 * The Bard. 
 
42 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 THE REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 DEAR SIR, Chiswick, Dec. 25, 1755. 
 
 You desired me to write you news ; but, 
 though there are a great many promotions, 
 they seem to me, as far as I can judge, all such 
 dirty ones, that you may spare me the trouble 
 of naming them, and pick them out of a news- 
 paper, if you think it worth while. There is a 
 bon mot of Mr. Pitt's handed about, out of the 
 late debate about the treaties.* Somebody had 
 compared the Russians to a star rising out of 
 the north, &c. Pitt replied, he was glad the 
 place of the star was thus fixed, for he was 
 certain it was not that star which once appeared 
 in the east, and which the wise men worshipped; 
 though it was like it in one particular, for it 
 made its worshippers bring gifts. Charles 
 Townshend, in the same debate, called Lord 
 Holland an unthinking, unparliamentary minis- 
 
 * On the debate concerning the treaties, see Horace Wal- 
 pole's Miscell. Letters, vol. iii. p. 170-183, at which he was 
 present. It was in this debate that the Honourable Mr. G. 
 Hamilton made the famous speech, which now forms his 
 pseudo-christian name ; though he spoke again within a few 
 months, and again shone. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 43 
 
 ter, for which he was severely mumbled by Mr. 
 Pox ; which I am glad of, because he is certainly 
 a most unprincipled patriot. But perhaps all 
 this is old to you ? I am tired of the subject, 
 and will drop it. 
 
 There is a sweet song in Demofoonte, called 
 " Ogni amante," sung by Bicciarelli.* Pray 
 look at it; it is almost verbatim the air in 
 Ariadne ; but I think better. I am told it is a 
 very old one of Scarlatti's, which, if true, Handel 
 is almost a musical Lauder. 
 
 Voltaire's mock poem, called "La Pucelle,"f 
 
 * Ricciarelli was a neat and pleasing performer, with a clear, 
 flexible, and silver-toned voice, but so much inferior to Min- 
 gotti, both in singing and acting, that he never was in very- 
 high favour. It was in the admirable drama of Demofoonte, 
 that Mingotti augmented her theatrical consequence, and ac- 
 quired much applause, beyond any period of her performance 
 in England. — Dr. Burney's Hist, of Music, vol. iv. pp. 464-468. 
 
 f A day or two before Voltaire's death, says Lacretelle, 
 " Les hommes les plus distingues du royaume venaient tour-a- 
 tour le soutenir; on baisait ses vetemens, on tombait a ses 
 pieds. ' Vous voulez done,' dit le vieillard, ' me faire mourir de 
 plaisir.' Ces acclamations le suivoient jusqu'a sa demeure. II 
 s'entendait benir de tous ses ouvrages, de la Pucelle cT Orleans 
 comme de la Henriade." See Hist. t. v. p. 159. " Voltaire 
 was alarmed almost to insanity by the escape of his Pucelle 
 d' Orleans, indiscreetly trusted to a female friend, which a 
 person of the name of Grasset had grossly interpolated, and 
 offered even to Voltaire himself for sale." Boaden's Life of 
 
44 LETTERS OF 
 
 is to be met with, though not sold publicly in 
 town ; I had a short sight of it the other day. 
 If you have any curiosity to see it, I can send 
 it you, with Eraser's assistance, in a couple of 
 covers. I have been here ever since I left 
 Cambridge, except one opera night. My ab- 
 sence from my pianoforte almost makes me 
 peevish enough to write a Bolingbrokian Essay 
 upon Exile. Why will you not send me my 
 Inscription? and with it be sure add a disserta- 
 tion upon Sigmas ; and tell me, with all Dr. 
 Taylor's* accuracy, whether a S, or a 0, or an 6, 
 is the most classical. You can write Disserta- 
 tions upon the Pelasgi, and why not upon this, 
 when it is for the use of a learned friend? Always 
 twitting you (you say) with the Pelasgi. Why, 
 it is all I can twit you with. I wish you good 
 success at brag as well as sweet temper. May 
 the latter be nOAT I1AKTIAGC AATME- 
 A EST EPA, and the former make your purse 
 
 Kemble, vol. i. p. 137. On Gray's opinion of Voltaire, see 
 Nicholls's Reminiscences of Gray, p. 33. His admiration of 
 his genius (for lie thought his tragedies next to Shakspere's) 
 was united to an abhorence of his principles. 
 
 * Dr. John Taylor, the very learned editor of Demosthenes, 
 Lysias, and of the Marmor Sandvicense, which latter work 
 is more immediately alluded to in this letter. See Memoirs 
 of Taylor, collected and edited by J. Nichols, 1819, and 
 Bp. Monk's Life of Bentley, vol. ii. p. 294. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 45 
 
 XPY2& XPY20TEPA. I see in the papers 
 Dodsley has published an Ode on the Earth- 
 quake at Lisbon, with some Thoughts on a 
 Churchyard. I suppose you are the author, 
 and that you have tagged your Elegy to the 
 tail of it ; however, if I do not suppose so, I 
 hope the world will, in order that people may 
 lay out their sixpences on that rather than on 
 Duncombe's * flattery to Eobus, and the old 
 horse. What a scribbling humour am I in ! 
 I will relieve you, however, by adding only my 
 love to Mr. Brown, Tuthill, and all friends, 
 and assuring you that I am yours with the 
 greatest sincerity, 
 
 Schoddles. 
 
 Shall I trouble you, dear Sir, to wish Dr. 
 Long and old Cardale a merry Christmas in 
 my name ? Lady Rochford assures me that 
 Lady Coventry " has a mole on one of her 
 ladyship's necks, * * * * * " 
 
 * See Bell's Fugitive Poetry, vol. xviii. p. 91, for the Ode by 
 J. Duncombe, M.A. to his Grace the Duke of Newcastle. A life 
 of him may be found in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. viii. 
 p. 271-278. He died at his living of Heme, near Canterbury, 
 in Jan. 1786, aged 56. Fobus was the name by which the 
 Duke of Newcastle is usually designated by Gray ; and the old 
 horse is George the Second, who is also praised in this ode. 
 
46 LETTERS OE 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAR SkRODDLES, Pemb. Hall, Tuesday, 1756. 
 
 If all the Greek you transcribe for me were 
 poetry already, I would bestir myself to oblige 
 you and Mr. Bivett;* but as it is no more than 
 measured prose, and as unfortunately (in Eng- 
 lish verse) a tripod with two ears or more has 
 no more dignity than a chamber-pot with one, 
 I do not see why you would have me dress it 
 up with any florid additions, which it must 
 have, if it would appear in rhyme ; nor why it 
 will not prove its point as well in a plain prose 
 translation as in the best numbers of Dry den. 
 If you think otherwise, why do not you do it 
 yourself, and consult me if you think fit ? 
 
 I rejoice to hear the prints succeed so well, and 
 am impatient for the work, but do not approve 
 the fine-lady part of it ; what business have 
 such people with Athens ? I applaud your 
 scheme for Gaskarth,t and wish it could have 
 
 * Nicholas Rivett, the associate of Mr. J. Stuart in the 
 measurement and delineation of the Antiquities of Athens. 
 See memoir of him in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. ix. 
 p. 147. Monthly Review, xlii. 369; lii. 193. 
 
 j* Joseph Gaskarth was treasurer of the College of Pem- 
 broke; in 1747 he was the fifth senior wrangler. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 47 
 
 succeeded. He bears his disappointment like 
 a philosopher, but his health is very bad. I 
 have had the honour myself of some little 
 grumblings of the gout for this fortnight, and 
 yesterday it would not let me put on a shoe to 
 hear the Frasi in, # so you may imagine I am in 
 a sweet amiable humour ; nevertheless, I think 
 of being in town (perhaps I may not be able to 
 stir) the middle of next week, with Montagu. 
 You are so cross-grained as to go to Tunbridge 
 just before I come, but I will give you the 
 trouble to inquire about my old quarters at 
 Roberts's, if I can probably have a lodging at 
 that time ; if not there, may be I can be in the 
 Oven, which will do well enough for a sinner : 
 be so good to give me notice, and the sooner 
 the better. I shall not stay above a week, and 
 then go to Stoke. I rejoice to know that the 
 genial influences of the spring, which produce 
 nothing but the gout in me, have hatched high 
 and unimaginable fantasies in you. I see, me- 
 thinks (as I sit on Snowdon), some glimpse of 
 Mona and her haunted shades, and hope we 
 shall be very good neighbours. Any Druidical 
 anecdotes that I can meet with I will be sure to 
 
 * An opera-singer not of the first rank. See Burney's 
 History of Music, vol. iv. p. 452. She was pupil to Signor 
 Brrvio. 
 
48 LETTERS OF 
 
 send you. I am of your opinion, that the ghosts 
 will spoil the picture, unless they are thrown 
 at a huge distance, and extremely kept down. 
 
 The British Mag,* I fear, has behaved itself 
 like a trained-band pair of colours in Bunhill 
 Fields. I think every day of going to Switzer- 
 land ; will you be of the party, or stay and sing 
 mass at Aston ? Adieu ! I am stupid, and in 
 some pain ; but ever very sincerely yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAR MASON, Stoke, July 25th, 1756. 
 
 I feel a contrition for my long silence, and 
 yet perhaps it is the last thing you trouble your 
 head about ; nevertheless, I will be as sorry as 
 if you took it ill. I am sorry too to see you so 
 punctilious as to stand upon answers, and never 
 to come near me till I have regularly left my 
 
 * Allusion to the loss of Minorca and Admiral Byng's eon- 
 duct. See Mr. Pitt's letter to Mr. Grenville, June 5, 1756, on 
 this subject — " Byng is gone to Gibraltar, and, if his own 
 account does not differ widely from that of the French, where 
 he ought to go next is pretty evident" &c. vol. i. p. 164. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 49 
 
 name at your door, like a mercer's wife that 
 imitates people who go a visiting. I would 
 forgive you this, if you could possibly suspect I 
 were doing any thing that I liked better, for 
 then your formality might look like being 
 piqued at my negligence, which has somewhat 
 in it like kindness ; but you know I am at 
 Stoke, hearing, seeing, doing, absolutely no- 
 thing, not such a nothing as you do at Tun- 
 bridge, chequered and diversified with a succes- 
 sion of fleeting colours, but heavy, lifeless, 
 without form and void ; sometimes almost as 
 black as the moral of Voltaire's Lisbon,* which 
 
 * "Poeme sur la Desastre de Lisbon, 1755; ou, Examen de 
 cet axiome Tout est bien." See Poemes de Voltaire, torn. xii. 
 p. 119. As Gray has alluded to the black moral of this poem, 
 I may mention with the praise it richly deserves Professor 
 Smyth's noble digression in his Lectures on the subject of these 
 dangerous writings of Voltaire, and of the unhealthy regions 
 of French literature. See vol. ii. p. 312 — 316. Voltaire in 
 his Preface has endeavoured to defend his Moral ; " LAuteur 
 du Poeme sur le desastre de Lisbonne ne combat pas 1'illustre 
 Pope (Essai sur l'Homme), qu'il a toujours admire et aime; 
 il pense comme lui sur presque tous les points ; mais penetre 
 du malheur des hommes, il s'eleve contre les abus qu'on peut 
 faire de cet ancien axiome ' Tout est bien." 1 II adopte cette 
 triste et plus ancienne verite, reconnue de tous les hommes, 
 qiCil y a du mal sur la terre." See also Lettre xlii. a M. de 
 Cideville, " II (Pope) prouve en beau vers, que la nature de 
 1'homme a toujours ete et toujours du etre ce qu'elle est. Je 
 
 E 
 
50 LETTERS OF 
 
 angers you so. I have had no more pores* and 
 muscular inflations, and am only troubled with 
 this depression of mind ; you will not expect 
 therefore I should give you any account of my 
 verve, which is at best, you know, of so delicate 
 a constitution, and has such weak nerves, as not 
 to stir out of its chamber above three days in a 
 year, but I shall inquire after yours, and why 
 it is off again ; it has certainly worse nerves 
 than mine, if your reviewers have frighted it. 
 Sure I (not to mention a score of your uncles f 
 and aunts) am something a better judge than all 
 the man midwives and presbyterian parsons 
 that ever were born. Pray give me leave to 
 ask you, do you find yourself tickled with the 
 commendations of such people ? for you have 
 your share of these too. I dare say not ; your 
 vanity has certainly a better taste; and can, then, 
 the censure of such critics move you ? I own it 
 is an impertinence in these gentry to talk of 
 one at all either in good or in bad, but this we 
 must all swallow; I mean not only we that 
 write, but all the we's that ever did any thing 
 
 suis bien etonne qu'un pretre Normand ose traduire de ces 
 verites." 
 
 * " pores " omitted in Mason. 
 
 f "A score of your other critics."-— Mason's edition. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 51 
 
 to be talked of.* I cannot pretend to be learned 
 without books, nor to know the Druids from the 
 Pelasgi at this distance from Cambridge. I 
 can only tell you not to go and take the Mona 
 for the Isle of Man ; it is Anglesey, a tract of 
 plain country, very fertile, but picturesque only 
 from the view it has of Caernarvonshire, from 
 which it is separated by the Menai, a narrow 
 arm of the sea. Forgive me for supposing in 
 you such a want of erudition. 
 
 I congratulate you on our glorious successes 
 in the Mediterranean. Shall we go in time, 
 and hire a house together in Switzerland? it is a 
 fine poetical country to look at, and nobody 
 there will understand a word we say or write, f 
 Pray let me know what you are about ; what 
 
 * Here Mason, in the MS., has written the following sen- 
 tences (taken mostly from the preceding letter), which he has 
 ordered to be inserted in this place : " While I write I receive 
 yours, and rejoice to find that the influences of this fine 
 season, which produce nothing in me, have hatched high and 
 unimaginable fancies in you. I see, methinks, as I sit on 
 Snowdon, some glimpse of Mona and her haunted shades, and 
 hope we shall be very good neighbours. Any druidical anec- 
 dotes that I can meet with I will be sure to send you when I 
 return to Cambridge, but I cannot pretend to be learned 
 without books, or to know the druids from modern bishops at 
 this distance. I can only add — ." 
 
 f Here the letter in Mason's edition ends. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 LETTERS OF 
 
 new acquaintances yon have made at Tun- 
 bridge ; how you do in body and in mind ; 
 believe me ever sincerely yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 Have you read Madame Maintenon' s Letters?* 
 
 * These Letters were published, with a Life of the writer, 
 by La Beaumelle, the great enemy and plague of Voltaire. 
 See in "Walpole and Mason Correspondence, i. 236, a 
 French epigram on Beaumelle, Freron, and Voltaire. " This 
 work," says Professor Smyth, " in spite of Voltaire, still 
 keeps its place." See Lord Chesterfield's opinion of these 
 Letters in vol. iv. p. 1 (Mrs. Stanhope's edition). " I am sure 
 they are genuine ; they both entertain'd and inform'd me." 
 Colonel Johnes, of Hafod, published the Original Memoirs of 
 Madame de Maintenon, with the various castrations and 
 alterations, from Beaumelle's own copy. Voltaire in his Dic- 
 tionnaire Philosophique, tome 1, p. 361, has argued against 
 the correctness of these Memoirs, and also in his Siecle de 
 Louis XIV. has written numerous notes against them. Horace 
 Walpole confesses that two or three of these letters have made 
 him jealous for his adored Madame de Sevigne. See on them 
 the Edinburgh Eeview, No. Lxxxvin. by Sir James Mackintosh, 
 and also Professor Smyth on the French Eevolution, vol. i. 
 p. 18. Chaudon in his Dictionnaire Historique (art. Maintenon), 
 thus accuses Beaumelle: "En publiant les Lettres, il y a fait 
 quelquefois des changemens qui les rendent infidelles ; il fait dire 
 a Madame de Maintenon des choses qu'elle n'a jamais pensees, et 
 celles qu'elle a pensees d'une maniere dont elle ne les a 
 jamais dites;" and Barbier says, " La Beaumelle avoit pret^ 
 a cette dame son bel esprit dans des courtes mais frequentes 
 additions." See Bibl. d'un Homme de Gout, vol. iv. p. 46. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 53 
 
 When I saw Lord John* in town, he said, if his 
 brother went to Ireland you were to go second 
 chaplain, but it seemed to me not at all certain 
 that the Duke would return thither ; you pro- 
 bably know by this time. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAR MASON, Stoke, July 30, Friday, 1756. 
 
 I received your letters both at once yesterday, 
 which was Thursday, such is the irregularity of 
 our post. The affair of Southwell, at this time, 
 is exceedingly unlucky ; if it is committed to 
 you by all means defer it. It is even worth 
 while to stop Mrs. Southwell, who will enter 
 into the reason of it. Another thing is, you have 
 very honestly and generously renounced your 
 own interest (I mention it not as a compliment, 
 hut pour let r arete dufaitj to serve Mr. Brown. 
 But what if you might serve him still better 
 by seemingly making interest for yourself ? Ad- 
 dison must certainly be a competitor ; he will 
 have the old (new) Lord Walpole, of Wolter- 
 ton, his patron, to back him, the Bishop of 
 
 * Lord John Cavendish. 
 
54 LETTERS OF 
 
 Chester,* the heads, who know him for a staunch 
 man, and consequently the Duke of Newcastle. 
 If you can divide or carry this interest, and by 
 it gain the dirty part of the college, so as to 
 throw it into Mr. Brown's scale at pleasure, 
 perhaps it may produce an unanimous election. 
 This struck me last night as a practicable thing, 
 but I see some danger in it, for you may dis- 
 oblige your own friends, and Lord Holdernesse 
 must, I doubt, be acquainted with your true 
 design, who very likely will not come into it. 
 T. and also Mr. B. himself should be acquainted 
 with it immediately ; consider therefore well 
 whether this or the plain open way (which, I 
 own, is commonly the best) be most likely to 
 succeed; the former, if it be found imprac- 
 ticable for Mr. B., at least may make it sure for 
 yourself, which is to be wished. In the next 
 place (it is odd to talk thus to a man about 
 himself, but I think I know to whom I am 
 talking,) I have puzzled my head about a list 
 of the college, and can make out only these ; 
 pray supply it for me : Brown, Gaskarth, 
 May, Cardale, Bedford, Milbourne, Tuthill,f 
 
 * Dr. Edmund Keene, Master of St. Peter's College, Cam- 
 bridge ; and who, on resigning the Mastership, procured Dr. 
 Law to be elected. He will be mentioned again, more fully. 
 
 •(• Henry Tuthill, of St, Peter's Coll. ; admitted at Pembroke 
 
THE POET GRAY. 55 
 
 Spencer, Forrester, Mapletoft, Delaval, Axton.* 
 I do not know if Spencer's Fellowship be vacant 
 or not, or whether a majority only of the whole 
 or two-thirds be required to choose a Master. 
 
 I should hope nine of these, and perhaps 
 Mapletoft too, if Gaskarth pleases, might be 
 got for Mr. Brown, but I can answer only 
 for T[uthill]. Bedford has always professed a 
 friendship for Mr. B. but he is a queer man ; 
 his patron is a Mr. Buller of Cornwall, a tory ; 
 Delaval, Gaskarth, Milbourne, and Axton, you 
 may soon inquire into yourself; Spencer (if he 
 is one) has promised Dr. Wharton. 
 
 I write to Mr. W.f (your neighbour over the 
 
 Coll. 5 July, 1746; admitted Fellow 1748-9; deprived of his 
 fellowship Feb. 2, 1757. Gray had a great regard for him, as 
 may be seen by his early Letters. See his Works, vol. iii. 
 pp. 47, 54 ; and the Letter to Dr. Wharton, dated 17 February, 
 1757, will shew the pain and suffering which were the conse- 
 quence of this unhappy history. See note to Nichols' and 
 Gray's Correspondence, ed. Aid. pref. p. viii. 
 
 * These are the names of the Fellows of Pembroke. Dela- 
 val and Cardale appear in the Cambridge Calendar as having 
 taken wranglers' degrees in 1750-1, and Axton, a senior 
 optime in 1755. Spencer, late Fellow of Pembroke, went to 
 Trinity, and took his degree in 1750. Of Bedford and Mil- 
 bourne I can give no account. 
 
 f Horace Walpole, who lived in the same street as Mason, 
 viz., Arlington Street. 
 
56 LETTERS OF 
 
 way) to desire him to speak to Mr. P. or the 
 Duke of Bedford, if it may be of use, and add 
 that if he will let you know he is at home you 
 will come and give him any information neces- 
 sary. Whether this will signify I cannot say, but 
 I do not see any hurt it can do. 
 
 I wish like you I were at Cambridge, but 
 to hurry down on this occasion would be worse 
 than useless, according to my conception. I 
 am glad you think of going, if they approve it. 
 Dr. Long, if he is not dead, will recover,* — mind 
 if he don't. I leave my answer to your first 
 letter to another opportunity, and am always 
 
 yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 * He did recover, and lived till Dec. 16, 1770, when he 
 was in his 9 2d year. In his 88th year he was put in nomi- 
 nation for the office of Vice Chancellor. He appears in 
 Churchill's "Candidate:" 
 
 " Comes Sumner, wise and chaste as chaste can be, 
 With Long as wise, and not less chaste than he." 
 
 In the Gent. Mag. List of Deaths, 1770, is Eoger Long, aged 
 91. See Gray's Letters to Mr. Cole on Dr. Long's funeral, 
 in Works, vol. iv. p. 194, and p. 196- 
 
THE POET GRAY. 57 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 DEAR SKRODDLES, Dec. 19, 1756. 
 
 # # * # rpkg man ' s name is Joannes Geor- 
 gius Frickius, Commentatio de Druidis: acce- 
 dunt Opuscula qusedam rariora, historiam et 
 antiquitates Druidarum illustrantia item que 
 Scriptbrum de iisdem Catalogus.* It was pub- 
 lished at TJlm, 1744, 4to., and in the Nova 
 Acta Eruditoruin (printed at Leipsic for 1745), 
 there is some account of it. The rare little 
 works which make the second part of it, are, 
 Peter L'Escalopier's Theologia Vett m . Gal- 
 lorum; Caesar. Bulacus, in Historia Vett m . 
 Academiarum Gallise Druidicarum ; and two or 
 three more old flams. I do not know what 
 
 * Joannis Georgii Frickii, Joan. pi. rov fiaicctpirov, A. M. 
 ad sed. S.S. Trinit. Ulm. Pastoris et Gymnas. Visitatoris, 
 itemque Societ. Teutonics Leipsicis Sodalis, Commentatio de 
 Druidis Occident alium Popnlorum Philosoplris, multo quam 
 antea auctior et emendatior. Accedunt Opuscula qussdam 
 rariora Hist, et Antiq. Druidum illustrantia, itemque Scrip- 
 torum de eisdem Catalogus. Recensuit, singula digessit, ac 
 in lucem edidit frater germanus, Albertus Frickius, A. M. 
 V. D. M. Prof. P. P. et Biblioth. Adj. Ulm. itemque M. Prof. 
 P. P. et &c. Ulmae, 1744, 4to. See Nov. Act. Eruditorum, 
 vol. Lxiv. p. 237, Mens. Junii, 1745, p. 1. 
 
58 LETTERS OE 
 
 satisfaction you will find in all this, having 
 never seen the book itself. I find a French 
 book commended and cited by Jaques Martin 
 upon the Religion of the Ancient Gauls. 
 
 Over leaf you will find a specimen of my Lord 
 Duke of Norfolk's housekeeping. I desire you 
 would inquire of Mr. Noble, or somebody, what 
 the same provisions would cost now-a-days. 
 
 I send you a modern curiosity inclosed, a 
 specimen of sturdy begging, which cost me half- 
 a-guinea ; if he writes so to strangers, what 
 must he do to particular friends like you. Pray 
 learn a style and manner against you publish 
 your Proposals. 
 
 Odikle* is not a bit grown, though it is fine 
 mild open weather. Bell Selby has dreamed that 
 you are a Dean or Prebendary ; I write you 
 
 word of it, because they say a w 's dreams 
 
 are lucky, especially with regard to church pre- 
 ferment. 
 
 You forget Mr. Senhouse's acoustic warm- 
 ing-pan : we are in a hurry, for I cannot speak 
 to him till it comes. God bless you, come and 
 bring it with you, for we are as merry as the 
 day is short. The squire is gone ; he gave us a 
 goose and a turkey, and two puddings of a 
 moderate size. Adieu, dove, I am ever yours. 
 
 * The Bard. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 
 
 59 
 
 Gaskyn, and the Viper, &c. desire their 
 civilities. 
 
 What prevys, marlings, and oxbirds are I 
 cannot tell, no more than I can tell how to 
 make Stoke fritters ; leche is blanc-manger ; 
 wardyns are baking-pears ; doyse are does. Do 
 not think they lived thus every day. If you 
 would know how they eat on meagre days and 
 in ordinary I will send you word. I shall only 
 add that Lord Surrey loved buttered lyng and 
 targets of mutton for breakfast; and my Lady's 
 Grace used to piddle with a chine of beef upon 
 brewess. 
 
 You will wonder what I mean by the half- 
 guinea I talked of above ; it was a card from 
 Mr. Prankling, which I meant to inclose, but 
 cannot find it high or low. 
 
 Chutstmas Day. 
 
 Empt: — Item, 35 malards, 2\d. a-pece 
 
 Item, 55 wigyns, 2d. a-pece 
 
 Item, 38 teles, Id. a-pece 
 
 Item, 2 corlewys 
 
 Item, 2 prevys,* 2d. a-pece 
 
 7 
 10 
 4 
 1 
 
 
 d. 
 3 
 2 
 9 
 
 4 
 
 * " Prevys" may be the " pivier," or golden plover ; "mar- 
 lvngs," the " morinellus," or dotterel. The " purre," Tringa 
 cinclus, is called provincially the oxbird, a species of sand- 
 piper. 
 
60 
 
 LETTERS OE 
 
 Item, 2 plovers, 2d. a-pece 
 Item, 8 woodcocks, 3d. a-pece 
 Item, 42 marlyngs, \d. a-pece 
 Item, 42 rede-shanks, \d. a-pece 
 Item, 17 doz. and \ oxbyrdys, 3d. 
 Item, 40 grete byrdys, \d. a-pece 
 Item, 40 small byrdys, 4c?. a doz. 
 Item, 11 pyggs 
 Item, 200 eggs, 8d. 
 Item, 31 cople conyse, fett at bery^ 
 
 doz. 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 Presents : — 10 cople teles, 3 cople wegyns, 
 4 cople se-pyse, 8 malards, 3 doz. snytts, 5 cloz. 
 oxbyrdys, 6 se-mewys, 2 swanys, 2 pecocks, 
 14 partridges, 4 woodcoks, 15 doyse, 4 gallons 
 creme, 6 gall, cord, a hundred ^ of wardyns, a 
 bushell apples. Breakfast, to my Ladyse Grace : 
 Braune, and a capon stuyd. To my Lord's 
 Grace, a Crystmas-day dyner : First course (the 
 Duke and Duchess and 24 persons to the same), 
 the borys hede, brawne, pottage, a stuyd capon, 
 a bake-mett with twelve birdys, rostyd vele, a 
 swane, two rostyd capons, a custerde, Stoke- 
 fritter, leeche. (Second course) : Gely, three 
 conyse, five teles, a pekoke, twelve rede-shanks, 
 
 * Thirty-one couple of conies, taken at the burro.w ; Bery, 
 or berrie, means burrow. Thus Dryden : — 
 
 The theatres are berries for the fair." 
 
THE POET GRAY. 61 
 
 12 small byrdys, 2 pastyse veneson, a tarte, 
 gynger-brede. (To the Bordys end) : Brawne, 
 a stuyd capon, a bakyd cony, rostyd yele, half 
 a swane, custerde, leche. (Hewarde) : Gely, 
 2 conyse, 4 teles, 12 small byrdys, a pasty 
 venison, a tarte. 
 
 There was also a table for the gentlewomen, 
 and 12 persons to the same, and the servants 
 table or tables, at which sate 28 gentlemen, 60 
 yeomen, 44 gromes, and gentlemen's servants ; 
 the meats were much the same with the former. 
 One day this Christmas I see there were 347 
 people dined at the lower tables. The whole 
 expense of the week (exclusive of wine, spices, 
 salt, and sauce, &c.) amounted to 31/. 9s. 
 6^. 
 
 Ode, p. 32.* — "Whom Camber bore." I sup- 
 
 * Gray now begins a criticism on the Ode in Mason's 
 Caractacns : 
 
 " Hail, thou harp of Phrygian fire ! 
 In years of yore that Camber bore," &c. 
 
 See Masons Works, vol. ii. p. 110. In a note in his Ode on 
 the Hon. William Pitt, 4to., 1782, Mason says, " The poem of 
 Caractacus was read in MS. by the late Earl of Chatham, who 
 honoured it with an approbation which the author is proud to 
 record." 
 
62 LETTERS OF 
 
 pose you say "whom" because the harp is 
 treated as a person ; but there is an ambiguity 
 in it; and I should read "that Camber bore." 
 There is a specimen of nice criticism for you ! 
 
 I much approve the six last lines of this 
 stanza ; it is a noble image, and well expressed 
 to the fancy and to the ear. 
 
 I. 2.— A rill has no tide of waters to " tumble 
 down amain." I am sorry to observe this just 
 in a place where I see the difficulty of rhyming. 
 I object nothing to the " Symphony of ring- 
 doves and poplars," but that it is an idea 
 borrowed from yourself; and I would not have 
 you seem to repeat your own inventions. 
 
 I conceive the four last lines to be allegorical, 
 alluding to the brutal ferocity of the natives, 
 which by the power of music was softened into 
 civility. It should not, therefore, be the "wolf- 
 dog," but the "wolf" itself, that bays the 
 trembling moon ; it is the wolf that thins the 
 flocks, and not the dog, who is their guardian. 
 
 I. 3.— I read "The Fairy Fancy." I like 
 all this extremely, and particularly the ample 
 plumes of Inspiration, that 
 
 " Beat on the breathless bosom of the air." 
 
 Yet, if I were foolish, I could find fault with 
 this verse, as others will do. But what I do 
 
THE POET GBAY. 63 
 
 not conceive is, how such wings as those of In- 
 spiration should be mistaken for the wings of 
 Sleep, who (as you yourself tell me presently) 
 "sinks softly down the skies;" besides, is not 
 "her" false English? the nominative case is 
 " she." 
 
 II. 3. — This belongs to the second epode. 
 Does the swart-star (that is, Sirius,) shine from 
 the north ? I believe not. But Dr. Long will 
 tell you. 
 
 II. 2. — These are my favourite stanzas. I 
 am satisfied, both mind and ear, and dare not 
 murmur. If Mador would sing as well in the 
 first chorus, I should cease to plague you. 
 Only,- 
 
 " Rise at her art's command " 
 
 is harsh, and says no more than 
 
 " Arise at her command,' 1 
 
 or 
 
 " Are born at her command." 
 
 II. 3. — I told you of the swart- star before. 
 At the end I read, 
 
 " Till Destiny prepare a shrine of purer clay." 
 
 Afterwards read, "Resume no more thy strain." 
 You will say I have no notion of tout-ensembles, 
 if I do not tell you that I like the scheme of 
 this ode at least as well as the execution. 
 
64 LETTERS OF 
 
 And now I rejoice with you in the recovery 
 of your eyes ; pray learn their value, and be 
 sparing of them.* I shall leave this place in 
 about a fortnight, and within that time hope 
 to despatch you a packet with my criticalities 
 entire. I send this bit first, because you desire 
 it. Dr. Wharton is in great hopes that Mr. 
 Hurd will not treat Dr. Akenside so hardly as 
 he intended, and desires you would tell him so, 
 as his request is founded on mere humanity 
 (for he pretends no friendship, and has but a 
 slight acquaintance with the doctor).f I pre- 
 
 * Mason's eyes were weak, a complaint that lasted more or 
 less through his life. The place in his library was pointed 
 out to me by Mr. Alderson, where he usually sate and wrote, 
 and which was the most distant from the light. His poetical 
 chair — sedes beata — was kindly bequeathed to me ; and I have 
 left it by will to the Poet laureate of the day, that it may 
 rest among the sacred brotherhood : — 
 
 " laetumque choro Pceana canentes, 
 
 Inter odoratum Lauri nemus." 
 
 | In one of Mason's manuscript papers, I found the fol- 
 lowing note relating to a celebrated passage in Akenside : — 
 
 " Edward Maurice, Bishop of Ossory, left behind him a 
 manuscript dramatic poem, of which the life of David was 
 the subject. It is with other writings of his preserved 
 among the MSS. at Trinity College, Dublin. The author of 
 Letters between Henry and Frances (Mrs. Griffiths), in Letter 
 
THE POET GRAY. 65 
 
 sent it to you, and wish you would acquaint 
 Mr. Hurd with it, the sooner the better. 
 
 I am well and stupid, but ever unalterably 
 yours, T. Gr. 
 
 I do not understand if Eraser is recovered ; I 
 
 498, has published the following extract from it. The coin- 
 cidence is curious: — 
 
 " Abishai. 
 
 " Has God then two anointed, to confound 
 Suspended loyalty ? as when the sun, 
 The god of eastern lands, imprints his ray 
 On a cloud's compact vapour, and thence shines 
 Another sun — the trembling priest aghast 
 All doubtful stands, unknowing where to send 
 The odour of his incense." 
 
 Akenside says that when nature and her copy made by per- 
 fect art are brought into comparison 
 
 " Applauding love 
 
 Doubts where to choose, and mortal man aspires 
 To tempt creative praise, as when a cloud 
 Of gathering hail with limpid crusts of ice, 
 Inclos'd and obvious to the beaming sun, 
 Collects his large effulgence ; straight the heavens 
 With equal flames present on either land 
 The radiant visage; Persia stands at gaze 
 Appalled, and on the brink of Ganges doubts 
 The snowy-vested seer, in Mithra's name 
 To which the fragrance of the south shall burn, 
 To which his warbled orizons ascend." 
 
 Pleasures of the Imagination, b. iii. v. 427. 
 
 r 
 
66 LETTERS 0E 
 
 wish, he was. Do you know any thing of Stone- 
 hewer ? 
 
 P. 2. — I liked the opening as it was origi- 
 nally better than I do now, though I never 
 thoroughly understood " how blank he frowns." 
 And as to " black stream," it gives me the idea 
 of a river of mud.* I should read "dark stream," 
 imagining it takes its hue only from the rocks 
 and trees that overhang it. " These cliffs, these 
 yawning," &c. comes in very well where it 
 stood at first, and you have only removed it to 
 another place, where, by being somewhat more 
 diffused, it appears weaker. You have intro- 
 duced no new image in your new beginning 
 but one, " utters deep wailings," which is very 
 well: but as to a "trickling runlet," I never 
 heard of such a thing, unless it were a runlet 
 of brandy. 
 
 Yet I have no objection at all to the reflec- 
 tion Didius makes on the power objects of the 
 sight have over the soul ; it is in its place, and 
 might even be longer, but then it should be 
 more choicely and more feelingly expressed. 
 He must not talk of dells and streams only, 
 
 * Mason has, in accordance with Gray's criticism, given, 
 11 How stern he frowns," and the " dark stream." The " trick- 
 ling runlet" has entirely disappeared. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 67 
 
 but of something more striking, and more cor- 
 responding to the scene before him. Intellect 
 is a word of science, and therefore is inferior to 
 any more common word. 
 
 P. 3. — For the same reason I reject " philo- 
 sophy," and read " studious they measure, save 
 when contemplation," &c. and here you omit 
 two lines, relating to astronomy, for no cause 
 that I discern. 
 
 P. 4. — What is your quarrel to " shallops ?" 
 I like " Go bid thine eagles soar," perhaps from 
 obstinacy, for I know you have met with some 
 wise gentleman who says it is a false thought, 
 and informs you that these were not real eagles, 
 but made of metal or wood painted. The word 
 " seers," comes over too often : here, besides, it 
 sounds ill. Elidurus need not be so fierce. 
 " Dost thou insult us, Roman ?" was better be- 
 fore. Sure " plan'd" is a nasty stiff word. 
 
 P. 6. — It must be Caesar* and Pate; the name 
 of Claudius carries contempt with it. 
 
 P. 7.— 
 
 " Brother, I spurn it, better than I scorn it. 
 Misjudging Boy !" 
 
 is weakly. He calls him coward because such 
 
 * So it is printed, 
 
 " Cassar and Fate demand him at your hand." 
 
 f2 
 
68 LETTERS OF 
 
 a reproach was most likely to sting him. " I'll 
 do the deed myself," is bolder, more resolute, 
 more hearty, than the alteration. " Lead forth 
 the saintly," &c. better, shorter, and more lively 
 at first. " What have I to do with purple robes 
 and arraignments?" — like a trial at York 
 assizes. 
 
 P. 8. — " Try, if 'twill bring her deluging," &c. 
 better so, only I do not like " strait justice :" 
 " modest mounds " is far worse. 
 
 P. 9. — " Do this and prosper, but pray thee," 
 &c. Oh ! how much superior to the cold lines 
 for which you would omit them. It is not you 
 but somebody else that has been busy here and 
 elsewhere. " Come from their caves." I read, 
 " Are issuing from their caves. Hearest thou 
 yon signal?" and put "awful" where it was 
 before. " I'll wait the closing," &c. Leave it as 
 it was. " Bo thou as likes thee best, betray, or 
 aid me:" it is shorter and more sulky. Elidurus 
 too must not go off in silence ; and what can he 
 say better ? 
 
 P. 10. — I do not dislike the idea of this cere- 
 mony, but the execution of it is careless and 
 hasty. The reply of the Semi-chorus is stolen 
 from Dryden's (Edipus, which, perhaps, you 
 never saw, nor I since I was a boy, at which 
 time it left an impression on my fancy. Pray 
 
THE POET GRAY. 69 
 
 look at it. This " dread ground " breaks my 
 teeth. " Be it worm, or aske, or toad :" these 
 are things for fairies to make war upon but not 
 Druids, at least they must not name them. An 
 aske* is something I never heard of. "Full five 
 fathom under ground." Consider, five fathom is 
 but thirty feet ; many a cellar lies deeper, t I 
 read, " Gender' d by the autumnal moon ;" by 
 its light I mean. " Conjoined " is a bad word. 
 " Supernal art profound " is negligent. Indeed 
 I do not understand the image, how the 
 snakes in copulation should heave their egg to 
 the sky ; you will say it is an old British fancy. 
 I know it of old ; but then it must be made 
 picturesque, and look almost as if it were 
 true. 
 
 P. 13. — "Befit such station." The verse 
 wants a syllable. " Even in the breast of Mona," 
 read "the heart of Mona." "Catches fresh 
 grace;" the simile is good, but not this expres- 
 sion. The Tower is more majestic, more vene- 
 rable, not more graceful. I read, 
 
 "He looks as doth the Tower 
 After the conflict of Heaven's angry bolts ; 
 Its nodding walls, its shatter'd battlements, 
 
 * " Asker," in old language, was a ivater-newt, which Ma- 
 son probably meant. 
 
 f " Twice twelve for them under ground." So Edd. 
 
70 LETTERS OP 
 
 Frown with a dignity unmark'd before, 
 Ev'n in its prime of strength."* 
 
 P. 13. — I do not desire he should return the 
 Druid's salute so politely. Let him enter with 
 that reflection, " This holy place, &c." and not 
 stand upon ceremony. It required no altera- 
 tion, only I hate the word " vegetate," and would 
 read, 
 
 " Tell me, Druid, 
 Is it not better to be such as these 
 Than be the thing I am?" 
 
 I read, too, " Nor show a Praetor's edict," &c. 
 and "pestilent glare," as they were before. 
 Add, too, " See to the altar's base the victims 
 led," &c. And then, whether they were bulls 
 or men, it is all one. I must repeat again, that 
 the word " Seers " is repeated for ever. 
 
 P. 15. — " I know it, rev'rend Fathers," &c. 
 This speech is sacred with me, and an example 
 of dramatic poetry. Touch not a hair of its 
 head, as you love your honour. 
 
 * The text of Mason stands thus : 
 
 " He looks, as doth the Tower, whose nodding Walls, 
 After the conflict of Heaven's angry bolts, 
 Frown with a dignity unmark'd before, 
 Ev'n in its power of strength." 
 
THE POET GRAY. 71 
 
 P. 16. I had rather some of these person- 
 ages, " Resignation, Peace, Revenge, Slaughter, 
 Ambition," were stript of their allegorical garb.* 
 A little simplicity here in the expression would 
 better prepare the high and fantastic strain, and 
 all the unimaginable harpings that follow. I 
 admire all from " Eager to snatch thee, &c." 
 down to the first epode of the chorus. You 
 give these Miltonic stanzas up so easily that I 
 begin to waver about Mador's song. If you 
 have written it, and it turn out the finest thing 
 in the world, I rejoice, and say no more. Let 
 it come though it were in the middle of a ser- 
 mon ; but if not, I do confess, at last, that the 
 chorus may break off, and do very well without 
 a word more. Do not be angry at the trouble 
 I have given you ; and now I have found the 
 reason why I could not be pleased with Mador's 
 philosophic song. The true lyric style, with 
 all its flights of fancy, ornaments, and height- 
 ening of expression, and harmony of sound, is 
 in its nature superior to every other style; 
 which is just the cause why it could not be 
 
 * Chorus. " that Resignation meek, 
 
 That dove-ey'd Peace, handmaid of Sanctity, 
 Approached the altar with thee ; 'stead of these 
 See I not gaunt Revenge, ensanguined Slaughter, 
 And mad Ambition, &c." 
 
72 LETTERS OE 
 
 borne in a work of great length, no more than 
 the eye could bear to see all this scene that we 
 constantly gaze upon, — the verdure of the fields 
 and woods, the azure of the sea and skies, 
 turned into one dazzling expanse of gems. The 
 epic, therefore, assumed a style of graver colours, 
 and only stuck on a diamond (borrowed from 
 her sister) here and there, where it best became 
 her. When we pass from the diction that suits 
 this kind of writing to that which belongs to 
 the former, it appears natural, and delights us ; 
 but to pass on a sudden from the lyric glare 
 to the epic solemnity (if I may be allowed to 
 talk nonsense) has a very different effect. We 
 seem to drop from verse into mere prose, from 
 light into darkness. Another thing is, the 
 pauses proper to one and the other are not at 
 all the same; the ear therefore loses by the 
 change. Do you think if Mingotti stopped 
 in the middle of her best air, and only repeated 
 the remaining verses (though the best Metas- 
 tasio ever wrote), that they would not appear 
 very cold to you, and very heavy? 
 
 P. 24. — "Boldly dare " is tautology. 
 
 P. 27. — " Brigantum :" there was no such 
 place. 
 
 P. 28. — "The sacred hares." You might as 
 well say "the sacred hogs." 
 
THE POET GRAY. 73 
 
 P. 29. — There is an affectation in so often 
 using the old phrase of " or ere " for " before." 
 
 P. 30. — " Rack" is the course of the clouds, 
 "wreck" is ruin and destruction. Which do 
 you mean ? I arn not yet entirely satisfied 
 with the conclusion of this fine allegory. " That 
 blest prize redeem' d " is flatly expressed; and 
 her sticking the pages over the arch of her 
 bower is an idea a little burlesque ; besides, are 
 we sure the whole is not rather too long for 
 the place it is in, where all the interests of the 
 scene stand still for it ? and this is still drawn 
 out further by the lines you have here put into 
 the mouth of Caractacus. Do not mistake me ; 
 I admire part of it, and approve almost all; 
 but consider the time and place. 
 
 P. 31. — " Pensive Pilgrim." Why not ? 
 there is an impropriety in " wakeful wanderer." 
 I have told you my thoughts of this chorus 
 already ; the whole scheme is excellent, the 2d 
 strophe and antistrophe divine. Money (I know) 
 is your motive, and of that I wash my hands. 
 Pame is your second consideration ; of that I 
 am not the dispenser, but if your own approba- 
 tion (for every one is a little conscious of his 
 own talents) and mine have any weight with 
 you, you will write an ode or two every year, 
 till you are turned of fifty, not for the world, 
 
74 LETTERS OP 
 
 but for us two only; we will now and then 
 give a little glimpse of them, but no copies. 
 P. 37. — I do not like " maidenhood." 
 P. 38. — Why not " smoke in vain," as before? 
 the word " meek" is too often repeated. 
 
 P. 42. — The only reason why you have altered 
 my favourite speech is, that " surging and 
 plunging," " main and domain," come too near 
 each other; but could not you correct these 
 without spoiling all ? I read 
 
 " Cast his broad eye upon the wild of ocean, 
 And calm'd it with a glance ; then, plunging deep 
 His mighty arm, pluck'd from its dark domain," &c. 
 
 Pray have done with your " piled stores and 
 coral floors." 
 
 P. 43.— " The dies of Pate," that is, " the 
 dice of Pate." Pind out another word. 
 
 P. 44. — I cannot say I think this scene im- 
 proved : I had no objection before, "but to 
 harm a poor wretch like me ; " and what you 
 have inserted is to me inferior to what it was 
 meant to replace, except p. 47, " And why this 
 silence," which is very well; the end of the 
 scene is one of my favourite passages. 
 
 P. 49.— Why scratch out " Thou, gallant 
 boy " ? I do not know to what other scene you 
 have transferred these rites of lustration, but 
 
THE POET GRAY. 75 
 
 methinks they did very well here. Arvira- 
 gus's account of himself I always was highly 
 pleased with. 
 
 P. 51. — " Fervid" is a bad word. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, April 23, 1757. 
 
 I too am set down here with something 
 greater hopes of quiet than I could entertain 
 when I saw you last ; at least nothing new has 
 happened to give me any disturbance, and the 
 assurances you gave me in your letter from 
 hence are pretty well confirmed by experience. 
 I shall be very ready to take as much of Mr. 
 Delap's * dulness as he chooses to part with at 
 
 * Mr. or Dr. Delap was curate in his earlier life to Mason 
 at Aston in 1756. The first entry of his name appears in a 
 marriage 14 Nov. 1756, his last signature in May 1758. 
 In 1759 he was succeeded by Mr. John Wood. His portrait 
 I have seen in the dining-room at Aston rectory, and it 
 is now in Mrs. Alderson's possession. There are some 
 verses of his writing in Bell's Fugitive Poetry, vol. viii. 
 p. 52. He was the author of a tragedy, Hecuba, acted with 
 very indifferent success at Drury Lane Theatre in 1762, and 
 " The Captives," which was endured for three nights and then 
 
76 LETTERS OF 
 
 any price he pleases, even with his want of 
 sleep and weak bowels into the bargain ; and 
 I will be your curate, and he shall live here 
 with all my wit and power of learning. Dr. 
 Brown's book* (I hear) is much admired in 
 
 was gathered to its fathers. See Boaden's Life of Kemble, 
 i. p. 325. Baker mentions hiin and his tragedy in the Bio- 
 graphia Dramatica, vol. i. p. 121 ; vol. ii. p. 147; but he 
 only knew that he was a clergyman. Some account of Dr. 
 Delap's person and conversation may be found in Madame 
 D'Arblay's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 201-229, during a visit he paid 
 to Mrs. Thrale, at Brighthelmstone. See also vol. ii. p. 421-2, 
 &c. In a letter to Dr. Wharton, Gray writes, " Poor Mason is 
 all alone at Aston, for his curate is gone to be tutor to some- 
 body." His preferments and works may be seen in Nichols's 
 Anecdotes, vol. ix. p. 9. 
 
 * This is the well-known " Estimate' of the Manners and 
 Principles of the Times," by Dr. John Brown, a book which 
 occupied for a time a very large share of public attention and 
 applause; several editions were called for in the course of a 
 year, and a second volume followed the first. The reader, if 
 his curiosity on the author and his works is awakened, may 
 consult Walpole's Miscellaneous Letters, vol. iii. p. 352, and 
 vol. vi. p. 74; Cavendish's Debates, ii. p. 106; Walpole's 
 History of George III. ii. p. 79 ; Smollett's History, ii. p. 289 ; 
 and Monthly Review, 1764, part I. p 300; Nichols's Literary 
 Anecdotes, ii. p. 211; viii. p. 244; ix. p. 809; and the Bio- 
 graphia Britannica, art. Brown (not Browne.) 
 
 This work was well answered by Dr. Wallace of Edin- 
 burgh, in the Characteristics of the Present State of Great 
 Britain. See also Professor Smyth's Lectures on Modern His- 
 
THE POET GRAY. 77 
 
 town, which I do not understand. I expected 
 it would be admired here ; but they affect not 
 to like it, though I know they ought. What 
 would you have me do ? There is one thing in 
 it I applaud, which is the dissertation against 
 trade, for I have always said it was the ruin 
 of the nation. I have read the little wicked 
 book about Evil,* that settled Mr. Dodsley's 
 conscience in that point, and find nothing in it 
 but absurdity : we call it Soame Jenyns's, but 
 I have a notion you mentioned some other 
 name to me, though I have forgotten it. Stone- 
 
 tory, ii. p. 289. There is a similar complaint of the degene- 
 racy of the times in Cowpers Task, book ii. (Time Piece.) 
 
 all that we have left is empty talk 
 
 Of old atchievements, and despair of new. 
 
 When Brown complained in this work of the " dry, unaf- 
 fecting compositions of the Cambridge Writers, the Critical 
 Review asked him if he had not forgotten some of his friends, 
 Hurd, Gray, Mason," &c. vol. v. p. 314. — See Monthly Eeview, 
 vol. xviii. p. 354-374, for a very severe review of the second 
 volume. In the St. James's Mag. 1762, vol. iii. p. 232, is a 
 pungent epigram on the Estimate, and on Brown's flattery of 
 Warburton, beginning " A vast colossus made of brass," &c. 
 Dr. Broivn will be mentioned again. 
 
 * The Origin of Evil, by Soame Jenyns. On this work 
 see the Notes to Walpole and Mason's Correspondence, by the 
 Editor, vol. i. p. 438-9. The well-known review by Dr. 
 Johnson is in every edition of his works. 
 
78 LETTERS OF 
 
 hewer has done me the honour to send me your 
 friend Lord Nuneham * hither, with a fine re- 
 commendatory letter written by his own desire, 
 in Newmarket-week. Do not think he was 
 going to Newmarket; no, he came in a solitaire, 
 great sleeves, jessamine-powder, and a large 
 bouquet of jonquils, within twelve miles of 
 that place, on purpose not to go thither. We 
 had three days' intercourse, talked about the 
 beaux arts, and Home, and Hanover, and Ma- 
 son, — whose praises we celebrate a qui mieux 
 mieux, — vowed eternal friendship, embraced, 
 and parted. I promised to write you a thousand 
 compliments in his name. I saw also Lord 
 Villiers and Mr. Spencer, who carried him back 
 with them ; en passant, they did not like me at 
 all. Here has been too the best of all Johns t 
 (I hardly except the Evangelist and the Di- 
 vine), who is not, to be sure, a bit like my 
 Lord Nuneham, but full as well, in my mind. 
 The Duke of Bedford { has brought his son, § 
 
 * Compare Gray's Letter to Dr. Wharton, Apr. 17, 1757, in 
 Works, vol. iii. p. 159, ed. Aid. 
 
 ■j" Lord John Cavendish. 
 
 \ " The Duke of Bedford is now here to settle his son at 
 Trinity, and Mr. Rigby is come to assist them with his ad- 
 vice." See Letter to Dr. Wharton, vol. iii. p. 159. 
 
 § Francis Marquess of Tavistock, of Trinity College, M.A. 
 1759; lie died before his father in 1767. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 79 
 
 aye, and Mr. Rigby too ; they were at church 
 on Sunday morning, and Mr. Sturgeon preached 
 to them and the heads,* for nobody else was 
 
 present. Mr. P n is not his tutor, t These 
 
 are the most remarkable events at Cambridge. 
 Mr. Bonfoy has been here ; he had not done 
 what you recommended to him before he came 
 out of town, and he is returned thither only the 
 beginning of this week, when he assured me 
 he certainly would do it. Alas ! what may this 
 delay occasion; it is best not to think. Oh 
 happy Mr. Delap ! Adieu, my best Mason ; I 
 am pleased to think how much I am obliged to 
 you, and that, while I live, I must be ever 
 yours. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 TO THE REY. WILLIAM MASON. 
 DEAR MASON, Cambridge, Tuesday May . ., 1757. 
 
 You are so forgetful of me, that I should not 
 forgive it, but that I suppose Caractacus may 
 be the better for it ; yet I hear nothing from 
 
 * Roger Sturgeon, M.A. Fellow of Cams, 
 ■f Perhaps Franklin, who was of that College, and Greek 
 Professor in 1750. 
 
80 LETTERS OF 
 
 him neither, in spite of his promises. There is 
 no faith in man, no, not in a Welch-man, and 
 yet Mr. Parry has been here and scratched out 
 such ravishing blind harmony, such tunes of a 
 thousand years old, with names enough to choke 
 you, as have set all this learned body a-dancing, 
 and inspired them with due reverence for Odikle, 
 whenever it shall appear. Mr. Parry (you 
 must know) it was that has put Odikle in 
 motion again, and with much exercise it has 
 got a tender tail grown, like Scroddles, and 
 here it is ; if you do not like it, you may kiss it. 
 You remember the " Visions of Glory," that 
 descended on the heights of Snowdon, and un- 
 rolled their glittering skirts so slowly.* 
 
 Antist. 3. 
 Haughty knights and barons bold , 
 With dazzling helm and horrent spear, 
 And gorgeous dames and statesmen old, 
 Of bearded majesty, appear; 
 In the midst a form divine : 
 Her eye proclaims her born of Arthur's line, 
 Her lion-port, her awe-commanding face, 
 Attemper'd sweet to virgin grace. 
 What strings symphonious tremble in the air, 
 What strains of vocal transport round her play ! 
 
 * Compare this copy of the unfinished text of The Bard 
 with one sent to Dr. Wharton, and which varies from this in 
 several places. See Aid. ed. Gray's Works, vol. iii. p. 136, &c. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 81 
 
 Hear, from the grave, great Taliesin, hear! 
 They breathe a soul to animate thy clay. 
 Bright Rapture wakes, and, soaring as she sings, 
 Waves, in the eye of Heaven her many-coloured wings. 
 
 Epode 3. 
 
 The verse adorn again 
 
 Fierce War and faithful Love, 
 
 And Truth severe, by fairy Fiction drest. 
 
 In mystic measures move 
 
 Pale Grief and pleasing Pain, 
 
 With Horror* wild that chills the throbbing breast. 
 
 A voice, as of the Cherub choir, 
 
 Gales from blooming Eden bear, 
 
 And distant warblings lessen on my ear, 
 
 That lost in long futurity expire. 
 
 Fond, impious man! think'st thou yon sanguine cloud, 
 
 Rais'd by thy breath, has quench'd the orb of day ? 
 
 To-morrow he repairs the golden flood, 
 
 And warms the nations with redoubled ray. 
 
 Enough for me, with joy I see 
 
 The diff'rent doom our Fates assign: 
 
 Be thine Despair, and sceptred Care ; 
 
 To triumph and to die are mine ! 
 
 He spoke, and headlong from the mountain's height, 
 
 Deep in the roaring tide he sunk to endless night. f 
 
 * " tyrant of the," in Mason's writing. 
 
 * The Moses of Parmegiano, and Raphael's figure of God 
 in the vision of Ezekiel, are said by Mr. Mason to have fur- 
 nished Gray with the head and action of his Bard ; if that 
 was the case, he would have done 'well to acquaint us with 
 the Poet's method of making Placidis coire immitia. — Fuseli's 
 Lectures, ii. 
 
 G 
 
82 LETTERS OP 
 
 I am well aware of many weakly things here, 
 but I hope the end will do. Pray give me your 
 full and true opinion, and that not upon deli- 
 beration, but forthwith, Mr. Hurd * himself 
 allows that "lion-port" is not too bold for 
 Queen Elizabeth. All here are well, and desire 
 their respects to you. I read yesterday of a 
 canonry of Worcester vacant in the newspaper. 
 Adieu, dear Mason, and believe me most truly 
 yours. 
 
 It will not be long before I shall go to 
 London. 
 
 * " I asked Mr. Gray, what sort of a man Dr. Hurd was ; 
 he answered, ' The last person who left off stiff-topped gloves.'' 
 — Norton Nicholls. Hurd, in the later editions of his Com- 
 mentary on Horace, suppressed his criticism on the Chinese 
 drama, which he had printed at the end of his Commentary 
 on the Epistle to Augustus, 1751. I am not aware of Hurd, 
 in any passage of his various works, having praised Gray, 
 except once, when he is, I presume, alluded to, in Hurd's usual 
 manner, without mentioning the name, in his Essay on the 
 Marks of Imitation, p. 218, " a certain friend of ours, not to be 
 named without honour, and therefore not at all on so slight 
 an occasion;" which was, that this friend conjectured that 
 Milton's expression of "Grinn'd horrible a ghastly smile," 
 was taken from Spenser's " Grinning griesly." Hurd speaks 
 also of some " late Odes" in terms of praise. In Dr. Wooll's 
 Life of J. Warton there is a letter from Hurd to Mr. Thomas 
 Warton, in which he thus mentions the Installation Ode: 
 " It is much above the common rate of such things, and will 
 preserve the memory of the Chancellor, when the minister is 
 forgotten." Lett, lxxxix. p. 348. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 83 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAR MASON, Cambridge, Saturday, June. 
 
 I send you inclosed the breast and merry- 
 thought and guts and garbage of the chicken, 
 which I have been chewing so long that I 
 would give the world for neck-beef or cow- 
 heel. I thought, in spite of ennui, that the 
 ten last lines would have escaped untouched ; 
 for all the rest that I send you I know is 
 weakly, and you think so too. But you want 
 them to be printed and done with ; not only 
 Mr. Hurd, but Mr. Bonfoy too and Neville* 
 
 * Thomas Neville, of Jesus' College, published Imitations 
 of Horace, 1758, and of Juvenal and Persius in 1769. In the 
 Horace, p. 93, Mason is mentioned with praise. 
 
 Can Mason days of Gothic darkness grace, 
 And not to railings rouse the snarling race ? 
 Mason, who writes not with low sons of rhyme, 
 But on Pindaric pinions soars sublime. 
 
 Hurd, in his Notes on Horace, vol. i. p. 177, praises Ne- 
 ville's elegant Translation of Aristotle's Moral Song "Apera 
 iroXvixoyQe. " Its best commendation (he says) is that it 
 comes from the same hand which has so agreeably entertained 
 us of late with some spirited imitations of Horace." See also 
 Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. ii. p. 306 ; iii. 78; ix. 763; 
 and Brydges's Eestituta, vol. iii. p. 74. Warburton, in his 
 
 G2 
 
84 LETTERS OF 
 
 have seen them. Both these like the first Ode 
 (that has no tout-ensemble ,) the hest of the two, 
 and hoth somehow dislike the conclusion of the 
 Bard, and mutter something ahout antithesis 
 and conceit in "to triumph, to die," which I 
 do not comprehend, and am sure it is altered 
 for the better. It was before 
 
 " Lo! to be free to die, are mine." 
 
 If you like it better so, so let it be. It is more 
 abrupt, and perhaps may mark the action bet- 
 ter ; or it may be, 
 
 " Lo! liberty and death are mine." 
 
 whichever you please. But as to breaking 
 the measure, it is not to be thought of; it is 
 an inviolable law of the Medes and Persians. 
 Pray think a little about this conclusion, for all 
 depends upon it ; the rest is of little conse- 
 quence. " In bearded majesty," was altered 
 to "of" only because the next line begins with 
 " In the midst," &c. I understand what you 
 mean about "The verse adorn again." You 
 may read 
 
 " Fierce War and faithful Love 
 Resume their," &c„ 
 
 Correspondence, mentions him frequently, and with respect. 
 See Letters cxvii. and cxx. Neville also translated the 
 Georgics of Virgil, printed 17G7. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 85 
 
 But I do not think it signifies much, for there 
 is no mistaking the sense, when one attends to 
 it. "That chills the throbbing," &c. I dislike 
 as much at you can do. " Horror wild," I am 
 forced to strike out, because of " wild dismay " 
 in the first stanza. What if we read 
 
 " With Horror, tyrant of the throbbing breast." 
 
 Why you would alter " lost in long futurity " 
 I do not see, unless because you think "lost" 
 and "expire" are tautologies, or because it 
 looks as if the end of the prophecy were disap- 
 pointed by it, and that people may think that 
 poetry in Britain was some time or other really 
 to expire, whereas the meaning is only that it 
 was lost to his ear from the immense distance. 
 I cannot give up " lost," for it begins with an I. 
 I wish you were here, for I am tired of 
 writing such stuff; and besides, I have got the 
 old Scotch ballad on which Douglas was found- 
 ed ; it is divine, and as long as from hence to 
 Aston.* Have you never seen it ? Aristotle's 
 
 * On this ballad see Bishop Percy's Reliques of Antient 
 Poetry, vol. iii. p. 69. He considers that the poem lays claim 
 to high antiquity ; it has received considerable modern improve- 
 ments, and the whole has undergone a revised. The Bishop's old 
 imperfect copy, instead of Lord Barnard has John Stuart, and 
 instead of Gil Morrice Child Maurice, which last, he says, is 
 
86 LETTERS OE 
 
 best rules are observed in it in a manner that 
 shows the author never had heard of Aristotle. 
 It begins in the fifth act of the play. You may 
 read it two-thirds through without guessing 
 what it is about ; and yet, when you come to 
 the end, it is impossible not to understand the 
 whole story. I send you the two first verses : 
 
 Gil Maurice was an Earle's son, 
 
 His fame it wexed wide. 
 
 It was nae for his grete riches, 
 
 Nae for his mickle pride ; 
 
 But it was for a ladie gay 
 
 That lived on Carron's side. 
 
 " Where shall I get a bonny boy 
 
 That will win hose and shoon, 
 
 That will gae to Lord Barnard's ha', 
 
 And bid his ladie come? 
 
 Ye maun rin this errand, Willie, 
 
 And ye maun rin with pride; 
 
 When other boys gae on their feet, 
 
 On horseback ye sal ride," 
 
 " Ah na, ah na, my master dear," &c. &c. 
 
 You will observe in the beginning of this 
 thing I send you some alterations of a few 
 words, partly for improvement, and partly to 
 avoid repetitions of like words and rhymes ; I 
 
 probably the original title. On this ballad the story in 
 Home's tragedy of Douglas is founded,, 
 
THE POET GRAY. 87 
 
 have not got rid of them all. The six last lines of 
 the fifth stanza are new ; tell me if they will do. 
 
 I have seen your friend the Dean of S y 
 
 here to-day in the theatre, and thought I 
 should have sp-w-d.* I am very glad you 
 are to be a court chaplain nevertheless ; for I 
 do not think you need be such a one, — I defy 
 you ever to be. 
 
 I have now seen your first Chorus, new- 
 modelled, and am charmed with it. Now I am 
 coming with my hoe. Of all things I like your 
 idea of " the sober sisters, as they meet and 
 whisper with their ebon and golden rods on 
 the top of Snowdon ;" the more because it 
 seems like a new mythology peculiar to the 
 Druid superstition, and not borrowed of the 
 Greeks, who have another quite different moon. 
 But yet I cannot allow of the word "nod," 
 though it pictures the action more lively than 
 another word would do. Yet, at the first blush, 
 " See the sober sisters nod," taken alone with- 
 out regard to the sense, presents a ridiculous 
 image, and you must leave no room for such 
 ideas ; besides, a word that is not quite fami- 
 
 * In 1757. See Dodsworth's book on the Cathedral of 
 Salisbury, by which it appears — 
 
 1727. John Gierke, D.D. died Feb. 4, 1757, aged 75. 
 1757. Thomas Green, D.D. succeeded; died 1780. 
 
88 LETTERS OP 
 
 liar to us in the sense it is used should never 
 form a rhyme ; it may stand in any other part 
 of a line. The rest is much to my palate, ex- 
 cept a verse (I have it not now before me) 
 towards the end. I think it is " Float your 
 saffron vestments here," because one does not 
 at once conceive that "float" is "let them 
 float;" and besides, it is a repetition of the 
 idea, as you speak of the " rustling of their 
 silken draperies " before, and I would have 
 every image varied as the rest are. I do not 
 absolutely like "Hist ye all," only because it 
 is the last line. These are all the faults I have 
 to find ; the rest is perfect. I have written a long 
 letter of poetry, which is tiresome, but I could 
 not help it. My service to Mr. Delap. Adieu! 
 Do write soon ; love and compliments. H. 
 p or .r' S # s i s ter Dolly is dead, and he has got 
 1,400/., a man, and two horses. I go to town 
 next week. If you could write directly, it 
 would be clever ; but, however, direct hither, it 
 will be sent me, if you cannot write so soon. 
 
 * Richard Forester, a Fellow of Pembroke College, son of 
 Poulter Forester, of Broadfield, Herts ; took senior opthne 
 degree in 1747-8, afterwards Rector of Passenham, Northamp- 
 tonshire. He died in April, 1769. 
 
TRE POET GRAY. 89 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 TO THE KEY, JAMES BROWN.* 
 
 DEAR SIR, Stoke, July 25, 1757. 
 
 I thank you for the second little letter, for 
 your Cambridge Anecdotes, and, suffer me to 
 say too, for the trouble you have had on my 
 account. I am going to add to it, by sending 
 you my poetical cargo to distribute ; though, 
 whatever the advertisement says, it will not be 
 this fortnight yet, for you must know (what 
 you will like no more than I do, yet it was not 
 in my power any how to avoid it), Mr. Wal- 
 pole, who has set up a printing-press in his own 
 house at Twickenham, earnestly desired that he 
 might print it for Dodsley, and, as there is but 
 one hand employed, you must think it will take 
 up some time to despatch 2000 copies. As soon 
 as may be you will have a parcel sent you, which 
 you will dispose of as follows : Mrs. Bonfoy, 
 Mr. Bonfoy, Dr. Long, Gaskarth, and all the 
 Fellows resident ; Mr. Montagu and Southwell, 
 if they happen to be there ; Master of St. John's, t 
 
 * The Rev. James Brown, of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, 
 afterwards joint executor with Mason of Gray's will. 
 
 f John Newcome, Master of St. John's, 1734 to 1765. See 
 a life of him in Nichols's Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 553-565 ; and 
 viii. p. 379. 
 
90 LETTERS OF 
 
 (I know he is at Rochester, but it suffices to 
 send it to his lodge ;) Master of Bennet, # Mr. 
 Hurd, Mr. Balguy, Mr. Talbot, Mr. Nourse, 
 Mr. Neville of Jesus, Mr. Bickham,f Mr. Had- 
 ley, Mr. Newcome. If you think I forget any 
 body, pray send it them in my name ; what 
 remain upon your hands you will hide in a 
 corner. I am sorry to say I know no more of 
 Mason than you do. It is my own fault, I am 
 afraid, for I have not yet answered that letter. 
 His Prussian Majesty wrote a letter to the 
 King owning himself in a bad situation, from 
 which, he said, nothing but a coup-de-mattre 
 would extricate him. J We have a secret expedi- 
 tion § going forward ; all I know is, that Lord 
 
 * John Green, Master of Ben'et, 1750 to 1764. Dr. Farmer 
 succeeded to his preferments at Lichfield at Green's death 
 in 1790, — a prebend, with the chancellorship annexed; and 
 see anecdote of him in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. i. 
 p. 662. 
 
 ■f He was tutor at Emanuel College. See Nichols's Anec- 
 dotes, vol. viii. p. 420. 
 
 J See Lacretelle's Histoire, vol. iii. pp. 307, 319; Belsham's 
 History, vol. iv. book xn. pp. 304 ; Walpole's George II. vol. 
 iii. p. 80, 110, 290 ; see also Wraxall's Memoirs of the Court 
 of Berlin, on the extraordinary Campaign of 1757, vol. i. p. 
 161, &c. 
 
 § On this expedition, see Smollett's History of England, 
 vol. iv. chap. vn. p. 61 ; Belsham's History, vol. iv. p. 312 ; 
 
THE POET GRAY. 91 
 
 Ancrani, Sir John Mordaunt, and General Con- 
 way are to bear a part in it. The Duke* has 
 been very ill, with his leg ; Itanby was sent 
 for, but countermanded, the Marshal d'Etrees 
 haying sent him his own surgeons. I would 
 wish to be like Mr. Bonfoy, and think that 
 every thing turns out the best in the world, but 
 it won't do, I am stupid and low-spirited, but 
 ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 DEAR MASON, Stoke, Monday, August 1. 
 
 If I did not send you a political Letter forth- 
 with, it was because Lord Holdernesse came in 
 again t so soon that it was the same thing as if 
 
 Walpole's George II. vol. iii. chap. in. ; Dodington's Diary, p. 
 399 ; and note in Gray's Works, vol. iii. p. 179 ; and the 
 Grenville Papers, vol. i. p. 224. 
 
 * Duke of Cumberland. 
 
 f See an account of the dismissal and resignation of Minis- 
 ters, April 1757, in Walpole's History of George II. vol. iii. 
 p. 27. " The next day Lord Holdernesse went to the King 
 and resigned the seals, as a declaration of the Newcastle 
 squadron against Fox. The King received him ivith the cool 
 scorn he deserved. 11 
 
92 LETTERS OF 
 
 he had never gone out, excepting one little cir- 
 cumstance, indeed, the anger of old Priam ; * 
 which, I am told, is the reason, that he has not 
 the blue riband, though promised him before. 
 I have been here this month or more, low-spi- 
 rited and full of disagreeablenesses, and, to add 
 to them, am at this present very ill, not with 
 the gout, nor stone, (thank God,) nor with 
 blotches, nor blains, nor with frogs nor with lice, 
 but with a painful infirmity, that has to me the 
 charms of novelty, but would not amuse you 
 much in the description. 
 
 I hope you divert yourself much better than 
 I do. You may be sure Dodsley had orders to 
 send you some Odes the instant they were off 
 the spit ; indeed I forgot Mr. Eraser, so I fear 
 they will come to Sheffield in the shape of a 
 small parcel by some coach or waggon ; but if 
 there is time 1 will prevent it. They had been 
 out three weeks ago, but Mr. Walpole having 
 taken it into his head to set up a press of his 
 own at Twickenham, was so earnest to handsel 
 it with this new pamphlet that it was impos- 
 sible to find a pretence for refusing such a 
 trifle. You will dislike this as much as I do, 
 but there is no help ; you understand, it is he 
 that prints them, not for me, but for Dodsley. 
 
 * George the Second. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 93 
 
 I charge you send Hie some Caractacus be- 
 fore I die ; it is impossible this weather should 
 not bring him to maturity. 
 
 If you knew how bad I was you would not 
 wonder I could write no more. Adieu, dear 
 Mason ; I am ever most truly yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 
 Dear Sir, August 14, 1757. 
 
 Excuse me if I begin to wonder a little that 
 I have heard no news of you in so long a 
 time. I conclude you received Dodsley's packet 
 at least a week ago, and made my presents. 
 You will not wonder therefore at my curiosity, 
 if I inquire of you what you hear said ; for, 
 though in the rest of the world I do not expect 
 to hear that any body says much, or thinks 
 about the matter, yet among mes confreres, the 
 learned, I know there is always leisure, at least 
 to find fault, if not to commend. 
 
 I have been lately much out of order, and 
 confined at home, but now I go abroad again. 
 
94 LETTERS OF 
 
 Mr. Garrick and his wife* have passed some 
 days at my Lady Cobham's,f and are shortly to 
 return again ; they, and a few other people that 
 I see there, have been my only entertainment 
 till this week, but now I have purchased some 
 volumes of the great Erench Encyclopedie, and 
 am trying to amuse myself within doors. Pray 
 tell me a great deal, and believe me ever most 
 faithfully yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 TO MR. HURD. 
 
 Dear Sir, stoke, August 25, 1757. 
 
 I do not know why you should thank me for 
 what you had a right and title to ; but attribute 
 it to the excess of your politeness, and the more 
 so because almost no one else has made me the 
 same compliment. As your acquaintance in the 
 University (you say) do me the honour to ad- 
 mire, it would be ungenerous in me not to give 
 
 * Compare this Letter with one to Dr. Wharton (17 Aug.) 
 on the same topics, and nearly in the same language, Works, 
 vol. iii. p. 165. 
 
 | At Stoke. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 95 
 
 them notice that they are doing a very un- 
 fashionable thing, for all people of condition are 
 agreed not to admire, nor even to understand : 
 one very great man, writing to an acquaintance 
 of his and mine, says that he had read them 
 seven or eight times, and that now, when he 
 next sees him, he shall not have above thirty 
 questions to ask.* Another, a peer, believes 
 that the last stanza of the Second Ode relates 
 to King Charles the First and Oliver Cromwell. 
 Even my friends tell me they do not succeed, 
 and write me moving topics of consolation on 
 that head ; in short, I have heard of nobody but 
 a player and a doctor of divinity t that profess 
 their esteem for them. Oh yes ! a lady of 
 quality, a friend of Mason's, who is a great 
 reader. She knew there was a compliment to 
 Dryden/ but never suspected there was any 
 thing said about Shakspeare or Milton, till 
 it was explained to her ; and wishes that there 
 had been titles prefixed to tell what they were 
 about. 
 
 * SeeWalpole's Miscellaneous Letters, vol. iii. pp. 309,813. 
 Letter to H. Mann on these Odes, vol. iii. p 234. 
 
 f Garrick and Dr. Warburton. Garrick wrote some verses 
 in their praise. See Walpole's Miscellaneous Correspondence, 
 vol. v. p. 261. On Warburton's opinion see Gray's Letters 
 (Works, vol. iii. pp. 167 and 178.) 
 
96 LETTERS OF 
 
 Prom this mention of Mason's name you may 
 think, perhaps, we are great correspondents ; no 
 such thing ; I have not heard from him these 
 two months. I will he sure to scold in my own 
 name as well as in yours, I rejoice to hear you 
 are so ripe for the press, and so voluminous,* — 
 not for my own sake only, whom you flatter with 
 the hopes of seeing your lahours hoth puhlic 
 and private, — hut for yours too, for to be em- 
 ployed is to he happy. This principle of mine, 
 and I am convinced of its truth, has, as usual, 
 no influence on my practice. I am alone and 
 ennuye to the last degree, yet do nothing ; indeed 
 Ihave one excuse; my health, which you so kindly 
 inquire after, is not extraordinary, ever since I 
 came hither. It is no great malady, but several 
 little ones, that seem brewing no good to me. 
 
 It will be a particular pleasure to me to hear 
 whether Content dwells in Leicestershire, f and 
 how she entertains herself there; only do not be 
 
 * Alluding probably to the " Moral and Political Dialogues " 
 then composing, and published in 1759. 
 
 | Mr. Hurd was settled in Leicestershire February 1G, 
 1757, on a College living. See Mason's Elegy IV. to Mr. 
 Hurd. 
 
 Whose equal mind could see vain Fortune shower 
 
 Her flowery favours on the fawning crew, 
 While in low Thurcastori's sequestered lower 
 She fixed him distant from Promotion's view. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 97 
 
 too happy, nor forget entirely the quiet ugliness 
 of Cambridge. I am, dear sir, 
 
 Your friend and obliged humble servant, 
 
 T. Gray. 
 
 If Mr. Brown falls in your way, be so good 
 to shew him the beginning of this letter, and it 
 will save me the labour of writing the same 
 thing twice. His first letter, I believe, was in 
 the mail that was robbed, for it was delayed 
 many days ; his second I have just received. 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, 
 
 You are welcome to the land of the living, to 
 the sunshine of a court, to the dirt of a chap- 
 lain's table,* to the society of Dr. Squire f and 
 
 * Mason was appointed, by the Duke of Devonshire, chaplain 
 in ordinary to George II. 1757. 
 
 f " And leave Church and State to Charles Townshend and 
 Squire" 
 is a line which concludes Gray's sketch of his own character. 
 See an account of Dr. Squire, in Gray's Works, ed. Aid. vol. i. 
 p. 156. He was Fellow of St. John's, Rector of St. Anne's, 
 Soho, afterwards Dean of Bristol, and then Bishop of St. 
 
 H 
 
98 LETTERS OP 
 
 Dr. Chapman. Have you set out, as Dr. Cob- 
 den ended, with a sermon against adultery ? or 
 do you, with deep mortification and a Christian 
 sense of your own nothingness, read prayers to 
 Princess Emily* while she is putting on her 
 
 David's ; died 7 May, 1766. See Bishop Newton's Life of 
 Himself, p. 78. The well-known saying of Warburton may 
 serve to explain Gray's line, quoted above. He told Mr. Allen 
 that never bishoprick was so bedeaned, for one (Squire) made 
 religion his trade, and the other (Tucker) trade his religion. 
 Mr. Cradock, in his Memoirs, has not told the story quite 
 correctly; see vol. iv. 335. See on Dr. Squire Harris's Phi- 
 losophical Arrangements, p. 247 ; Noble's Continuation of 
 Granger, vol. ii. p. 313 ; Nichols's Literary Illustrations, 
 vol. v. p. 766 ; Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 625; 
 ii. p. 348. He was made Bishop of St. David's 1761. Gray 
 writes to Dr. Wharton, " I wish you joy of Dr. Squire's bishop- 
 rick ; he keeps back his livings, and is the happiest of devils." 
 Dr. Dodd was his Chaplain, and Dr. Squire introduced him in 
 the warmest terms to the patronage of Lord Chesterfield ; in a 
 sermon dedicated to Mrs. Squire, 1767, Dr. Dodd has given a 
 summary of the Bishop's Life and Works. It is extracted 
 in Monthly Review, xxxvi. p. 252. See also Dr. King's 
 Anecdotes, p. 154, for a violent attack on Squire, on his mean 
 birth, &c. &c. On Dr. Chapman, see the note in Lett. in. 
 
 * Compare the anecdote in Walpole's Reminiscences. 
 "While the Queen {Caroline) dressed, prayers used to be 
 read in the outer room, where hung a naked Venus. Mrs. 
 Selwyn, bed-chamber woman in waiting, was ordered one 
 day to bid the chaplain, Dr.. Maddox, afterwards Bishop 
 of Worcester, begin the service. He said archly, " and a 
 
THE POET GRAY. 99 
 
 dress ? Pray acquaint me with the whole ceremo- 
 nial, and how your first preachment succeeded; 
 whether you have heard of any body that re- 
 nounced their election, or made restitution to 
 the Exchequer; whether you saw any woman 
 trample her pompons under foot, or spit upon 
 her handkerchief to wipe off the rouge. 
 
 I would not have put another note to save 
 the souls of all the owls in London. It is ex- 
 tremely well as it is — nobody understands me, 
 and I am perfectly satisfied. Even the Critical 
 Review* (Mr. Eranklin, I am told), that is rapt 
 and surprised and shudders at me, yet mistakes 
 the iEolian lyre for the harp of iEolus, which, 
 indeed, as he observes, is a very bad instrument 
 to dance to. If you hear anything (though it 
 is not very likely, for I know my day is over), 
 you will tell me. Lord Lyttelton and Mr. 
 Shenstone f admire me, but wish I had been a 
 
 very proper altar-piece, Madam." Queen Anne had the same 
 custom, and once ordering the door to be shut while she 
 shifted, the Chaplain stopped. The Queen sent to ask why 
 he did not proceed. He replied, " He would not whistle the 
 word of God through the keyhole." 
 
 * See Critical Eeview, vol. iv. p. 167. " Such an instrument 
 as the JEolian harp, which is altogether uncertain and irre- 
 gular, must be very ill adapted to the dance, which is one 
 continued, regular movement," &c. 
 
 f " Mr. Gray, of manners very delicate, yet possessed of a 
 H 2 
 
100 LETTERS OF 
 
 little clearer. Mr. (Palmyra) Wood* owns him- 
 self disappointed in his expectations. Your 
 enemy, Dr. Brown, t says I am the hest thing in 
 the language. Mr. Pox, supposing the Bard 
 sung his song hut once over, does not wonder 
 if Edward the Pirst did not understand him. 
 This last criticism is rather unhappy, for though 
 it had heen sung a hundred times under his 
 window, it was absolutely impossible King Ed- 
 ward should understand him ; hut that is no 
 reason for Mr. Pox, who lives almost 500 years 
 after him. It is very well ; the next thing I 
 print shall be in Welch, — that's all. 
 
 I delight in your Epigram, but dare not show 
 it anybody, for your sake; but I more delight to 
 hear from Mr. Hurd that Caractacus advances. 
 Am I not to see Mador's song ? Could not we 
 meet some day, — at Hounslow, for example, 
 after your waiting is over ? Do tell me time 
 and place. I am most truly yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 poetical vein fraught with the noblest and sublimest images, 
 and a mind fraught with the more masculine parts of learning." 
 — See Shenstone's Essays, vol. ii. 248. 
 
 * A portrait of Mr. Palmyra Wood, by Mengs, is in the 
 Bridge water Gallery, No. 121. He accompanied the Duke of 
 Bridge water in his travels through Italy. 
 
 | The author of the Estimate. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 101 
 
 If you write to Lord Jersey, commend me to 
 him.. I was so civil to send a book to Lord 
 Nuneham, but hear nothing of him. Where is 
 Stonhewer ? I am grown a stranger to him. 
 You will oblige me by sending to Dodsley's, to 
 say I wonder the third and fourth volumes of 
 the Encyclopedic are not come. If you chance 
 to call yourself, you might inquire if many of 
 my 2,000 remain upon his hands. He told me 
 a fortnight ago about 12 or 1,300 were gone. 
 
 You talk of writing a comment. I do not 
 desire you should be employed in any such 
 office ; but what if Delap (inspired by a little 
 of your intelligence) should do such a matter ? 
 it will get him a shilling ; but it must bear no 
 name, nor must he know I mentioned it. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, stoke, Sept. 28, 1757. 
 
 I have, as I desired Stonhewer to tell you, 
 read over Caractacus twice, not with pleasure 
 only, but with emotion.* You may say what 
 
 * On the drama which excited emotion in Gray, Walpole 
 writes, " Mr. Mason has published another drama called 
 
102 LETTERS OE 
 
 you will, but the contrivance, the manners, the 
 interests, the passions, and the expression, go 
 beyond the dramatic part of your Elfrida many, 
 many leagues. I even say (though you will 
 think me a bad judge of this) that the world 
 will like it better. I am struck with the Chorus, 
 who are not there merely to sing and dance, 
 but bear throughout a principal part in the 
 action, and have (beside the costume, which is 
 excellent) as much a character of their own as 
 any other person. I am charmed with their 
 priestly pride and obstinacy, when, after all is 
 lost, they resolve to confront the Eoman Gene- 
 ral, and spit in his face. But now I am going 
 to tell you what touches me most. From the 
 beginning the first opening is greatly improved. 
 The curiosity of Didius is now a very natural 
 reason for dwelling on each particular of the 
 scene before him, nor is the description at all 
 too long. I am glad to find the two young 
 men are Gartismandua's sons; they interest me 
 far more. I love people of condition. They 
 were men before that nobody knew ; one could 
 
 Caractacus. There are some incantations poetical enough, and 
 odes so Greek as to have very little meaning. But the whole 
 is laboured, uninteresting, and no more resembling the man- 
 ners of Britons than of the Japanese," &c. — Misc. Lett. iii. p. 
 455. 
 
THE POET GKRAY. 103 
 
 not make them a bow if one had met them at 
 a public place. 
 
 I always admired that interruption of the 
 Druids to Evelina, " Peace, Virgin, peace," &c. 
 and chiefly the abstract idea personified (to use 
 the words of a critic) at the end of it. That of 
 " Caractacus would save my Queen," &c, and 
 still more, that, " I know it, reverend Pathers, 
 'tis heaven's high will," &c. to " I've done, 
 begin the rites !" This latter is exemplary for 
 the expression (always the great point with 
 me) ; I do not mean by expression the mere 
 choice of words, but the whole dress, fashion, 
 and arrangement of a thought. Here, in parti- 
 cular, it is the brokenness, the ungrammatical 
 position, the total subversion of the period, that 
 charms me. All that ushers in the incantation, 
 from " Try we yet what holiness can do," I 
 am delighted with in quite another way, for 
 this is pure poetry, as it ought to be, forming 
 the proper transition, and leading on the mind 
 to that still purer poetry that follows it. You 
 have somehow mistaken my meaning about the 
 sober Sisters : the verb " nod," before " only," 
 seemed to be a verb neuter; now you have 
 made it absolutely such, which was just my 
 objection to it; but it is easily altered, for if the 
 accusative case come first, there is no danger of 
 ambiguity. I read 
 
104 LETTERS OF 
 
 See ! their gold and ebon rod 
 
 Where the sober Sisters nod, 
 
 And greet in whispers sage and slow. 
 
 Snowdon, mark ! 'tis Magic's hour ; 
 
 Now the mutter'd spell hath power, 
 
 Power to rift* thy ribs of rock, 
 
 To burst thy base with thunder's shock, 
 
 But, &c. &c. 
 
 Than those that dwell 
 In musick's, &c. 
 
 You will laugh at my " these' s" and ' ' those' s," 
 hut they strike my ear hetter. What Mador 
 sings must he the finest thing that ever was 
 wrote ; and the next chorus, where they all go 
 to sleep, must he finer still. 
 
 In the beginning of the succeeding act I 
 admire the chorus again, t "Is it not now the 
 hour, the holy hour," &c. : and their evasion 
 of a lie, " Say'st thou, proud boy," &c. : and 
 " Sleep with the unsunn'd silver," which is an 
 example of a dramatic simile. The sudden ap- 
 pearance of Caractacus, the pretended respect 
 and admiration of Vellinus, and the probability 
 
 * " rend" in the printed copies. 
 
 f Bishop Hurd, in his remarks on the ancient Chorus, says, 
 " It may be sufficient to refer the English reader to the late 
 tragedies of Elfrida and Caractacus; which do honour to 
 modern poetry, and are a better apology than any I could make 
 for the ancient chorus." — See Ilurd's Commentary on Horace, 
 vol. i. p. 132. 
 
THE POET GBAY. 105 
 
 of his story, tlie distrust of the Druids, and 
 their reasoning with Caractacus, and particu- 
 larly that, " 'Tis meet thou should' st ; thou art 
 a king," &c. &c. ; " Mark me, Prince, the time 
 will come when destiny," &c, are well and 
 happily imagined. Apropos of the last striking 
 passage I have mentioned, I am going to make 
 a digression. 
 
 When we treat a subject where the manners 
 are almost lost in antiquity our stock of ideas 
 must needs be small, and nothing betrays our 
 poverty more than the returning to and harping 
 frequently on one image; it was therefore I 
 thought you should omit some lines before, 
 though good in themselves, about the scythed 
 car, that the passage now before us might appear 
 with greater lustre when it came ; and in this, 
 I see, you have complied with me. But there 
 are other ideas here and there still that occur 
 too often, particularly about the oaks, some of 
 which I would discard to make way for the rest. 
 
 But the subjects I speak of, to compensate 
 (and more than compensate) that unavoidable 
 poverty, have one great advantage when they 
 fall into good hands : they leave an unbounded 
 liberty to pure imagination and fiction (our 
 favourite provinces), where no critic can molest 
 or antiquary gainsay us. And yet (to please 
 
106 LETTERS OF 
 
 me) these fictions must have some affinity, 
 some seeming connection with that little we 
 really know of the character and customs of 
 the people. For example, I never heard in 
 my days that midnight and the moon were 
 sisters, that they carried rods of ehony and 
 gold, or met to whisper on the top of a moun- 
 tain; hut now, I could lay my life it is all 
 true, and do not doubt it will he found so in 
 some Pantheon of the Druids that is to he dis- 
 covered in the library at Herculaneum. The 
 Car of Destiny and Death is a very noble in- 
 vention of the same class, and, as far as that 
 goes, is so fine, that it makes me more delicate 
 than, perhaps, I should he. About the close 
 of it, Andraste, sailing on the wings of Eame, 
 that snatches the wreaths from oblivion to hang 
 them on her loftiest amaranth, though a clean 
 and beautiful piece of unknown mythology^ has 
 too Greek an air too give me perfect satisfaction. 
 Now I proceed. The preparation, to the 
 Chorus, though so much akin to that in the 
 former act, is excellent. The remarks of Eve- 
 lina, and her suspicions of the brothers, mixed 
 with a secret inclination to the younger of them 
 (though, I think, her part throughout wants 
 re-touching), yet please me much ; and the con- 
 trivance of the following scene much more. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 107 
 
 " Masters of wisdom, no," &c. I always ad- 
 mired, as I do the rocking- stone and the distress 
 of Elidurus. Evelina's examination of him is 
 a well-invented scene, and will be, with a little 
 pains, a very touching one ; but the introduc- 
 tion of Arviragus is superlative. I am not 
 sure whether those few lines of his short nara- 
 tive, " My strength repaired, it boots not that 
 I tell," &c. do not please me as much as any- 
 thing in the whole drama. The sullen bravery 
 of Elidurus ; the menaces of the Chorus, that 
 "Think not, Religion," &c; the trumpet of 
 the Druids ; that " I'll follow him, though in 
 my chains," &c. ; " Hast thou a brother, no," 
 &c. ; the placability of the Chorus when they 
 see the motives of Elidurus' obstinacy, give 
 me great contentment. So do the reflections 
 of the Druid on the necessity of lustration, and 
 the reasons for Vellums' easy escape ; but I 
 would not have him seize on a spear, nor issue 
 hastily through the cavern's mouth. Why should 
 he not steal away unmarked and unmissed till 
 the hurry of passions in those that should have 
 guarded him was a little abated ? But I chiefly 
 admire the two speeches of Elidurus : — " Ah ! 
 Vellinus, is this thee," &c, and "Ye do gaze 
 on me, Eathers," &c. The manner in which 
 the Chorus reply to him is very fine, but the 
 
108 LETTERS OF 
 
 image at the end wants a little mending. The 
 next scene is highly moving ; it is so very good 
 that I mnst have it made yet better. 
 
 Now for the last Act, I do not know what 
 you would have, but to me the design and 
 contrivance of it is at least equal to any part 
 of the whole. The short-lived triumph of the 
 Britons— the address of Caractacus to the 
 Roman victims — Evelina's discovery of the 
 ambush — the mistake of the Roman fires for 
 the rising sun — the death of Arviragus — the 
 interview between Didius and Caractacus — his 
 mourning over his dead son — his parting speech 
 (in which you have made all the use of Tacitus 
 that your plan would admit) — everything, in 
 short, but that little dispute between Didius 
 and him, " 'Tis well, and therefore to increase 
 that reverence/ ' &c, down to " Give me a mo- 
 ment," (which must be omitted, or put in the 
 mouth of the Druid,) I approve in the highest 
 degree. If I should find any fault with the 
 last Act it could only be with trifles and little 
 expressions. If you make any alterations I 
 fear it will never improve it, I mean as to the 
 plan. I send you back the two last sheets, 
 because you bid me. I reserve my nibblings 
 and minutiae for another day. Adieu. I am 
 most truly yours, T. G. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 109 
 
 I have had a printed Ode sent me, called 
 " Melpomene."* Pray who wrote it ? I suspect 
 Mr. Bedingfield, t Montagu, J young Pitt,§ or 
 Delap. Do say I like it. 
 
 * See Dodsley's Poems in Anderson's Collection, vol. xi. p. 
 76 ; Critical Keview, vol. iv. p. 465. 
 
 j" See Gray's Letter to Dr. Wharton, October 7, 1757. 
 " Mr. Bedingfield, in a golden shower of panegyric, writes me 
 word, ' That at York races he overheard three people, whom by 
 their dress and manner he takes for Lords,' say, " That i" 
 was impenetrable and inexplicable." — Works, vol. iii. p. 178. 
 In Dodsley's Collection of Poems, vol. iii. p. 119, is a poem, 
 " The Death of Achilles," by Mr. Bedingfield. See on him 
 a letter of Dr. J. Warton to his brother, 1753, " Give my 
 compliments to Bedingfield. I am glad he is emerging into 
 life from Hertford College," in Dr. Wooll's Life of Dr. Warton, 
 p. 217; and one from Dodsley, " Mr. Bedingfield has actually 
 refined his taste to a degree that makes him dissatisfied with 
 almost every composition," p. 225 ; and another from him of 
 the year 1757 to Dr. Warton, p. 244, on Milton. 
 
 | Frederick Montagu, son of Charles Montagu, of Paple- 
 wick, in Northamptonshire. He is mentioned again by Gray 
 in Letters, Jan. 1761, vol. iii. p. 262 ; and by Walpole, in 
 Memoirs of George III. vol. i. p. 396; " young Thomas Pitt 
 and Frederick Montagu, Sandwich's own cousin ;" and see 
 Selwyn Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 266, " Fred Montagu sits 
 for Higham Ferrers." 
 
 § Mr. Thomas Pitt, of Boconnock, nephew of Lord Chat- 
 ham, afterwards Lord Camelford, died at Florence in 1793. 
 See on him Gray's Letter to Dr. Wharton, Jan. 1760. " Mr. 
 Pitt, not the great but the little one, is set out on his travels;" 
 and, Jan. 1761, " Young Pitt, whom I believe you have heard 
 
110 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XXVI. 
 TO THE KEV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, Friday, Oct. 13, 1757. 
 
 I thank you for your history of Melpomene, 
 which is curious and ought to he rememhered ; 
 the judgment of knowing ones ought always to 
 be upon record, that they may not he suffered 
 to retract and mitigate their applause. If I 
 were Dodsley I would sue them, and they 
 
 me mention, is returned to England," &c. His only son and 
 successor was killed in a duel in 1804, and his daughter was 
 married to Lord Grenville in 1792. He is most favourably 
 mentioned by Walpole in a letter to Mason. " He is not 
 only an ingenious young man, but a most amiable one. He 
 has always acted in the most noble style," &c. And in the 
 Preface to the Letters of Lord Chatham, which were written 
 to him, Lord Grenville says, " The same suavity of manners 
 and steadiness of principle, the same trueness of judgment 
 and integrity of heart, which characterised him in the first 
 dawn of youth, distinguished him through life ; and the same 
 affectionate attachment of the people who knew him best, 
 has followed him beyond the grave." See also Walpole's Misc. 
 Letters, ii. 271, iv. pp. 25, 268, 299; Letters to Mason, vol. 
 i. pp. 30, 104; Memoirs of George III. vol. i. pp. 259, 339; 
 Grenville Papers, ii. p. 320. He was attached to George 
 Grenville, and by him made a Lord of the Admiralty. Lord 
 Camelford's Letters (fifty-eight in number) to G. Hardinge are 
 printed in the sixth volume of Nichols's Literary Illustrations, 
 pp. 83—106. 
 
THE POET GRAY. Ill 
 
 should buckle my shoe in Westminster Hall. 
 What is the reason I hear nothing of your 
 waiting, and your performances in public? Ano- 
 othef thing, — why hasMr.Hurd's Letter* to you 
 never been advertised ? and why do not I hear 
 what any body says about it ? 
 
 I go from hence for three days on Wednes- 
 day next, and hope your installation will not be 
 so over that you should come to Windsor be- 
 fore I return ; if I had notice in due time, I 
 would meet you at the Christopher in Eton, or, 
 if you choose it, — you know the worst, having 
 been already here, — shall rejoice to see you at 
 Stoke. In town I shall hardly be till next 
 month. Our expedition is extremely a VAnglaise, 
 
 * In 1757 Hurd published a Letter to Mason, " on the 
 marks of Imitation," which is since incorporated as a dis- 
 sertation in his Horace. See this Letter mentioned by Gray 
 to Dr. Wharton in Works, Letter lxxiv. vol. iii. p. 177. The 
 remarks that appeared against it, anonymously written with 
 much acrimony (v. Monthly Review, 1766, i. 474), were by 
 Mr. Capell. Hurd maintained through life his friendship for 
 Mason, which was formed at college; and at Mason's death, in 
 1797, a long and interesting correspondence was returned by 
 his executors to the Bishop. In Hurd's paper called " Some 
 Occurrences in my Life," is the following entry: " Mr. Mason 
 died at Aston, April 5, 1797. He was one of my oldest and 
 most respected friends. Very few of this description now re- 
 main." Doctor Whitaker truly said, " Bishop Hurd was the last 
 survivor of Gray's friends ;" except Mr. Nicholls of Blundeston. 
 
112 LETTERS OP 
 
 but I have given up all thoughts of England, 
 and care for nobody but the King of Prussia. 
 Pray do not suffer your megrims to prevail over 
 you ; it is good for you that you should come 
 to school for a few months now and then. I 
 must say no one has profited more in so few 
 lessons. Common sense no where thrives better 
 than in the neighbourhood of nonsense. Take 
 care of your health, and believe me ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 Send me Elegy,* — my hoe is sharp. 
 
 LETTER XXVIL 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, Dec. 19, 1757. 
 
 Though I very well know the bland emollient 
 saponaceous qualities both of sack and silver, 
 yet if any great man would say to me, " I make 
 you Rat-catcher to his Majesty, with a salary of 
 £300 a-year and two butts of the best Malaga ; 
 and though it has been usual to catch a mouse 
 
 * Mason's " Elegy in the Garden of a Friend." See Gray's 
 Works, vol. iii. p. 185, ed. Aid.; and Mason's Works, vol. i. 
 p. 100. 
 
THE POET OKAY. 113 
 
 or two, for form's sake, in public once a year, 
 yet to you, sir, we shall not stand upon these 
 things," I cannot say I should jump at it ; nay, 
 if they would drop the very name of the office, 
 and call me Sinecure to the King's Majesty, I 
 should still feel a little awkward, and think 
 every body I saw smelt a rat about me ; but I 
 do not pretend to blame any one else that has 
 not the same sensations ; for my part I would 
 rather be serjeant trumpeter or pinmaker to the 
 palace. Nevertheless I interest myself a little 
 in the history of it, and rather wish somebody 
 may accept it that will retrieve the credit of 
 the thing, if it be retrievable, or ever had any 
 credit. Howe was, I think, the last man of 
 character that had it. As to Settle, whom you 
 mention, he belonged to my lord mayor not to 
 the king.* Eusdent was a person of great hopes 
 
 * [This paragraph on " Settle " is omitted in Mason's edi- 
 tion; but the whole letter, though of the same date, 19th Dec. 
 1757, is composed of the present and the following, with 
 numerous additions, omissions, and alterations.] Elkanah 
 Settle, born 1646, died 1724; the last of the city poets; for, 
 when the Lord Mayors' pageants dropped, the office fell with 
 them. He commenced his poetical life by opposing Dryden ; 
 and he ended it by writing drolls for Bartholomew Fair. His 
 friend, John Dunton, has praised him in his Life, p. 243 ; and 
 he still lives embalmed and immortal in the Dunciad of Pope, 
 b. i. ver. 90. 
 
 t Appointed poet laureate by Lord Halifax, in 1716. He 
 
 I 
 
114< LETTERS OF 
 
 in his youth, though at last he turned out a 
 drunken parson. Dryden* was as disgraceful to 
 the office, from his character, as the poorest 
 scribhler could have been from his verses. 
 The office itself has always humbled the pro- 
 fessor hitherto (even in an age when kings were 
 somebody), if he were a poor writer by making 
 him more conspicuous, and if he were a good 
 one by setting him at war with the little fry of 
 his own profession, for there are poets little 
 enough to envy even a poet laureat. 
 
 I am obliged to you for your news; pray send 
 me some more, and better of the sort. I can tell 
 you nothing in return ; so your generosity will 
 
 was rector of Coningsby in Lincolnshire, (which afterwards 
 received another poet, the author of the Fleece), where he 
 died in 1730. He too appears in company with his brother 
 Settle, engaged in no very noble occupation. 
 
 u And Eusden eke out Blackmore's endless line." 
 See Dunciad, i. ver. 103, and the note. 
 
 * " Ill-fated Dryden! who unmov'd can see 
 
 The extremes of wit and meanness meet in thee?" 
 
 Brown's Essay on Satire. 
 " If Pope thro' friendship fail'd — -indignant view, 
 Yet pity Dryden! hark! whene'er he sings, 
 How Adulation drops his courtly dew 
 
 On titled rhymers and inglorious kings." — "Mason. 
 
 See Dryden' s character finely and forcibly drawn by Pro- 
 fessor Smyth, in Lectures on Modern History, vol. ii. p. 41. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 115 
 
 be the greater ; — only Dick* is going to give up 
 his rooms, and live at Ashwell. Mr. Treasurerf 
 sets Sir M. Lamb J at nought, and says he has 
 sent him reasons half a sheet at a time ; and 
 Mr. Brown attests his veracity as an eye-wit- 
 ness. I have had nine pages of criticism on 
 the Bard sent me in an anonymous letter, § di- 
 rected to the Heverend Mr. G. at Strawberry 
 Hill ; and if I have a mind to hear as much 
 more on the other Ode, I am told where I may 
 direct. He seems a good sensible man, and I 
 dare say a clergyman. He is very frank, and 
 indeed much ruder than he means to be. Adieu, 
 dear Mason, and believe me that I am too. 
 
 * Dick is the Rev. Richard Forester, mentioned before, in 
 Letter xix., son of Poulter Forester, Esq. of Broadfield, Herts. 
 He vacated his fellowship at the end of the year 1757, and 
 went to Ashwell in his own county. 
 
 j" Mr. Joseph Gaskarth was the college treasurer, but the 
 subject of his disagreement with Sir M. Lamb does not appear 
 to be known. 
 
 J Probably Sir Matthew Lamb, of Brocket Hall, Herts, 
 created a Baronet in 1755 ; father of the first Lord Melbourne. 
 He died 6 Nov. 1768. See Clutterbuck's Hertfordshire, ii. 
 p. 361. 
 
 § See Gray's Letter to Dr. Wharton, Dec. 8, 1757. The 
 writer was a Mr. J. Butler, of Andover. See p. 113, and 
 note of the Editor of Gray's Works, vol. iii. p. 181. 
 
 i 2 
 
116 LETTERS OE 
 
 LETTER XXVIIL 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, Jan. 3, 1758. 
 
 A life spent out of the world has its hours of 
 despondence, its inconveniences, its sufferings, 
 as numerous and as real (though not quite of 
 the same sort) as a life spent in the midst of it. 
 The power we have, when we win exert it, over 
 our own minds, joined to a little strength and 
 consolation, nay, a little pride we catch from 
 those that seem to love us, is our only support 
 in either of these conditions. I am sensible I 
 cannot return to you so much of this assistance 
 as I have received from you. I can only tell 
 you that one who has far more reason than you 
 (I hope) will ever have to look on life with 
 something worse than indifference, is yet no 
 enemy to it, and can look backward on many 
 bitter moments partly with satisfaction, and 
 partly with patience, and forward too, on a 
 scene not very promising, with some hope and 
 some expectations of a better day. The con- 
 versation you mention seems to me to have 
 been in some measure the cause of your reflec- 
 tion. As you do not describe the manner 
 (which is very essential, and yet cannot easily 
 
THE POET GRAY. 117 
 
 be described,) to be sure I can judge but very 
 imperfectly of it. But if (as you say) it ended 
 very amicably, why not take it as amicably ? 
 In most cases I am a great friend to eclair- 
 cissements ; it is no pleasant task to enter upon 
 them, therefore it is always some merit in the 
 person who does so. I am in the dark too as 
 
 to what you have said of . To whom, 
 
 where, before whom, how did it come round? 
 for you certainly would not do it indiscrimi- 
 nately, nor without a little reserve. I do not 
 mean on your own account (for he is an object 
 of contempt, that would naturally tempt any 
 
 one to laugh, or ■ himself J, but for the 
 
 person's sake with whom you so often are, who 
 (merely from his situation) must neither laugh 
 
 nor himself, as you and I might do. Who 
 
 knows ? any little imprudence (which it is so 
 pleasant to indulge) might really be disagree- 
 able in its consequences to him ; for it would 
 be said infallibly, though very unjustly, that 
 you would not dare to take these liberties with- 
 out private encouragement, at least, that he 
 had no aversion to hear in secret what you 
 ventured to say in public. You do not ima- 
 gine that the world (which always concludes 
 wrong about the motives of such minds as it 
 has not been used to) will think you have any 
 
118 LETTERS OP 
 
 sentiments of your own ; and though you (if 
 you thought it worth while) might wish to 
 convince them of their mistake, yet you would 
 not do it at the expense of another, especially 
 of this other ; in short, I think (as far as I 
 know) you have no reason from this to take 
 any such resolution as you meditate. Make 
 use of it in its season, as a relief from what is 
 tiresome to you, but not as if it was in conse- 
 quence of something you take ill ; on the con- 
 trary, if such a conference had happened about 
 the time of your transmigration, I would defer 
 it, to avoid that appearance merely : for the 
 frankness of this proceeding has to me an ap- 
 pearance of friendliness that one would by no 
 means wish to suppress. 
 
 I am ashamed not to have returned Mr. Hurd 
 my thanks for his book ; * pray do it for me in 
 the civilest manner, and tell him I shall be 
 here till April, when I must go for a short 
 time to town, but shall return again hither. I 
 rejoice to hear he is again coming out, and had 
 no notion of his being so ready for the press. 
 
 I wrote to the man (as you bid me), and had 
 
 * It appears by the dates of his life that Hurd printed in 
 1757 his " Remarks on Hume's Natural History of Religion;" 
 or the book which he gave to Gray might be the new edition 
 of his Commentary on Horace. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 119 
 
 a second criticism ; his name (for I desired to 
 know it) is Butler. He is (he says) of the num- 
 ber of those who live less contented than they 
 ought, in an independent indolence, can just 
 afford himself a horse for airings about Hare- 
 wood Forest (the scene of Elfrida), half a score 
 new books in a season, and good part of half an 
 acre of garden-ground for honeysuckles and 
 roses. Hid you know that Harewood was near 
 Andover ? * I think that you had some friend 
 in that neighbourhood, — is it not Mr. Bourne ? 
 however, do not inquire, for our correspondence 
 is to be a profound secret. Adieu ! I am ever 
 truly yours, T. G. 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 THE EEV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 
 Hear Mr. Gray, Syon mil, Jan. 5, 1758. 
 
 I send you with your anonymous Criticisms 
 the produce of Christmas. But first, as to the 
 
 * Harewood is in Herefordshire, union of Ross, upper divi- 
 sion of the hundred of Wormelow. This parish formerly 
 belonged to the forest of Harewood, in which Earl Ethelwold 
 is supposed to have been assassinated by King Edgar for his 
 misconduct to the fair Elfrida. — Parliamentary Gazetteer. 
 
120 LETTERS OF 
 
 Criticisms. I think just as you do about them; 
 yet I have so much good-nature even for a 
 critic, that I think I would write to him; 
 though on second thoughts it scarce signifies, 
 when one reflects what he has said about the 
 famished eagle. 
 
 Now be it known unto you, I send you two 
 Odes, one so very ancient that all the iEolian 
 lyres that ever sounded are mere things of yes- 
 terday in comparison. If you have a mind to 
 trace my imagery, you will find it all huddled to- 
 gether by Keysler, in his " Antiquitates Selectae 
 Septentrionales et Celticse."* The book I do 
 not doubt is to be met with at Cambridge ; and 
 if you have not seen it you need only read his 
 second chapter. Eut tell me, may this sort of 
 imagery be employed ? will its being Celtic 
 make it Druidical ? If it will not, burn it ; if 
 it will, why scratch it ad libitum, and send it 
 me back as soon as possible. 
 
 The other Ode is as modern as can be wished, 
 and is that upon which I trust all my future 
 fame will be founded. While Lord Bolingbroke 
 stands upon the same shelf with Malebranche 
 and Locke, I have no fear but I shall squeeze 
 myself between Soame Jenyns and Lord Ches- 
 
 * Published at Hanover in 1728. See Saxii Onomast. Lite- 
 rarium, vol. vi. p. 287; Acta Lipsiensia, 1721, April, p. 162. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 121 
 
 terfield, and I swear I will not give the pas 
 to Sir Charles Hanbury. " Well, but who is 
 this Mr. Jolliffe ; and how came you acquainted 
 with him?" Lord! you are not one of us ; you 
 know nothing of life. Why, Mr. Jolliffe is a 
 bookseller's son in St. James's Street, who 
 takes profiles with a candle better than any 
 body. All White's have sat to him, not to 
 mention Prince Edward. At first his price was 
 only half a crown, but it is now raised to a 
 crown, and he has literally got above a hun- 
 dred pounds by it. Return it with the other 
 Ode, and be sure let nobody see it, except Mr. 
 Brown. 
 
 I cannot finish my letter without telling you 
 an excellent story of Fobus.* On the death of 
 
 * The name by which Gray and his friends used to 
 designate the Duke of Newcastle, though occasionally be- 
 stowed on another Lord, as " Lord Radnor, a simple old 
 Fobus." See Works, vol. iii. p. 157. " His vanity," says 
 Professor Smyth, " and some defects of character, exposed 
 him to the ridicule of wits and satirists." See a more impar- 
 tial character of him in the Rockingham Memoirs, vol. i. 
 pp. 11-13. Mason, then Fellow of Pembroke Hall, wrote the 
 Ode on the Installation of the Duke of Newcastle at Cam- 
 bridge. It is printed in Dodsley's Collection of Poems, vol. iv. 
 p. 269. Gray says, that " Mason's Ode was the only enter- 
 tainment that had any tolerable elegance ; and for my own 
 part, I think it (with some little abatements) uncommonly 
 
122 LETTERS OF 
 
 the laureat, Lord Barrington* told him he was 
 very glad to find that I was not to succeed, be- 
 cause it would be a shame to employ me in 
 writing such stuff as birth-day odes. Fobus 
 said he did not know me. Lord B. stared, and 
 told him he wondered at that, " for that he of 
 all people ought to know me." Still Eobus 
 was ignorant; in short, Lord B. was obliged 
 to rattle the Installation Ode in his ears before 
 Eobus would own to the least bit of remem- 
 brance. 
 
 Pray tell this story to every body, it is mat- 
 ter of fact, and I think to both our credits. 
 
 Adieu ! I would give all I am worth, that is 
 
 well on such an occasion," &c. The Ode is not to be found 
 in Mason's collected Works, four vols. 8vo. which were pub- 
 lished by his relation Mr. Dixon, though without a name. 
 The Monthly Review says, " The Isis, an Elegy, and the Ode- 
 were probably suppressed from prudential or political con- 
 siderations." See Monthly Review, 1764, vol. i. p. 66. On 
 this Installation compare Walpole's Letter to Mason, Misc. 
 Lett. vol. ii. p. 286. 
 
 * William Lord Viscount Barrington, who filled many 
 public offices, and retired from Parliament in 1778; died Feb. 
 1, 1793. See account of him in Kockingham Memoirs, vol. ii. 
 p. 190: his Life has been written by his brother, the Bishop 
 of Durham. His official career extended over a period of 
 twenty-four years. He had been successively Secretary-at- 
 War, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Treasurer of the 
 Navy. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 123 
 
 to say, Caractacus and my Ode to Mr. Jolliffe, 
 to see an Ode to the King of Prussia by your 
 hand. He has certainly taken Breslau, and in 
 it 14 general officers and 10,000 prisoners.* 
 
 Yours sincerely. 
 
 To Mr. Jolliffe (who cuts out likenesses from 
 the shadow at White's) : — 
 
 Oh thou that on the walls of White's, 
 
 The temple of virtu, 
 Of dukes and earls, and lords and knights, 
 
 Portray'st the features true ! 
 Hail, founder of the British school ! 
 
 No aids from science gleaning ; 
 Let Reynolds blush, ideal fool, 
 
 Who gives his pictures meaning ; 
 Of taste or manners let him dream, 
 
 With all his art and care, 
 He can but show us what men seem, 
 
 You show us what they are. 
 Let connoisseurs of colouring talk, 
 
 What is 't at best but skin ; 
 You, Jolliffe, at one master-stroke, 
 
 Display the void within. 
 Come, Bob,j" and ope the club-room door, 
 
 And let the Muses follow ; 
 By God, they'll lay you six to four, 
 
 They guess each face all hollow. 
 
 * See Belsham's Hist. vol. iv. p. 29 ; Smollett's Hist. vol. iv. 
 p. 188. 
 
 f See Walpole and Mason's Correspondency vol. i. p. 
 
124 LETTERS OF 
 
 " Well, who is this ?" " This sail'd with Byng, 
 
 Minorca's siege to raise ; 
 This for surrendering gain'd a string; 
 
 This eat the grapes of Aix ; 
 These did to Nova Scotia go, 
 
 Cape Breton's forts to sack, 
 And (spite of French and Indian foe), 
 
 Safe brought their shadows back." 
 Oh, Jolliffe! may the historic sage 
 
 Thy art and judgment steal, 
 And when he draws the present age, 
 
 Still sketch it in profile. 
 Or since an honest hand would hate 
 
 Fictitious lights to spread, 
 Let him revere Britannia's fate, 
 
 And throw it all in shade. 
 
 131. " Bob, formerly a waiter at White's, was set up by 
 my nephew for two boroughs, and actually was returned for 
 Castle Rising with Mr. Wedderburne. 
 
 Servus curru portatur eodem.'' 
 
 Walpole's Letters; and vol. ii. p. 132. 
 
 " When Macreath serv'd in Arthur's crew, 
 He said to Rumbold, ' Black my shoe ;' 
 
 To which he answered ' Aye, Bob :' 
 But when returned from India's land, 
 And grown too proud to brook command, 
 
 He sternly answered, ' Nay, Bob.' " 
 
 Sir Robert Macreath had been head waiter at the Cocoa, where 
 he was known as " Bob." See Clubs in London, vol. i. p. 145. 
 In a letter to Horace Mann, Walpole says, " Lord Oxford 
 had borrowed money of him ; brought him into Parliament for 
 
THE POET GRAY. 125 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, Jan. 13, 1758. 
 
 Why you make no more of writing an Ode, 
 and throwing it into the fire, than of buckling 
 and unbuckling your shoe. I have never read 
 Keysler's book, nor you neither, I believe ; if 
 you had taken that pains, I am persuaded you 
 would have seen that his Celtic and his septentri- 
 onal antiquities are two things entirely distinct. 
 There are, indeed, some learned persons who have 
 taken pains to confound what Cassar and Tacitus 
 have taken pains to separate, the old Druidical 
 or Celtic belief, and that of the old Germans, 
 but nobody has been so learned as to mix the 
 
 his borough of Castle Rising; and, to excuse it, pretended 
 that his mother, Lady Orford, borrowed the money. This 
 transaction gave so much offence that Macreath was persuaded 
 to sell his seat." — See vol. ii. p. 299. Mr. H. Jesse, in his 
 pleasing edition of Selwyn Correspondence, has given a letter 
 from Macreath to George Selwyn, April, 1763 — he was the 
 proprietor of Whites — announcing that he had quitted business 
 entirely, and let his house to Mr. Chambers, his new relative, 
 and recommending him to patronage. And see vol. i. p. 216. 
 G. Williams mentions him in a letter to G. Selwyn as one of 
 the betters in Change Alley on the success of Wilkes, when he 
 stood for the City. " Macreath was the ally, and had various 
 negotiations." ii. 266. 
 
126 LETTERS OF 
 
 Celtic religion with that of the Goths. Why, 
 Woden himself is supposed not to have been 
 older than Julius Caesar ; hut let him have 
 lived when he pleases, it is certain that neither 
 he nor his Valhalla were heard of till many 
 ages after. This is the doctrine of the Scalds, 
 not of the Bards ; these are the songs of Hengist 
 and Horsa, a modern new-fangled belief in com- 
 parison of that which you ought to possess. 
 After all, I shall be sorry to have so many 
 good verses and good chimseras thrown away. 
 Might we not be permitted (in that scarcity of 
 Celtic ideas we labour under) to adopt some of 
 these foreign whimsies, dropping however all 
 mention of Woden and his Valkhyrian virgins, 
 &c. ? To settle this scruple of conscience, I 
 must refer you to Dr. Warburton: if this should 
 be his opinion (which I doubt), then I go on to 
 tell you (first premising that a dirge is always 
 a funeral service sung over persons already 
 dead,) that I would have something striking and 
 uncommon in the measures, the rhythm, and the 
 expression of this Chorus ; the two former are 
 not remarkable here, and the third is so little 
 antiquated, that " murky"* and " dank" look 
 like two old maids of honour got into a circle 
 
 * " Haste with light spells the murky foe to chase." 
 
 Chor. in Caractacus. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 127 
 
 of fleering girls and boys. Now for particulars . 
 I like the first stanza ; the image of Death in 
 arms is very fine and gallant, but I banish 
 " free-born train," and " glory and luxury" 
 here (not the ideas, but the words), and " liberty 
 and freedom's cause," and several small epithets 
 throughout. I do not see how one person can 
 lift the voice of another person. The imagery 
 of the second stanza too is excellent. A dragon 
 pecks! why a cock-sparrow might do as much : 
 in short, I am pleased with the Gothic Elysium. 
 Do not think I am ignorant about either that, 
 or the hell before, or the twilight. I have 
 been there, and have seen it all in Mallet's In- 
 troduction to the History of Denmark (it is in 
 Ereneh),* and many other places. " Now they 
 charge," &c. looks as if the coursers rode upon 
 the men. A ghost does not fall. These are 
 all my little objections, but I have a greater. 
 Extreme conciseness of expression, yet pure, 
 perspicuous, and musical, is one of the grand 
 
 * Northern Antiquities, translated from Mons. Mallet's 
 Introduction a V Histoire de Dannemark, 2 vols. 1770. This 
 portion is said to be by Bishop Percy. See Foreign Quarterly 
 Review, No. rv. p. 478 ; Leyden's Complaynt of Scotland, 
 p. 254; Pinkerton on the Goths, p. 100; Nichols's Illustrations 
 of Literature, vol. viii. p. 314. A new edition, edited by J. A. 
 Blackwell, has been published in Bonn's Antiquarian Library. 
 
128 LETTERS OF 
 
 beauties of lyric poetry; this I have always 
 aimed at, and never could attain; the necessity 
 of rhyming is one great obstacle to it : another 
 and perhaps a stronger is, that way you have 
 chosen of casting down your first ideas care- 
 lessly and at large, and then clipping them 
 here and there, and forming them at leisure ; 
 this method, after all possible pains, will leave 
 behind it in some places a laxity, a diffuseness; 
 the frame of a thought (otherwise well invented, 
 well turned, and well placed) is often weakened 
 by it. Do I talk nonsense, or do you understand 
 me ? I am persuaded what I say is true in my 
 head, whatever it may be in prose, — for I do 
 not pretend to write prose. 
 
 I am extremely pleased with your fashionable 
 Ode, and have nothing to find fault there, only 
 you must say " portray' st " in the first stanza ; 
 and " it looks at best but skin," in the fourth, 
 is not right. I have observed your orders, but 
 I want to shew it everybody. Pray tell me 
 when I may have the credit of doing so. I 
 have never seen a prettier modernism : let it 
 be seen while it is warm. You are in the 
 road to fame ; but do not tell your name at 
 first, whatever you may venture to do after- 
 wards. 
 
 Fobus is a treat ; desire Lord Holdernesse to 
 
THE POET GRAY. 129 
 
 kiss him on both ears for me. I forgive Lord 
 B. for taking the Tudor s for the Restoration. 
 Adieu, dear Mason, and remember me; and 
 remember too that I have neither company, 
 nor pleasure, nor spirits here, and that a letter 
 from you stands in all the place of all these. 
 Adieu ! 
 
 So you have christened Mr. Dayrolles'* child, 
 and my Lady Y.f they say. Oh ! brave Dupp. $ 
 
 * Mr. Dayrolles was the intimate friend and correspondent 
 of Lord Chesterfield, and the Resident at the Hague. See 
 Chesterfield's Letters in Maty's edition, vol. iv. from 1734 
 to 1772, more fully published since by Lord Mahon, pp. 
 101 — 367 ; and Walpole's Misc. Letters, vol. ii. p. 189. He 
 is also mentioned in Walpole's and Masons Correspondence, 
 vol. i. p. 270, on his daughter having eloped with Leonidas 
 Glover's youngest son. He was protected by the Richmond 
 and Grafton families. From a MS. memorandum of Horace 
 Walpole's, relating to Mr. Dayrolles, I find that some scandal 
 existed with regard to Mr. Stanhope, to whom he was gentle- 
 man at the Hague, and to which Gray silently pointed, in 
 his mention of Mr. Dayrolles' child. 
 
 ■j" I suppose that Lady Yarmouth is meant. She had 
 a son, called Master Louis, but not owned, 1758. See 
 Walpole's George H. vol. i. p. 177; and his Misc. Corres- 
 pondence, vol. i. Lett. xcix. p. 375 ; and Reminiscences, 
 p. 309 ; Works, 4to. vol. iv. p. 309. 
 
 J Thomas Henry, Viscount Dupplin, afterwards Earl of 
 Kinnoul. In 1757 Lord Waldegrave says, " I am now 
 ordered by the King to notify to Sir Thomas Robinson and 
 Lord Dupplin his Majesty's intention of appointing the former 
 
 K 
 
130 LETTERS OT 
 
 how comes lie to be the Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer ? What is going to he now ? 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 THE REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 
 Dear Sir, Jan. 16, 1758. 
 
 I believe you are quite right, as you always 
 are in these matters. But it is a little hard 
 upon my no-reading to believe I have not read 
 Keysler. I have, I assure you, and he led me 
 into the mistake. He has a chapter on the 
 notions the northern nations had of a future 
 state. First of all, he talks of the " Metempsy- 
 chosis," which everybody allows Druidical (ex- 
 cept Pelloutier), and then says, " Illi qui sine 
 animarum transmigratione aliam post obitum 
 vitam superesse statuebant, duplices primo 
 animarum sedes faciebant. Alius enim status 
 
 Secretary of State, and the other Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 .... Lord Dupplin excused himself as not being equal to so 
 high an employment, even in times of the greatest tranquillity," 
 p. 108. See Grenville Papers, vol. i. p. 190; Rockingham 
 Papers, vol. i. p. 146 ; Chesterfield's Letters, vol. iv. p. 202 ; 
 Belsham's Hist. vol. i. p. 245 ; Walpole's Mem. of George II. 
 vol. i. pp. 63, 328, 383-388; vol. ii. pp. 144, 146; vol. iii. p. 
 6 ; add many notices in Walpole's Misc. Correspondence, vol. 
 iii. pp. 48,49, 54, 281, 296, &c. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 131 
 
 erat eorum ante crepuscuhmi deoruru, alius post 
 illud." And then goes on to describe his 
 " Hell," and his " Valhalla." But Sir William 
 Temple set me right about the low date of these 
 ideas, before I received yours ; * I have there- 
 fore laid aside the Ode, and shall make no use 
 of it at all, except perhaps the image of the 
 " armed Death," which is my own, and neither 
 Scaldic nor Hunic. And as to this nasty Ger- 
 man, Keysler, who led me to take all this 
 trouble, I will never open him again. The fool 
 was a Fellow of the Royal Society — what could 
 one expect better from him ? But, after all, I 
 do wish indeed that these Odes were all of them 
 finished ; and yet, by what you talk of " mea- 
 sure, and rhythm, and expression," I think I 
 shall never be able to finish them, — never cer- 
 tainly at all if I am not to throw out my ideas 
 at large ; so, whether I am right or wrong, I 
 must have my way in that : therefore talk no 
 more about it. Well, you like my other Ode, 
 however, so I'll turn wit; though that, according 
 to Pope's gradation to plain fool,t should have 
 
 * See Sir W. Temple "Of Heroic Virtue" and "Of 
 Poetry," on this subject. 
 
 f Some have at first for wits, then poets passed ; 
 Turn'd critics next, and proved plain fools at last. 
 Pope's Essay on Criticism, i. p. 35. 
 
 k2 
 
132 LETTERS OF 
 
 come before poetry. However, as times go, it 
 is well it comes anyhow. But hold, I cannot 
 part with " poetry" till it has served me a few 
 friendly turns ; and when it has done that it 
 may go to Pobus, if it pleases, or to the devil. 
 One of these friendly turns it has done already, 
 and you will have it inclosed, if my excellent 
 Eraser transcribes it in time. Let me have 
 your strictures speedily, because I want to send 
 it to Wood. Take notice, the lines descriptive 
 of his garden* are strictly peculiar, andWhite- 
 
 * See Letter xxvi. — See note in Letter xxiv. to which add, 
 Mr. Kobert Wood was the author of the Essay on Homer, 
 the work on the Ruins of Palmyra, &c. appointed Under 
 Secretary of State in 1759 by Mr. Pitt. See Cavendish's 
 Debates, p. 9. He died 1771, aged 59, and was buried in 
 Putney Church. The inscription on his monument was written 
 by Lord Orford. See Chatham Correspondence for his Letters, 
 vol. ii. pp. 246 — *249 ; for his writings see ibid. vol. i. p. 432 ; 
 see also Walpole's • George III. vol. i. pp. 276, 363, vol. iv. 
 pp. 3, 185, 345 ; and Walpole and Mason's Correspondence, 
 vol. i. p. 433, with Editor's note. Wood's Essay on Homer 
 was published after his death by Jacob Bryant ; for a most 
 acute and learned examination of it see Howes's Critical Obser- 
 vations on Works Antient and Modern, vol. i. p. 1 — 79 ; 
 Hoives is the person whom Dr. Parr, in his Notes to the Spital 
 Sermon, calls the Delian Diver, Tov ArjXiov jcoXvjufirjrov, 
 p. 109, and see Quarterly Review, No. cxlvi. p. 381. In the 
 Preface to the Homer is an entertaining anecdote of Lord 
 Granville (Carteret.) Add Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, 
 
THE POET GRAY. 166 
 
 head, who has seen the place, tells me they are 
 the very thing : nothing can be conceived so 
 flowery, so fragrant, and so shady as the fore- 
 ground, nothing more extensive and riant than 
 the offsets. Yet I cannot let this Elegy come 
 to you without begging that, as you are stout, 
 you will be merciful to it, for I feel for it, 
 somehow, as if it was a favourite child; and 
 I will give you a hundred Druidical Odes to 
 burn in your critical colossus, if you will let 
 it live. Lord I I know nothing of Dupp.'s being 
 made Chancellor of the Exchequer, unless it is 
 a thing of course after he is made Recorder of 
 Cambridge. Sure you had your intelligence 
 from Mr. Alderman Marshall. Do not believe 
 a word what the papers tell you, that the 
 child's name was Mary, — 'twas Concubinage ; 
 and Dr. Shebbeare is to teach it its catechize. 
 
 Pray, Mr. Gray, why won't you make your 
 Muse do now and then a friendly turn ? An 
 
 vol. iii. p. 83; Literary Illustrations, vol. i. p. 144. Dr. E. 
 Laurence gives high praise to Wood's explanation of the 
 Tpoiral rjeX'toio. Homer's Od. xv. 204. " It seems difficult (he 
 says) to determine which is most striking, the simplicity or 
 ingenuity of the explanation." See Enoch Transl. p. 199, 
 by E. Laurence, LL.D. 
 
 On a work of his on the Troad, of which there were but 
 seven copies printed, see Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. iii. 
 p. 8, and Bibliotheca Grenvilliana, vol. ii. p. 812. 
 
134 LETTERS OE 
 
 idle slut as she is ! if she was to throw out her 
 ideas never so carelessly it would satisfy some 
 folks that I know, but I won't name names, 
 and therefore I won't sign all the nonsense I 
 have written. 
 
 Do you know if Pelloutier ever published a 
 third volume of his " Histoire des Celtes ?" * 
 Dr. W. has only sent me two, and I find the 
 third was to contain their ceremonials, which 
 is all I want. 
 
 Pray direct me to the passage I have seen 
 somewhere, like this, "Est genus hominum 
 tarn umbratile," &c.f I fancy it would make 
 a good motto. If not, " Locus est et pluribus 
 umbris," is no bad one. 
 
 % Histoire des Celtes, et particulierement des Gaulois, et des 
 Germans, depuis le terns fabuleux, jusqu'a la Prise de Rome 
 par les Gaulois, 2 vols. 4to, 1771, published after the author's 
 death by Chiniac. The former edition was in two vols. 12mo, 
 1740, 1750, Hague. A very high character is given of 
 his work by Bar bier in the Bibliotheque d'un Homme de 
 Gout, vol. iii. p. 385 ; and see Saxii Onomast. Liter, vol. vii t 
 p. 266. Under the name Celts Pelloutier strangely includes 
 both Gauls and Germans. 
 
 f Though Cicero more than once alludes to the " Vita um- 
 bratilis et delicata," and other authors have the same or 
 similar expressions, I do not know where the exact sentence 
 which Mason gives is to be found. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 135 
 
 LETTER XXXII. 
 TO THE EEV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 DEAE, MASON, Sunday, Jan. . .,* 1758. 
 
 I am almost blind with, a great cold, and 
 should not have written to you to-day if you did 
 not hurry me to send back this Elegy. My 
 advices are always at your service to take or to 
 refuse, therefore you should not call them 
 severe. You know I do not love, much less 
 pique myself, on criticism, and think even a 
 bad verse as good a thing or better than the 
 best observation that ever was made upon it. 
 I like greatly what you have now sent me, par- 
 ticularly the spirit and sentiment of it; the 
 disposition of the whole too is natural and 
 elegiac. As to the expression, I would venture 
 to say (did you not forbid me) that it is some- 
 times too easy. The last line I protest against. 
 This, you will say, is worse than blotting out 
 rhymes. The descriptive part is excellent, 
 yet I am sorry for the name of Cutthorpe. I 
 had rather Vertumnus and Mora did not appear 
 in person. The word " lopt" sounds like a 
 
 * Mason has not given the date of the day of the month 
 in this letter ; but as it was on a Sunday subsequent to the 
 16th, it must have been either on the 22nd or the 29th, — 
 most probably the former. 
 
136 LETTERS OP 
 
 farmer, or a man of taste. " A mountain hoar," 
 " The savage," &c. is a very good line : yet I 
 always doubt if this ungrammatical construc- 
 tion be allowable; in common speech it is 
 usual, but not in writing even prose; and I 
 think Milton (though hard pressed by his 
 short metre in the Penseroso) yet finds a way to 
 bring in his that's, his who's, and his which' s.* 
 " Pair unfold the wide-spread," &c. ; " fair," 
 is weakly, " wide-spread " is contained in 
 " unfold." By " amber mead," I understand 
 the yellow gleam of a meadow covered with 
 marsh-marigolds and butterflowers, — is it not 
 so ? the two first lines (the second espe- 
 cially) I do not admire. I read, " Did Pancy 
 wake not — refuse one votive strain;" you will 
 ask me why ? I do not know. As to votive, it 
 is like delegated, one of the words you love. 
 I also read, " How well does Memory," &c. — 
 for the same no reason. " It all was his," &c. 
 I like the sense, but it is not sufficiently clear. 
 As to the versification, do not you perceive that 
 you make the pause on the fourth syllable in 
 almost every other line ? 
 
 * Mason seems to have profited by Gray's judicious cri- 
 ticisms. The name u Cutthorpe" does not appear in the printed 
 copy. "Pierced" is substituted for "lopped." — "That yon 
 wild peak," for u savage peak" &c. 
 
THE POET GBAY. 137 
 
 Now I desire you would neither think me 
 severe, nor at all regard what I say any further 
 than it coincides with your own judgment ; for 
 the child deserves your partiality; it is a 
 healthy well-made boy, with an ingenuous 
 countenance, and promises to live long. I 
 would only wash its face, dress it a little, make 
 it walk upright and strong, and keep it from 
 learning paw words. 
 
 I never saw more than two volumes of Pel- 
 loutier, and repent that I ever read them. He 
 is an idle man of some learning, who would 
 make all the world Celts whether they will or 
 no. Locus est et pluribus umbris* is a very good 
 motto ; you need look no further. I cannot 
 find the other passage, nor look for it with 
 these eyes. Adieu! dear Mason, I am most 
 sincerely yours. 
 
 You won't find me a place like Mr. Wood's. 
 
 Elegy I.f 
 
 " Favour' d steps," useless epithet ! Write 
 " choir." Read " rank'd and met." " Cull liv- 
 
 * See Hor. Ep. lib; i. Ep. v. ver. 28. 
 
 " Et nisi lsena prior potior que puella Sabinum 
 Detinet, assuniarn, locus est et pluribus umhrisP 
 f " To a Young Nobleman (Lord John Cavendish) leaving 
 the University, 1753." See Mason's Works, vol. i. p. 93. 
 
188 LETTERS OE 
 
 ing garlands," &c. too verbose. You love " gar- 
 lands which pride nor gains :" odd construc- 
 tion. " Genuine wreath — Friendship twine;" 
 a little forced. " Shrink" is usually a verb 
 neuter ; why not " blight" or " blast "? " Fer- 
 vid;" read " fervent." "When sad reflec- 
 tion;" read "till sad," &c. " Blest bower," 
 " call on ;" read " call we." " In vain to thee;" 
 read "in vain to him," and "his" for " thy." 
 Oh, I did not see : what will become of 
 " thine?" " Timid " read " fearful." " Dis- 
 creter part;" "honest part" just before " ex- 
 plore." " Yivid," read "warmest." 
 
 There is too much of the Muse here. " The 
 Muse's genuine wreath," " the Muse's laurel," 
 " the Muse full oft," " the Muse shall come," 
 "the Muse forbids," — five times. 
 
 Elegy II.* 
 
 "Laurel-circled;" " laurel- woven " sounds 
 better. " Neglect the strings " is somehow 
 naked: perhaps 
 
 " That rules my lyre, neglect her wonted strings." 
 
 Head " re-echo to my strain." " His earliest 
 blooms " should be " blossoms." " Then to thy 
 sight," "to the sight." Read "he pierced." 
 
 * This stands as Elegy III. p. 100, in Mason's Works. 
 
THE POET GEAY. 139 
 
 "Modestly retire/' I do not like. " Tufts" 
 sounds ill. 
 
 "To moral excellence :" a remnant of bad 
 books you read at St. John's ; so is the " dig- 
 nity of man." 
 
 " Of genuine man glowing," 
 
 a bad line. " Dupe " I do not approve. " Taste " 
 too often repeated. 
 
 " From that great Guide of Truth," 
 
 hard and prosaic. 
 
 Elegy III.* 
 " Attend the strain," " quick surprise," bet- 
 
 * This is placed as Elegy V. (p. 107,) " On the Death of a 
 Lady)," i. e. the beautiful Lady Coventry. In all the eulo- 
 gies on her printed in various publications, and illustrated by 
 commentators, no one has quoted Shenstone's testimony to her 
 beauty, Letter xcin. Nov. 25, 1718. "I first saw my Lady 
 Coventry, to whom I believe one must allow all that the world 
 allows in point of beauty ; she is certainly the most unexcep- 
 tionable figure of a woman I ever saw, and made most of the 
 ladies there seem of almost another species." The Morocco 
 Ambassador however (no bad judge of beauty) gave the pre- 
 ference to Lady Caroline Petersham. See Grenville Papers, 
 vol. i. p. 149, and on Lady Coventry's walking in Hyde Park, 
 attended for her safety by the King's guards, ibid. p. 309. 
 I have seen an original portrait of her at Crome, and of her 
 sister the Duchess of Hamilton. 
 
140 LETTERS OF 
 
 ter than " sweet." " Luxuriant Pancy, pause," 
 6 ' exulting leap . ' ' — Read 
 
 " The wint'ry blast that sweeps ye to the tomb." 
 
 " Tho' soon," — query? " His patient stand," 
 better before. Read "that mercy." "Trace 
 then by Reason's," — blot it out. " Dear as the 
 sons," perhaps, " yet neither sons," &c. 
 
 " They form the phalanx," &c. 
 11 Is it for present fame ?" 
 
 Prom hence to "peasant's life," the thought 
 seems not just, because the questions are fully 
 as applicable to a prince who does believe the 
 immortality of the soul as to one who does not; 
 and it looks as if an orthodox king had a right 
 to sacrifice his myriads for his own ambition, 
 because they stand a chance of going to heaven, 
 and he of going to hell. 
 
 Indeed these four stanzas may be spared, 
 without hurting the sense at all. After " brave 
 the torrent's roar," it goes on very well. " Go, 
 wiser ye," &c; and the whole was before rather 
 spun out and weakly.* 
 
 * Gray's remark, that this Elegy is rather spun out unne- 
 cessarily, is still true, whatever alterations it may have 
 received. But such lines as 
 
 " With hearts as gay and faces half as fair, 
 
THE POET GRAY. 141 
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 
 THE REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 
 Dear Mr. Gray, Aston, Jan. 22, 1758. 
 
 I cannot help sending you a line to desire 
 that, if yon can spare a moment from buying 
 and selling South Sea Annuities, taking inven- 
 tories of old china jars and three-legged stools 
 with black feet and grass-green velvet bottoms, 
 you would write me word how you do. I ask not 
 criticisms, nor hints, nor emendations, — these 
 at your leisure, — for my tithes are come in. I 
 live within tolerable compass, and therefore I 
 care not a fig whether Caractacus goes forth or 
 no, even though he should bring me as much as 
 Cleone did to my printer; they both begin with 
 a 0. which is a good omen. 
 
 Since your last I wrote as you bid me (or to 
 speak more grammatically, bad me) to Mr. 
 Hurd, and read his answer. He says, " I could 
 not but smile at Dr. Wharton's petition. As 
 
 And— 
 
 " Some lovelier wonder soon usurped the place, 
 Clias'd by a charm still lovelier than the last," 
 
 would redeem many faults. See a severe and sarcastic review 
 of these elegies by " Martinus Scriblerus" in Monthly Review, 
 vol. xxvii. p. 485; 1763. 
 
142 LETTERS OP 
 
 what I had to say of that wretch * was no ex- 
 traordinary pass of patience, I may the easier 
 be induced to make a sacrifice of it to humanity. 
 Yet I promise nothing; there will he time 
 enough to think of this, for the publication is 
 necessarily delayed by the late accident for 
 sometime." 
 
 This accident was no less than the loss of the 
 MS. of his last Dialogue on the Constitution, by 
 the carelessness of a Leicester bookseller, and he 
 is afraid will not be recovered ; if so, hell have it 
 all to compose afresh from some loose notes. 
 This you will say is a warning for Caractacus, 
 and indeed it does not suit his dignity to ride 
 post, like a lad newly elected at White's ; he 
 
 * The " wretch " is the poet Akenside (see page 64 ante). 
 Akenside had given offence to Warburton by a note in the 
 third book of his Pleasures of the Imagination, in which he 
 defended Shaftesbury's maxim, that ridicule is the test of 
 truth. The term wretch was applied by the Hurd and War- 
 burton school to those writers to whom they were opposed. 
 Hurd writes to Warburton this very year, (Jan. 1757,) " I 
 would give a pack of wretches to understand, that your friends 
 can appeal to the Essay as well as they;" and Warburton 
 says in an answer, " A wickeder heart than his (Hume's), and 
 more determined to do public mischief, I think I never knew." 
 See Lett. c. and Kurd's Life of Warburton, p, 64-68, for 
 further account. Gray did not like Hume either as a moralist 
 or historian. See Works, vol. v. p. 33. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 143 
 
 shall therefore stay with you, for Hurd is re- 
 turning to Thurcaston, and I fancy will come to 
 see me ; if not, I will go to see him with my own 
 copy, before I think of publishing. I send you 
 at the bottom a piece of a new stanza for the 
 second Ode. I know not if vou will not think 
 the rhymes too antiquated, or whether it is not 
 a sort of beauty in the place. 
 
 Most sincerely yours, 
 
 W. Mason. 
 
 Every heath and mountain rude* 
 Was mute till then, save from the den 
 Where watch'd some Giant proud. 
 The heifer, cag'd in craggy pen, 
 Lifted her lowings loud ; 
 While her fair firstlings' streaming gore 
 Distain'd the bone-besprinkled floor. 
 Dismal notes ! and answered soon. 
 
 * These lines do not appear in the text of Caractacus. 
 
1M LETTERS OP 
 
 LETTER XXXIV.* 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, Good Friday, 1758. 
 
 I have full as much ennui as yourself though 
 much less dissipation, but I cannot make this 
 my excuse for being silent, for I write to you 
 pour me desennuyer, though I have little enough 
 to say. I know not whether I am to condole 
 with you on this Canterbury business, for it is 
 not clear to me that you or the Church are any 
 great losers by it ; if you are be so good as to 
 inform me, and I will be sorry ; however, there 
 is one good thing in it, it proves the family are 
 mortal. 
 
 You do not seem to discover that Mons. Mal- 
 let f is but a very small scholar, except in the 
 erudition of the Goths. There are, apropos, two 
 
 * Parts of this letter are taken to form the letter Mason 
 printed under the date December 19, 1757. — Gray's Works, 
 vol. iii. p. 183. 
 
 f See on this work (the History of Denmark by Mallet,) 
 Barbier, Bibliotheque d'un Homme de Gout, vol. iv. p. 150. 
 La preface de ce livre merite specialement qu'on s'y arrete. 
 C'est un grand tableau," &c. See also Pinkerton on the 
 Goths, p. 100; Leyden's Complaynt of Scotland, p. 274; 
 Foreign Quarterly Review, iv. p. 478 ; Nichols's Illustrations 
 of Literature, vol. viii. p. 314. 
 
THE POET GKAY. 145 
 
 Dissertations on the Religion and Opinions of 
 the Gauls, published in the Memoires de 
 1'Acad. des Belles Lettres et des Inscriptions, 
 vol. XXIY. 4to. one by the Abbe Eenel, in 
 which he would shew that, about Tiberius' and 
 Claudius' times the Druids, persecuted and dis- 
 persed by the Romans, probably retired into 
 Germany, and propagated their doctrines there. 
 This is to account for some similitude to the 
 Gaulish notions which the religion of Germany 
 seems to bear, as Tacitus has described it, 
 whereas Julius Caesar makes them extremely 
 different, who lived before this supposed disper- 
 sion of the Druids; the other by Monsieur 
 Ereret, is as to shew the reverse of all this, — that 
 there was no such dispersion, no such simili- 
 tude, and that, if Caesar and Tacitus disagree, it 
 is because the first knew nothing but of those 
 nations that bordered on the Rhine, and the 
 other was acquainted with all Germany. I do 
 not know whether these will furnish you with 
 any new matter, but they are well enough 
 written and easily read. I told you before, that, 
 in a time of dearth, I would venture to borrow 
 from the Edda without entering too minutely 
 on particulars ; but, if I did so, I would make 
 each image so clear, that it might be fully un- 
 derstood by itself, for in this obscure mythology 
 
 L 
 
146 LETTERS OE 
 
 we must not hint at things, as we do with 
 the Greek fables, that every body is supposed 
 to know at school. However, on second 
 thoughts, I think it would be still better to 
 graft any wild picturesque fable, absolutely of 
 one's own invention, upon the Druid stock ; I 
 mean upon those half-dozen of old fancies that 
 are known to have made their system : this will 
 give you more freedom and latitude, and will 
 leave no hold for the critics to fasten on. 
 
 Pray, when did I pretend to finish, or even 
 insert passages into other people's works ? as if 
 it were equally easy to pick holes and to mend 
 them. All I can say is, that your Elegy must 
 not end with the worst line in it ; it is flat, it is 
 prose ; whereas that above all ought to sparkle, 
 or at least to shine. If the sentiment must 
 stand, twirl it a little into an apophthegm, stick 
 a flower in it, gild it with a costly expression ; let 
 it strike the fancy, the ear, or the heart, and I 
 am satisfied. 
 
 Hodges is a sad fellow ; so is Dr. Akenside,* 
 and Mr. Shenstone, our friends and companions. 
 
 * Gray alludes to the two additional volumes to Dodsley's 
 Collection of Poems, which came out in the year 1758, and 
 contained his two Odes, and some Poems by Mason, Shenstone, 
 Akenside, &c. Gray disliked Akenside, and in general all 
 poetry in blank verse, except Milton: see Works, vol. v. p. 36. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 147 
 
 Your story of Garrick is a good one ; pray is it 
 
 true, and what came of it ? did the tragic poet 
 
 call a guard?* It was I that hindered Mr. Brown 
 
 from sending the pamphlet. It is nonsense, 
 
 and that nonsense all stolen from Dr. Stukeley's 
 
 book about Abury and Stonehenge ; yet if you 
 
 will have it, you may. Adieu, and let me hear 
 
 soon from you. 
 
 I am ever yours, T. G. 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, June 20, 1758. 
 
 I sympathize with your eyes, having been con- 
 fined at Florence with the same complaint for 
 
 * This may allude to the disputes with Arthur Murphy- 
 regarding The Orphan of China. See Garrick Correspond- 
 ence at the end of the year 1757, and Letters, dated 23rd 
 February, 1758, and 27th May, 1758. See also Davies's Life 
 of Garrick, vol. i. p. 254, and Murphy's Life of Garrick, 
 vol. i. p. 331. Dr. Franklin, in his Dissertation on Ancient 
 Tragedy, 1760, had a note of the grossest abuse on The 
 Orphan of China, in which much malice and rancour were 
 shown. See Monthly Review, 1760, vol. xxiii. p. 5. Mason's 
 letter, to which this by Gray is an answer, is wanting. Mr. 
 Boaden says, " The true secret of Garrick's objections to the 
 Orphan of China, Cleone, &c, was that the female interest pre- 
 ponderated" See Life of Kemble. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 LETTERS OF 
 
 three weeks, but (I hope) in a much worse 
 degree, for, besides not seeing, I could not sleep 
 in the night for pain ; have a care of old women 
 (who are all great oculists), and do not let 
 them trine with so tender a part. 
 
 I have been exercising my eyes at Peter- 
 borough, Crowland, Thorney , Ely, &c. ; am 
 grown a great Een antiquary ; this was the 
 reason I did not answer you directly, as your 
 letter came in my absence. I own I have been 
 alL this while expecting Oaractacus, or at least 
 three choruses, and now you do not so much as 
 tell me it is finished : sure your spiritual func- 
 tions, and even your attentions to the Duchess 
 of Norfolk and Sir Conyers,* might have allowed 
 you some little intervals for poetry ; if not (now 
 
 * The Eight Honourable Sir Conyers d'Arcy, K.B. younger 
 son of John Lord D'Arcy, by the Hon. Bridget Sutton, only 
 surviving daughter of Robert Lord Lexington. He was ap- 
 pointed Master of the' King's Household 1719-20; K.B. 1725; 
 Comptroller of the Household and a Privy Counsellor 1730 ; 
 Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding during the minority of 
 his nephew, Robert Earl of Holdernesse ; M.P. for Richmond 
 from 1728 to 1747, and for Yorkshire from 1747 to his death, 
 in 1758. " Lady M. W. Montagu. — Her father fell in love 
 with Lady Anne Bentinck, who forsook for him Sir Conyers 
 Darcy, who had long been her lover, and on whose despair 
 Rowe wrote the ballad of ' Colin's Complaint.' " — MS. note by 
 Horace Walpole. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 149 
 
 Queen Hecuba is gone), I utterly despair, for 
 (say what you will) it was not retirement, it 
 was not leisure, or the summer, or the country, 
 that used to make you so voluminous ; it was 
 emulation, it was rivalry, it was the collision of 
 tragedy against tragedy, that kindled your 
 fires, and set old Mona in a blaze. You do not 
 say who succeeds her Trojan Majesty ;* it ought 
 to be well considered. Let me have none of 
 your prosaic curates. I shall have you write 
 sermons and private forms, and " heaven's open 
 to all men." 
 
 That old fizzling Duke t is coming here again 
 (but I hope to be gone first,) to hear speeches 
 in his new library, with the Bishop of Bristol, 
 to air his close-stool ; they have fitted it up 
 — not the close-stool, nor the Bishop, but the 
 library, with classes, that will hold anything 
 but books, yet books they must hold, and all 
 the bulky old Commentators, the Synopses and 
 Tractatus Tractatuums, J are washed with white- 
 
 * Dr. Delap, the author of " Hecuba," who had left Mason's 
 curacy. See note, p. 72. His Elegies and Koyal Suppliants, 
 reviewed in the Monthly Keview. See Index, vol. i. p. 537. 
 
 f Duke of Newcastle. " The old Hubble-bubble Duke" is 
 Dr. Warner's expression for the same peculiarity of manner 
 which Gray describes by fizzling. — See Selwyn's Corr. iv. 283. 
 
 ^ A collection of legal dissertations, " Tractatus universi 
 
150 LETTERS OP 
 
 of-eggs, gilt and lettered, and drawn up in review 
 before his Grace. Your uncle Balguy takes 
 his doctor's degree, and preaches the commence- 
 ment sermon at Dr. Green's request. 
 
 Mr. Brown sends his love, and bids me tell you 
 that Dr. Warburton has sent you his New 
 Legation, with its dedication to Lord Mansfield;* 
 would you have it sent you ? Lord Strathmore 
 goes to-morrow into the North to come of age.f 
 I keep an owl in the garden as like me as it 
 can stare; only I do not eat raw meat, nor 
 bite people by the fingers. This is all the news 
 of the place. Adieu, dear Mason ! and write to 
 me directly if it will not hurt you, or I shall 
 think you worse than you are. I am ever 
 yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 juris," published by Zilettus, the bookseller at Venice in 
 1564, in 18 folio volumes, usually bound in 25, to which there 
 are additional volumes of Index, making in all 28 folios. 
 
 * Books i. ii. iii. of The Divine Legation were dedicated to 
 Philip Earl of Hardwicke 1754 (new edition.) The Books iv. 
 v. vi, were dedicated to William Lord Mansfield in 1765 (new 
 edition.) The original Dedications were to the Free Thinkers 
 and to the Jews. 
 
 f John, ninth Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, succeeded 
 to the title 1755, and died in April 1776; in 1767 he married 
 the great heiress, daughter of G. Bowes, Esq. of Streatlam 
 Castle, in the western part of the county of Durham. 
 
THE POET GUAY. 151 
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, stoke, August 11, 1758. 
 
 I was just leaving Cambridge at the time 
 when I received your last letter, and have been 
 unfixed and flitting about almost ever since, or 
 you had heard of me sooner. You do not 
 think I could stay to receive Fobus ; no more 
 did Mr. Hurd, he was gone into Leicestershire 
 long before. As to uncle Balguy,* pray do him 
 
 * Doctor Thomas Balguy, prebendary of Winchester, and 
 archdeacon ; the friend of Warburton and Hurd. See Hurd's 
 Life of Warburton, p. 114; Brydges's Restituta, iv. p. 391; 
 Nichols's Literary Illustrations, vol. vi. p. 683. " The late 
 learned and excellent Dr. Balguy," writes Seward in his 
 Anecdotes, iv. p. 198. Dr. Warton in his Dryden, vol. i. p. 
 41, thus speaks of his friend: " Dr. Balguy, a man far above 
 the narrow vieAvs of party, of an enlarged mind and manly 
 spirit, enriched with a variety of solid learning, which he 
 always imparted in a style pure and energetic. He refused 
 the bishopric of Gloucester, offered him by Lord North. ' The 
 bishopric,' he said, ' has cost me one night's rest, and I de- 
 termined it should not cost me another." See very high praise 
 of him by Dr. S. Parr, in his Warburtonian Tracts, p. 182, 
 who considers Balguy as best fitted "to unfold with precision 
 the character ofW r arburton." " The history of Warburton (he 
 says) in the hands of so consummate an artist, would have 
 been a most instructive and interesting work, a -n-eTrXoypdtyia 
 
152 LETTERS OF 
 
 justice ; he stayed, indeed, to preach the com- 
 mencement sermon, but he assured me (in 
 secret) it was an old one, and had not one word 
 in it to the purpose. The very next morning he 
 set out for Winchester, and I do really think 
 him much improved since he had his residence 
 there ; freer and more open, and his heart less 
 set upon the mammon of unrighteousness. 
 Apropos, — would you think it ? — Fobus has wit. 
 He told Young,* who was invited to supper at 
 Doctor L.'s, and made all the company wait for 
 him, — " Why, Young, you make but an awk- 
 ward figure now you are a bishop ; this time 
 last year you would have been the first man 
 here." I cannot brag of my spirits, my situa- 
 tion, my employments, or my fertility; the 
 days and the nights pass, and I am never the 
 nearer to anything but that one to which we 
 are all tending. Yet I love people that leave 
 some traces of their journey behind them, and 
 have strength enough to advise you to do so 
 
 Varronis." Balguy left a large and interesting volume of War- 
 burton's Correspondence, which is still in MS. For the very 
 high estimation in which his authority is held in theology, 
 see Hey's Lectures on Divinity, passim. 
 
 * Philip Yonge, Eesidentiary of St. Paul's, consecrated 
 Bishop of Bristol 1758 ; translated to Norwich 1761 ; died 1783. 
 He resigned the Public Oratorship in 1752. Mentioned in the 
 last letter. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 153 
 
 while you can. I expect to see " Caractacus " 
 completed, not so much from the opinion I 
 entertain of your industry as from the consi- 
 deration that another winter approaches, which 
 is the season of harvest to an author; but I 
 will conceal the secret of your motives, and 
 join in the common applause. The hooks you 
 inquire after are not worth your knowledge. 
 Parnell* is the dunghill of Irish Grub-street. 
 I did hear who Lancelot Templet was, but 
 
 * A posthumous volume of Parnell was published in Dub- 
 lin, 1758, since reprinted; see Monthly Review, vol. xix. 
 p. 380. Lintot gave Pope fifteen pounds for the copyright of 
 Parnell's poems. 
 
 f A name assumed by Dr. Armstrong, the poet and phy- 
 sician. See his Miscellanies, vol. ii. p. 131 — 259, first pub- 
 lished in 1756; reviewed in Monthly Review, vol. xviii. 
 pp. 560 — 568. See also Knowles's Life of Fuseli, p. 59, and 
 Campbell's Hist, of Scottish Poetry, 4to, p. 222, Armstrong 
 was very intimate with Fuseli, and travelled with him on 
 the continent ; experiencing the usual fate of travellers, 
 they quarrelled at Genoa, about the pronunciation of a word, 
 and parted; but Fuseli visiting Armstrong on his cleath-bed, 
 they were reconciled. Smith, in his Life of Nollekens, says, 
 Armstrong often noticed Fuseli in the papers of the day with 
 praise (see vol. ii. p. 420, Life of Nollekens): and in his 
 Sketches, (vol. ii. p. 236, Armstrong's works,) there is a pas- 
 sage prophetic of Fuseli's future fame: " This barren age 
 has produced a genius, not indeed of British growth, unpa- 
 tronised and at present almost unknown, who may live to 
 
154 LETTERS OF 
 
 have really forgot. I know I thought it was 
 Mr. Greville.* Avon is nothing but a type.f 
 
 astonish, to terrify, and delight all Europe." There is a vio- 
 lent passage against Armstrong in Churchill's Poems (The 
 Journey), vol. iii. p. 229, ed. 1774, 12mo. See Dr. Beattie's 
 account of this work of Armstrong in Forbes's Life of Beattie, 
 vol. i. p. 203. 
 
 * Author of Maxims, Characters, and Reflections, 1757. 
 See account of him in Miss Burney's Memoirs of her Father, 
 vol. i. p. 242, vol. ii. p. 101, vol. iii. p. 134; Madame du 
 Deffand's Letters, tome i. pp. 67, 72-82 ; Lady W. Montagu's 
 Letters, vol. iii. p. 102, ed. WharnclifFe ; Boswell's Johnson, vol. 
 viii. p. 305; Walpole's Misc. Lett. vol. iii. p. 210; Jesse's Corr. 
 of Selwyn, vol. i. p. 336; and Edinburgh Review, No. cliv. p. 
 525. Mrs. Greville was Fanny Macartney, the Flora of the 
 Maxims, the author of the Ode to Indifference, and the 
 mother of the beautiful Lady Crewe. She is described in the 
 Maxims under the character of Flora ; Mr. Greville himself 
 under that of Torrismond ; Lord Chatham under Praxiteles. 
 Mrs. Montagu figures as Melissa. 
 
 | " Avon," a poem in three parts, 4to. Birmingham, 
 printed in the new types of Mr. Baskerville. The Monthly 
 Review, 1756, vol. ii. p. 276, says at the end of its notice, 
 " We have premised that this work is printed by Mr. Basker- 
 ville, who obliged the curious and literary world with a spe- 
 cimen of his excellent types in his quarto edition of Virgil. 
 The letter in which the Avon is printed, though very beautiful, is 
 yet in our opinion inferior to that of the Virgil," &c. The Rev. 
 John Cowper, Fellow of Corp. Chr. Cambridge (brother of the 
 poet), says in a letter, Jan. 1786, to Mr. Gough, " A little poem 
 called ' Avon ' has its merit." See Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, 
 viii. p. 562, 
 
THE POET GRAY. 155 
 
 The Duchess of Queensberry' s advertisement * 
 has moved my impatience; yet, after all, per- 
 haps she may curl her gray hair with her grand- 
 father's golden periods. Another object of my 
 
 * The Public Advertiser, July 10, 1758.— " Whereas a 
 spurious, incorrect edition of a work represented to contain the 
 history of the reign of his Majesty King Charles the Second, 
 from the Restoration to the end of the year 1667, by the late 
 Lord Chancellor Clarendon, has been attempted to be imposed 
 on the public ; to prevent which, their Graces the Duke and 
 Dutchess of Queensberry have preferred a bill in the High 
 Court of Chancery, and obtained an injunction to restrain the 
 printing and publishing the same ; and, in order to prevent the 
 abuse which will arise to the public from such a publication, 
 they think it incumbent on them to signify that a correct 
 edition from the original manuscript in the hand of Lord 
 Chancellor Clarendon, of his Lordship's life, from his birth 
 to his banishment (and which includes the history of the Last 
 Seven Years attempted to be imposed on the public,) is now 
 preparing for the press, and will soon be published, the profits 
 of which have been appropriated by the family for a public 
 benefaction to the University of Oxford." The Duchess was 
 the wife of Douglas third Duke of Queensberry. She was 
 the friend of Pope, and patroness and protector of Gay, for 
 whom she quarrelled with the Court. She retained in age the 
 dress of her youth, which was one of her many eccentricities. 
 She died in 1772. See Horace Walpole's Letters, March 2, 
 1774; and a Letter from her in the Grenviile Papers, vol. ii. 
 p. 424, and note. Her name is preserved in the verse of Pope 
 on Gay: 
 
 Of all thy blameless life the sole return, 
 
 My verse and Queensberry weeping o'er thy urn. 
 
156 LETTERS OF 
 
 wishes is, the King of Prussia's account of the 
 Campaign, which Niphausen talked of six weeks 
 ago as just coming over, but it is not come ; 
 perhaps he waits for a better catastrophe. The 
 Twickenham Press is in labour of two or three 
 works (not of the printer's own). One of them 
 is an Account of Hussia by a Lord Whitworth,* 
 who, I think, was minister there from King 
 William. 
 
 I seem to have told you all I know, which 
 you will think very little, but a nihilo nil Jit. 
 If I were to coin my whole mind into phrases 
 they would profit you nothing, nor fill a mode- 
 rate page. Compassionate my poverty, show 
 yourself noble in giving me better than I 
 bring, and ever believe me 
 
 Most sincerely yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 * This little work was printed at Strawberry Hill in 1758,. 
 See Walpole's Misc. Lett. vol. iii. pp. 403, 411. The MS. was 
 given by Richard Owen Cambridge, Esq., who had purchased 
 Mr. ZohnarCs Library, which related solely to Russian History. 
 In the Preface, written by Walpole, some account may be 
 found of Lord Whitworth. The title is, " Account of Eussia as 
 it was in 1710." See a favourable review of it in Monthly 
 Review, xix. pp. 439 — 444 ; but the reviewer, before he 
 marked the errata, should have known that blue (the colour) 
 was always spelt blew at that time. Thus Gray spelt it in his 
 Letters. 
 
THE POET Git AY. 157 
 
 I find you missed of Stonhewer by going to 
 Sir Conyers Darcy's. Can you tell me if he is 
 still at Harrowgate, for I do not know how to 
 direct to him there ? 
 
 LETTER XXXVII. 
 TO THE REV. MR. BROWNE. 
 
 Dear Sir, Sept. 7, 1758. 
 
 It is always time to write (whether Louis- 
 bourg* be taken or not), and I am always alike 
 glad to hear from you. I am glad however to 
 repay you with "the King of Prussia:" there 
 is a man for you at a dead lift, that has beat and 
 baffled his three most powerful t enemies, who 
 had swallowed him up in idea : not that I look 
 
 * " Louisbourg is an important conquest. It will strengthen 
 Mr. Pitt, and enable him to struggle more successfully against 
 corruption." — Warburton to Hurd, Sept. 3, 1758, Letter cxx. 
 It was taken on 27th July, 1758, after forty-nine days' siege. 
 See account of it in Mr. Jenkinsons Letter in Grenville 
 Papers, i. 258. 
 
 t His three powerful enemies were France, Austria, and 
 Russia. " The threats," writes Sir C. Williams, the Ambas- 
 sador at Petersburg, " of the three greatest powers in Europe, 
 instead of frightening him from his designs, made him exe- 
 cute them more easily. His plan and execution of it are 
 alike his own." — See Works, iii. p. 106, 
 
158 LETTERS OF 
 
 upon this last exploit, however seasonable, as 
 his most heroic exploit : I suppose it was only 
 butchering * a great flock of slaves and savages, 
 a conquest that, but for the necessity of it, he 
 would have disdained. What use our little 
 supply is like to be of in Germany I cannot 
 say. I only know that my Lord Granby, with 
 his horse, had a bridge which broke under 
 them, and that he (the Marquess) was sore 
 bruised and laid up; but I think the Electorate 
 may be saved for all this. 
 
 Old Pa. wrote to me from Scarborough three 
 weeks ago;t he had seen more in his journey 
 
 * This alludes to the King of Prussia's victory over the 
 Eussian army at Zorndorf, Aug. 25 ; "as the Prussians gave 
 no quarter, the slaughter was terrible." See Smollett, vol. iv. 
 pp. 331 — 333; Grenville Papers (Mr. Jenkinson to Mr. Gren- 
 ville), vol. i. p. 263 ; also Shenstone's Letters, iii. p. 307. " On 
 the regular destruction of 15 or 20,000 wretches on the field; 
 Mr. Cambridge was considering the massacre rather in a 
 philosophical than political view; and indeed it does not 
 appear to me that plague, earthquake, or famine are more 
 pernicious to the human race than what the world calls heroes. 11 
 
 | See Gray's Letters, vol. iii. Letter lxxxv. p. 204, Sept. 6, 
 1758, to Mr. Palgrave. The Eev. William Palgrave, LL.B. 
 1760, of Pembroke College, Cambridge, of an ancient Norfolk 
 house, Rector of Palgrave thirty-three years, and of Thrandes- 
 ton forty years, both in Suffolk, died suddenly at Brightelm- 
 stone, Nov. 5, 1799, aged sixty-four years. He is buried in 
 Palgrave church in the chancel, within the altar-rail; a flat 
 
THE POET ORAY. 159 
 
 than ever lie saw before in his life, and Avas to 
 see twice as much more in his way to Glamis. 
 
 stone covers his grave. The rectory house is much altered 
 since Palgrave's time. The garden was said to be laid out by- 
 Mason, and a sequestered alcove still remains, bearing the 
 name of " the Poet's Corner." My late friend the Rev. William 
 Alderson was the last survivor of those who personally 
 remembered Mr. Palgrave. He used to meet him during his 
 visits at Aston, and described him as a person of small sta- 
 ture, neat in his appearance, agreeable and clever in conver- 
 sation, and a very pleasant companion. He was much 
 esteemed by his parishioners at Palgrave, charitable to the 
 poor, and performed with care the duties of his parish. A 
 little singularity was given to his figure by his head being 
 drawn aside towards the shoulder, which was the occasion of a 
 ludicrous circumstance still remembered in his parish hap- 
 pening to him from a fall when hunting. Mr. Alderson men- 
 tioned to the writer of this note one or two specimens of 
 his quick and lively repartees, but these eVeo 7rrep6evra, — 
 " the winged messengers from mind to mind,'' — lose their 
 graces when fixed on paper. Mr. Palgrave's elder brother 
 assumed the name of Sayer, and married Miss Tyrrell of Gip- 
 ping, afterwards Lady Mary Haselrigge. To his younger 
 brother the Rev. William Palgrave, who is the subject of this 
 note, it is said Mr. Lawson of Boroughbridge is indebted for 
 a small but valuable collection of antiquities collected during 
 Mr. Palgrave's travels in Italy with his friend Mr. Weddell 
 of Newby (who at that time made the collection of statues 
 now belonging to Lord de Grey). Mr. Lawson has also Mr. 
 Palgrave's journal, undertaken by Gray's advice. See Gray's 
 Letter to Mr. Palgrave on his Tour. " Quoclcumque videris, 
 scribe et describe, memoria ne fide," vol. iv. p. 106 : Avhether 
 
160 LETTERS OE 
 
 He is become acquainted with rocks and pre- 
 cipices, and despises the tameness and insipidity 
 of all we call fine in the South. Mr. Pitt and 
 he did not propose being at Glamis till the end 
 of August. 
 
 If I had been at the great gambling dinner, 
 I should have desired somebody would help me 
 to a collop of the other great turtle, though I 
 believe it is vile meat. You tell me nothing 
 about the good family at BApton, that were to 
 come together from all quarters* and be so 
 happy this summer ; has any ill chance hindered 
 their meeting, or have you not paid them a 
 visit this vacation ? It is an infinite while since 
 I heard from Mason ; I know no more of him 
 than you do ; but I hope Caractacus will profit 
 of our losses ; if pleasure or application take up 
 his thoughts I am half content. 
 
 My health I cannot complain of, but as to 
 my spirits they are always many degrees below 
 
 the expression in the following precept is classically correct 
 may admit a doubt, " Tritum viatorum compitum calca." 
 Mr. Palgrave is often mentioned in Walpole's Letters to 
 Mason in a very friendly manner. See vol. ii. p. 161, &c. &c. 
 * Nicholas Bonfoy, Esq. married Elizabeth, a daughter of 
 William Hall, Esq. of King's Walden. She was one of a 
 family of ten sons and four daughters ; he resided al Abbot's 
 Ripton, in the county of Huntingdon, where the descendants 
 are still situated. See note to Letter xi. p 38. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 161 
 
 changeable, and I seeni to myself to inspire 
 
 everything around me with ennui and dejection ; 
 
 but some time or other all these things must 
 
 come to a conclusion, till which day I shall 
 
 remain very sincerely yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 Commend me to any that inquire after me, 
 particularly Mr. Talbot. 
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 TO THE REV. MR. BROWNE. 
 
 Dear Sir, Oct. 28, 1758. 
 
 You will not imagine me the less grateful for 
 the long letter you were so good to write me 
 some time since, because I have omitted to 
 answer it, especially if you know what has 
 since happened. Mrs. Rogers died in the end 
 of September ; and what with going to town to 
 prove her will and other necessary things, what 
 with returning back hither to pay debts, make 
 inventories, and other such delightful amuse- 
 ments, I have really been almost wholly taken 
 up. I might perhaps make a merit even of 
 writing now, if you could form a just idea of 
 my situation, being joint executor with another 
 
 M 
 
162 LETTERS OF 
 
 aunt, who is of a mixed breed between 
 
 and the Dragon of Wantley. So much for her. 
 I next proceed to tell you that I saw Mason in 
 town, who stayed there a day on my account, 
 and then set out (not in a huff) with a laudable 
 resolution to pass his winter at Aston, and save 
 a curate.* My Lordf has said something to him, 
 which I am glad of, that looked like an excuse 
 for his own dilatoriness in preferring him ; but 
 this is a secret. He told me he had seen you, 
 and that you were well. Dr. Wharton con- 
 tinues dispirited, but a little better than he 
 was. The first act of Caractacus is just arrived 
 here, but I have not read it over. 
 
 I am very disagreeable; but who can help 
 that ? Adieu, my best Mr. Browne ; I am ever 
 yours, T. G. 
 
 I shall hardly be at Cambridge before Christ- 
 mas. I recollect that it is very possible you 
 may have paid my bills ; if so, pray inform me 
 what they amount to, that I may send the 
 money when I get to London, or sooner, if you 
 please. 
 
 * I presume that he did so ; for there appears a vacancy in 
 the curacy between Mr. Delap's leaving Aston, and Mr. Wood 
 coming in 1759, by the Aston Register. 
 
 | Lord Holdernesse. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 163 
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, Stoke, Nov. 9, 1758. 
 
 I should have told you that Caradoc came 
 safe to hand, hut my critical faculties have 
 been so taken up in dividing nothing with 
 "The Dragon of Wantley's Dam,"* that they 
 are not yet composed enough for a better and 
 more tranquil employment ; shortly, however, 
 I will make them obey me. But am I to send 
 this copy to Mr. Hurd, or return it to you ? 
 Methinks I do not love this travelling to and 
 again of manuscripts by the post. While I 
 am writing, your second packet is just arrived. 
 I can only tell you in gross that there seem to 
 me certain passages altered, which might as 
 well have been let alone ; and that I shall 
 not be easily reconciled to Mador's own song. 
 I must not have my fancy raised to that agree- 
 able pitch of heathenism and wild magical 
 enthusiasm, and then have you let me drop 
 into moral philosophy and cold good sense. I 
 remember you insulted me when I saw you 
 last, and affected to call that which delighted 
 
 * Mrs. Olliffe was " the other aunt," and was joint executor 
 with Mr. Gray. See his Letter to Dr. Wharton, lxxxviti. 
 vol. iii. p. 210, on this subject. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 LETTERS OE 
 
 my imagination nonsense. Now I insist that 
 sense is nothing in poetry bnt according to the 
 dress she wears, and the scene she appears in. 
 If you should lead me into a superb Gothic 
 building with a thousand clustered pillars, each 
 of them half a mile high, the walls all covered 
 with fretwork, and the windows full of red and 
 blue saints, that had neither head nor tail, and 
 I should find the Venus of Medici in person 
 perked up in a long niche over the high altar, 
 as naked as ever she was born, do you think it 
 would raise or damp my devotions ? I say that 
 Mador must be entirely a Briton, and that his 
 pre-eminence among his companions must be 
 shown by superior wildness, more barbaric 
 fancy, and a more striking and deeper har- 
 mony, both of words and numbers. If 
 British antiquity be too narrow, this is the 
 place for invention ; and if it be pure inven- 
 tion, so much the clearer must the expression 
 be, and so much the stronger and richer the 
 imagery — there's for you now.* 
 
 I am sorry to hear you complain of your 
 eyes. Have a care of candle-light, and rather 
 play at hot-cockles with the children than 
 either read or write. Adieu ! I am truly and 
 ever yours, T. Gr. 
 
 * " The fourth Ode was afterwards new written." — Mason. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 165 
 
 LETTER XL. 
 THR REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 
 Dear Mr. Gray, 1758. 
 
 I received your last, but, as I had before sent 
 you my second Ode, I was iu hopes to have 
 heard again, with your particular remarks on 
 that. Observe, the second stanza, that is, the 
 first antistrophe, I intend to alter on account 
 of the sameness of imagery with one in Melan- 
 choly; but I hope the rest will stand, some 
 words excepted. I will attempt a new Mador' s 
 song to please you, but, in niy own mind, I 
 would not have him sing there at all on account 
 of the tout ensemble, for he sings all the second 
 Ode, and also all the fourth, so I am afraid he 
 will be hoarse. I like the idea of my fourth 
 Ode much, and the preparation to it. It is the 
 speech of an Armed Death to the Britons, who 
 Mador is supposed to see and hear just at the 
 onset of the battle. Thus — 
 
 Chorus , 
 but why is this ? 
 
 Why doth our brother Mador snatch his harp 
 From yonder bough ? why this way bend his steps ? 
 
166 LETTERS OF 
 
 Caractacus. 
 
 He looks entranced. The fillet bursts that bound 
 
 His liberal locks; his snowy vestments fall 
 
 In ample folds, and all his floating form 
 
 Doth seem to glisten with divinity. 
 
 Yet is he speechless. Say, thou chief of bards, 
 
 What is there in this airy vacancy 
 
 That thou, with fiery and irregular glance, 
 
 Should scan thus wildly? wherefore heaves my breast? 
 
 Why starts ■ 
 
 Ode. 
 Hark ! heard ye not yon footsteps dread, 
 That shook the earth with thundering tread? 
 
 'Twas Death ; in haste 
 
 The warrior pass'd ; 
 High tower'd his helmed head, 
 I mark'd his mail, I xnark'd his shield ; 
 I spy'd the sparkling of his spear, 
 I saw his giant arm the falchion wield ; 
 Courage was in his van and Conquest in his rear.* 
 
 And so it goes on, but without a word of Odin 
 and WaJhalla ; yet the general Celtic principle 
 of the happiness of dying in battle is touched 
 upon, which, I hope, is not in itself too Scaldic. 
 
 * See last Chorus in Caractacus, 
 
 Hark ! heard ye not yon footstep dread, &c. 
 But how Death should be wielding at the same time both a 
 sword and a spear, is not very easy to determine. 
 I spy'd the sparkling of his spear, 
 I saw his giant arm the falchion wield. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 167 
 
 I send you with this another packet, and I 
 have another ready to follow it. Then I get to 
 my third Ode, and, when that is done, I shall 
 have little more than transcription. When you 
 have all the MS. I would have you keep it till 
 I write ahout sending it to Mr. Hurd ; pro- 
 bably we may contrive it without posting. Do 
 excuse all this Caractacation. I am seriously 
 desirous of getting quit of him, and therefore 
 must trouble you till I do. 
 
 Mr. Brown has writ me a long letter about 
 
 keeping my Divinity Act, which, he says, I 
 
 must do next March. Do you say so too ? 
 
 If you do I will incontinently drown myself ; 
 
 till when, 
 
 I remain, sincerely yours, 
 
 W. Mason. 
 My eyes, by blistering, are well again. 
 
 LETTER XLI. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAR MASON, London, Jan. 18, 1759. 
 
 You will think me either dead, or in that 
 happy state which is that of most people alive, 
 of forgetting every thing they ought to remem- 
 
168 LETTERS OE 
 
 ber ; yet I am neither one nor the other. I am 
 now in town, having taken leave of Stoke, and 
 hoping to take leave of my other incumbrances 
 in a few months hence. I send you in short 
 my opinion of Caractacus, so far, I mean, as I 
 have seen of it ; I shall only tell you further, 
 that I am charmed with the idea you give me 
 of your fourth Ode ; it is excellently introduced, 
 and the specimen you send me even sublime. 
 I am wrapped in it; but the last line of the 
 stanza falls off, and must be changed, " Courage 
 was in his van," &c. for it is ordinary when 
 compared with the rest ; to be sure, the immor- 
 tality of the soul and the happiness of dying in 
 battle are Druid doctrines ; you may dress them 
 at pleasure, so they do but look wild and British. 
 I have little to say from hence but that 
 Cleone* has succeeded very well at CoventGar- 
 
 * Written by Dodsley, and acted in 1758 at Covent Garden. 
 In a manuscript Letter from Lord Chesterfield to Dodsley on 
 the intended performance of this play, he says, " Yon should 
 instruct the actors not to mouth out the Y in the name of 
 Siffroy, as if they were crying oysters." A high character is 
 given of the play in Anderson's Life of Dodsley. It was 
 shown to Pope, who advised the extension of its plan, and it 
 was praised by Dr. Johnson in terms that seemed to place it 
 above Otway. The prologue was written by Melmoth, the 
 epilogue by Shenstone. See on this play Davies's Life of 
 Garrick, vol. i. p. 251, and She^stone's Letters, vol. iii. xcm. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 169 
 
 den, and that people who despised it in manu- 
 script went to see it, and confess — they cried so. 
 Eor fear of crying too I did not go. Poor Smart* 
 is not dead, as was said, and Merope t is acted for 
 his benefit this week, with a new farce, " The 
 Guardian." J Here is a very agreeable opera of 
 Cocchi's, the " Cyrus," § which gave me some 
 
 p. 289; and a judicious and fair notice in Monthly Review, 
 vol. xix. -p. 582. See also Garrick Correspondence, vol. i. 
 p. 79 ; and Boaden's Life of Kemble, vol. i. p. 340. Life of 
 Siddons, ii. p. 214; and note in Lett, xxxiv. Dodsley men- 
 tions it in a Letter to Dr. Warton as written in 1754. See 
 WoolTs Life of Warton, p. 225. 
 
 * See Anderson's Life of Smart. He was admitted of 
 Pembroke Hall Oct. 30, 1739, elected Fellow 1745, M. A. 
 1747. See Gray's Letter to Dr. Wharton on his works (vol. 
 iii. p. 4), written in great kindness to one of the most unfor- 
 tunate among the sons of genius. 
 
 f Written by Aaron Hill. See Baker's Biog. Dram. vol. 
 ii. p. 230, where a high character is given of this play. It 
 was acted in 1749, and said to be chiefly borrowed from the 
 Merope of Voltaire. 
 
 ^ A farce written by Garrick, acted 1759, in two acts, 
 and taken in great measure from the Pupille of Mons. 
 Fagan. See Critical Eeview, vol. vii. p. 171. " On doit sur- 
 tout regarder ' La Pupille ' comme le chef d'oeuvre de cet 
 auteur." See Barbier Bibliotheque, vol. ii. p. 146. 
 
 § " H Ciro Kiconosciuto " is the title of an opera composed 
 by Cocchi, produced at the King's Theatre in 1759, and 
 said by Dr Burney to be the best of Cocchi's productions 
 during his residence in England. In the British Museum is 
 
170 LETTERS OF 
 
 pleasure ; do you know I like both Whitehead's 
 Odes # in great measure, but nobody else does. 
 I hear matters will be made up with the 
 Dutch, and there will be no war. The King of 
 Portugal f has slily introduced troops into Lis- 
 bon, under pretence of clearing away the rub- 
 bish, and seized the unsuspecting conspirators 
 in their own houses ; they are men of principal 
 note, in particular the family of Tavora, who 
 have some pretensions to the crown ; and it is 
 thought the Jesuits have made use of their 
 ambition to execute their own revenge. The 
 
 a copy of the opera in Italian and English, as used in the 
 theatre at the time ; and it is curious to observe how mate- 
 rially it varies from the text of the Ciro Riconosciuto in the 
 modern editions of Metastasio's works. The wording of 
 whole scenes is different. 
 
 * "I don't dislike the Laureate at all; to me it is his best 
 Ode, but I don't expect every one should find it out; for 
 Othbert and Ateste are surely less known than Edward the 
 First and Mount Snowdon. It is no imitation of me, but a 
 good one of ' Pastor, cum traheret,' &c. which was falsely laid 
 to my charge." See Works, vol. iii. p. 212, Lett, lxxxix. 
 Gray alludes to the two Laureate Odes for 1758 and 1759. 
 See Whitehead's Works, vol. ii. p. 261-267. 
 
 | On this singular conspiracy and attempt at assassination 
 see Belsham's History of England, vol. iv. p. 435; vol. v. 
 p. 61; Adolphus's Hist. vol. i. p. 60; Smollett, vol. iv. p. 959; 
 Walpole's History of George II. vol. iii. p. 141; Misc. Letters 
 vol. iii. pp. 402, 432. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 171 
 
 story of the king's gallantries, and the jealousy 
 of some man of quality, who contrived the as- 
 sassination, is said to be all false. 
 
 Adieu ! I rejoice to hear you use your eyes 
 again. Write to me at Dr. Wharton's, for 
 perhaps I may go to Cambridge for some weeks, 
 and he will take care I shall have your letter. 
 
 LETTER XLIL 
 THE REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 DEAR SlR, Aston, Jan. 25, 1759. 
 
 I sent an impatient letter to you (to use Mr. 
 Mincing' s epithet to dinner) at Stoke, and, the 
 day after it went, received yours from London, 
 with its accompaniment of criticisms, for which 
 a thank severally, and ten apiece for every 
 emendation, that is to say, every alteration. 
 Yet I cannot help thinking that if you had not 
 seen the joint critique from Prior Park,* you 
 would not have judged so hardly of some of 
 my new lines. True I did not think every 
 thing that all my critics have remarked neces- 
 sary to be altered ; yet I altered them for this 
 reason : Critics, like Indians, are proud of the 
 
 * The joint critique of Dr. "Warburtoii and Rev. Mr. Hurd. 
 
172 LETTERS OE 
 
 number of scalps they make in a manuscript ; 
 and if you don't let them scalp, they will do 
 you no service. However, it appears I have 
 scalped myself in some places, particularly at 
 the beginning. Yet I cannot help thinking 
 that " chills the pale plain beneath him " is an 
 improvement. Yet I can unscalp, if you bid 
 me. There is one unfortunate thing which 
 attends showing either a marked or an altered 
 manuscript, and you yourself prove it to me. 
 The person that reads it regards only the marks 
 and alterations, and considers whether they are 
 right or wrong, and hence a number of faulty 
 passages in the gross escape his observation. I 
 remember I showed " Caractacus " this sum- 
 mer to a certain critic, who read it all over, 
 and returned it me with this single observation: 
 " I have read it, and I think those faults which 
 are marked with a pencil ought to be altered." 
 I was surprised at this, because I did not know 
 the MS. was marked at all at that time. I 
 examined it, and found here and there about 
 seven or eight almost invisible little XX. I 
 could not conceive who had done it ; I asked 
 Delap if he had, and he cried peccavi, assuring 
 me he only did it to remember to tell me of 
 some minutise which he thought inaccurate; 
 but that he thought he had almost made them 
 
THE POET GRAY. 173 
 
 invisible. So quick- sighted is the eye of a 
 critic. But to proceed. I agree to almost all 
 your criticisms, however they make against 
 me. Yoitf absolution from Mador's song 
 makes amends for all. Yet I am sorry about 
 the scene between Evelina and Elidurus ; it is 
 what the generality will think the principal 
 scene, and which yet is not as it should be. 
 I am afraid of making it more pathetic, and 
 yet if it is not so, it will not satisfy. I send 
 you with this my third Ode; you will find 
 it must be inserted soon after the descrip- 
 tion of the rocking- stone, and the last line of 
 the sheet I send you will connect with this, 
 
 " So certain that on our absolving tongues 
 Eests not that power may save thee." 
 
 Caractacus, p. 124; Mason's Works. 
 
 so that a few lines must be cancelled in the 
 copy you have ; my reason for this change is, 
 that I myself thought (and nobody else), that 
 a lustration ode would take up too much time 
 in the place first intended, and that the action 
 went on too slow there. I shall therefore show 
 more of Caractacus himself in the scene subse- 
 quent to the next I shall send you, and I am 
 pretty sure that ftoutes ensembles considered) 
 this will be an improvement. As to this Ode, 
 
174 LETTERS OP 
 
 I do not expect you to like it so well as you do 
 the second ; yet I hope it is well enough, and 
 will have some effect in the place it conies in. 
 
 Explicit Pars Poesews, 8f incipit Tars Chit- 
 tfiatices. — I dare not face Rutherforth,* that 
 saintly butcher, in his purple robes of diyinity, 
 and therefore, sorely against good Mr. Brown's 
 gizzard, I have given up my fellowship, and 
 this post carries my civilities to Dr. Long con- 
 cerning this great resignation. Indeed, if I 
 could dispute black into white, like my uncle 
 Balguy, this act would have fallen out too un- 
 luckily for me to have thought of keeping it, 
 for I am resolved not to set my face southward 
 these several months, not even if I publish this 
 spring, for I'll either have the sheets sent down 
 to me or get somebody in town to correct the 
 press. Do you think either Dr. Wharton or 
 Stonehewer could be prevailed on to take this 
 trouble ? You are perpetually twitting me about 
 
 * Thomas Rutherford, D.D. of St. John's College, Eegius 
 Professor of Divinity, 1756, succeeded by Richard Watson, 
 D.D. 1771. He was the author, of Natural Philosophy and 
 Institutes of Natural Law, and other works, a list of which 
 may be seen in the Biographical Dictionary. See Hey's Lec- 
 tures on Divinity, vol. i. p. 469; Nichols's Illustrations of 
 Literary History, vol. i. p. 134. A copious account of him 
 and his works may be seen in the Index to Nichols's Literary 
 Anecdotes, vol. vii. p. 362. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 175 
 
 my motive of gain ; could I write half as well as 
 Rousseau I would prove to you that this is the 
 only motive any reasonable man should have 
 in this matter ; but pray distinguish the matter 
 (I mean gain is not my only motive for writing, 
 God forbid it should). I write for fame, for 
 posterity, and all sort of fine things, but gain 
 is my only motive for publishing ; for I publish 
 to the present age, whom I would fleece, if I 
 could, like any Cossack, Calmuck, or Carcol- 
 spack. Now do you understand me, and, if 
 you do, don't you agree with me ? This resus- 
 citation of poor Smart pains me ; I was in hopes 
 he was safe in that state where the best of us 
 will be better than we are, and the worst I 
 hope as little worse as infinite justice can per- 
 mit. But is he returned to his senses ? if so, 
 I fear that will be more terrible still. Pray, if 
 you can dispose of a guinea so as it will in any 
 sort benefit him (for it is too late for a ticket), # 
 give it for me. My best regard to Dr. Wharton 
 and Mrs. if this finds you there. You will find 
 from my last letter that Hurd is disposed to 
 gratify the Doctor's humanity. f Have you seen 
 
 * In this year (1759) Garrick made Smart an offer of a 
 free benefit at Drury Lane Theatre: he had but lately been 
 released from confinement ; to which Mason alludes. 
 
 f See Letter xxxni. p. 135. 
 
176 LETTERS OF 
 
 Jortin's* " Life of Erasmus?"* was there ever 
 such a lumbering slovenly book ? I shall not 
 send a packet till I hear again from you ; do 
 not be long first. 
 
 LETTER XLIII. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 DEAR MASON, Cambridge, March 1, 1759. 
 
 Did I tell you I had been confined in town 
 with the gout for a fortnight ? well, and since 
 I came hither, it is come again. Yesterday I 
 came abroad again, for the first time, in a great 
 shoe, and very much out of humour ; and so I 
 must return again in three days to town about 
 business, which is not like to add much to the 
 
 * On this work see Walpole's Miscellaneous Letters, vol. 
 iii. p. 401, who " considers it written with great moderation 
 and goodness of heart," and p. 407 ; and Coleridge's Friend, 
 vol. i. p. 226. Mr. Barham, in his Life of Reuchlin, says, 
 a Jortin has made an amusing book out of the Life of 
 Erasmus; though, but superficially versed in the literary 
 history of the sixteenth century, he rarely ventures beyond 
 the text of Erasmus and Le Clerc without stumbling," p. 251. 
 See Monthly Review, vol. xix. pp. 385 — 399, and vol. xxiii. 
 pp. 195 — 204, for a severe review of the second volume. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 177 
 
 sweetness of my temper, especially while stocks 
 are so low. 
 
 I did not remember ever to have seen the 
 joint criticism* from Prior Park that you speak 
 of, so little impression did it make ; nor should 
 I believe now that I had ever seen it, did I not 
 recollect what a prejudice the parsons expressed 
 to human sacrifice, which is quite agreeable 
 to my way of thinking ; since Caractacus con- 
 vinced me of the propriety of the thing, it is 
 certain that their fancies did in no sort influence 
 me in the use of my tomahawk. Now you 
 must know I do not much admire the chorus 
 of the rocking- stone, nor yet much disapprove 
 it ; it is grave and solemn, and may pass. I 
 insist, however, that " deigns" (though it be a 
 rhyme) should be " deign' st," and " fills" 
 " fill'st," and " bids" " bid'st." Do not blame 
 me, but the English tongue. The beginning of 
 the antistrophe is good. I do not like " mean- 
 dring way," 
 
 " Where Vice and Folly stray," 
 
 nor the word " sprite." The beginning too of 
 the epode is well ; but you have used the epi- 
 
 * Of Hurd and Warburton. See Walpole's Miscell. Letters, 
 vol. iii. pp. 465-7. See also p. 171, Letter xlii. 
 
 3ST 
 
178 LETTERS OE 
 
 thet "pale" before in a sense somewhat similar, 
 and I do not love repetitions. The line 
 
 " Or magic numbers " 
 
 interrupts the run of the stanza, and lets the 
 measure drop too short. There is no beauty in 
 repeating " ponderous sphere." The two last 
 lines are the best.* 
 
 The sense of your simile about the " distant 
 thunder " is not clear, nor well expressed ; be- 
 sides, it implies too strong a confession of guilt. 
 
 The stanza you sent me for the second Ode 
 is very rude ; and neither the idea nor verses 
 touch me much. It is not the gout that makes 
 me thus difficult. Pinish but your Death-song 
 as well as you imagined and begun it, and 
 mind if I won't be more pleased than anybody. 
 Adieu ! dear Mason, I am ever truly yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 Did I tell you how well I liked Whitehead's 
 two Odes ? they are far better than any thing 
 he ever wrote, f 
 
 * By reference to the poem it will be seen that Mason 
 adopted some of Gray's proposed alterations and rejected 
 others. In the collected edition of Mason's Works, 4 vols, 
 8vo. 1811, this chorus will be found, vol. ii. p. 122. 
 
 ■f Ode for his Majesty's Birth-day and Ode for the New 
 Year, 1759. See Whitehead's Works, vol. ii. pp. 261-7, note. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 179 
 
 Mr. Brown* and Jemmy Bickham f lament 
 your indolence, as to the degree, in chorus ; 
 as to me, I should have done just so for all 
 the world. 
 
 LETTER XLIV. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, April 10, 1759. 
 
 This is the third return of the gout in the 
 space of three months, and worse than either 
 of the former. It is now in a manner over, 
 and I am so much the nearer being a cripple, 
 but not at all the richer. This is my excuse 
 for long silence ; and, if you had felt the pain, 
 
 * Rev. James Brown, the friend and executor of Gray, was 
 Fellow and Tutor of Pembroke College, A.B. 1729, A.M. 
 1733, and President, and afterwards Master of the College, 
 1770 ; died 1784. Cole, in his Athense Cantab, says of him, 
 " He is a very worthy man, a good scholar, small, and short- 
 sighted." There is a letter from him to Lord Chatham, giving 
 an interesting account of his second son, the great future 
 minister, who was placed at his College of Pembroke. — See 
 Chatham Corr. vol. iv. p. 311. 
 
 t James Bickham, Fellow of Emanuel College, A.B. 1740, 
 A.M. 1744. See Letter xx. p. 84. "Bickham, the junior 
 tutor, was a bold man, and had been a bruiser when young." 
 See Add. to the Life of R. Farmer in Nichols's Anec. viii. 421. 
 
 N 2 
 
180 LETTERS OF 
 
 you would think it an excuse for a greater 
 fault. I have been all the time of the fit here 
 in town, and doubtless ought to have paid my 
 court to you and to Garactacus. But a critic 
 with the gout is a devil incarnate, and you 
 have had a happy escape. I cannot repent (if 
 I have really been any hindrance) that you 
 did not publish this spring. I would have it 
 mellow a little longer, and do not think it will 
 lose any thing of its flavour ; to comfort you 
 for your loss, know that I have lost above 
 200Z. by selling stock. 
 
 I half envy your situation and your im- 
 provements (though I do not know Mr. Wood),* 
 yet am of your opinion as to prudence; the 
 more so because Mr. Bonfoy tells me he 
 saw a letter from you to Lady H.,t and that 
 she expressed a sort of kindness ; to which my 
 Lord added, that he should write a rattling 
 epistle to you that was to fetch you out of the 
 country. Whether he has or not don't much 
 signify : I would come and see them. 
 
 I shall be here this month at least against 
 my will, unless you come. Stonhewer is here 
 with all his sisters, the youngest of which has 
 
 * The author of the Essay on Homer, 
 f Lady Holdernesse. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 181 
 
 got a husband. Two matches more (but in 
 a superior class) are going to be soon : * — Lord 
 Weymouth to the Duchess of Portland's homely 
 daughter, Lady Betty, with £35,000 ; and 
 Lord Waldegrave to Miss Maria Walpole, with 
 £10,000. It is impossible for two handsomer 
 people ever to meet.f 
 
 All the cruelties of Portugal are certainly 
 owing to an amour of the King's (of long 
 standing) with the younger Marquess of 
 Tavora's wife. $ The Jesuits made their advan- 
 tage of the resentments of that family. The 
 disturbances at Lisbon are all false. 
 
 This is my whole little stock of news. 
 
 Here is a very pretty opera, the Cyrus ; § and 
 
 * Thomas third Viscount Weymouth on May 22, 1759, 
 married the Lady Elizabeth Cavendish Bentinck, eldest daugh- 
 ter of William second Duke of Portland. 
 
 f In 1759 he (Lord Waldegrave) married the natural 
 daughter of Sir Edward Walpole, a lady of great beauty and 
 merit. See Editor's Preface to Waldegrave's Memoirs, p. xv. 
 She afterwards married William Henry Duke of Gloucester, 
 brother of King George the Third. 
 
 J See note on Letter xli. p. 171. 
 
 § On the Cyrus, see Burney's History of Music, iv. 476 ; 
 an opera of Cocchi, the last of his productions during his resi- 
 dence in England. Cocchi used to say of the English taste — 
 " E molto particulare, ma gli Inglesi non fanno conto d'alcuna 
 cosa, se 1 non e ben pagata. See note, p. 171. 
 
182 LETTERS OF 
 
 here is the Museum, which is indeed a treasure. 
 The trustees lay out 1,400£. a-year, and have 
 hut 900Z. to spend. If you would see it you 
 must send a fortnight beforehand, it is so 
 crowded. Then here are Murdin's Papers,* 
 and Hume's History of the Tudors, and Ro- 
 bertson's History of Mary Stuart and her son, 
 and what not. Adieu, dear Mason. 
 I am most faithfully yours, 
 
 t. a 
 
 LETTER XLV. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, j u iy 23, 1759. 
 
 I was alarmed to hear the condition you were 
 in when you left Cambridge, and, though Mr. 
 Brown had a letter to tell him you were 
 mending apace while I was there, yet it would 
 give me great pleasure to hear more particu- 
 larly from yourself how you are. I am just 
 
 * " A Collection of State Papers in the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth, from 1571 to 1596, from the Library at Hatfield 
 House; by William Murom, &c." folio, 1759. The collection 
 is a continuation of that published by Dr. Haynes in 1740 
 
THE POET GtftAY. 183 
 
 settled in iny new habitation in Southampton 
 How ; and, though a solitary and dispirited 
 creature, not unquiet, nor wholly unpleasant to 
 myself. The Museum will be my chief amuse- 
 ment.* I this day passed through the jaws of a 
 great leviathan, that lay in my way, into the 
 belly of Dr. Templeman,t superintendent of the 
 reading-room, who congratulated himself on the 
 sight of so much good company. We were,— 
 a man that writes for Lord Royston; a man 
 that writes for Dr. Burton, of York ; J a third 
 that writes for the Emperor of Germany, or 
 Dr. Pocock,§ for he speaks the worst English I 
 ever heard ; Dr. Stukeley, who writes for hini- 
 
 * Compare Gray's letter to Mr. Palgrave, July 24, 1759, 
 Works, vol. iii. p. 219. 
 
 "j" Dr. Peter Templeman held the office of Keeper of the 
 Reading-room for the British Museum from its opening in 
 1758 till 1761, when he resigned, on being chosen Secretary 
 of the Society of Arts, then newly established. Dr. Temple- 
 man was a medical man and a learned one ; author of several 
 medical works and the translator of Norden's Egypt, to which 
 he added notes. He died in 1769. There is a memoir of 
 him in Heathcote's Biographical Dictionary, which has been 
 noticed by Chalmers. 
 
 J John Burton, M.D. born at York, 1697; died 1771: 
 among other works he published Monasticon Eboracense* vol. 
 i. York, 1758. folio. 
 
 § Dr. Richard Pocock, Bishop of Ossory, 1756, and of 
 Meath, 1765; published Travels in the East, and other works. 
 
184 LETTERS OF 
 
 self, the very worst person he could write for ; # 
 and I, who only read to know if there were any 
 thing worth writing, and that not without some 
 difficulty. I find that they printed one thou- 
 sand copies of the Harleian Catalogue, and 
 have sold four score ; that they have 900/. 
 a-year income, and spend 1,300Z., and that they 
 are building apartments for the under -keepers, 
 so I expect in winter to see the collection adver- 
 tised, and set to auction. 
 
 Have you read the Clarendon book ?t Bo you 
 remember Mr. Cambridge's J account of it before 
 it came out; how well he recollected all the 
 
 * Dr. Stukeley, the well-known antiquary, was the Rector 
 of St, George's, Queen Square, near the Museum. He died 
 1765. See an account of him in Burke's Landed Gentry, 
 part viii. p. 625. 
 
 | Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon, &c. written by him- 
 self, was printed in the year 1759, at the Oxford Press, in 
 folio and 8vo. See Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 10, and 
 Johnson's Idler, No. lxv. 
 
 | On Mr. Cambridge and his habits of conversation, see 
 Walpole's Letters to Lady Ossory, vol. i. pp. 132, 140, 410; 
 vol. ii. p. 242 ; Walpole to Mason, vol. i. p. 235 ; and 
 Nichols's Literary Illustrations, vol. i. p. 130; and Rocking- 
 ham Memoirs, vol. i. p. 215, for his Letter to Lord Hardwicke, 
 in June, 1765. In conversation he was said to be full of 
 entertainment, liveliness, and anecdote. One sarcastic joke 
 on Capability Brown testifies his wit, and his Scribleriad still 
 survives in the praises of Dr. Warton : yet the radical fault 
 that pervades it, is well shown in Annual Review, ii. 584. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 185 
 
 faults, and howutterlyhe forgot all the beauties ? 
 Surely the grossest taste is better than such a 
 sort of delicacy. 
 
 The invasion goes on as quietly as if we be- 
 lieved every Frenchman that set his foot on 
 English ground would die on the spot, like a 
 toad in Ireland ; nobody but I and Fobus are in 
 a fright about it : by the way, he goes to church, 
 not for the invasion, but ever since his sister 
 Castleconier* died, who was the last of the brood. 
 
 Moralize upon the death of my Lady Essex, f 
 and do write to me soon, for I am ever yours. 
 
 At Mr. Jauncey's, Southampton-row, Blooms- 
 bury. I have not a frank in the world, nor 
 have I time to send to Mr. Eraser. 
 
 * Sister of the Duke of Newcastle. See Walpole's Misc. 
 Correspondence, ii. p 275 ; iii. 467 ; v. pp. 393, 403. Frances, 
 2nd daughter of Lord Pelhani, married Christoper Wandesford, 
 Viscount Castlecomer ; she died in 1756. Walpole, in a MS. 
 note of his, which I possess, says, " The Duke of Newcastle 
 is afraid of spirits, and never durst lie in a room alone! This 
 is literally true." 
 
 | Lady Essex died in childbirth, July 19, 1759. She was 
 daughter of Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, K.B. by Lady 
 Frances, daughter of Thomas Earl Coningsby. See Walpole's 
 Misc. Letters, vol. iii. pp. 67. He attributes her death, but 
 wrongly, to another cause; see pp. 465-7. "The gay Lady 
 Essex, Gray writes to Dr. Wharton, died of a fever during 
 her lying-in." Works, iii. 207. For her gaiety, see Walpole's 
 Correspondence, vol. iii p. 272. 
 
186 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XL VI. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 
 Dear Sir, Aug. 8, 1759. 
 
 The season for triumph is at last come; I 
 mean for our allies, for it will be long enough 
 before we shall have reason to exult in any great 
 actions of our own, and therefore, as usual, we 
 are proud for our neighbours. Contades' great 
 army is entirely defeated : # this (I am told) is 
 undoubted, but no particulars are known as 
 yet; and almost as few of the other victory 
 over the Russians, which is lost in the splendour 
 of this greater action. So much for war ; and 
 now come and see me in my peaceful new set- 
 tlement, from whence I have the command of 
 Highgate, Hampstead, Bedford Gardens, and 
 the Museum ; this last (as you will imagine) 
 is my favourite domain, where I often pass four 
 hours in the day in the stillness and solitude of 
 the reading room, which is uninterrupted by 
 anything but Dr. Stukeley the antiquary, who 
 comes there to talk nonsense and coffee-house 
 news ; the rest of the learned are (I suppose) 
 
 * See Walpole's History of George the Second, vol. iii, 
 p. 199, and Lacretelle, Histoire de France, vol. iii. p. 360, for 
 an account of the various events and battles of these me- 
 morable campaigns. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 187 
 
 in the country, at least none of them come 
 there, except two Prussians, and a man who 
 writes for Lord Royston.* When I call it peace- 
 ful, you are to understand it only of us visitors, 
 for the society itself, trustees and all, are up in 
 arms, like the fellows of a college. The keepers 
 have broke off all intercourse with one another, 
 and only lower a silent defiance as they pass by. 
 Dr. Knight t has walled up the passage to the 
 little house, because some of the rest were 
 obliged to pass by one of his windows in the 
 way to it. Moreover the trustees lay out £500 
 a-year more than their income; so you may 
 expect all the books and the crocodiles will soon 
 be put up to auction ; the University (we hope) 
 will buy. 
 
 * Afterwards second Earl of Hardwick. It is probable that 
 " the man who writes for Lord Royston" was collecting mate- 
 rials for the State Papers, from 1750 to 1776, printed in 1778, 
 2 vols. 4to. On the connection of Lord Boyston with the 
 spurious paper called " The English Mercurie, 1588," see the 
 very curious and interesting account by Mr. Thomas Watts, 
 in Gent. Mag. May, 1850, p. 485, by whom the discovery of 
 the forgery was first made. See his Letter to A. Panizzi, Esq. 
 ib. Nov. 1839. 
 
 f Doctor Gowin Knight, M.D. principal librarian of the 
 British Museum from 1756 to 1772, when another M.D. 
 Matthew Maty, became his successor. Doctor Fothergill once 
 made this Doctor Knight a present of a thousand guineas. 
 
188 LETTERS OF 
 
 I have not (as you silently charge me) forgot 
 Mosheim. I inquired long ago, and was told 
 there were none in England, but Nourse expects 
 a cargo every day, and as soon as it conies, you 
 shall have it. Mason never writes, but I hear 
 he is well, from Dr. Gisburne. Do not pout, 
 but pray let me hear from you, and above all, 
 do come and see me, for I assure you I am not 
 uncomfortably situated for a lodger ; and what 
 are we but lodgers ? Adieu, dear Sir, I am 
 ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 AtMr.Jauncey's, Southampton-row, Blooms- 
 bury. 
 
 LETTER XL VII. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 
 Saturday, Aug. 9, 1759. 
 
 I retract a part of my yesterday's intelli- 
 gence, having to-day had an opportunity of 
 hearing more, and from the best hand. 
 
 The merit of Prince Ferdinand's policy and 
 conduct is not a little abated by this account. 
 He made a detachment of 4 or 5,000 men, 
 under the hereditary Prince of Brunswick, 
 which had got between the main French army 
 
THE POET GRAY. 189 
 
 and the town of Herwart, where their princi- 
 pal magazine lay. The fear they were under 
 on that account obliged Contades to begin the 
 attack, and he accordingly began his march at 
 midnight, in eight columns. Yery early in the 
 morning, before the Prince had time to make 
 the proper dispositions, they were upon him. 
 He had only his first line formed when the battle 
 began, and of that line the English infantry 
 made a considerable part ; Contades' troops 
 (joined by the Duke of Broglio's corps) amount- 
 ing to near four- score thousand : the Prince 
 had only forty battalions with him, half of 
 which only engaged (as I said) for want of 
 time. The Prench artillery at first did terrible 
 execution, and it was then our four regiments 
 suffered so much, 68 of their officers (all, I 
 think, below a captain in degree) being killed 
 or wounded ; 267 private men killed, and above 
 900 wounded. The rest of the line were Hano- 
 verians (who behaved very bravely), and, as 
 their number was much greater, it is likely 
 they suffered still more ; but of their loss I 
 have no particular account. In the village 
 of Tonhausen, near at hand, were all the Hes- 
 sian artillery, which being now turned upon the 
 Prench, soon silenced their cannon, and gave an 
 opportunity to come to close engagement. The 
 
190 LETTERS OF 
 
 conflict after tins lasted bnt an hour and a 
 quarter. The French made a poor and shame- 
 ful resistance, and were dispersed and routed 
 on all sides. The Marshal himself (having 
 detached a body of men to try if they could 
 save or turn Herwart) retreated along the 
 Weser toward Bintelen and Corvey, but wrote 
 a letter to the Prince to say that, as Minden 
 must now soon fall into the hands of his victo- 
 rious troops, he doubted not but he would 
 treat the wounded and sick (who were all 
 lodged there) with his usual humanity. Ac- 
 cordingly he entered Minden the next day. 
 Eight thousand only of the French were slain 
 in the field, twenty pieces of cannon (sixteen- 
 pounders) taken, and twelve standards. The 
 number of prisoners and the slaughter of the 
 pursuit not so great as it might have been, for 
 the English horse (though they received orders 
 to move) stirred not a foot, nor had any share 
 in the action. This is unaccountable, but true ; 
 and we shall soon hear a greater noise about it. 
 (Lord G. Sackville,)* 
 
 * See Cavendish's Debates, pp. 143, 171; Ellis's Letters on 
 English History, 2nd series, iv. p. 413 ; Walpole to Mason, 
 iii. p. 338, 371; Walpole's Hist, of George II., vol. iii. pp. 
 147, 192, 196, 212, 271; Walpole's Letters to Lady Ossory, 
 i. p. 214; Lord Mahon's History, vol. v. p. 429; Belsham's 
 
THE POET GRAY. 191 
 
 The Prince of Brunswick fell in with the 
 party sent towards Herwart, entirely routed it, 
 took five pieces of cannon, the town, and all 
 the magazines. 
 
 The loss of the Russians is not what has heen 
 reported. Their march towards Silesia, how- 
 ever, was stopped ; and the King of Prussia is 
 gone in person to attack them. 
 
 The story of Durell is all a lie.* 
 
 Lord H.t is hlamed for publishing General 
 Yorke's and Mitchell's letters so hastily. 
 
 Hist, of England, vol. iv. p. 399 ; Gray's Works, vol. iii. 
 pp. 226, 238 ; Dr. King's Memoirs of his own Time, p. 36. 
 It is curious that Walpole in one place speaks of Lord G. Sack- 
 ville as " of distinguished bravery;" and indeed his conduct 
 looks more like disaffection and discontent and pique than 
 cowardice, and seems similar in motive to the conduct of Sir 
 Hugh Palisser and Admiral Lestock in like circumstances. 
 See Belsham's Hist. iv. 167. The chief witnesses against him 
 were Colonel Sloper and Lord Ligonier. A dd Life of Earl of 
 Hardwicke, vol. iii. p. 186. " There came on Monday night 
 the strangest letter from the Prince (Ferdinand) that I ever 
 saw in my life, to press his (Lord G. S.'s) immediate recall ; 
 but these orders were gone six days before." See the Monthly 
 Eeview, vol. xxi. for account of the innumerable pamphlets, in 
 various forms, that appeared on this occasion, 1759. Also 
 abridgment of the whole trial in Annual Eegister, 1760, p. 175. 
 
 * In Jan. 1758, Commodore Durell hoisted his broad 
 pendant on board the Diana. He went to command the fleet 
 at Halifax. 
 
 "j" Lord Holdernesse, one of the Secretaries of State, ap- 
 
192 LETTERS OF 
 
 Don't quote me for all this Gazette. The 
 Prussians have had a very considerable advan- 
 tage over General Harsch. 
 
 LETTER XL VIII. 
 TO THE REV. WM. MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, stoke, Oct. 6, 1759. 
 
 If you have been happy where you are, or 
 merely better in health for any of your employ- 
 ments or idlenesses, you need no apologies with 
 
 pointed June 21, 1751; in March, 1761, succeeded the Earl 
 of Bute: see a letter of Joseph Yorke, in the London Gazette 
 Extraordinary, Aug. 8, 1759. I do not see any letter of 
 Mitchell's in the Gazettes for 1759 or 1760, or in the Annual 
 Register of that time. The battle of Minden took place 
 Aug. 1. 1759. See interesting account of Mr. Mitchell, our 
 Minister at the Court of Berlin, afterwards Sir And. Mitchell, 
 KB,, in Thiebault, Vie de Frederic, vol. iii p. 284, &c. ; he 
 died at Berlin of a dropsy, 1771, the consequence of a cold, 
 and was succeeded by Mr. Elliott, Lord Minto's brother. His 
 ready and caustic answer to Frederic will not be forgotten. 
 The king was mentioning to him our losses at Port Mahon, 
 and said we had made a bad campaign. Mitchell answered, 
 " Avec l'aide de Dieu nous en ferons une plus heureuse." . 
 " Avec l'aide de Dieu ? Je ne vous connais pas cet allie la J" 
 " C'est cependant, Sire, celui qui nous coute le moins." A selec- 
 tion from his Letters has been recently published. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 193 
 
 me : my end is answered, and I am satisfied. 
 One goes to school to the world some time 
 before one learns precisely how long a visit 
 ought to last. At this day I do not pretend to 
 know it exactly, and very often find out (when 
 it is too late) that I have stayed half an hour 
 too long. I shall not wonder, therefore, if 
 your friend should make a mistake of half a 
 year, if your occasions did not call you to town 
 sooner. When you come I should hope you 
 would stay the winter, but can advise nothing 
 in a point where my own interest is so much 
 concerned. Pray let me know of your arrival 
 immediately, that I may cut short my visita- 
 tion here, or at least (if you are taken up 
 always at Syon,* or Kensington) may meet you 
 at Hounslow,t or at Billy Robinson's, J or some- 
 
 * Syon, or Sion Hill, near Brentford, then the residence 
 of Lord Holdernesse, since pulled down; Kensington, where 
 Mason resided during the period of residence as chaplain to 
 the king. See Walpole's Misc. Letters, iv. pp. 68, 150. 
 
 ■f He may mean Mr. Walpole's residence, for in one of his 
 letters Walpole says, " I live within two miles of Hounslow;" 
 vol. v. 135. And in another letter he says, " I expect Mr. 
 Gray and Mr. Mason to pass the day with me." Long after 
 this time there was only & ferry-boat between Twickenham and 
 Eichmond, and Walpole's usual road to London must have 
 been through Isleworth and Brentford, by the Hounslow road. 
 
 % Billy Robinson was his friend the Rev. William Robinson , 
 of Denton in Kent. See account of him from the communi- 
 
 O 
 
194 LETTERS OF 
 
 where. My only employment and amusement 
 in town (where I have continued all the sum- 
 mer, till Michaelmas) has heen the Museum; 
 but I have been rather historically than poeti- 
 cally given; with a little of your encourage- 
 ment, perhaps, I may return to my old Lydgate 
 and Occleve,^ whose works are there in abund- 
 ance. I can write you no news from hence; 
 yet I have lately heard ill news, which I shall 
 not write. Adieu, dear Mason, and believe me 
 most faithfully yours. 
 
 At the Lady Viscountess Cobham's,f at Stoke 
 House, near Windsor, Bucks. 
 
 cation to me by Sir Egerton Brjdges, in Appendix V. to 
 Life of Gray, p. cii. I possess a list by Gray of the wild 
 plants native to this district, made when on one of his two 
 visits at Denton. On Gray's visit to him at Denton, see Miss 
 Carter's Letters to Mrs. Montague, vol. i. p 384. An account 
 of him may be seen also in Gent. Mag. 1803, and in Annual 
 Register, 1803, p. 560; Censura Literaria, iii. p. 136. See 
 his marriage, p. 212. He was the third surviving brother of 
 Mrs. Montagu, and was of Westminster School, and St. John's 
 College, Cambridge ; Rector of Burfield, Bucks, where he died, 
 aged 75, Dec. 1803. 
 
 * See Gray's Observations on Lydgate's Poems, in Mathias's 
 edition, p. 55 to p. 80; and in Ed. Aid. pp. 292 — 321. 
 
 j Ann, widow of Field Marshal Richard Temple, Viscount 
 Cobham, who died in 1749, daughter of Edmund Halsey, Esq. 
 of Southwark; she lived at the Old House at Stoke Park. 
 Miss Speed resided with her, who afterwards became Countess 
 of Virey. Lady Cobham died in 1760. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 195 
 
 Your friend Dr. Plurnptre # has lately sat 
 for his picture to Wilson. The motto, in large 
 letters (the measure of which he himself pre- 
 scribed) is " Non magna loquimur, sed vivi- 
 mus :" i.e. " We don't say much, but we hold 
 good livings." 
 
 LETTER XLIX. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 
 Dear Sir, 1759. 
 
 You will receive to-morrow " Caractacus," 
 piping hot, I hope, before anybody else has it. 
 Observe, it is I that send it, for Mason makes no 
 presents to any one whatever ; and, moreover, 
 you are desired to lend it to nobody, that we may 
 sell the more of them ; for money, not fame, is 
 the declared purpose of all we do. I believe you 
 will think it (as I do) greatly improved. The 
 last chorus, and the lines that introduce it, are 
 to me one of the best things I ever read, and 
 
 * In 1760 Dr. Robert Plurnptre was President of Queen's 
 College, and from 1760 to 1788 Professor of Casuistry; died 
 in October, 1788. His " good livings' 1 '' were Wimpole and 
 Whadden, in Cambridgeshire ; he was afterward Prebendary 
 of Norwich. 
 
 o 2 
 
196 LETTERS OF 
 
 surely superior to anything he ever wrote. He 
 has had infinite fits of affectation as the hour 
 approached, and is now gone into the country 
 for a week, like a new-married couple. 
 
 I am glad to find you are so lapt in music at 
 Cambridge, and that Mingotti* is to crown the 
 whole ; I heard her within this fortnight, and 
 think her voice (which always had a roughness) 
 is considerably harsher than it was ; but yet she 
 is a noble singer. I shall not partake of these 
 delights, nor, I fear, be able to see Cambridge 
 for some time yet ; but in a week I shall know 
 better. Dr. Wharton, who desires his love to 
 you, will, I believe, set out for Durham in 
 about three weeks to settle at Old Park; at 
 present his least girl is ill of the small pox, 
 joined with a scarlet fever, but likely to get 
 over it. Yesterday I and M. dined with Mr. 
 Bonfoy, he told me that the old lady was 
 eloped from Bipon, just at a time when he 
 
 * Catarina Mingotti, born at Naples 1726, married Mingotti, 
 a Venetian, Manager of the Opera at Dresden. Sang with, 
 great applause at the theatres in Italy, Germany, and Spain. 
 She came to London in 1754, and made her first appearance 
 in Ipermnestra in 1758. She quitted England in 1772, having 
 still preserved her voice. The date of her death is not known. 
 See Dr. Burney's History of Music, vol. iv. pp. 464-467 ; and 
 see note, Letter xn. of this volume 
 
THE POET GRAY. 197 
 
 seemed to want her there, and was, I thought, 
 a little ruffled at it ; but I (in my heart) com- 
 mended her, and think her very well revenged 
 upon him. Pray, make her my best compli- 
 ments. Old Turner # is very declining, and I 
 
 was sounded by Dr. about my designs 
 
 (so I understood it). I assured him I should 
 not ask for it, not choosing to be refused. He 
 told me two people had applied already. N.B. 
 All this is a secret. 
 
 Adieu, dear Sir, 
 Believe me ever sincerely yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 P.S. — The parcel will come by one of the 
 flies. There is a copy for old Pa, who is out- 
 rageous about it. I rejoice in Jack's good 
 fortune.! Lord Strathmore is much out of order, 
 but goes abroad. 
 
 * Shallet Turner, D.C.L. of Peterhouse, Professor of 
 Modern History, from 1735 to 1762. 
 f Old Pa. is Rev. Mr. Palgrave. 
 
198 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER L. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, Dec. 1, 1759. 
 
 I am extremely obliged to you for the kind 
 attention you bestow on me and my affairs. 
 I have not been a sufferer by this calamity ; it 
 was on the other side of the street, and did not 
 reach so far as the houses opposite to mine; 
 but there was an attorney, who had writings 
 belonging to me in his hands, that had his 
 house burnt down among the first, yet he has 
 had the good fortune to save all his papers. 
 The fire is said to have begun in the chamber 
 of that poor glass-organist who lodged at a 
 coffee-house in S within' s Alley, and perished in 
 the flames. Two other persons were destroyed 
 (in the charitable office of assisting their friends) 
 by the fall of some buildings. Last night there 
 was another fire in Lincoln's Inn Fields, that 
 burnt the Sardinian Ambassador's chapel and 
 stables, with some adjacent houses, "lis strange 
 that we all of us (here in town) lay ourselves 
 down every night on our funereal pile, ready 
 made, and compose ourselves to rest, while 
 every drunken footman and drowsy old woman 
 has a candle ready to light it before the 
 morning. 
 
THE POET GBAY. 199 
 
 You will have heard of Hawke's victory 
 before this can reach you; perhaps by an express. 
 Monsieur de Conflans' t own ship of 
 74, were driven on shore, and 
 two sunk (capital ships), with 
 r it blew a storm during the whole 
 could be saved out of them. Eight 
 ng over their cannon were able to run 
 mouth of a shallow river (where, if the 
 wind will permit, it is probable they may be 
 set on fire), and eight ran away, and are sup- 
 posed to have got into Hochefort; two of 
 Hawke's fleet (of seventy and sixty guns) out 
 of eagerness ran aground, and are lost, but 
 most of the men preserved and brought off. 
 There is an end of the invasion, unless you are 
 afraid of Thurot, who is hovering off Scotland. 
 It is an odd contemplation that somebody 
 should have lived long enough to grow a great 
 and glorious monarch. As to the nation, I fear 
 it will not know how to behave itself, being 
 just in the circumstances of a chambermaid 
 that has got the 20,000/. prize in the lottery. 
 You mistake me. I was always a friend to 
 
 * Torn off. 
 
 •f On the battle between Conflans and Hawke, see Smollett's 
 History of England, vol. iv. p. 459; Lacretelle, Hist, de 
 France, vol. iii. p. 365. 
 
200 LETTERS OF 
 
 employment, and no foe to money; but they 
 are no friends to each other. Promise me to 
 be always busy, and I will allow you to be 
 rich. 
 
 I am, dear Mason, in all situations truly 
 
 Yours. 
 
 At Mr. Jauncey's, in Southampton Row. 
 
 I received your letter Nov. 29, the day on 
 which it is dated; a wonderful instance of 
 expedition in the post. 
 
 LETTER LI. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 
 Dear Sir, April, 1760. 
 
 I received the little letter, and the inclosed, 
 which was a summons from the insurance 
 office. On Tuesday last came a dispatch from 
 Lisbon. It is probable you have had one 
 from my lord;* but lest you should not I will 
 
 * Lord Kinnoul. See Gray's letter to Dr. Wharton, Jan. 
 23, 1760, Works, vol. iii. p. 233. " Mr. Pitt, not the great, 
 but the little one, my acquaintance, is set out on his travels. 
 He goes with my Lord Kinnoul to Lisbon, &c " See also 
 Walpole's Letters to Horace Mann, vol. iv. p. 24. Thomas, only 
 
THE POET GRAY. 201 
 
 tell you the chief contents of mine. Mr. Pitt 
 says they were both dreadfully sick all the time 
 they were beating about the Channel, but when 
 they came to Plymouth (I find) my lord was 
 so well, however, that he opened a ball in the 
 dock-yard with the Master-attendant's daughter. 
 They set sail from thence on the 28th, and 
 crossed the bay with a very smooth sea, came 
 in sight of Cape Pinisterre in three days' time, 
 and before night saw the rugged mountains of 
 Galicia with great delight, and came near the 
 coast of Portugal, opposite to Oporto; but (the 
 wind changing in the night) they drove off to 
 
 son of Thomas Pitt of Boconnock, Cornwall, eldest brother of 
 William Pitt, afterwards Lord Camelford. A copy of Mr. 
 Pitt's MS. Diary of his Travels in Spain and Portugal is in 
 existence. Walpole's letter contains a highly favourable cha- 
 racter of Mr. Pitt, in which Mr. Walpole introduces him to the 
 favour of our ambassador at Florence. See Letter xxv.p. 104. 
 Mr. Gough tells a friend " that he just had the perusal of a 
 most delicious Tour which Thomas Pitt and Lord Strathmore 
 made through Spain and Portugal in 1760, with most accurate 
 descriptions," &c. — See Nichols's Anecdotes, vol. viii. p. 588. 
 Lord Strathmore had joined the party. — See Gray's Letter, 
 xciv. p. 234 Lord Kinnoul in 1759 was appointed ambassador 
 at the court of Portugal, a mission rendered memorable by the 
 
 line — 
 
 " Kinnoul's lewd cargo and Tyrawly's crew." 
 
 See Rockingham Memoirs, vol. i. p. 146. Lord Cameltord 
 died in 1787, aged 77. 
 
202 LETTERS OF 
 
 the west, and were in a way to visit the Brazils. 
 However, on the 7th of this month they entered 
 the Tagus. He describes the rock of Lisbon as 
 a most romantic and beautiful scene, and all 
 the north bank of the river np to the city has 
 (he says) every charm but verdure. The city 
 itself too in that view is very noble, and shows 
 but little of the earthquake. This is all as yet. 
 My lord is to write next packet. 
 
 Lord G. S. # proceeds in his defence. People 
 wonder at (and some there are that celebrate) 
 his dexterity, his easy elocution, and unem- 
 barrassed manner. He told General Cholmon- 
 deley, one of his judges, who was asking a 
 witness some question, that it was such a ques- 
 tion as no gentleman, no man of honour, would 
 put, and it was one of his misfortunes to have 
 him among his judges ; upon which some per- 
 sons behind him gave a loud clap ; but I do 
 not find the court either committed or repri- 
 manded them. Lord Albemarle only con- 
 tented himself with saying he was sure that 
 those men could be neither gentlemen nor men 
 of honour. In the midst of this I do not hear 
 any one point made out in his favour; and 
 .... whose evidence bore the hardest upon 
 
 * See on Lord George Sackville's trial, Gent. Mag. 1760, 
 vol. xxx. p. 137, &c. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 203 
 
 him, and whom he had reflected upon with 
 great warmth and very opprobrious terms, has 
 offered the court (if they had any doubt of his 
 veracity) to procure sixteen more witnesses who 
 will say the same tiling. To be sure nothing 
 in the field of Minden could be half so dreadful 
 as this daily baiting he now is exposed to ; 
 so (supposing him a coward) he has chosen 
 very ill. 
 
 I am not very sorry your Venetians have 
 abandoned you; no more I believe are you. 
 Mason is very well, sitting as usual for his 
 picture, and while that is doing will not think 
 of Yorkshire. We heard Delaval the other 
 night play upon the water-glasses, and I was 
 astonished. No instrument that I know has 
 so celestial a tone. I thought it was a cherubim 
 in a box. 
 
 Adieu, dear sir : remember me to such as 
 remember me ; particularly (whether she does 
 or not) to Mrs. Bonfoy.* 
 
 I suppose you know Dr. Hossf has got the 
 living of Prome from Lord Weymouth. 
 
 * " Poor Mrs. Bonfoy," Gray writes to Dr. Wharton, " ivho 
 taught me to pray, is dead ; she struggled near a week, I fear 
 in great torture, &c." See Works, vol. iv. p. 11. 
 
 + Of St. John's College, Cambridge, D.D. in 1756; editor 
 of Cicero's Epistohe Familiares, 2 vols. He was Chaplain to the 
 
204 LETTERS OE 
 
 LETTER LIL 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAR MASON, London, June 7, 1760. 
 
 First and foremost pray take notice of the 
 paper on which I am writing to you ; it is the 
 first that ever was made of silk rags upon the 
 encouragement given by your Society of Arts ; 
 and (if this were all the fruits) I think you 
 need not regret your two guineas a-year. The 
 colour and texture you see ; and besides I am 
 told it will not burn (at least will not flame) 
 like ordinary paper, so that it may be of great 
 
 King, and Preacher at the Rolls. He became Vicar of Frome, 
 as mentioned, and made Bishop of Exeter in 1778, where he 
 died, 1792. He was also author of a tract against Markland's 
 Observations on Cicero's Epistles to Brutus, &c, and a friend of 
 Conyers Middleton. Lord Hailes, in his Translation of Lactan- 
 tius de Morb. Persecutorum, calls Dr. Ross " an excellent critic, 
 to whom another age will do full credit," p. 156, 12mo. In my 
 copy of Markland's Work, which belonged to Gray, he has 
 written: " This book is answered in an ingenious way, but 
 the irony not quite transparent." Ross's tract is entitled, 
 " A Dissertation, in which the Defence of P. Sulla ascribed to 
 M. T. Cicero is clearly proved to be spurious, after the manner of 
 Mr. Markland; with some remarks on the writings of the 
 Ancients never before suspected." G'ray is said to have given 
 some assistance to Dr. Ross in this Answer. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 205 
 
 use for hanging rooms ; it is uncommonly 
 tough, and, though very thin, you observe, is 
 not transparent. Here is another sort of it, 
 intended for the uses of drawing. 
 
 You have lately had a visit where you are 
 that I am sure bodes no good, especially just 
 at the time that the Dean of Canterbury # and 
 Mr. Blacowe died; we attribute it to a miff 
 about the garter, and some other humps and 
 grumps that he has received. Alas ! I fear it 
 will never do. The Conde de Euentes was 
 much at a loss, and had like to have made a 
 quarrel of it, that he had nobody but the D. 
 of N.t to introduce him; but Miss ChudleighJ 
 has appeased him with a ball. 
 
 I have sent Museeus to Mr. Eraser, scratched 
 here and there ; and with it I desired him to 
 inclose a bloody satire, § written against no less 
 
 * Dr. Lynch, Dean of Canterbury from 1734 to May 25, 1760, 
 when he died ; succeeded, June 14, by Dr. William Friend, son 
 of the third master of Westminster School. The Rev. Eichard 
 Blacowe, Canon of Windsor, F.R.S. died on 13 May, 1760. 
 
 f Duke of Newcastle. 
 
 J Miss Chudleigh, afterwards the celebrated Duchess of 
 Kingston. Walpole says, Miss Chudleigh was received by all 
 the Royal Family as Duchess, after having been publicly kept 
 by the Duke as his mistress. See Mem. of George III. i. 354. 
 
 § Alluding to two odes, to Obscurity and Oblivion, written 
 by Gr. Colman and R. Lloyd, which appeared in ridicule of 
 
206 LETTERS OP 
 
 persons than yon and me by name. I con- 
 cluded at first it was Mr. Pottinger, becanse he 
 is your friend and my hnmble servant; but 
 then I thought he knew the world too well to 
 call us the favourite minions of taste and 
 of fashion, especially as to Odes, for to them 
 his abuse is confined. So it is not Secretary 
 Pottinger, * but Mr. Colman, nephew to my 
 Lady Bath, author of " The Connoisseur," a 
 member of some of the inns of court, and a 
 particular acquaintance of Mr. Garrick's. What 
 have you done to him ? for I never heard his 
 name before. He makes very tolerable fun 
 with me, where I understand him, which is 
 not everywhere, but seems more angry with 
 you. Lest people should not understand the 
 humour of the thing (which indeed to do they 
 must have our lyricisms at their fingers' ends), 
 he writes letters in Lloyd's Evening Post to tell 
 them who and what it was that he meant, and 
 
 him and Mason. The Ode to Obscurity was chiefly directed 
 against Gray, that to Oblivion against Mason. See Lloyd's 
 Poems, vol. i. p. 120. Warburton, in a letter to Hurd 
 (Let. cxli.), calls them " two miserable buffoon odes," and not 
 without reason. Dr. J. Warton says, " The Odes of Gray were 
 burlesqued by two men of wit and genius, who, however, 
 once said to me that they repented of the attempt." They 
 are reviewed in the Monthly Review, vol. xxiii. p. 57. 
 
 * Mr. Richard Pottinger, Under-Secretary of State in 1754. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 207 
 
 says that it is like to produce a great combus- 
 tion in the literary world ; so if you have any 
 mind to combustle about it well and good ; for 
 me, I am neither so literary nor so combustible. 
 
 I am going into Oxfordshire for a fortnight 
 to a place near Henley, * and then to Cambridge, 
 if that owl Fobust does not hinder me, who 
 talks of going to fizzle there at the com- 
 mencement. 
 
 What do you say to Lord Lyttelton, your old 
 patron, and Mrs. Montagu, with their second- 
 hand Dialogues of the Dead ? And then there 
 
 * Park Place, near Henley, at that time the seat of General 
 Conway and Lady Ailesbury. See Gray's Letters, vol. iv. pp. 
 221, 247. Horace Walpole to Lady Ossory, ii. p. 338, and to 
 Horace Mann, vol. iv. pp 221, 247. " My Lady Ailesbury has 
 been much diverted, and so will you too Gray is in this neigh- 
 bourhood. Lady Carlisle says, ' He is extremely like me in 
 his manner.' They went as a party to dine on a cold loaf, and 
 passed the day. Lady A. protests he never opened his lips 
 but once, and then only said, " Yes, my lady, I believe so." — 
 See Walpole's Letter to G Montagu, p. 199. 
 
 ■j* Lord Holland in a few words drew the character of the 
 Duke of Newcastle {the owl Fobus) a little before the latter's 
 death, and not long before his own. " His Grace had no 
 friends, and deserved none. He had no rancour, no ill nature, 
 which 1 think much to his honour ; but, though a very good 
 quality, it is only a negative one, and he had absolutely no 
 one portion good, either of his heart or head." See Selwyn 
 Correspondence, ii. 269. 
 
208 LETTERS or 
 
 is your friend the little black man ; * he has 
 
 * This supplemental dialogue, as Gray calls it, is " An addi- 
 tional Dialogue of the Dead between Pericles and Aristides, 
 being a sequel to the Dialogue between Pericles and Cicero.' 1 
 Who the "little black man" is who wrote it, is not mentioned 
 in Mr. Phillimore's Life of Lord Lyttelton. See vol. ii. 352. 
 And Shenstone says in a letter (July 7, 1760), " Lord Lyttelton 
 is allowedly the author of these dialogues — whose the very last 
 is, I do not know." The author, however, thus alluded to was 
 Doctor J. Brown, the author of The Estimate, which I first 
 learned from the following passage in the Critical Review, vol. 
 ix. p. 465 : " The masterly dialogues could not have been 
 continued with more propriety than by a writer ivhose works 
 have been purchased with astonishing avidity, for their elegance of 
 diction and sprightliness of sentiment. When such a triumvirate 
 club their wits for the public entertainment, the endeavour 
 cannot fail," &c. (t. e. Lord Lyttelton, Mrs. Montagu, and Dr. 
 Brown). Again the reviewer says, — " Pericles and Aristides 
 are not only diversified in thought and sentiment, but a third 
 person is seen peeping behind the scene, namely, the all- 
 sufficient and all-approving Estimator" &c. The Monthly 
 RevieAver also, vol. xxiii. p 22, identifies the author, as " one 
 who has somehow stolen into such reputation in the literary 
 world, that inconsiderate readers are inclined to give him credit 
 for his matter, on account of his elegant manner of expression. 
 We therefore thought ourselves obliged to enter into particulars 
 in order to vindicate our judgment of this fantastical composi- 
 tion." Horace Walpole, however, mentions the author's name 
 in a letter to Sir D. Dalrymple. " Dr. Brown has written a dull 
 dialogue called Pericles and Aristides, which will have a dif- 
 ferent effect from that yours would have." See Misc. Letters, 
 iv. p. 64. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 209 
 
 written one supplemental dialogue, but I did 
 not read it.* 
 
 Do tell me of your health, your doings, your 
 designs, and your golden dreams, and try to 
 love me a little better in Yorkshire than you 
 did in Middlesex, 
 
 For I am ever yours, T. G. 
 
 LETTER LIIL 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 DEAR OLD SOUL, London, June 27, 1760. 
 
 I cannot figure to myself what you should 
 mean by my old papers. I sent none ; all I can 
 make out is this — when I sent the Musseus and 
 the Satire home to Mr. Eraser, my boy carried 
 back the Conway Papersf to a house in your 
 street,^ as I remember they were divided into 
 three parcels, on the least of which I had written 
 the word " nothing," or "of no consequence." 
 It did not consist of above twenty letters at 
 
 * See Preface to Dialogues. 
 
 f See Gray's Letter to Dr. Wharton, Sept. 18, 1759, vol. iii. 
 p. 223. " When I come home I have a great heap of the 
 Conway Papers (which is a secret) to read and make out." 
 See Walpole's Letters, vol, iii. p. 401 ; Gray's Works, vol. iii. 
 p. 587, " I am still in the height of my impatience for the 
 chest of old papers from Ragley, Lord Hertford's seat ;" and to 
 the Rev. H. Zouch, vol. iii. p. 401, with note c. 
 
 J To Horace Walpole's house in Arlington Street. 
 
 P 
 
210 LETTERS OF 
 
 most; and if you find anything about Mr. 
 Bourne's affairs, or stewards' and servants' let- 
 ters and bills, it is certainly so. This was car- 
 ried to Mr. Eraser by mistake, and sent to 
 Aston ; and if this is the case, they may as well 
 be burnt ; but if there is a good number, and 
 about affairs of State (which you may smell 
 out), then it is one of the other parcels, and I 
 am distressed, and must find some method of 
 getting it up again. I think I had inscribed 
 the two packets that signified anything, one, 
 " Papers of Queen Elizabeth or earlier," the 
 other, which was a great bundle, " Papers of 
 King James and Charles the Eirst." Pray 
 Heaven it is neither of these ; therefore do not 
 be precipitate in burning. 
 
 I do not like your improvements at Aston, it 
 looks so like settling ; * if I come I will set 
 
 * Mason pulled down the old rectory and built another 
 very commodious house, changing the site, so as from his 
 windows to command a beautiful and extensive prospect, . 
 bounded by the Derbyshire hills. He also much enlarged and 
 improved the garden, planting a small group of tulip-trees at 
 the further end, near the summer-house dedicated to Gray. 
 In another site, opposite the front door, and seen between 
 some clumps, is a terminus, with the head of Milton: on the 
 landing of the staircase, a copy of the Bocca Padugii eagle 
 from Strawberry Hill. Since Mason's time the country round 
 Aston has been much more exposed by the woods being cut 
 down, and the beauty of the views from his place in that 
 respect injured. 
 
THE POET GKAY. 211 
 
 fire to it. Your policy and your gratitude I 
 approve, and your determination never to quar- 
 rel and ever to pray ; but I, that believe it 
 want of power, am certainly civiiler to a cer- 
 tain person than you, that call it want of 
 exertion. I will never believe they are dead, 
 though I smelt them ; that sort of people always 
 live to a good old age. I dare swear they are 
 only gone to Ireland, and we shall soon hear 
 they are bishops. 
 
 The bells are ringing, the squibs bouncing, 
 the siege of Quebec is raised.* S wanton got 
 up the river when they were bombarding the 
 town. Murray made a sally and routed them, 
 and took all their baggage. This is the sum and 
 substance in the vulgar tongue, for I cannot 
 get the Gazette till midnight. Perhaps you 
 have had an estafette, since I find their cannon 
 are all taken; and that two days after a French 
 fleet, going to their assistance, was intercepted 
 and sunk or burnt. 
 
 To-morrow I go into Oxfordshire, and a fort- 
 night hence, when old Fobus's owl's nestf is a 
 little aired, I go into it. 
 
 Adieu ; am ever and ever, T. G. 
 
 * See Smollett's History of England, vol. v. p. 214. Rock, 
 iii. cxxviii. 1760. 
 
 f When the University, after the Commemoration has passed, 
 
 p 2 
 
212 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER LIV. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 
 Dear Sir, July, 1760. 
 
 I guess what the packet is, and desire you 
 would keep it, for I am come back hither, and 
 hope to be with you on Tuesday night. I shall 
 trouble you to have my bed aired, and to speak 
 about a lodging for my servant ; though (if it 
 be not contrary to the etiquette of the college) 
 I should rather hope there might be some garret 
 vacant this summer time, and that he might lie 
 within your walls; but this I leave to your 
 consideration. 
 
 This very night Billy Robinson* consummates 
 his good fortune ; she has 10, 000 1, in her pocket, 
 and a brother unmarried with at least as much 
 more. He is infirm, and the first convoy that 
 sails they all three set out together for Naples 
 to pass a year or two. I insist upon it he owes 
 all this to Mr. Talbot in the first place, and 
 in the second to me, and have insisted on a 
 couple of thousand pounds between us — the 
 least penny — or he is a shabby fellow. 
 
 is again quiet, which Gray calls the "nest" of the Chancellor 
 the Duke of Newcastle. 
 * See p. 193. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 213 
 
 I ask pardon about Madame de Fuentes* and 
 her twelve ladies. I heard it in good com- 
 pany, when first she arrived, piping hot ; and 
 I suppose it was rather what people appre- 
 hended than what they experienced. She 
 surely brought them over, but I do not find 
 she has carried them about; on the contrary, 
 she calls on my Lady Herveyt in a morning 
 
 * The wife of the Spanish Ambassador. See account of 
 her in Belsham's History, vol. v. p. 54 ; Glover's Memoirs, 
 p. 164; Adolphus's History, i. p. 56; Eockingham Papers, 
 i. p. 58 ; Horace Walpole to Mann, vol. i. pp. 59, 187 ; History 
 of George III. vol. i. p. 127; iii. 253. Walpole, in a letter to 
 the Earl of Strafford, gives portraits of her, her husband, and 
 family. See Misc. Lett. iv. p. 60. " Mons. de Fuentes is a 
 halfpenny print of my Lord Huntingdon. His wife homely, 
 but good-natured and civil. The son does not degenerate 
 from such high-born ugliness ; the daughter-in-law was sick, 
 and they say is not ugly, and has as good a set of teeth as 
 one can have when one has but two, and those black. They 
 seem to have no curiosity, sit where they are placed, and ask 
 no questions. She speaks bad French, danced a bad minuet, 
 and went away, though there was a miraculous draft of fishes 
 for the supper, as it was a feast," &c. 
 
 | The Mary Lepell of Pope, and to whom Voltaire addressed 
 some English verses; born 1700; married John Lord Hervey 
 1720; died in 1768, aged 67; lived on terms of friendship 
 with Horace Walpole, who, in his Memoirs of George HI. 
 vol. ii. p. 108, calls her letters an excellent authority. Arch- 
 deacon Nares speaks of her as " that very superior woman, 
 Lady Hervey." See on her Gibbon's Misc . Works, i. p. 81, and 
 
214 LETTERS OF 
 
 in an undress, and desires to be without cere- 
 mony; and the whole tribe, except Madame 
 de Mora (the young countess), were at Miss 
 Chudleigh's* ball and many other places : but 
 of late Dr. Alrenf (whom nobody ever liked) 
 has advised them to be disagreeable, and they 
 accept of no invitations. 
 
 Adieu, dear sir ; I hope so soon to be with 
 you, that I may spare you the trouble of reading 
 any more. I am ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 I hear there was a quarrel at the Commons, 
 between Dr. Barnard $ and Dr. Ogden — mackerel 
 or turbot. 
 
 Memoires sur Rousseau, vol. i. p. 122 ; and Selwyn Correspond- 
 ence, -vol. ii. pp. 212, 332 — 336. There is an original portrait 
 of her at Lord Bristol's, at Ickworth, and I possess a beautiful 
 pencil drawing of her by Richardson. An edition of her 
 Letters to Mr. Morris was published by Mr. Croker in 1821. 
 
 * On Miss Chudleigh, Maid of Honour to the Princess 
 Dowager of Wales, afterwards Duchess of Kingston, see 
 Walpole's Misc. Letters, iv. pp. 37 and 473. She was sup- 
 posed to have been previously married to Augustus Earl of 
 Bristol ; and in vol. v. pp. 214, 229, and 447, where all the acts 
 of the historic drama are contained. There is an engraving 
 of her from a picture by Reynolds in the third volume of 
 Walpole's Letters to Mann. See also Jesse's George Selwyn, 
 vol. iv. p. 89. 
 
 ■f Probably the Catholic priest attending on the family. 
 
 J Edward Barnard, D.D. the well-known learned and ac- 
 
THE POET GRAY. 215 
 
 LETTER LV. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 DEAR SIR, Saturday, August, 1760. 
 
 This is to inform you that I hope to see you 
 on Monday night at Cambridge. If Pobus will 
 come, I cannot help it. I must go and see 
 somebody during that week — no matter where. 
 Pray let Bleek make an universal rummage of 
 cobwebs, and massacre all spiders, old and 
 young, that live behind window- shutters and 
 books. As to airing, I hear Dick Forrester 
 has done it. Mason is at Prior Park, so I can 
 say nothing of him. The stocks fell, I believe, 
 in consequence of your prayers, for there was 
 no other reason. Adieu. 
 
 I am ever yours, T. G. 
 
 complished Master of Eton, and afterwards Provost, Canon of 
 Windsor on Richard Blacowe's decease. See Gent. Mag. 1760, 
 p. 298, and an account of him in Nichols's Anecdotes, vol. v. 
 p . 445 ; also a very interesting memorial of him is given by 
 his friend Jacob Bryant in the eighth volume of Nichols's 
 Anecdotes, pp. 543 — 549. His Latin epitaph, in Eton College 
 Chapel, was written by Mr. Bryant. He is mentioned in the 
 Walpole and Mason Correspondence, vol i. p. 128, as not 
 approving publishing the fragment left by Gray, and printed 
 by Mason under the name of " Ode to Vicissitude;" and see 
 Johnsoniana, p. 195, for his well-known lines, " I lately 
 thought no man alive," &c. ; also pp. 8, 43. 
 
216 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER LVI. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAR MASON, Aug. 7, 1760, Pembroke HaU. 
 
 Your packet, being directed to me here, lay 
 some days in expectation of my arrival (for I 
 did not come till about ten days since) ; so, if 
 the letter inclosed to Dr. Zachary Howlet* were 
 not delivered so soon as it ought to have been, 
 you must not lay the fault to my charge. 
 
 It is a great misfortune that I dare not pre- 
 sent your new seal to the senate in congre- 
 gation assembled, as I long to do. Not only 
 the likeness, but the character of the fowl is 
 so strongly marked, that I should wish it were 
 executed in marble, by way of bas-relief, on the 
 pedestal of George the Second, which his Grace 
 proposes soon to erect in the Theatre. Mr. 
 Brown and I think we discover beauties which 
 perhaps the designer never intended. There is 
 a brave little mitred Madge already on the 
 wing, who is flying, as it were, in the face 
 of his parent ; this, we say, is Bishop K. :f then 
 there is a second, with ingratitude in its face, 
 
 * Dr. Zachary Grey is meant. 
 
 "f Bishops Edmund Keene and Philip Yonge are meant. 
 On the former see Grenville Papers, vol ii. p. 534 ; Walpole's 
 Misc. Letters, ii. pp. 362, 459 ; vol. iv. p. 58 ; v. 294 ; vi. p. 5 ; 
 
THE POET GRAY. 217 
 
 though not in its attitude, that will do the 
 same as soon as it is fledged and has the con- 
 rage ; this is Bishop Y. : a third, that looks 
 mighty modest, and has two little ears sprout- 
 ing, hut no mitre yet, we take for Dean G. :* 
 the rest are embryos that have nothing dis- 
 tinguishing, and only sit and pull for a hit of 
 mouse ; they won't he prebends these five 
 days, grace of God, and if the nest is not taken 
 first. 
 
 Your friend Dr. Ch.f died of a looseness : 
 about a week before, he eat five large mackerel, 
 full of roe, to his own share; but what gave 
 the finishing stroke was a turbot, on Trinity 
 Sunday, of which he left but very little for the 
 company. Of the mackerel I have eyewitnesses, 
 so the turbot may well find credit. He has left, 
 I am told, 15,000Z. behind him. 
 
 and Gray's Letters, vol. iv. p. 49 ; and Notes to Gray and 
 Nicholls Correspondence, p. 185. See also Nichols's Anecdotes, 
 ii. p. 66; iv. 332, 351, 721; viii. p. 141; also Mustr. iii. 529. 
 Bishop Newton, in his Autobiography, gives a more favourable 
 picture of Dr. Keene (see p, 114); particularly for taste and 
 magnificence; but Walpole calls him " that interested hog, the 
 Bishop of Chester;" and in his Letters to Mason, vol. i. p. 61, 
 " Did not Mansfield and Stone beget the Bishop of Chester ?" 
 * I presume Dr. John Greene, Dean of Lincoln, 
 ■f Dr. Chapman. See Gray's letter to Dr. Clarke. Works, 
 vol. iii. p. 253. 
 
218 LETTERS OF 
 
 The Erse Fragments* have been published five 
 weeks ago in Scotland, though I had them not 
 (by a mistake) till last week. As you tell me 
 new things do not soon reach you at Aston, 
 I inclose what I can; the rest shall follow 
 when you tell me whether you have not got it 
 already. I send the two which I had before, 
 for Mr. Wood, because he has not the affecta- 
 tion of not admiring. I continue to think them 
 genuine, though my reasons for believing the 
 contrary are rather stronger than ever : but I 
 will have them antique, for I never knew a 
 Scotchman of my own time that could read, 
 much less write, poetry ; and such poetry too ! 
 I have one (from Mr. Macpherson) which he 
 has not printed : it is mere description, but 
 excellent, too, in its kind. If you are good, 
 and will learn to admire, I will transcribe it. 
 Pray send to Sheffield for the last Monthly 
 Review : there is a deal of stuff about us and 
 
 * See Annual Register, 1760, where they are reviewed, and 
 Monthly Review, vol xxiii. p. 205. Walpole's Misc. Letters, 
 iv. p, 38. " Mr. Gray, who is an enthusiast about these 
 poems, begs me to put the following queries to you," &c. 
 " He, Mr. Mason, Lord Lyttelton, and one or two more whose 
 taste the world allows, are in love with your Erse Elegies. I 
 cannot say in general that they are so much admired, but Mr. 
 Gray alone is worth satisfying." To Sir D. Dalrymple. See 
 also Gray's Letter to Dr. Wharton, Works, vol. iii. pp. 249, 257. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 219 
 
 Mr. Colman.* It says one of us, at least, has 
 always borne his faculties meekly. I leave you 
 to guess which that is : I think I know. You 
 oaf, you must be meek, must you? and see 
 what you get by it ! 
 
 I thank you for your care of the old papers : 
 they were entirely insignificant, as you sus- 
 pected. 
 
 Billy K-obinson has been married near a 
 fortnight to a Miss Richardson (of his own 
 age, he says, and not handsome), with 10,000£. 
 in her pocket; she lived with an (unmarried) 
 infirm brother, who (the first convoy that sails) 
 sets out with the bride and bridegroom in his 
 company for Naples ; you see it is better to be 
 curate of Kensington than rector of Aston. 
 
 Lord J. O.f called upon me here the other 
 day ; young Ponsonby, $ his nephew, is to come 
 
 * See Monthly Review, July, 1760, p. 57 to p. 63, art. 
 Two Odes, 4to. Is. Payne. It is not without some surprise that 
 I read in Hawkins's Life of Johnson, the latter asserting — 
 " Colman never produced a luckier thing than his first ode in 
 imitation of Gray ; a considerable part of it may be numbered 
 among those felicities which no man has twice attained." See 
 Gray's Letter to Dr. Wharton on these odes, Works, vol. iii. 
 p. 250. 
 
 •f Lord John Cavendish. 
 
 J One of the four sons of William second Lord Ponsonby 
 and Earl of Besborough, who all died young. He married 
 
220 LETTERS OF 
 
 this year to the University; and, as his Lord- 
 ship (very justly) thinks that almost everything 
 depends on the choice of a private tutor, he 
 desires me to look out for such a thing, hut 
 without engaging him to anything. Now I am 
 extremely unacquainted with the younger part 
 of Camhridge, and consequently can only in- 
 quire of other people, and (what is worse) have 
 nobody now here whose judgment I could much 
 rely on. In my own conscience I know no one 
 I should sooner recommend than Onley, and 
 besides (I own) should wish to bring him to 
 this college ; yet I have scruples, first because 
 I am afraid Onley should not answer my lord's 
 expectations (for what he is by way of a scholar 
 I cannot tell), and next because the young man 
 (who is high-spirited and unruly) may chance 
 to be more than a match for Mr. B., # with whom 
 the authority must be lodged. I have said I 
 would inquire, and mean (if I could) to do so 
 without partiality to any college : but believe, 
 after all, I shall find no better. Now I per- 
 ceive you have said something to Lord J.f al- 
 ready to the same purpose, therefore tell me 
 what I shall do in this case. If you chance to 
 
 Lady Caroline Cavendish 1739, eldest daughter of William 
 Duke of Devonshire, who died this year, 1760. 
 
 * Mr. Brown. t ^ord John Cavendish. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 221 
 
 see his lordship you need not mention it, unless 
 he tell you himself what has passed between us. 
 Adieu, dear Mason, I am ever yours. 
 
 A Note. — Having made many inquiries about 
 the authenticity of these Fragments, * I have 
 got a letter from Mr. David Hume, the his- 
 torian, which is more satisfactory than any- 
 thing I have yet met with on that subject : he 
 says,— 
 
 " Certain it is that these poems are in every 
 body's mouth in the Highlands — have been 
 handed down from father to son — and are of 
 an age beyond all memory and tradition. Adam 
 Smith, the celebrated Professor in Glasgow, told 
 me that the piper of the Argyleshire militia 
 repeated to him all those which Mr. Macpher- 
 son has translated, and many more of equal 
 beauty. Major Mackay (Lord Rae's brother) 
 told me that he remembers them perfectly 
 well; as likewise did the Laird of Macfarline 
 (the greatest antiquarian we have in this 
 country), and who insists strongly on the his- 
 torical truth, as well as the poetical beauty, of 
 
 * See Gray's Works, ed. Aid. vol. iii. pp. 244, 249, 256. 
 Hume's letter is printed entire in European Magazine, vol. v. 
 p. 327, March 1784; and see Mason's note on the subject; 
 and Walpole's Misc. Letters, vol. iv. pp. 22, 37, 55. 
 
222 LETTERS OE 
 
 these productions. I could add the Laird and 
 Lady Macleod, with many more that live in 
 different parts of the Highlands, very remote 
 from each other, and could only be acquainted 
 with what had become (in a manner) national 
 works. There is a country- surgeon in Locha- 
 ber, who has by heart the entire epic poem 
 mentioned by Mr. Macpherson in his Preface, 
 and, as he is old, is perhaps the only person 
 living that knows it all, and has never com- 
 mitted it to writing. We are in the more haste 
 to recover a monument which will certainly be 
 regarded as a curiosity in the republic of letters. 
 We have therefore set about a subscription of a 
 guinea or two guineas a-piece in order to enable 
 Mr. Macpherson to undertake a mission into 
 the Highlands to recover this poem and other 
 fragments of antiquity." 
 
 I forgot to mention to you that the names of 
 Mngal, Ossian, Oscar, &c, are still given in 
 the Highlands to large mastiffs, as we give to 
 ours the names of Caesar, Pompey, Hector, &c.* 
 
 * Sir Egerton Brydes says, " Gray was cold and fastidious ; 
 but, when his enthusiasm could indulge itself with confidence, 
 he delighted to nurse those visionary propensities; witness 
 the ardour with which he encouraged himself in the belief of 
 Ossian" &c. — See Gnomica, p. 225. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 223 
 
 LETTER LVIL 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 DEAR SIR, South*. Row, Oct. 23, 1760. 
 
 I am obliged to you for your letter, and the 
 bills inclosed, which I shall take the first 
 opportunity I have to satisfy. 
 
 I imagine by this then Lord John is or has 
 been with you to settle matters. Mr. Onley* 
 (from whom I have twice heard) consents, 
 though with great diffidence of himself, to 
 undertake this task ; but cannot well be there 
 himself till about the 13th of November. I 
 would gladly hear what your first impressions 
 are of the young man, for (I must tell you 
 plainly) our Mason, who had seen him. at Chats - 
 worth, was not greatly edified ; but he hopes 
 the best. To-morrow Dr. Gisborne t and I go 
 
 * Charles Onley, elected a fellow of Pembroke College in 
 1756, and vacated in 1763. He took the degree of Twelfth 
 Wrangler in 1755. 
 
 f Dr. Thomas Gisborne, in 1759, was elected a Fellow and 
 Censor of the College of Physicians; he is also designated 
 Med. Reg. ad Familiam. In 1791 he was President of the 
 College, again in 1794, in 1796, and every succeeding year 
 till 1803, inclusive: his name does not appear after 1805. 
 He had been Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. Dr. 
 Gisborne was known to the present learned President of the 
 College of Physicians, who remembers having met him at the 
 dinner table of Sir Isaac Pennington, at Cambridge. He was 
 rather short and corpulent. When the Government of the 
 
224 LETTERS OF 
 
 to dine with that reverend gentleman (Mason) 
 at Kensington during his waiting. He makes 
 many kind inquiries after you, hut I see very 
 little of him, he is so taken up with the beaux- 
 arts. He has lately etched my head with his 
 own hand; and his friend Mr. Sandby,* the 
 landscape painter, is doing a great picture with 
 a view of M. Snowdon, the Bard, Edward the 
 First, &c. Now all this I take for a bribe, a 
 sort of hush-money to me, who caught him last 
 year sitting for his own picture, and know that 
 at this time there is another painter doing one 
 of the scenes in Elfrida. 
 
 day agreed to purchase John Hunter's Museum, the offer of 
 being the Conservator of the Collection was made to the College 
 of Physicians, through Dr. Gisborne, then President of the 
 College. He put the letter in his pocket, forgot it, and the 
 offer was never brought before the consideration of the College. 
 The Government subsequently made an offer of it to the 
 College of Surgeons, and it now forms the chief part of their 
 valuable Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields. It was said that 
 the College of Physicians declined to receive this collection, and 
 this has been constantly repeated. For this curious anecdote, 
 I am indebted to the kindness of the present learned Pre • 
 sident, Dr. Ayrton Paris, Dr. Gisborne was called in to 
 attend Gray in his last illness. He died Feb. 24, 1806. See 
 Gent. Mag. 1806, p. 287. 
 
 * Mr. Sandby, the father of the unrivalled English school 
 of water-colours Many of the finest and earliest specimens 
 of his pencil which exist, and which I have seen, are still in 
 the possession of his family. 
 
THE POET GEAY. 225 
 
 IrL my way to town I met with the first news 
 of the expedition from Sir "William Williams, 
 who makes a part of it, and perhaps may lay 
 his fine Vandyck head in the dust.* They talk, 
 some of R/Ochefort, some of Brest, and others 
 of Calais. It is sure the preparations are great, 
 but the wind blows violently. 
 
 Here is a second edition of the Fragments, 
 with a new and fine one added to them. You 
 will perhaps soon see a very serious Elegy (but 
 this is a secret) on the death of my Lady 
 Coventry, t Watch for it. 
 
 If I had been aware Mr. Mapletoft J was in 
 town I should have returned liim. the two 
 guineas I have of his. Neither Osborn nor 
 Bathurst know when the book will come out. 
 I will therefore pay it to any one he pleases. 
 
 Adieu, dear sir, I am ever yours, T. G. 
 
 * Sir William Peers Williams, C.B. a Captain in Burgoyne's 
 Dragoons. See account of him in Gray's Works, ed. Aid. 
 vol. i. p. 93, and note at Letter lxix. " Sir W. Williams, a 
 young man much talked of for his exceeding ambition, enter- 
 prising spirit, and some parts in Parliament, is already fallen 
 there ; and even he was too great a prize for such a paltry 
 island." — Walpole's Letter to H. Mann, i. p. 29. 
 
 f See Masons Works, vol. i. p. 107. 
 
 J Probably John Mapletoft, of Pembroke College, A.M. 
 1764, took a Wrangler's degree in 1752 ; one below that of 
 (Bishop) Porteus. 
 
 Q 
 
226 letters or 
 
 I did not mean to carry away your paper of 
 the two pictures at Were Park ; * but I find I 
 have got it here. 
 
 LETTER LVIIL 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 
 Dear Sir, Oct. 25, 1760. 
 
 You will wonder at another letter so soon ; 
 it is only to tell you what you will probably 
 hear before this letter reaches you. 
 
 The King is dead.f He rose this morning 
 about six (his usual early hour) in perfect 
 health, and had his chocolate between seven and 
 eight. An unaccountable noise was heard in 
 his chamber ; they ran in, and found him lying 
 on the floor. He was directly bled, and a few 
 drops came from him, but he instantly expired. 
 
 This event happens at an unlucky time, but 
 (I should think) will make little alteration in 
 public measures. 
 
 I am rather glad of the alteration with re- 
 
 * Ware Park, near Hertford. 
 
 •f On the death of George the Second, see Smollett's History, 
 vol. v. c. xiv. p. 287. Belsham's History, vol. iv. p. 442. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 227 
 
 gard to Chambers, for a reason which yon will 
 guess at. 
 
 My service to Pa.* I will write to him soon, 
 and long to see his manuscripts, and blue 
 books, and precipices. Adieu. 
 
 I am yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 LETTER LIX. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 DEAR SlR, London, Nov. 8, 1760, 
 
 You will excuse me if I write you a little 
 news in this busy time, though I have nothing 
 else to write. The ladies are rejoiced to hear 
 they may probably have a marriage before the 
 coronation, which will restore to that pomp all 
 the beauties it would otherwise have lost. I 
 hear (but this is sub sigillo) no very extraor- 
 dinary account of the Princess of Saxe Gotha. 
 Mason walks in the same procession, and, as 
 you possibly may see liim the next day, he will 
 give you the best account of it. You have 
 
 * Rev. William Palgrave; in allusion to the manuscript 
 Diaries kept during his Travels. He died in 1799. Gent. 
 Mag. 1799, pp. 1003, 1085. See Letter xxxvii. p. 158. 
 
 Q2 
 
228 LETTERS OE 
 
 heard, I suppose, that there are two wills (not 
 duplicates). He had given to the Duke of 
 Cumberland all his jewels, but at the last 
 going to Hanover had taken with him all the 
 best of them, and made them crown jewels, 
 so that they come to the successor. He had 
 also given the Duke three millions of rix- 
 dollars in money ; but in the last will (made 
 since the affair at Closter Seven), after an 
 apology to him, as the best son that ever 
 lived, and one that has never offended him, 
 declares that the expenses of the war have 
 consumed all this money. He gives him (and 
 had before done so by a deed of gift) all his 
 mortgages in Germany, valued at 170,000£. ; 
 but the French are in possession of part of 
 these lands, and the rest are devoured by the 
 war. He gives to Princesses Emily and Mary 
 about 3 7, 000 1, between them, the survivor to 
 take the whole. I have heard that the Duke was 
 to have a third of this, but has given up his 
 share to his sisters. To Lady Yarmouth a box, 
 which is said to have in it 10,000/. in notes. 
 The K. is residuary legatee ; what that amounts 
 to no one will know, and consequently it must 
 remain a doubt whether he died rich or poor. 
 I incline to believe rather the latter ; I mean 
 in comparison of what was expected. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 229 
 
 The Bishop* is the most assiduous of courtiers, 
 standing for ever upright in the midst of a 
 thousand ladies. The other day he trod on the 
 toes of the Duke, who turned to him (for he made 
 no sort of excuse), and said aloud, " If your 
 Grace is so eager to make your court, that is 
 the way" (pointing towards the king) ; and 
 then to the Count de Euentes, " You see priests 
 are the same in this country as in yours." 
 
 Mr. E. Einch (your representative) has got 
 the place that Sir H. E. (my friend) had — sur- 
 veyor, I think, of the roads, which is ahout 
 6001. a-year.f What then (you will ask) has 
 
 * The name of the bishop is erased in the MS., but Seeker 
 is meant. See "Walpole's History of George III., vol. i. p. 19. 
 " Seeker, the archbishop, who for the first days of the reigD 
 flattered himself with the idea of being First Minister in a court 
 that hoisted the standard of religion. He was unwearied in at- 
 tendance at St. James's, and in presenting bodies of clergy; and 
 his assiduity was so bustling and assuring, that, having pushed 
 aside the Duke of Cumberland to get at the king, his royal high- 
 ness reprimanded him with a bitter taunt." See, however, a 
 more just and candid account of Seeker in the Editor's note to 
 these Memoirs, vol iii. p. 233. Walpole's notices of Seeker in 
 MS., which I have, are still more flagrantly unjust, and untrue. 
 
 t Mr. Henry Finch was Member for Cambridge, and his 
 predecessor as surveyor of the king's roads was Sir Henry 
 Ershine. It was Sir Henry Erskine who made the unsuc- 
 cessful application to Lord Bute for the place of Professor of 
 Modern Languages in favour of Gray, in 1762. See Letters, 
 
230 LETTERS or 
 
 become of my friend ? Oh, he is a vast fa- 
 vourite, is restored to his regiment, and made 
 Groom of the Bedchamber. I have not been 
 to see him yet, and am half afraid, for I hear 
 he has a levee. Pray don't tell. 
 
 Lord J. C. is fixed to come at his time in spite 
 of the world. I hear within the year yon may 
 expect a visit from his Majesty in person. 
 
 When the Duke of Devonshire introduced 
 my lord mayor, he desired his grace would be 
 so kind to tell him which was my Lord Boot. 
 This must not be told at all, nor anything else 
 as from me. Adieu. 
 
 LETTER LX. 
 THE REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 DEAR Mr. GRAY, Aston, Nov. 28, '60. 
 
 I send you the Elegy ; you will find I have 
 altered all the things you marked, and some 
 
 vol. iii. p. 301, and Mason's note. Sir H. E. was M.P. for 
 Trail, and Lieut.-Col. in the army. See a letter from him 
 to Mr. Grenville in Grenville Papers, i. p. 189. He is called 
 by Walpole " a creature of the favorite (Bute)." See Memoirs 
 of George IIL, i. p. 139. In 1760 (the date of the letter) he 
 was Major-General, and Colonel of the 67th Regt. vice Lord 
 Frederick Campbell. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 231 
 
 perhaps I have improved. Mr. Wood thinks 
 the conclusion equal enough to the rest, there- 
 fore I have ventured to send a copy to Lord 
 Holdernesse ; but I hope to have your scratches 
 upon that part also soon. I wish you would 
 let your servant take a copy and send it to Mr. 
 Brown, to whom I talked about it. When I 
 was at Cambridge I saw a great deal of Onley, 
 and am very sanguine in my hopes that his 
 pupilage will not turn out ill. Dr. Acton* 
 came down when I was there, and entertained 
 us much with his beaver and camblet surtout. 
 Do write to me soon, and promise yourself that 
 I will be as regular a correspondent for the 
 future as I have always been. 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 W. Mason. 
 
 * Nathaniel Acton was admitted a Fellow Commoner of 
 Pembroke in 1743; he might be revisiting his old College; 
 and a Thomas Acton was elected Fellow in 1756, who vacated 
 in 1763. 
 
232 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTEE LXI. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 London, at Mr. Jauncey's, not Jenour's, 
 
 Dear Mason, Dec. 10, 1760. 
 
 It is not good to give copies of a thing 
 before you have given it the last hand.* If you 
 would send it to Lord H.f you might have spared 
 that to Lady M. O.J ; they have both showed it 
 to particular friends, and so it is half published 
 before it is finished. I begin again from the 
 beginning : — 
 
 " Ah, mark," is rather languid; I would 
 read " Heard ye." 
 
 Y. 3. I read, " and now with rising knell," 
 to avoid two " the's." 
 
 * The Elegy on Lady Coventry. 
 
 f Lord Holdernesse. 
 
 { Lady Mary Coke, fourth daughter of John Duke of Argyll, 
 married Edward Viscount Coke, 1747, heir apparent of Thomas 
 Earl of Leicester, who died in his father's lifetime. Walpole 
 writes, " I have regard and esteem for her good qualities, 
 which are many, but I doubt her genius will never suffer 
 her to be quite happy," &c. She lived at Notting Hill, and 
 died at a great age in 1811. A fuller character of her is given 
 in a letter to Horace Mann, ii. p. 257. See his verses on 
 her in Misc. Letters, iv. 199; and v. p. 353. Add Selwyn 
 Corres. vol. i. p. 326. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 233 
 
 V. 10. I read, " since now that bloom," &c. 
 
 V. 11, 12, are altered for the better, and so 
 are the following ; but for " liquid lightning," 
 Lord J. Cavendish says, there is a dram which 
 goes by that name ; and T. G. adds, that the 
 words are stolen from a sonnet of the late 
 Prince of Wales.* What if we read " liquid 
 radiance," and change the word " radiant" 
 soon after. 
 
 V. 18. Read, " that o'er her form," &c. 
 
 V. 23. " Cease, cease, luxuriant muse." 
 Though mended, it is still weakly. I do not 
 much care for any muse at all here. 
 
 * Gray alludes to the song written by Frederick Prince of 
 Wales, called " The Charms of Sylvia," of which I give the 
 two commencing stanzas. The expression alluded to is in the 
 first line : — 
 
 " 'Tis not the liquid brightness of those eyes, 
 That swim with pleasure and delight ; 
 Nor those heavenly arches which arise 
 O'er each of them to shade the light. 
 
 " 'Tis not that hair which plays with every wind, 
 And loves to wanton round thy face ; 
 Now straying round thy forehead, now behind, 
 Rocking with unresisting grace." 
 
 The whole may be seen in Mr. Jesse's Memoirs of the Court 
 of England, vol. iii. p. 151. 
 
234 LETTERS OF 
 
 Y. 26. " Mould'ring " is better than " clay- 
 cold;" somewhat else might be better perhaps 
 than either. 
 
 V. 35. " Whirl you in her wild career." 
 This image does not come in so well here 
 between two real happinesses. The word 
 " lead " before it, as there is no epithet left to 
 " purple," is a little faint. 
 
 " Of her choicest stores an ampler share," 
 seems to me prosaic. 
 
 " Zenith-height" is harsh to the ear and too 
 scientific. 
 
 I take it the interrogation point comes after 
 "fresh delight;" and there the sense ends. 
 If so, the question is too long in asking, and 
 leaves a sort of obscurity. 
 
 V. 46. I understand, but cannot read, this 
 line. Does "tho' soon" belong to "lead her 
 hence," or to "the steps were slow?" I take 
 it to the latter ; and if so, it is hardly gram- 
 mar; if to the former, the end of the line 
 appears very naked without it. 
 
 Y. 55. " House, then — his voice pursue." I 
 do not like this broken line. 
 
 V. 74. "Firm as the sons," that is, "as 
 firmly as." The adjective used for the adverb 
 here gives it some obscurity, and has the ap- 
 pearance of a contradiction. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 235 
 
 V. 76. A less metaphorical line would be- 
 come this place better. 
 
 Y. 80. This, though a good line, woiild be 
 better too if it were more simple, for the same 
 figure is amplified in the following stanza, 
 and there is no occasion for anticipating it 
 here. 
 
 V. 85. "And why?" I do not understand. 
 You mean, I imagine, that the warrior must not 
 expect to establish his fame as a hero while he 
 is yet alive; but how does "living fame" sig- 
 nify this ? The construction, too, is not good; if 
 you mean, with regard to Fame, while he yet 
 lives, Pate denies him that. The next line is 
 a bold expression of Shakespeare. The third, 
 " ere from her trump — heaven breathed," is 
 not good. 
 
 Y. 89. "Is it the grasp?" You will call 
 me a coxcomb if I remind you, that this 
 stanza in the turn of it is too like a stanza of 
 " another body's." # 
 
 * Is it the grasp of empire to extend, 
 To curb the fury of insulting foes ? 
 Ambition cease ; the idle contest end, 
 
 'Tis but a kingdom thou canst win or lose. 
 
 Which stanza (perhaps now altered in consequence of the 
 remark) Gray considers like one in the Elegy in a Country 
 Churchyard; perhaps the one beginning — 
 
 The applause of listening senates to command, &c. 
 
236 LETTERS or 
 
 V. 98. " Truth ne'er can sanctify," is an 
 indifferent line. Both Mr. Brown and I have 
 some doubt about the justness of this sen- 
 timent. A kingdom is purchased, we think, 
 too dear with the life of any man ; and this no 
 less if there "bea life hereafter" than if there 
 be none. 
 
 Y. 102. We say the juice of the grape 
 "mantles," but not the grape. 
 
 V. 107. " By earth's poor pittance " will not 
 do; the end is very well, but the whole is 
 rather too long, and I would wish it reduced a 
 little in the latter part. 
 
 I am sorry you went so soon out of town, 
 because you lost your share in his Majesty's 
 reproof to his chaplains : "I desire those gen- 
 tlemen may be told that I come here to praise 
 God, and not to hear my own praises." Kitt 
 Wilson * was, I think, the person that had been 
 
 * Dr. Christopher Wilson, of Catharine Hall, Cambridge, 
 M.A. 1740, Eector of Fulham and of Halsted, Essex, Canon 
 of St. Paul's, Bishop of Bristol in 1783, died April 1792, 
 aged 77. "He died extremely rich, having, as Prebendary 
 of Finsbury, made a most fortunate and lucrative contract for 
 a lease with the City of London ;" for when he came in pos- 
 session of it, it brought in only a life-interest of 391. 13s. 4c?. ; 
 and from it he received 50,000Z. in his lifetime, and charged 
 his estate with 50,000/. more in his will. See a full account 
 of him and his contract in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, ix. 
 p. 519-524. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 237 
 
 preaching. This and another thing I have 
 been told give me great hopes of the young 
 man. Eobus was asking him what sum it was 
 his pleasure should be laid out on the next elec- 
 tion P* " Nothing, my lord." The duke stared, 
 and said, " Sir I." " Nothing, I say, my lord ; I 
 desire to be tried by my country." 
 
 There has been as great confusion this week 
 as if the Erench were landed. You see the 
 heads of the Tories are invited into the bed- 
 chamber ; f and Mr. P. avows it to be his advice, 
 not as to the particular men, but the measure. 
 Pobus knew nothing of it till it was done; and 
 has talked loudly for two days of resigning. 
 Lord Hardwick and his people say they will 
 support the Whig interest, as if all was going 
 to ruin, and they hoped to raise a party. What 
 will come of it is doubtful, but I fancy they 
 
 * Compare Walpole's Memoirs of George III. vol. i. p. 209, 
 " The profusion exercised on this occasion, and which reduced 
 the Court to stop even the payments of the King's Bedchamber, 
 made men recall severely to mind the King's declaration on 
 the choice of the Parliament, ' that he would not permit 
 anything to be spent on elections.' " 
 
 •(• The commencement of the present reign was also distin- 
 guished by a grand creation of Peers, and far more offensively 
 by the nomination of twelve additional Lords of the Bed- 
 chamber, &c. See Belsham's History, vol v. p. 9 ; also Wal- 
 pole's Memoirs of George III. vol. i. App. i. ii. 
 
238 LETTERS OP 
 
 will acquiesce and stay in as long as they can. 
 Great confusion in the army, too, ahont Lord 
 Fitzmanrice, # who is put over the head of Lord 
 
 * William Viscount Fitzmaurice, promoted to the rank of 
 Colonel Dec. 4, 1760. He became a Major-General July 10, 
 1762; Lieut-General May 25, 1772; General Feb. 19,1783; 
 and died senior of that rank in May, 1805. He never com- 
 manded a regiment. Created Marquess of Lansdowne Nov. 30, 
 1784. He attained the courtesy-title of Viscount Fitzmaurice 
 June 26, 1753, on his father being created Earl of Shelburne. 
 Walpole alludes to the discontent, and says, " Lord Fitzmaurice 
 made Aide-de-Camp to the King has disgusted the army," 
 Misc. Corr. iv. 116. — Lord Lennox was Lord George Henry 
 Lennox, second son of the 2d Duke of Eichmond, junior 
 Captain in 25th Regt. March 23, 1756; married in 1759 
 Louisa, fourth daughter of William Ker, fourth Marquis of 
 Lothian; promoted to the rank of Colonel in 1762; General, 
 Oct. 12, 1793. Died in March, 1805, being the Governor of 
 Plymouth. — Mr. Fitzroy was Charles, second son of Lord 
 Augustus Fitzroy, who was second son of the second Duke of 
 Grafton; created Lord Southampton in 1780 ; Lieut.-General 
 in the army, and Colonel of 3rd Regt. of Dragoons. Died 
 March 21, 1797. He was at this time Lieut.-Colonel of the 
 1st Foot Guards. — " Considering," says a friend, " that Mr. 
 Fitzroy entered the service in 1752, and became Lieut.- 
 Colonel in 1758, and that Lord G. Lennox was a Captain in 
 March, 1756, and Lieut.-Colonel (probably) in 1758, the 
 promotion of Viscount Fitzmaurice must indeed have been 
 rapid, when two officers of so short a standing in the army 
 felt themselves aggrieved thereby. Viscount Fitzmaurice 
 was born in 1736; Lord Southampton in 1737; Lord G. 
 H. Lennox in 1737; consequently Lord Fitzmaurice became 
 
THE POET GRAY. 239 
 
 Lennox, Mr. Fitzroy, and also of almost all the 
 American officers. 
 
 I have seen Mr. Southwell,* and approve him 
 much. He has many new tastes and know- 
 ledges, and is no more a coxcomb than when he 
 went from hence. I am glad to hear you bode 
 so well of Ponsonby and his tutor. Here is a 
 
 colonel when twenty-four years old; Lord Southampton at- 
 tained the same rank when twenty-five ; and Lord G. H. Lennox 
 when little more than twenty-three years old. The two last- 
 named became Major- Generals at thirty -five years of age, — a 
 rank now scarcely attainable under the age of sixty." Lord 
 Viscount Fitzmaurice was on the 10th May, 1761, made Aide- 
 de-Camp to his Majesty. See Gent Mag. May 1760. See also 
 Rockingham Papers, vol. i. p. 38. " Early in this reign Lord 
 Fitzmaurice, being at the time in high favour with Lord Bute, 
 was made Equerry to the King over the head of his superior 
 officer. Lord Lennox. The Duke of Richmond, irritated by 
 this slight to his relative, carried a memorial to his Majesty, 
 and commented on the appointment in a manner that was 
 neither < forgiven nor forgotten,' by a Prince equally remark- 
 able for his keen resentments and his retentive memory." Wal- 
 pole says, " Lord Fitzmaurice, a favourite of Lord Bute, was 
 made Equerry to the King, though inferior in military rank 
 to Lord George Lennox and Charles Fitzroy, brothers of the 
 Dukes of Richmond and Grafton. The Duke of Grafton made 
 a direct representation to the King on the wrong done to his 
 brother, and desired rank for him," &c. See Memoir of 
 George III. vol. i. p. 26, 27. 
 
 * Mr. Henry Southwell was A.B. 1752, of Magdalen Col- 
 lege; A.M. 1755; LL.D. 1763. 
 
240 LETTERS or 
 
 delightful new woman* in the burlettas ; the 
 rest is all Bartholomew and his fair. Elisif has 
 been ill ever since he came, and has not sung 
 yet. Adieu. 
 
 I am truly yours. 
 
 LETTER LXII. 
 THE REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 
 Dear Mr. Gray, Jan. 8, 1761. 
 
 I thank you much for your criticisms, but at 
 present shall not take notice of them. They 
 will stand me in good stead whenever I put the 
 Elegy in my first volume, and till then let them 
 pass. 
 
 I thank you also very much for your Georgi- 
 ana : if they be genuine, I thank you as an 
 Englishman, and prefer them before everything 
 
 * This was Signora Paganini, the wife of Paganini, a 
 coarse man; she appeared in 1760. See Burney's History of 
 Music, iv. 474, for a remarkable instance of her attraction. 
 
 ■j* A man of great reputation and abilities; performed at 
 the Opera in London 1760 and 1761; a great singer and 
 eminent actor. See Burney's History of Music, iv. 473-4 ; 
 Walpole's Letter to Mann, i. p. 8; Misc. Letters, vol. iv. 
 pp. 27, 326, 428. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 241 
 
 a 
 
 that ever ended in ana. But you are mistaken 
 in your preacher ; it was Dr. Thomas Wilson, * of 
 Westminster, who they say is a rogue; the 
 other is only a coxcomb, but a sort of coxcomb 
 that I hate almost as much as a rogue. If 
 the Nouvelle Heloise be Housseau's, pity me, 
 because I live at Aston, and have not seen 
 it, and be sure send me some account of it, and 
 that with speed. I find there is a new report 
 that Lord H.t is to go to Ireland. This has 
 induced poor Frederic Hervey J (glad of such an 
 opportunity of renewing our correspondence) 
 to write to me, and to tell me that his friends 
 have hopes of making him First Chaplain, but 
 that he begs first to know whether it will 
 interfere with me, and whether it might not 
 be made compatible with my interest. All 
 this was so jellied over with friendship, that 
 he thought, I fancy, I should scarce know the 
 dish he presented me with. The letter I shall 
 
 * Chaplain to the King. See Watt's Bibliotheca Britan- 
 nica and Nichols's Lit* Anecdotes, vol. viii. p. 457. 
 
 f The Earl of Halifax was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Oc- 
 tober, 1761. 
 
 J On " poor Frederic Hervey," see Collins's Peerage, iv. 
 160. Born 1730; chaplain to the King; in 1767 pro- 
 moted to the bishoprick of Cloyne; and in 1768 to that of 
 Derry. Subsequently well known abroad and at home. 
 
 ft 
 
242 LETTERS OF 
 
 tie up in a bundle with one of Archbishop 
 Hutton' s,* and some others which I keep as 
 curiosities in their way. I have, however, in 
 pity to his wife and family of small children, sent 
 him an answer not so tart as he deserved, and 
 given him full liberty of using all his interest 
 in this matter. However, keep this a secret, 
 because I promised to do it, and because, also, I 
 should not have broken my promise could I have 
 thought of anything better to write at present. 
 I am glad at heart to find this annihilation 
 of Toryism which you give me an account of. 
 Pobus, besides lying, had only one other minis- 
 terial art in his profession, which, too, was a 
 species of lying, and this he exerted in making 
 every man who was not a friend to the ministry 
 a Tory. Was he asked to explain this, he had 
 not skill enough in English history and the 
 
 * Matthew Hutton, Archbishop of York 1747, translated to 
 Canterbury 1757. Connected by family with Mason. At the 
 death of John Hutton, Esq. of Marshe, near Eichmond, an 
 estate in the East Riding came to Mason in reversion. See 
 Walpole's Misc. Corr. iii. 347; Mem. of George IL vol. i. 
 p. 148. He gave Mason the prebend of Holme, in the cathe- 
 dral of York, in 1756. See Harris's Life of Lord Hardwicke, 
 ii 345, on the difficulties in filling up the see of Canterbury: 
 " I have offered it to Sherlock and Gibson, who refused it, and 
 so did Herring ; but was prevailed on to take it when Hutton 
 went to York." There is an engraving of Archbishop Hutton. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 243 
 
 constitution of his country to do it, and there- 
 fore he explained himself by saying, a Tory was 
 a Jacobite, and a Jacobite a Tory. This you 
 may remember : one of his tools who could 
 not cleverly make you either Tory or Jacobite, 
 said you was worse — you was a Republican. 
 May God send this measm*e a happy ending, 
 and may the next generation be only distin- 
 guished by the style and title of friends to their 
 country. 
 
 You hare by this time heard Elisi. Pray 
 give me an account of him or it as soon as 
 possible, and send me also your receipt for 
 chevichi, in plain terms. Have you made up 
 your mind about Gothic architecture, and, con- 
 sequently, given over jowc genealogical studies,* 
 which, it seems, are so intimately connected 
 with that science. For my part, I am meta- 
 morphosing some good old homilies into new- 
 fashioned sermons, and consequently spoiling 
 every period of them. But what better can 
 
 * Many instances of Gray's laborious inquiries into ge- 
 nealogy appeared when his library was made public. None 
 more striking, than in a copy of Dugdale's Origines, folio, in 
 which Gray had gone through, page by page, the whole 
 volume, filling up in the margin the arms of all the families 
 mentioned, with full descriptions of them. This volume is 
 now in the British Museum. 
 
 R 2 
 
244 LETTERS OF 
 
 I do, living as I here do in almost absolute 
 solitude, and in that state of life which my 
 old friend Jeremy Taylor so well describes in 
 his sermon aptly entitled the Marriage Ring. 
 " Celibate life," says he, " like the nie in the 
 heart of an apple, dwells in a perpetual sweet- 
 ness, but sits alone, and is confined, and dies 
 in singularity. But marriage, like the useful 
 bee, builds a house, gathers sweetness from 
 every flower, labours, and unites into societys 
 and republics," &c. If I survive you, and 
 come to publish your works, I shall quote 
 this passage, from whence you so evidently 
 (without ever seeing it) took that thought, 
 " Poor moralist, and what art thou," &c. But 
 the plagiarism had been too glaring had you 
 taken the heart of the apple, in which, however, 
 the great beauty of the thought consists. After 
 all, why will you not read Jeremy Taylor ? 
 Take my word and more for it, he is the 
 Shakespeare of divines. Adieu, and believe me 
 to be ever most entirely yours. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 245 
 
 LETTER LXIIL 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON, 
 DEAR MASON, London, Jan. 22, 1761. 
 
 I am delighted with Frederic Hervey and let- 
 ter, and envy you his friendship, for the founda- 
 tion of it (I am persuaded) was pure friendship, 
 as far as his idea of the thing extended ; and if 
 one could see his little heart one should find no 
 vanity there for over-reaching you and artfully 
 gilding so dirty a pile, but only a degree of 
 self-applause for having done one of the 
 genteelest and handsomest things in the world. 
 I long to see the originals and (if you have any 
 gratitude) you will publish them in your first 
 volume. Alas ! there was a time when he was 
 my friend, and there was a time (he owned) 
 when he had been my greatest enemy; why 
 did I lose both one and the other of these 
 advantages, when at present I could be so 
 happy with either, I care not which ? Tell him 
 he may take his choice ; it is not from interest 
 I say this, though I know he will some time or 
 other be Earl of Bristol,* but purely because I 
 
 * See the last mention of him by Gray, in a letter to 
 Nicholls, 2nd May, 1771. " Sometimes, from vanity, he may 
 do a right thing," &c. 
 
246 LETTERS OF 
 
 have long been without a knave and fool of my 
 own. Here is a bishopric (St. David's) vacant, 
 can I anyhow serve him ? I hear Dr. Ays- 
 cough* and Dean Squiref are his competitors. 
 God knows who will go to Ireland ; it ought to 
 be somebody, for there is a prodigious to-do 
 there ; the cause I have been told, but, as I did 
 not understand or attend to it, no wonder if I 
 forgot it ; it is somewhat about a money-till, 
 perhaps you may know. The Lords Justices 
 absolutely refuse to comply with what the 
 Government here do insist upon, and even offer 
 to resign their posts ; in the mean time none of 
 the pensions on that establishment are paid. 
 Nevertheless two such pensions have been be- 
 stowed within this few weeks, one on your 
 friend Mrs. Anne Pitt (of 5001. a-year)4 which 
 
 * Francis Ayscough, chaplain and preceptor to the Prince 
 of Wales, rector of North Church, Herts, Dean of Bristol, 
 author of Sermons, &c. married the sister of Lord Lyttelton. 
 See account of him in Nichols's Anecdotes, vol. viii. 433, ix. 
 531, 808. 
 
 f In 1761 Samuel Squire, Dean of Bristol, was appointed 
 to the bishopric of St. David's. 
 
 J For account of Mrs. Anne Pitt, sister to the Earl of 
 Chatham, and Privy Purse to the Princess of Wales, and for 
 mention of the places she held, see Walpole's Miscell. Corres. 
 vol. iv. pp.382, 397,469,475; Letters to Mann, ii. pp. 226, 268, 
 275; iii. pp. 57, 80, 107, 150; the Grenville Papers, i p. 85; 
 
THE POET GRAY. 247 
 
 she asked, and Lord B.* got it done immediately; 
 she keeps her place with it : the other (of 4*001.) 
 to Lady Harry Beauclerk,f whose husband died 
 suddenly, and left her with six or seven 
 children very poorly provided for; the grant 
 was sent her without being asked at all by her- 
 self, or any friend. I have done with my news, 
 because I am told that there is an express just 
 set out for Yorkshire, whom you are to meet 
 on the road. I hope you will not fail to in- 
 form him who is to be his First Chaplain ; per- 
 haps you will think it a piece of treachery to 
 
 and Walpole's George III. vol. i. p. 85 ; where the passage is 
 worth consulting. " She had excellent parts, and strong 
 passions. It was Lord Bolingbroke that recommended her to 
 the Prince; afterwards she obtained the patronage of Lord 
 Bute, and got two large pensions. When she informed her 
 brother of it, he answered, that he was sorry to see the name 
 of Pitt among the i^ensions. When he accepted his, she copied 
 his own letter and sent it to him." Walpole said of Lord 
 Chatham and his sister, " that they resembled each other, 
 comme deux gouttes de feu" She used to say that her brother 
 never read any book except Spenser. See also Lord Mahon's 
 History of England, vol. v. p. 225, and Selwyn Correspondence, 
 i. p. 329. Lord Bolingbroke used to call Lord Chatham 
 Sublimity Pitt, and his sister Divinity Pitt. In 1762 she had a 
 third pension of 500/. a-year. She died 9th Feb. 1780. 
 
 * Earl of Bute. 
 
 t Lord Harry Beauclerk died July 8, 1761. See Collins's 
 Peerage, i. 248. 
 
248 LETTERS OF 
 
 do so, or perhaps you will leave the thing to 
 itself, in order to make an experiment. 
 
 I* cannot pity you ; cm contraire, I wish I 
 had been at Aston when I was foolish enough 
 to go through the six volumes of the Nouvelle 
 Heloise.f All that I can say for myself is, that 
 I was confined at home for three weeks by 
 a severe cold, and had nothing better to do. 
 There is no one event in it that might not hap- 
 pen any day of the week (separately taken), in 
 any private family : yet these events are so put 
 together that the series of them are more 
 absurd and more improbable than Amadis de 
 Gaul. The dramatis persona? (as the author 
 says) are all of them good characters ; I am 
 sorry to hear it, for had they been all hanged 
 at the end of the third volume nobody (I be- 
 lieve) would have cared. In short, I went on 
 
 * Here Mason commences this Letter, omitting the preceding 
 part. See Lett. en. p. 267, vol. iii. ed. Aid. 
 
 ■j" The original manuscript of the Nouvelle Heloise is in the 
 Library of the Chamber of Deputies : the writing as legible 
 as print, without one obliteration. The MS. was on beautiful 
 small paper, with vignettes, and afterwards folded like letters. 
 Rousseau used to read them in his walks. In Grimm's Cor- 
 respondence may be seen Voltaire's sham prophetic review of 
 the Heloise ; and in Marmontel's Essai sur les Romans, an excel- 
 lent notice of it, very powerfully written, which called forth 
 the praise of Madame de Genlis. See her Memoirs, iv. p. 266. 
 
THE POET GBAY. 249 
 
 and on in hopes of finding some wonderful de- 
 nouement that would set all right, and bring 
 something like nature and interest out of ab- 
 surdity and insipidity; no such thing, it 
 grows worse and worse, and (if it be Rousseau, 
 which is not doubted) is the strongest in- 
 stance I ever saw that a very extraordinary 
 man may entirely mistake his own talents.* 
 By the motto and preface it appears to be his 
 own story, or something similar to it. 
 
 The Opera House is crowded this year like 
 any ordinary theatre. Elisit is finer than any- 
 thing that has been here in your memory, yet, 
 as I suspect, has been finer than he is. He 
 appears to be near forty, a little pot-bellied and 
 thick- shouldered, otherwise no bad figure ; his 
 action proper, and not ungraceful. We have 
 heard nothing, since I remember operas, but 
 eternal passages, divisions, and flights of exe- 
 
 * On this disparaging character of Eousseau's great work, 
 see W. S. Landor, de Cultu Latini Sermonis, p. 197. " Rossceo 
 nee in sententiis ipse suavior est (qui parum profecto praeter 
 'suavitatem habet) Isocrates, nee in verbis uberior aut amplioris 
 in dicendo dignitatis Plato, nee Sophronisci films melior 
 sophista. Nemo animi affectus profundius introspexit, deli- 
 catius tetigit, solertius explicavit. Odium vero hominum quos 
 insinceros Grains aut pravos existimabat, aut religionis 
 Christianorum inimicos, transversum egit et prseceps judicium." 
 
 t See Gray's Works, vol. iii. p. 268. 
 
250 LETTERS OF 
 
 cution ; of these lie has absolutely none, 
 whether merely from judgment, or a little 
 from age, I will not affirm. His point is ex- 
 pression, and to that all the graces and orna- 
 ments he inserts (which are few and short), are 
 evidently directed. He goes higher (they say) 
 than Farinelli, but then this celestial note you 
 do not hear above once in a whole opera, 
 and he falls from this altitude at once to 
 the mellowest, softest, strongest tones (about 
 the middle of his compass) that can be heard. 
 The Mattel* (I assure you) is much improved 
 by his example, and by her great success this 
 winter. But then the Burlettas and the Paga- 
 nina.f I have not been so pleased with any- 
 thing these many years ; she too is fat and 
 about forty, yet handsome withal, and has a 
 face that speaks the language of all nations. 
 She has not the invention, the fire, and the 
 variety of action, that the Spiletta had;{ yet 
 she is light, agile, ever in motion, and above 
 all graceful ; but then her voice, her ear, her 
 taste in singing: Good God! — as Mr. Rich- 
 
 * Colomba Mattei, a charming singer and intelligent actress, 
 and a very great favourite. 
 
 ■f See note to Letter lxi. 
 
 J The part of Spiletta in Gli Amante Gelosi : a burletta by 
 Cocchi. See Burney, iv. 465. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 251 
 
 ardson the painter says.* Pray ask my Lord, 
 for I think I have seen him there once or 
 twice, as much pleased as I was. 
 
 I have long thought of reading Jeremy 
 Taylor, for I am persuaded that chopping 
 logic in the pulpit, as our divines have 
 done ever since the Revolution, is not the 
 thing ; but that imagination and warmth of 
 expression are in their place there as much as 
 on the stage, moderated however, and chastised 
 a little by the purity and severity of religion, t 
 
 * This learned and ingenious painter and critic on art, is 
 now better known by his writings than pencil. He generally 
 painted and wrote in conjunction with his son, his inseparable 
 companion and friend. The best account of him is in Wal- 
 pole's Anecdotes of Painting and Noble's Continuation of 
 Granger, iii. p. 382. He had a fine collection of the drawings 
 of the old masters, which sold at his death for above 2,000Z. 
 At Strawberry Hill I saw a most interesting pencil drawing 
 by him, in four compartments, containing portraits of Lord 
 Bolingbroke, of Pope, of Pope's mother, and of Pope's father 
 on his death-bed. His works are collected in 2 vols. 8vo. 
 See Index to Monthly Eeview, vol. ii. p. 450, on Eichard- 
 son's Works. His work on the Pictures, &c. in Italy, was 
 translated into French in 1722. Dr. Johnson's commendation 
 on the "Treatise on Painting" is mentioned by Mr. North- 
 cote, in his Memoir of Eeynolds. As a critic he has received 
 the praise of Fuseli. 
 
 f Gray liked Sterne's Sermons. " He thought there was 
 good writing and good sense in them. His principal merit 
 
252 LETTERS or 
 
 I send you my receipt for caviche* (Heaven 
 knows against my conscience). Pray, doctor, 
 will the weakness of one's appetite justify the 
 use of provocatives ? In a few years (I sup- 
 pose) you will desire my receipt for tincture 
 of cantharides ? I do this the more unwil- 
 lingly, because I am sensible that any man is 
 rich enough to be an epicure when he has no- 
 body to entertain but himself. Adieu, 
 I am, a jamais, yours. 
 
 consisted in his pathetic powers, in which he never failed." 
 See Works, v. 39. 
 
 * Gray's copy of Verral's Book of Cookery, 8vo. 1759, is 
 in my possession, and is enriched by numerous notes in his 
 writing, with his usual minute diligence, and remarks on culi- 
 nary subjects, arranging the subjects of gastronomy in scientific 
 order. 1st. List of furniture necessary for a kitchen, which he 
 classes under twelve heads. 2ndly. List of such receipts as 
 are primarily necessary in forming essential ingredients for 
 others, all accurately indexed to their respective pages. 3rdly. 
 Five pages of receipts for various dishes, with the names of the 
 inventors. The one referred to in this letter is as follows : 
 " Caviche. (From Lord D e .) Take three cloves, four scruples 
 of coriander-seeds bruised, ginger powdered, and saffron, of 
 each half a scruple, three cloves of garlic ; infuse them in a 
 pint of good white wine vinegar, and place the bottle in a 
 gentle heat, or in water, to warm gradually. It is to be used 
 as catchup, &c. in small quantity, as a sauce for cold meats, 
 &c. &c." Probably Gray thought with Donatus on Terentii 
 Andria — " Coquina, Medicince jamulatrix est,' 1 v. i. 1, 3; and 
 that " Melior Medicince pars appellator Siair^riK??." 
 
THE POET GBAY. 253 
 
 LETTER LXIV. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, p em b. Coll. Feb. 5, 1761. 
 
 When the belly is full, the bones are at rest. 
 Yon squat yourself down in the midst of your 
 revenues, leave me to suppose that somebody 
 has broke in upon the Dean before you, that 
 Mr. Beedon has seized upon the precentor ship, 
 that you are laid up with a complication of 
 distempers at York, that you are dead of an 
 apoplexy at Aston, and all the disagreeable 
 probabilities that use to befall us, when we 
 think ourselves at the height of our wishes ; 
 and then away you are gone to town while I 
 am daily expecting you here, and the first I 
 know of it is from the Gazette. Why, if you 
 were Bishop of Lincoln* you could not serve 
 one worse. 
 
 * Dr. John Greene, Master of Ben'et College, first appointed 
 Bishop of Lincoln in 1761, which he held till his death in 
 1779. See note Letter lvi. " A third, that looks mighty 
 modest, and has two little horns sprouting, but no mitre yet, 
 we take for Dean G." He wrote two pamphlets, " The 
 Principles and Practice of the Methodists considered." Mr. 
 Tyson has given a list of his writings, among which are a few 
 sermons and some " Dialogues of the Dead,' 1 printed in Mr 
 Weston's volume. The familiar name given him at the 
 
254 LETTERS OF 
 
 I wrote to you the same day I received your 
 letter, the 11th Jan. and then to Dr. Wharton, 
 who sends you his congratulations to be de- 
 livered in your way to London; here, take 
 them, you miserable precentor. I wish all 
 your choir may mutiny, and sing you to death. 
 Adieu, I am, ever yours, T. G. 
 
 Commend me kindly to Montagu. 
 
 LETTER LXV. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 DEAR SlR, London, Feb. 9, 1761. 
 
 If I have not sooner made answer to your kind 
 inquiries, it has been owing to the uncertainty 
 I was under as to my own motions. Now at 
 last, I perceive, I must stay here till March 
 and part of April are over, so I have accommo- 
 dated myself to it ; and perhaps it may be 
 better to come when your codlin hedge is in 
 bloom, than at this dull season. My cold, 
 which Mr. Bickham told you of, kept me at 
 home above three weeks, being at first accom- 
 
 University was "Gamwell;" which appellation he also bears 
 in some of the letters of the time. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 255 
 
 panied with a slight fever, but at present I am 
 marvellous. Not a word of the gout yet ; but 
 do not say a word, if you do it will come. A 
 fortnight ago I had two sheets from Mr. Pitt, 
 dated Genoa, Dec. 23 ; he had been thirty days 
 in going from Barcelona thither, a passage often 
 made in four. He spends the winter with Sir 
 Richard Lyttelton,* and hopes to pass the end 
 of the carnival at Milan with Lord Strathmore, 
 who has been ill at Turin, but is now quite 
 recovered. He does not speak with transport of 
 Andalusia (I mean of the country, for he describes 
 
 * Richard Lyttelton, K.B. He married the Lady Rachel 
 Russell, sister of John Duke of Bedford, and widow of Scrope 
 Egerton Duke of Bridgewater. He was first page of honour 
 to Queen Caroline ; then successively Captain of Marines, 
 Aide-de-Camp to the Earl of Stair at the battle of Dettingen, 
 and Deputy Quartermaster-General in South Britain, with the 
 rank of Lieut.-Colonel and Lieut. -General, &c. He was fifth 
 son of Sir Thomas, fourth baronet, and younger brother of 
 George first Lord Lyttelton. See some letters by him in 
 Chatham Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 173, &c. He was Go- 
 vernor of Minorca in 1764, and subsequently Governor of 
 Guernsey. See Walpole's Misc. Letters, iv. pp. 363, 424. He 
 died in 1770. His house in the Harley Street corner of 
 Cavendish Square was bought by the Princess Emily, and was 
 afterwards Mr. Hope's, and then Mr. Watson Taylor's. See 
 Grenville Papers, i. pp. 49, 249 ; and ii. pp. 442, 449. When 
 at Minorca he was involved in some dispute with Samuel 
 Johnson, who held a situation under him. See reference to 
 it in Walpole'e Letters to Lord Hertford, Feb. 6, 1764. 
 
256 LETTERS or 
 
 only that in general, and refers for particulars to 
 our meeting) : it wants verdure and wood, and 
 hands to cultivate it ; but Valencia and Murcia 
 (he says) are one continued garden — a shady 
 scene of cultivated lands, interspersed with cot- 
 tages of reed, and watered by a thousand arti- 
 ficial rills. A like spirit of industry appears in 
 Catalonia. He has written to Pa. also ; I sup- 
 pose to the same purpose. 
 
 The only remarkable thing I have to tell you 
 is old "Wortley' s will,* and that, perhaps, you 
 know already ; he died worth 600, 000 1. This is 
 the least I have heard, and perhaps the truest ; 
 but Lord J. and Mr. Montagu tell me to-day 
 it is above a million, and that he had near 
 800, 000 1, in mortgages only. He gives to his 
 son (who is 50,000Z. in debt) 1,000Z. a-year for 
 life only. To his wife Lady Mary, if she does 
 not claim her dower, 1,200/. a-year, otherwise 
 this to go to his son for life, and after him to 
 Lady Bute his daughter. To all Lady Bute's 
 children, which are eleven, 2,000/. a-piece. To 
 Lady Bute, for her life, all the remainder (no 
 notice of my Lord) ; and after her, to her se- 
 cond son, who takes the name of Wortley ; and 
 
 * See Horace Walpole's Letter to Mann, i. p. 16; and 
 Memoirs of George ILL vol. i. p. 76, for account of " old 
 Wortley and his wealth ;" and see Letter to Dr. Wharton by 
 Gray. See Works, vol. in. p. 272. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 257 
 
 so to all the sons, and, I believe, daughters too 
 in their order ; and if they all die without issue, 
 to Lord Sandwich, to whom at present he gives 
 some old manuscripts about the Montagu 
 family. 
 
 And now I must tell you a little story about 
 
 ,* which I heard lately. Upon her 
 
 travels (to save charges), she got a passage in 
 the Mediterranean, on board a man-of-war ; I 
 think it was Commodore Barnet. When he 
 had landed her safe, she told him she knew 
 she was not to offer him money, but entreated 
 him to accept of a ring in memory of her, 
 which (as she pressed him) he accepted. It was 
 
 * Lady Mary Wortley Montague. See another version of 
 this story in Gray's Letter to Dr. Wharton, Letter cm. vol, iii. 
 p. 274. There is a story told by Mr. J. Pitt (Lord Camelford), 
 which makes so good a pendant to the present one, that I may 
 be excused for giving it. "I will find you a keepsake like 
 that the Duchess of Kingston drew from the bottom of her 
 capote for the Consul at Genoa, who had lodged her and 
 clothed her I believe, and caressed her for anything I know. 
 1 How do you like this diamond ring ?' i Very fine, my lady !' 
 1 This ruby ?' < Beautiful!' < This snuff-box ?' < Superb!' &c. &c. 
 &c. ' Well, Mr. Consul, you see these spectacles (and here she 
 sighed) ; these spectacles were worn twenty years by my dear 
 Duke (here she opened the etui, and dropped a tear); take 
 them, Mr. Consul, 'wear them for his sake and mine; I could 
 not give you a stronger proof of my regard for you." Letter 
 of Lord Camelford, Paris, 1789. 
 
 S 
 
258 LETTERS OF 
 
 a very large emerald. Some time after, a friend 
 of his, taking notice of its beauty, he told him 
 how he came by it. The man smiled, and de- 
 sired him to shew it to a jeweller. He did so ; 
 it was unset before him, and proved a paste 
 worth 40 shillings. 
 
 And now I am telling stories, I will tell you 
 another, nothing at all to the purpose, nor re- 
 lating to anybody I have been talking of. 
 
 In the year 1688, my Lord Peterborough * 
 had a great mind to be well with Lady Sand- 
 wich, Mrs. Bonfoy's old friend. There was a 
 woman, who kept a great coffee-house in Pall 
 Mall, and she had a miraculous canary-bird, that 
 piped twenty tunes. Lady Sandwich was fond 
 of such things, had heard of and seen the bird. 
 
 * In a Life of Lord Peterborough lately published, I observe 
 with regret a mutilated and inaccurate version of this charm- 
 ing story so well told by Gray. This must have been taken 
 by the writer from some publication of Mr. Edward Jesse, to 
 whom I casually mentioned it in conversation, and who most 
 unexpectedly inserted his imperfect recollection of it in his 
 work, unmindful of the words used on a similar occasion by 
 an old writer. " II arriva a ses ecrits ce que Cujas a toujours 
 apprehende qu'il n'arrivent aux siens, que les choses qu'il 
 dictait, et que ses amis prenoient sans beaucoup y prendre garde, 
 et qu'il ne faisait pas pour etre imprimees, furent faites public 
 sans choix et peu correctment." Vide Teissier, Eloges des 
 Hommes Scavans. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 259 
 
 Lord Peterborough came to the woman and of- 
 fered her a large sum of money for it ; but she 
 was rich, and proud of it, and would not part 
 with it for love or money. However, he 
 watched the bird narrowly, observed all its 
 marks and features, went and bought just such 
 another, sauntered into the coffee-room, took his 
 opportunity when no one was by, slipped the 
 wrong bird into the cage, and the right into 
 his pocket, and went off undiscovered to make 
 my Lady Sandwich happy. This was just 
 about the time of the Revolution, and, a good 
 while after, going into the same coffee-house 
 again, he saw his bird there, and said, " Well, I 
 reckon you would give your ears now that you 
 had taken my money." " Money ! " says the 
 woman, " no, nor ten times that money now ; 
 dear little creature ; for, if your Lordship will 
 believe me (as I am a Christian it is true), it has 
 moped and moped, and never once opened its 
 pretty lips since the day that the poor king 
 went away ! " 
 
 Adieu. Old Pa. (spite of his misfortunes) 
 talks of coming to town this spring. Could not 
 you come too ? My service to Mr. Lyon. 
 
 s2 
 
260 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER LXVL 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 
 Dear Sir, May 26, 1761. 
 
 I thank you for your kind inquiries and im- 
 patience about me. Had I not been so often 
 disappointed before, when I thought myself 
 sure, I should have informed you before this 
 time of my motions. I thought I was just 
 setting out for Cambridge, when the man on 
 whom I have a mortgage gave me notice 
 that he was ready to pay in his money ; so 
 that now I must necessarily stay to receive it, 
 and it will be (to be sure) the middle of June 
 before I can see Cambridge, where I have long 
 wished to be. Montagu had thoughts of going 
 thither with me, but I know not what his 
 present intentions may be. He is in real af- 
 fliction for the loss of Sir W. Williams, who 
 has left him one of his executors, and (as I 
 doubt his affairs were a good deal embarrassed) 
 he possibly may be detained in town on that 
 account. Mason too talked of staying part of 
 the summer with me at Pembroke, but this 
 may perhaps be only talk. My Lord* goes 
 
 * Lord Holdernesse. See Walpole's George II. i. pp. 198, 
 239, 289; George III. i. p. 42-48. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 261 
 
 into Yorkshire this summer, so I suppose the 
 parson must go with him. You will not see 
 any advertisement till next winter at soonest. 
 Southwell is going to Ireland for two months, 
 much against his will. I have not seen my 
 new Lady E.* but her husband I have ; so (I'm 
 afraid) I soon must have that honour. God 
 send 1 may lie in just about the com- 
 mencement, or I go out of my wits, that is all. 
 The news of the surrender of Belleisle J is daily 
 expected. They have not, nor (they say) pos- 
 
 * By Lady E I have no doubt that Gray meant the 
 
 wife of his friend Sir Henry Erskine, who married this year. 
 See Gent. Mag. 1761, p. 246—" Married Sir H. Erskine, 
 Colonel of the 25th Regt. to Miss Jenny Wadderborn." In 
 Gent. Mag. Feb. 1762, " the lady of Sir Henry Erskine, of a 
 son and heir." Sir H. Erskine died in 1765, being then Major- 
 General, M.P. for Anstruther, Secretary of the Order of the 
 Thistle, and Colonel of the 1st Regt. of Foot. 
 
 "f This, however singularly expressed, no doubt refers to 
 the Duke of Newcastle, whose presence at the Cambridge Com- 
 memoration Gray appears much to have disliked. See Letter 
 xxxv. " The old fizzling Duke is coming again, but I hope 
 to be gone first;" and lii. " I am going to Cambridge, if that 
 owl Fobus does not hinder me, who talks of going to fizzle 
 there at the Commemoration." 
 
 J This place surrendered June 13, 1761. See Grenville 
 Papers, i. 364 ; Walpole's History of George III. i. pp. 57, 135 ; 
 vol. ii. pp. 13, 223 ; Belsham's History, vol. v. p. 29 ; Adolphus, 
 i. p. 32. 
 
262 LETTERS OF 
 
 sibly can, throw in either men or provisions ; so 
 it is looked upon as ours. I know it will be so 
 next week, because I am then to buy into the 
 Stocks. God bless you. I am ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 LETTER LXVII. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 
 Dear Sir, 1761. 
 
 I hope to send you the first intelligence of 
 the Church preferments, though such is your 
 eagerness there for this sort of news, that per- 
 haps mine may be stale before it can reach you. 
 Drummond* is Archbishop of York, Hayter 
 Bishop of London, Young of Norwich, New- 
 ton of Bristol, with the residentiaryship of St. 
 Paul's ; Thomas goes to Salisbury ; Greene, of 
 
 * On these promotions of the Bishops, see Walpole's Memoirs 
 of George III. vol. i. p. 73, and the Editor's note on Dr. 
 Hayter, who was advanced on Lord Talbot's interest. Dr. 
 Yonge obtained the mitre of Norwich through the Duke of 
 Newcastle. Dr. James Yorke was translated in 1774 from the 
 deanery of Lincoln to the bishoprick of St. David's, and in 
 1779 to Ely. It was this advancement of Hayter to London 
 that so much annoyed and disappointed Warburton. See 
 Gray's Works, vol. iv. p. 49, ed. Aid. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 263 
 
 Ben'et, to Lincoln; James Yorke succeeds to 
 his deanery. 
 
 As. to the Queen,* why you have all seen her. 
 What need I tell you that she is thin, and not 
 tall, fine, clear, light brown hair (not very 
 
 light neither), very white teeth, mouth , 
 
 nose straight and well-formed, turned up a 
 little at the end, and nostril rather wide ; com- 
 plexion little inclining to yellow, but little 
 colour ; dark and not large eyes, hand and arm 
 not perfect, very genteel motions, great spirits, 
 and much conversation. She speaks French 
 very currently. This is all I know, but do not 
 cite me for it. 
 
 Mason is come, but I have not seen him ; he 
 walks at the Coronation. I shall see the show, 
 but whether in the Hall, or only the Proces- 
 sion, I do not know yet. It is believed places 
 will be cheap. Adieu. 
 
 * See description of the Queen's person in Walpole's Let- 
 ters, Sept. 9, vol. iv. p. 169; Memoirs of George III. vol. i. 
 p. 71. 
 
264 LETTERS OE 
 
 LETTER LXVIII. 
 THE REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 
 Dear Mr. Gray, Aston, July 20th, 1761. 
 
 The old man was really dying when I wrote 
 to you from Stilton ; hut, in spite of all his old 
 complaints, in spite of an added fever and 
 fistula, he still holds out, has had strength to 
 undergo two operations, and is in hopes of a 
 perfect recovery. However, if he ever does die, 
 I am now sure of succeeding him, and I find 
 the ohject of much more importance than I at 
 first thought, for, one year with another, by 
 fines, &c, the preferment is good 230?. per 
 annum. 
 
 The Coronation, &c. prevents Lady Holder- 
 nesse from coming into the North ; but I am 
 to meet his lordship at Doncaster the day after 
 to-morrow, and proceed with him to Aske and 
 Hornby.* He will stay in the country only 
 three weeks, and I shall follow him to town 
 
 * Hornby Castle, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, 
 situated north-west of Ripon. It was an ancient seat of the 
 Conyers family; from whom it descended to the Darcies, and 
 from them to the Osbornes. The late Duke of Leeds lived 
 more at Hornby than at any other seat of his. It must not 
 be confounded with another Hornby Castle, at no great distance 
 from it, in Lancashire. 
 
THE POET GRAY. . 265 
 
 three weeks after, as my waiting falls in the 
 Coronation month, I wish you would write me 
 an epithalamic sermon. It could not fail but 
 get me a mitre, next in goodness to Squire's. 
 
 This letter is merely to tell you my motions, 
 and so beg you will write to me, under his lord- 
 ship's coyer, to Aske,* near Richmond. I was 
 at Chatsworth last week, and had the pleasure 
 to find Lord John t perfectly recovered. My 
 love to Mr. Brown. 
 
 Believe me, dear Mr. Gray, 
 
 Most cordially yours, 
 
 W. Mason. 
 
 * Aske, in Richmondshire, now the seat of the Earl of 
 Zetland : it is a hamlet in the parish of Easby. It was the 
 seat of Sir Conyers Darcy, K.B., who died there in Dec. 1758. 
 Sir Conyers was Lord-Lieutenant of the North Riding, and 
 in Parliament for Eichmond and for Yorkshire ; beside hold- 
 ing offices about the Court. He was guardian to the last Earl 
 of Holdernesse during his long minority, when he resided 
 much at Aske, and was in the house at Aston when the great 
 fire occurred in a night devoted to Christmas festivities. Sir 
 Conyers had no children, and Aske would pass to the Earl 
 his nephew, and was probably sold by the Darcies or Osbornes 
 to the Dundas family. 
 
 •f Lord John Cavendish: see Lord Mahon's Hist. iii. 287, 
 and v. 90. 
 
266 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER LXIX. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON.* 
 
 Dear Mason, August, 1761. 
 
 Be assured your York canon never will die,f 
 so the better the thing is in value the worse 
 for you. The true way to immortality is tp 
 get you nominated one's successor. Age and 
 diseases vanish at your name, fevers turn to 
 radical heat, and fistulas to issues. It is a 
 judgment that waits on your insatiable avarice. 
 You could not let the poor old man die at his 
 ease when he was about it ; and all his family, 
 I suppose, are cursing you for it. 
 
 I should think your motions, if you are not 
 perverse, might be so contrived as to bring you 
 hither for a week or two in your way to the 
 Coronation, and then we may go together to 
 town, where I must be early in September. 
 Do, and then I will help you to write a # # * 
 sermon on this happy occasion. Our friend 
 Jeremy Bickham J is going off to a living (better 
 
 * Compare with this Letter the one printed by Mason, 
 No. cvn., vol. iii. p. 286, ed. Aid. 
 
 f Mason MS. 
 
 J Jeremy Bickham, Fellow of Emanuel College, B.A. 1740, 
 M.A. 1744, B.D. 1751; mentioned in a previous note. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 267 
 
 than 400Z. a-year) somewhere in the neighbour- 
 hood of Mr. Hurd ; and his old flame, that he 
 has nursed so many years, goes with him. I 
 tell you this to make you pine. 
 
 I wrote to Lord John on his recovery, and 
 he answers me very cheerfully, as if his illness 
 had been but slight, and the pleurisy were no 
 more than a hole in one's stocking. He got it, 
 he says, not by scampering, and racketing, and 
 heating his blood, as I had supposed, but by 
 going with ladies to Vauxhall. He is the pic- 
 ture (and pray so tell him if you see him) of 
 an old alderman that I knew, who, after living 
 forty years on the fat of the land (not milk and 
 honey, but arrack-punch and venison), and 
 losing his great toe with a mortification, said 
 to the last that he owed it to two grapes which 
 he eat one day after dinner. He felt them lie 
 cold at his stomach the minute they were 
 down. 
 
 Mr. Montagu (as I guess at your instigation) 
 has earnestly desired me to write some lines to 
 be put on a monument, which he means to 
 erect at Belleisle.* It is a task I do not love, 
 knowing Sir W. Williams so slightly as I did ; 
 
 * See Grenville Papers, i. 364; Walpole's George HE. pp. 
 57, 135 ; vol. ii. pp. 13, 223 ; Belsham's Hist. v. p. 29 (7 June, 
 1761); Adolphus's Hist. i. p. 32. 
 
268 LETTERS OE 
 
 but he is so friendly a person, and his affliction 
 seemed to me so real, that I could not refuse 
 him. I have sent him the following verses, 
 which I neither like myself, nor will he, I 
 doubt : however, I have showed him that I 
 wished to oblige him. Tell me your real 
 opinion : — 
 
 Here foremost in the dang'rous paths of fame, 
 
 Young Williams fought for England's fair renown ; 
 His mind each muse, each grace adorn'd his frame, 
 
 Nor envy dared to view him with a frown. 
 At Aix uncall'd his maiden sword he drew, 
 
 There first in blood his infant glory seal'd ; 
 From fortune, pleasure, science, love, he flew, 
 
 And scorn'd repose when Britain took the field. 
 With eyes of flame and cool intrepid breast, 
 
 Victor he stood on Belleisle's rocky steeps ; 
 Ah gallant youth ! this marble tells the rest, 
 
 WTiere melancholy friendship bends and weeps.* 
 
 Three words below to say who set up the 
 monument. 
 
 * For this epitaph, see Gray's Works, ed. Aid. vol. i. p. 93, 
 with a few variations: as ver. 5, "At Aix his voluntary sivord 
 he drew;" ver. 6, "infant honour ;" ver. 9, "cool undaunted 
 breast." See Walpole's Misc Letters, vol. iv. p. 140; Mem. 
 of George III. vol. i. p. 57. " There fell Sir W. Williams, a 
 gallant and ambitious young man, who had devoted himself 
 to war and politics." Also George II. vol. iii. p 231-233; 
 Selwyn Correspondence, vol. i. p. 305. Walpole writes to 
 G. Mostyn, " You know Sir W. Williams has made Fred. 
 Montagu heir to his debts." p. 144. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 269 
 
 LETTEE LXX. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 DEAR SIR, London, Sept. 24, 1761. 
 
 I set out at half an hour past four in the 
 morning for the Coronation,* and (in the midst 
 of perils and dangers) arrived very safe at my 
 Lord Chamberlain's box in Westminster Hall. 
 It was on the left hand of the throne, over that 
 appropriated to the foreign ministers. Oppo- 
 site to us was the box of the Earl Marshal and 
 other great officers ; and below it that of the 
 princess and younger part of the royal family. 
 
 * Compare Walpole's account of the Coronation in his 
 Letters to Horace Mann, vol. i. pp. 41-44, and Misc. Letters, 
 iv. 171; Adolphus's History, vol. i. p. 35; also Walpole's 
 George III. vol. i. p. 73 ; Letters to Conway, xliv. xlv. The 
 following description of the Queen was written by a lady of 
 high rank in Germany to one in England, 27 July, 1761, and 
 is among the MSS. of the British Museum: — " Voulez vous 
 le portrait de votre future reine tel qu'il ma ete faite par une 
 amie actuellement a Strelitz avec elle ? Cette princesse est 
 de menue taille, plutot grande que petite. La taille fine, la 
 demarche aisee, la gorge jolie, les mains aussi, le visage rond, 
 les yeux bleux et douce, la louche grande mais bien bordee, 
 d'un fort bel incarnat, et les plus belles dents du monde, que 
 l'ouvrit toutes des qu'elle parle ou rit, extremement blanche, 
 dansant tres bien, l'air extremement gracieux et accueillant, 
 un grand air de jeunesse, et, sans natterie, elle peut passer 
 pour une tres jolie personne. Son caractere est excellent, 
 doux, bon, compatissant, sans la moindre fierte." 
 
270 LETTERS OF 
 
 Next them was the royal sideboard. Then be- 
 low the steps of the hcrnt pas were the tables 
 of the nobility, on each side quite to the 
 door; behind them boxes for the sideboards; 
 over these other galleries for the peers' tickets ; 
 and still higher the boxes of the Auditor, the 
 Board of Green Cloth, &c. All these thronged 
 with people head above head, all dressed ; and 
 the women with their jewels on. In front of 
 the throne was a triomphe of foliage and flowers 
 resembling nature, placed on the royal table, 
 and rising as high as the canopy itself. The 
 several bodies that were to form the procession 
 issued from behind the throne gradually and in 
 order, and, proceeding down the steps, were 
 ranged on either side of hall. All the privy 
 councillors that are commoners (I think) were 
 there, except Mr. Pitt, mightily dressed in rich 
 stuffs of gold and colours, with long flowing 
 wigs, some of them comical figures enough. 
 The Knights of the Bath, with their high 
 plumage, were very ornamental. Of the Scotch 
 peers or peeresses that you see in the list very 
 few walked, and of the English dowagers as 
 few, though many of them were in town, and 
 among the spectators. The noblest and most 
 graceful figures among the ladies were the 
 Marchioness of Kildare (as Viscountess Lein- 
 
THE POET GRAY. 271 
 
 ster), Viscountess Spencer, Countesses of Har- 
 rington, Pembroke, and Strafford, and the 
 Duchess of Richmond. Of the older sort (for 
 there is a grace that belongs to age too), the 
 Countess of Westmoreland, Countess of Albe- 
 marle, and Duchess of Queensberry. I should 
 mention too the odd and extraordinary appear- 
 ances. They were the Viscountess Say and 
 Sele, Countesses of Portsmouth and another 
 that I do not name, because she is said to be 
 an extraordinary good woman, Countess of 
 Harcourt, and Duchess of St. Alban's. Of the 
 men doubtless the noblest and most striking 
 figure was the Earl of Errol, and after him the 
 Dukes of Ancaster, Richmond, Marlborough, 
 Kingston, Earl of Northampton, Pomfret, Vis- 
 count Weymouth, &c. The men were — the Earl 
 Talbot (most in sight of anybody), Earls of 
 Delaware and Macclesfield, Lords Montford 
 and Melcombe; all these I beheld at great 
 leisure. Then the princess and royal family 
 entered their box. The Queen and then the 
 King took their places in their chairs of state, 
 glittering with jewels, for the hire of which, 
 beside all his own, he paid 9,000£. ; and the 
 dean and chapter (who had been waiting with- 
 out doors a full hour and half) brought up the 
 regalia, which the Duke of Ancaster received 
 
272 LETTERS OF 
 
 and placed on the table. Here ensued great con- 
 fusion in the delivering them out to the lords 
 who were appointed to bear them ; the heralds 
 were stupid ; the great officers knew nothing of 
 what they were doing. The Bishop of Rochester* 
 
 * Zachary Pearce, translated from Bangor. He resigned the 
 deanery of Westminster in 1788, and wanted to resign his 
 bishopric, but was not permitted by law. He was a very good 
 scholar, as his editions of Cicero and Longinus show ; a learned 
 divine, and an excellent man, of a modest and unambitious 
 temper. In 1739 he was appointed to the deanery of West- 
 minster by Sir Eobert Walpole, at the request of Lord 
 Hardwicke. In 1747 he accepted the offer of the bishopric 
 of Bangor with reluctance, though he promised "to do it 
 with a good grace." In 1768 he consulted Lord Mansfield 
 and Lord Northampton on the legality of resigning his 
 dignities. On the objections raised to his relinquishing the 
 see of Eochester, see Lord Dover's note in Walpole's Misc. 
 Corresp. iv 49, who says, " The bishopric, as a peerage, is 
 inalienable ;" but Walpole, in another letter, says, " The Bishops 
 are eager against Dr. Pearce's divorce from his see, not as 
 illegal, but improper, and of bad example, have determined the 
 King, who left it to them, not to consent to it." p. 403. Lord 
 Bath offered his interest to get him translated to London, 
 which he declined. See Life of Lord Hardwicke, iii. p. 351. 
 See Warburton's Works, vol. xi. p. 355 ; and Welsby's Lives 
 of Eminent Judges p. 237, for Dr. Pearce's rise; and his dedi- 
 cation of Cicero de Oratore to Lord Macclesfield. Dr. Johnson 
 wrote the celebrated dedication to Pearce's learned Commen- 
 tary on the Gospels, published in 1777, in 2 vols. 4 to. by his 
 chaplain and executor, Rev. J. Derby. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 273 
 
 would have dropped the crown if it had not 
 been pinned to the cushion, and the king was 
 often obliged to call out, and set matters right; 
 but the sword of state had been entirely forgot, 
 so Lord Huntingdon was forced to carry the 
 lord mayor's great two-handed sword instead 
 of it. This made it later than ordinary before 
 they got under their canopies and set forward. 
 I should have told you that the old Bishop of 
 Lincoln, # with his stick, went doddling by the 
 side of the Queen, and the Bishop of Chester 
 had the pleasure of bearing the gold paten. 
 "When they were gone, we went down to dinner, 
 for there were three rooms below, where the 
 Duke of Devonshire was so good as to feed us 
 with great cold sirloins of beef, legs of mutton, 
 fillets of veal, and other substantial viands 
 and liquors, which we devoured all higgledy- 
 piggledy, like porters ; after which every one 
 scrambled up again, and seated themselves. 
 The tables were now spread, the cold viands 
 eat, and on the king's table and sideboard a 
 great show of gold plate, and a dessert repre- 
 senting Parnassus, with abundance of figures 
 of Muses, Arts, &c, designed by Lord Talbot. 
 This was so high that those at the end of the 
 
 * Dr. John Thomas, who was this year translated to Salis- 
 bury, and died 1776 ; succeeded at Lincoln by John Greene. 
 
 T 
 
274 LETTERS OF 
 
 hall could see neither king nor queen at supper. 
 When they returned it was so dark that the 
 people without doors scarce saw anything of 
 the procession, and as the hall had then no 
 other light than two long ranges of candles at 
 each of the peers' tables, we saw almost as little 
 as they, only one perceived the lords and ladies 
 sidling in and taking their places to dine ; but 
 the instant the queen's canopy entered, fire was 
 given to all the lustres at once by trains of 
 prepared flax, that reached from one to the 
 other. To me it seemed an interval of not half 
 a minute before the whole was in a blaze of 
 splendour. It is true that for that half minute 
 it rained fire upon the heads of all the spec- 
 tators (the flax falling in large flakes) ; and the 
 ladies, Queen and all, were in no small terror, 
 but no mischief ensued. It was out as soon as 
 it fell, and the most magnificent spectacle I 
 ever beheld remained. The King (bowing to 
 the lords as he passed) with his crown on his 
 head, and the sceptre and orb in his hands, 
 took his place with great majesty and grace. 
 So did the Queen, with her crown, sceptre, and 
 rod. Then supper was served in gold plate. 
 The Earl Talbot, Duke of Bedford, and Earl of 
 Effingham,* in their robes, all three on horse- 
 
 * Thomas Harcourt, succeeded 1743; born 1719, died 
 
THE POET GRAY. 275 
 
 back, prancing and curveting* like the hobby- 
 horses in the Rehearsal, ushered in the courses 
 to the foot of the haut-pas. Between the 
 courses the Champion performed his part with 
 applause. The Earl of Denbighf carved for the 
 King, the Earl of Holdernesse for the Queen. 
 They both eat like farmers. At the board's end, 
 on the right, supped the Dukes of York and 
 Cumberland ; on the left Lady Augusta ; all of 
 them very rich in jewels. The maple cups, the 
 
 1763; lie was Deputy Earl Marshal and Lieutenant-General. 
 " A man of considerable talent, but much eccentricity of 
 deportment." See account of him in Rockingham Memoirs, 
 vol. ii. p. 406. 
 
 * It was "this prancing and curveting" that led to the 
 duel between his Lordship and Wilkes. See a good account 
 of it in the note to Walpole's Misc. Corr. iv. p< 311, signed 
 C. Elizabeth Pitt, sister of Lord Chatham, it is said, lived 
 openly with him as his mistress!! See Rockingham Memoirs, 
 vol. i. p. 272. 
 
 t Basil Fielding, sixth Earl, succeeded 1755, died 1800. 
 He was a Lord of the Bedchamber, and Colonel of the War- 
 wickshire Militia. See account of him in Rockingham 
 Memoirs, vol. i. p. 261.; and Walpole's George the Third, iv. 
 229. He married Mary, daughter of Sir John Bruce Cotton, 
 who was a co-heiress. Lord Gower asked him how long the 
 honeymoon would last? he answered, "Don't tell me of honey- 
 moon, it is harvest-moon with me." He had lived abroad nine 
 years with Lord Bolingbroke, and appeared in the Rolliad as 
 helping to throw out Fox's India Bill. 
 
 T 2 
 
276 LETTERS OF 
 
 wafers, the faulcons, &c. were brought up and 
 presented in form; three persons were knighted ; 
 and before ten the King and Queen retired. 
 Then I got a scrap of supper, and at one 
 o'clock I walked home. So much for the spec- 
 tacle, which in magnificence surpassed every 
 thing I have seen. Next I must tell you that 
 the Barons of the Cinque Ports, who by ancient 
 right should dine at a table on the haut-pas, 
 at the right hand of the throne, found that no 
 provision at all had been made for them, and, 
 representing their case to Earl Talbot, he told 
 them, " Gentlemen, if you speak to me as High 
 Steward, I must tell you there was no room for 
 you ; if as Lord Talbot, I am ready to give you 
 satisfaction in any way you think fit." They 
 are several of them gentlemen of the best 
 families; so this has bred ill blood. In the 
 next place, the City of London found they 
 had no table neither; but Beckford* bullied 
 
 * The well-known Alderman Beckford, Member for the 
 City, and twice Mayor of London, father of a more illustrious 
 son. He died during his mayoralty in 1770. " Alderman 
 Beckford stood up for the immemorial privileges of his order 
 to fare sumptuously, and intimated to the Lord Steward that 
 it was hard if the citizens should have no dinner when they 
 must give the King one, which would cost them ten thousand 
 pounds ; the menace prevailed, and the municipal board was at 
 last desirably furnished." See Rockingham Memoirs, i. p. 279. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 277 
 
 my Lord High- Steward till he was forced to 
 give them that intended for the Knights of 
 the Bath, and instead of it they dined at the 
 entertainment prepared for the great officers. 
 Thirdly. Bussy was not at the ceremony.* He 
 is just setting out for Prance. Spain has 
 supplied them with money, and is picking a 
 quarrel with us about the fishery and the log- 
 wood, t Mr. Pitt says so much the better, and 
 was for recalling Lord Bristol directly ; J how- 
 ever, a flat denial has been returned to their 
 pretensions. When you have read this send it 
 to Pa. 
 
 * " Bussy is personally indisposed to this country. This I 
 have long thought, and I am now convinced of it." Jenkinson 
 to Mr. Grenville, i. 367, June 16, 1761. Bussy went to Court 
 (Aug. 1761) ; he appeared as a stranger. Ibid. p. 373. 
 
 f " The fisheries are to be left to France, but not Cape 
 Breton." Ibid. pp. 372, 379, 387. 
 
 \ "It is humbly submitted to his Majesty's wisdom that 
 orders be forthwith sent to the Earl of Bristol to deliver a 
 declaration signed by his Excellency, and to return imme- 
 diately to England without taking leave ;" the celebrated advice 
 in writing given to the King, previous to the resignation of 
 Mr. Pitt and Lord Temple. See Grenville Papers, i. p. 386. 
 See high praise of him in Rockingham Memoirs, vol. i. p. 56. 
 Lord Bristol died in 1775. 
 
278 LETTERS OE 
 
 LETTER LXXL 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAR MASON, London, Oct 1761. 
 
 Perhaps you have not yet hanged yourself ; 
 when yon do (as doubtless you must be think- 
 ing of it), be so good as to give me a day or 
 two's notice that I may be a little prepared. 
 Yet who knows, possibly your education at St. 
 John's, in conjunction with the Eishop of 
 Gloucester,* may suggest to you that the naked 
 Indian that found Pitt's diamond t made no 
 bad bargain when he sold it for three oyster- 
 shells and a pompon of glass beads to stick in 
 his wife's hair ; if so, you may live and read on. 
 
 Last week I had an application from a broken 
 tradesman (whose wife I knew) to desire my 
 
 * William Warburton. 
 
 ■j" Allusion to Pope's lines, — 
 
 Asleep and naked as an Indian lay, 
 An honest factor stole a gem away. 
 
 Moral Essays, Epist. iii. 
 Mad. de Genlis, in her " Abrege de l'Histoire de la Regence," 
 says, " Le diamant le pins gros et le plus parfait de l'Europe 
 on le nomme - le Regent] et quelquefois ' le Pitt] du nom de 
 vendeur, Secretaire cCEtat en Angleterre. On en demandoit 
 quatre millions, mais on le donna pour deux. II pese six 
 cent grains. Pitt l'avoit acquis d'un ouvrier des mines du 
 Mogul;"— with as many mistakes as words. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 279 
 
 interest with the Duke of Newcastle for a tide- 
 waiter's place; and he adds, " Sir, your speedy 
 compliance with this will greatly oblige all our 
 family." This morning before I was up, Dr. 
 Morton, of the Museum,* called here and left 
 the inclosed note. He is a mighty civil man ; 
 for the rest you know him full as well as I do ; 
 and I insist that you return me a civil answer. 
 I do not insist that you should get him the 
 mastership ; on the contrary, I desire (as any 
 body would in such a case) that you will get it 
 for yourself; as I intend, when I hear it is 
 vacant, to have the tide-waiter's place, if I miss 
 of the Privy Seal and Cofferership. 
 
 Yours, T. G. 
 
 LETTER LXXIL 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 
 Dear Sir, Nov. Sat. 1761. 
 
 Your letter has rejoiced me, as you will 
 easily believe, and agreeably disappointed me. 
 
 * Dr. Charles Morton, of the British Museum, ie mentioned 
 by Lord Chesterfield in his Letters, vol. i. p. 38. He was Keeper 
 of the MSS. and Medals, and, after the death of Dr. Maty, 
 principal librarian. He died Feb. 10, 1799. See Nichols's 
 Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 619. 
 
280 LETTERS OF 
 
 I congratulate you in the first place ; and ani 
 very glad to see the college have had the spirit 
 and the sense to do a thing so much to their 
 own credit, and to do it in a handsome manner. 
 My hest service to Mr. Lyon;* and tell him it 
 will he a great disohligation if my lady takes 
 him away to pass the Christmas with her, just 
 when I am proposing to visit him in his new 
 capacity. I hope to he with you in about a 
 week, hut will write again before I come. Do 
 persuade Mr. Delaval to stay ; tell him I will 
 
 say anything he pleases of 
 
 Have you read the negociations ? I speak 
 not to Mr. Delaval, but to you. The French 
 have certainly done Mr. Pitt service in pub- 
 lishing them. The spirit and contempt he has 
 shown in his treatment of Bussy's proposals, t 
 whether right or wrong, will go near to restore 
 him to his popularity, and almost make up for 
 
 * Thomas Lyon, Fellow of Pembroke College 1761, third 
 son of Thomas Lord Strathmore ; admitted Fellow Commoner 
 1756, elected Fellow November 1761, and vacated his Fel- 
 lowship in 1767; his new capacity must mean as Fellow. 
 James Philip Lyon, the second son of Lord Strathmore, was 
 admitted Fellow Commoner in 1756, the same year as Gray. 
 
 ■f See Adolphus's History, vol. i. p. 39-41 ; Walpole's 
 Misc. Letters, i. p. 250; Walpole's History of George III. 
 vol. i. pp 58, 133; Grenville Papers, vol. i. p. 379; ii. p. 220. 
 In the Rockingham Papers, i p. 22, his character is sketched. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 281 
 
 the disgrace of the pension.* My Lord Temple 
 is outrageous ; he makes no scruple of declar- 
 ing that the Duke of JNT.f and Lord Bute were 
 the persons whose frequent opposition in coun- 
 cil were the principal cause of this resignation. 
 He has (as far as he could) disinherited his 
 brother Gr. Grenville, J that is of about 4000£. 
 
 * The title and pension given to Mr. Pitt which occasioned 
 so much animadversion, and is supposed to have deprived the 
 great Commoner, for a short time, of much of his popu- 
 larity. See on this subject the Grenville Papers, vol. i. p. 418 ; 
 ii. p. 519; when, in a conversation with the Duke of York, 
 Mr. Grenville said on the subject of this pension, " he thought 
 it the highest and most honourable testimony which the King 
 could bestow, or a subject receive, at the moment of quitting 
 the King's service, upon differing with his whole administra- 
 tion." See also Life of Lord Hardwicke by Mr. Harris on 
 this subject, vol. iii. p. 256. It appears that Lord Chatham 
 would not have his pension on the Civil List, but it was 
 placed on a duty of 4|- per cent. See also on this interesting 
 subject Walpole's George III. vol. i. pp. 82, 86 note ; Adolphus's 
 History, vol. i. p. 47 ; Chatham Correspondence, vol. ii. 
 p. 146-153 and 158, for the explanatory Letter written by 
 Lord Chatham to the Lord Mayor. See Walpole's Misc. 
 Corr. iv. 131. 
 
 t Newcastle. See Grenville Papers, vol. i. p. 388, and 
 vol. ii. p. 402. 
 
 % See Grenville Papers, vol. ii. pp. 404, 408, on Lord 
 Temple's gift of 5000Z. to his brother George Grenville's sons ; 
 and see for a judicious survey of Lord Temple's character 
 Quarterly Keview, No. clxxx. p. 576, art. ix. 
 
282 LETTERS OF 
 
 a-year, his father's estate; and yesterday he 
 made a very strange speech in the Honse that 
 surprised every body. The particulars I can- 
 not yet hear with certainty ; but the Duke of 
 Bedford replied to it. Did you observe a very 
 bold letter in the Gazette of Thursday last 
 about Oarr Earl of Somerset ?* How do you like 
 the King's speech ?f It is Lord Hardwicke's. 
 How do you like Hogarth's perriwigs ? I sup- 
 pose you have discovered the last face $ in the 
 
 * This allusion is, of course, to the growing favour of Lord 
 Bute. At this time great irritation was felt at the resignation of 
 Mr. Pitt and the increasing favouritism and influence of Lord 
 Bute, and very strong letters were written in the papers ; but I 
 have not found the letter to which Gray alludes. The London 
 Gazette was only an official paper. In Lloyd's Evening Post 
 of that period and month are several letters on the subject: 
 to what particular paper Gray alluded it seems difficult to 
 say. There were, besides the two papers mentioned above, 
 " Reed's Weekly Journal" and the London Chronicle, which 
 may be found in the Catalogue of the British Museum. Two 
 Letters to the Earl of Bute are advertised this month, Nov. 
 1761, in Lloyd's paper. 
 
 j* Belsham says, " The Session was opened by a well-com- 
 posed speech from the throne," vol. i. p. 58; and Adolphus, 
 Hist. i. p. 14 ; and the note on that part said to have been 
 written by the King's own hand. See Grenville Papers, 
 vol. i. p. 416. (Earl of Bute to Mr. Grenville.) 
 
 J Gray alludes to Queen Charlotte. She is without a 
 coronet, the last in rank, and the first on the left hand of the 
 picture. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 283 
 
 rank of peeresses to be a very great personage ; 
 extremely like, though, you never saw her. 
 Good night. 
 
 I am ever yours, T. G. 
 
 LETTER LXXIIL 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAR MASON, Peinb. Hall, Deer. 8, 1761. 
 
 Of all loves come to Cambridge out of hand, 
 for here is Mr. Delaval and a charming set of 
 glasses that sing like nightingales;* and we 
 have concerts every other night, and shall stay 
 here this month or two ; and a vast deal of 
 good company, and a whale in pickle just come 
 from Ipswich ; and the man will not die, and 
 Mr. Wood is gone to Chatsworth ; and there is 
 nobody but you and Tom and the curled dog ; 
 
 * See Walpole's Misc. Letters, vol. ii. p. 111. " Gluck, a 
 German. He is to have a benefit, at which he is to play on a 
 set of drinking-glasses, which he modulates with water. I 
 think I have heard you speak of having seen some such thing." 
 They were much in fashion about this time. In the St. James's 
 Chronicle, Dec. 3rd, 1761, is an advertisement: "At Mr. 
 Sheridan's lecture on Elocution, Miss Lloyd succeeds Miss 
 Ford in performing on the musical glasses for the amusement of 
 genteel company.- 1 
 
284 LETTERS OF 
 
 and do not talk of the charge, for we will make 
 a subscription; besides, we know you always 
 come when you have a mind. T. G. 
 
 LETTER LXXIV. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 DEAR MASON, Cambridge, Jan. 11, 1762. 
 
 It is a mercy that old men are mortal, and 
 that dignified clergymen know how to keep 
 their word. I heartily rejoice with you in 
 your establishment, and with myself that I 
 have lived to see it — to see your insatiable 
 mouth stopped, and your anxious perriwig at 
 rest and slumbering in a stall. The Bishop 
 of London,* you see, is dead ; there is a fine 
 opening. Is there nothing farther to tempt 
 you? Peel your own pulse, and answer me 
 seriously. It rains precentorships ; you have 
 only to hold up your skirt and catch them. 
 
 * Thomas Hayter succeeded Bishop Sherlock, translated 
 from Norwich 1761; died the following year; succeeded 
 by Thomas Osbaldeston, 1762. See Grenville Papers, ii. 
 p. 384. " The great point now in town is, whether Thomas 
 of Lincoln, or Hayter of Norwich, is to be Bishop of London " — 
 Lord Egremont to Mr. Grenville. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 285 
 
 I long to embrace you in your way to court. 
 I am still here, so are the Glasses and their 
 master. The first still delight me; I wish I 
 could say as much for the second. Come, how- 
 ever, and see us, such as we are. Mr. Brown 
 is overjoyed at the news, yet he is not at all 
 well. I am (which is no wonder, being un- 
 dignified and much at leisure,) entirely yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 LETTER LXXV. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAR DOCTOR, Cambridge, March 17, 1762. 
 
 I send your reverence the lesson, which is 
 pure good-nature on my part, knowing already, 
 as I do, that you do not like it. No sooner 
 do people feel their income increase than they 
 want amusement. Why, what need have you 
 of any other than to sit like a Japanese divi- 
 nity with your hands folded on your fat belly, 
 wrapped and, as it were, annihilated in the con- 
 templation of your own copuses and revenues ? 
 The pentagrapher is gone to town, so you have 
 nothing to do but to go and multiply in your 
 own vulgar way ; only don't fall to work and 
 forget to say grace. 
 
286 LETTERS OF 
 
 The laureate has honoured me (as a friend of 
 yours, for I know no other reason,) with his 
 new play and his Charge to the Poets :* the 
 first very middling; the second I am pleased 
 with, chiefly with the sense, and sometimes 
 with the verse and expression ; and yet the 
 best thing he ever wrote was that Elegy against 
 Friendship you once showed me, where the 
 sense was detestable ;t so that you see it is 
 not at all necessary a poet should be a good 
 sort of man — no, not even in his writings. 
 
 * The new play of Mr. Whitehead was " The School for 
 Lovers," acted at Dmry Lane 1762. His poem was " Address 
 to youthful Poets, a poetic Charge." " This," says Mr. Cole- 
 ridge, " is perhaps the best and certainly the most interesting 
 of his works." See Biograph. Lit. i. p. 222. This Charge 
 brought on him the vindictive resentment of Churchill, who 
 attacked the Laureate with a very reprehensible severity. 
 See Anderson's Life of Whitehead, p. 897, and Mason's Life 
 of Whitehead, p. 106. The portrait of Whitehead, from 
 which the print before his works is taken, has been kindly 
 presented to me from Aston. 
 
 "f See Whitehead's Works, vol. ii. p. 129. On the subject 
 of this poem, see a passage in Life of Whitehead, by Mason, 
 p. 40, in which it appears that Gray gave very high commen- 
 dation to it in point of poetry, but much disapproved the 
 general sentiment it conveyed; saying that it ought to be 
 entitled " a Satire on Friendship," and much more to the 
 same purpose, &c. Mason suspects that the loss of Mr. Charles 
 Townsh end's friendship led Whitehead to write this poem. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 287 
 
 Bob Lloyd has published his works in a just 
 quarto volume, containing, among other things, 
 a Latin translation of my Elegy ; an epistle, in 
 which is a very serious compliment to me by 
 name,* particularly on my Pindaric accomplish- 
 ments ; and the very two odes you saw before, 
 in which we were abused, and a note to say 
 they were written in concert with his friend 
 Mr. Colman; so little value have poets for 
 themselves, especially when they would make 
 
 * Anderson says that Lloyd collected his poems in a 4to, 
 volume, 1762, for which he obtained a very liberal subscrip- 
 tion. They were reprinted in 2 vols. 8vo. 1774, with an 
 account of his life by Dr. Kenrick. His praise of Gray occurs 
 in his Epistle to Churchill : — 
 
 " What muse like Gray's shall pleasing, pensive, flow, 
 Attempered sweetly to the rustic woe ; 
 Or who like him shall sweep the Theban lyre, 
 And, as his master, pour forth thoughts of fire ?" 
 
 The Latin translation by him of Gray's Elegy is not to be 
 praised for propriety or elegance of classical expression, in 
 which Vincent Bourne stands unrivalled; but that this poem 
 was not a good subject to select, has been proved by the un- 
 successful attempts of others to transfer its beauties into the 
 ancient languages. How are these lines to be translated into 
 the words of those who had neither long-drawn aisles nor 
 pealing anthems ? 
 
 " When through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault, 
 The pealing anthem swells the note of praise." 
 
288 LETTERS OE 
 
 up a just volume. Mr. Delap is here, and has 
 brought his cub to Trinity. He has picked up 
 again purely since his misfortune, and is fat 
 and well, all but a few bowels. He says Mrs. 
 Pritchard spoilt his Hecuba* with sobbing so 
 much, and that she was really so moved that 
 she fell in fits behind the scenes. I much like 
 Dr. Lowth's Grammar ;f it is concise, clear, and 
 elegant. He has selected his solecisms from 
 all the best writers of our tongue. I hear 
 Mr. Hurd is seriously writing against Pingal, 
 by the instigation of the devil and the bishop.^ 
 Can it be true ? I have exhausted all my lite- 
 rary news, and I have no other. Adieu. 
 
 I am truly yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 Mr. Brown has got a cap, and hopes for a 
 suitable hood. You must write a line to tell 
 him how to send them. I go to town on 
 Monday, but direct to me here. 
 
 * The Hecuba of Dr. Delap was acted in 1762, and met 
 with very indifferent success. Baker, in his Biog. Dramatica, 
 professes entire ignorance of the author, except his name. 
 
 | The first edition of Bishop Lowth's Grammar was in 
 1762. See on its merits, Home Tooke's Diversions of Purley, 
 vol. ii. p. 90, and Mitford's Harmony of Language, p. 377. 
 
 J Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 289 
 
 LETTER LXXVI. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 DEAR MASON, Monday, Pemb. Hall, 1762. 
 
 If you still are residing and precenting at 
 York, I feel a great propensity to visit you 
 there in my way northwards. Do not be fright- 
 ened ; for I do not mean to be invited to yonr 
 house. I can bring many reasons against it, 
 but will content myself with referring you to 
 Mr. Whitehead's Satire on Friendship, the senti- 
 ment of which you thought as natural as I did 
 the verses. I therefore desire of you to procure 
 me a lodging by the week (the cheaper the 
 better), where there is a parlour, and bed- 
 chamber, and some closet (or other place near 
 it) for a servant's bed. Perhaps I may stay a 
 fortnight, and should like, when I have a mind, 
 to have any little thing dressed at home; pro- 
 bably I may arrive next week, but you shall 
 have exacter notice of my motions when they 
 are settled. 
 
 Dr. Delap (your friend) is here, and we cele- 
 brate very cordially your good qualities in spite 
 of all your bad ones. We are rather sorry that 
 you, who have so just a sense of the dignity of 
 your function, should write letters of wit and 
 
 u 
 
290 LETTERS OF 
 
 humour to Lord D.* and his sweet daughter in 
 the Hoyal (I think it is) or Lady's Magazine ; 
 but you are very rightly served for your vivacity 
 and reflection upon poor K. Hunter, t Adieu. 
 I am truly yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 Pray write a line directly to say if you are 
 at York. 
 
 * There is no Lady's Magazine of that date in the British 
 Museum. There is the "Royal or Gentleman's Magazine:'''' 
 through the volumes of 1761 and 1762 I have looked, but no 
 letters to Lord D. and his daughter appear in them. 
 
 f See Walpole's Misc. Corr. iv. 211-214. " In all your read- 
 ing, true or false, have you heard of a young Earl, married to the 
 most beautiful woman in the world, Lord of the Bedchamber, 
 a general officer, and with a great estate, quitting everything, — 
 his young wife, world, property, for life, in a pacquet-boat 
 with a Miss ! I fear your connexion will but too readily lead 
 you to the name of the peer; it's Henry Earl of Pembroke, 
 the nymph Kitty Hunter. The town and Lady Pembroke 
 were first witnesses to the intrigue, last Wednesday, at a great 
 ball given at Lord Middleton's ; on Thursday they decamped." 
 The peer was Henry, tenth Earl of Pembroke, who married 
 in March, 1756, Lady Elizabeth Spencer, second daughter of 
 the third Duke of Marlborough. They lived for some time 
 separated, but he afterwards ran away with her ! ! They were 
 reconciled and lived together. See Walpole to G. Montague, 
 March 29, 1763, for some additional anecdotes on this subject. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 291 
 
 LETTEE LXXVIL 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 DEAR SIR, Old Park, July 19, 1762. 
 
 After my fortnight's residence at York, I am 
 arrived here. The Precentor is very hopefully 
 improved in dignity ; his scarf sets the fullest 
 about his ears ; his surplice has the most the 
 air of lawn-sleeves you can imagine in so short 
 a time ; he begins to complain of qualms and 
 indigestions from repose and repletion : in 
 short il tranche du JPrelat* We went twice 
 a- day to church with our vergers and all our 
 pomp. Here the scene is totally altered : we 
 breakfast at six in the morning, and go to bed 
 at ten. The house rings all day with carpen- 
 ters and upholsterers, and without doors we 
 swarm with labourers and builders. The books 
 are not yet unpacked, and there is but one pen 
 
 * Mason was a Residentiary of York Cathedral, Precentor, 
 Prebendary of Duffield, and Rector of Aston. " Mason," Gray 
 writes to Dr. Wharton, " is Residentiary of York, which is 
 worth near 200Z. a-year. He owes it to our friend, Fr. 
 Montagu, who is brother-in-law to Dean Fontayne. The 
 precentorship, worth as much more, being vacant at the same 
 time, Lord Holdernesse has obtained that for him. He may 
 now, I think, wait for the exit with patience, and shut his 
 insatiable repining mouth." See Works, iii. p. 263. Mason 
 
 u 2 
 
292 LETTERS OF 
 
 and ink in the house. Jetty and Fadge (two 
 favourite sows) are always corning into the 
 entry, and there is a concert of poultry under 
 every window : we take in no newspaper or 
 magazine, but the cream and butter is beyond 
 compare. You are wished for every day, and 
 you may imagine how acceptable a corre- 
 spondent you must be. Pray write soon, and 
 believe me ever sincerely yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 LETTER LXXVIII. 
 TO THE KEY. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAR MASON, Cambridge, Dec, 21, 1762. 
 
 As to my pardon, for which you supplicate, 
 you know too well how easily it is obtained 
 without any reason at all ; but now I have a 
 very good one, as I have read the third book 
 of the Ghost, # where Churchill has so mumbled 
 
 much disliked his residences at York . It was there that he 
 became acquainted with Sterne, who held some preferment in 
 the cathedral. 
 
 * See Walpole's Memoirs of George III. vol. iii. p. 149. The 
 editor says, " Churchill mentions the Ghost, only as a peg to hang 
 the satire upon. It has much vigour ; but a key is wanted, and 
 probably no one can supply one to the allusions, or even the 
 regularly drawn characters of the greater part. Johnson, 
 
THE POET GRAY. 293 
 
 Mr. Whitehead, to whom you owe all your 
 principles (see the unpublished elegy de Ami- 
 citia), that it would be base in me to demand 
 any farther satisfaction. This only I shall add, 
 that I would rather steal the Laureate's verses 
 than his sentiments. 
 
 I am sorry for the disageeable event you 
 mention, which I learnt by mere accident from 
 Mr. Curtail in a coffee-house. I do not doubt 
 
 Warburton, Mansfield, and one or two more, appear in it." 
 Mason, in his Life of Whitehead, alludes to* these attacks, and 
 particularly to the Ghost (p. 109) ; and he found among White- 
 head's papers some unprinted fragments of a counter-scuffle 
 which the Laureate was preparing, beginning — 
 
 " So from his common place, when Churchill strings 
 Into some motley form his damned good things," &c. 
 
 It was Wilkes's design to give an edition of Churchill's 
 Poems, in which much interesting information would have 
 been afforded, and much obscurity removed. Lloyd allows 
 that in this poem Churchill threw his dirt about with more 
 than his usual abandonment. 
 
 " Whose muse, now queen, and now a slattern, 
 Tricked out in Eosciad, rules the roast, 
 Turns trapes and trollop in the Ghost.'" 
 
 It is unfortunate for our present purpose that Gray's manu- 
 script notes on Churchill's poems which I possess, and which 
 are copious on the Eosciad and some other of Churchill's 
 poems, are entirely wanting in the Ghost; for in Gray's copy 
 of Churchill's Poems, collected as they appeared, and bound 
 up by him in one volume, the Ghost is omitted. 
 
294 LETTERS OE 
 
 it must have taken up a good deal of your 
 thoughts and time, and should wish to know 
 whether there are any hopes of the poor fellow's 
 recovery. 
 
 We have received your poetical packet and 
 delivered them to the several parties. The 
 sentiments we do not remark, as we can find 
 nothing within ourselves congenial to them : 
 for the expression, we hint (but in a low, timid 
 voice) that there is a want of strength and 
 spirit; in short, they are nothing like the 
 choruses in Elfrida, only the lines that relate 
 
 to Lady C 's beauty have made a deep 
 
 impression upon us ; we get them by heart 
 and apply them to our sempstresses and bed- 
 makers. This is (I think) the sum and substance 
 of our reflections here; only Mrs. Rutherford 
 observes that there is great delicacy and ten- 
 derness in the manner of treating so frail a 
 
 character* as that of Lady C , and that 
 
 you have found a way to reconcile contempt 
 
 * Probably the stanza — 
 " Each look, each motion, worked a new-born grace, 
 That o'er her form its transient glory cast," &c. 
 The praises of Lady Coventry's beauty in Walpole's and 
 Selwyn's Letters are too well known to be repeated here. I 
 will therefore give an account by the Duchess of Somerset, 
 which has not been quoted. " I saw Lady Coventry there, 
 who certainly is very handsome, but appears rather too tall 
 
THE POET GRAY. 295 
 
 and compassion : these might not be her words, 
 but this was the sense of them ; I don't believe 
 she had it from the doctor. 
 
 I rejoice (in a weakly way you may be sure, 
 as I have not seen him some years, and am in 
 so different a way of life), but I rejoice to hear 
 of any accession to Mr. Hurd's fortune,* as I do 
 not believe he will be anything the worse for it. 
 Forrester (whom I perceive you can still re- 
 member) is removed from Eastonf to a better 
 living by his patron Lord Maynard, on purpose 
 to get rid of him ; for Easton is his own parish, 
 and he was sick to death of his company. He 
 is now seated just by his brother Pulter, J and 
 they are mortal foes. 
 
 to be genteel, and her face rather smaller than one could wish, 
 considering the height it is placed, and her dress appeared 
 more in the style of an opera-dancer than an English lady of 
 quality. Lady Di. Egerton and Mrs. Selwyn, granddaughter 
 to Miss Townshend, appeared either of them fully as pretty 
 in my eyes, with the addition of great modesty." The ex- 
 pression " so frail a character " alludes to the general rumour 
 at the time, that Lord Bolinghrohe had been too much in the 
 good graces of the Countess. 
 
 * Mr. Hurd had the sinecure Rectory of Folkton, near 
 Bridlington, Yorkshire,, given him by the Lord Chancellor 
 (Earl of Northington), on the recommendation of Mr. Allen, 
 of Prior Park, Nov. 2, 1762. 
 
 ■j" Near Dunmow, Essex, the seat of Lord Maynard. 
 
 \ His brother, " Poulter Forrester." 
 
296 LETTERS or 
 
 Mr. Brockett has got old Turner's professor- 
 ship, and Delaval lias lost it. # When we meet 
 I have something to tell you on this subject. 
 I hope to continue here till March ; if not, I 
 shall inform you. How does the peace agree 
 with you ? Adieu. 
 
 I am ever yours. 
 
 LETTER LXXXX. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 DEAR SlR, Aston, Jan. 15th, 1763. 
 
 I send you with this a drawing of the ruin 
 you were so much pleased with when you saw 
 it at York.f I take it certainly to have been 
 
 * In a manuscript pocket-book of Gray's, at Aston, of the 
 year 1762, I read the following entry: — "Nov. 4. Prof. 
 asked of D. of N. by Lord P. and Sir F. B. D. (i.e. Sir Francis 
 Blake Delaval). — Saturday, Nov. 1762. Heard for certain that 
 
 the professorship is given away, and not to D —1." On 
 
 Delaval, a Fellow of Pembroke College, see Gray's Works, 
 vol. iii. p. 27 ; iv. p. 222 ; and Nicholls' and Gray's Corres- 
 pondence, p. 76, " Delaval is an honest gentleman." Sir Henry 
 Erskine applied to Lord Bute for Gray; " Next to myself," 
 Gray writes, " I wished for it for him," (Delaval). See Works, 
 iii. p. 301. 
 
 f A small Gothic chapel near the north-west end of York 
 Cathedral, with which Mr, Gray was much struck by the 
 beautiful proportion of the windows. See Gray's Works, iii. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 297 
 
 the chapel of St. Sepulchre, founded by Arch- 
 bishop Roger, of which Dugdale has given us 
 the original chccrta fundationis ; but, as this 
 opinion seems to contradict the opinion of 
 Torre, and of Drake too, who follows him, it is 
 necessary to produce authentic authority in 
 proof of my assertion. These two learned anti- 
 quaries suppose that the chapel in question 
 joined to the minster. Thus Torre : " Roger 
 (Archbishop) having built against the great 
 church a chapel." And Drake : " Roger was 
 buried in the cathedral, near the door of St. 
 Sepulchre's chapel, which he himself had 
 founded." *— Vide Drake's Ebor., p. 478, p. 421. 
 Prom these accounts we should be led to con- 
 clude that this chapel was as much and as close 
 an appendage to the minster as the chapter- 
 house is ; but the original records, on which 
 they found this opinion, may I think be con- 
 strued very differently. 
 
 Archbishop Roger himself, in his cliarta 
 fundationis, describes its situation thus : — 
 
 p. 303. See cut of it in Drake's and Burton's Histories of 
 York. The history and date of it has, I understand, been 
 a subject of much controversy. 
 
 * " The present tomb of Archbishop Roger is even of a later 
 date than Melton. I suspect the body to have been removed, 
 and the tomb to have been erected about Henry VIII. 's time." 
 MS. note of Dr. Whitaker. 
 
298 LETTERS OF 
 
 " capellam quam juxta majorem ecclesiam ex- 
 truximus." "Juxta" is surely "near" only, 
 not " adjoining ;" and this ruin is near enough. 
 In the extract of this archbishop's life, from an 
 ancient MS. which Dugdale also gives us, we 
 find these words, " Condidit etiam Capellam 
 Sancti Sepulchri ad januam ipsius Palatii ex 
 parte boreali juxta eccl'am S. Petri." The ruin 
 in question might very probably be connected 
 with the palace gate by a cloister, of which on 
 one side there are a string of arches remaining; 
 and on the outside of the minster, oyer the 
 little gate next the tomb, there are also vestiges 
 of the roof of a cloister, which I imagine went 
 aside the palace gateway, and connected the 
 three buildings ; vide plan. But between this 
 little gate and the palace gate (which still 
 remains) it is very evident there was no room 
 for anything but a cloister, for I do not think 
 they are twenty yards asunder. 
 
 The last and only further account I can find 
 of the situation is from the same Life, where 
 it is said the canons of St. Peter, "gravitermur- 
 murabant super situ dicta? capelhe eo quod 
 nimis adhsesit matrici ecclesige." 
 
 This I think need not be translated literally ; 
 the word "nimis" leads one to a metaphorical 
 sense. The priests of St. Sepulchre were too 
 near neighbours to St. Peter's canons, and 
 
THE POET GRAY. 299 
 
 were troublesome to them ; accordingly . we 
 find the archbishop, to quiet matters, ordered 
 that the saint of his chapel should make them 
 a recompense, which is in this extract stated. 
 
 To these arguments I would add, that Arch- 
 bishop Roger's donation was very great (as we 
 find in Drake) to this chapel ; and, from the 
 number of persons maintained in its service, I 
 question not but there was a large convent 
 built round it, of which there are plainly the 
 foundations still to be seen ; and what puts the 
 matter out of all doubt that this building was 
 separate and entire, though indeed near to the 
 minster, is the following fact, viz. that the 
 tithes of the chapel and chapel itself were sold 
 to one Webster, anno 42 Elizabeth : " Capella 
 vocat. St. Sepulcre's Chapell prope Eccles. 
 Cath. Ebor. cum decimis ejusdem. W. Webster. 
 Ap. 4, anno 4 Eliz." — Rolls. Ghap. Thus you 
 see the "juxta" and "prope" are clearly on my 
 side; the "nimis aclhgesit" is equivocal. I 
 conclude with a rude draught of the platform 
 according to my idea, but without any mensura- 
 tion, and merely to explain what has been said. 
 I am with the greatest respect and deference to 
 your sagacity, Yours, &c. &c. &c. 
 
 P.S. I ought to mention to you, that in 
 the transept (I think you call it) of the church, 
 
300 
 
 LETTERS OF 
 
 namely, at B, there is at the top over the large 
 pillars, a range of stonework like the windows 
 in the ruin, viz. three pointed arches under 
 a circular one, but of a clumsy proportion. 
 This part I think you said was the oldest in 
 the minster. Johnny Ludlam * found this out. 
 
 * There were two persons well known in literature and 
 science, the Rev. William and the Rev. Thomas Ludlam, both 
 Fellows of St. John's College. William was M.A. 1742, and 
 died 1788; Thomas was M.A. 1752, and died 1811. They 
 were both highly esteemed by Dr. Balguy and Dr. Ogden ; and 
 Bishop Hurd was so pleased with the merits of the Essays on 
 
THE POET GRAY. 301 
 
 Perhaps it contradicts all I have been saying, 
 and proves the building nmch older than Arch- 
 bishop Hoger. 
 
 LETTER LXXX. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 DOCTISSIME DOMINE, Eeb. 8, 1763. 
 
 Anne tibi arrident complimenta ? * If so, I 
 hope your vanity is tickled with the nerglie 
 dloro of Count Algarotti, and the intended 
 translation of Signor Agostino Paradisi. For 
 my part I am ravished (for I too have my 
 share), and moreover astonished to find myself 
 the particular friend of a person so celebrated 
 for his politezza e dottrina as my cousin Taylor 
 Howe.f Are you upon the road to see all these 
 
 Theological Subjects as to contribute to the expense of the 
 publication. My friend Mr. Nichols agrees with me in 
 thinking that one of these brothers was alluded to: the 
 familiar name Johnny being given to him from his residence 
 at St. John's College. 
 
 * A foreign scholar dining at Pembroke College, when the 
 conversation was carried on in Latin, one of the Fellows ad- 
 dressed him in these words : " Domine, anne tibi arrident 
 herbse?" — (Sir, do you choose any greens?) MS. Note of Dr. 
 Bennet, Bishop of Cloyne. See Gray's Works, ed. Aid. iii. 
 p. 303. 
 
 •f William Taylor Howe, Esq. of Standon Place, near Ongar, 
 Essex, an honorary Fellow of Pembroke College, '" now on his 
 
302 LETTERS OF 
 
 wonders, and snuff up the incense of Pisa, or has 
 Mr. Brown abated your ardour by sending you 
 the originals ? I am waiting with impatience 
 for you and Mr. Hurd, though (as the Bishop 
 of Gloucester has broke his arm*) I cannot 
 expect him to stay here, whatever you may do. 
 I am obliged to you for your drawing, and 
 very learned dissertation annexed. You have 
 made out your point with a great degree of 
 probability (for, though the " nimis adhsesit" 
 
 travels in Italy, where he made acquaintance with Count Alga- 
 rotti, and had recommended to him Gray's Poems and Mason's 
 Dramas. After their perusal he received a letter from the 
 Count, written in that style of superlative panegyric peculiar 
 to Italians. The Count also addressed Signor Paradisi, a 
 Tuscan poet, advising him to translate Mason's Dramas, par- 
 ticularly Caractacus." — Mason. Lord Chesterfield says, "Count 
 Algarotti is a young Fontenelle." See his Letters, vol. iv. p. 384. 
 See also Gray's Works, vol. iv. Lett. cxn. cxx. cxxi. cxxm. 
 cxliv. on Count Algarotti and his Works. When the Count was 
 in England, I have heard that he lived much with Lord 
 Hervey and Lady Mary W. Montagu. They both wrote 
 commendatory verses on his works. 
 
 * Dr. Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester, broke his arm, 
 1763, while walking in the garden at Prior Park. See his 
 Letter to Dr. Hurd, p. 340, in Hurd and Warburton's Cor- 
 respondence; and his Letter to Dr. Stukeley, 6 August, 1763, 
 on the consequences of it, by the Bishop, in Nichols's Lit. 
 Illust. ii. 56. A pleasing domestic picture of the Bishop and 
 his wife may be found in the same volume, p. 839, written 
 by Dr. Cuming. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 303 
 
 might startle one, yet the sale of the tithes 
 and chapel to Webster seems to set all right 
 again), and I do believe the building in ques- 
 tion was the chapel of St. Sepulchre ; but then 
 that the ruin now standing was the individual 
 chapel, as erected by Archbishop Roger, I can 
 by no means think. I found myself merely on 
 the style and taste of architecture. The vaults 
 under the choir are still in being, and were 
 undoubtedly built by this very archbishop. 
 They are truly Saxon, only that the arches are 
 pointed, though very obtusely. It is the south 
 transept (not the north) that is the oldest part 
 of the minster now above ground. It is said 
 to have been begun by Geoffrey Plantagenet, 
 who died about thirty years after Roger, and 
 left it unfinished. His successor, Walter Grey, 
 completed it; so we do not exactly know to 
 which of these two prelates we are to ascribe 
 any certain part of it. Grey lived a long time, 
 and was archbishop from 1216 to 1255 (39 mo 
 Hen. III.) ; and in this reign it was that the 
 beauty of the Gothic architecture began to 
 appear. The chapter-house is in all probability 
 his work, and (I should suppose) built in his 
 latter days, whereas what he did of the south 
 transept might be performed soon after his 
 accession. It is in the second order of this 
 
304 LETTERS OF 
 
 building that the round arches appear, in- 
 cluding a row of pointed ones (which you men- 
 tion, and which I also observed), similar to 
 those in St. Sepulchre's Chapel, though far 
 inferior in the proportions and neatness of 
 workmanship. The same thing is repeated in 
 the north transept, but this is only an imita- 
 tion of the other, done for the sake of regu- 
 larity, for this part of the building is no older 
 than Archbishop Romaine, who came to the 
 see in 1285, and died 1296. 
 
 All the buildings of Henry the Second's 
 time (under whom Roger lived, and died, 1181) 
 are of a clumsy and heavy proportion, with a 
 few rude and awkward ornaments ; and this 
 style continues to the beginning of Henry the 
 Third's reign, though with a little improve- 
 ment, as in the nave of Fountains Abbey, &c. 
 Then all at once come in the tall piqued arches, 
 the light clustered columns, the capital of curl- 
 ing foliage, the fretted tabernacles and vault- 
 ings, and a profusion of statues, &c, that con- 
 stitute the good Gothic style, together with 
 decreasing and flying buttresses and pinnacles 
 on the outside. Nor must you conclude any 
 thing from Roger's own tomb, which has, I 
 remember, a wide surbased arch with scalloned 
 ornaments, &c. ; for this can be no older than 
 
THE POET GRAY. 305 
 
 the nave itself, which was built by Archbishop 
 Melton after the year 1315, one hundred and 
 
 thirty years after our Roger's death. 
 
 # * * * * 
 
 Pray come and tell me your mind, though I 
 
 know you will be as weary of me as a dog, 
 
 because I cannot play upon the glasses, nor 
 
 work joiner's work, nor draw my own picture. 
 
 Adieu, I am ever 
 
 Yours. 
 
 Why did not you send me the capital in the 
 corner of the choir ? 
 
 I have compared Helvetius* and Elfrida, as 
 you desired me, and find thirteen parallel pas- 
 sages, five of which at least are so direct and 
 close as to leave no shadow of a doubt, and 
 therefore confirm all the rest. It is a pheno- 
 menon that you will be in the right to inform 
 
 * See in Gray's Works, vol. iii. pp. 306-311, a very long 
 note of nearly six pages, by Mason, on the subject of this 
 plagiarism by Helvetins ; but Dr. Bennet, the Bishop of Cloyne, 
 in a MS. note of his copy of Mason and Gray, which I had, 
 writes, " This is a very pettish remark of Mason, especially as 
 there seems no doubt that Helvetius was imposed upon." 
 The curious part of the matter also is, that in the MS. this 
 part of the letter beginning " I have compared Helvetius," 
 &c. to the end, is not in Gray's but in Mason's writing, 
 added to Gray's letter. 
 
 X 
 
306 LETTERS OE 
 
 yourself about, and which I long to under- 
 stand. Another phenomenon is, that I read it 
 without finding it out ; all I remember is that 
 I thought it not at all English, and did not 
 much like it ; and the reason is plain, for the 
 lyric flights and choral flowers suited not in 
 the least with the circumstances or character 
 of the speaker as he had contrived it. 
 
 LETTER LXXXL 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, March 6, 1763. 
 
 I should be glad to know at what time you 
 think of returning into the North, because I 
 am obliged to be in town the end of this 
 month, or the beginning of next, and hope 
 somewhere or other to coincide with you, if the 
 waters are not too much out. I shall trouble 
 you, in case you have any call into the city (or 
 if not your servant may do it), to pay the 
 insurance of a house for me at the London 
 Assurance Office in Birchin Lane. You will 
 show them the receipt, which I here inclose. 
 Pay twelve shillings, and take another such 
 receipt stamped, which must be to 25th March, 
 1764. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 307 
 
 You may remember that I subscribed long 
 since to Stuart's book of Attica ; # so long since, 
 that I have either lost or mislaid his receipt 
 (which I find is the case of many more people). 
 Now he doubtless has a list of names, and 
 knows this to be true ; if, therefore, he be an 
 honest man, he will take two guineas of you, 
 and let me have my copy (and you will choose 
 a good impression) ; if not, so much the worse 
 for him. By way of douceur, you may, if you 
 please (provided the subscription is still open 
 at its first price), take another for Pembroke 
 Hall, and send them down together; but not 
 unless he will let me have mine, and so the 
 worshipful society authorise me to say. All 
 these disbursements the college and I will re- 
 pay you with many thanks. 
 
 Where is your just volume, and when will 
 you have done correcting it ? Remember me to 
 Stonhewer and Dr. Gisborne, and believe me, 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 * The Antiquities of Athens Measured and Delineated, by 
 James Stuart, folio. See Walpole's Mis. Cor. iv. 190, for an 
 anecdote of Hogarth's caricature of him as Athenian Stuart. 
 A house in St. James's Square, Mrs. Montagu's in Portman 
 Square, with a few others, remain as specimens of his archi- 
 tecture, and the Chapel of Greenwich Hospital. See life of 
 him in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. ix. pp. 146, 147. 
 
 x 2 
 
308 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER LXXXII. 
 REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 DEAR Mr. GRAY, York, June 28th, 17<63. 
 
 Stonhewer tells me that you are returned to 
 Cambridge ; therefore I trust you are at leisure 
 to read and to answer my letter, and to tell 
 me what is to be done about the count and his 
 Coserella. One cannot thank him for them, I 
 think, till one has read them ; and for my part 
 I can only thank him in plain English when- 
 ever I do it. Pray write me your mind as to 
 this matter. 
 
 You cannot think what a favourite I am of 
 Mr. Bedingfield's. I might have had an agate 
 and gold snuff-box from him the other day, 
 and why think you ? only because I gave him 
 an etching of Mr. Gray. "Lord, Sir," says 
 I, "would you repay me with a thing of this 
 value for a thing not worth three halfpence ?" 
 " What," says he, "a portrait of Mr. Gray done 
 by Mr. Mason of no value ! " &c. &c. In short 
 he pressed me to accept it till there was hardly 
 any such thing as refusing ; however, I refused 
 to the last, which you will own to be miraculous 
 when you consider my avarice, my fondness for 
 trinkets, and when I tell you the box was won- 
 derfullv handsome, and withal had a French 
 
THE POET QUAY. 309 
 
 hinge. This said gentleman is shortly going 
 to leave York entirely, without having resolved 
 in what other place to reside. To say the truth, 
 I arn not displeased at this ; for of all the ad- 
 mirers I have had in my time, I think he 
 would tire me the most was I to have much 
 of him. He goes from hence to Norfolk first 
 with his family, and that some time this next 
 month, and intends you a visit in his way. 
 Get your arm-chair new stuffed ; — no, the old 
 stuffing will have more inspiration in it. I 
 send you on the other page a Sonnet intended 
 to prefix to my first volume (Gray willing). 
 It has, I assure you, cost me much pains, and 
 yet it is not yet what it should he ; however I 
 will do no more at it till you have seen it, and 
 send me your opinion of it. 
 
 I have got about ten subscribers to Smart, 
 and do not know how to transmit him the 
 money. Stonhewer advises me to keep it, as 
 he hears he is in somebody's hands who may 
 cheat him. I have seen his Song to David, # and 
 
 * The Song to David, published in 1763, written during 
 the poet's confinement, when he was denied the use of pen, 
 ink, and paper, and was obliged to indent his lines with the 
 end of a key on the wainscot. See Anderson's Life of Smart, 
 p. 122, Only a fragment of this song is given in Anderson's 
 edition; but the entire poem, which is there supposed to be 
 lost, has since been recovered and printed. 
 
310 LETTERS OF 
 
 from thence conclude him as mad as ever. But 
 this I mention only that one should endeavour 
 to assist him as effectually as possible, which 
 one cannot do without the mediation of a third 
 person. If you know anybody now in London 
 (for Stonhewer has left it) whom I can write 
 to on this subject, pray tell me. It is said in 
 the papers he is prosecuting the people who 
 confined him ; if so, assisting him at present is 
 only throwing one's money to the lawyers. 
 Give my love to Mr. Brown and service to the 
 college. 
 
 Yours most sincerely, 
 
 W. Mason. 
 
 SONNET.* 
 
 D'Arcy, to thee, whate'er of happier vein, 
 
 Smit with the love of song my youth essay'd, 
 This verse devotes ; from that sequester'd shadef 
 
 Where letter'd ease, thy gift, endears the scene, 
 
 Here as the light-wing'd moments glide serene ; 
 I arch J the bower, or, through the tufted glade, § 
 In careless now the simple pathway lead, 
 
 And strew with many a rose the shaven green. 
 
 * This Sonnet to the Earl of Holdernesse, the patron of 
 Mason, is prefixed to the first volume of Mason's Works, in 
 4 vols. 8vo. 
 
 | Aston's secret shade. — Var. 
 
 J Weave.- — Var. 
 
 § Around the tufted mead. — Var. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 311 
 
 So, to deceive my solitary days, 
 
 Pleas'd may I toil till life's vain vision end, 
 
 Nor own a wish beyond yon woodbine sprays ; 
 Inglorious, not obscure, if D'Arcy lend 
 
 His wonted smile to these selected lays ; 
 The Muse's patron, but the Poet's friend.* 
 
 Aston, May, 1763. 
 
 W. M. 
 
 LETTEK LXXXIII. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, 1763. 
 
 As I have no more received my little thing 
 than you have yours, though they were sent 
 by the Beverley, Captain Allen, I have re- 
 turned no answer yet ; but I must soon, 
 and that in plain English, and so should you 
 too. In the meantime I borrowed and read 
 them. That on the Opera is a good clever dis- 
 sertation, dedicated to Guglielmo Pitt; the 
 other (II Congresso di Citera),f in poetical prose, 
 
 * With rural toils ingenuous arts I blend, 
 Secure from envy, negligent of praise, 
 Yet not unknown to fame, if D'Arcy "lend 
 His wonted smile to dignify my lays. — Var. 
 t Algarotti bom 1726, died 1764. He was intimate with 
 Voltaire, and Frederic of Prussia conferred on him the title of 
 Count. His monument (which I have seen) was erected by 
 
312 LETTERS OE 
 
 describes the negotiation of three ambassa- 
 dresses sent by England, Prance, and Italy to 
 the Conrt of Cupid, to lay before him the state 
 of his empire in the three nations ; and is not 
 contemptible neither in its kind; so pray be 
 civil to the count and Signor Howe. 
 
 I think it may be time enough to send poor 
 Smart the money you have been so kind to 
 collect for him when he has dropped his law- 
 suit, which I do not doubt must go against 
 him if he pursues it. Gordon (who lives here) 
 knows and interests himself about him ; from 
 him I shall probably know if he can be per- 
 suaded to drop his design. There is a Mr. 
 Anguish in town (with whom I fancy you were 
 once acquainted) ; he probably can best inform 
 you of his condition and motions, for I hear 
 he continues to be very friendly to him. 
 
 this King in the Campo Santo at Pisa, with the inscription 
 " Algarotto, Ovidii semulo, Newtoni discipulo, Fredericus 
 Magnus." His works were published at Venice in 17 vols. 
 8vo, 1791-1794. Mrs. Carter translated his Newtoniasmo. 
 II Congresso has been translated into French, with others of 
 his works. Tessaldo, in his Biographia, has given a list of 
 the writers who have treated of the life of Algarotti, vol. vi. 
 p. 175. It is said that he contributed to reform and improve 
 the Italian Opera. Gray writes to Mr. Hurd, " The Congress 
 of Cithera I had seen and liked before ; the Giudicio d'Amore 
 is an addition rather inferior to it." See Works, iv. p. 100. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 313 
 
 When you speak of Mr. Bedingfield, you 
 have always a dash of gall that shows your unfor- 
 giving temper, only because it was to my great 
 chair he made the first visit. For this cause 
 you refused the snuff-box (which to punish you 
 I shall accept myself), and for this cause you 
 obstinately adhere to the Church of England. 
 
 Hike your Sonnet * better than most dedica- 
 tions ; it is simple and natural. The best line 
 in it is : — 
 
 " So, to deceive my solitary days," &c. 
 
 There are an expression or two that break the 
 repose of it by looking common and overworn : 
 " sequestered shade," " woodbine sprays," 
 " selected lays ;" I dare not mention " lettered 
 ease." "Life's vain vision" does not pro- 
 nounce well. Bating these, it looks in earnest, 
 and as if you could live at Aston, which is not 
 true ; but that is not my affair. 
 
 I have got a mass of Pergolesi,t which is all 
 
 * See for this Sonnet Letter lxxxii. 
 
 \ It was Mr. Walpole's opinion that Gray first brought the 
 compositions of Pergolesi into England, though he does not 
 mention Pergolesi in his Letters. Mason and Walpole had 
 heard from him that he regarded the vocal compositions of 
 this master as models of perfection ; but the Salve Regina was 
 performed in England at the Haymarket, in 1740, so that it 
 could not have been brought into this country by Gray, who 
 did not arrive in England from Italy till the August of the 
 
314 LETTERS OF 
 
 divinity ; but it was lent me, or you should have 
 it by all means. Send for six lessons for the 
 pianoforte or harpsichord of Carlo Each, not 
 the Opera Bach, but his brother. To my fancy 
 they are charming, and in the best Italian 
 style. Mr. Neville and the old musicians here 
 do not like them, but to me they speak not 
 only music, but passion. I cannot play them, 
 though they are not hard ; yet I make a smat- 
 tering that serves " to deceive my solitary days;" 
 and I figure to myself that I hear you touch 
 them triumphantly. Adieu ! I should like to 
 hear from you. 
 
 The Petit Bon* sends his love to you. All 
 
 same year. — Burney's Hist, of Music, iv. 535. " In Mr. Gray's 
 interesting library I found several volumes (six?) of MS. music, 
 which Mr. Gray had selected when in Italy. At that time 
 very little music was printed in Italy, and none but the best 
 was made an article of traffic. I turned them over without 
 finding anything of value that had not since been printed. 
 The Dutch, without having the least pretension to musical 
 knowledge, printed many of the first authors, and as an 
 article of trade sold the Italian compositions all over Europe." 
 See Gardiner on Music and Friends, ii. 722. 
 
 * The affectionate and friendly title given by Gray to his 
 friend Dr. James Brown, Fellow and subsequently Master of 
 Pembroke Hall, having succeeded Dr. Long in 1770, and 
 retained the headship till 1784. He was appointed joint 
 executor with Mason to Gray's will, and he accompanied 
 Gray's remains to his grave in the churchyard of Stoke. See 
 
THE POET GRAY. 315 
 
 the rest (but Dr. May* and the master) are dead 
 or married. 
 
 LETTER LXXXIV. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 DEAR Mr. MASON, Cambridge, Thursday, 1764. 
 
 As you are alone and not quite well, I do 
 feel a little sort of (I am almost ashamed to 
 speak it) tenderness for you, but then I com- 
 fort myself with the thought that it does not 
 proceed from any remnant of old inclination or 
 kindness that I have for you. That, you must 
 allow, would be folly, as our places of abode 
 are so distant, and our occupations and pur- 
 suits so different. But the true cause is, that 
 I am pretty lonely too, and besides have a com- 
 plaint in my eyes that possibly may end in 
 blindness. It consists in not being able to 
 read at all with one eye, and having very often 
 
 on Mm Chatham Correspondence, iv. p. 311 ; Walpole's Misc. 
 Corresp. v. p. 118; vi. 94. 
 
 * Samuel May, elected a Fellow of Pembroke 1740, died 
 in 1787. Mentioned by Gray in his Letters (see Works, 
 vol. iii. pp. 24, 149), but not in a very flattering manner. 
 
316 
 
 LETTERS OF 
 
 the muscce volit antes before the other. I may 
 be allowed therefore to think a little of you and 
 Delaval, without any disparagement to my 
 knowledge of mankind and of human nature. 
 
 The match you talk of is no more consum- 
 mated than your own, and Kitty* is still a 
 maid for the Doctor, so that he wants the 
 requisite thing, and yet, I'll be sworn, his hap- 
 piness is yery little impaired. I take broiled 
 salmon to be a dish much more necessary at 
 your table than his. I had heard in town (as 
 you have) that they were married ; and 
 longed to go to Spilsby and make them a visit ; 
 but here I learn it is not true yet, whatever it 
 may be. I read and liked the Epigram t as it 
 
 * Kitty Hunter and Di\ Delap. See a letter from Eight 
 Hon. T. Townshend to G. Selwyn. " Another important 
 event is the marriage of Miss Hunter to a Dr. Delap, with 
 whose sister she boarded. It is said that her father has added 
 two hundred a year to her other settlement'" Nov. 11, 1764. 
 See Selwyn Correspondence, vol. i. p. 319; and Letter lxxvi. 
 of this Correspondence. Her other settlement was that made on 
 her by the Earl of Pembroke. See Walpole's Misc Letters, 
 vol. iv. p. 256. So ends the history of the Eev. Dr. Delap. 
 
 f I possess several of Mason's political and personal epi- 
 grams, which Walpole used to insert for him in the " Evening 
 Post ;" but do not recognise the one here alluded to. Those 
 against the king are written in the bitterest feeling of personal 
 animosity. See one of Mason's squibs alluded to, in Eockingham 
 Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 312; and see Letter xcvi. of this selection. 
 
THE POET QUAY. 317 
 
 was printed, and do insist it is better without 
 the last lines, not that the thought is amiss, 
 but because the same rhyme is repeated, and 
 the sting is not in the epigrammatic style ; I 
 mean, not easy and familiar. In a satire it 
 might do very well. Mr. Churchill is dead in- 
 deed, * drowned in a butt of claret, which was 
 tapped on the meeting of the Friends at 
 Boulogne. He made an excellent end, as his 
 executor Humphrey Cotes f testifies. I did not 
 
 * See on his death Walpole's Letters to Mason, i. p. 207 ; 
 Memoirs of George III., vol. i. p. 181, ii. p. 35 ; The Gren^ 
 ville Papers, vol. ii. p. 459, in a letter from Mr. Almon to Earl 
 Temple. " Although . (he writes) Churchill was very much 
 out of humour with the Minority, and intended very soon to 
 have attacked them upon their moderation, in a poem to have 
 been called Moderatus, inscribed to Mr. Pitt, yet his death 
 will be felt as a real loss, for the public admired his writings ; 
 and, whatever he might have said of the Minority, he would 
 certainly have said much worse of the Ministry." 
 
 •f A friend of Churchill (brother of Admiral Cotes) and a 
 wine-merchant and political character. He is mentioned in 
 Churchill's Poem, "Independence:" — 
 
 " Hail, Independence !— never may my lot 
 Till I forget thee, be by thee forgot. 
 Thither, oh thither! oftentimes repair, 
 Cotes, whom thou lovest too, shall meet thee there." 
 
 Churchill and Humphrey Cotes had gone to Boulogne on a 
 visit to Wilkes. Churchill was suddenly attacked with a fever, 
 and died. See a letter from Wilkes to Earl Temple, Nov. 1, 
 
318 LETTERS OF 
 
 write any of the elegies, being busy in writing 
 the Temple of Tragedy. Send for it forthwith, 
 for you are highly interested in it. If I had 
 not owned the thing, perhaps you might have 
 gone and taken it for the Reverend Mr. Lang- 
 horne's. It is divine. I have not read the 
 Philosophic Dictionary. I can stay with 
 great patience for anything that comes from 
 Voltaire. They tell me it is frippery, and 
 blasphemy, and wit. I could have forgiven 
 myself if I had not read Rousseau's Letters. 
 Always excepting the Contract Social, it is the 
 dullest performance he ever published. It is a 
 weak attempt to separate the miracles from the 
 morality of the Gospel. The latter he would 
 have you think he believes was sent from 
 God, and the former he very explicitly takes 
 for an imposture. This is in order to prove 
 the cruelty and injustice of the State of 
 Geneva in burning his Emile. # The latter part 
 of his book is to shew the abuses that have 
 
 1764, written while his two friends were staying with him. 
 See Grenville Papers, ii. p. 454. 
 
 * " Gray thought the Emile a work of great genius, though 
 mixed with much absurdity ; and that it might be productive 
 of good, if read with judgment, but impracticable and ridicu- 
 lous as a system of education. To adopt it as such, he said, 
 " you must begin a new world. 1 ' See Works, v. 46. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 319 
 
 crept into the constitution of his country, 
 which point (if you are concerned about it) he 
 makes out very well, and his intention in this 
 is plainly to raise a tumult in the city, and to 
 be revenged on the Petit Conseil, who con- 
 demned his writings to the flames. 
 
 Cambridge itself is fruitful enough of 
 events to furnish out many paragraphs in my 
 Gazette. The most important is, that Prog 
 Walker* is dead ; his last words were (as the 
 nurses sat by him and said, " Ah ! poor 
 gentleman, he is going ! ") ; " Going, going ! 
 where am I going ? I'm sure I know no more 
 
 * This is Doctor Richard Walker, Fellow and Vice-Master 
 of Trinity College and Professor of Moral Theology from 1744 
 to 1764; founder of the Botanic Gardens at Cambridge, He 
 is also the person quoted by Pope in the Dunciad (Book iv. 
 273) as the obsequious attendant on Bentley, " Walker, my 
 hat!" There is an engraving of him by Lainbourne very like 
 him. See some account of him in Cumberland's Memoirs, p. 73, 
 4to. and Bishop Monk's Life of Bentley, vol. ii. pp. 26, 349, 
 &c. He was called Frog Walker from his having served a 
 curacy in the fen-country at Upwell, and so peculiarly dis- 
 tinguished from others of his contemporaries of the same name, 
 " a nickname" says Bishop Monk, " by which he is still desig- 
 nated.' 1 ' 1 The same biographer observes, " His goodly disposi- 
 tion, his liberality and public spirit, and his almost chivalrous 
 devotion to the fortunes of his master (Bentley), have pro r 
 cured him a celebrity in the University annals, to which his 
 talents and acquirements do not seem to have entitled him." 
 
320 LETTERS OF 
 
 than the man in the moon." Doctor Ridling- 
 ton # has been given over with a dropsy these 
 ten weeks. He refused all tapping and scari- 
 fying, but obeyed other directions, till, finding 
 all was over, he prescribed to himself a boiled 
 chicken entire, and five quarts of small beer. 
 After this he brought up great quantities of 
 blood, the swelling and suffocation, and all 
 signs of water disappeared, his spirits returned, 
 and, except extreme weakness, he is recovered. 
 Every body has ceased to inquire after him, 
 and, as he would not die when he should, they 
 are resolved to proceed as if he were dead and 
 buried. Dr. Newcomef is dead. For six weeks 
 or more before his death he was distracted, not 
 childish, but really raving. Eor the last three 
 weeks he took no nourishment but by force. 
 Miss Kirke and the younger BeadonJ are exe- 
 cutors and residuary legatees. I believe, he 
 
 * Professor of Civil Law. See Letter xcn. 
 
 ■f Dean of Rochester, elected Margaret Professor of Divinity 
 in 1727, Master of St. John's in 1735, and was succeeded by 
 Zachary Brooke as Margaret Professor, and as Master of St. 
 John's by Dr. Powell. See account of him in Nichols's Li- 
 terary Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 558, and viii. p. 379. He died 
 10th January, 1765, set. 82. Buried in the Chapel of St. 
 John's College. 
 
 J Richard Beadon, Fellow of St. John's, afterwards Public 
 Orator, Master of Jesus, and Bishop of Gloucester and Bath. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 321 
 
 left about 10,000/., but there are many lega- 
 cies. Had I a pen of adamant, I could not de- 
 scribe the business, the agitation, the tempest, 
 the University is in about the Margaret Pro- 
 fessorship.* Only D.D.'s and B.D.'s have votes, 
 so that there are acts upon acts. The bell is 
 eternally tolling, as in time of pestilence, and no- 
 body knows whose turn it may be next. The 
 candidates are Dr. Law and Z. Brooke and my 
 Lord Sandwich. The day is Saturday next. 
 But alas ! what is this to the warm region of 
 Saint John's ? It is like Lisbon on the day of 
 the earthquake ; it is like the fire of London. 
 I can hear and smell it hither. Here too ap- 
 pears the furious Zachary; but his forces are 
 but three or four men. Here towers Doctor 
 Butherforth,t himself an host, and he has about 
 three champions. There Skinner, J with his 
 powerful oratory, and the decent Mr. Alvis,§ 
 
 * In 1765 Zachary Brooke, of St. John's, was elected 
 Margaret Professor, vacated by Dr. John Newcome's death. 
 He was also Dean of Eochester, and was succeeded in 1788 
 by J, Mainwaring, D.D. 
 
 ■f Dr. Rutherford, Fellow of St. John's and Kegius Professor 
 of Divinity. 
 
 % John Skynner, Fellow of St. John's, Sub-Dean of York, 
 and Public Orator from 1752 to 1762. He died May 25, 
 1805, aged 81. See Nichols's Anecdotes, ix. p. 487. 
 
 § Andrew Alvis, Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridgej 
 Y 
 
322 LETTERS OF 
 
 with their several invisible squadrons : Ogden 
 and Gunning * each fighting for himself, and 
 disdaining the assistance of others. But see, 
 where Frampton,t with his 17 votes, and on his 
 buckler glitters the formidable name of Sand- 
 wich, at which fiends tremble. Last of all 
 comes, with his mines and countermines, and 
 old Newcastle at his back, the irresistible force 
 of Powell. J 23 are a majority, and he has al- 
 ready 22-J. If it lapses to the Seniors he has 
 it; if it lapses to the Visitor he has it. In 
 short, as we all believe, he has it every way. 
 I know you are overjoyed, especially for that 
 he has the Newcastle interest. I have had a 
 
 M.A. 1738. Rector of Great Snoring, Norfolk, 1763 or 1764. 
 Died May 25, 1775. See a Letter from him to Mr. Gough in 
 Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, ix. p. 362. 
 
 * Probably Stuart Gunning, Fellow of St. John's College 
 in 1745, whose successor, Thomas Doyly, was elected in 
 March 1766. 
 
 ■f Thomas Frampton, Fellow of St. John's College, A.M. 
 1751, B.D. 1759. 
 
 J William Samuel Powell elected Master of St. John's 
 College in 1764, which he held till 1775. His sermons have 
 received the highest praise from the highest authorities. See 
 Hey's Lectures on Divinity, vol. i. pp. 77, 91 ; ii. p 263, and 
 the Index to the 4th volume, art. " Powell." See also Bishop 
 Maltby's Illustrations of the Christian Religion, p. 261. He 
 died January 19, 1775, aged 58. Cole has given a long 
 account of him in Nichols's Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 564-584. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 323 
 
 very civil visit of two hours from Archimage, 
 busy as he is ; for you know I inherit all 
 your old acquaintance, as I do all Delaval's old 
 distempers. I visited Dr. Balguy the other day 
 at Winchester, and he me at Southampton. 
 We are as great as two peas. The day of 
 election at Saint John's is Friday sennight. 
 
 Mr. Brown is well, and has forgot you. Mr. 
 Mcholls* is profuse of his thanks to me for your 
 civilities to him at York, of which, God knows, I 
 knew no more than the man in the moon. Adieu. 
 
 LETTER LXXXV. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 DEAR SlR, Southampton, Oct. 13, 1764. 
 
 Since I have been here, I have received from 
 you, and by your means, five letters. That 
 from Pa. I could wish you had opened, as I 
 know you, by your good will, would have done. 
 
 * The Rev. Norton Nicholls, of Blundeston, Suffolk. Mr. 
 Mathias's friendly and elegant memoir of him is well-known, 
 and is reprinted in Gray and Nicholls's Correspondence, ed. 
 Aid. p. 3 to 28. See also on him Walpole's Letter to Mann, 
 ii. pp. 210, 224. He is occasionally mentioned in the Corres- 
 pondence between Walpole and Mason; and my revered 
 friend Mr. Samuel Rogers informs me that he was well 
 acquainted with him. 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 LETTERS OF 
 
 The sum of it is, that he is at Geneva, with 
 the Rhone tumbling its blue and green tide 
 directly under his window. That he has 
 passed a fortnight in the Pays de Yaud, and 
 the Cantons of Berne, Pribourg, and Soleure, 
 and returned by the lake of Neufchatel. That 
 the whole country, and particularly the last- 
 named, appeared to him astonishingly beauti- 
 ful. He inquired much after Rousseau, but 
 did not meet with him ; his residence is at 
 Moitier au Travers, about four leagues from 
 Neufchatel, where he lives in great plenty, the 
 booksellers at the Hague being his bank, and 
 ready to answer any sum he draws for. It is 
 amazing what he got by his last two books. 
 He is often flying about from village to village ; 
 generally wears a sort of Armenian dress, and 
 passed for a kind of misanthrope, but is held 
 in great veneration by the people. 
 
 He says, he saw all the matters that come in 
 course in Prance, and was greatly disappointed. 
 The only thing he mentions is the church at 
 Amiens, which was really fine. They set out 
 in a few days (his date is 19th Sept.,) and go 
 by Chambery to Turin, from whence he will 
 write to you. His letter, he says, is not worth 
 the postage ; but it is the abundance and not 
 the want of matter that makes it so poor. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 32 
 
 After this what shall I say to you of my Lil- 
 liputian travels ? On Monday I think to see 
 Salisbury, and to he sure Wilton, and Ames- 
 bury, and Stonehenge. This will take up three 
 days, and then I come back hither, and think to 
 be in London on Saturday or Monday after, for 
 the weather grows untoward, and the sea (that 
 is, the little miniature of it, Southampton 
 Biver) rages horribly, and looks as if it would 
 eat one, else I should have gone to Lyming- 
 ton and Christ church, and called upon Mr. 
 Mansfield in the New Forest, to see the bow 
 that killed William Rufus, which he pretends 
 to possess. Say not a word of Andover. My 
 Lord Delawar has erected a little monument 
 over the spot where, according to ancient tra- 
 dition, that king was slain, and another in 
 God's House Chapel, where the Earl of Cam- 
 bridge, Lord Scroop, and Sir Thomas Grey, 
 were interred by Henry V. after he had cut 
 off their heads. It is in this town, and now 
 the French Church. Here lives Dr. Saint 
 Andre,* famous for the affair of the Habbit- 
 
 * Nathaniel St. Andre, surgeon. See Musgrave's Me- 
 moirs, Gent. Mag. vol. li. p. 320, and Noble's Continuation 
 of Granger, vol. iii. p. 477 ; and Biog. Anecdotes of Hogarth by 
 Nichols. When Samuel Molyneux, Esq., Secretary to George 
 Prince of Wales, died, St. Andre immediately married his 
 
326 LETTERS OF 
 
 "Woman, and for marrying Lady Betty Moly- 
 neux after they had disposed of her first hus- 
 band. She died not long since in the odour of 
 sanctity. He is 80 years old, and is now 
 building a palazzino here hard by, in a delight- 
 ful spot called Bellevue, and has lately pro- 
 duced a natural son to inherit it. What do 
 you say to poor Iwan,* and the last Buss mani- 
 festo ? Will nobody kill me that dragoness ? 
 Must we wait till her son does it himself ? 
 
 Mr. Stonhewer has been at Glamis. He tells 
 me no news. He only confutes a piece of news 
 I sent him, which I am glad to hear is a lie. 
 I must tell you a small anecdote I just hear, 
 that delights me. Sir E. Norton f has a mother 
 
 widow, Elizabeth, daughter of Algernon Capel, Earl of Essex. 
 St Andre was one of the dupes of* Mary Tofts, who asserted 
 she was delivered of seventeen rabbits in 1726. Sir Thomas 
 Clarges detected the fraud. Whiston wrote a paper on this 
 rabbit conception, as the fulfilment of a prophecy in Esdras. 
 St. Andre died in March 1776, aged 96. 
 
 * SeeBelsham's History, vol. v. p. 127. Walpole's George 
 III. i. p. 185; ii. p, 34. Lord Chesterfield's Letters, vol. iv. 
 p. 248. See Walpole's Misc. Letters, vol. iv. p. 443. " The 
 murder of the young Czar Iwan has stirred, again all my 
 abhorrence of the Czarina. What a devil in a diadem !" &c. 
 
 •j* Sir Fletcher Norton, Attorney- General, afterwards Speaker 
 of the House of Commons, and in 1792 Lord Grantley. His 
 father was Thomas Norton, of Grantley, near Ripon, who died 
 1719; and his mother was Elizabeth, daughter of William 
 
THE POET GRAY. 327 
 
 living at a town in Yorkshire, in a very indif- 
 ferent lodging. A good house was to be sold 
 there the other day. He thought in decency 
 he ought to appear willing to buy it for her. 
 When the people to whom it belongs imagined 
 that everything was agreed on, he insisted on 
 having two pictures as fixtures, which they 
 value at 601., so Mrs. Norton lives where she did. 
 I am sorry for the Duke of Devonshire.* 
 The cause, I fear, is losing ground, and I know 
 the person (where Mr. T.f has lately been) 
 looked upon all as gone, if this event should 
 happen. Adieu. When I get to town I shall 
 pick up something to tell you. 
 
 I am ever yours. 
 
 I know r nothing of Mason, but that he is well. 
 Southampton, at Mr. Vining's, plumber, in 
 High Street. 
 
 Sergeantson, of Hanleth, in Craven. Died 1774; buried in 
 Ripon Minster. 
 
 * William fourth Duke of Devonshire, died October 2nd, 
 1764, aged 44, at the German Spa; buried at Allhallows, 
 Derby. Lord Temple wrote to Mr. Mitchell at Berlin in 
 October, 1764. "Vous connoissez assez et vous sentirez de 
 nieme tout le malheur de la perte que nous venous d'essayer 
 dans la mort du Due de Devonshire." See Grenville Papers, 
 vol. ii. p. 452; and Eockingham Memoirs, vol. i. p. 134. 
 
 f Probably Mr. Talbot , Fellow of Pembroke. 
 
328 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER LXXXVI. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 DEAR SlR, Monday, 1764. ? 
 
 I received your letter before I left London, 
 and sit down to write to you, after the finest 
 walk in the finest day that ever shone to Netley 
 Abbey* — my old friend, with whom I longed to 
 renew my acquaintance. My ferryman (for one 
 passes over a little arm of the sea about half a 
 mile) assured me he would not go near it in 
 the night time for all the world, though he 
 knew much money had been found there. The 
 sun was " all too glaring and too full of gauds" 
 for such a scene, which ought to be visited 
 only in the dusk of the evening. It stands 
 in a little quiet valley, which gradually rises 
 behind the ruins into a half-circle crowned 
 with thick wood. Before it, on a descent, is 
 a thicket of oaks, that serves to veil it from 
 the broad day and from profane eyes, only 
 leaving a peep on both sides, where the sea 
 appears glittering through the shade, and ves- 
 sels, with their white sails, that glide across 
 and are lost again. Concealed behind the 
 
 * Compare Gilpin's description of Netley Abbey, in his 
 Tour in the Western Parts of England, p. 347. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 329 
 
 thicket stands a little castle (also in ruins), 
 immediately on the shore, that commands a 
 view over an expanse of sea clear and smooth 
 as glass (when I saw it), with Southampton 
 and several villages three miles off to the right, 
 Calshot Castle at seven miles' distance, and the 
 high lands of the Isle of Wight to the left, and 
 in front the deep shades of the New Forest 
 distinctly seen, because the water is no more 
 than three miles over. 
 
 The abbey was never very large. The shell 
 of its church is almost entire, but the pillars of 
 the aisles are gone, and the roof has tumbled 
 in ; yet some little of it is left in the transept, 
 where the ivy has forced its way through, and 
 hangs flaunting down among the fretted orna- 
 ments and escutcheons of the benefactors. 
 Much of the lodgings and offices are also 
 standing, but all is overgrown with trees and 
 bushes, and mantled here and there with ivy, 
 that mounts over the battlements. 
 
 In my way I saw Winchester Cathedral 
 again with pleasure, and supped with Dr. 
 Balguy, who, I perceive, means to govern the 
 chapter. They give 2001. a-year to the poor 
 of the city. His present scheme is to take 
 away this, for it is only an encouragement to 
 laziness. But what do they mean to do with 
 
330 LETTERS or 
 
 it ? That, indeed, I omitted to inquire, because 
 I thought I knew. I saw St. Cross, too, the 
 almshouse of Noble Poverty (so it was called), 
 founded by Henry de Blois and Cardinal Beau- 
 fort. It maintains nine decayed footmen, and 
 a master (Chancellor Hoadly), who has 800/. 
 a-year out of it. 
 
 This place is still full of bathers. I know 
 not a soul, nor have once been at the rooms. 
 The walks all round it are delicious, and so 
 is the weather. Lodgings very dear, and fish 
 very cheap. Here is no coffee-house, no book- 
 seller, no pastrycook ; but here is the Duke of 
 Chandos. # I defer my politics. My service to 
 Mr. Talbot, Gould, t &c, and to Mr. Howe, if 
 with you. Adieu. 
 
 * Henry Brydges, second Duke of Chandos, succeeded 
 1744; died 1771. 
 
 f Mr. Theodore Vine Gould, Fellow of New Hall, A.M. 
 1760. Mr. Thomas Talbot, of Queen's College, A.M. 1764. 
 William Taylor Howe, of Pembroke College, A.B. 1760. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 331 
 
 LETTER LXXXVIL 
 TO THE REY. JAMES BROWN. 
 
 Jermyn Street, 
 DEAR SlR, Thursday, October 25, 1764. 
 
 I am returned from Southampton, since 
 Monday last ; haye been at Salisbury, Wilton, 
 Stonehenge, and where not, and am not at all 
 the worse for my expedition. Delly* has been 
 here, and talks of going to Cambridge on 
 Wednesday, if you want him ; but, if you do 
 not, would be glad to be prevented by a letter. 
 His intention is only to stay there a day or 
 two. He asked rne for my rooms, but as I had 
 (intentionally) promised them to Mr. Mapletoft, 
 I answered as if I had actually been engaged 
 on that head, and had already wrote to you to 
 say so. If Mr. Mapletoft t does not come, they 
 are at Mr. Delly's service. 
 
 The present news is that Lady Harriet Went- 
 worthj (Lord Rockingham's sister), not a young 
 or a beautiful maiden, has married her servant, 
 an Irish footman. 
 
 Mr. Mason, who has been in Yorkshire, has 
 seen the future bride. She has just such a 
 
 * Delaval, Fellow of Pembroke, mentioned before, 
 t John Mapletoft, of Pembroke College, A.M. 1764. 
 J See p. 335. 
 
332 LETTERS OF 
 
 nose as Mason has himself; so you see it was 
 made in heaven. 
 
 The rent-roll of the present Duke of Devon- 
 shire's estate is 44,000Z. a-year. Lord Bichard 
 has better than 4,000/. a-year; Lady Dorothy 
 30,000Z.; a legacy of 500/. to General Conway ;* 
 500/. apiece to the three brothers, and they are 
 appointed guardians, and, I think, executors — 
 business enough, in conscience. To-day I hear 
 the Cambridge affair is compromised, and Lord 
 Hardwicke to come in quietly, f This I should 
 
 * Honourable Seymour Conway, only brother of the Earl 
 of Hertford, Groom of the Bedchamber, dismissed 1764 
 (April) from Court, and his regiment taken away, on account 
 of his opposition to Government on the question of General 
 Warrants. He was considered an upright and respectable 
 Minister, but had few opportunities of evincing military 
 talent. Field-Marshal 1793 ; died 1795. He had been 
 employed in the unsuccessful expedition against Eochfort. A 
 comedy, said to have been written by him, called " False 
 Appearances," afterwards taking the title of " Fashionable 
 Friends," found among Lord Orford's Papers, was acted at 
 Strawberry Hill. He is now best known through his inti- 
 macy with Horace Walpole. 
 
 | See Walpole's Miscellaneous Letters, vol. iv. pp. 325, 
 385, and 401, and Churchill's Candidate, p. 30. 
 
 Are there not proctors faithful to thy will, 
 One of full growth, others in embryo still, 
 Who may, perhaps, in some ten years or more, 
 Be ascertained that two and two make four ? &c. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 333 
 
 not give credit to had I not heard it before I 
 came from thence. The Duke of Cumberland, 
 they say, is in a very good way : it is strange 
 to me if he recovers. 
 
 I will write soon again, and try to tell you 
 more, for I shall stay in town about a fortnight 
 longer. You will oblige me if you will send to 
 inquire how Dolly Antrobus does. Adieu. 
 
 I am ever yours, 
 
 On which I find the following MS. note in Gray's copy of 
 Churchill : " When Lord Sandwich stood for the High Steward- 
 ship of Cambridge, the proctors could not agree whether he or 
 the Earl of Hardwiche had the majority of voices." See Gray's 
 Letters, vol. iv. p. 47, to Dr. Wharton. "Your mother, the 
 University, has succeeded in her great cause against the party 
 of State ; Lord Hardwiche is declared duly elected, by a majo- 
 rity of one voice," &c. And see Dr. King's Anecdotes of his 
 own Time, p. 161, and Mr. Grenville's Diary, vol. ii. p. 236, 
 Grenville Papers. " The King wished Lord Sandwich to give 
 up the pursuit, dislikes his activity, and does not approve of 
 the factions of great lords making parties for themselves. See 
 p. 494. Mr. Nicholls tells us, that in the contest for the High 
 Stewardship at Cambridge, between Lord Hardwicke and Lord 
 Sandwich, Mr. Gray took a warm and eager part, for no other 
 reason, I believe, than because he thought the licentious cha- 
 racter of the latter candidate rendered him improper for a 
 post of such dignity in the University. See Gray's Works, 
 ed. Aid. vol. v. p. 37. 
 
334 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER LXXXVIII. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 DEAR SIR, Monday, Oct. 29, 1764. 
 
 I was not able to answer your letter on 
 Saturday, but Delly* will certainly be with you 
 on Wednesday, good man. 
 
 The Duke of Devonshire f for the last fortnight 
 of his life was in a state of infancy. On opening 
 his head there were found two fleshy substances 
 that pressed upon the brain — the source of his 
 malady. He leaves Devonshire House, with 
 the pictures, furniture, &c, to Lord Richard, 
 his second son, which the present duke may 
 redeem by paying down 20,000/. ; in short, to 
 Lord Richard and Lord George (for there are 
 
 * Delaval. 
 
 j- On the Duke of Devonshire's death, Oct. 2, 1764, aged 44, 
 at Spa, see the Grenville Papers, ii. pp. 22, 441. Walpole's 
 Misc. Letters, iv. 238, 435. Selwyn Correspondence, i. pp. 286, 
 291. Walpole's History of George III. vol. i. pp. 71, 202; 
 vol. ii. pp. 20, 100, 111. Rockingham Papers, i. 137. Bel- 
 sham's History, iv. p. 305. This nobleman was much lamented. 
 He was the son of him who was called " the good old Duke 
 of Devonshire," who died in 1755. See his character in 
 Collins's Peerage, i. 357. Lord Mahon's Hist. vol. v. p. 89, for 
 his character. On his resignation Oct. 28, in 1762, see Lord 
 Mahon's Hist. v. App. iii. from the Grafton MSS. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 335 
 
 two) he gives about 4,000Z. a-year apiece ; the 
 rest I think I told you before. The majority 
 do not exult upon this death ; they are modest 
 and humble, being all together by the ears ; so, 
 indeed are the minority too. I hear nothing 
 about the Cambridge affair, and you do not tell 
 me whether my last news was true ; I conclude 
 not, for I am told the Yorkes are very fully and 
 explicitly against the present measures — even 
 their chief himself. 
 
 The present talk runs on Lady Harriet Went- 
 worth* (that is her name since she married her 
 Irish footman). Your friend the Marquis of 
 Rockingham's sister is a sensible, well-educated 
 woman; twenty-seven years old, indeed, and 
 homely enough. O'Brien and his ladyf (big 
 with child) are embarked for America, to culti- 
 vate their 40,000 acres of woodland. Before 
 
 * Lord Rockingham's sister, Lady Henrietta Olivia Went- 
 worth, married Mr. William Sturgeon. She was born 1737. 
 See Walpole's Misc. Letters, iv. p. 460, and Selwyn Corre- 
 spondence, vol. i. p. 312-315. 
 
 ■f " O'Brien and Lady Susan are to be transported to the 
 Ohio and have a grant of 40,000 acres. The Duchess of 
 Grafton says 60,000 was bestowed; but a friend of yours and 
 a relation of Lady Susan nibbled away 20,000 from the captain." 
 Walpole to Lord Hertford, iv. 404 and 440, and Lord Holland 
 to Mr. Grenville, Oct. 14, 1764, on the same subject. See 
 Grenville Papers, ii. p. 447. 
 
336 LETTERS OF 
 
 they went, her uncle made him enter himself at 
 
 Lincoln's Inn ; I suppose to give him the idea 
 
 of returning home again. # 
 
 I hope not to stay here above a fortnight, 
 
 but in the meantime should be glad if you 
 
 would inform me what is the sum total of my 
 
 bill. Adieu. 
 
 I am ever yours, 
 
 As I have room, I shall tell you that, on the 
 news of the Duke of Cumberland's illness at 
 
 * Lady Susan Fox, Lord Ilchester's daughter, married 
 O'Brien, the actor. Lord Holland, in a letter to Mr. Gren- 
 ville, says, " Mr. O'Brien is gone with her to New York, and 
 the keeping him there in credit is all that can be done, whilst 
 we, if possible, forget them here." He then asks for a place 
 of Comptroller of the Customs for him at New York, and 
 says, " The King has shown much compassion on this un- 
 fortunate o<jpasion." See Grenville Papers, vol. ii. 447. See 
 also a letter from H. Walpole to Lord Hertford, in Misc. Corr. 
 iv. p. 404, and Letters to Mann, i. p. 195. "A melancholy 
 affair has happened to Lord Ilchester. His eldest daughter, 
 Lady Susan, a very pleasing girl, though not handsome, 
 married herself two days ago, at Covent Garden Church, to 
 O'Brien, a handsome young actor t Lord Ilchester doted on 
 her, and was the most indulgent of fathers. It was a cruel 
 blow." See also J. Taylor's Eecords of his own Life, vol. i. 
 p. 176, for some interesting account of the character and 
 talents of Mr. O'Brien ; and see Selwyn Correspondence, 
 vol. i. 273. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 337 
 
 Newmarket, Lord S. coming out of the closet 
 met a great butcherly lord with a white staff, * 
 and, with a countenance very decent and com- 
 posed to sorrow, told him they had extreme bad 
 news ; that his Royal Highness the Duke was so 
 ill it was doubtful whether he could live till 
 next day.f The other replied, " Bad news, do 
 you call it ? By God, I am very glad of it, and 
 shall be to hear the same of all that do not love 
 the King." 
 
 My service to Mr. T.J I am glad to hear he 
 is well. 
 
 LETTER LXXXIX. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAPl MASON, Jermyn Street, May 23, [1765 ?] 
 
 In my way into the remote parts of the north, 
 I mean to make you a visit at York ; probably 
 you will see me there on Wednesday next in 
 the evening. It is your business to consider 
 whether you have a house and a tea for me, for 
 I shall stay there a week perhaps, if you con- 
 
 * Lord Talbot, Lord Steward. Lord S. is probably Lord 
 Sandwich, the Secretary of State. 
 
 f He died in Upper Grosvenor Street, 31st October, 1765. 
 % Mr. Talbot, 
 
 Z 
 
338 LETTERS OF 
 
 tinue agreeable so long. I have been in town 
 this month, every day teeming with prodigies. 
 I suppose you receive expresses every three 
 hours, and therefore I pass over the Regency 
 Bill, the weavers' petition, the siege of Bedford 
 House,* the riot on Ludgate Hill, the royal 
 embassy to Hayes, t the carte blanche refused 
 
 * For an account of these riots in 1765 see Cavendish 
 Debates, pp. 147, 310, and Notes of the Editor; Walpole's 
 Memoir of George the Third, vol. ii. p. 155 ; Walpole's Mis- 
 cellaneous Letters, vol. v. p. 35. See also the Rockingham 
 Memoirs, vol. i. p. 207. " Bedford House was completely- 
 besieged by the rioters, who could only be repelled by a body 
 of cavalry. The cause of the Duke of Bedford's being the 
 principal object of the attack of the rioters, was owing to his 
 being foremost in opposing the altering the duties on Italian 
 silks, so as to obtain a total prohibition of them. The silk 
 manufacture at that time in Spitalfields was at a low ebb, and 
 it required near another century before the advantage of free- 
 dom of trade was understood and adopted." 
 
 "]" On this embassy to Lord Chatham, at his seat at Hayes, 
 near Bromley, see Walpole's History of George the Third, 
 vol. i. p. 288; Belshani's History, vol. v. p. 94; Adolphus's 
 History, vol. i. p. 127; Lord Mahon's History, vol. v. pp. 55- 
 59. See also Lord Hardwicke's Letter to Lord Royston, in 
 his Life by Harris^ vol. iii. p. 375-380. The grounds of this 
 favourite seat of Lord Chatham, which he sold to a Mr. Wal- 
 pole on his coming into possession of Burton Pynsent, and 
 then anxiously repurchased, were laid out by him ; the little 
 lake and the Palladian bridge still remain. In this house he 
 died, and in this house his second son, William Pitt, was 
 born. Visited by me July, 1851. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 339 
 
 with disdain, the subversion of the ministry, 
 which fights to the last gasp, and afterwards 
 like the man che combattea e era morto, and 
 yet stands upon its legs and spits in its master's 
 face to this day because nobody will deign to 
 take its place ; the House of Commons stand- 
 ing at gaze with its hands before it ; the House 
 of Lords bullying the justices of peace and 
 
 fining the printers ;* the king , &c. &c. 
 
 The rest is left to oral tradition. Adieu ! 
 
 LETTER XC. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 July 16, 1765. 
 
 Willtam Shakespeare to Mrs. Anne, Regular Servant to the 
 Rev. Mr. Precentor, of York. 
 
 A moment's patience, gentle Mistris Anne: 
 (But stint your clack for sweet St. Charitie) 
 
 'Tis Willey begs, once a right proper man, 
 Though now a book, and interleav'd you see. 
 
 Much have I borne from canker'd critic's spite, 
 From fumbling baronets, and poets small, 
 
 Pert barristers, and parsons nothing bright : 
 
 * This alludes to the proceedings in the case of Wilkes. 
 Almon was Wilkes's printer. 
 
 z2 
 
340 LETTERS or 
 
 But what awaits me now is worst of all. 
 'Tis true, our master's temper natural 
 
 Was fashion'd fair in meek and dove-like guise ; 
 But may not honey's self be turn'd to gall 
 
 By residence, by marriage, and sore eyes ? 
 If then he wreak on me his wicked will, 
 
 Steal to his closet at the hour of prayer ; 
 And (when thou hear'st the organ piping shrill) 
 
 Grease his best pen, and all he scribbles, tear. 
 Better to bottom tarts and cheesecakes nice, 
 
 Better the roast meat from the fire to save, 
 Better be twisted into caps for spice, 
 
 Than thus be patch'd and cobbled in one's grave. 
 So York shall taste what Clouet never knew, 
 
 So from our works sublimer fumes shall rise ; 
 While Nancy earns the praise to Shakespeare due, 
 
 For glorious puddings, and immortal pies. 
 
 Tell me if you do not like this, and I will 
 send you a worse. I rejoice to hear your eyes 
 are better, as much as if they were my own ; 
 but the cure will never be lasting without a 
 little sea. I have been for two days at Hartle- 
 pool to taste the waters, and do assure you 
 nothing can be salter, and bitterer, and nastier, 
 and better for you. They have a most anti- 
 scorbutic flavour. I am delighted with the 
 place. There are the finest walks, and rocks, 
 and caverns, and dried fishes, and all manner 
 of small inconveniences a man can wish. I am 
 going again this week, so wait your commands. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 341 
 
 Dr. Wharton would be quite happy to see 
 you at Old Park. If you should have kindness 
 and resignation enough to come, you must get 
 to Darlington, then turn off the great road to 
 Merrington, then inquire the way to Spenny- 
 moor House, where they will direct you hither. 
 Adieu, I am ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 LETTER XCI. 
 REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 DEAR Mr. GRAY, Aston, July 22nd, 1765. 
 
 As had as your verses were they are yours, 
 and, therefore, when I get back to York I will 
 paste them carefully in the first page of my 
 Shakespeare to enhance its value, for I intend 
 it to be put in my marriage settlement as a 
 provision for my younger daughters. My eldest 
 boy is to be provided for out of Hutton's* nose, 
 and I have just now writ to Stonhewer to get 
 a reversionary grant of a commission of hawkers 
 and pedlars for my second son. When this 
 
 * Gray writes, in 1768, " Mr. Hutton being dead, Mason 
 has now a landed estate, the income of which, in a few years, 
 will be considerable." Works, v. p. 74. 
 
342 LETTERS OF 
 
 matter is settled I hope soon to be in posses- 
 sion of my gentle Ar gentile ;* for really and sin- 
 cerely I have seen her, got her consent, have 
 written to her father, and letters now every 
 post relative to her jointure. After all, I verily 
 believe it will not do, and am at present much 
 out of sorts about it; and, was it not that I 
 love her more than ever, should wish I had 
 been soused head and ears at Hartlepool before 
 I had ventured to make my proposals. But no 
 more of this ; you will not pity me now, no 
 more than you did when I was in residence and 
 sore eyes. 
 
 I am here about the commission concerning 
 my exchange of glebe, which I hope to finish 
 next Wednesday ; after which I shall go soon 
 either to Hull or York, unless Lord Holder- 
 nesse stops me by coming here next week, 
 which, though he talks of doing, I fancy he 
 will not. 
 
 I know nothing of politics, except from a 
 letter of Eraser's ; that he is taken from Lord 
 Northumberland by the Duke of Grafton, and 
 is just where he was four years ago with Lord 
 
 * Mason, in calling his bride " gentle Argentile," alludes to 
 his play of Argentile and Curan, a legendary drama, written 
 about this time. Argentile was the daughter of king Adel- 
 bright. See his Works, vol. ii. p. 208. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 343 
 
 Holdernesse. Poor fellow ! I pity him ; but I 
 hope Stonhewer will be good to him, for he is 
 a worthy creature. I have no belief, however, 
 in the duration of this ministry, unless Mr. 
 Pitt* adds himself to it, which I fancy he will 
 hardly do. 
 
 You will be very cross I know at this letter, 
 since it will tell you that I shall not come to 
 Hartlepool; for I know you want somebody 
 that you may frump and scold, and say sharp 
 things to ; and my dove-like temper would be 
 nothing in the world for you after a gulp of sea 
 water. However, my eyes are now perfectly 
 well, that I laugh at the scurvy. 
 
 I direct this to Dr. Wharton's on supposition 
 that you are tired of Hartlepool. Give my best 
 compliments to the Dr.f and his lady, and be- 
 lieve me to be, as much as I can be any body's 
 at present, 
 
 Yours most sincerely, 
 
 W. Mason. 
 
 * On the Administration in 1765, Lord Chesterfield says, 
 " The keystone must and -will be Mr. Pitt " See Letters, iv. 
 pp. 260-1. Adolphus's History, vol. i. chap. ix. p. 232. 
 Belsham's History, b. xiv. p. 103. 
 
 t Doctor Wharton. 
 
344 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XCIL 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Old Park, Thursday, Aug. 1765. 
 
 It is true I have been lately a very indifferent 
 correspondent, but poverty knows no law, and 
 must be my excuse. Since the fortnight I 
 passed with Mason at York (who was then very 
 bad with that troublesome defluxion in his 
 eyes, and is since cured, and now stands on the 
 brink of marriage), I have been always resi- 
 dent *at Old Park, excursions excepted of a day 
 or two at a time, and one lately of three weeks 
 to Hartlepool. The rocks, the sea, and the 
 weather there more than made up to me the 
 want of bread and the want of water, two capi- 
 tal defects, but of which I learned from the 
 inhabitants not to be sensible. They live on 
 the refuse of their own fish-market, with a few 
 potatoes, and a reasonable quantity of geneva, 
 six days in the week, and I have nowhere seen 
 a taller, more robust, or healthy race; every 
 house full of ruddy broad-faced children ; no- 
 body dies but of drowning or old age ; nobody 
 poor but from drunkenness or mere laziness. 
 I had long wished for a storm, and was treated 
 
THE POET GRAY. 345 
 
 before I came away with such a one as July 
 could produce ; but the waves did not rise 
 above twelve feet high, and there was no hurt 
 done. On Monday (I believe) I go to Scot- 
 land with my lord, 1 * and Tom and the Major. No 
 ladies are of the party, they remain at Hetton ;f 
 yet I do not expect to see anything, for we go 
 post till I come to Glands. 
 
 I hear of Palgrave's safe arrival in England. 
 Pray, congratulate him from me, and beg he 
 would not give away all his pictures and gems 
 till I come. I hope to see him in October. Is 
 it true that young Tyrrell does not go into 
 orders ? Dr. Hallifax (who was here with Dr. 
 Lowth) tells me, that Bridlington | is on his way 
 to Nice. The last letter you sent me was from 
 Mr! Hamsey, a tenant of mine in Cornhill, who 
 wants to see me anent particular business. As 
 I know not what it is I go with a little uneasi- 
 
 * Lord Stratlimore and Thomas Lyon. Gray writes to 
 Dr. Wharton: " Being just returned from an excursion which 
 / and the Major have been making into the Highlands," &c. 
 vol. iv. p. 51. 
 
 "j* See Letter c. A seat of Lord Strathmore's, in Durham, 
 near Rainton. 
 
 J Dr. William Eidlington, of Trinity Hall, Professor of 
 Civil Law, 1757 ; tutor of the College in 1766 ; died in 1770; 
 succeeded in his Professorship by Dr. Halifax. See Gray and 
 Nicholls Correspondence, p. 65; and note, p. 188. 
 
346 LETTERS OF 
 
 ness on my mind farther north. But what can 
 one do ? I have told him my situation. 
 
 The Doctor and Mrs. Wharton wish for you 
 often, though in vain ; such is your perverse- 
 ness. Adieu; I will write again from Scot- 
 land more at large. 
 
 I am, ever sincerely yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 Are you not glad for Stonhewer ? I have 
 heard twice from him, hut it is sub sigillo. 
 
 LETTER XCIII. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 DEAR SlR, London, Tuesday night, 1765. 
 
 I hope to he with you hy Thursday or Eriday 
 se'nnight. You will hardly go before that time 
 out of college ; hut if you do, the writings will 
 be as safe in your drawers as in mine. You 
 have heard so much news from the party that 
 were going to Scotland, that it would be a vain 
 thing for me to talk about it. I can only add, 
 that you will shortly hear, I think, of a great 
 change of affairs, which, whenever I come to 
 town, always follows. To-day I met with a 
 report that Mr. Pitt lies dangerously ill ; but I 
 
THE POET GRAY. 347 
 
 hope, and rather believe, it is not true. When 
 he is gone all is gone, and England will be old 
 England again, such as, before his administra- 
 tion, it always was ever since we were born. 
 
 I went to-day to Becket's to look at the last 
 volume of Seba.* It comes unbound to four 
 guineas and a half, and contains all the in- 
 sects of that collection (which are exceedingly 
 numerous), and some plates of fossils. The 
 graving, as usual, very unequal, and the de- 
 scriptions as poor as ever. As you have the 
 rest, I conclude you must have this, which 
 completes the work, and contains the index. 
 
 Are you not glad of the Carlisle t history? 
 Walking yesterday in the Windsor Park, I met 
 the brother of the disgraced party, and walked 
 
 * Locupletissimi Eerum Naturalium Thesauri accurata 
 Descriptio, &c, digessit, descripsit, depingendarum curavit 
 Albertus Seba. 4 vols. fol. Amst. 1734—1765. 
 
 f This is an allusion to the well-known duel between Lord 
 Byron and Mr. Chaworth, in which the latter was killed. 
 See on it Walpole's Misc. Letters, i. 45, iv. 492, v. 20; 
 Letters to Mann, vol. i. pp. 195, 226 ; Selwyn Correspondence, 
 i. 355, iii. 49; and Walpole's Mem. of George HI., ii. p. 50. 
 Isabelle, only sister of Lord Byron, was the wife of the 4th 
 Earl of Carlisle. " I feel for both families," says Horace 
 Walpole, " though I know none of either, but poor Lady 
 Carlisle, whom I am sure you will pity." This was William, 
 fifth Lord Byron, born 1722, died 1798. 
 
348 letters or 
 
 two hours with him. I had a vast inclination 
 to wish him joy, but did not dare. Adieu. 
 
 I am ever yours, 
 
 LETTER XCIY. 
 TO THE REV. W. MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, 1765. 
 
 Res est sacra miser (says the poet), but I say 
 it is the happy man that is the sacred thing, 
 and therefore let the profane keep their dis- 
 tance. He is one of Lucretius' gods, supremely 
 blessed in the contemplation of his own felicity, 
 and what has he to do with worshippers ? This, 
 mind, is the first reason why I did not come 
 to York : the second is, that I do not love con- 
 finement, and probably by next summer may 
 be permitted to touch whom, and where, and 
 with what I think fit, without giving you any 
 offence : the third and last, and not the least 
 perhaps, is, that the finances were at so low an 
 ebb that I could not exactly do what I wished, 
 but was obliged to come the shortest road to 
 town and recruit them. I do not justly know 
 what your taste in reasons may be, since you 
 altered your condition, but there is the in- 
 
THE POET GRAY. 349 
 
 genious, the petulant, and the dull; for you 
 any one would have done, for in my conscience 
 I do not believe you care a halfpenny for 
 reasons at present ; so God bless ye both, and 
 give ye all ye wish, when ye are restored to the 
 use of your wishes. 
 
 I am returned from Scotland* charmed with 
 my expedition ; it is of the Highlands I speak ; 
 the Lowlands are worth seeing once, but the 
 mountains are ecstatic, and ought to be visited 
 in pilgrimage once a year. None but those 
 monstrous creatures of God know how to join 
 so much beauty with so much horror. A fig 
 for your poets, painters, gardeners, and clergy- 
 men, that have not been among them; their 
 imagination can be made up of nothing but 
 bowling-greens, flowering shrubs, horse-ponds, 
 Meet- ditches, shell- grottoes, and Chinese rails. 
 Then I had so beautiful an autumn, Italy could 
 hardly produce a nobler scene, and this so 
 sweetly contrasted with that perfection of nasti- 
 ness, and total want of accommodation, that 
 Scotland only can supply. Oh, you would have 
 blessed yourself. I shall certainly go again; 
 what a pity it is I cannot draw, nor describe, 
 nor ride on horseback. 
 
 * See a long and interesting letter from Gray to Dr. Whar- 
 ton, describing his visit to Scotland, cxxxi., Works, vol. iv. p. 51. 
 
350 LETTERS OF 
 
 Stonhewer is the busiest creature upon earth 
 except Mr. Eraser ; they stand pretty tight, for 
 all his Hoyal Highness.* Have you read (oh 
 no, I had forgot) Dr. Lowth's pamphlet t against 
 
 * This probably relates to the death of the Duke of Cum- 
 berland, who was understood to have formed the present 
 administration, and to constitute great part of its strength. 
 (Mason.) 
 
 ■f On this celebrated Letter of Dr. Lowth, among other books 
 that may be referred to, are the Monthly Eeview, 1765, vol. 
 ii> p. 369; Nichols's Illustrations of Literature, iii. 711- 
 714; viii. 407; Nichols's Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 637, ii. 455, 
 iv. 334; Dr. Parr's Warburtonian Tracts, p. 182. It was 
 the cause of so many other letters from the friends and 
 advocates of either party, that my copy of this little pam- 
 phlet has swelled by such additions into two octavo volumes. 
 It is with pleasure that we know these two very eminent 
 men were subsequently reconciled, though some little doubt 
 is supposed to hang on the subject; on which point see Mr. 
 Peter Hall's Memoir of Lowth, pp. 28, 29, who, I think, is 
 justified in his conclusion, concerning the incorrectness of the 
 anecdote given in the Parriana by Mr. Barker. Surely 
 Warburton, with all his coarseness of language, would not 
 have ranked Lowth among " the scavengers of literature;" and 
 the whole weight of the anecdote related, depends on his 
 glancing his eye on Lowth as he spoke in a public room. Dr. 
 Parr says, " Warburton's setting lustre was viewed with nobler 
 feelings than those of mere forgiveness, by the amiable and 
 venerable Dr. Lowth." " Ahenside^ Dr. Warton informs his 
 brother, " thought highly of Lowth's letter, but that he had 
 been coarse in places. Lord Lyttelton seemed to admit that 
 Lowth had gutted the letters and given the substance, but not 
 
THE POET GRAY. 351 
 
 your uncle the Bishop ? Oh, how he works him. 
 I hear he will soon be on the same bench. To- 
 day Mr. Hurd came to see me, but we had not 
 a word of that matter ; he is grown pure and 
 plump, just of the proper breadth for a cele- 
 brated town-preacher. There was Dr. Balguy 
 too : he says Mrs. Mason is very handsome, so 
 you are his friend for ever. Lord Newnham, 
 I hear, has ill health of late : it is a nervous 
 case, so have a care : how do your eyes do? 
 
 Adieu : my respects to the bride. I would 
 kiss her, but you stand by and pretend it is not 
 the fashion, though I know they do so at Hull. 
 
 I am, ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 LETTER XCV. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 DEAR MASON,* Pembroke Hall, Saturday, 1765. 
 
 I rejoice; but has she common sense ? Is she 
 a gentlewoman ? Has she money ? Has she a 
 
 the real correspondence." Garriek was furious about publishing 
 them. See Wooll's Life of Dr. Warton, p. 312. 
 
 * Mason married on the 25th of September, 1765, the 
 daughter of William Sherman, Esq., of Hull, who died at 
 Bristol, March 27, 1767. " Ah ! amantissima, optima, fceniina 
 vale ! " was a note written by Mason, which I found among 
 his manuscripts. 
 
352 LETTERS OE 
 
 nose ? I know she sings a little, and twiddles on 
 the harpsichord, hammers at sentiment, and puts 
 herself in an attitude, admires a cast in the 
 eye, and can say Elfrida by heart. But these 
 are only the virtues of a maid. Do let her 
 have some wifelike qualities, and a double por- 
 tion of prudence, as she will have not only her- 
 self to govern, but you also, and that with an 
 absolute sway. Your friends, I doubt not, will 
 suffer for it. However, we are very happy, 
 and have no other wish than to see you settled 
 in the world. We beg you would not stand 
 fiddling about it, but be married forthwith, 
 and then take chaise, and come * # # # 
 all the way to Cambridge to be touched by Mr. 
 Brown, and so to London, where, to be sure, 
 she must pass the first winter. If good 
 reasons (and not your own nor her coquetry) 
 forbid this, yet come hither yourself, for our 
 copuses and Welsh rabbits are impatient for you. 
 I sent your letter to Algarotti directly. My 
 Coserella came a long while ago, from Mr. 
 Holies, I suppose, who sent me, without a 
 name, a set of his engravings, when I was last 
 in town ; which, I reckon, is what you mean 
 by your fine presents. The Congresso di Ci- 
 tera was not one of the books. That was my 
 mistake. I like his treatises very well. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 353 
 
 I hope in God the dedicatorial sonnet has 
 not staid for nie. I object nothing to the second 
 line, hut like it the better for Milton, and with 
 him too I would read in penult, (give me a 
 shilling) " his ghastly smile,"* &c. But if yon 
 wont pnt it in, then read " wonted smile, " and a 
 little before " secure from envy." I see nothing 
 to alter. "What I said was the best line is the 
 best line still. Do come hither, and I will 
 read and criticise " your amorons ditties all a 
 winters day." Adien, I am truly yonrs. I 
 hope her hair is not red thongh. I have been 
 abroad, or I had wrote sooner. 
 
 LETTER XCVI. 
 TO THE REY. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, 
 
 I rejoice to find yon are both in health, and 
 that one or other of yon at least can have yonr 
 teeming time : yon are wise as a serpent, but 
 the devil of a dove, in timing both yonr satire 
 and your compliments. When a man stands 
 
 * A jocose allusion to what Gray, in another place, calls 
 Lord Holdernesse's ugly face. 
 
 2 A 
 
Q 
 
 54d LETTERS OF 
 
 oil the very verge of dissolution, with all his 
 unblushing honours thick upon him ; when the 
 gout has nipped him in the bud and blasted all 
 his hopes at least for one winter, then come 
 you buzzing about his nose, and strike your 
 sting deep into the reddest, angriest part of his 
 toe, which will surely mortify.^ When another 
 has been weak enough in the plenitude of power 
 to disarm himself of his popularity, and to con- 
 ciliate a court that naturally hates him, submits 
 to be decked in their trappings and fondle their 
 lap-dogs, then come you to lull him with your 
 gentlest hum, recalling his good deeds, and 
 hoping what I (with all my old partialities) 
 scarce should dare to hope, if I had but any 
 one else to put my trust in. Let you alone, 
 where spite and interest are in view : ay, ay, 
 Mrs. M. (I see) will be a bishopess. 
 
 Well, I transcribed your wickedness in a 
 print hand, and sent it by last Sunday's post 
 to Dr. Gisborne, with your orders about it, for 
 I had heard St.f say that he hoped for a 
 month's respite to go into the North, and did 
 not know but he might be gone. G. was to 
 send me word he had received it, but has not 
 
 * Lord Chatham ; a few months seemed to restore him to 
 all his popularity, as was evinced by the King's visit to the 
 City. t Mr « Stonhewer. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 355 
 
 yet done so, and (Lord bless me) who knows 
 but he may be gone into Derbyshire, and the 
 Ode gone after him ; if so, mind I am innocent, 
 and meant for the best. I liked it vastly, and 
 thought it very well turned and easy, especially 
 the diabolical part of it. I fear it will not 
 keep, and would have wished the public might 
 have eat it fresh; but, if any untoward accident 
 should delay it, it will be still better than most 
 things that appear at their table. 
 
 I shall finish where you begun, with my 
 apology. You say you have neglected me, and 
 (to make it relish the better) with many others : 
 for my part I have not neglected you, but I 
 have always considered the happy, that is, new- 
 married people, as too sacred or too profane a 
 thing to be approached by me ; when the year 
 is over, I have no longer any respect or aver- 
 sion for them. 
 
 Adieu : I am in no spirits, and perplexed 
 besides with many little cares, but always 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 P.S. — My best respects to Madam in her 
 grogram gown. I have long since heard that 
 you were out of pain with regard to her health. 
 Mr. Brown is gone to see his brother near 
 
 Margate. 
 
 2 A 2 
 
356 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XCVII. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 DEAR SlR, Jermyn Street, 15 May, 1766. 
 
 To-morrow morning I set out for Canterbury. 
 If any letter comes, I believe it will be better to 
 direct to me as usual at Mr. Itoberts's here, and 
 lie will take care to send it. I know not how 
 long my stay in Kent may be : it depends on 
 the agreeability of Mr. Hobinson and his wife. 
 
 You expect to hear who is Secretary of State. 
 I cannot tell.^ It is sure this morning it was 
 not determined; perhaps Lord Egmont; per- 
 haps Lord Hardwicke (for I do not believe he 
 has refused, as is said) ; f perhaps you may hear 
 
 * May 23rd, 1766, Charles Duke of Richmond appointed 
 Secretary of State, vice the Duke of Grafton. Succeeded 
 August 2, by the Earl of Shelburne. See Walpole's 
 Memoirs of George III. vol. ii. p. 324, who says, " I resolved 
 to try to make the Duke of Richmond Secretary of State; 
 Lord Hardwicke (the second Lord) declined the offer." Wal- 
 pole describes the latter as " a bookish man, conversant only 
 with parsons, ignorant of the world and void of all breeding, 
 was as poor a choice as could be made." See Adolphus's 
 History, vol. i. p. 224. Walpole's Misc. Letters, v. p. 148. 
 
 j" See Lord Hardwicke's letter to his brother, dated 1 4 May, 
 on the offer of the seals made to him; and another, 15 May, 
 declining the offer. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 357 
 
 of three instead of two. Charles Townshend 
 affirms he has rejected both that office and a 
 peerage ; doubtless from his firm adherence to 
 Mr. Pitt — a name which the court, I mean Lord 
 Tt., Lord Nd., and even Lord E. # himself, at 
 present affect to celebrate, with what design 
 you are to judge. You have doubtless heard of 
 the honour done to your friend Mrs. Macaulay.f 
 Mr. Pitt has made a panegyric of her History in 
 the house. J It is very true Wilkes has arrived. 
 The tumults in Spain spread wider and wider, 
 while at Naples they are publicly thanking God 
 
 # Lord Talbot, Lord Northumberland, Lord Bute. On 
 Lord Talbot, see Lord Mahon's History, v. p. 29; Kocking- 
 ham Papers, i p. 172; Grenville Papers, i. 421. Lord Talbot 
 was a Court favourite. See also Walpole's Letters to Mann, 
 voi. i. p. 20-23 ; Walpole's Memoirs of George the Third, 
 vol. i. pp. 74, 81. The Earl of Northumberland (Sir H. J. 
 Percy) married Lord Bute's daughter. See Walpole's History 
 of George HT. vol. i p. 419 ; ii. p. 41. He was also a favourite. 
 
 t Professor Smyth, in his Lectures on Modern History, 
 designates Mrs. Macaulay's History, " as very laborious and 
 unfavourable to Charles L" vol. i. p. 15. " When any doubt 
 is entertained of the conduct of Charles, Mrs. Macaulay may 
 be referred to, and a charge against him, if it can possibly be 
 made out, will assuredly be found, and supported with all the 
 references that the most animated eloquence can supply." 
 Ibid p. 407. 
 
 ^ No account of this panegyric appears in Thackeray's 
 Life of Lord Chatham. 
 
358 LETTERS OF 
 
 for their cessation ; perhaps yon may hear. All 
 is not well in Ireland. It is very late at night. 
 Adien. Pa. went home to-day, and Mr. Weddell 
 with him. J. Wheeler has returned from Lishon. 
 The great match will not be till after Christmas. 
 Torn* is gone to Scotland. It is sure the lady 
 did refuse both Lord Mountstuart and the Duke 
 of Beaufort, f Good night. 
 
 I came away in debt to you for two post- 
 chaises. Pray set it down. 
 
 * This is Lyon. 
 
 •j* " Lord Mountstuart going to be married to one of the Miss 
 Windsors." See Walpole's George III. p. 87. See also Lord 
 Chesterfield's Letters, iv. p. 276. " These two sisters are 
 more sought for their money than for their beauty." The 
 Duke of Beaufort married June 6th, 1766, Elizabeth, youngest 
 daughter of Admiral Boscawen. Francis Viscount Beauchamp 
 (second Marquis of Hertford) married 1 February, 1768, 
 Alicia, second daughter of Viscount Windsor. Horace Wal- 
 pole, in a letter to George Montague, says, " Lord Beauchamp 
 is going to marry the second Miss Windsor. It is odd that 
 these two ugly girls should get the two best figures in England, 
 him and Lord Mountstuart." See Misc. Letters, v. 175, and 
 Selwyn Correspondence, ii. p. 92. " There is," says a 
 moralist, " no better scale by which to judge of the low code 
 of morality adopted by society than their indulgent view of 
 mercenary marriages." 
 
THE POET GRAY. 359 
 
 LETTER XCVIII. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, p. Hail, 5th Oct. 1766. 
 
 I was going to write to you when I received 
 your letter, and on the same subject. The first 
 news I had was from Stonhewer on the 23rd 
 September, in these words : " This morning Dr. 
 Brown dispatched himself. He had been for 
 several days past very low-spirited, and within 
 the last two or three talked of the necessity of 
 dying, in such a manner as to alarm the people 
 about him. They removed, as they thought, 
 every thing that might serve his purpose ; but he 
 had contrived to get at a razor unknown to them, 
 and took the advantage of a minute's absence 
 of his servants to make use of it." I wrote 
 to him again (I suspect he knows our secret, 
 though not from me) to make farther inquiries, 
 and he says, 27th September, " I have tried to 
 find out whether there was any appearance or 
 cause of discontent in Brown, # but can hear of 
 none. A bodily complaint of the gouty kind, 
 that fell upon the nerves and affected his spirits 
 
 * In addition to the former note on Letter xvn. see Wal- 
 pole's Misc. Letters, iii. 90; Index to Nichols's Literary Anec- 
 dotes, under " Brown, Dr. John." 
 
360 LETTERS OF 
 
 in a very great degree, is all that I can get any 
 information of; and I am told besides, that he 
 was some years ago in the same dejected way, 
 and nnder the care of proper attendants." Mr. 
 W. # too, in answer to a letter I had written to 
 inquire after his health, after giving an account 
 of himself while under the care of Pringle, adds, 
 " He (Pringle) had another patient at the same 
 time, who has ended very unhappily — that poor 
 Dr. Brown. The unfortunate man apprehended 
 himself going mad, and two nights after cut his 
 throat in hed."f This is all I know at present of 
 the matter. I have told it you literally, and I 
 conceal nothing. As I go to town to-morrow, if 
 I learn anything more you shall soon hear from 
 me ; in the mean time, I think we may fairly 
 conclude that, if he had had any other cause 
 added to his constitutional infirmity, it would 
 
 * Horace Walpole. 
 
 f Lady Hervey's Letters, p. 229 ; Lord Chesterfield's 
 Letters, Iv. 275; Hey's Lectures on Divinity, i. p. 454; Life 
 of Lord Lyttelton, by Philliinore, p. 511. But the passage 
 which throws most light on the somewhat mysterious circum- 
 stances attending Mr. Brown's death, is to be found in Nichols's 
 Illustrations of Literature of the Eighteenth Century, vol. iii. 
 p. 715-718, taken from a letter by Mr. Archdeacon Black- 
 burne to the printer of the St. James's Chronicle, 1766, which, 
 being too long for a note, is printed at the end of this Corre- 
 spondence, in an Appendix, No. 1. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 361 
 
 have been uppermost in his mind. He would 
 have talked or rayed about it, and the first 
 tiling we should have heard of would have been 
 this, which, I do assure you, I have never heard 
 from anybody. There is in this neighbourhood 
 a Mr. Wall, who once was in the Russian trade, 
 and married a woman of that country. He 
 always maintained that Dr. Brown would never 
 go thither, whatever he might pretend, and that, 
 though fond of the glory of being invited thither, 
 he would certainly find or make a pretence for 
 staying at home; very possibly, therefore, he 
 might have engaged himself so far that he knew 
 not how to draw back with honour, or might 
 have received rough words from the Russian 
 minister, offended with his prevarication. This 
 supposition is at least as likely as yours, added 
 to what I have said before ; much more so, if it 
 be necessary to suppose any other cause than 
 the lunatic disposition of the man ; and yet I 
 will not disguise to you that I felt as you do on 
 the first news of this sad accident, and had the 
 same uneasy ideas about it. 
 
 I am sorry the cause you mention should be 
 the occasion of your coming to London, though, 
 perhaps, change of air may do more than medi- 
 cine. In this length of time I should think 
 you must be fully apprised whether her looks, 
 
362 LETTERS OF 
 
 or strength, or embonpoint have suffered by this 
 cough; if not, surely there is no real danger; 
 yet I do not wonder she should wish to get rid 
 of so troublesome a companion. 
 
 When I can meet with the book I will tran- 
 scribe what you mention from Mallet. I shall 
 write again soon. Do you know of any great, 
 or at least rich, family that want a young man 
 worth his weight in gold, to take care of their 
 eldest hope. If you do, remember I have such 
 a one, or shall have (I fear) shortly to sell ; but 
 they must not stand haggling about him ; and 
 besides, they must be very good sort of people 
 too, or they shall not have him. Adieu. My 
 respects to Mrs. Mason. 
 
 I am ever sincerely yours, 
 
 Mr. Brown desires his best compliments to 
 you both. 
 
 LETTER XCIX. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAR MASON, Jermyn Street, at Mr. Roberts's. 
 
 Oct. 9, 1766. 
 
 I am desired to tell you, that if you still 
 continue to be tired of residence, or are in any 
 
THE POET GRAY. 363 
 
 way moderately ambitious or covetous, there 
 never was a better opportunity. The Duke of 
 Grafton is extremely well inclined, and you 
 know who is at hand to give his assistance; but 
 the apparent channel should be your friend, 
 Lord Holdernesse, who is upon good terms. 
 This was said to rne in so friendly a way, that I 
 could not but acquaint you of it immediately. 
 
 I have made inquiry, since I came hither, 
 on a subject that seemed much to take up your 
 thoughts, and, I do assure you, find not the 
 least grounds to give you uneasiness. It was 
 mere distemper, and nothing more. Adieu. 
 I am sincerely yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 My respects to Mrs. Mason. 
 
 LETTER C. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 DEAR SlR, Jermyn Street, Oct. 23, 1766. 
 
 I observed that AnseP was dead, and made 
 the same reflection about it that you did. I 
 
 * See Gray's Letter to Mr. Nicholls of Blundeston, Oct. 14, 
 1766, on the deatli of Ansel, a lay Fellow of Mr. Nicholls's 
 College. See Works, vol. v. p. 65- Ansel was a Fellow of 
 Trinity Hall, 22 years senior in standing to Mr. Nicholls. 
 
364 LETTERS OF 
 
 also wrote to remind N.* of it, but have heard 
 nothing since. We have great scarcity of 
 news here. Every thing is in Lord Ch's 
 breast. If what lies hid there be no better 
 than what comes to light, I would not give 
 sixpence to know it. Spain was certainly of- 
 fered to Lord Weymouth, and in the second 
 place, some say to Sandwich ; at last, perhaps, 
 Sir James Gray may go. But who goes 
 Secretary do you think ? I leave Mr. T. and 
 you ten guesses a-piece, and yet they will be all 
 wrong. Mr. Prowsef has refused the Post Of- 
 fice. I do not believe in any more dukes, un- 
 less, perhaps, my Lord Marquis of Rockingham 
 should like it. The Prince of Wales has been 
 ill of what they call a fever. They say he is 
 better, but Sir J. Pringle continues to lie every 
 night at Kew. My Lady — has discarded 
 
 * Mr. Norton Nicholls. 
 
 ■f See Grenville Papers for mention of Mr. Proivse, vol. i. 
 p. 396, Duke of Newcastle's estimation of him; and p. 398, 
 for Mr. Grenville's letter to Mm, Oct. 14, 1761, offering him 
 the Speakership of the House of Commons ; and p. 402, for his 
 answer- In a letter from Mr. Nugent to Mr. Grenville, 
 Oct. 1764, he says, " Prowse is here (at Bath), not at all well, 
 and lives very much retired. I have heard some things of him 
 which I do not entirely like, although they are only sympto- 
 matic." Mr Prowse was M.P. for Somersetshire for many 
 years, and died in 1767. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 365 
 
 Thynne* and taken to Sir T.Delaval,t they say. 
 The clothes are actually making, bnt possibly 
 she may jilt them both. The clerk who was 
 displaced in the Post Office lost 1,700Z. a-year. 
 Would you think there could be such under- 
 offices there ? Have you read Mr. Grenville's 
 Considerations J on the merits of his own Ad- 
 ministration ? It is all figures ; so, I suppose, 
 it must be true. Have you read Mr. Sharp 
 the surgeon's Travels into Italy ? § I recom- 
 
 * Thomas Thynne, third Viscount Weymouth, " an incon- 
 siderable, debauched young man, attached to the Bedfords." 
 See Walpole's George III. ii. 176, and Sir D. Le Merchant's 
 note for further account of him. He was named for Lord Lieu- 
 tenant of Ireland, but never went over. See Walpole's 
 George HI. vol. in. p. 136; iv. pp. 237, 241, 246. In after 
 life he made a much better and more conspicuous figure. 
 
 | Sir John Delaval died 1727. Sir Thomas Delaval, his 
 son, succeeded. Concerning the descendants of this baronetcy 
 nothing further is known. See Courthope's Extinct Baronet- 
 age, p 61. 
 
 J George Grenville's " Candid Eefutation of the Charges 
 brought against the present Ministers, in a late pamphlet, 
 entitled, The Principles of the late Charges impartially con- 
 sidered, in a Letter to the supposed Author." 8vo. 1765. 
 
 § See Monthly Review, 1766, p. 399-431, and a good 
 character of them in BoswelTs Johnson, vi. 177; again in 
 Johnsoniana, p. 442, 8vo. Dr. Johnson says, "As to Italy, 
 Baretti painting the fair side, and Sharp the foul, the truth 
 perhaps lies between the two." 
 
366 LETTERS OF 
 
 mend these two authors to you instead of Livy 
 and Quintilian. 
 
 Palgrave, I suppose, you have by this time 
 seen and sifted ; if not, I must tell you, his 
 letter was dated from Glamis, 30 Sept.,* 
 Tuesday night. He was that day returned 
 from my tour in the Highlands, delighted 
 with their beauties, though he saw the Alps last 
 year. The Priday following he was to set out 
 for Hetton,f where his stay would not be long ; 
 then pass four days at Newby, J and as much at 
 York, and so to Cambridge, where, ten to one, 
 he has not yet arrived. Tom outstripped Lord 
 Panmure at the county court at Forfar all to 
 nothing. Dr. Richmond § is body chaplain to 
 the Duke of Athol, lives at Dunkeld, and eats 
 muir-f owls' livers every day. If you know this 
 already, who can help it ? 
 
 * Glamis, in Forfarshire, a seat of Lord Strathmore's. 
 
 | Hetton, in Durham, was the seat of the Hon. Thomas 
 Lyon, brother of Lord Strathmore. 
 
 \ Neivby was Mr. WeddelFs seat in Yorkshire. 
 
 § Probably Richard Richmond, who became Bishop of Sodor 
 and Man 1773, and died in 1780, son of a Sylvester Richmond, 
 rector of Walton, in Lancashire. He was of the family that 
 produced many clergymen of that name in the last century, 
 all descended from a Sylvester Richmond, a physician in 
 Liverpool towards the close of the 1 7th century. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 367 
 
 Pray tell me, how do you do ; and let me 
 know the sum total of my bill. Adieu. 
 
 I am ever yours, T. G. 
 
 Commend me to Mr. Talbot and Dr. Gis- 
 borne. Delaval is coming to you. Is Mr. 
 Mapletoft there ? If not, he will lie in my 
 rooms. 
 
 LETTER CI. 
 TO THE REY. JAMES BROWN. 
 
 DEAR SlR, Jerinyn Street, 18 Nov. 1766. 
 
 I paid the sum above-mentioned this morn- 
 ing at Gillam's office in Bishop sgate Street. 
 The remittance you will please to pay out of it. 
 I have not time to add all the bad news of the 
 times, but in a few days you shall have some of 
 it ; though the worst of all is just what I can- 
 not write. I am perfectly out of humour, and 
 so will you be. 
 
 Mason is here, and has brought his wife, a 
 pretty, modest, innocent, interesting figure, 
 looking like 18, though she is near 28. She 
 does not speak, only whispers, and her cough 
 as troublesome as ever ; yet I have great hopes 
 
368 LETTERS OF 
 
 there is nothing consumptive. She is strong 
 and in good spirits. We were all at the opera 
 together on Saturday last. They desire their 
 loves to yon. I have seen Mr. Talbot and 
 Delaval lately. Adieu. I am ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 I cannot find Mons. de la Chalotais* in any 
 of the shops. Lord Strathmore, I am told, is 
 to be married here. I know nothing of Pa. 
 but that he was still at Mr. WeddelTs a fort- 
 night since. Be so good to tell me you have 
 received this, if you can, by the return of the 
 post. 
 
 * Louis Rene de Chalotais, born 1701, died 1785, cele- 
 brated for the part lie took in the expulsion of the Jesuits, 
 and for his dangerous dispute with D'Aiguilon, which was 
 near leading him to the scaffold. He wrote his Memoirs, and 
 an Essay on National Education, in 1763. He was a man 
 of courage, wit, and talent. See Lacretelle's History, vol. iv. 
 p. 115, and vi. p. 3. Walpole says, in a letter to Conway, 
 " The accusation against Chalotais is for treason. What do 
 you think the treason is ? a correspondence with Mr, Pitt, to 
 whom he is made to say, "that Rennes is nearer to London 
 than Paris." It is now believed that the letters, supposed to 
 have been written by Chalotais, were forged by a Jesuit; 
 those to Mr. Pitt could not have even so good an author." 
 See Walpole's Miscellaneous Correspondence, vol. v. p. 106 ; 
 and Chateaubriand Memoires d'outre-Tombe,vol.ii. pp. 25, 36. 
 ed. 1849, Bruxelles. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 369 
 
 LETTER CII. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, p em b. Hail, Jan. 27, 1767. 
 
 Dean Swift says, one never should write to 
 one's friends but in high health and spirits. 
 By the way it is the last thing people in those 
 circumstances usually think of doing. But it 
 is sure, if I were to wait for them, I never 
 should write at all. At present, I have had 
 for these six weeks a something growing in my 
 throat, which nothing does any service to, and 
 which will, I suppose, in due time stop up the 
 passage. I go however about, and the pain is 
 very little. You will say, perhaps, the malady 
 is as little, and the stoppage is in the imagi- 
 nation ; no matter for that. If it is not suf- 
 ficient to prove want of health (for indeed this 
 is all I ail), it is so much the stronger proof of 
 the want of spirits. So, take it as you please, I 
 carry my point, and shew you that it is very 
 obliging in me to write at all. Indeed, per- 
 haps, on your account, I should not have done 
 it, but, after three such weeks of Lapland 
 weather, I cannot but inquire after Mrs. 
 Mason's health. If she has withstood such a 
 winter and her cough never the worse, she 
 
 2b 
 
370 LETTERS OF 
 
 may defy the doctors and all their works. 
 Pray, tell me how she is, for I interest myself 
 for her, not merely on your account, but on 
 her own. These last three mornings have been 
 very vernal and mild. Has she tasted the air 
 of the new year, at least in Hyde Park ? 
 
 Mr. Brown will wait on her next week, and 
 touch her. He has been confined to lie on a 
 conch, and under the surgeon's hands ever 
 since the first of January with a broken shin, 
 ill doctored. He has just now got abroad, and 
 obliged to come to town about Monday, on par- 
 ticular business. 
 
 Stonhewer was so kind as to tell me the 
 mystery now accomplished, before I received 
 your letter. I rejoice in all his accessions. I 
 wish you would persuade him to take unto him 
 a wife, but, do not let her be a fine lady. Adieu. 
 Present my respects and good wishes to Argen- 
 tile.* I am, truly yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 * Mrs. Mason. See p. 342. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 371 
 
 LETTEE CIII. 
 THE REV, WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 DEAR Mr. GRAY, Cleveland Row, Feb. 2, 1767. 
 
 No, alas ! she has not withstood the severity 
 of the weather ; it nipped her as it would have 
 done a flower half withered before, and she has 
 been this last month in a most weak condition. 
 Yet this present fine season has enabled me to 
 get her three or four times out into the air, 
 and it seems to have had some good effect, yet 
 not enough to give me any substantial hopes of 
 her recovery. There are few men in the world 
 that can have a competent idea of what I have 
 of late felt, and still feel; yet you are one of 
 those few, and I am sure will give me a full 
 share of your pity. Were I to advise Ston- 
 hewer to a wife, it should certainly be to a fine 
 lady; it should not be to one he could love 
 to the same degree that I do this gentle, this 
 innocent creature. 
 
 I hope she will be well enough to see Mr. 
 Brown when he comes. Pray tell him we have 
 changed our lodgings, and are to be found at 
 Mr. Menniss', a tailor, at the Golden Ball, in 
 Cleveland Row, the last door but one nearest 
 
 2 b 2 
 
372 LETTERS OF 
 
 the Green Park wall. Would to God he would 
 persuade you to come with him. 
 
 If I had spirits for it, I would congratulate 
 you on the new Bishop of Cloyne. Is it not, 
 think you, according to the order of things (I 
 mean not the general hut the peculiar order 
 of our own times), that the mitre which so 
 lately was on the brows of the man with every 
 virtue under heaven should now adorn those 
 of our friend Erederic ? # 
 
 I think it probable that the swelling you 
 complain of in your throat is owing to some 
 little swelling in a gland. I had a complaint 
 of the same kind a great while, and after I used 
 myself, first, to a flannel round my neck at night, 
 and, afterwards, constantly lying in my stock, 
 the disorder left me. I wish you would try the 
 same method, if you have not tried it already. 
 Dear Mr. Gray, believe me to be, 
 Yours most cordially, 
 
 W. Mason. 
 
 My wife sends her kindest compliments. 
 
 * Honourable Frederic Hervey (afterwards Earl of Bristol), 
 translated to Cloyne, 1767, and to Derry in 1768. Gray's 
 allusion is to Bishop Berkeley, as drawn by Pope, in lines warm 
 from the hand of friendship. 
 
 Manners with candour are to Sutton grven, 
 To Berkeley every virtue under heaven. 
 
 Epilogue to the Satires. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 373 
 
 LETTER CIV. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 DEAR MASON, Sunday, Feb. 15, 1767. 
 
 It grieves me to hear the bad account you 
 give of our poor patient's health. I will not 
 trouble you to inquire into the opinions of her 
 physicians; as you are silent on that head, I 
 doubt you are grown weary of the inutility of 
 their applications. I, you will remember, am 
 at a distance, and cannot judge, but by con- 
 jecture, of the progress her disorder seems to 
 make, and particularly of that increasing weak- 
 ness which seems, indeed, an alarming symp- 
 tom. I am told that the sea-air is advised as 
 likely to be beneficial, and that Lord Holder- 
 nesse offers you the use of Walmer Castle,* but 
 
 * Lord Holdernesse had the Cinque Ports given to him on 
 his retirement from office. See Walpole, in a letter to Mann, 
 vol. i. p. 234. "You will ask what becomes of Lord Holder- 
 nesse ? Truly he is no unlucky man. For a day or two he 
 will be Groom of the Stole, with an addition of ] 0001. a-year. 
 At last he has the reversion of the Cinque Ports for life, after 
 the Duke of Dorset, who is extremely infirm." See also 
 Belsham's History, v. p. 18. " Lord Holdernesse having secured 
 an ample pecuniary indemnification, together with the rever- 
 sion of the Cinque Ports, resigned the seals." See also Lord 
 Melville's Diary, p. 416; Waldegrave Memoirs, p. 121; 
 
374 LETTERS OF 
 
 that you wait till the spring is more advanced to 
 put this in execution. I think I should by no 
 means delay at all. The air of the coast is 
 at all seasons warmer than that of the inland 
 country. The weather is now mild and open, 
 and (unless the rains increase) fit for travelling. 
 Remember how well she bore the journey to 
 London ; and it is certain that sort of motion, 
 in her case, instead of fatigue, often brings an 
 
 Harris's Life of Lord Hardwick, vol. iii, p. 242 ; and nume- 
 rous places in Walpole's Letters and Histories, where much of 
 him occur, as Miscellaneous Letters, i. 342; iii. 41, 296; 
 iv. 301, 434; History of George II. vol. i. 198; ii. 84, 124; 
 History of George III. vol. i. p. 42; iii. p. 223; iv. p. 311, 
 314. To the office of Lord Warden a salary of 5000Z. a-year 
 was attached in May 19, 1778. George III. wrote to Lord 
 North, " I never meant to grant you the Wardenship of the 
 Cinque Ports for life. The being over-persuaded, when quite 
 ignorant of public business, to grant that office for life to Lord 
 Holdernesse, for a particular object, is no reason for doing so 
 now. I daily find the evil of putting so many employments 
 out of the power of the Crown, and for the rest of my life I 
 will not confer any in that way, unless when ancient practice 
 has made it a matter of course. I will confer it on you, during 
 pleasure, with an additional salary, to make it equal to the 
 sum received by Lord Holdernesse." See Lord Mahon's His- 
 tory, vi. xli. Lord Barrington, in a letter to Mitchell, says, 
 "Our friend Holdernesse is finally in harbour; he has 4000/. 
 a-year for life, with the reversionship of the Cinque Ports after 
 the Duke of Dorset," &c. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 375 
 
 accession of strength. I have lately seen that 
 coast, and been in Deal Castle, which is very 
 similar in situation to Walmer and many other 
 little neighbouring forts ; no doubt, you may 
 be very well lodged and accommodated there. 
 The scene is delightful in fine weather, but in 
 a stormy day and high wind (and we are but 
 just got so far in the year as the middle of 
 February), exposed to all the rage of the sea 
 and full force of the east wind ; so that, to a per- 
 son unused to the sea, it may be even dreadful. 
 My idea, therefore, is that you might go at 
 present to Hamsgate, which is sheltered from 
 the north, and opening only to the south and 
 south-east, with a very fine pier to walk on.* 
 It is a neat town, seemingly, with very clean 
 houses to lodge in, and one end of it only 
 running down to the shore ; it is at no season 
 much pestered with company, and at present, 
 I suppose, there is nobody there. If you find 
 Mrs. Mason the better for this air and situa- 
 tion (which God send), when May and fine 
 
 * Sir Egerton Brydges told me that when Gray was staying 
 in Kent with his friend the Rev. W. Robinson, they went over 
 to Ramsgate. The stone pier had just been built. Some one 
 said, " For what did they make this pier ?" Gray imme- 
 diately said, " For me to walk on" and proceeded, with long 
 strides, to claim possession of it. — Ed. 
 
376 LETTERS OE 
 
 settled weather come in, you will easily remove 
 to Walmer, which at that season will be de- 
 lightful to her. If — forgive me for supposing 
 the worst, your letter leaves me too much 
 reason to do so, though I hope it was only the 
 effect of a melancholy imagination — if it should 
 be necessary to meet the spring in a milder 
 climate than ours is, you are very near Dover, 
 and perhaps this expedient (if she grow very 
 visibly worse) may be preferable to all others, 
 and ought not to be deferred : it is usually too 
 long delayed. 
 
 There are a few words in your letter that 
 make me believe you wish I were in town. I 
 know myself how little one like me is formed 
 to support the spirits of another, or give him 
 consolation; one that always sees things in 
 their most gloomy aspect. However, be assured 
 I should not have left London while you were 
 in it, if I could well have afforded to stay there 
 till the beginning of April, when I am usually 
 there. This, however, shall be no hindrance, if 
 you tell me it would signify anything to you 
 that I should come sooner. Adieu : you (both 
 of you) have my best and sincerest good wishes. 
 I-am ever yours, T. G. 
 
 P.S. — Remember, if you go into Kent, that 
 
THE POET GRAY. 377 
 
 W. Hobinson lives at Denton (eight miles from 
 Dover) ; perhaps he and his wife might be of 
 some little use to you. Him you know ; and 
 for her, she is a very good-humoured, cheerful 
 woman, that (I dare swear) would give any 
 kind of assistance in her power; remember, too, 
 to take whatever medicines you use with you 
 from London. A country apothecary's shop 
 is a terrible thing. # 
 
 My respects to Dr. Gisborne, and love to 
 Stonhewer. When you have leisure and incli- 
 nation, I should be very glad to hear from 
 you. Need I repeat my kindest good wishes 
 to Mrs. Mason. 
 
 LETTER CV. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 MY DEAR MASON, March 28, 1767. 
 
 I break in upon you at a moment when we 
 least of all are permitted to disturb our friends, 
 only to say that you are daily and hourly pre- 
 
 * So it was in those days, for Adam Smith computes the 
 value of all the drugs in the shop of a country apothecary at 
 no more than 25Z.! 
 
378 LETTERS OF 
 
 sent to my thoughts. If the worst be not yet 
 passed, you will neglect and pardon me ; but if 
 the last struggle be over, if the poor object of 
 your long anxieties be no longer sensible to 
 your kindness, or to her own sufferings, allow 
 me (at least in idea, for what could I do were 
 I present more than this), to sit by you in 
 silence, and pity from my heart, not her who is 
 at rest, but you who lose her. May He who 
 made us, the Master of our pleasures and of 
 our pains, preserve and support you. Adieu ! 
 
 I have long understood how little you had 
 to hope. 
 
 Note.— As this little billet, which I received 
 at the Hot Wells almost the precise moment 
 when it would be most affecting, then breathed 
 and still seems to breathe the voice of friend- 
 ship in its tenderest and most pathetic note, I 
 cannot refrain from publishing it in this place. 
 
 (Mason.) 
 
THE POET GRAY. 379 
 
 LETTER CVL 
 THE REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 
 Dear Mr. Gray, Bath, April 1st, 1767. 
 
 The dear testimonial of your friendship 
 reached Bristol about the time when the last 
 offices were done to my lost angel at the cathe- 
 dral, and was brought to me hither just now, 
 where I had fled to my Wadsworth relations a 
 few hours before the ceremony. I cannot ex- 
 press the state of my mind or health, I know 
 not what either of them are ; but I think that 
 I mean at present to steal through London 
 very soon and come to you at Cambridge, 
 though I fear it is about the time you are 
 going to town. I have business there with 
 Sidney College. I can add no more but that 
 I am as much 
 
 Yours as I am my own, 
 
 W. M. 
 
380 LETTERS or 
 
 LETTER CVII. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 DEAR MASON, Jermyn Street, May 23, 1767. 
 
 All this time have I been waiting to say 
 something to the purpose, and now am just as 
 far off as at first. Stuart appointed Mr. Wed- 
 dell an hour when I was to meet him; and 
 (after staying an infinite while at his lodgings 
 in expectation) he never came, indeed he was 
 gone out of town. The drawing and your 
 questions remain in "Weddell's hands to be 
 shown to this rogue as soon as he can meet 
 with him ; but I firmly believe when he has 
 got them he will do nothing, so you must tell 
 me what I am to do with them. I have shown 
 the Epitaph to no one but Hurd, who entirely 
 approves it. He made no objection but to one 
 line (and that was mine),* " Heav'n lifts," &c. 
 so if you please to make another you may ; for 
 my part I rather like it still. 
 
 I begin to think of drawing northwards (if 
 
 * Gray wrote the three last lines of Mason's epitaph on his 
 wife : — 
 
 " Yet, the dread path once trod, 
 Heav'n lifts its everlasting portals high, 
 And bids the poor in heart behold their God." 
 
THE POET GHAT. 381 
 
 my wretched matters will let me), and am 
 going to write to Mr. Brown about it. You 
 are to consider whether you will be able or 
 willing to receive us at Aston about a fortnight 
 hence ; or whether we are to find you at York, 
 where I suppose you to be at present. This 
 you will let me know soon ; and if I am dis- 
 appointed I will tell you in time. You will 
 tell me what to do with your Zumpe,^ which 
 has amused me much here. If you would have 
 it sent down, I had better commit it to its 
 maker, who will tune it and pack it up. Dr. 
 Longf has bought the fellow to it. The base is 
 not quite of a piece with the treble, and the 
 higher notes are somewhat dry and sticky. 
 The rest discourses very eloquent music. 
 
 Adieu, dear Sir, I am ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 Gisborne, Eraser, and Stonhewer often 
 inquire after you, with many more. 
 
 * This I presume alludes to the musical instrumeut invented 
 by Mason, mentioned in the Walpole and Mason Correspon- 
 dence, as the Celestinette. Does Gray call it a Zumpe, from the 
 Zampogna, an instrumento pastorale, mentioned by Bonanni in 
 his Descrizione degli Instrument! Armonici, 1806, 4to. pp. 85, 
 86, figs, xxvii. xxviii.? but that was a wind instrument. 
 
 •(• Dr. Long, the Master of Pembroke College. He had a 
 scientific knowledge of music and of musical instruments. 
 
382 LETTERS OE 
 
 LETTER CVIIL 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 
 DEAR SlR 5 Jermyn Street, June 2, 1767. 
 
 Where are you? for I wrote to you last week 
 to know how soon we should set out, and how 
 we should go. Mason writes to-day, he will 
 expect us at Aston in Whitsun-week ; and has 
 ordered all his lilacs and roses to be in flower. 
 What can you be doing ? And so, as I said, 
 shall we go in the Newcastle post-coach or the 
 York coach ? Will you choose to come to town 
 or be taken up on the way ? Or will you go all 
 the way to Bantry in a chaise with me and see 
 sights ? Answer me speedily. In return I will 
 tell you, that you will soon hear great news ; 
 but whether good or bad is hard to say ; there- 
 fore I shall prudently tell you nothing more. 
 Adieu. 
 
 I am ever yours, T. G. 
 
 Old Pa. is still here, going to Eanelagh and 
 the Opera. Lady Strathmore is with child, 
 and not very well, as I hear. 
 
THE POET ORAY. 383 
 
 LETTER CIX. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 DEAR SlR, Jermyn Street, Saturday, June 6, 1767. 
 
 My intention is (Deo volentej to come to 
 Cambridge on Friday or Saturday next; and 
 shall expect to set out on Monday following. 
 I shall write to Mason by to-night's post, who 
 otherwise would expect us all Whitsun-week. 
 Pray that the Trent may not intercept us at 
 Newark, for we have had infinite rain here, 
 and they say every brook sets up for a river. 
 
 I said nothing of Lady M. Lyon,^ because I 
 thought you knew she had been long despaired 
 of. The family I hear now do not go into 
 Scotland till the races are over, nor perhaps 
 then, as my lady will be advancing in her preg- 
 nancy, and I should not suppose the Peats or 
 the Pirth very proper in her condition; but 
 women are courageous creatures when they are 
 set upon a thing. 
 
 Lord Bute is gone ill into the country with 
 an ague in his eye and a bad stomach. Lord 
 Holland is alive and well, and has written three 
 
 * Wife of Mr. Lyon. See Letter lxxii. 
 
384 LETTERS OP 
 
 poems ;* the only linet in which, that I have 
 heard, is this : — 
 
 " White-liver'd Grenville and self-loving Gower."J 
 
 Lord Chatham is , and the Bucking- 
 ham^ are like the hrooks that I mentioned 
 
 * These lines by Lord Holland are given in the Asylum for 
 Fugitive Pieces, vol. ii, p. 9. They are copied into the Selwyn 
 Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 162. Lord Holland landed in 
 England 23rd May, 1767. 
 
 ■j* The poem from which this line is taken, the editor of the 
 Selwyn Correspondence tells us (vol. ii. p. 162) was printed on 
 a handsome broad sheet, entitled, " Lord Holland's Return 
 from Italy, 1 767." In a letter on the 9th of the previous May, 
 he alludes to his having made some poetry as he came over 
 Mount Cenis. 
 
 J G Grenville's name needs no other memorial than the 
 portrait of him by the hand of Burke; see Works, vol. ii. 
 p. 388. On Lord Gower, see Rockingham Papers, ii. p. 47; 
 Walpole's Misc. Letters, iv. 314. Also Boswell's Johnson, 
 vol. ii. p. 50, and a character of him drawn at length in Dr. 
 King's Anecdotes of his own Time, p. 45. Lord Holland in 
 1770 writes to George Selwyn, " I can't imagine what you 
 mean when you speak of joining with me about Lord Gower. 
 I do not remember I said anything about where he lived. I 
 know I do not love him, and can give good reasons for it." See 
 Selwyn Correspondence, ii. 394. See an account of his various 
 appointments in ibid. vol. iii. p. 115; born 1721, died 1803. 
 Also Walpole's Memoirs of George II. pp. 105, 188; Misc. 
 Letters, vi. p. 514. A slight allusion to Mr. Fox's poetry 
 occurs in Sir C. H. Williams's Works, vol. ii. p. 241, note. 
 See also Nichols's Illustrations, v. p 825. 
 
 § See on the King commissioning Conway to treat with Lord 
 
THE POET GRAY. 385 
 
 above. This is all the news that I know. 
 
 Adieu. 
 
 I am ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 How do you do, good Mr. Brown ? Do your 
 inclinations begin to draw northward, as mine 
 do, and may I take you a place soon ? I wait 
 but for an answer from Mason how to regulate 
 our journey, Avhich I should hope may take 
 place in a little more than a week. I shall 
 write a line again to settle the exact day, but 
 you may now tell me whether you will come to 
 town, or be taken up at Buckden, or thirdly, 
 whether you will go in a chaise with me by 
 short journeys, and see places in our way. I 
 dined yesterday on Richmond-hill, after seeing 
 Chiswick, and Strawberry, and Sion; and be 
 assured the face of the country looks an eme- 
 rald, if you love jewels. 
 
 The Westminster Theatre is like to come to 
 a sudden end. The manager will soon embark 
 for Italy without Callista.* The reason is a 
 speech, which his success in Lothario embol- 
 
 Rockingham, with no restrictions, &c, Walpole's George III. 
 vol. iii. p. 62. Lord Chatham writes that his (Lord Rock- 
 ingham's) time being that of Minister — Master of the Court — 
 and the public, making offers to men who are seekers of 
 office, &c. See Chatham Corr. iii. p. 12 (1766). 
 
 * See on this subject Cavendish's Debates, pp. 596, 603; 
 
 2 c 
 
386 LETTERS or 
 
 clened him to make the other day in a greater 
 theatre. It was on the subject of America, and 
 added so much strength to the opposition, that 
 they came within six of the majority. He did 
 not vote, however, though his two brothers did, 
 and, like good boys, with the ministry. For 
 this he has been rattled on both sides of his 
 ears, and forbid to appear there any more. The 
 Houses wait with impatience the conclusion of 
 the East India business to rise.* The E. of 
 Chatham f is mending slowly in his health, but 
 sees nobody on business yet, nor has he since 
 he came from Marlborough : yet he goes out 
 daily for an airing. 
 
 Adolphus's Hist. i. p. 289 ; Walpole's Misc. Letters, v. 175 
 (Dec. 1766) ; and his Letters to Mann, i. p. 345. " This is not 
 the only walk of fame he (Duke of York) has lately chosen. 
 He is acting plays with Lady Stanhope (wife of Sir Wm. Stan- 
 hope) and her family the Delavals. They have several times 
 played the Fair Penitent. His Eoyal Highness is Lothario ; 
 the lady, I am told, an admirable Callista. They have a pretty 
 little theatre at Westminster ; but none of the Royal family have 
 been audience," &c. 
 
 * See on this subject Adolphus's Hist. vol. i. p. 299 ; Bel- 
 sham, vol. v. p. 241 ; Walpole's Letters to Mann, i. p. 299. 
 
 "f See Adolphus's History, i. p. 299 ; and Hume's Private 
 Correspondence, iv. p. 19, June 1767. "We are in great 
 confusion because of the strange condition of Lord Chatham, 
 who was regarded as our first Minister. The public here as 
 well as with you believe him wholly mad, but I am assured it 
 is not so; he has only fallen into low spirits," &c. p. 243. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 387 
 
 I have seen his lordship of Cloyne* often. He 
 is very jolly, and we devoured four raspberry - 
 puffs together in Cranbourn-alley standing at a 
 pastrycook's shop in the street ; but he is gone, 
 and Heaven knows when we shall eat any more. 
 
 Rousseauf you see is gone too. I read his 
 letter to my Lord Chancellor from Spalding, 
 and hear he has written another long one to 
 Mr. Conway from Dover, begging he might no 
 longer be detained here. He retains his pen- 
 sion. The whole seems madness increasing 
 upon him. There is a most bitter satire on 
 him and his Madlle. le Vasseur, $ written by 
 Voltaire, and called Guerre de Geneve. § Adieu, 
 and let me hear from you. 
 
 I am ever yours, T. G. 
 
 * Honourable Frederic Hervey. 
 
 f See in the Private Correspondence of David Hume, &c, 
 between 1761 and 1776, 4to, a copious account of Eousseau's 
 conduct in England; pp. 56, 76, 126, 146, 223. 
 
 \ " Yous voulez que je vous donne des nouvelles de Made- 
 moiselle le Vasseur. C'est une bonne et honnete personne, 
 digne de l'honneur que vous lui faites. Chaque jour ajoute 
 a mon estime pour elle," &c. Eousseau to the Comtesse de 
 Boufflers, 1763. The rest of Theresa's history is a singular 
 commentary on this letter. In the Memoires de Mons. Girardin, 
 the proprietor of Ermenonville, where Eousseau died, is an 
 interesting and authentic account of his death, and of Madame 
 le Vasseur, " C'etait une mechante femme, qui a cause beau- 
 coup de chagrins a Eousseau." See vol. i. p. 19 to p. 37. 
 
 § La Guerre Civile de Geneve, ou les Amours de Eoberr 
 
 2 c 2 
 
388 LETTERS or 
 
 How do our Elmsted friends?* Are they 
 married yet ? Old Pa. is here, and talks of 
 writing soon to you. 
 
 LETTER CX. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 DEAR MASON, Jermyn Street, June 6th, 1767. 
 
 We are a-coming, but not so fast as you 
 think for, because Mr. Brown cannot think of 
 stirring till Whitsun week is over. The Monday 
 following we propose to set out in our chaise. 
 Do not think of sending Benjamin, I charge 
 you. We shall find our way from Bantry very 
 cleverly. 
 
 Covelle, poeme heroique, avec des notes instructives, 1768. 
 Rousseau is severely handled in this poem, but Voltaire finds 
 his apology, according to his Editors, in saying that Rousseau 
 had publicly accused him of atheism ; of publishing irreligious 
 writings to which he did not put his name, and endeavoured to 
 draw persecution on him ; " et que l'accusateur lui-meme avait ■ 
 imprime des choses plus hardis que celles qu'il reprochait 
 a son ennemi," &c. Rousseau appears in the second canto, and 
 in the note to it marked (i), and still more severely in the 
 third . 
 
 * This is one of the allusions which, from the length of 
 time that has elapsed, it seems hopeless to explain. There 
 are two parishes of that name, but no inquiries in them have 
 thrown any light on the Elmsted friends. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 389 
 
 I shall bring with me a. drawing which Stuart 
 has made. He approves your sketch highly, 
 and therefore, I suppose, has altered it in every 
 particular, not at all for the better in my mind. 
 He says you should send him an account of the 
 place and position, and a scale of the dimen- 
 sions. This is what I modestly proposed before, 
 but you give no ear to me. The relief in arti- 
 ficial stone, he thinks, would come to about 
 eight guineas. 
 
 Poor Mr. Eitzherbert* had a second son, who 
 was at Caen. He complained of a swelling, and 
 some pain, in his knee, which rather increasing 
 upon him, his father sent for him over. The 
 surgeons agreed it was a white swelling, and he 
 must lose his leg. He underwent the operation 
 with great fortitude, but died the second day 
 after it. Adieu. 
 
 I am ever yours, T. G. 
 
 I rejoice Mr. Woodf is well, and present my 
 humble service to him. 
 
 * Thomas Fitzherbert was in the navy, and on board of his 
 vessel got a severe crush, and so injured the limb, as to render 
 amputation necessary: he was uncle to the present baronet, 
 Sir Henry Fitzherbert of Tissington. 
 
 t He died in 1771. Mr. D. Wray, in a letter to Lord 
 Hardwicke, says, " I was not acquainted with Mr. Wood, but 
 he was thought a little commis, and I know that he was a good 
 
390 LETTERS or 
 
 LETTER CXI. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Old Park, near Darlington, 
 
 Dear Mason, j u iy 10, 1767. 
 
 We are all impatient to see you in proportion 
 to our various interests and inclinations. Old 
 Park thinks she must die a maid, if you do not 
 come and lay her out. The river Atom weeps 
 herself dry, and the Minikin cries aloud for a 
 channel. When you can determine on your 
 own motions, we pray you to give us immediate 
 notice. Soon as you arrive at Darlington you 
 will go to the King's Head, where may be had 
 two postillions, either of which know the road 
 hither. It is about sixteen miles, and runs by 
 Kirk Merrington and Spennymoor House 5* a 
 little rough, but not bad or dangerous in any 
 part. Your aunt, I hope, is well again, and 
 little Glough produces a plentiful crop : delay, 
 therefore, no longer. 
 
 writer; besides, common humanity has claims on our concern 
 ivhen a man is torn away just in sight of an agreeable retreat, 
 which his age might promise him the power to enjoy for some 
 years," &c. 1771. 
 
 * Old Park, where Gray was staying with his friend Dr. 
 Wharton, is a little distant in a northern direction from 
 Bishop's Auckland and Merington. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 391 
 
 Mr. Brown is enchanted and beatified with 
 the sight of Durham, whither he went yester- 
 day. I performed your commission to Mrs. 
 Wilkinson, who expressed herself, I thought, 
 like a woman of a good heart, and wished much 
 to see you. Adieu : we really long for you. 
 
 LETTER CXIL 
 THE REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 
 DEAR SlR, York, July 15, 1767. 
 
 My old aunt is dead, but she has not left me 
 so much money that I can come and make 
 ducks and drakes in the Minikin. You will say 
 I need not, I have only to teach Dr. "Wharton 
 how to make them. Perhaps my metaphor was 
 not well chosen; it is, however, as good as 
 yours, where you say Old Park must die a maid, 
 if I do not come and lay her out. When Mr. 
 Hurd comes to publish our Correspondence, I 
 know what will be his note upon this passage : 
 " To have made the allusion appear with due 
 congruity, the poet should have written ' lay her 
 down;' for to 'lay her out,' supposes her to be 
 already dead, which the premises inform us this 
 
392 letters or 
 
 old maid was not, and, therefore, only wanted 
 to be laid down. As the passage now stands 
 there is an impropriety in it, which, however, 
 the freedom of the epistolary mode of writing 
 will not justify." Take another note from Dr. 
 Balguy : " There are two vernacular phrases 
 which we apply separately, and which indeed 
 will not admit of a reciprocal usage in our 
 tongue ; the one we apply constantly where any 
 thing is predicated concerning gardening, and 
 the other we as constantly use as a term in 
 agriculture ; thus we lay out pleasure grounds, 
 but we lay down field lands. Now had the 
 writer delivered the above sentiment without a 
 figure, he would have simply said Old Park 
 wants to be laid out ; and here, as Old Park 
 means a pleasure ground or garden, the phrase 
 would have been just and pertinent; but he 
 chose to personify Old Park, and to speak of 
 her under the figure of an old maid, and hence 
 arose the incongruity which the critic has so 
 justly stigmatised, and which would not have 
 appeared so had Old Park been a common field; 
 but, unhappily for the writer, Old Park was (as 
 we have seen) a pleasure ground or garden, and 
 as such required to be laid out, not to be laid 
 down ; hence it would not admit of the meta- 
 phor in question, and I know no way of reducing 
 
THE POET GRAY. 393 
 
 this passage into the rules of chaste composi- 
 tion but by supposing Old Park arable ;. then the 
 figure will be in its place, and the maid will 
 be laid down in a natural and even elegant 
 manner." 
 
 Explicit, nonsense ! and now what remains 
 must be serious. I dined lately at Bishop- 
 thorpe, when the Archbishop # took me into his 
 closet, and, with many tears, begged me to 
 write an epitaph on his daughter. In our con- 
 versation he touched so many unison strings of 
 my heart (for we both of us wept like children) 
 that I could not help promising him that I 
 would try, if possible, to oblige him. The re- 
 sult you have on the opposite page. If it either 
 is or can be made a decent thing, assist me 
 
 * Archbishop the Honourable Robert Hay Drunimond, 
 translated from Salisbury 1761 ; died December 10, 1777. 
 Succeeded by William Wickham, Dean of Christ Church. 
 He was brother to Lord Viscount Dupplin, and his eldest son 
 succeeded to the earldom of Kinnoul 1777 (?). A favourable 
 character is given of him in the Editor's Notes to Walpole's 
 Memoirs of George in. vol. i. p. 73. He died in 1776, in his 
 66th year In 1803 a volume of Sermons on Public Occa- 
 sions by him was printed by Mr. George Drummond, one of 
 his sons. In Forbes's Life of Beattie is a Letter from Arch- 
 bishop Drummond to Dr. Beattie, September, 1772, offering 
 him his assistance in procuring preferment in the English 
 Church. 
 
394 LETTERS OP 
 
 with your judgment immediately, for what I 
 do about it I would do quickly, and I can do 
 nothing neither, if this will not do with correc- 
 tion. It cannot be expected, neither would I 
 wish it, to be equal to what I have written 
 from my heart upon my heart's heart. Give 
 me, I beg, your own sentiments upon it as soon 
 as possible. To conclude, I wish heartily to be 
 with you, but cannot fix a time, for I was 
 obliged to invite Mr. Robinson and the Wads- 
 worths hither, and I have not received their 
 answer. In my next perhaps I can speak more 
 determinately. My best compliments to Dr» 
 and Mrs. Wharton, and best wishes for the 
 continuance of Mr. Brown's beatifications. 
 
 Yours cordially, 
 
 W. Mason. 
 
 EPITAPH ON MISS DRUMMOND. 
 
 Hence, stoic apathy, to hearts of stone : 
 
 A Christian sage with dignity can weep. 
 See mitred Drummond heave the heartfelt groan, 
 
 Where the cold ashes of his daughter sleep. 
 Here sleeps what once was beauty, once was grace, 
 
 Grace that express'd, in each benignant smile, 
 That dearest harmony of soul and face, 
 
 When beauty glories to be virtue's foil. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 395 
 
 Or thus, — 
 
 That sweetest sympathy of soul and face, 
 
 When beauty only blooms as virtue's foil. 
 Such was the lnaidf that, in the noon of youth, 
 
 In virgin innocence, in nature's pride, 
 Grac'd with each liberal art and crown'd with truth, 
 
 Sunk in her father's fond embrace, and died. 
 He weeps. O venerate the holy tear ! 
 
 Faith soothes his sorrows, lightens all their load ; 
 Patient he spreads his child upon her bier, 
 
 And humbly yields an angel to his God.* 
 
 * See this Epitaph on Miss Drummond, in the Church of 
 Bridgnorth, Yorkshire, in Mason's Works, vol. i. p. 138:— 
 
 Here sleeps what once was beauty, once was grace, 
 
 Grace that with tenderness and sense combined, 
 To form that harmony of soul and face, 
 
 Where beauty shines the mirror of the mind. 
 Such was the maid, that, in the morn of youth, 
 
 In virgin innocence, in nature's pride, 
 Blest with each art that owes its charm to truth, 
 
 Sunk in her father's fond embrace and died. 
 He weeps. ! venerate the holy tear ! 
 
 Faith lends her aid to ease affliction's load ; 
 The parent mourns his child upon its bier, 
 
 The Christian yields an angel to his God. 
 
396 LETTERS OP 
 
 LETTER CXIIL 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON, 
 DEAR MASON, Old Park, Sunday, July 19, 1767. 
 
 I come forthwith to the epitaph which you 
 have had the charity to write at the Archbishop's 
 request. It will certainly do (for it is both 
 touching and new), but yet will require much 
 finishing. I like not the first three lines : it is 
 the party most nearly concerned, at least some 
 one closely connected, and bearing a part of the 
 loss, that is usually supposed to speak on these 
 occasions, but these lines appear to be written 
 by the chaplain, and have an air of flattery to 
 his patron. All that is good in them is better 
 expressed in the four last verses : " where the 
 cold ashes," &c. These ^.ve verses are well, 
 except the word " benignant," and the thought 
 (which is not clear to me, besides that it is 
 somewhat hardly expressed) of " when beauty 
 only blooms," &c. In gems that want colour 
 and perfection, a foil is put under them to add to 
 their lustre. In others, as in diamonds, the 
 foil is black ; and in this sense, when a pretty 
 woman chooses to appear in public with a 
 homely one, we say she uses her as a foil. This 
 puzzles me, as you neither mean that beauty 
 sets off virtue by its contrast and opposition to 
 
THE POET GRAY. 397 
 
 it, nor that her virtue was so imperfect as to 
 stand in need of beauty to heighten its lustre. 
 For the rest I read, " that sweetest harmony of 
 soul," &c.: "such was the maid," &c. All this 
 to the end I much approve, except " crowned 
 with truth," and " lightens all their load." The 
 first is not precise ; in the latter you say too 
 much. " Spreads his child," too, is not the 
 word. When you have corrected all these 
 faults it will be excellent. 
 
 I thank you for your comments on my inac- 
 curate metaphor ; in return, I will be sure to 
 show them to the parties who should have 
 wrote them, and who doubtless, when they see 
 them, will acknowledge them for their own. 
 We are all much in want of you, and have 
 already put off two journeys, because we thought 
 you were to come on Mondays. Pray tell us 
 your mind out of hand, lest we lose all our 
 future Mondays. Mr. Brown has not above 
 another week to stay with us (for Lord Strath- 
 more comes on the 27th out of Scotland), and 
 must go into the third heaven to see nothing 
 at all — all — all. # Adieu ! 
 
 I am truly yours, T. G. 
 
 No news of Palgrave. 
 
 * John ninth Earl of Strathmore married 1767 the great 
 
398 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER CXIV. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAR MASON, Old Park, 26th July, 1767. 
 
 You are very perverse. I do desire you 
 would not think of dropping the design you 
 had of obliging the Archbishop. I submitted 
 my criticisms to your own conscience, and I 
 allowed the latter half to be excellent, two or 
 three little words excepted. If this will not 
 do, for the future I must say (whatever you 
 send me) that the whole is the most perfect 
 thing in nature, which is easy to do when one 
 knows it will be acceptable. Seriously, I should 
 be sorry if you did not correct these lines, and 
 am interested enough for the party (only upon 
 your narrative) to wish he were satisfied in it, 
 for I am edified when I hear of so mundane a 
 man, that yet he has a tear for pity. 
 
 By the way, I ventured to show the other 
 epitaph to Dr. Wharton, and sent him brim-full 
 into the next room to cry. I believe he did not 
 hear it quite through, nor has he ever asked to 
 hear it again ; and now will you not come and 
 see him ? 
 
 Durham heiress, daughter of George Bowes, Esq. of Streatlam 
 Castle. This earl died April 1776. 
 
THE POET GEAY. 399 
 
 We are just come back from a little journey 
 to Barnard Castle,* Bokeby,f and .Richmond 
 (Mr. Brown and all). Some thoughts we have 
 of going for two or three days to Hartlepool ; 
 then we (Dr. W. and I) talk of seeing West- 
 moreland and Cumberland, and perhaps the 
 west of Yorkshire ; the mountains I mean, for 
 we despise the plains. Then at our return I 
 write to you, not to show my talent at descrip- 
 tion, but to ask again whether you will come 
 or no. Adieu. I wish you health and peace 
 of mind ; and am ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 * This castle is in Durham, and is the property of the 
 Duke of Cleveland. 
 
 f The well-known seat of Mr. Morris, situated near the 
 junction of the Tees and the Greta. It is the place whence 
 the ancient family of Eokeby derived their name. It was 
 bought of the Eokeby s, in the reign of Elizabeth, by one of 
 the family of Eobinson. A younger son of this family, 
 Eichard, died Archbishop of Armagh 1794; created Baron 
 Eokeby of Armagh 1777- The estate was sold by the Eobin- 
 sons to Mr. Morritt, father of the well-known J. B. Morritt, 
 the friend of Sir Walter Scott, and to whom the poem of 
 Eokeby was inscribed. His dissertation on the subject of 
 the Troad against the theory of Jacob Bryant, is well known. 
 " You have no connexions at Eokeby ; if you had, Mason is 
 adored tJiere, and would, on account of fame, be a most proper 
 patron." Letter of Eev. D. Watson, 1788, in Nichols's Lite- 
 rary Anecdotes. 
 
400 LETTERS OE 
 
 Mr. Brown and the Dr. desire their compli- 
 ments to Mr. Robinson.* 
 
 LETTER CXV. 
 MASON TO GRAY. 
 
 Dear Mr. Gray, York, July 27, 1767. 
 
 In hopes this may catch you before you set 
 off for Hartlepool, I answer yours the moment 
 I receive it (minster vespers only intervening). 
 The dean has disappointed me, and is not yet 
 arrived. The Robinsons I expect every hour ; 
 in the meanwhile, I will resume the subject of 
 the epitaph. 
 
 Had you given me any hint, any lueur, how 
 the three first lines might have been altered, it 
 would have been charitable indeed; but you 
 say nothing, only that I must alter them. Now 
 in my conscience, to which you appeal, I cannot 
 find fault with the sentiment which they con- 
 tain; and yet, in despite of my conscience, if I 
 
 * Probably Mr. William Robinson, brother of Sir Thonias 
 Robinson, proprietor of Rokeby, who died in 1777, who was 
 some time Governor of Barbados, created a Baronet in 1730. 
 He built the present house at Rokeby. Another brother, 
 Richard, was at this period an Irish bishop. Sir Thomas 
 Robinson sold Rokeby to the Morritt family about 1770. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 401 
 
 thought that they implied the least shadow of 
 flattery to the Archbishop, I would wipe them 
 out with a sponge dipped in the mud of the 
 kennel. But I cannot think they do. I think, 
 on the contrary, they give the composition that 
 unity of thought which ought always to run 
 through compositions of this kind ; for in my 
 mind a perfect epitaph is a perfect epigram 
 without a sting. N.B. This sentence in our 
 Epistolse familiares cum notis variorum, will he 
 explained in a note of Dr. Balguy's, to the 
 contentation of every reader ; in the meantime, 
 if you do not understand it yourself, console 
 yourself with the pleasing idea that posterity 
 will, and that is enough in reason. 
 
 However, to show you my complacency, and 
 in dread that you should ever do as you threaten, 
 and call whatever I send you the most perfect 
 things in nature, I will sacrifice the first stanza 
 on your critical altar, and let it consume either 
 in flame or smudge as it choose. Then we 
 begin, "here sleeps," a very poetical sort of ci 
 git, or " here lies," and which I hope will not 
 lead the reader to imagine a sentence lost. 
 
 1. Here sleeps what once was beauty, once was grace, 
 
 2. Grace that with native sentiment combined 
 
 3. To form that harmony of soul and face, 
 
 4. Where beauty shines the mirror of the mind. 
 
 2d 
 
402 LETTERS OF 
 
 5. Such was the maid, that, in the noon of youth, 
 
 6. In virgin innocence, in nature's pride, 
 
 7. Blest with each art that taste supplies or truth, 
 
 8. Sunk in her father's fond embrace and died. 
 
 9. He weeps. O ! venerate the holy tear; 
 
 10. Faith lends her aid to ease affliction's load: 
 
 11. The parent mourns his child upon her bier, 
 
 12. The Christian yields an angel to his God. 
 
 Various sections, pick and choose. 
 
 2 . " Inborn sentiment. ' ' 
 
 3. " Displayed (or diffused) that harmony," 
 &c. 
 
 7. " That springs from taste or truth ;" " de- 
 rived from taste or truth;" "that charms 
 with taste and truth." But, after all, I do not 
 know that she was a metaphysician, "blest 
 with each art that owes its charms to truth," 
 which painting does, as well as logic and meta- 
 physics. 
 
 10. " Faith lends her lenient aid to sorrow's 
 load;" " Faith lends her aid, and eases (or 
 lightens) sorrow's load." 
 
 11. " Pensive he mourns," or "he views " 
 or " gives." 
 
 12. "Yet humbly yields," or "but humbly." 
 Now if from all this you can pick out twelve 
 
 ostensible lines, do, and I will father them ; or 
 if you will out of that lukewarm corner of your 
 
THE POET GRAY. 403 
 
 heart where you hoard up your poetical charity 
 throw out a poor mite to my distresses, I shall 
 take it kind indeed; but, if not, stat prior 
 sententia, for I will give myself no further 
 trouble about it ; I cannot in this uncomfort- 
 able place, where my opus magnum sive didac- 
 ticum has not advanced ten lines since I saw 
 you. 
 
 God bless Dr. Wharton, and send him (for 
 sympathy) never to feel what I feel. I will 
 come to him the moment I can. Write, be 
 sure, when you return from your longer tour ; 
 but I hope to have an answer to this before 
 you set out, because I shall not give the 
 Archbishop any determinate answer about the 
 matter till I hear again from you. The Robin- 
 sons are just arrived. Adieu. 
 
 W. M. 
 
 I must needs tell you, as an instance of my 
 enjoyments here, that yesterday Mr. Comber * 
 preached again, and dined with me, and in 
 
 * Probably William Comber, M.A. Vicar of Kirkby- Moor- 
 side, Yorkshire, second son of Thomas, LL.D. of Buckworth, 
 Huntingdon, who published, in 1778, the Memoirs of the 
 Lord Deputy Wandesford, 12mo. The present person was, 
 therefore, grandson of Thomas Comber, D.D. Dean of Durham, 
 of whom a life was published by his great-grandson, Thomas 
 Comber, A,B. of Jesus' College, Cambridge. 
 
 2d 2 
 
404 LETTERS OF 
 
 the afternoon who but Billy Hervey should 
 preach and drink tea with me. The said Billy 
 inquired most cordially after you, and has got 
 your directions how to come at you by Kirk- 
 something and Spennymoor House, for he is 
 going into Scotland with a Scotch captain ten 
 times duller than himself. You will have them 
 at Old Park almost as soon as this, if you do 
 not run away. 
 
 Anecdote. — The country folks are firmly per- 
 suaded that the storm (which made us get up 
 here) was raised by the devil, out of revenge to 
 Comber for preaching at him the day before in 
 the Minster. 
 
 LETTER CXVL 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAR MASON, Old Park, 9 Aug. 1767 ; Sunday. 
 
 I have been at Hartlepool like anything, and 
 since that, visiting about (which is the sum of 
 all my country expeditions), so that I was not 
 able to write to you sooner. To-rnorrow I go 
 vizzing to Gibside to see the new married 
 
THE POET GRAY. 405 
 
 countess,* whom (bless my eyes ! ) I have seen 
 here already. There I drop our beatified 
 friend, who goes into Scotland with them, and 
 return hither all alone. Soon after I hope to 
 go into Cumberland, &c, and when that is 
 over shall let you know. 
 
 I exceedingly approve the epitaph in its pre- 
 sent shape. Even what I best liked before is 
 altered for the better. The various readings I 
 do not mind, only, perhaps, I should read the 
 2nd line : 
 
 Grace that with tenderness and sense combined, 
 To form, &c. 
 
 for I hate "sentiment" in verse. I will say 
 nothing to "taste" and " truth," for perhaps the 
 Archbishop may fancy they are fine things ; but, 
 io my palate, they are wormwood. All the 
 rest is just as it should be, and what he ought 
 to admire. 
 
 Billy Hervey t went directly to Durham, and 
 called not here. He danced at the Assembly 
 with a conquering mien, and all the misses 
 swear he is the genteelest thing they ever 
 
 * Lady Strathmore. Gibside is a seat of Lord Strathmore's, 
 in Durham, not far from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and near to 
 Eavensworth Castle. 
 
 | Frederic William Hervey, Bishop of Cloyne. 
 
406 LETTERS or 
 
 set eyes on, and wants nothing but two feet 
 
 more in height. The Doctor and Mr. Brown 
 
 send their blessing ; and 
 
 I am ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 LETTER CXVII. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, Old Park, Sep. 11, 1767. 
 
 I admire you as the pink of perversity. 
 How did I know about York races, and how 
 could I be more explicit about our journey?* 
 The truth is, I was only too explicit by half, 
 for we did not set out in earnest till the 29th 
 of August, being delayed, partly by the bad 
 weather, and partly by your cousin, my Lord 
 Perrot, and his assizes, whose train we were 
 afraid to overtake, and still more afraid of 
 being overtaken by it. At last then we 
 went in the sun and dust broiling to New- 
 castle, and so by the military road to Hexham 
 at night, where it began to rain, and continued 
 like fury, with very short intervals, all the rest 
 
 * Gray passed all the latter part of this summer in the 
 North of England, with his friends Mr. Brown and Dr. Whar- 
 ton. See Works, vol. iv. p. 98. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 407 
 
 of our way. So we got to Carlisle, passed a 
 day there in raining and seeing delights. 
 Next day got to Penrith — more delights ; the 
 next dined and lay at Keswick ; could not go a 
 mile to see anything. Dr. Wharton taken ill 
 in the night with an asthma. Went on, how- 
 ever, over stupendous hills to Cockermouth. 
 Here the Doctor grew still worse in the night, 
 so we came peppering and raining back through 
 Keswick to Penrith. Next day lay at Brough, 
 grew better, raining still, and so over Stone- 
 moor home. Sep. 5th. — In a heavy thunder- 
 shower. Now you will think from this 
 detail, which is literally true, that we had 
 better have staid at home. No such thing ; I 
 am charmed with my journey, and the Doctor 
 dreams of nothing but Skiddaw, and both of us 
 vow to go again the first opportunity. I car- 
 ried Mr. Brown to Gib side the 11th of August, 
 and took a receipt for him ; they did not set 
 out for Scotland till the 1st of September, and 
 as yet I have not heard from him. 
 
 If you are not too much afflicted for the loss 
 of Charles Townshencl,* now is your time to 
 
 * On Charles Townshend's death, see Cavendish Debates, 
 vol. i. p. 608. He died Sept. 4, 1767, aged 42. Horace 
 Walpole writes to General Conway, " As a man of incom- 
 parable parts and most entertaining to a spectator I -regret his 
 
408 LETTERS OF 
 
 come and see us. In spite of your coquetry, 
 we still wish of all things to see you, and 
 (bating that vice, and a few more little faults) 
 have a good opinion of you, only we are afraid 
 you have a bad heart. I have known purse- 
 proud people often complain of their poverty, 
 which is meant as an insult upon the real poor. 
 How dare you practise this upon me ? Do not I 
 know little Clough ? Here is a fuss indeed 
 about a poor three-score miles. Don't I go gal- 
 loping five hundred, whenever I please ? Have 
 done with your tricks, and come to Old Park, 
 for the peaches and grapes send forth a good 
 smell, and the voice of the robin is heard in 
 our land. My services to Mr. Alder son, # for he 
 is a good creature. JSut I forget, you are at 
 York again. Adieu ! I am, ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 The Doctor presents his compliments to you 
 
 death. His good humour prevented one from hating him, 
 and his levity from loving him ; but in a political light I own 
 I cannot look on it as a misfortune." vol. v. p. 181. See also 
 his opinion at more length in his Memoirs of George III. 
 vol. ii. pp. 9 and 275; vol. iii. pp. 23, 29, 99, 102. See also 
 Lady Hervey's Letters, p. 325; Belsham's History, v. 278; 
 Adolphus's History, i. p. 304 ; and especially Burke's Works, 
 ii. p. 422. 
 
 * The Eev. Christopher Alderson, then curate to Mr. Mason, 
 subsequently Eector of Aston and Eckington. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 409 
 
 with great cordiality, and desires your assist- 
 ance. One of his daughters has some turn for 
 drawing, and he would wish her a little in- 
 structed in the practice. If you have any pro- 
 fessor of the art at York, that would think it 
 worth his while to pass about six weeks here, 
 he would be glad to receive him. His con- 
 ditions he would learn from you. If he have 
 any merit in his art, doubtless so much the 
 better. But above all he must be elderly, and 
 if ugly and ill-made so much the more accept- 
 able. The reasons we leave to your prudence. 
 
 LETTER CXVIII. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 DEAR SlR, York, Sat. 31 Oct. 1767. 
 
 I have received a letter from Howe ; another 
 from Mr. Beattie;* and a third, which was 
 a printed catalogue, from London. The parcel 
 
 * There is a letter from Dr. Beattie to Gray, dated 30th 
 August, 1765, when Gray was on a visit at Glamis Castle, 
 in Forbes's Life of Beattie, vol. i. p. 89 ; another in Foulis's 
 Edition of Gray. See pp. 145, 155. Gray's Letter on the 
 Minstrel is to be found, vol. i. pp. 254-261. I possess a few 
 very interesting Letters from Dr. Beattie to Mason, giving an 
 account of his Conversations with Mr. Gray, when the latter 
 
410 LETTERS OF 
 
 sent to Cambridge was a set of Algarotti's 
 works for your library, which need not be im- 
 patient if it remain unopened till I come. 
 The Doctor and I came hither on Saturday 
 last. He returned on Wednesday, and I set 
 out for London (pray for me), at ten o'clock 
 to-morrow night. You will please to direct to 
 me at Roberts's, as usual, and when it is con- 
 venient I shall be glad of my bill. I will 
 trouble you also to give notice of my motions 
 to Miss Antrobus as soon as you can. 
 
 Here has been Lord Holdernesse's ugly face 
 since I was here, and here actually is Mr. 
 Weddell,* who inquires after you. Pa. is in 
 London with his brother, f who is desperate. If 
 he dies, we shall not be a shilling the better, 
 
 was in Scotland, dated from Aberdeen. See also Forbes's 
 Life, vol. i. p. 95. 
 
 * Mr.Weddell, of Newby, who made the collection of statues, 
 since belonging to Lord de Grey, collected during his travels 
 in Italy with Mr. Palgrave 
 
 | Mr. Palgrave's elder brother here alluded to took the 
 name of Sayer, and married Miss Tyrell of Gipping, after- 
 wards Lady Mary Heselrigge. The Palgrave family, con- 
 nected by marriage with the Burtons of Staffordshire (of 
 which was the celebrated author of the Anatomy of Melan- 
 choly), and afterwards of Leicestershire and Derbyshire, settled 
 at Homer sfield and Aldersea Park, and also with the Foun- 
 taynes of Narford, Norfolk, and with the Lawsons of Borough- 
 bridge, Yorkshire. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 411 
 
 so we are really very sorrowful. Mason de- 
 sires his love to you. Adieu, the Minster bell 
 rings. I am ever yours, T. G. 
 
 I rejoice greatly at N's good luck. 
 
 LETTER CXIX. 
 TO THE REV, WILLIAM MASON. 
 DEAR MASON, Penib. Coll. 8 Jan. 1768. 
 
 I did not write to you — that's to be sure ; 
 but then, consider, I had the gout great part 
 of the time that I passed in town, and ever 
 since I came hither I have been confined to 
 my room ; and besides, you know, you were at 
 Aston, and did not much care. As to Mon- 
 sieur de la Harpe,* he is not to be had at any 
 of the shops, and, they say, never was in 
 
 * The well-known writer, Jean Francois de la Harpe, born 
 1739, died 1803. Up to the period of Grays Letter, 1768, 
 he had distinguished himself chiefly as a dramatic writer, the 
 author of Tragedie de Warwick, Timoleon, Pharamond, Gus- 
 tavus Vasa, &c. in 1776 ; after that he entered into what is 
 called " La carriere des concours academiques." His Literary 
 Correspondence with the Emperor Paul was printed in 1801 , in 
 four volumes, and perhaps is the most interesting of his works 
 at the present day. A portrait of him is sketched in lively, 
 yet fair colours, in Chateaubriand, Memoires d'outre Tombe, 
 vol. i. p. 175. 
 
412 LETTERS OF 
 
 England. What I saw and liked of his must 
 have been in some bibliotheque or journal that 
 I had borrowed. 
 
 Here are, or have been, or will be, all your 
 old and new friends in constant expectation of 
 you at Cambridge ; yet Christmas is past, and 
 no Scroddles appears. 
 
 Weddell attends your call, and Palgrave proud, 
 
 , and Delaval the loud.* 
 
 For thee does Powell f squeeze, and Marriot J sputter, 
 And Glyn § cut phizzes, and Tom Neville stutter. 
 Brown sees thee sitting on his nose's tip, 
 The Widow feels thee in her aching hip. 
 For thee fat Nanny sighs, and handy Nelly, 
 And Balguy || with a bishop in his belly. 
 
 * See Letter cxxxvu. " Delaval is by no means well, and 
 looks sadly, yet he goes about and talks as loud as ever." 
 
 f On Powell, see p. 322. 
 
 X Sir James Marriot, Knt. Master of Trinity Hall, 1764. 
 He is mentioned in Gray's Letters to Nicholls at pp. 60, 65, 
 67, 82. He continued Master for nearly forty years, and was 
 succeeded by Sir William Wynne, Knt. There are some 
 verses by him in Dodsley's Collection, iv. p. 285, and several 
 small poems in Bell's Fugitive Poetry. See also Nichols's 
 Illustrations of Literature, vol. i. p. 134. Neville has been 
 mentioned. 
 
 § Dr. Glynn was Gray's physician at Cambridge, and also 
 a very intimate friend. He was " The lov'd lapis on the 
 banks of Cam." 
 
 || It is well known that Dr. Balguy refused a Bishoprick. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 413 
 
 It is true of the two archdeacons. The latter 
 is now here, hut goes on Monday. The former 
 conies to take his degree in February. The 
 rector writes to ask whether you are come, 
 that he may do the same. As to Johnny, here 
 he is, divided between the thoughts of * * 
 * * and marriage. Delaval only waits for a 
 little intreaty. The master, the doctor, the 
 poet, and the president, are very pressing and 
 warm, hut none so warm as the coffee-house 
 and I. Come then away. This is no season 
 for planting, and Lord Richard* will grow as 
 well without your cultivation as with it ; at 
 least let us know what we are to hope for, and 
 when, if it be only for the satisfaction of the 
 methodist singing-man your landlord. 
 
 You will finish your opus magnum here so 
 clever, and your series of historical tragedies, 
 with your books (that nobody reads) all round 
 
 * See Gray's Letter to Nicholls, p. 82 (Correspondence). 
 " Lord Eichard Cavendish is come. He is a sensible boy, 
 awkward and bashful beyond all imagination, and eats a 
 buttock of beef at a meal. I have made him my visit, and 
 did tolerably well considering. Watson is his public tutor, 
 and one Winstanley his private." He was born 1751, and 
 died at Naples September 1781, where he went for the re- 
 covery of his health. In 1780 he was chosen Member for 
 Derby. 
 
414 LETTERS OF 
 
 you ; and your critic at hand, who never cares 
 a farthing, that I must say for him, whether 
 you follow his opinions or not ; and your hyper- 
 critics, that nohody, not even themselves, un- 
 derstands, though you think you do. I am 
 sorry to tell you Saint John's Garden is quite 
 at a stand ; perhaps you in person may set it 
 going. If not, here is Mr. Brown's little 
 garden cries aloud to be laid out (it is in a 
 wretched state, to be sure, and without any 
 taste). You shall have unlimited authority 
 over it, # and I will take upon me the whole ex- 
 pense. Will you not come ? I know you will. 
 Adieu, I am ever yours, T. G. 
 
 * Mason says in his Memoirs, that Gray never professed 
 any knowledge of or skill in lajdng out gardens ; but the 
 Author of The English Garden prided himself on his talent in 
 this respect. He laid out the flower-garden at Nuneham, 
 Mr. Kurd's at Thurcaston, and others, " I once," says Mr. 
 Cradock, " called on Mr. Hurd, at Thurcaston, and he said to 
 me, ' I wish you had come sooner, for Mason has just left me : 
 he is going to Aston. I think you must have passed him in 
 the gateway. He got up very early this morning to plant 
 those roses opposite, and otherwise decorate my grounds. He 
 boasts that he knows exactly where every rose ought to be 
 planted.' " See Cradock's Memoirs, iv. p. 194. Gray's opinion 
 was very unfavourable to the publication of Mason's English 
 Garden ; his friend Dr. Burgh did all he could in his excellent 
 Commentary to redeem it. It has, however, been favourably 
 received in France, and translated. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 415 
 
 LETTER CXX. 
 TO THE EEV. JAMES BROWN. 
 
 DEAR SlR, Southampton Row, April 27, 1768. 
 
 By this time, I conclude, you are returned 
 to Cambridge, though I thought it a long time 
 before I heard of you from Thrandeston,* and 
 could have wished you had stayed longer with 
 Palgrave. Perhaps you are in Hertfordshire ; 
 however, I write at a venture. I went to Mr. 
 Mann's,! and, though he is in town, not finding 
 him at home, left a note with an account of 
 my business with him, and my direction. I 
 have had no message in answer to it. So, pos- 
 sibly, he has written to you, and sent the 
 papers. I know not. 
 
 Mr. Precentor is still here, and not in haste 
 to depart. Indeed, I do not know whether he 
 has not a fit of the gout. It is certain he had 
 a pain yesterday in his foot, but whether 
 owing to bechamel and claret, or to cutting a 
 corn, was not determined. He is still at 
 Stonhewer's house, and has not made his jour- 
 
 * Thrandeston, in Suffolk, one of Mr. Palgrave's livings, 
 near to Botesdale and Diss, and joining Palgrave. 
 
 | Probably the brother of Sir Horace Mann. Two of the 
 brothers were clothiers to the Army. 
 
416 LETTERS OF 
 
 ney to Eton and to Bath yet, though he 
 intends to do it. 
 
 We have had no mobs nor illuminations yet, 
 since I was here. Wilkes's speech you have 
 seen. The Court was so surprised at being 
 contemned to its face, and in the face of the 
 world, that the chief in a manner forgot the 
 matter in hand, and entered into an apology 
 for his own past conduct, and so, with the rest 
 of the assessors, shuffled the matter off, and 
 left the danger to the officers of the Crown, 
 that is, indeed, to the ministry.^ Nobody had 
 ventured, or would venture to serve the capias 
 upon him. I cannot assure it is done yet, 
 though yesterday I heard it was ; if so, he comes 
 again to-day into Court. He professes himself 
 ready to make any submissions to the King,f 
 but not to give up his pursuit of Lord H.J 
 
 * See Walpole's Memoirs of George III. vol, iii. ch. vii. p. 
 182, for a good account of these transactions, and Adolphus's 
 Hist. vol. i. chap, xv.; Letters to Mann, i. p. 394. 
 
 f Wilkes wrote a letter to the King. See Walpole's 
 George III. vol. iii. p. 182. It was delivered at the palace 
 by Wilkes's footman, and returned in the same way. It is 
 printed in the third volume of Almon's Life of Wilkes. 
 
 \ Lord Halifax, "a statesman" (says Lord Mahon, Hist v. 
 p. 183) " of some reputation, but who impaired his constitution 
 by drinking, and his fortune by neglect." He had the ill luck 
 to be Secretary of State at that time. See Walpole's George III. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 417 
 
 The Delavals* attend very regularly, and take 
 notes of all that passes. His writ of error on 
 the outlawry must conie to a decision before 
 the House of Lords. 
 
 I was not among the coalheaversf at Shad- 
 well, though seven people lost their lives in the 
 fray. Nor was I in Goodman's Fields when 
 the brothel was demolished. The ministry, I 
 believe, are but ticklish in their situation. 
 They talk of Grenville and his brother J again. 
 Lord forbid ! it must be dreadful necessity in- 
 deed that brings them back. 
 
 Adieu. I am ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 If you are at Cambridge, pray let me know. 
 
 vol. iii. p. 230. " After term time, Wilkes published a violent 
 and vile speech against Lord Halifax. Lord Halifax stood in 
 a weak predicament, as it depended on a jury to give what 
 damages they should please against the Earl. No limits were 
 set to them by law, nor could King or Parliament remit the 
 fine," &c. See Lord Chesterfield's Works, iv. 294, for a favour- 
 able character of Lord Halifax, and Belsham's History, vol. v. 
 p. 354. He died in 1771. 
 
 * The Delaval family took a strong party on politics. See 
 the Grenville Papers, vol. ii. pp. 144-149, as instances. 
 
 f On the riot of the coalheavers, see Walpole's History of 
 George III. vol. iii. p. 219. 
 
 | George Grenville and Lord Temple. 
 
 2 E 
 
418 LETTERS OE 
 
 LETTER CXXI. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, 1st. August, [1768.] 
 
 Where you are, I know not, but before this 
 can reach you I guess you will be in residence. 
 It is only to tell you that I profess Modern 
 History and languages in a little shop of mine 
 at Cambridge, if you will recommend me any 
 customers. On Sunday Brocket died of a fall 
 from his horse, drunk, I believe, as some say, 
 returning from Hinchinbroke. # On Wednesday 
 the Duke of Grafton wrote me a very hand- 
 some letter to say that the King offered the 
 vacant place to me, with many more speeches 
 too honourable for me to transcribe. On Friday, 
 at the levee, I kissed his Majesty's hand. f What 
 
 * Hinchinbroke, the seat of Lord Sandwich, in Huntingdon- 
 shire. See description of it by Horace Walpole, in Misc. 
 Lett. v. p. 283. 
 
 •f See Gray's Works, vol. iv. p. 123, and at p. 127 his 
 letter to Dr. Bentham of 31st October. Mr. Cole says, " I 
 believe Mr. Stonhewer, the Duke of Grafton's secretary and 
 Mr Gray's friend, was the first man in this affair " Cole's MS. 
 Notes on Gray. Horace Walpole tells T. Warton, " Mr. Ston- 
 hewer is a great favourite with the Duke of Grafton, and the 
 person who recommended Mr. Gray ; he is a very worthy 
 man," &c. See Wooll's Life of Dr. J. Warton, p. 336. Sir Egerton 
 
THE POET GRAY. 119 
 
 he said I will not tell you, because everybodv 
 that has been at court tells what the King said 
 to them. It was very gracious, however. Re- 
 member you are to say that the Cabinet Coun- 
 cil all approved of the nomination in a parti- 
 cular manner. It is hinted to me that I 
 should say this publicly, and I have been at 
 their several doors to thank them. Now I 
 have told you all the exterior ; the rest, the 
 most essential, you can easily guess, and how 
 it came about. Now are you glad or sorry, 
 pray ? Adieu. Yours ever, 
 
 T. G., P. M. H. and L.* 
 
 Brydges informed me, " That when Gray went to court to kiss 
 the King's hand for his place, he felt a mixture of shyness and 
 pride which he expressed to some of his intimate friends in 
 terms of strong ill humour." See Gray's Works, ed. Aid. i. 
 p. ciii. Yet he could not say with Swift — 
 
 " What if for nothing once you kiss'd, 
 Against the grain, a monarch's fist." 
 
 * Thomas Gray, Professor of Modern History and Letters. 
 
 2 e 2 
 
420 LETTERS OP 
 
 LETTER CXXII. 
 MASON TO GRAY. 
 
 Dear Mr. Professor, ° rn &th T768. "^ 
 
 I will not congratulate you, for I would not 
 have you think I am glad, and I take for 
 granted you do not think I am, or at least would 
 not have me so to be, else you would have 
 given me a line ; but no matter. I went the 
 other day to Old Park, and read what you had 
 written to the Doctor, and he was not so glad 
 neither as to hinder him from making water, 
 which he did all the time I was with him, and 
 continues still to do so, and thinks he shall not 
 give over for some months. Do not be afraid, the 
 discharge does not come from his vesicatory, 
 but his pecuniary ducts, and I, as physician, 
 and Summers, as apothecary, hold it to be a 
 most salutary diabetes. 
 
 I have my good luck too, I can tell you, for 
 when I was at Hull I met with a Homan 
 ossuary of exquisite sculpture. How I came 
 by it no matter ; it is enough that I am pos- 
 sessed of it. I send you the inscription, which 
 your brother Lort,* of Halifax, may, perhaps, 
 
 * Gray, in a letter to Miss Antrobus, 29th July, 1768, 
 
THE POET GRAY. 421 
 
 help me to construe, for as to yourself I take 
 for granted that all your skill in the learned 
 languages transpired in the kiss which you 
 gave his Majesty's little finger, and you rose 
 up a mere modern scholar, with nothing left 
 hut a little Linngean jargon. Be this as it may, 
 here is the inscription literatim : 
 
 PONPONIA PELMI 
 GENIAE 
 T PONPONIO PELICI 
 P. ET P. PA. 
 
 The first three lines I read, " Pomponia primi- 
 geniae Tito Pomponio Pelici ; " but as to the 
 rest it is all Hebrew Greek to me. Seriously, 
 if you can make it out for me, I shall be 
 obliged to you. 
 
 I go to York on Thursday, but I mean to 
 
 speaking of his Professorship, says, " The only people who 
 asked for it are Lort, Marriott, Delaval, Tebb, and Peck; at 
 least I have heard of no more. . . . Lort is a worthy 
 man, and I wish he could have it, or something as good. The 
 rest are nothing." See Works, iv. p. 123. " Lort," says 
 Professor Smyth (in a MS. letter to me,) " was a scholar and 
 antiquary, afterwards chaplain to the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, rector of Fulham, and Prebendary of St. Paul's. He died 
 from the effects produced by an overturn of his carriage. 
 See Nichols's Anecdotes, vii, 237, 618, and Lit. Illustrations, 
 vii. 438, where is a portrait of him. Boswell says, " Multis 
 ille bonis flebilis occidit." 
 
422 LETTERS OF 
 
 call in my way on Mr. Weddell and Proud Pal - 
 grave # on Wednesday. Remember me kindly 
 to your brother, Mr. Professor Shepherd,! and 
 the successor of Mr. Professor Mickleborough ; { 
 and believe me to be, dear Mr. Professor, 
 
 Yours most truly and sincerely, 
 
 W. Mason. 
 
 LETTER CXXIII. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAR MASON, Pembroke College, Sept. 7, 1768. 
 
 What can I say more to you about Odding- 
 ton ?§ You seem engaged to Mr. Wood, and 
 in consequence of that to Mr. Meller. Mr. 
 Brown is not here, and if he were I could by 
 
 * In Lord Harcourt's MS. Correspondence with Mason he 
 is called " Le petit Palgrave." 
 
 f A. Shepherd, A.M. of Christ's College, Professor of Astro- 
 nomy and Experimental Philosophy in 1760. He was suc- 
 ceeded in 1796 by Mr. Yince. 
 
 J T. Mickleburgh, A.M. of Corpus Christi College, Professor 
 of Chemistry in 1718. His successor was T. Hardy, M.A of 
 Queen's, in 1756, He was succeeded by Dr. Watson, after- 
 wards Bishop of LlandafF. 
 
 § Rectory in Gloucestershire, a living in the gift of Mason, 
 as the Precentor of York. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 423 
 
 no means consult him about it. His view to 
 the mastership will be affected by it just in the 
 same manner as if he had accepted of Eram- 
 lingharu* and had it in possession, which I little 
 doubt he would accept if it were vacant and 
 undisputed. As to the dubious title, he told 
 me of it himself, and I was surprised at it as a 
 thing quite new to me. This is all I know ; 
 nor (if you were under no previous engage- 
 ments) could I direct or determine your choice. 
 It ought to be entirely your own ; as to accept 
 or refuse ought to be entirely his. The only 
 reason I have suggested anything about it is, 
 that (when we first talked on this subject) you 
 asked me whether Mr. Brown would have it ; 
 and I replied, it would hardly be worth his 
 while, as Frarnlingham was of greater value ; in 
 which, all things considered, I may be mis- 
 taken. 
 
 I give you joy of your vase; I cannot find 
 P. et P. PA. in my Sertorius Ursatus, and 
 consequently do not know their meaning. 
 What shall I do ? My learned brethren are 
 dispersed over the face of the earth. I have 
 lately dug up three small vases, in workman- 
 
 * Framlingham, a market town in Suffolk. The rectory is 
 in the gift of Pembroke College. Its castle is well known to 
 antiquaries, and the monument of Lord Surrey, in the church, 
 to poets. 
 
424 LETTERS OF 
 
 ship at least equal to yours ; they were disco- 
 vered at a place called Burslem in Stafford- 
 shire, and are very little impaired by time. 
 On the larger one is this inscription very 
 legibly, £•; and on the two smaller thus, |% 
 You will oblige me with an explanation, for 
 Ursatus here too leaves us in the dark. 
 
 I fear the King of Denmark* could not stay 
 till your hair was dressed. He is a genteel 
 lively figure, not made by nature for a fool ; 
 but surrounded by a pack of knaves, whose 
 interest it is to make him one if they can. He 
 has overset poor Dr. Marriot's head here, who 
 raves of nothing else from morning till night. f 
 
 Pray make my best compliments to your 
 brother-residentiary Mr. Cowper, and thank 
 
 * Christian the Seventh, who married Caroline Matilda, the 
 posthumous child of Frederic Prince of Wales; she died at 
 Zell, 1775. See account of her in Walpole's Miscellaneous 
 Letters, vol. iv. p. 329; v. 215-217. Walpole's Letters to 
 Mann, i. p. 399; ii. p. 2. Memoirs of George III. ii. p. 257; 
 iii. p. 235; iv. pp. 163,280. Selwyn Correspondence, ii. 
 pp. 326, 341. Lord Mahon's History, v p. 463. Belsham's 
 History, vi p. 232. Cavendish Debates, vol. i. pp. 283, 612. 
 See also Wraxall's Memoirs of the Courts of Berlin, Dresden, 
 &c. vol. i. p ; 47, &c. 
 
 | See Gray's Letter to Nicholls, W r orks, v. p. 80. " His 
 Danish Majesty has had a diarrhaea, so could not partake of 
 Dr. Marriotts collation ; if he goes thither at all, I will contrive 
 not to be present at the time." 
 
THE POET GRAY. 425 
 
 him for his obliging letter of congratulation, 
 which I did not at all expect. Present also 
 my respects and acknowledgements to Miss 
 Polly. Mr. Bedingfield I shall answer soon, 
 both as to his civilities and his reproaches ; the 
 latter you might have prevented by telling him 
 that I gave my works to nobody, as it was only 
 a new edition. Adieu ; write to me. 
 
 I am ever yours, T. G. 
 
 LETTER CXXIV. 
 GRAY TO MASON. 
 
 29th December, 1768. 
 
 Oh, wicked Scroddles ! There have you 
 gone and told my arcanum arcanorum* to that 
 
 * This arcanum arcanorum must, I think, be an allusion 
 to the lines written by Gray, in 1766, on Lord Holland's seat 
 at Kingsgate. See Gray's Poems, vol. i. p- 161, ed. Aid. 
 Walpole says, on these lines, "I am very sorry that he ever 
 wrote them and ever gave a copy of them. You may be sure 
 I did not recommend their being jrrinted in his works, nor were 
 they." See Letters to Lady Ossory, ii. 193, and Miscel- 
 laneous Correspondence, ii. 574, and Letters to Mason, i. p. 109. 
 The lines were written at Denton, in Kent, when on a visit to 
 Rev. William Robinson, and found in a drawer of Gray's room, 
 after his departure. They are given with the variations of 
 the MSS. in the Aldine edition, vol. i. p. 161. They were 
 printed in the Gent. Mag. and afterwards in Nichols's Select 
 Poems, vol. vii. p. 350, before they appeared in his works. 
 
426 LETTERS OF 
 
 leaky mortal Palgrave, who never conceals any 
 thing he is trusted with; and there have I been 
 forced to write to him, and (to bribe him to 
 silence) have told him how much I confided in 
 his taciturnity, and twenty lies beside, the guilt 
 of which must fall on you at the last account. 
 Seriously, you have done very wrong. Surely 
 you do not remember the imprudence of Dr. G., # 
 who is well known to that rogue in Piccadilly, 
 and who at any time may be denounced to the 
 
 "Foxium patrem," says Mr. W. S. Landor, "satira perstrinxit 
 Grains acerrima, in quo genere vidi ejus alia summi acuminis." 
 Landor, de Cultu Latini Sernionis, p. 196. Of these lines it 
 must indeed be said, they were "satira acerrima." 
 
 The following jeux cPesprits by Gray were once in the pos- 
 session of Mason, but were probably destroyed by him : — 
 
 1. Duke of Newcastle's journal going to Hanover. 
 
 2. History of the Devil: a fragment. 
 
 3. The Mob Grammar. 
 
 4. Character of the Scotch. 
 
 5. Fragments of an Act of Parliament relating to monu- 
 ments erected in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 Mason also mentions a fragment of Mr, Gray's, " A History 
 of Hell," which appears to have been a political squib. See 
 Walpole and Mason Correspondence, i. 66. " Pray take no- 
 tice of the conclusion concerning Kingcraft, and tell me whe- 
 ther he is not a prophet as well as poet." See also p. 156. 
 
 * Dr. Gisborne. Who the rogue in Piccadilly was, I do not 
 know, for there was no Court Guide in those days. Lord Bath, 
 who had lived there, was dead; but Lord March was then 
 living in the street. The parish rate-books, which still exist, 
 would be the only guide that I know in solving the mystery. 
 
THE POET GEAY. 427 
 
 party concerned, which five shillings reward 
 may certainly bring about. Hitherto luckily 
 nobody has taken any notice of it, nor I hope 
 ever will. 
 
 Dr. Balguy tells me you talk of Cambridge ; 
 come away then forthwith, when your Christ- 
 mas duties and mince-pies are over ; for what 
 can you do at Aston, making snow-balls all 
 January.* Here am I just returned from 
 London. I have seen Lt. t whose looks are 
 much mended, and he has leave to break up for 
 a fortnight, and is gone to Bath. Poor Dr. 
 Hurd has undergone a painful operation : they 
 say it was not a fistula, but something very 
 like it. He is now in a way to be well, and by 
 this time goes abroad again. Delaval was con- 
 fined two months with a like disorder. He 
 suffered three times under the hands of Haw- 
 kins, and, though he has now got out, and 
 walking the streets, does not think himself 
 cured, and still complains of uneasy sensations. 
 Nobody but I and Eraser, and Dr. Ross (who 
 
 * About two months after the date of this letter Mr. James 
 Harris wrote to Chancellor Hoadly, saying, " Mason preached 
 at St. James's, early prayers, and gave a fling at the French 
 for their invasion of Corsica. Thus politics, you see, have 
 entered the sanctuary." See Wobll's Life of J Warton, p. 343, 
 
 f Mr. Lort, before mentioned, 
 
428 LETTERS OE 
 
 it is said is just made Dean of Ely), are quite 
 well. Dr. Thomas, # of Christ's, is Bishop of 
 Carlisle.! Do not you feel a spice of concu- 
 piscence ? Adieu. 
 
 I am ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 * Dr. Thomas was Master of Christ's College; was offered 
 a bishoprick, and persuaded by Law, formerly of Christ's and 
 Master of Peterhouse, to decline it, that he himself might be 
 nominated Bishop. Such was always the representation of Mrs. 
 Thomas. — MS. Note by Professor Smyth to me. 
 
 | Edmund Law was made Bishop of Carlisle in 1768. A 
 Dr. John Thomas, Bishop of Winchester, was translated from 
 Peterborough in 1757. See Walpole's George II. vol. i. p. 
 292; George III. vol, i. p 75; iv. p. 370, for an account of 
 him ; but on the subject of these synonymous doctors see Bishop 
 Newton's Autobiography, p. 59. " Dr. Thomas, who died 
 Bishop of Salisbury. I so describe him, for it was not always 
 easy to distinguish the two Dr. Thomas's. Somebody was 
 speaking of Dr. Thomas ; he was asked, Which Dr. Thomas do 
 you mean ? Dr. John Thomas. They are both named John. 
 Dr. Thomas, who has a living in the City. They both have 
 livings in the City. Dr. Thomas, who is Chaplain to the King. 
 They are both Chaplains to the King. Dr. Thomas, who is a 
 very good preacher. They are both very good preachers. 
 Dr. Thomas, who squints. They both squint ; for Dr. Thomas, 
 who died Bishop of Winchester, handsome as he was, had a 
 little cast in one of his eyes. John Thomas, Bishop of Salis- 
 bury, was Preceptor to the Prince of Wales (George III.)." 
 See on him Waldegrave's Memoirs, p. 10 and p. 36; in the 
 latter place he is called Bishop of Norwich (by mistake). I 
 
THE POET GRAY. 429 
 
 Mr. Brown's companion here isLordBichard.* 
 What is come of Foljambe ? f Service to my 
 curate. 
 
 may add that both these John Thomas's had been Bishops of 
 Salisbury, one in 1757, the other in 1761. He of Salisbury 
 died in 1766; he of Winchester in 1791: but there was a 
 third Dr. John Thomas, who succeeded Dr. Pearce as Dean of 
 Westminster, and on his death, in 1774, succeeded him as the 
 Bishop of Rochester. An old Kentish gentleman, a neighbour 
 of this Bishop's, told me, many years ago, that he knew him 
 well ; but all he remembered, or rather all he communicated, 
 was, that the Bishop used to net partridges, which he thought 
 very unlike a sportsman. The portrait of this Dr. Thomas, 
 by Sir Joshua Reynolds, is in the Bridgwater Gallery, No. 270, 
 and his monument in Westminster Abbey, with his bust by 
 Nollekens, and a Latin inscription by his nephew, G. A. T. 
 The Bishop died August 20, 1793, aged 81 years. 
 * Lord Richard Cavendish. 
 
 t " Here is Mr. Foljambe has got a flying hobgoblin from 
 the East Indies and a power of rarities ; then he has given me 
 such a phalasna, with looking-glasses in its wings, and a queen of 
 the white ants, &c. .... Oh! she is a jewel of a pismire." 
 Gray's Letter to Nicholls, vide Works, v. p. 113. Mason, 
 in a letter to Horace Walpole in 1771, asks him for a recom- 
 mendatory letter or two to some persons of fashion at Paris, 
 for a young gentleman of his neighbourhood, Mr. Foljambe, of 
 an ancient family and good fortune, &c See Walpole and 
 Mason Correspondence, vol. i. p. 40. This person was pro- 
 bably Francis Ferrand Home Foljambe, who represented the 
 county of York 1787 ; married as his second wife Arabella, 
 daughter of Lord Scarborough, in 1792; died in 1814. The 
 arms of twenty families appear on the Foljambe monuments 
 
M>0 LETTERS OE 
 
 LETTER CXXV. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Old Park, 
 DEAR MASON, Saturday, August 26th, 1769. 
 
 I received last night your letter, big with 
 another a week older than itself. You might 
 as well have wrote to me from the deserts of 
 Arabia, and desired me to step over and drink 
 a dish of tea with you. This morning I sent to 
 Auckland for a chaise ; the man's answer is 
 that he had a chaise with four horses returned 
 yesterday from Hartlepool, that the road was 
 next to impassable, and so dangerous that he 
 does not think of sending out any other that 
 way, unless the season should change to a long 
 drought. I would have gone by Durham, but 
 am assured that road is rather worse. What 
 can I do ? You speak so jauntily, and enter so 
 little into any detail of your own journey, that 
 I conclude you came on horseback from Stock- 
 ton (which road, however, is little better for 
 carriages). If so, we hope you will ride over to 
 
 at Chesterfield. His seats, Osberton, Notts; Aldweston, York- 
 shire. Sir Thomas Foljamhe was a person of public note in 
 the time of Henry the Third. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 431 
 
 Old Park with Mr. Alclerson ; # there is room for 
 you both, and hearty welcome. The doctor 
 even talks of coming (for he can ride) to invite 
 you on Monday. I wonder how you are accom- 
 modated where you are, and what you are doing 
 with Gen. Carey. I would give my ears to get 
 thither, but all depends on the sun. Adieu. 
 
 It is twenty miles to Old Park, and the way 
 is by Hart, over Sheraton Moor, and through 
 Trimdon. There is no village else that has a 
 name. Pray write a line by the bearer. 
 
 T. Gray. 
 
 We have a confirmation of the above account 
 of the state of the roads from other evidences ; 
 nevertheless, I shall certainly come on horse- 
 back on Monday to inquire after your proceed- 
 ings and designs, and to prevail upon you and 
 Mr. Alderson to return with me to Old Park. 
 A rainy morning, perhaps, may stop us a few 
 hours, but when it clears up I shall set forward. 
 Adieu ; accept all our compliments. 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 T. Whahton. 
 
 * The Eev. Christopher Alderson, curate to Mr. Mason, 
 and afterwards Eector of Aston and of Eckington, before 
 alluded to. 
 
432 LETTERS OE 
 
 LETTER CXXVI. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 DEAR SlR, Lancaster, 10 Oct. 1769. 
 
 I set out on the 29th September, with poor 
 Doctor Wharton, and lay at Brough, but he 
 was seized with a fit of the asthma the same 
 night, and obliged in the morning to return 
 home. I went by Penrith to Keswick, and 
 passed six days there lap'd in Elysium ; then 
 came slowly by Ambleside to Kendal, and this 
 day arrived here. I now am projecting to 
 strike across the hills into Yorkshire, by Settle, 
 and so get to Mason's ; then, after a few days, 
 I shall move gently towards Cambridge. The 
 weather has favoured all my motions just as I 
 could wish. 
 
 I received your letter of 23 Sept. ; was glad 
 you deviated a little from the common track, 
 and rejoiced you got well and safe home. 
 
 I am, ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 433 
 
 LETTER CXXVII. 
 
 TO RICHARD STONHEWER, ESQ., DURHAM. 
 (By Caxton Bag.) 
 
 My DEAR SlR, Cambridge, November 2, 1769. 
 
 I am sincerely pleased with every mark of 
 your kindness, and as such I look upon your 
 last letter in particular.* I feel for the sorrow 
 you have felt, and yet I cannot wish to lessen 
 it; that would be to rob you of the best part 
 of your nature, to efface from your mind the 
 tender memory of a father's love, and deprive 
 the dead of that just and grateful tribute which 
 his goodness demanded from you. 
 
 I must, however, remind you how happy it 
 was for him that you were with him to the last; 
 that he was sensible, perhaps, of your care, 
 when every other sense was vanishing. He 
 might have lost you the last year, f might have 
 seen you go before him, at a time when all the 
 ills of helpless old age were coming upon him, 
 
 * Mr. Stonhewer's father, the Rev. Richard Stonhewer, 
 D.D., Rector of Houghton-le-Spring, Durham, died 1769. See 
 Gent. Mag., Deaths (November). This short, but exquisitely 
 tender and beautiful letter, will not be passed by the reader 
 without the attentive feeling it deserves. 
 
 | I had been very ill at the time alluded to. — M. 
 
 2 J? 
 
434 LETTERS OF 
 
 and, though not destitute of the attention and 
 tenderness of others, yet destitute of your atten- 
 tion and your tenderness. May God preserve 
 you, my hest friend, and, long after my eyes are 
 closed, give you that last satisfaction in the 
 gratitude and affection of a son, which you have 
 given your father. 
 
 I am ever most truly and entirely yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 LETTER CXXVLU. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Pembroke College, December 2nd, 1769. 
 
 I am afraid something is the matter with 
 you that I hear nothing from you since I passed 
 two days with you in your ahsence. I am not 
 in Ireland, as you perhaps might imagine by 
 this natural sentence, but shall be as glad to 
 hear from you as if I were. 
 
 A week ago I saw something in the news- 
 paper signed " An Enemy to Brick Walls in 
 Improper Places." While I was studying how, 
 for brevity's sake, to translate this into Greek, 
 Mr. Brown did it in one word, Ma<roi/i8ijy. I 
 hope it is not that complaint, hard I must own 
 
THE POET GKRAY. 435 
 
 to digest, that sticks in your stomach, and 
 makes you thus silent. 
 
 I am sorry to tell you that I hear a very bad 
 account of Dr. Hurd. He was taken very ill at 
 Thurcaston, and obliged with difficulty to be 
 carried in a chaise to Leicester. He remained 
 there confined some time before he could be 
 conveyed on to London. As they do not men- 
 tion what his malady is, I am much afraid it is 
 a return of the same disorder that he had last 
 year in town. I am going thither for a few 
 days myself, and shall soon be able to tell you 
 more of hini. 
 
 Wyatt* is returned hither very calm but me- 
 lancholy, and looking dreadfully pale. He 
 thinks of orders, I am told. Adieu. 
 
 I am ever yours, 
 
 T. GL 
 
 * The Eev. William Wyatt, A.M., F.E.S., elected Fellow 
 of Pembroke College in 1763, Eector of Framlingham-cum- 
 Saxted in 1782, and in 1792 of Theberton in Suffolk; buried 
 Feb. 8, 1813, aged 71 years. 
 
 2 f 2 
 
436 LETTERS OP 
 
 LETTER CXXIX. 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 DEAR SIR, Jermyn Street, 14th Dec. 1769. 
 
 I have seen Dr. Hurd, and find the story I 
 told yon is not true, thongh (I thonght) I had 
 it on very good authority. He was indeed ill 
 at Thurcaston, bnt not so since, and walked an 
 hour in Lincoln's Inn walks with me very 
 hearty, though his complexion presages no good. 
 St. # is come to town, and in good health. The 
 weather and the times look very gloomy, and 
 hang on my spirits, though I go to the Italian 
 puppet show (the reigning diversion) to exhi- 
 larate them. I return to Cambridge on Tues- 
 day next, where I desire you would send me a 
 more exhilarating letter. Adieu. 
 
 I am ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 All your acquaintances here are well — Lord 
 Newnham and Mr. Ramsden, and all. 
 
 * Stonhewer. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 437 
 
 LETTEK CXXX. 
 
 TO THE KEV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 Dear Mason, 1770. 
 
 I am very well at present, the usual effect of 
 my summer expeditious, and much obliged to 
 you, gentlemen, for your kind inquiry after me. 
 I have seen Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, 
 Monmouthshire, Herefordshire, Shropshire — 
 five of the best counties this kingdom has to 
 produce. The chief grace and ornament of my 
 journey was the river Wye, which 1 descended 
 in a boat from Hoss to Chepstow (near forty 
 miles), surrounded with ever-new delights; 
 among which were the New Weir (see Whate- 
 ley), Tintern Abbey, and Persfield. I say 
 nothing of the Yale of Abergavenny, Hagland 
 Castle, Ludlow, Malvern Hills, the Leasowes, 
 and Hagley, &c, nor how I passed two days at 
 Oxford very agreeably. The weather was very 
 hot, and generally serene. I envy not your 
 Grefners,* nor your Wensley-dale and Aisgarth 
 Eorces; but did you see Winander-mere and 
 Grass-mere? Bid you get to Keswick, and 
 what do you think of the matter ? I stayed a 
 
 * His allusion to Greffiers or registrars must refer to some 
 passage in a letter of Mason's which is wanting. 
 
438 LETTERS OF 
 
 fortnight stewing in London, and now am in 
 the midst of this dead quiet, with nohody hut 
 Mr. President* near me, and he "is not dead, 
 hut sleepeth." 
 
 The politics of the place are that Eishop 
 Warhurton will chouse Bishop Keenef out of 
 Ely by the help of Lord Mansfield, who can be 
 refused nothing at present. Every one is fright- 
 ened except Tom Neville. 
 
 Palgrave, I suppose, is at Mr. Weddell's, and 
 has told you the strange casualties of his house- 
 hold. Adieu. 
 
 I am ever yours, 
 
 T. G. 
 
 The letter in question was duly received. 
 
 * The Rev. James Brown, President of Pembroke College. 
 
 ■f Bishop Keene was translated from Chester to Ely, 1771. 
 See account of this transaction in Bishop Newton's Life of 
 Himself, p. 114. In 1764 there was a correspondence between 
 Warburton and George Grenville on the bishopric of London, 
 which was vacant by the death of Osbaldeston, when Terrick 
 was appointed to it. See Grenville Papers, vol. ii. pp. 313 — 
 316. Bishop Keene had, in 1764, refused the Primacy of 
 Ireland: see ibid. pp. 534, 535. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 439 
 
 LETTER CXXXI. 
 TO THE REV. JAMES BROWN. 
 DEAR SlR, Jermyn Street, May 22, 1770. 
 
 I have received two letters from you with 
 one inclosed from Paris and one from Mason. 
 I met poor Barber (?) two or three days after the 
 fire with evident marks of terror in his coun- 
 tenance ; he has moved his quarters (I am told) 
 somewhere into Gray's -inn-lane, near the fields. 
 
 I do not apprehend anything more than 
 usual from the City Remonstrance; 5 * and the 
 
 * See Hansard's Parliamentary Reports, vol. xvi. p. 900, 
 for the Address of both Houses to the King on the City Re- 
 monstrance. The addresses and answers were in the Annual 
 Register, 1770, p. 199 to p. 203. In the Misc. Correspon- 
 dence of Horace Walpole, so well edited by Mr. Wright, 
 vol. v. p. 275, is a note on this subject, in which the Editor 
 quotes a MS. note of Isaac Reed, saying, " That Beckford did 
 not utter one syllable of this speech". It was penned by Home 
 Tooke, and by his art put on the records of the city and on 
 Beckford's statue, as he told me, Mr. Braithwaite, Mr. Sayer, 
 &c. at the Athenasum Club :" then adding, " There can be but 
 little doubt that the worthy Commentator and his friends were 
 imposed upon ;" meaning, I presume, they were imposed upon 
 by Home Tooke. If so, it was an imposition which he main- 
 tained also with others. My friend Mr. William Maltby, of the 
 London Institution, whom I questioned on the subject, answers 
 me to this effect: — "Dr. Charles Burney first told me the 
 
440 LETTERS OF 
 
 party principally concerned, I hear, does not in 
 the least regard it. The conversation you men- 
 tion in the House of Lords is very true; it 
 happened about a fortnight since; and the 
 Archbishop replied, it was not any concern of 
 his, as he had received no complaint from 
 the University on that head. It begins to be 
 doubted whether Lord Anglesey * will carry 
 
 speech in Guildhall was written by Home Tooke, and was never 
 delivered. The first time I saw Mr. Tooke afterwards I asked 
 him the question. He said he wrote every word of that speech, 
 and he was much amused when one of the corporation said he 
 had heard every word of it delivered, with the exception of 
 " two" and " necessary." It must be remembered that Charles 
 Townshend said " That Beckford had made no had speech 
 upon the exclamation of His Majesty (in 1763). It is com- 
 posed upon good ideas of taste, and firm and explicit, without 
 being indecent or warm." See Grenville Papers, ii. 133, and 
 Rockingham Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 173 ; and for some account 
 of Beckford, ibid. p. 169. 
 
 * This alludes to the disputed Peerage. Arthur, on 
 arriving at his majority 1765, took his seat as Lord Valentia, 
 after an investigation by the Lords of Ireland of nearly four 
 years, during his minority ; his succession to the Irish estates 
 being opposed by his kinsman, John Annesley, derived from 
 the first Regent Valentia. When he petitioned for his writ of 
 summons to the Parliament of Great Britain as Earl of 
 Anglesey, the judgment was against him. A renewal of the 
 claim again took place in Ireland, when they came to the same 
 conclusion as before, and confirmed the claim. So his Lord- 
 ship enjoyed his Irish honours; but the earldom in England 
 
THE POET GRAY. 441 
 
 his point, his witnesses being so very Irish in 
 their understandings and consciences that they 
 puzzle the cause they came to prove ; but this 
 cannot be cleared up till another session. Pa. 
 and I have often visited, but never met. I 
 saw my Lord and Tom* the other day at 
 breakfast in good health ; and Lady Maria did 
 not beat me, but giggled a little. Monsieur de 
 Villervielle has found me out, and seems a sen- 
 sible, quiet young man. He returns soon to 
 France with the ambassador, but means to 
 revisit England and see it better. I dined at 
 Hampton Court on Sunday all alone with St. 
 who inquired after you ; and the next day with 
 the same, and a good deal of company in town. 
 
 was considered as extinct, and the title of the latter conferred 
 on another family. See Gent. Magazine on this subject, 
 vol. xiv. xxi. xxvi. xli. Dr. Balguy wrote to Dr. Warton: 
 " I doubt your friend Lord Lyttelton is by no means sure of 
 success in the business of the Anglesey claim. There is proof, 
 not easy to be overcome, that the certificate of the marriage 
 is forged, The House wait at present for some living witnesses 
 from Ireland" See Wooll's Life of Warton, p. 372. It was 
 published as " The Trial or Ejectment between Campbell 
 Craig, lessee of James Annesley, Esq. and other plaintiffs, and 
 the Eight Hon. Richard Earl of Anglesey, defendant, Dublin, 
 1774.'" For full particulars see Collins's Peerage, art o 
 Anglesey. 
 
 * Lord Strathmore and Thomas Lyon, and Lady Maria 
 Lyon his wife. 
 
442 LETTERS OF 
 
 I have not seen him so well this long time. I 
 am myself indifferent ; the head- ache returns 
 now and then, and a little grumbling of the 
 gout ; but I mean to see you on Monday or 
 Tuesday next. 
 
 Adieu. I am ever yours, T. G. 
 
 PS. Pray is Mrs. Olliffe come to Cam- 
 bridge ? 
 
 LETTER CXXXIL 
 TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 DEAR MASON, Pembroke Hall, Oct. 24, 1770. 
 
 I have been for these three weeks and more 
 confined to my room by a fit of the gout, and 
 am now only beginning to walk alone again. 
 I should not mention the thing, but that I am 
 well persuaded it will soon be your own case, as 
 you have so soon laid aside your horse, and 
 talk so relishingly of your old port. 
 
 I cannot see any objection to your design for 
 Mr. Pierce. As to "Wilson* we know him much 
 alike. He seems a good honest lad ; and I 
 believe is scholar enough for your purpose. Per- 
 haps this connection may make (or mar) his 
 
 * Thomas Wilson, elected Fellow of Pembroke in 1767; 
 became vicar of Soliam 1769; died 1797. 
 
THE POET GKRAY. 443 
 
 fortune. Our friend Foljambe * has resided in 
 college, and persevered in the ways of godliness 
 till about ten days ago, when he disappeared, and 
 no one knows whether he is gone a hunting or 
 a * * * # rjy^ G little Fitzherbert t is come a 
 
 * A Fellow Commoner of Bene't College, of a Yorkshire 
 family, and a person of fortune. He was lineally descended 
 from one of the knights who murdered Becket. A carving in 
 bas-relief in stone was ordered by the King, soon after the 
 murder, to be placed in the castle of this Knight, which repre- 
 sented the deed : it was in the possession of Mason. See pre- 
 vious note to Letter cxxiv. 
 
 "j" The little Fitzherbert was afterwards Lord St. Helen's, 
 brother of the one mentioned in Letter ex. : he took a high: 
 degree in 1774. Of the visit which Gray paid to him on the 
 occasion, Lord St. Helen's gave an account to Mr. Samuel 
 Eogers, which he has allowed me to transcribe from his own 
 words: — "I came to St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1770, 
 and that year received a visit from Gray, having a letter of 
 introduction to him. He was accompanied by Dr. Gisborne, 
 Mr. Stonhewer, and Mr. Palgrave, and they walked one after 
 one, in Indian file. When they withdrew, every college man 
 took off his cap as he passed, a considerable number having 
 assembled in the quadrangle to see Mr. Gray, who was seldom 
 seen. I asked Mr. Gray, to the great dismay of his com- 
 panions, what he thought of Mr. Garrick's Jubilee Ode, just 
 published ? He answered, ' He was easily pleased.' " Lord 
 St. Helen's was Minister for some time at the Court of St. 
 Petersburgh, and could recollect in after-life and repeat some 
 interesting anecdotes of the Empress Catherine. He resided 
 and I believe died in Albemarle Street. Mr. Eogers often 
 
444 LETTERS OF 
 
 pensioner to St. John's, and seems to have all 
 his wits about him. Your eleve Lord Richard 
 Cavendish, having digested all the learning and 
 all the beef this place could afford him in a two 
 months' residence, is about to leave us, and his 
 little brother George* succeeds him. Bishop 
 Keene has brought a son from Eton to Peter- 
 house ; andDr.Heberdent another to St. John's, 
 
 speaks of the pleasure he had in his acquaintance, of his visits 
 to Lord St. Helen's house, and of his agreeable and enlightened 
 conversation. In his last illness — moriens legavit — he pre- 
 sented to Mr. Rogers, Pope's own copy of Garth's Dispensary, 
 enriched with the MS. annotations of the younger poet, in his 
 early print-hand. The Ode of Garrick was " An Ode on 
 dedicating a building, or erecting a statue, to Shakspere at 
 Stratford-upon-Avon, by D. G." 1769, 4to. and it is bad 
 enough ! 
 
 * Lord George Augustus Henry, born Feb. 27, 1754, 
 married 1792 Lady Elizabeth Compton, created Earl of 
 Burlington, and died May 9, 1834. 
 
 "j* Dr. William Heberden, formerly Fellow of St. John's Col- 
 lege, Cambridge, died in his 91st year in May, 1801, being 
 then Senior Fellow of the College of Physicians. See a good 
 sketch of his life in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. iii. 
 p. 71-74. He was called by Dr. Johnson " Ultimus Ro- 
 manorum," and his name is immortalized in the poetry of 
 Cowper : 
 
 " Virtuous and faithful Heberden, whose skill 
 Attempts no task it cannot well fulfil," &c. 
 
 His son, destined to the Church, was Charles, of St. John's 
 College, who died May, 1796, aged 24. Dr. Heberden, in a 
 
THE POET GRAY. 445 
 
 who is entered pensioner, and destined to the 
 
 Church. This is all my university news ; but 
 
 why do I tell you? come yourself and see, for I 
 
 hope you remember your promise at Aston, 
 
 and will take us in your way as you go to your 
 
 town residence. 
 
 You have seen Stonhewer, I imagine, who 
 
 went northwards on Saturday last; pray tell 
 
 me how he is, for I think him not quite well. 
 
 Tell me this, and tell me when I may expect to 
 
 see you here. 
 
 I am ever yours, T. G. 
 
 LETTER CXXXm. 
 REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 DEAR Mr. GRAY, Curzon Street * March 27. 
 
 I find from Stonhewer that he has now 
 129Z. 10s. 6d. as appears by the account on the 
 opposite page ; if therefore it be not inconve- 
 nient to you I should be glad to borrow 1001. 
 of you for a little pocket-money during the 
 present sequestration of my ecclesiastical and 
 
 letter to Dr. Birch, introduces Mason to him. " He is of the 
 same college with me, and I have a great esteem for him." 
 Hs was indeed Mason's earliest friend, and patron. 
 
 * Mason had stayed during the winter at Mr. Stonhewer's 
 house, in Curzon Street, May Fair. 
 
446 LETTERS OF 
 
 temporal concerns.* I wish you would favour 
 me with a line as soon as may be on this 
 matter ; and if you do not object to my pro- 
 posal, I will immediately send you my note, 
 which I have the vanity to presume is as good 
 as my bond. S.t is perfectly well; the fort- 
 night's rest which his feverish complaint obliged 
 him to take totally removed his other malady, 
 so that he has never had occasion to recur to 
 his former applications, which both you and I 
 thought dangerous, and I always unnecessary. 
 
 Wilson was with me yesterday ; he has very 
 gladly accepted the tutoring of Mr. Pierse, and 
 will write to Mr. Brown shortly on that sub- 
 ject ; I therefore turn the matter over entirely 
 to him and the master. 
 
 The general opinion of what will be the 
 business of the day is, that the Lord Mayor £ 
 
 * I presume that Mason must allude to his expenses at this 
 time, occasioned by his erection of the new rectory house at 
 Aston ; a general account of which extended, from December, 
 1769, to December, 1772. Mason pulled down the old par- 
 sonage, and erected a very handsome and commodious house 
 upon another site, which must have cost a considerable sum 
 of money, as the Archbishop told him, when he visited Aston 
 parish, of which episcopal visit, Mason gives some account in 
 a letter to Horace Walpole. 
 
 f Mr. Stonhewer. 
 
 J " Brass Crosby," who was very popular. See Walpole's 
 George III. vol. iv. pp. 195 and 304. Cavendish Debates, 
 
THE POET GRAY. 447 
 
 on account of his gout will not be sent to the 
 Tower, but committed to the care of Bonfoy, 
 whose pizzy-wizzyship will be horribly frighted 
 on the occasion. The riot is nothing in com- 
 parison of what you would have thought re- 
 spectable when you interested yourself in these 
 matters, and attended them in Bloomsbury 
 Square. 
 
 I am much amused at present in living privy 
 to a great court secret, known only to myself, 
 the King, and about five or six persons more in 
 the world. I found it out by a penetration 
 which would have done honour to a first 
 minister in the best of days, even in the days of 
 Sir Robert* or Fobus. When it is ripe for dis- 
 covery, I shall perhaps let you into some parts 
 of it that will never be made public ; in the 
 meanwhile mum is the word from 
 
 Your friend and servant, Skroddles. 
 
 I am glad the Master likes his chairs ; my 
 true love to him. 
 
 ii. 422, 467. Adolphus's History, i. 469. Belsham's History 
 i. 349. Walpole to Mann, ii. 144. Eockingham Papers, 
 ii. 205, where is some account of him. He is said "for a time 
 to have almost rivalled Wilkes in popularity." 
 
 * Sir Eohert Walpole and Duke of Newcastle. See Lord 
 Holland's character of the Duke of Newcastle in Selwyn 
 Correspondence, ii. p. 269. 
 
448 LETTERS OF 
 
 Received by Mr. Ston- £ s. d. £ s. d. 
 
 hewer of Mr. Barber 
 
 for Mr. Gray 180 14 
 
 Paid for Mr. Brown's 
 
 patent 49 1 6 
 
 Given to Mr. Barber . 2 2 
 
 51 3 6 
 
 Remains . . 129 10 6 
 
 LETTER CXXXIV. 
 
 REV. WILLIAM MASON TO GRAY. 
 
 DEAR Mr. GRAY, Curzon Street, April 15th, 1771. 
 
 Stonhewer has this post received yours, but 
 you tiffed at him so much in a former letter 
 that you are not to wonder he is backward in 
 answering it ; however, he means to write to 
 you if he survives the next subscription masque- 
 rade, for the superb garniture of which the 
 Adelphi* are now exerting all their powers. 
 
 * The two brothers, Adams, who built the Adelphi, and, 
 among other things, Lord Bute's house at Luton: the entrance- 
 gate to the Duke of Northumberland's at Sion is also theirs. 
 Walpole, writing to Mason, says: " Sir William Chambers is 
 not gone away, so I retract all, but that the Adams' ought to be 
 goner Vol. ii. p. 89. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 449 
 
 Lovatini* cannot sing for them to-morrow, and 
 it is thought Mrs. Cornelys f will be happy if 
 they allow her a third underground floor in 
 Durham-yard to hide her diminished head in. 
 Well, and so the great state secret is out, that 
 I and the King knew so well two months ago : 
 but it may be well to inform you, and such 
 rusticated folks as you, that it is not my friend 
 the surveyor Jackson, of Hornby Castle, who is 
 sub -preceptor, but a Jackson of Christ Church. J 
 
 * Lovatini enjoyed the public favour for eight years, and 
 left England in 1774. 
 
 f Mrs. Cornelys established a subscription concert in Soho 
 Square, where the best performers and best company assem- 
 bled; till Bach and Abel uniting interests, in 1765, opened a 
 subscription, about 1763, for a weekly concert, which con- 
 tinued with uninterrupted prosperity for twenty years, See 
 Burney's Hist, of Music, iv. 676. Previous to Mrs. Cornelys, 
 Hickford's dancing school continued the fashionable place for 
 concerts. See Burney, iv. p. 196. Walpole says, in a letter 
 to George Montagu, " Strawberry, with all its painted glass and 
 glitter, looked as gay as Mrs. Cornelys's ball-room." Miscel- 
 laneous Correspondence, v. p. 274. See also Selwyn Corre- 
 spondence, vol. i. p. 340. " Have we not every house open 
 every night, from Cornelys 's to Mrs Holman's?" 1765. 
 Again in p. 360, which mentions the rise of Almack's. See 
 also Walpole and Mason's Corresp. vol. ii. p. 153. 
 
 J Dr. Cyril Jackson, afterwards Dean of Christ Church. 
 He was sub-preceptor; L. Smelt, the sub-governor; Lord 
 Holdernesse, governor, 1771. See Walpole to Mann, ii. 379. 
 Afterwards the preceptors were Markham and Hurd. See 
 
 2 a 
 
450 LETTERS OF 
 
 My uncle Powell* may bless his stars that he is 
 removed to Court, for he read such wonderful 
 mathematical lectures there, that if he had 
 gone on a few years longer it is thought St. 
 John's would have been eclipsed by the glories 
 of Peckwater, that Peckwater which, in the 
 days of Roger Paine, was fain to bow even to 
 Trinity. Then what say you of Mr. Smelt ? 
 Is it not a proof that patient merit will buoy 
 up at last ? In a word, did you ever see an 
 arrangement formed upon a more liberal and 
 unministerial ground? To say nothing of the 
 Governor himself, what think you of the pre- 
 ceptor ? Could anything be more to yours and 
 Lord Mansfield's mind ? Pray let me know if 
 the new-married Stephen t chooses to be seller of 
 mild and stale to his royal highness, because I 
 would put his name on the list of the expectants 
 I am to apply for, if agreeable. I have a 
 baker, a locksmith, a drawing-master, a laun- 
 dress, an archbishop's cast-off groom of the 
 chamber, already upon my hands ; you must 
 
 Walpole's George III. vol. iv. 311, for an account of these 
 appointments. Hurd, in the dates of his Life, p. xii. writes, 
 "Was made* preceptor to the Prince of Wales, and his brother 
 Prince Frederic, 5 June, 1776." 
 
 * On Powell, see Letter lxxxvi. He had been one of the 
 tutors at St. John's College, while Balguy was the other. 
 
 j Probably alluding to Gray's servant. See p. 459, note. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 451 
 
 speak in time if you would have anything, not 
 that I believe there will be a household these 
 several years, even if we were rich enough to 
 pay for one. Lord J. blabbed to Jack Dixon 
 that Dr. Hurd refused, and he blabbed it to 
 Gould, who will blab it to all the university, 
 and we shall be quite shent. Tell Gould,* if 
 he says a word, that Oddyngtont may again 
 become vacant, and I shall certainly serve him 
 as I served him before. Now I thought that 
 Jack Dixon J would have been at Petersburg 
 before he could tell it to anybody, and I did 
 not much mind whether the Czarina knew it 
 or no, for I know she will get out all Jack's 
 secrets in some of their amorous moments. But 
 here am I writing nonsense when I should be 
 thanking you seriously for your 1001. , and 
 sending you your security. Voila done : here it 
 is, tear it off and put it in your§ [strong-box]. 
 You say nothing of coming up, and Palgrave 
 affects not to come up till the beginning of 
 
 * " My service to creeping Gain (I do not mean Mr. Gould); 
 I hope it has conceived vast hopes from the smiles of his 
 grace." Nicholls to Gray, Works, vol. v. p. 97. 
 
 -f- The living before alluded to, which was in Mr. Mason's 
 gift, as Precentor of York Cathedral. 
 
 J A relation of Mason's ; mentioned in Mason's will. 
 
 § Torn out. 
 
 2g2 
 
452 LETTERS OP 
 
 May. I will press neither of yon, I know you 
 both too well. As to myself, I mean to fly 
 northward by the way of Northamptonshire ; 
 and poor Hoyland* comes Zephyris et Hirundme 
 
 * This was the Francis Hoyland whose Poems were pub- 
 lished in 1763, 4to. and subsequently reprinted, with much 
 alteration, in his edition of the English Poets, 1808, by Mr. 
 Thomas Parke (The Poetical Works of the Rev. Mr. Hoyland, 
 collated with the best editions). Horace Walpole, in a letter to 
 Mason, of May, 1769, says, " When I see Mr. Stonhewer I 
 will know if he will choose another edition of poor Mr. Hoy- 
 lanoVs Poems. I doubt not, as when he sent for the last 
 twenty he said he believed he could get them off. I gladly 
 adopt your correction, but I cannot further your own good- 
 ness. It is to you, Sir, Mr. Hoyland owes everything." See 
 also Mason's letter, p. 8. The edition from the Strawberry Hill 
 Press of Hoyland's Poems was printed in 1769. In 1783 
 appeared Odes by the Rev. F. Hoyland, Edinb. 4to, with the 
 following motto in the title-page : — - 
 
 Ssepe manus demens, studiis irata sibique 
 Misit in arsuros carmina nostra focos. 
 
 Atque ita de multis quoniam non multa supersunt, 
 Cum venia, facito, quisquis es, ista legi. 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 This edition contains four Odes. 1. From the French of 
 Fenelon. 2. The Dove. 3. An Autumnal Ode. And Ode 
 Four, the Ode to the Guardian Angel, much altered from 
 the edition of 1763, in the Strawberry Hill edition, 1769. 
 Rural Happiness, an Elegy in the first edition, is called an 
 Ode in that of 1769. 
 
 In the edition of his poems, 1822, is a brief Memoir by 
 
THE POET GRAY. 453 
 
 prima; but as it snows at present you will 
 think, perhaps, to find me here in June, and 
 perhaps you may. Well ! do your pleasure; 
 and believe me ever yours, 
 
 W. M. 
 
 Congratulate me on the cessation of all my 
 fears about kitchen-garden walls, &c. ; it is an 
 ill wind that blows nobody profit. 
 
 R. A. Davenport. From this we learn that Hoyland was 
 born previous to 1725; that he was Bachelor of Arts, 
 probably of Cambridge ; that he was married, and had a 
 child. Patronage, for which he had often prayed, he at 
 length obtained; but he gave us to understand that it was 
 burthened with conditions by which it was rendered a curse. 
 It is obvious, from his own language, that his promotion, 
 whatever it was, made him a dependent, and that to some one 
 who exacted his full share of homage, if not of servility. 
 Mr. Davenport was at a loss to know by what means Hoy- 
 land's poems acquired a typographical distinction (he means 
 at the Strawberry Hill press) which was so seldom granted. 
 The title-page to the first edition was as follows : — 
 
 Poems and Translations by Francis Hoyland, A.B. 
 
 Nasutum volo, nolo polyposum. (Martial.) 
 
 Give me a house like other people, 
 Not one as large as Strasburg steeple. 
 
 (Printed for London and York), 1763. (Two Shillings). 
 
454 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER CXXXV. 
 TO THE REY. JAMES BROWN. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I am sorry to think you are coming to town 
 at a time when I am ready to leave it ; but so 
 it must be, for here is a son born unto us, and 
 he must die a heathen without your assistance; 
 Old Pa. is in waiting ready to receive you at 
 your landing. Mason set out for Yorkshire 
 this morning. Delaval is by no means well, 
 and looks sadly, yet he goes about and talks 
 as loud as ever ; he fell upon me tooth and nail 
 (but in a very friendly manner) 'only on the credit 
 of the newspaper, for he knows nothing further ; 
 told me of the obloquy that waits for me ; and 
 said everything to deter me from doing a thing 
 that is already done. Mason sat by and heard 
 it all with a world of complacency. 
 
 You see the determination of a majority of 
 fifty -four > only two members for counties among 
 them. It is true that Luttrell was insulted, 
 and even struck with a flambeau, at the door 
 of the House of Commons on Friday night; but 
 he made no disturbance, and got away. How 
 he will appear in public I do not conceive. 
 Great disturbances are expected, and I think 
 
THE POET GRAY. 455 
 
 with more reason than ever. Petitions to Par- 
 liament, well-attended, will (I suppose) be the 
 first step, and next, to the King to dissolve the 
 present Parliament. I own I apprehend the 
 event whether the mob or the army are to get 
 the better. 
 
 You will wish to know what was the real 
 state of things on the hearse-clay : * the driver, 
 I hear, was one Stevenson, a man who lets out 
 carriages to Wilkes's party, and is worth money. 
 
 Lord was not rolled in the dirt, nor struck, 
 
 nor his staff broken, but made the people a 
 speech, and said he would down on his knees 
 to them if they would but disperse and be 
 quiet. They asked him whether he would 
 stand on his head for them, and begun to 
 shoulder him, but he retired among the sol- 
 diers. Sir Ar. Gilmour received a blow, and 
 
 * A hearse drawn by two black and two white horses, and 
 hung with escutcheons representing the death of Clarke at 
 Brentford and of Allen in St. George's Fields, appeared in 
 the streets, and was drawn to the gates of St. James's, where 
 the attendant mob hissed and insulted all who entered the 
 court. Earl Talbot took courage and went down with his 
 white staff, which was soon broken in his hand. He seized 
 one man, and fourteen more of the rioters were made prisoners. 
 The Duke of Northumberland was very ill treated, &c. See 
 Walpole's Memoirs of George III. iii. 353; see also Lord 
 Mahon's History, vol. v. p. 346. 
 
456 LETTERS OF 
 
 seized the man who struck him, but the fellow 
 fell down and was hustled away among the 
 legs of the mob. At Eath House a page came 
 in to his mistress, and said, he was afraid Lord 
 Bath did not know what a disturbance there 
 was below ; she asked him if " the house was 
 on fire?'' he said "No; but the mob were 
 forcing into the court :" she said " Is that all ; 
 well I will go and look at them :" and actually 
 did so from some obscure window. When she 
 was satisfied, she said, " When they are tired of 
 bawling I suppose they will go home." 
 
 Mr. Hoss, a merchant,* was very near mur- 
 dered, as the advertisement sets forth, by a 
 man with a hammer, who is not yet discovered, 
 in spite of the 600 £. reward. I stay a week 
 longer. Adieu : I am, ever yours, 
 
 * The Treasury offered a reward of 500Z. for discovering 
 the person who, at the procession of the merchants, had with 
 a hammer broken the chariot of one Ross, an aged merchant, 
 and wounded him in several places. See Walpole's George III. 
 iii. p. 354. 
 
THE POET GBAY. 457 
 
 LETTER CXXXVL* 
 REV. DR. BROWN TO THE REV. NORTON NICHOLLS. 
 DEAR SIR, Pembroke Hall, July 26, 1771. 
 
 I am writing to you in Mr. Gray's room, and 
 lie is ill upon the couch, and unable to write to 
 you himself. His illness is something like the 
 gout in the stomach, but as Dr. Glynn tells me 
 there are many different degrees of that disorder 
 we may hope this is one of the less dangerous 
 degrees, and that we shall see him well again 
 in a short time. The last night passed over 
 tolerably well, but this morning, after drinking 
 asses-milk, the sickness at the stomach has re- 
 turned again. Mr. Gray has received from you 
 one letter from Paris, dated June 29, and he 
 has sent you a letter from Mr. Temple inclosed 
 in a very short one from himself. You will 
 give me leave to add my best compliments to 
 you, and hearty wishes for your health, and, 
 
 * These and the five following letters are directed to Mr. 
 Norton Nicholls of Blundeston. The letter that concludes the 
 volume, from Dr. Wharton to Mason, has not been previously 
 printed. Mr. Brown's Correspondence with Dr. Wharton, 
 during Gray's last illness, may be found in the four volumes 
 of Gray's Works, pp. 202, 223 ; and see Horace Walpole's 
 Miscellaneous Letters, vol. v. p. 818. 
 
458 LETTERS OF 
 
 when there happens a vacancy in your conver- 
 sation with Mr. Bonstetten, tell him that I do 
 myself the honour to think of him often with 
 esteem and admiration, and wish him well.* 
 I am, your faithful humble servant, 
 
 J. Brown. 
 
 LETTER CXXXVI. 
 EEV. DR. BROWN TO THE REV. NORTON NICHOLLS. 
 DEAR SlR, Pembroke Hall, Aug. 1, 1771. 
 
 The night before last, between the 30th and 
 31st of July, about eleven o'clock, we lost Mr. 
 Gray. My former letter would give you some 
 apprehensions, but we did not think this sad 
 event to be so near. He had frequently con- 
 vulsion fits from the time I wrote to you till 
 the time of his death ; and the physicians 
 thought he was past the sense of pain some 
 hours before he died. On the Saturday he told 
 me where to find his will if there should be 
 occasion. I did not imagine then there would 
 be occasion to look for it ; and he saidno more to 
 me upon that subject. He told Miss Antrobus 
 he should die ; and now and then some short 
 
 * See Appendix. 
 
THE POET GHAT. 459 
 
 expressions of this kind came from him, bnt 
 he expressed not the least uneasiness at the 
 thoughts of leaving this world. He has left 
 all his books to Mr. Mason; and his papers 
 of all kinds and writings to be destroyed or 
 preserved at his discretion.* His legacies are 
 to Miss Antrobus and her sister, to Mr. Wil- 
 liamson of Calcutta, to Lady Goring, to Mr. 
 Stonhewer, and Dr. Wharton. He has joined 
 me in the executorship with Mr. Mason; his 
 scrutoire hath not yet been examined, but upon 
 opening it for the will, I observed a parcel 
 sealed up and indorsed, " Papers belonging 
 to Mr. Nicholls," which we shall take care 
 of. Your last letter came too late for him 
 either to read or to hear; I have it by me 
 unopened, and will take care of it. Mr. Bon- 
 stetten will be much grieved. Adieu ! we shall 
 miss him greatly. Cambridge will appear a 
 very different place to you when you come 
 
 * The following is an extract from the Obituary in the 
 Gentleman's Magazine, August 6, 1771: — "The remains of 
 the late celebrated Mr. Gray, author of the Elegy in a Country 
 Churchyard,* were, agreeably to his will, interred at Windsor. 
 He has, among other legacies, left a pension to an old faithful 
 servant named Stephen, who has lived with him several 
 years." ! ! 
 
 See Appendix IV. 
 
480 LETTERS OF 
 
 again. I am, with my best wishes for your 
 health, 
 
 Your faithful humble servant, 
 
 James Brown. 
 
 LETTER CXXXVIII. 
 REV. DR. BROWN TO THE REV. NORTON NICHOLLS. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Pembroke Hall, Sept. 6, 1771. 
 
 I thought it might be some satisfaction for 
 you to know that I had disposed of the letter 
 you mentioned according to your desire. You 
 expressed yourself in the singular number. I 
 have seven or eight others by me, several of 
 which I have read in company with Mr. Gray, 
 but be assured they are sacred. I have looked 
 into none of them but with him, and shall 
 still observe the same restraint. They may be 
 kept till you come, or otherwise disposed of as 
 you shall direct. I have received a letter lately 
 from Mr. Mason. Mr. Gray, you know, made 
 memorandums in his pocket-books of his trans- 
 actions. In that for 1770, March 23, Mr. Mason 
 tells me there is this memorandum : " Lent 
 Mr. de Bonstetten 20£. ;" and it appears further 
 
THE POET GRAY. 461 
 
 to be the day lie set out for Dover. I venture 
 to mention this to you as it makes a part of our 
 charge ; and perhaps it may be the best oppor- 
 tunity we shall have of hearing from Mr. de 
 Bonstetten how that matter stands. You will 
 act in that matter as you please. No successor 
 to Mr. Gray is yet appointed. Mr. Symonds* 
 has been most mentioned ; I believe indeed he 
 does not himself apply for it, which makes his 
 success the more unlikely. I shall rejoice to 
 see you, and to see you well. 
 
 I am your faithful humble servant, 
 
 James Brown. 
 
 LETTER CXXXIX. 
 REV. DR. BROWN TO THE REV. NORTON NICHOLLS. 
 
 Dear Sir, June 29, 1773. 
 
 I received your letter in London : it is dated 
 May 21st, and I thought it a little unlucky 
 that it came not to my hands before I left 
 Cambridge, which was not till the 25th. I 
 might then have delivered the parcel myself to 
 
 * John Symonds, M.A. of St. John's College, succeeded 
 to the Professorship in 1771, which he held till 1807. 
 
462 LETTERS OF 
 
 Mr. Turner. I have now sent it by Mr. Gillam, 
 and put it into his hands yesterday. He is a 
 trusty agent, otherwise I should have thought 
 your direction to Mr. Turner rather too concise. 
 Amongst Mr. Gray's things we found some 
 little presents for his friends, which they might 
 esteem as memorials of him; for some of his 
 friends I mean. Mr. de Bonstetten had sent 
 him from Paris a little picture of himself; we 
 thought it would be acceptable to you, and 
 therefore, with Mr. Mason's full approbation, 
 it is sent, and makes a part of your parcel. 
 There are those of your letters which we found, 
 but the two or three journals you speak of are 
 not there, unless possibly they may be inclosed 
 in the parcel sealed. Excuse me that I send no 
 directions about the 201. You have wrote to Mr. 
 de Bonstetten, who will mention it, if he be as 
 we imagine. I met Mr. Barrett* twice in my 
 walks in London, and should not have known 
 him the first time had he not been kind enough 
 to know me. I was pleased to see him look so 
 well. You will easily know what was the sub- 
 ject of our discourse whilst we stood together. 
 I believe I was sitting by Mr. Gray at the time 
 he wrote you his last letter to Paris, without 
 
 * Mr. Barrett, of Lee Priory, near Canterbury. 
 
THE POET GRAY. 463 
 
 feeling what it seems he suggested to you- — how 
 near he was to his end. It gives me a melan- 
 choly kind of satisfaction that my letters could 
 he at all useful to you. The report you men- 
 tion, I believe, was never uttered in England. 
 Pray let me know when you receive your parcel. 
 I am, with my hest wishes for your health, and 
 with much esteem, 
 
 Your faithful humhle servant, 
 
 J. Brown. 
 
 LETTER CXL. 
 REV. DR. BROWN TO THE REV. NORTON NICHOLLS. 
 DEAR SlR, Gibside, July 24, 1773. 
 
 I received your letter at York, where I was 
 upon a visit to Mr. Mason, who is at this time 
 in residence there. As to the 20/., we were both 
 of the same opinion, that it will be better to stay 
 till Mr. de Bonstetten writes either to you or to 
 one of the executors, and the rather because in 
 case of any accident to Mr. de Bonstetten your 
 payment to us will be no discharge for yourself 
 against any claims which his executors might 
 make. Mr. Mason desired his respectful com- 
 
464 LETTERS OF 
 
 pliments to you. The Life proceeds well; it 
 promises to be useful and entertaining. It will 
 consist of five or six sections ; the first of them 
 relates to his acquaintance with Mr. West, and 
 will contain some extracts of letters and poems 
 both Latin and English, and goes to the time of 
 his going abroad with Mr. Walpole. I am much 
 obliged to you for your kind invitations, and 
 shall be very glad of the opportunity of seeing 
 you whenever it so happens at Cambridge or in 
 Suffolk. Pray make my compliments to your 
 mother. I wish her joy of your safe return. 
 I am, with great respect, 
 
 Your faithful humble servant, 
 
 J. Brown. 
 
 LETTER CXLI. 
 DR. WHARTON TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON. 
 
 SlR, Old Park, near Darlington, May 29,. 1781. 
 
 I received the favour of your present yester- 
 day. You will suffer me to acknowledge that I 
 am particularly pleased with the elegant com- 
 pliment you pay to the memory of Mr. Gray. 
 I remember he said that the merit of his own 
 to that of Shakespeare consisted in the novelty 
 
THE POET GRAY. 465 
 
 of it, because it is difficult to invent anything 
 new upon such subjects. The Sonnet has the 
 same merit, and I am certain is of that kind 
 which while he was upon earth would have 
 pleased his ear. 
 
 You will now listen for the public judgment; 
 I mean as a satisfaction to your curiosity, for I 
 can by no means admit it as a decision of the 
 merits. I yet reflect with pain upon the cool 
 reception which those noble odes, The Progress 
 of Poetry and The Bard, met with at their 
 first publication; it appeared that there were 
 not twenty people in England who liked them. 
 
 I expect to see my nephew shortly, when our 
 conversations upon the subject of your poems 
 will be renewed. He will always give me plea- 
 sure when he can assure me you enjoy that 
 happiness which ought to be the lot of wise 
 and good men. Give me leave to mention Mr. 
 Gray once more ; it was one of his favourite 
 maxims that employment is happiness ; surely 
 we may add, that the more elegant the employ- 
 ment is, the more refined must be the hap- 
 piness. 
 
 I am, Sir, your most obliged and 
 
 Obedient humble servant, 
 
 Thomas Wharton. 
 
 2 H 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX!. (See page 104.) 
 
 Gray's Remarks on the Letters prefixed to Mason's 
 Elfrida.— See Mason's Works, vol. ii. p. 177—193, 
 and Gray's Letters, vol. iv. p. 1, ed. Aid. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Dear sir — very bad; I am yours— equally bad: it is impos- 
 sible to conciliate these passages to nature and Aristotle. 
 
 " Allowed to modern caprice." — It is not caprice but good sense 
 that made these alterations in the modern drama. A greater 
 liberty in the choice of the fable and the conduct of it was 
 the necessary consequence of retrenching the Chorus. Love 
 and tenderness delight in privacy. The soft effusions of the 
 soul, Mr. Mason, will not bear the presence of a gaping, 
 singing, dancing, moralising, uninteresting crowd: and not 
 love alone, but every passion, is checked and cooled by this 
 fiddling crew. How could Macbeth and his wife have laid 
 the design for Duncan's murder? What could they have 
 said to each other in the hall at midnight not only if a chorus 
 but if a single mouse had been stirring there ? Could Hamlet 
 have met the Ghost or taken his mother to task in their 
 company ? If Othello had said a harsh word to his wife 
 before them, would they not have danced to the window and 
 called the watch ? 
 
 The ancients were perpetually crossed and harassed by the 
 necessity of using the Chorus, and, if they have done wonders 
 
 2 h 2 
 
468 APPENDIX. 
 
 notwithstanding this clog, sure I am they would have per- 
 formed still greater wonders without it, For the same reason 
 we may be allowed to admit of more intrigue in our drama, 
 to bring about a great action — it is often an essential requisite ; 
 and it is not fair to argue against this liberty for that misuse 
 of it which is common to us, and was formerly so with the 
 French, namely, the giving into a silly intricacy of plot, in 
 imitation of the Spanish dramas. We have also, since Charles 
 the Second's time, imitated the French (though but awk- 
 wardly) in framing scenes of mere insipid gallantry; but 
 these were the faults of the writers and not of the art, which 
 enables us, with the help of a little contrivance, to have as 
 much love as we please, without playing the petits maitres or 
 building labyrinths. 
 
 I forgot to mention that Comedy continued to be an odd 
 sort of farce, very like those of the Italian theatre, till the 
 Chorus was dismissed, when nature and Menander brought 
 it into that beautiful form which we find in Terence. Tragedy 
 was not so happy till modern times. 
 
 II. 
 
 I do not admit that the excellences of the French writers are 
 measured by the verisimilitude or the regularities of their 
 dramas only. Nothing in them, or in our own, even Shak- 
 spere himself, ever touches us, unless rendered verisimile, 
 which, by good management, may be accomplished even in 
 such absurd stories as the Tempest, the witches in Macbeth, or 
 the fairies in the Midsummer Night's Dream ; and I know not 
 of any writer that has pleased chiefly in proportion to his 
 regularity. Other beauties may, indeed, be heightened and 
 set off by its means, but of itself it hardly pleases at all. 
 Venice Preserved or Jane Shore are not so regular as the 
 Orphan, or Tamerlane, or Lady Jane Grey. 
 
APPENDIX. 469 
 
 III. 
 
 Modern Melpomene. — Here are we got into our tantarems ! 
 It is certain that pure poetry may be introduced without any 
 Chorus. I refer you to a thousand passages of mere description 
 in the Iambic parts of Greek tragedies, and to ten thousand 
 in Shakspere, who is moreover particularly admirable in his 
 introduction of pure poetry, so as to join it with pure passion, 
 and yet keep close to nature. This he could accomplish with 
 passions the most violent and transporting, and this any 
 good writer may do with passions less impetuous; for it is 
 nonsense to imagine that tragedy must throughout be agitated 
 with the furious passions, or attached by the tender ones: 
 the greater part of it must often be spent in a preparation of 
 these passions, in a gradual working them up to the light, 
 and must thus pass through a great many cooler scenes and 
 a variety of nuances, each of which will admit of a proper 
 degree of poetry, and some the purest poetry. Nay, the 
 boldest metaphors, and even description in its strongest colour- 
 ing, are the natural expression of some passions, even in their 
 greatest agitation. As to moral reflections, there is sufficient 
 room for them in those cooler scenes that I have mentioned, 
 and they make the greatest ornaments of those parts, that is 
 to say, if they are well joined with the character. If not, 
 they had better be left to the audience than put into the 
 mouths of a set of professed moralists, who keep a shop of 
 sentences and reflections (I mean the Chorus), whether they 
 be sages, as you call them, or young girls that learnt them by 
 heart out of their samples and primers. 
 
 There is nothing ungracious or improper in Jane Shore's 
 reflections on the fate of women, but just the contrary, only 
 that they are in rhyme; and, in like manner, it is far 
 from a beautiful variety when the Chorus makes a transition 
 
470 APPENDIX. 
 
 in the from plain iambics to high-flown lyric thoughts, 
 
 expressions, and numbers, and, when their vagaries are over, 
 relapse again into common sense and conversation. A con- 
 fidante in skilful hands might be a character, and have both 
 sense and dignity. That in Maffei's Merope has as much as 
 any Chorus. 
 
 The Greeks might sing better than the French, but I'll be 
 burnt if they danced with more grace, expression, or even 
 pathos. Yet who ever thought of shedding tears at a French 
 opera? 
 
 IV. 
 
 If modern music cannot, as you say, express poetry, it is 
 not a perfection, but a deterioration. You might as well say 
 that the perfectionnement of poetry would be the rendering it 
 incapable of expressing the passions. 
 
 APPENDIX II.- (See page 360.) 
 
 The following Letter to the Printer of " The St. James's 
 Chronicle" is ascribed to Mr. Archdeacon Black- 
 burne, on the authority of the late Mr. Lockyer 
 Davis, who was deep in the secrets of that respectable 
 literary j ournal. (Nichols's Literary Illustrations, vol. 
 iii. p. 715—718.) 
 
 " SlR, Thursday, October 16, 1766. 
 
 " There is a tribute of candid report due to the memory of 
 men of genius and learning, how unfortunate soever they may 
 have been in the application of their talents, or however they 
 may have fallen short of that approbation which the publick 
 has given to men of much inferior abilities, at the same time 
 
APPENDIX. 471 
 
 that it hath been denied to them. I would endeavour to apply 
 this reflection to the case of the unhappy Leucophasus,* who 
 has just finished his mortal course in a way which some 
 people may think has fully justified the world in the unfa- 
 vourable sentiments that were so generally entertained of his 
 literary conduct. Leucophasus is now out of the reach of 
 every man's resentment, as well as of every man's envy ; and 
 I would willingly hope, that a few dispassionate reflections 
 upon his fortunes and his fate, from a person who knew some- 
 thing of him at different times of his life, may not be offensive 
 to those who have candour enough to make the requisite 
 allowances for errors and frailties, which have been excused 
 in others who had but a small portion of his merit to qualify 
 them. Merit he certainly had, and merit will be allowed him 
 by the capable readers, even of such of his writings as convey 
 the most striking idea of the author's mental infirmities. 
 
 " Few men have given earlier proofs of capacity and erudi- 
 tion than Leucophaeus. His rising genius was marked and 
 distinguished by the tendered patronage of some who had 
 gained, and of others who thought they were gaining, the 
 summit of fame in the republic of letters. With certain of the 
 latter Leucophaeus entered into the most intimate connection, 
 upon the assurance of being conducted, in virtue of that 
 alliance, to as much reputation, and as great a proportion of 
 emolument, as he had reason to look for. A fatal step ! which 
 he never afterward could retrieve, when he most desired it. 
 Had he preserved his independency, he had preserved his 
 probity and honour; but he had parts, and he had ambition. 
 The former might have eclipsed a jealous competition for 
 fame ; the latter laid him open to practices proper to prevent 
 it. No arts or allurements were omitted to attach him to a 
 
 * The learned but unhappy Dr. John Brown ; of whom see Nichols's 
 " Literary Anecdotes," vol. ii. p. 211. 
 
472 APPENDIX. 
 
 party, which easily found the means to consign him to con- 
 tempt the moment it was suspected that he was uneasy in his 
 bonds, and that he was meditating expedients to break them. 
 
 " An intimate friend spent a long evening with him, when 
 he was literally on the road to his ruin;* that is to say, when 
 he was going to confirm and cultivate the alliance above- 
 mentioned. Leucophgeus's prospects were then talked over. 
 He was warned to be aware of consequences; but the con- 
 nection was formed, and must be adhered to ; and they who 
 had heard Leucophasus harangue on that occasion, concerning 
 the world with which he was going to engage, and concerning 
 what would become him in his commerce with it, would have 
 sworn that nothing could surprise his prudence, nothing- 
 pervert his integrity. 
 
 " Splendid and decorated guide-posts, promising straight and 
 easy roads, often stand at the head of dirty, crooked lanes. 
 These were pointed out to Leucophseus at his first setting for- 
 wards. He soon found them fallacious indexes : he had the 
 satisfaction, however, to have one example immediately before 
 him, that shewed how well it might be worth the while of an 
 aspirant to turn and wind about, and even to be a little bemired, 
 in order to come at a comfortable lodging, clean linen, and a 
 complete change of raiment. 
 
 " But these were blessings which were not intended for 
 Leucophseus. The tempter could have given the clue, which 
 would have led his pupil through all difficulties ; but that 
 might have spoiled his own game. He contented himself 
 therefore with escorting Leucophgeus to the thickest of the 
 filth, and there he fairly left him to the scorn and derision of 
 lookers-on ; calmly observing, with a shrug, l If a man ivill 
 expose himself, who can help it ? ' It happened, however, that 
 
 * Alluding, perhaps, to his poem prefixed to Pope's Works, or his 
 " Essays on the Characteristics." 
 
APPENDIX. 47& 
 
 out of this piteous condition Leucophseus emerged, and with 
 that vigour as in a great measure to recover his estimation* 
 And here the tempter saw it necessary to strike in again. A 
 little coaxing procured an act of oblivion for one of the crudest 
 insults that could be offered to an ingenuous mind; and to 
 shew the sincerity of his reconciliation, the first thing Leuco- 
 phsBus did was to disfigure one of his capital performances, by 
 copying the ungracious manner of the Grand Examplar. 
 
 " At what period Leucophasus lost himself with the publick 
 every one knows. At the same instant was he deserted by the 
 alliance; and so apprehensive were they lest he should once 
 more find such encouragement for his powers as might throw 
 their importance into obscurity, that some pains were taken to 
 have one door of preferment shut against him, even where the 
 recommendation of the alliance would have been of no service 
 to him had it been kept open. But they succeeded ; and in 
 that success added one more to the many instances upon 
 record, of the power and proclivity of many a man to do mis- 
 chief, where he has neither the power nor the inclination to* 
 do good. Certain fragments in the last thing * Leucophaeus 
 committed to the press, throw some faint light upon this part 
 of his history. 
 
 " Leucophseus now found himself in a wide world, at enmity 
 with him on every side. What was he to do ? Should he 
 return to the paths of truth and probity, to which he had been 
 so long a stranger ? Alas ! his credit, his weight was gone. 
 His early connections had left a stain upon his character, which 
 the after-conduct of an angel could hardly have discharged 
 from the minds of honest men. It appeared by some very 
 remarkable evidence that he was suspected to be the scout of 
 the alliance, even to the very last. It has since appeared that 
 his most zealous remonstrances against the imputation could 
 * " Thoughts on Civil Liberty, Licentiousness, and Faction." 
 
474 APPENDIX. 
 
 not perfectly clear him of that suspicion. What remained 
 then for him, but to do — what numbers (perhaps a majority) 
 of his brethren had done before him — what his original 
 patrons and conductors were then doing — what the dexterous 
 part of mankind generally find their account in doing ? — In 
 one word, he temporized, but with this difference from the 
 calmer speculators of the ground before them — he made his 
 evolutions too quick and visible. Unhappily for him, the 
 changes in the upper regions were frequent, sudden, and un- 
 foreseen. To these he accommodated himself without hesita- 
 tion ; and it was impossible that so immediate and so nimble 
 transitions in so conspicuous a character, should not give the 
 cue to the publick to mark Mm, rather than an hundred others, 
 who really temporized no less than he, but who had the dis- 
 cretion not to notify it upon paper, or (if that was unavoidable 
 in an occasional sermon or so) who had the art to balance so 
 cleverly as to leave matters in that sort of see-saw way, which 
 affords the publick no clear indications of their present attach- 
 ments. — Common fame says, that the last effort of Leuqp- 
 phceus's genius was a panegyric on the Earl of Chatham.* 
 This, probably, the sad catastrophe of the author broke off 
 abruptly ; otherwise the publick had been favoured with it ere 
 this. What the brotherhood in general think of the noble 
 Earl, we shall hardly be informed in print before the end of 
 January. Such is the difference between impetuosity and 
 discretion in committing the same sin. 
 
 " The last province allotted to Leucophseus was of a sort 
 which implied a civil dismission from all his expectations at 
 home. It is said to have been planned in a consultation of 
 casuists, upon the same considerations which induce physicians 
 to send their patients to Bath, when they chuse not to be 
 longer troubled with their hypochondriacal complaints in 
 * See Dr. Brown's " Estimate," vol. ii. 
 
APPENDIX. 475 
 
 town. Leucophaeus was evidently contemptuously, unaccountably 
 neglected; and the publick was eternally asking Why? He 
 was a temporizer. What then ? is not temporizing the cardinal 
 virtue of the age ? is it not almost the singular merit of that 
 class of men to which LeucophEeus belonged ? To whomso- 
 ever his trimming character was obnoxious, it should not have 
 been so to those who denounce utter exclusion against all who 
 are inflexibly tenacious of unpolite truths. Is an obsequious 
 blockhead a greater credit to the cause he espouses, or a 
 greater ornament to the master who employs him, than an 
 obsequious genius ? No. But the former will be quiet, every 
 way quiet ; and geniuses are apt to speculate, and speculation 
 is apt to run foul of system, and to do mischief, even where 
 the meaning is good enough. Aye, there was the rub ; Leuco- 
 phaeus speculated once upon a time * on his quiet brethren, in 
 the midst of their repose ; and for this he has ever since been 
 called an impudent writer. But has it been duly considered 
 in what respectable school he learned his impudence? Did 
 he bring anything from that school but his impudence? And 
 why should not impudence do as much for him as it has done 
 for — others ? So reasoned the publick. And they who perhaps 
 would not have employed Leucophaaus, where an honester man 
 was to be had, could suggest no reason to themselves why he 
 should not be employed by those who were no honester than 
 himself. At length the dispute is ended. An office was 
 contrived which would answer the highest demands of his 
 ambition. He was to be the Solomon to a Queen of Sheba.^ 
 A little solemn grimace in the quarter where it was first pro- 
 posed drew him in to act his part in this egregious farce. Of 
 all men upon earth, Leucophagus was the last to suspect 
 design, when anything was said to his advantage. Compli- 
 ments on this occasion were not spared; and as they came 
 * Dr. Brown's " Estimate," vol. i. f Empress of Russia, 
 
476 APPENDIX. 
 
 from the white-bearded fellow,* no gull was suspected. In- 
 toxicated with this prospect, he became, what his insidious 
 coaxers wanted him — perfectly ridiculous. After some time 
 the loudness of the laugh roused him from his reverie. The 
 length of the nap had sobered him. He inquired seriously of 
 those who knew the best where all this was to end, and — 
 behold! it was all a dream. The reflection was too much for 
 the feeling, indignant spirit of LeucophaBus. A speedy end was 
 put to it by an act of desperation, for which perhaps, at the 
 final day of account, not Leucophseus alone shall be answerable. 
 " I am, Sir, your humble servant, 
 
 " ^Eacus." 
 
 APPENDIX III.— (See page 458.) 
 
 The sudden intimacy and almost romantic attachment of 
 Gray to Bonstetten is so curious as to make some account of 
 him not unacceptable, especially as his name is but little 
 known in England. Charles von Bonstetten was Baillie of 
 Nion, in the canton of Berne in Switzerland. When young, 
 and his father still alive, he came and resided for a short 
 time at Cambridge. He first appears in a letter to Mr. 
 Nicholls, 6 January, 1770, in which he describes his pur- 
 suing his studies with Gray. " I am in a hurry from morning- 
 till evening. At eight o'clock I am roused by a young square- 
 cap, with whom I follow Satan through chaos and night.f 
 He explained me in Greek and Latin ' the sweet, reluctant, 
 amorous delays'' of our grandmother Eve. We finish our 
 travels in a copious breakfast of muffins and tea. Then appear 
 
 * Dr. Warburton. 
 ' f That is, he read Milton's Paradise Lost. 
 
APPENDIX. 477 
 
 Shakspere and old Linnaeus,* struggling together as two ghosts 
 would do for a damned souL Sometimes the one got the 
 better, sometimes the other. Mr. Gray, wdiose acquaintance 
 is my greatest debt to you, is so good as to show me Macbeth, 
 and all witches, beldames, ghosts, and spirits, whose language 
 I never could have understood without his interpretation. I 
 am now endeavouring to dress all these people in a French 
 dress, which is a very hard labour. I am afraid to take a 
 room, which Mr. Gray shall keep much better," &c. To this 
 letter of young Bonstetten Gray has added the following post- 
 script: — " I never saw such a boy; our breed is not made on 
 this model. He is busy from morning to night ; has no other 
 amusement than that of changing one study for another ; likes 
 nobody that he sees here, and yet wishes to stay longer, though 
 he has passed a whole fortnight with us already. His letter 
 has had no correction whatever, and is prettier by half than 
 English." In the next letter, March 20, 1770, Gray writes — 
 " On Wednesday next I go (for a few days) with Mons. de 
 Bonstetten to London. His father will have him home in 
 the autumn, and he must pass through France to improve 
 his talents and morals. He goes from Dover on Friday. I 
 have seen (I own) with pleasure the efforts you have made to 
 recommend me to him, sed non ego credulus illis, nor, I fear, 
 he neither. He gives me too much pleasure, and at least an 
 equal share of inquietude. You do not understand him so 
 well as I do ; but I leave my meaning imperfect till we meet. 
 I have never met with so extraordinary a person. God bless 
 him! I am unable to talk to you about anything else, I 
 think." The 4th April, 1770, P. Hall:— "At length, my 
 dear sir, we have lost our poor De Bonstetten. I packed him 
 
 * Gray's copy of Linnaeus, which in his later years was always on the 
 table, and which was filled with his notes and pen-and-ink drawings, being 
 interleaved for that purpose. It was sold with his other books. 
 
478 APPENDIX. 
 
 up with my own hands in the Dover machine at four o'clock 
 on the morning of Friday, 23rd March. The next day at 
 seven he sailed, and reached Calais at noon, and Boulogne at 
 night. The next night he reached Abbeville, where he had 
 letters to Madame Vanrobais, to whom belongs the famous 
 manufacture of cloth there, From thence he wrote to me; 
 and here am I again to pass my solitary evenings, which hung 
 much lighter on my hands before I knew him. This is your 
 fault! Pray let the next you send be halt and blind, dull, 
 unapprehensive, and wrongheaded. For there (as Lady Con- 
 stance says) ' was never such a gracious creature born : ' and 
 yet — but no matter. Burn my letter that I wrote you, for I 
 am very much out of humour with myself, and will not 
 believe a word of it. You will think I have caught madness 
 from him (for he is certainly mad), and perhaps you will be 
 right." Bonstetten is mentioned in three subsequent letters ; 
 and in one from Mr. Nicholls, in January, 1771, it would 
 appear as if Gray had meant to visit him at Berne (see 
 Correspondence, p. 122); and in March Bonstetten entreats 
 Gray and Nicholls, a deux genoux, to come (p. 130). Gray's 
 health began to fail in the spring of this the last year of his 
 life, and Nicholls took his journey alone in June. The last 
 mention of Bonstetten was in a letter of Gray, 3rd May, when 
 he was yet uncertain whether or not to venture abroad, and 
 asking Nicholls to stay a week or fortnight for his determina- 
 tion. In it he says, " Three days ago I had so strange a 
 letter from Bonstetten, I hardly know how to give you any 
 account of it, and desire you will not speak of it to anybody. 
 That he has been ' le plus malheureux des hommes ;' that he 
 has ' decide a quitter sa pays,' that is, to pass the next winter 
 in England ; that he cannot bear ' la morgue de l'aristocratie 
 et l'orgueil arme des loix:' in short, strongly expressive of 
 uneasiness and confusion of mind, so as to talk of ' un pistolet ' 
 
APPENDIX. 479 
 
 and ' du courage,' and all without the shadow of a reason 
 assigned; and so he leaves me. He is either disordered in 
 his intellect (which is too possible), or has done some strange 
 thing which has exasperated his whole family and friends at 
 home, which (I'm afraid) is equally possible. I am quite at 
 a loss about it. You will see and know more ; but by all 
 means curb these vagaries and wandering imaginations, if 
 there be any room for counsels," &c. Three letters from 
 Gray to Bonstetten, in April and May, 1770, are printed in 
 Gray's Works, ed. Aid. vol. iv. p. 179, which are taken from 
 an edition of Mathison's Letters translated and published by 
 Miss Plumtree in 1799. By the advertisement to the work 
 it appears that Mason's application to Bonstetten for these 
 letters met with a refusal, Mathison had alluded to Bon- 
 stetten under the name of Agathon in his stanzas on the 
 Leman Lake: — 
 
 When Agathon, the Muses', Greece's pride, 
 
 The palace's delight, the peasant's stay, 
 E'en here, to distant Jura's shaggy side, 
 
 In warmest friendship clasp'd me as his Gray. 
 
 In the year 1822, when I was in Switzerland, the Hon. W. 
 Ward, who was there at the same time, informed me that he 
 called on Bonstetten, who said to him that " Gray took lodgings 
 for me at Cambridge, and I used to visit him in the evening, 
 and read classical authors with him ;" and nothing more was ob- 
 tained from him. Bonstetten died at Genoa, Feb. 1832, aged 
 87. He was author of several works, as " Letters on the Pas- 
 toral Poets of Switzerland;" "The Hermit," an Alpine tale, 
 1787 ; on Education at Berne, 1786 ; and others better known, 
 as " L'Homme du Midi et l'Homme du Nord," and "Les Six 
 derniers Livres de 1'iEneide." Some account of him may be 
 found in the Autobiography of Sir Egerton Brydges, vol. i. 
 
480 APPENDIX. 
 
 pp. 117, 330, and Kestituta, iii. 542, and in the Biographie 
 des Hommes Vivans. The year before M. Bonstetten died 
 (1831) he wrote a little work called " Souvenirs de Chevalier 
 Victor de Bonstetten," in which a curious and interesting 
 account of Gray's life is to be found, and which forms a very 
 good commentary on the previous narrative. 
 
 " Dix-huit ans avant mon sejour a Nyon, j'avais passe 
 quelques mois a Cambridge avec le celebre poete Gray, presque 
 dans la meme intimite qu'avec Mathison, mais avec cette 
 difference, que Gray avait trente ans plus que moi, et Mathison 
 seize de moins. Ma gaiete, mon amour pour la poesie Angloise, 
 que je lisait avec Gray, l'avaient comme subjugue, de maniere 
 que la difference de nos ages n'etait plus sentie par nous. 
 J'etais loge a Cambridge dans un cafe, voisin du Pembroke 
 Hall. Gray y vivait enseveli dans une espece du cloitre, d'ou 
 le quinzieme siecle n'avait pas encore demenage. La ville de 
 Cambridge avec ses colleges solitaires n'etait qu'une reunion 
 de couvens, ou les mathematiques, et quelques sciences, ont 
 pris la forme et le costume de la theologie du moyen age. De 
 beaux couvens a longs et silencieux corridores, des solitaires en 
 robes noirs, des jeunes seigneurs travestis en moines, a bonnets 
 carres, portant des souvenirs des moines a cote de la gloire de 
 Newton. Aucune femme honnete ne venait egayer la vie de ces 
 rats de livres a forme humaine. Le savoir prosperait quelque- 
 fois dans le desert du coeur. Tel j'ai en Cambridge en 1769. 
 Quel contraste de habit de Gray a Cambridge avec cette de 
 Mathison a Nyon. Gray en se condamnant a vivre a Cam- 
 bridge, oubliait que le genie du poete languit dans la seche- 
 resse du cceur. Le genie poetique de Gray etait tellement 
 eteint dans le sombre manoir de Cambridge, que le souvenir de 
 ses poesies lui etaient odieux, II ne permit jamais de lui en parler. 
 Quand je lui citais quelques vers de lui, il se lui fait comme un 
 enfant obstine. Je lui disais quelquefois, ' Voulez vous bien me 
 
APPENDIX. 481 
 
 repondre?' Mais aucune parole ne sortait de sa bouche. Je 
 le voyais tous les soirs, de cinque lieures a minuit. Nous 
 lisions Shakspere, qu'il adoroit, Dryden, Pope, Milton, &c. ; et 
 nos conversations, comme celle de l'amitie, n'arrivaient jamais 
 a la derniere pensee. Je racontrai a Gray ma vie et mon 
 pays ; mais toute sa vie a lui etait fermee pour moi. Jamais 
 il ne me parlait de lui. II y avait chez Gray, entre le present 
 et le passe, un abime infranchisable. Quand je voulais un 
 approche, de sombres nuees venaient le couvrir. Je crus que 
 Gray n'avait jamais aime; c'etait le mot de Fenigme, et en 
 etait resulte une misere de cceur, qui faisait contraste avec son 
 imagination ardente et profonde, que, au lieu de faire le bonheur 
 de sa vie, n'etait que le tourment. Gray avait la gaiete dans 
 l'esprit, et de la melancolie dans le caractere. Mais cette 
 melancolie n'est qu'un besoin non satisfait de la sensibilite. 
 Chez Ch^ay elle tenait au genre de vie de son ame ardente, 
 releguee sous le pole arctique de Cambridge." 
 
 " Mr. Miller, who was curator of the physic garden at 
 Cambridge, gave lectures on botany and on Linnaeus to a 
 Mons. Bonstetten, who studied at Cambridge for some months 
 in a house opposite Pembroke Hall, where he lodged, chiefly 
 on account of the vicinity to Mr. Gray of Pembroke, who had 
 brought him from London to Cambridge. He was a most 
 studious young gentleman, of a most amiable figure, and was 
 son to the treasurer of the canton of Berne in Switzerland, 
 whither he returned in March, 1770, on his leaving Cam- 
 bridge, through Paris, not staying at London above a day or 
 two. Mr. Miller read lectures to him to the very last day of 
 his being at Cambridge." — Coll. for Athena? Cantabrigienses, 
 by Cole. 
 
 There is an anecdote of Bonstetten while he was staying at 
 Madame de Stael's house at Coppet in the Memoires de Jo- 
 sephine, p. 106 ; and Bonstetten gives an account of his friend 
 
482 APPENDIX. 
 
 Mathison's life certainly very different from that of Gray: 
 " Apres diner, il s'evadait furtivement pour faire de la poe'sie 
 d'amour, avec quelque aimable et jeune personne." The 
 description, however, of his apartment at the end of the 
 gallery of the old chateau at Nion is very pleasing. 
 
 APPENDIX IV.— (See p. 459.) 
 
 As a specimen of the correct manner in which the French 
 writers treat our literary history, I here give an anecdote 
 from a work bearing a high character in France, viz. Bar- 
 bier, Bibliotheque d'un Homme de Gout, vol. i. p. 425. 
 " Gray. — Gray, dit M. Hennet, dans sa Poetique Anglaise, 
 se trouvant un jour a une vente des livres, regardait une belle 
 collection des meilleurs auteurs Francois, tres bien reliee, et 
 du prix de cent guinees. II temoignait a un de ses amis 
 le regret d'etre hors d'etat de l'acheter ; la Duchesse de 
 Northumberland, qui l'entendit, s'informa adroitement de cet 
 ami, qu'il etoit. lis se retirement avant elle, et Gray trouva, 
 en rentrant chez lui, la collection, avec un billet de la 
 duchesse, qui le pria de l'excuser, si elle lui offrait un aussi 
 foible gage de sa reconnoissance, pour le plaisir qu'elle avoit 
 eprouve a la lecture de l'Elegie sur un Cimetiere de Cam- 
 pagne." It is useless to conjecture on what foundation this 
 extraordinary romance could have been built. The same 
 writer says, that, after translating Virgil, Dryden commenced 
 his dramatic career, and that Gay died of grief from the 
 Lord Chamberlain forbidding the representation of the Beggar's 
 Opera; that Cowley was employed in political negotiations 
 by Charles the First and Second; and that Young died of 
 grief from the loss of a virtuous wife and two young children. 
 
APPENDIX. 483 
 
 He mentions with praise a translation of Paradise Lost by 
 Mons. St. Maur, but says, " Le traducteur n'a pas toujours 
 suivi literalement son original. Tantot il en a adouci quelques 
 traits, tantot il en a retranche d'autres. II en a supprime 
 quelques uns ; par example, dans le livre neuvieme, ou lapudeur 
 n'est point assez menagee, lorsque le poete fait la peinture 
 des plaisirs que les premieres atteintes de la concupiscence 
 font chercher a Adam et Eve apres leur chute. Mais il en 
 reste assez dans la traduction, pour fair sentir que Milton, 
 quoique Chretien, n'avoit pas sur cet article la meme deli- 
 catesse que montre Virgile dans la quatrieme livre de son 
 Eneide. D. de St. Maur a aussi epargne au lecteur la plupart 
 des details, dans lequels le poete entre sur le chemin que le 
 superflu des alimens prenoit dans les esprits celestes, comment 
 il se dissipait par la transpiration ; et il y a d'autres imagi- 
 nations encore plus extravagantes dans le poeme Anglais dont 
 quelques unes n'ont point, avec raison, ete traduites par l'ecri- 
 vain Francois," &c. 
 
 2k 
 
484 APPENDIX. 
 
 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 Page 190. On Lord G. Sackville, see a remarkable note in 
 Grenville Correspondence, iv. p. 173. 
 
 Page 213. On the death of Lady Hervey and ber will, see 
 Grenville Correspondence, iv. p. 357. 
 
 Page 255 . On Sir Richard Lyttelton, see Grenville Corre- 
 spondence, iv. p. 528. Sir Richard's nephew, Thomas Pitt, 
 afterwards Lord Camelford, erected an obelisk to his memory 
 in the park at Boconnoc, in Cornwall, now the property of 
 Lady Grenville, 
 
 Page 317. On Humphrey Cotes, see Wilkes's Letters in 
 Grenville Correspondence, iv. p. 3 and p. 16. 
 
 Page 338. On the Bedford Riots in 1765, see Grenville 
 Correspondence, iii. p. 164. " The Duke of Bedford showed 
 him (Mr. Grenville) a stone of five or six pounds weight 
 which had been thrown at him into his chariot. He parried 
 the blow with his hand, which was wounded by it, notwith- 
 standing which it had struck his temple," &c. p. 168. 
 
 Page 352. (Married.) An anecdote, on good authority, is 
 told of this lady, that, on the morning of the marriage, and 
 after the ceremony was concluded, Mason presented his bride 
 with a complimentary copy of verses, which she, without 
 looking at them, crumpled up and thrust into her pocket. 
 
 Page 364. On Mr. Prowse, see Grenville Correspondence, 
 i. pp. 397, 398, 402. 
 
 Page 385. " The Duke of York invited Lady C. Edwin to 
 his play on Saturday." See Grenville Correspondence, iv. 
 p. 227. 
 
 Page 407. On C. Townshend's death, see Grenville Cor- 
 respondence, iv. p. 158. 
 
 Page 424. On the King of Denmark in England, see Gren- 
 ville Correspondence, iv. pp. 342, 365. 
 
APPENDIX. 485 
 
 Page 426. (Dr. G .) Dr. Gisborne was the second son of 
 
 the Rev. James Gisborne, Rector of Staveley, Derbyshire, and 
 Prebendary of Durham. He had three brothers ; the eldest 
 a General in the army. 
 
 Page 439. On the "remonstrance," the speech of Beckford, 
 see Grenville Correspondence, iv. p. 517. " He died three 
 weeks afterwards, from the effect of a violent fever, caused, as 
 was supposed, by political excitement.' 1 As a public monu- 
 ment has been erected by the city of London in honour of 
 their patriotic magistrate, it is certainly interesting to know 
 as exactly as we can on what grounds his claim to that honour 
 has been derived. I therefore again consulted my friend Mr. 
 Maltby, who says that Mr. Home Tooke told him, " that he 
 with others was waiting at the Mansion House when Beckford 
 returned from St. James's; that he was asked what he had 
 said ? and his answer was, that he was so flurried that he 
 could not remember any part of it. ' But,' said Home Tooke, ' it 
 is necessary that a speech should be given to the public,' and 
 accordingly he went into a room and wrote the one which is 
 attributed to Beckford." Mr. Maltby said that Home Tooke 
 invariably mentioned the speech as his composition ; and 
 that some years since he (Mr. Maltby) had a request from the 
 corporation of the city to give them some information on this 
 point. 
 
WESTMINSTER : 
 
 JOHN BOWYER NICHOLS AND SONS, 
 
 25, PARLIAMENT STREET. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 Page xxiv. — " Gray, in the safe privacy of a college life, 
 pondered over the profoundest subjects with an undisturbed 
 force of meditation, repeated year after year, till the very 
 intensity hazarded a mistake of the native character of what 
 he contemplated. But he had no temptations to error from 
 the delusive mists of passion or interest. The world had 
 neither promotions nor distinctions to offer him. He had in 
 his own possession the means of independence. He sought not 
 the notice of rank ; he had something which approached to 
 contempt of popular fame. His main satisfaction, exclusive 
 of the pleasure of the immediate employment, probably arose 
 from the proof he afforded himself of his own skill." — Sir 
 Egerton Brydges's Anti-Critic. 
 
 Page 75. — Sir Egerton Brydges, in enumerating the names 
 of poets whom, he says, Mr. Campbell has overlooked in his 
 Specimens, with not a little injustice, has mentioned Dr. 
 Delap. See Anti-Critic, p. 99. 
 
 Page 193. CENOTAPH 
 
 FOR 
 
 The Church of Monks' Horton, in Kent. 
 
 This Tablet is inscribed 
 
 as a memorial of 
 
 The Rev. William Robinson, A.M. 
 
 Rector of Burfield in Berkshire, 
 
 and formerly also Rector of Denton, 
 
 in the county of Kent, 
 
 2 K 
 
486 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 Who died in Dec. 1803, aged (circ.) 76. 
 
 He was one of the younger 
 
 Sons of Matthew Robinson, of this 
 
 Parish of Horton, Esq. by Elizabeth, 
 
 Heiress of the family of Morris ; 
 
 Whose mother re-married the learned Conyers Middleton, D.D. 
 
 And the said Matthew was 
 
 Grandson of Sir Leonard Robinson, Kt. 
 
 one of the sons of Thomas Robinson, 
 
 of Rokeby, in the county of York, Esq. 
 
 By his marriage (in 1621) with 
 
 Frances, daughter of Leonard Smelt, of 
 
 Kirby-Fletham, Esq. by ... . Allanson. 
 
 The said William Robinson 
 
 was a good and ripe scholar, 
 
 a man of highly cultivated taste, and 
 
 superior native talent. 
 
 He was the friend and companion 
 
 of men of genius, 
 
 and especially intimate with the Poet Gkay. 
 
 He had two sisters distinguished for literature, 
 
 of whom Elizabeth, widow of Edward Montagu, Esq. 
 
 is celebrated for her Essay on Shakspere 
 
 and her Epistolary genius. 
 
 In Nov. 1800, by the death of his 
 
 Elder brother, Matthew second Lord Rokeby, 
 
 he succeeded by demise to a portion 
 
 of his estates in Kent, Yorkshire, 
 
 Durham, and Cambridgeshire, 
 
 and to a large personal property. 
 
 He left one son 
 
 and two daughters, his 
 
 Survivors. 
 
 See Anti-Critic of Sir Egerton Brydges, LX. p. 299. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 487 
 
 Page 207. — As the reader of these letters must have 
 received a somewhat ludicrous impression of the character of 
 the Duke of Newcastle, from the language in which Gray 
 alludes to him, perhaps a perusal of the Dedication to Dr. 
 Bentley's edition of Manilius to the same illustrious person 
 may not be without its advantage. In this he appears — 
 " quantum mutatus ab illo" — at once the learned student, the 
 disinterested patriot, and the munificent patron of the Univer- 
 sity. This Dedication was written in the year 1739, and we 
 must believe that another quarter of a century had somewhat 
 dimmed the splendour of the ducal coronet in the eyes of the 
 poet. 
 
 Page 256. — (The son: that is, Edward Wortley Montagu.) 
 Of this eccentric and remarkable person no satisfactory 
 account, so far as I know, has yet been given. Mrs. Piozzi 
 calls him " the learned and highly accomplished son of Lady 
 Mary, who imbibed her taste and talents for sensual delights, 
 who has been long known in England. It is not so known, 
 perhaps, that there is a showy monument erected to his 
 memory at Padua, setting forth his variety and compass of 
 knowledge in a long Latin inscription," &c. His real monu- 
 ment would be formed of as many strange and discordant 
 materials as ever composed a human character. 
 
 Page 294. — (Lady Coventry.) Mrs. Piozzi, whose testi- 
 mony has not been called into court as yet on this subject, 
 says, " True perfection of female beauty appeared among us 
 
 in the form of Maria Gunning Attesting spectators have 
 
 often manifested their just admiration by repeated bursts of 
 applause to the countess, who, calling for her carriage one 
 night at the theatre — i" saw her — stretched out her arm with 
 such a peculiar, such an inimitable manner, as forced a loud 
 and sudden clap from all the pit and galleries, which she, 
 
488 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 conscious of her charms, delighted to increase and prolong, 
 glancing round with a familiar smile to all the enraptured 
 company. " This is a curious picture of the feelings of the 
 people and the manners of the times in 1760. 
 
 Page 417.— (Delaval family.) " In England talents claim 
 power to cast a gleam of glory on their lineage, and the name 
 of Boyle is considered by every one as greater, for that sole 
 reason, I suppose, than Delaval, although his pedigree be drawn 
 from Harold of Norway." — PiozzL 
 
 Page 440. — The celebrated " Anglesey case " forms the 
 foundation of the story of " Le Forester, a tale, 3 vols. 8vo. 
 1802, by Sir Egerton Brydges." He calls the case " one of 
 the longest, most laborious, and most curious trials of filiation 
 that ever occurred before a jury ; a trial which fills a printed 
 folio volume." 
 
 Page 458.- — Mr. Bonstetten's later publications were — 
 
 1. " Eecherches sur la Nature et les Lois de lTmagina- 
 tion." 
 
 2. " Etudes de l'Homme ; ou, Eecherches sur les Facultes 
 de Sentir, et de Penser." Geneve, 1821. 2 vols. 
 
 His various and interesting works have not been, I believe, 
 uniformly collected, nor have they gained that attention in 
 this country which their merits would entitle them to claim. 
 
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