GRAY AND HIS FKIENDS SonDon: C. J. CLAY and SONS, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, Ave Makia Lane. CamfariDflr: DEIGHTON, BELL AXD CO. fLetpjig: F. A. BEOCKHAUS. GRAY AND HIS FEIENDS LETTERS AND RELICS IN GREAT PART HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED. EDITED BY DUNCAN C.^TOVEY, M.A TRINITY COLLEGE. CAMBRIDGE : AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1890 All Rights reserved Cambviigc: printj:d by c. j. clay, ii.a. and sons, at the university press. TO THE MEMBERS PAST AND PRESENT OF THE ASCHAM SOCIETY OF ETON COLLEGE THESE PAGES ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY THEIR FORMER COLLEAGUE THE EDITOR. PREFATORY NOTICE. THE Relics collected in this volume are de- rived from various sources. Some time ago Mr John Morris most generously placed at my disposal the valuable collection of Gray Papers, described in the Appendix to Mr Gosse's edition of Gray (Vol. iv. p. 339). I desire to express my gratitude for the great courtesy through which I have been able to give here in full the Journals in France and Italy, and the notes of travel in Scotland, from that collection. I must also record my great obligation to the ■kindness of Mr Chaloner W. Chute, of the Vyne, Hampshire, who allows me to print some letters written by Gray to John Chute which have not yet been published, except in the ' History of the Vyne.' The collection made by Mitford (now in the British Museum) was I believe intended to supplement his long labours over Gray. It is contained in four volumes (bound in two) of MSS. (32,561 ; 32,562 Add. mss.) ; part of these viii PREFATOKY NOTICE. materials he used in his latest editions of the poet's Works and Correspondence ; much of them he never gave to the world. Yet it is to these I imagine that he refers, when he says (Preface to the Correspondence of Gray and Mason), " 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 connected 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." I am here trying to do what Mitford could have done so well ; and where I follow him I am altogether indebted to his care and pains. Fortunately his handwriting, though minute, is generally clear ; he evidently transcribed Ashton's letters in greater haste than those of Gray and Walpole, and here in some places his writing is less easily decipherable. Yet it may be inferred that he is generally faithful even to the punctua- tion, for this was his principle in copying ; and I believe that access to the originals, had that been possible for me, would not have improved the present volume to any appreciable extent, wherever I have had Mitford to depend upon. Of the letters now published from this source, those which will I think be found most interest- PREFATORY NOTICE. IX ing to the general reader are described by Mitford as follows " Manuscript Letters of Gray, West and Walpole copied by me from the Originals lent by Lady Frankl*^ Lewis"|* to me February 1853 J. M. N.B. The Mrs Lewis, to whom the letters directed to Mr Ash ton, were enclosed, was Anne daughter and Co-Heiress of Sir Nathan Wright, Bt of Tofts Hall who died 1777. Ms Letters from Ash ton to West and Walpole t Lady Frankland Lewis was Harriet fourth daughter of Sir George Coruwall B'. married 11th March 1805 Et Honble Th'. Frankland Lewis of Harpton Court, Radnor." Next in interest to these in Mitford's Collec- tion will be found the two letters from Miss Speed, which he has preserved for us. I hope X PREFATOKY NOTICE. there may be readers who will be glad to know how the ' Long Story ' was received by those who were most concerned in it. If either of these letters from the only lady for whom Gray is supposed to have entertained any penchant have ever seen the light until now, the fact has escaped my notice. I have never had the time completely to master the contents of these MS. volumes. I had to search them rapidly, in order to copy that which I thought would be most interesting ; and this I hope I have succeeded in achieving. They contain MS. notes on Sophocles by Graj^ and a sketch in Latin of an Inaugural Lecture on History, neither of which have been published. Mitford was working for himself, and therefore does not always indicate very clearly the sources or even the authorship of what he has transcribed. There are for example some slight French songs, which do not seem to me to be more than jottings by Gray of what he had read or heard, but which might, for all I know, be imitations either by himself or West. Other instances of a like per- plexity, will be found in my notes. The ' Mason Papers' from which Mitford drew most of these materials are I believe those of which he speaks in the Preface to the ' Correspondence of Gray PREFATORY NOTICE. XI and Mason' as having been placed in his hands by Mr Penn, of Stoke Park. The fate of the originals (though I have been kindly favoured with all the information which Colonel Stuart could give me), I am unable to trace ; but it is probable that they would have been quite inaccessible to me even could I have discovered where they were. This may, perhaps, be the best place to mention that Mitford records a line of Gray's in pencil, ' The rude Columbus of an infant world ' — where he found it, I am uncertain ; perhaps among these Mason papers ; if it is in the Common Place Books at Pembroke College, Cambridge, whence I have gathered some other poetic jottings of Gray, it escaped my notice in the search which the kindness of Dr Searle, the Master of Pembroke, allowed me to make there. It is obvious to conjecture that this was a thought for the ' Elegy ' and that the ' rude Columbus ' might have found a place beside the ' village Hampden ' and the ' mute inglorious Milton '. The Common Place Books of Gray at Pem- broke have given me much of West's ; but offer, as might be expected, of matter suitable to my present purpose nothing in extenso that is new of Gray's, except the two translations from the xii PREFATORY NOTICE. Greek printed in this volume. Nor does an obliging letter which I have received from Mr R. A. Neil, Fellow and Librarian of Pembroke, encourage me to hope that more of Gray's is to be discovered there. Though I honestly believe that the imper- fections of this edition are not due to want of pains, I am well aware that even scanty oppor- tunities are a poor excuse for faulty work, and therefore I would gladly have made my account of Mitford's mss. more exact, and my references and annotations more complete, if I had had more time and more knowledge at my command. I cannot complain of want of assistance, and in addition to the obligations acknowledged already, or in the notes, I must here thank Mr R. F. Sketchley, the Librarian of the Dyce and Foster Libraries at South Kensington, and Mr J. W. Clark of Cambridge, for most useful communications ; the Provosts of Eton and King's College, Cambridge, for the information which confirms my note on p. 80 infra; my friends Mr F. W. Cornish of Eton, Dr Henry Jackson and Mr E. S. Shuckburgh of Cambridge, for their encouragement and assistance ; and Dr Porter, the Master of Peterhouse, for his kindly interest in this edition. CONTENTS. Imtroductory Essay Section I. Unpublished Letters, chiefly op Foreign Travel. Gray, Walpole and Ashton. PAGE 1 Gray to Ashton 37 ,, ,, ..... 39 )5 5, . , . . , 41 Gray and Walpole to Ashton 45 Gray to Ashton 47 Walpole and Gray to Ashton 49 Walpole to Ashton .... 54 Ashton to Walpole .... 58 Section II. Correspondence and Remains op EicHARD West. Unijublished Letters marked thus *. 1. *Ashton to West . . 65 2. * 5) » • • • . 66 3. West to Gray . . 68 4. )) )) • • • . 70 *Ashton to West . . ib. n. XIV CONTENTS. 6 * 7 * 8. *West to Ashton . 9. *Ashton to West . 10. West to Walpole Ode to Maiy Magdalene . *Ashtoii to West 11. West to Gray 12. West to Walpole 13. „ „ . . . *Asliton to West . 14. West to Gray . Ad amices 15. *West to Walpole Ad Pyrrham (trans.) 16. *Ashtoii to West . 17. West to Gray Epigram of Poseidippus (transl. 18. Gray to West (Latin) 19. West to Gray 'Hearne to Time ' by Mr Polyglot . ' Thanks, Chloe ' . . . . Monody on the Death of Queen Caroline 20. West to Gray 21. *Ashton to West . 22. West to Gray Elegia. Quod mihi tam gratfe S iTC. Imitation of Horace £jj. i. 2 . 23. West to Walpole Propertius 3. 15 imitated . 24. *Ashton to West . 25. West to Gray Sapphics to his Lyre CONTENTS. XV PAGE 26. West to Walpole . . . . . 134 Hexameters on the Winter of 1740 . . . . 137 27. West to Walpole . . . . . 1,38 28. ,, ,,...... 139 Eleg ia. Ergo desidiie itc. .... 140 29. West to Gray 142 30. *West to Ashtou 145 31. * ,, ...... 146 32. * 149 33. W^est to Walpole .... 150 34. *Gray to West with Dialogue of the Books 154 35. West to Gray 156 36. ,, ,, ..... 157 Hexameters on his Cough . 158 37. West to Gray 160 38. *West to Ashtou 163 39. W^est to Gray ..... 164 Invocation to May .... . 165 40. West to Gray ..... . 166 Transl. from Catullus .... . 167,8 41. *Ashton to West . 169 42. *Gray to Ashton . 170 Ashton's Verses on the Death of West 171 CTIO N III. Gray to John Chute. 1. Sept. 7, 1741 -^ .... . 176 2. October or Nov. 1746 .... . 181 3. 1762 . 184 Section IV. Gray to Percy and Brockett 190 Section V. Miss Speed to Gray. August 1750 August 25, 1759 . 197 198 XVI CONTENTS. PAGE Section VI. Gray's Notes of Travel. In France 204 Italy 216 Scotland 260 Section VII. Thoughts and Verse Fragments 269 Section VIII. Collectanea and Conjectures. Gweddi'r Hwsmon (The Husbandman's Prayer) 275 Anecdotes &c 277 Conjectural Readings on Shakespeare . 289 Section IX. Latin Poems 295 CORRIGENDA. Index, p. 312, col. 2, for 'Willis' read 'Willes.' after 'Yarmouth' add ' see Walmoden. vr» «^ »»— — INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL. My design in gathering these Papers has been threefold. In the first place they are the records of a remarkable and interesting friendship. The fonr Eton friends Gray, Walpole, West and Ashton, known to their schoolfellows as the Quadruple Alliance, are here brought together once more. It has not indeed been possible to reproduce their correspondence in full, but something has now been added to the ma- terials which are extant elsewhere in a printed form, and if the present volume is in some respects a supple- ment, I have tried to give this part of it the interest of a certain coherence. Of Gray and Walpole I have given in full nothing but what is new to the world, with the single exception of a Latin letter from Gray to West, which, published by Mitford with the wrong heading 'Mr West to Mr Gray', has been omitted by Mr Gosse altogether. With this and another excep- tion noted later on', whatever of theirs has been seen 1 p. 18. G. 1 2 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. ill print before, will only appear now in the form of connecting links. Although what is printed here of Ashton's is, all but certain verses, entirely new, it has seemed ad- visable to treat some of his letters in the same way. To have given them in full would have been to add to the heavier material of my volume, and I could not persuade myself that I have in his case the same kind of obligation as in the case of Gray or West. Even West has a place (though a very subordinate place) in literature; Ashton has scarcely any. Letters are not interesting simply because they are old ; and distance lends no enchant- ment to dulness. In transcribing Ashton's letters, I came to the conclusion that he could be a very ponderous young person, but I cannot convince readers of this, except at their expense and that of my volume, which might sink under his weight. I am therefore contented to indicate where all these letters are to be found'. Ashton was dubbed "' Plato '^ by his Eton friends; why, I cannot tell, except in as far as he was supposed to have some skill in Greek^; his temper, with a great affectation of ^ Mitford's Common Place Books ad. fin. (Add. Mss. Brit. Mus. 32,562.) ^ See note infra p. 81. 3 Walpole to West from Florence Oct. 2, 1740, suggests that Asbton shall turn into Greek Buondelmonti's ' Spesso Amor &c.' -which Gray had Latinized. INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 3 eqiianimity at times, is the reverse of philosophic. He is fitted however for the part of a SevTepayoivia-rrj^ and ill this character he now appears. He was a Fellow of King's, and subsequently of Eton, Rector of St Botolph, Bishopsgate, and Preacher to the Society of Lincoln's Inu'. Partly from the fact that they were members of the same college at Cambridge, but still more, I am inclined to think, from a certain disposition to toadyism, he is in closer juxtaposition with Walpole than with any other member of the alliance. What part he played in the famous quarrel between Gray and Walpole it is impossible now exactly to determine, but it is probable that his conduct in the matter caused an estrangement be- tween himself and Gray. His interest in the case appears from the Postscript to a letter (strangely fulsome and exaggerated as I think) which he wrote to Walpole on his recovery from his illness at Reggio. This letter is given on p. .58. The Mrs — there 1 Cunningham (H. Walpole's Letters, vol. i, p. 2). An amusing letter from Walpole to Ashton dated from the Christopher Inn at Eton has this " If I do not compose myself a little more before Sunday morning, when Ashton is to preach I shall certainly he in a bill for laughing at church; but how to help it, to see him in the pulpit, when the last time I saw him here, was standing up funking over against a conduct to be catechized." But this letter is certainly inisplaced between one of 1737 and one of 1739, for Ashton was not ordained till later. He was made Fellow of Eton Dec. 20, 1745, and pro- bably never preached in the Chapel before that event. 1—2 4 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. spoken of who 'knows the whole' is perhaps Gray's mother ; but, if so, who is the Mrs Gr : mentioned just before, to whom Ashton is 'infinitely obliged', and with whom he is going 'to rejoice' over Walpole's convalescence ? This Mrs Gr : is undoubtedly the lady to whom Walpole refers in the following from Rome (infra p. 56). " M''^ G. writes me word how much goodness she met with in Hanover Sqre.' Poor Creature I You know, how much it obliges me, my dear Ashton, .& if that can give you any satisfaction, as I well believe it does, be assured, it touches me in the strongest manner. It obliges me in a Point that relates to my mother, & that is all I can say in this World ! . . . You must not tell that poor Woman, what I am now going to mention. I fear we shall not see Naples" &c. And then he proceeds to talk of the malaria, and the roads infested by banditti, and relates incidents likely to be disquieting to the anxious female heart. It is certain that Walpole is solicitous for some person inferior to him in rank, who nevertheless has a claim upon his kindly interest. — Whether "M''^ G." would be alarmed more on Walpole's account, or on Gray's, the reader may determine as he can I The concern of Gray himself 1 The residence of the Hon. Mrs Lewis, where Ashton was living as Tutor to Lord Plymouth. - See further the n. on p. 60. INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 5 at the death of Lady Walpole is manifested in a letter to West of Aug. 22, 1737, 'While I mite to you, I hear the bad news of Lady Walpole' s death on Saturday night last. Forgive me if the thought of what my poor Horace must feel on that account, obliges me to have done in reminding you that I am yours &c.' I should infer from this that Gray did not learn the ' bad news ' from Walpole himself ; yet as Lady Walpole died on the 20th of August, this speedy information must have come to Gray either through Ashton or from some domestic source. It should be remembered that in 1735 Mrs Gray sub- mitted for the opinion of Counsel that remarkable 'case' in which are revealed the cruelties of her husband and the exertions she had made for her son, ' whilst at Eton School, and now he is at Peterhouse at Cambridge.' I should like to persuade myself, that the sufferings and struggles of this 'careful tender mother' had won for her the sympathy of Horace and Lady Walpole ; and this may be true, whether or not these pages afford evidence pointing that way. We shall probably conclude that Mrs Gr : is not Mrs Gray ; but whoever she may be, Walpole' s though tfulness for her places him in a very amiable light. And whatever his offence against Gray himself may have been, there is man- liness and good feeling in everything we know of Walpole's conduct in relation to this rupture — 6 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. As in this to his cousin the Hon. H. S. Conway' (London, 1741). "Before I thank you for myself, I must thank you for that excessive good nature you showed in UTiting to poor Gray. I am less impatient to see 3'ou, as I find you are not the least altered, but have the same tender friendly temper you always had." Evidently he is anxious to make peace. The first direct overtures towards a reconciliation came from him, as Gray acknowledges^ in a letter to John 1 Horace Walpole's Letters, ed. Cunningham, no. 42, vol. i. p. 731. Quoted, I discover, with the same intention, in Mitford's 2nd Life of Gray. ^ But there are two facsimiles prefixed to the first volume of ' Walpoliana ' which look as if they were connected with each other and with this reconciliation. The first is Gray's, the second Walpole's. ...do you mean to continue so, or shall You see me the less Willingly next Week, when I mean to call at your Door some Morning? I hope you are still in Town, believe me D' S' very sincerely yours Cambridge, July 7 T Gray I shall be very glad, S"", to see you here again whenever it is convenient to you. Lest I should forget the time, be so good as to acquaint me three or four days before- hand when you wish to come, that I may not be out of the way, «fe I will fix a day for expecting you. I am Sr yr obliged humble Sert HoR Walpole. As far as my search can discover Gray's is not a fragment of INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 7 Chute of October 12, 1746 (wrongly assigned by Mr Gosse to 1750), " I find Mr Walpole then made some mention of me to you; yes, we are together again. It is about a year, I beheve, since he \vrote to me, to offer it, and there has been (particularly of late), in appearance, the same kindness and confidence almost as of old. What were his motives, I cannot yet guess. What were mine, you will imagine and perhaps blame me. However as yet I neither repent, nor rejoice overmuch, but I am pleased." The words ' It is about a year ' &c. enable us with the aid of other evidence to fix the date of the reconciliation itself and of the letter of Gray's which gives an account of it to Nov. 1745". In this letter Gray says, " I wrote a note the night I came [to Stoke], and immediately received a very civil answer. I went the following evening to see i\\Q party (as Mrs Foible says), was something abashed at his confidence ; he came any extant letter. I am not able to say as much about Wal- pole's. If Gray is addressing Walpole, it looks as if he was reminding him of some friendly overtures, slighted at the time they were made; if Walpole is addressing Gray at all, it is scarcely possible to doi;bt that he is replying to Gray's pro- posal of a visit, and that in a very reserved and formal manner. But it is only the first document that is of im- portance. ^ Walpole told Mason that in the year 1744 a reconciliation was effected between them by ' a Lady who wished well to both parties.' I think he must be mistaken as to the year. 8 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. to meet me, kissed me on both sides with all the ease of one, who receives an acquaintance just come out of the country, squatted me into a Fauteuil, begun to talk of the town and this and that and t'other, and continued with little interruption for three hours, when I took my leave very indifferently pleased, but treated with wondrous good breeding. I supped with him next night (as he desired), Ashton was there, whose formalities tickled me inwardly, for I found he was to be angry about the letter I had Avrote him. However in going home together our hackney-coach jumbled us into a sort of reconciliation : he hammered out somewhat like an excuse ; and I received it very readily, because I cared not twopence, whether it were true or not. So we grew the best acquaintance imaginable, and I sat with him on Sunday some hours alone, when he informed me of abundance of anecdotes much to my satisfaction, and in short opened (I really believe) his heart to me with that sincerity, that I found I had still less reason to have a good opinion of him, than (if possible) I ever had before." We know by a note of Mitford's to this letter, that Mr Isaac Reed heard from Mr Roberts of the Pell-office, in 1799, "That the quarrel between Gray and Walpole was occasioned by a suspicion Mr Walpole entertained, that Mr Gray had spoken ill of him to some friends in England. To ascertain this, he INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 9 clandestinely opened a letter, and resealed it, wliicli Mr Gray with great propriety, resented." I confess that I doubt whether Walpole ever opened Gray's letter and sealed it up again, although Mr Roberts of the Pell-office was ' likely to be well- informed', as Mr Isaac Reed assures us. I do not knoAV how old ]\fr Roberts of the Pell-office was in 1799, but he told this story 58 years after the thing, whatever it was, happened, and before the original account reached his ears it must of necessity have been transmitted through a great number of persons, possibly at considerable intervals of time, and, it may be suspected, with the usual improvements and additions. What is certain is, that Ashton had something to do with the quarrel', and from the reference above ' I found he was to be angry about the letter I had wrote him', we may guess that some- thing Gray wrote to Ashton about Walpole, either caused or increased the rupture. Gray's feeling about Ashton remained practically unabated, and he con- tinues in every notice of him subsequently (except in writing to Walpole) to speak of him with irony or contempt. There was indeed one moment of ra'p- prochement, caused by the death of West (see infr. Sect. II. let. 42), and I do not find that Gray ever took the 1 As Mitford I find remarks in his second life of Gray; drawing the same inference from the Wharton correspondence. 10 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. trouble to manifest any strong resentment against Asliton, But for the evidences of dislike we have only to take some mentions of Ashton's name which we find in Gray's letters to Wharton'. As in the dream which he communicates to him, from which we gather an exacter notion than adjectives will supply : " I thought I was in t'other world and confined in a little apartment much like a cellar, enlightened by one rush candle that burned blue. On each side of me sate (for my sins) M'' Davie and my friend M'^ A{shton) ; they bowed continually and smiled in my face and while one filled me out very bitter tea, the other sweetened it with a vast deal of brown sugar: altogether it much resembled Syrup of Buck- thorn. In the corner sat Tuthill very melancholy in expectation of the tea-leaves." If Walpole's offence was as grievous as the tale above given would imply, we might well believe, with Mr Isaac Heed, that there was "little cordiality after- wards between them". But how does this tally with these words, written by Gray to Walpole (when ^ See also supra and Gray's Works (eel. Gosse), ii. 144, iii. 86, 87. In the Index to this edition Thomas Asheton and Dr Ashton are treated as different persons, and this misconcei^tion may perhaps explain Mr Gosse' s statement (Life of Gray, p. 11) that ' Ashton, taking orders very early, dropped out of the circle of friends.' INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 11 Walpole had some difference with another friend) with obvious alhi.sion to their own experience? — " I always beh'eved well of his heart and temper, and would gladly do so still. If they are such as they should be, I should have expected everything from such an explanation ; for it is a tenet with me (a simple one, you'll perhaps say) that if ever two people, who love one another come to breaking, it is for a want of a timely eclaircissement, a full and precise one, without witnesses or mediators, and with- out reserving any one disagreeable circumstance for the mind to brood upon in silence.'" Is this the way men write to those w^ho open other people's letters and seal them up again ? I cannot reconcile the evidence of Gray's correspondence, or any of the ascertained facts of his subsequent con- nection with Walpole either with the offence imputed, or with Cole's statement that "when Walpole asked Gray to Strawberry Hill, when he came, he without any ceremony told Walpole that he came to wait on him as civility required, but by no means would he ever be there on the terms of his former friendship, which he had utterly cancelled." Walpole's own manly and candid account of the matter is that he 'treated' Gray 'insolently'. 'He loved me and I did not think he did '. He was ' too serious a com- panion'. Gray was for antiquities &c. 'whilst I was 1 Gray's Works (ed. Gosse), ii. 225. 12 INTKODUCTORY ESSAY. for perpetual balls & plays ; — the fault was mine '. And this passage from a letter to Ashton (Rome, May 28, 1740) betrays just the sense of growing- discrepancy to which Walpole refers, an irksomeness against which better feelings were struggling : " By a considerable volume of Charts & Pyramids which I saw at Florence, / thought it threatened a Publication. His travels have really improved him ; I wish they may do the same for any one else." The notes of foreign travel now published for the first time, which were set down in Gray's exquisite and careful handwriting with scarcely an erasure, must have taken him some time, and they are probably but a small part of his studious labours at this date. The eternal conflict between thoroughness and di- lettantism is evidently being renewed between these young people. The strain must have been great ; and they are both trying hard to keep their tempers. When nearly a year after this Gray writes to West from Florence that he has acquired in his two years absence from England 'a sensibility for what others feel, and indulgence for their faults and weaknesses', we can guess of whom he is thinking, Alas ! he did but flatter himself Only a few days after these words were written, the quarrel occurred. Whether the letter Gray wrote to Ashton was the bone of contention ; or whether it only helped to make matters worse, the reader is now in as good a position INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. ' lo to judge as I am. Gray evidently believes that Asliton was put up by Walpole to act a part about it, and to pretend that it had made him indignant when it did nothing of the sort. Perhaps again, Ashton was one of those 'mediators' who, according to Gray's experience, are best away. Cunningham tells us that Ashton died at Bath in 1775, but that 'his friendship with Walpole had ceased long before'. Walpole ad- dressed to him the Poetical 'Epistle' from Florence ; and we learn from Gray's letters that he wrote a book against Conyers Middleton, and that Gray thought it had some things new and ingenious, but rather too prolix, and the style here and there savouring too strongly of sermon ' '. The second part of my scheme is to collect all the remains of the beloved and unfortunate Richard West. This is an act of vicarious piety ; it was designed, as far as West's compositions are concerned, by Gray him- self ; and was also an unfulfilled project of Mitford's, who writes (Correspondence of Gray and Mason, Preface, p. xxvii) "Why Gray left his design unaccom- plished is not known ; but it may be endeavoured, with the assistance of new materials, not indeed to supply the office which he left unfultilled, but to raise the best monument to the memory of West from his own works, which, at so late a period, can be done." I am sorry that neither the plan of Mr Gosse's edition, ^ Gray's Works (eel. Gosse), ii. 210. 14 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. nor that of the present vohnne has admitted of giving together in full the correspondence between Gray and West. In Walpole's Correspondence as edited by Cunningham, West thus appears, to the great advan- tage of lucidity and interest. If the editors of Cicero excluded from his works the letters of his correspon- dents, on the plea that they were not Cicero's, classical scholars would have cause to complain. Letters, more- over, are more real and life-like when they can be read as dialogues ; the reader is more under the influence of the spirit in which they were composed. Some figures are thus preserved in literature, eugaging certainly, yet scarcely strong enough to stand alone ; I am not sure that West is not one of these. The Englishman thinks as naturally of West in conjunction with Gray, as the Frenchman thinks of Etienne de la Boetie in conjunction with Montaigne. It is the light of friendship which glorifies these relics ; and the true devotee of literature, who is always something more than learned or critical, tries to look upon these unfulfilled promises of the early lost, with the eyes of those who once loved them. We shall probably be unable to subscribe to Gray's estimate of West's Monody on the Death of Queen Caroline ; and we may be quite sure that if the unhappy line 'And tho' not virtuous, virtuously inclin'd' had been Mason's not West's, Gray would have said of it just what he did say to Mason in a similar INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 15 case, "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." To read these things in the right spirit we must replace criticism by the emotional interest which attaches to the sad story of this brief life. He was the son of ' the Richard West, who ' says Mr Gosse ' was made Lord Chancellor of Ireland when he was only thirty-five, and who then immediately died.' The mother of our West was the daughter of Bishop Burnet. West died at the age of 26 ; and (to quote from Mitford's Life of Gray) " It is said the cause of his disorder, a consumption which brought him to an early grave, was the fatal discovery which he made of the treachery of a supposed friend, and the viciousness of a mother whom he tenderly loved. This man, under the mask of friendship to him and his family, intrigued with his mother, and robbed him of his peace of mind, his health and his life." The man in question is said to have been secretary to West's father' ; Rogers was told that it was some person of ^ 'A Mr Williams, whom she finally married when her son was dead.' Mr Gosse (Life of Gray, p. 47). Gray's post- script to a letter from Walpole to West (Rome, April 16 N. S. 1740) has this 'We have sent you our compliments hy a friend of yours, and correspondent in a corner, who seems a very agreeable man, one Mr Williams. I am sorry he staid so little a while in Rome '. Is this the man ? In any case we may infer that Gray did not at this date know that there 16 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. inferior condition. A still more tragic colour is given to this strange story by what seems to have been a later discovery of Mitford's. " In a note liitherto unpublished," says Mr Gosse, "Dyce says that Mitford told him ' that West's death was hastened by mental anguish, there having been good reason to suspect that his mother poisoned his father." These suspicions we can scarcely suppose were in West's mind before Sept. 28, 1739, on which day writing to Gray he speaks of his mother's health with filial anxiety, as the reason why they were then together at Tunbridge ; and one cannot help wondering whether it was 'an honest ghost' that breathed into the young man's ear this tale of secret murder. Even in 1737 West describes himself as having been very ill, and it is probable that his feeble constitution was a legacy from his father. His OAvn end was awfully sudden ; both Gray and Ashton wrote to him when he was no more : Gray's letter is lost, but it enclosed the Ode on Spring for the eyes which were never to see it ; Ashton's letter is given below ; while it was being wTitten, West was already two days dead. Always careless about his health, it is pro- bable that the knowledge of his mother's guilt which came to him at some time within the last three years was any sad story connected with the name Williams at all. He would have felt that in writing thus to his friend, he would be touching a wound. INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 17 of his life, made him more so ; that it increased his restlessness ; that what he knew of bad made him suspect worse, and connect some darker mystery with his father's early death. I know not how this history got abroad ; if he told it to any one he told it to Gray ; we should never guess from the slightly-rufiled surface of his correspondence, what deep sighs those are Che fanno pullular quest' acqua al sommo. But the reader should know that, beneath, a little Hamlet-like tragedy is going on ; perhaps not without its good Horatio ; and one thinks of Goethe's words about "the lovely noble nature, without the strength of nerve which forms a hero, sinking beneath a burden which it cannot bear and must not cast away." His last words to Gray ' Vale et vive pauUis- per cum vivis' were written in a cheerful and en- couraging spirit ; but as his friend thought upon them in after days, they may have seemed like an unconscious echo of the pathetic commission — Absent thee from felicity awhile And in this harsh world di'aw thy breath in pain To tell my story. In the third place, there are here collected of Gray's, whatever seemed of general interest, amongst his hitherto unpublished relics. There are indeed some evidences of his curious industry which have not been included either in the edition of Mitford, or G. 2 18 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. in tliat of Mr Gosse, and which are not printed here. And it still remains true that in order to obtain the whole of Gray's works, it is necessary to have recourse to several distinct publications. If, for example, we wish to read all Gray's notes of foreign travel we must read one part of his Journal in France in Mr Gosse's edition (vol, i. pp. 237 — 246), another part in the present volume ; the journal in Italy in the present volume; and the Criticisms on Architecture and Painting during a Tour in Italy in Mitford's Aldine edition (vol. iv. pp. 225 — 305). Generally speaking, I give nothing of Gray's which has been before printed ; the letters to John Chute which will be found below, and which Mr Chaloner Chute most kindly allows me to publish, have been re- cently printed by him in his ' History of the Vyne' ; but none of these have appeared in any edition of the poet's remains. In a search made under difficulties and at rare intervals, it is likely tliat I have not seen all that it would be worth while to edit; yet I do not edit all that I Jiave seen; there must be some limit to what is called literature ; for instance, there is a copy in the British Museum of Verral's cookery', with Gray's MS. notes ; and these I did not transcribe. I was indeed glad to discover from this book what (such is the ignorance of man) I did not know before, 1 It once belonged to Mitford. See his ' Correspondence of Gray and Mason,' p. 252 n. INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 19 that Verral was a pupil of Clouet's, and that Clouet was the Soyer of his age ; because this enabled me to understand the lines in the "Address of William Shakespeare to M''' Anne, Regular servant to the Rev. M"" Precentor of York" — " 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." His devotion to this branch of 'fair science' is a (piaint trait in our poet's character. Like Pope, a weakling, he was probably more careful than Pope in the matter of diet ; but if not an epicure, he was at least fastidious and epicurean. Samuel Rogers told ^litford "that Gray in London saw little Society. Had a nice dinner from the Tavern brought to his lodgings, a glass or two of sweet wine, and as he sippd it talked about great People'." This 'talking of great people' is another little weakness, over which one must pass lightly ; Gray's temptations and oppor- tunities lay in that direction; yet externals have more to do with contemporary judgments than pos- terity is able to realise; social prejudices, the influ- ence of cliques and coteries will cloud the strongest minds; those who are forced to labour at the first task that comes to hand, are not well-disposed to their more fortunate brethren of the pen who can J [Mitford, Add. Mss. Brit. Mus. 32,562, vol. iii. p. 188.] 2—2 20 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. read or write at their leisure ; there is always a Grub Street in contrast with a Strawbeny Hill ; there are always Johnsons and Grays. The man who had to knock down the bullying Osborne with a folio was out of sympathy with the man who thought it beneath him to write for money, whose Odes Walpole printed and to whom Dodsley stood hat in hand. This did not affect Gray's estimate of Johnson's literary merit ; but surely some such feeling must explain Johnson's utterly unworthy criticism of Gray. Gray's social preferences did not betray him into fancies, except in the case of novels, and the stage; his liking for tlie younger Crdbillon and his imperfect appreciation of Fielding are in general contrast to his clear discern- ment elsewhere ; lie agrees again with Walpole in dis- paraging Garrick ; a coincidence of opinion the more noticeable, as the friends, estranged at this time, were writing independently. But he disagrees with Walpole over Johnson; praises 'London' and the 'Verses on the opening of Garrick's Theatre'; and never seems to have allowed his personal dislike to colour his opinion of Johnson's real merits, whether as a wTiter or a man. Walpole's aversion to Johnson on the contraiy is of that unreasoning and undiscriminating kind which belongs to social and literary and political sets ; we may smile, we who see men in their right propor- tion or perspective, when, whilst coveting the ac- quaintance of Anstey and Mason, he excuses himself INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 21 for not desiring to know the 'bombastic' Johnson and the 'silly' Goldsmith, on the ground 'that he has seen Pope and lived with Gray'. Our interest in Gray at this date seems indeed a little disproportionate to the scant and fragmentary nature of his positive achievements. But he fascinates us still, because he is one of us; because he shows himself, especially in his letters, a modern; because we feel that in his company we are at the sources of a familiar stream. We cannot indeed believe that when good Mr Brown said of Gray that 'he never spoke out' he had anything in his mind but the fact that Gray did not acknowledge to his friends how near he felt his end to be; and the comments which have been made upon the simple statement of U petit bonhomme read like fanciful homilies on an inappropriate text. Matthias, the 'Pursuer of Literature' (as Porson called him) whilst he tells us that at Gray ' Granta's dull abbots cast a side-long glance, And Levite gownsmen hugg'd their ignorance' adds that he 'was his own exceeding great reward' — and Matthias here contrives to blunder very near the truth. Gray's melancholy has been much exaggerated. It was as he cjuaintly tells us 'a leucocholy' — and when he says of himself ' Fair science frown'd not on his humble birth And Melancholy marked him for her own' — he does but reproduce Milton's 'II Penseroso'. Gray was the child of his own epoch, and never so 22 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. much in advance of it, but that he could command many delighted readers when he pleased; and what happier lot could a man of letters crave than to com- bine freedom and leisure to follow his own bent, with that measure of success which Gray achieved in helping to give literature a new direction, amid much applause and homage in his life-time? His was not the type of mind, which an epoch of change, however momentous, could stimulate into production. He might have written letters or collected anecdotes about it; but there is no evidence whatever that it would have had any power to bring to the surface any latent springs of poetic thought and emotion. In his survey of contemporary events there is abundant curiosity and the keenest interest; there is never either much despondency or much enthusiasm. He lived through a period of great national depression, when as Cowper says ' The inestimable Estimate of Brown Rose like a paper-kite and scared the town,' by convincing, as Macaulay explains, its readers that "they were a race of cowards and scoundrels; that nothing could save them, that they were on the point of being enslaved by their enemies, and that they riclily deserved their fate." He lived long enough to have been able, had he chosen, to say, before Cowper, that it was "praise enough To fill the ambition of a private man, INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 23 That Chatham's language was his mother tongue And Wolfe's great name compatriot with his own." Yet ill his incidental treatment of public events lie has about as much ' high seriousness ' as a George Selwyn. One can compare his tone about them only to a smile, in which there is nothing either very glad or very sad ; and yet no indifference or apathy. He smiles in '46 over the defeat of Hawley at Falkirk ; " [At Cambridge] we talk of war, famine, and pestilence, with no more apprehension than of a broken head, or of a coach overturned between York and Edinburgh." Writing about the rebel Scotch Peers in the same year, he is diverting and graphic over Balmerino and Lovat and gently sympathetic over Cromartie ; but I question whether here or anywhere in his account of contemporary politics the reader could separate his manner or spirit from that of Walpole, by any generic difference. He smiles again in '56 over Byng's loss of Minorca ; " The British Flag, I fear, has behaved itself like a trained-band pair of colours in Bunhill Fields... 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." Again, Wolfe, floating down the St Lawrence in 24 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. the still night, on his way to his heroic death, re- peating in low tones to his brother officers the Elegy, the tender pathos of which seemed to his heart an achievement more glorious than victory, is a picture for all time ; as often as it recurs to the memory, we find it hard to call that a prosaic age, which produced this most striking of all authentic testimonies to the power of song. This is the soldier's tribute to the poet ; and what is the companion picture ? Why, briefly this; and if the contrast is a little shocking, let us blame, not the unconscious Gray, gossiping with a light heart, not knowing what would be expected of him, but rather the last development of the higher criticism : " [Pitt's] second speech was a studied and puerile declamation on funeral honours (on proposing a monument for Wolfe). In the course of it he wiped his eyes with one handkerchief, and Beckford (who seconded him) cried too, and wiped with two hand- kerchiefs at once, which was very moving." It was thus that Gray talked of ' Chatham's elo- quence' in connection with 'Wolfe's great name.' This is the Walpolean not the Wordsworthian spirit, and what alchemy can convert the one into the other ? In this Gray is, as already said, the true child of his epoch, and offers not a trace that he belonged, of spiritual right, to earlier or later days. A wise sentence of Mr Lowell's should be written in large letters, to INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 25 warn us off by-paths in this matter. " It certainly was a comfortable time. If there was discontent, it was in the individual, not in the air ; sporadic, not epidemic. Responsibility for the Universe had not yet been invented. A few solitary persons saw a swarm of ominous question-marks wherever they turned their eyes ; but sensible people pronounced them the mere muscae voUtantes of indigestion which an honest dose of rhubarb would disperse. Men read Rousseau for amusement, and never dreamed that those flowers of rhetoric were ripening the seed of the guillotine." Gray read Rousseau ; sometimes, as he confesses, ' heavily, heavily,' seeking that is, amusement, and finding it not; but for the signs of the times he consulted the weathercock. The last part of the letter to Wharton from which I quoted just now, is a w^eather and garden chronicle into which he slides from the statement that it is "a very critical time, an action being hourly expected between the two great Fleets, but no news as yet." It is as if we had Pepys and White of Selborne on the same page. But he has begun with a feeling account of the last illness of his friend Lady Cobham, and then has gone on to talk about house decoration in a very practical as well as aesthetic manner for the benefit of Wharton. Combine only this with a previous letter to the same correspondent in which he passes from Froissart to current political gossip, and we have abundant evi- 26 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. dence of a mind actively and wholesomely employed in the offices of friendship, in literature, art, in the 'quidquid agunt homines' regarded with good humour- ed amusement, and in the minute study of Nature '. In a correspondence so full and varied we are jus- tified in declaring that the whole character of the man stands revealed to us. Here at any rate ' he speaks out' very plainly. And we shall find here private affections, deep but limited, and wonderfully little even of an invalid's despondency ; we shall find indeed local antipathies and prejudices, but to at- tribute Weltschmerz to him, or even any latent un- easiness pointing that way, is the merest anachronism. Let us repeat once more Mr Lowell's golden phrase " Responsibility for the Universe had not yet been invented." We are speaking now of England and Englishmen, and the most emphatic utterances which I can recollect of Gray's breathe the buoyant and cheerful public spirit of his age ; he reminds Horace Walpole that ' desperare de Republica is a deadly sin in polities'; and again, after quoting Gresset's Le cri d un peuple heureux est la seule Eloquence Qui spait parler des rois, he adds ' which is very true, and should have 1 It may seem strange to associate Gray with Goethe ; yet it is certain that Gray and Goethe are demonstrative instances that the scientific exploration of Nature is compatible with a love of Nature on the imaginative side. INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 27 been a hint to him not to write odes to the King at all.' "Born in the same year with Milton, Gray" we are told "would have been another man, born in the same year with Burns, he would have been another man." On the contrary, he would have been the same man, but a less finished artist, if he had been born in 1608. He would have been no more stirred by that eminently stirring time, than Sir Thomas Browne. In the year of Naseby Fight he might have been discussing with Browne whether the lion is afraid of the cock, and whether earwigs have wings. If he had loved young Edward King, we know already what sort of 'Lycidas' his would have been. The author would have bewailed his ' learned friend ' but he would never ' by occasion, have foretold the ruin of our corrupted clergy then in their height.' In whatever age he had lived it was not in the man to link private sorrow with public calamity. When he feels most acutely he cannot even moralize, in that tenderly human spirit of his which never grows old ; he can only complain. If we whose many con- ventionalisms are not only conventional but hideous, can forget for a moment that Gray in his Sonnet on the Death of West calls the sun 'Phoebus', it will be redeemed for us by this one touch of absolute sin- cerity, that it is only a cry of pain, real though disguised in music now a little trite to us. And 28 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. again he has the student's imagination, which does not feel great events in the present, but needs dis- tance and some obscurity to make them seem majestic. On whatever times he might have fallen, if he had attempted to sing of contemporary kings and battles, Apollo would have twitched his ear. We may be sure that he would have read and praised any im- mortal song; but his own soul would have rested with L' Allegro and II Penseroso and would never have migrated into Samson Agonistes ; and he might admire, through his fine critical and artistic sense, the insight and grand impartiality of Marvell's Horatian Ode, and see with Marvell's eyes, the tragedy at Whiteliall, but he would be disposed to rival the same Marvell only in the garden at Nun- appleton ' Annihilating all that's made To a green thought in a green shade.' We have been looking backward, now let us look forward from Gray's time. Coleridge, like Gray, pro- duced too little poetry ; but we agree to find the explanation of this, not in the age, but in the man. The age, we say, is inspiring; perhaps whatever of enthusiasm there is in Coleridge is caught from it. In his case a want of physical and moral energy' accounts for everything ; a vis inertiw which prevails over the momentum which he has received from with- out. Gray's momentum comes from within; he writes INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 29 to please himself ; publicity is with him always quite a secondary matter, and his choice of subjects is absolutely his own ; at the same time his owii age welcomes him, and would gladly have had more from him ; Gibbon, a representative name, regrets that the Poem on the Alliance of Education and Government is but a fragment ; in his life time Gray had less than the common share of adverse criticism, and his in- complete designs were on themes which, whilst they indicate his own taste and bias, were adapted to the scope and comprehension of ' an age of prose and reason.' Yet in his case, we are told, the age is responsible for his want of production. It is my conviction, though I have not space to develop it at large, that 'born in the same year as Burns', Gray, if he had lived at Cambridge (the Cambridge which we know from Gunning's Reminiscences) would have written even less great poetry, but perhaps more satirical verses and more prose ; what is certain is that his real impediments to production wei'e first feeble health, next his boundless and discursive curiosity, and next the extensive scale on which, like a man who has abundant knowledge, and seems to have abundant time before him, he formed his plans, ever delaying, until the consciousness that the day is far spent, makes him sad and silent about them. To these causes must be added his remoteness (by the deliberate choice of one to whom books and comfort 30 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. were necessities of existence) from those inspiring scenes, the beavity of which he was amongst the first to realize. The much abused prosaic eighteenth century was hastening to give us those improved communications which make so many of us Words- worthians once a year. Let us be just, amid our privileges, our raptures real or feigned over the sublimities of Nature, and our letters to the Times (bearing the unmistakeable accent of sincerity) on hotel bills and drainage, to the timid weakling who visited such scenes with difficulty and noted them lovingly, even though he brought to them or gained from them no emotions more abstruse than those which all men can share with him. Perhaps after all, he will survive by what we call his limitations, inas- much as that poetry is the most securely immortal which has gained nothing and can lose nothing by the vicissitudes of sentiment and opinion. We may be all the merest Peter Bells some day over a yellow primrose, and yet retain just enough sense of the correspondence between the world within us and the world without to feel the truth of that rejected stanza of the Elegy : ' Hark how the sacred calm that broods around Bids every fierce tumultuous passion cease, In still small accents whisp'ring from the ground A grateful earnest of eternal Peace.' Wordsworth would never, let us add, have parted INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 31 with that stanza from any consideration of structure. But the nineteenth century, which has learnt from liim that Poetry is an inspiration, will still return to Gray to learn that it is also an art. To Gray, it may be, rather than to Pope ; because the character of Gray's thought and themes belongs less to the occa- sional and the transient. It is scarcely a paradox to say that he has left much that is incomplete, but nothing that is unfinished. His handwriting represents his mind ; I have seen and transcribed many and many a page of it, but I do not recollect to have noticed a single carelessly written word, or even letter. The mere sight of it suggests re- finement, order, and infinite pains. A mind searching in so many directions, sensitive to so many influences, yet seeking in the first place its own satisfaction in a manner uniformly careful and artistic, is almost fore- doomed to give very little to the world ; it must be content, as the excellent Matthias says, to be ' its own exceeding great reward.' But what is given is a little gold instead of much silver ; a legal tender at any time, though it has never been soiled in the market. He claims our honour as one of those few who in any age have lived in the pursuit of the abso- lute best, and who help us to mistrust the glib facility with which we are apt to characterize epochs. In all that he has left, there is independence, sincerity, thoroughness ; the highest exemplar of the critical 32 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. spirit ; a type of how good work of any kind should be done. He studied Greek when few studied it, and when much that is now familiar to schoolboys was unknown to scholars, yet he read with all the exact- ness he could command as well as in the large fashion of a man of letters. He wrote with accents, generally, 1 believe, rightly placed ; though in this respect his editors have declined to copy him. His notes, de- sigiied for his own use, have been frequently - 29. (1735 or 6) i. ...Gray is happily escapd from the Sirens' song tho' Farinelli^ joined in the concert. Walpole has now left us with a full resolution to taste of every fruit in that Paradise, except the forbidden tree. I hope you will see him often while he stays in Town... I fancy I have told you that a wild young Poet of Trinity College has taken a mad flight out of a garret Window'' : but finding no Castle in the air to rest at, his wings failed him and so he dropt. His 1 It must be 1736 if we can be certain that Walpole was not in Cambridge before March 11, 1735. Cf. p. 72 infra, n. 1. - For Farinelli in England see Grove's Diet, of Music and Musicians, aud the 4tli Plate of Hogarth's ' Marriage a la mode.' •^ No record of this exploit exists at Trinity, as Dr Aldis Wright, the Vice-Master, has kindly ascertained for me. G. 5 66 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. Life is not despaird of. If I have not told you this before 'tis news. If I have, you may toss this stupid letter by as an old Evening Post. Yrs ever ASHTON, The incident referred to in the following letter, taxes the date to October 1735. " The matter related to the attempt of the Heads to nominate the persons who were to be Proctors, and the Vice-Cbancellor admitted Trant (Chr.) as Proctor instead of Caryl (Jes.), who had more votes than the other in the Senate. Against this Caryl appealed.^ " 2. * ASHTON TO WEST. Thrice-highest Zephyrille, The substance of yr last letter was a com- plaint for the loss of three friends, and an en(j[uiry after them. What intelligence concerning them may be collected from my information, hear shortly. To begin with the last, first. I can answer for one. The other Two are almost strangers to me. I have seen neither of them these 4 months. Walpole I have not heard from this fortnight, nor Gray this Age. The Papers say Walpole is for Italy instantly, this Piece of News does biit ill correspond with the 1 Kindly communicated by Dr Lnard, the University Registrary. OF E. WEST. 67 last letter I had from him ; but what reasons he may have since to alter his resolution, is to me a mystery. Lord Conway' is in this Part of the World — a fall from his Horse at New Market has bruisd his arm, but I hope, not dangerously. We have had some bustle here about the election of Proctor, the heads of Colleges have chosen one, whom the White Hoods declare unduly elect : the affair may be of Service to Innkeepers & La^vyers. I am surprizd to hear such poor paltry harangues as are utterd once a week from the Rostra of this Nurse of Science, a good Sermon would be a great novelty. Pray are they as rare with you ? I dont know what they may be now. What they were 230 years agon I can tell. You shall have a specimen. The University had, says my Historian, three gentlemen, and three only, capable of Preaching. It so liappend that in the absence of these three Concionators, M"' Taverner of Woodeaton, a gentleman of great repute for learning, & Sheriff for the County entered the Pulpit, with Sword by his side and gold Chain round his Neck, & thus from his Stone-Tub begunn. 'Arriving at the Mount of St. Maries, in the Stony (?)', where I now stand, I have brought you some fine biskets baked in the oven of Charity, carefully conserved for the Chickens of the Church, the Sparrows of the Spirit & 1 See p. 40, n. 1. - Word illegible. 5—2 68 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. the Swallows of Salvation &c. Now to God the Father &c. I heartily commend you.' T. Ashton. Received yr letter at Lancaster and answerd it, as you know, I am sure by this time. When I have any further intelligence from the lost men, you shall certainly know — till then, & after then, I am yrs — entirely. 3. WEST TO GRAY. You use me very cruelly : you have sent me but one letter since I have been at Oxford, and that too agreeable not to make me sensible how great my loss is in not having more. Next to seeing you is the pleasure of seeing your hand-writing ; next to hearing you is the pleasure of hearing from you. Really and sincerely I wonder at you, that you thought it not worth while to answer my last letter. I hope this will have better success in behalf of your quondam school-fellow ; in behalf of one who has walked hand in hand with you, like the two children in the wood, Through many a flowery path and shelly grot, Where learning luU'd us in her private maze. The very thought, you see, tips my pen with poetry, and brings Eton to my view. Consider me very seriously here in a strange country, inhabited b)' things that call themselves doctors and masters of OF R. WEST. 69 arts; a country flowing with syllogisms and ale, Avhere Horace & Virgil are equally unknown ; consider me, I say, in this melancholy light, and then think if something be not due to Yours. Christ Church. Nov. 14. 1735. P.S. I desire you will send me soon, and truly and positively, a History of your own time. To this Gray replied 'When you have seen one of my days you have seen a whole year of my life; they go round and round like the blind horse in the mill.... I must not send you the history of my own time, till I can send you that also of the reformation.' This is from Letter il. in Mr Gosse's edition (vol. ii.), and is obviously in answer to the above letter of West's, and carries on, as Mason remarks, the allusion to the writings of Bishop Burnet, West's grandfathei\ With Letter i. (ed. Gosse) which is subsequent to Letter ii., and to which alone the date May 8, 1736 belongs, Gray sends to West a portion of his translation from Statius, with the words Tor this little while last past I have been playing with Statius ; we yesterday had a game of quoits together. You will easily forgive me for having broke his head, as you have a little pique to him.' It is probable that INIason has garbled West's reply to this by fusing, more suo, separate letters together, for the line which West selects for comment was not included {teste Mitford) in that part of the translation which was sent to him on May 8th by Gray. It is just possible of course that another letter of Gray's has been lost. 70 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. 4. WEST TO GRAY. I agree with you that you have broke Statius''* head, but it is in like manner as Apollo broke Hyacinth's, you have foiled him infinitely at his own weapon. I must insist on seeing the rest of your translation, and then I will examine it entire, and compare it with the Latin, and be very wise and severe, and put on an inflexible face, such as becomes- the character of a true son of Aristarchus, of hyper- critical memory. In the mean while, And calm'd the terrors of his claws in gold is exactly Statius — Summos' auro mansueverat un- gues. I never knew before that the golden fangs on hammercloths were so old a fashion. Your Hj'meneaP 1 'extrenaos' in Statius. - On the Marriage of Frederic, Prince of Wales. See Works of Gray ed. Gosse, vol. i., p. 168 sq. Ashton writes to West April 11th, 1736 : *" My dear Zephyrille Have you composd yr Epithalamium? and in what Shape will it appear? do you dart(?) yourself above the Clouds on a Pindaric Wing, or do you chant Ovidian Strains upon a Sprig of Myrtle? does your happy-daring Muse aspire to the aery {sic) tracts of the Mantuan Swan, or will she humbly condescend to hop from spray to spray with the Sparrow of Catullus?. ..My dear, I am confident that in what- ever manner she come, she will be perfectly wellbred... Master Gray seems to touch upon the manner of Claudian. My own Lady closes her lips on this occasion. I hardly know whether she is more apprehensive of interrupting their Highnesses OF R. WEST. 71 I was told was the best in the Cambridge collection before I saw it, and indeed, it is no great compliment to tell you I thought it so when I had seen it, but sincerely it pleased me best. Methinks the college bards have run into a strange taste on this occasion. Such soft unmeaning stuff about Venus and Cupid, anfi Peleus and Thetis, and Zephyrs and Dryads, was never read. As for my poor little Eclogue, it has been condemned and beheaded by our Westminster judges; an exordium of about sixteen lines absolutely cut off, and its other limbs quartered in a most barbarous manner. I will send it you in my next as my true and lawful heir, in exclusion of the pretender who has the impudence to appear under my name. As yet I have not looked into sir Isaac. Public disputations I hate ; mathematics I reverence ; history, morality, and natural philosophy have the greatest charms in my eye ; but who can forget poetry? thej^ call it idleness, but it is surely the most enchanting- thing in the world, "ac dulce otium et pfene omni negotio pulchrius." I am, dear sir, yours while I am E. W. Christ Church, May 24, 1736. happiness, or unwiUing to make her appearance in any such honourable Company, and fearful to open her Mouth in so polite an Assembly. Though in truth, her feet have been of late so cramped up in Logical fetters, that she knows not how to form her Steps to Poetick Measure." 72 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. In a letter from Ashton to West of March 4th, 1736i, from King's he excuses himself, in answer I think to a polite remonstrance of AVest's, for not having written before. " A violent fit of adverse valetude " he says " has for some time chaind my thoughts." He then discourses in somewhat dreary fashion in reply to some remarks of West's on Letter Writing and concludes "I intended to have filled a sheet & Walpole's Italian coming in makes me finish before I come to the bottom of a page." This Italian is I suppose Piazza, who also taught Gray and perhaps Ashton too. See Gray's letter to Mr Birkett of Peterhouse which made that gentleman so angry (letter III. ed. Gosse vol. ii. and Mr Gosse's note there. Also Mr Gosse's Life of Gray p. 18). The following letters from Ashton throw so much light upon elections to King's in those days, that I am tempted to give them at some length. It will be seen by West's letter of Aug. 1736, p. 82, that the eflbrts for Prinsep, alias 'Quid', were unavailing. I am indebted to the Provost of Eton for the substance of the following explanation of Ashton's scheme. Prinsep was fourth on the Register for King's. Ashton hoped that Prinsep might get King's by the opportune occurrence of at least /owr vacancies. One was to be made by Thomas Lane reported (wrongly) to be dead — a second by William Willymott, who was to resign under Dr Berriman's in- fluence, whatever that was — a third by John Ewer "by means of the Duke of Rutland" (Ewer had been Lord Granby's travelling Tutor, Alumni Etonenses p. 314) — and 1 1735 in Mitford's transcript; perhaps to be understood as 1735-6. Walpole tells us that he went up to King's, March 11th, 1735, and before the date of this letter he has apparently already been in residence, and studying Italian at Cambridge. OF R. WEST. 73 the fourth by Mr Sleech under the influence of the Bishop of Exeter. This was Stephen Weston, Sleech's uncle by marriage, who was Bishop of Exeter 1724 — 1743. This Sleech is not the future Provost of Eton but his younger brother John. This scheme of Ashton's did not 'come off', for (1) Thomas Lane did not die then, but vacated his Fellowship by marriage in the next year. In 1748 he was 'practising Physic' at Sevenoaks {Alumni p. 316). (2) Only two vacancies occurred and these not till Aug. 2, 1 736. William Willymott's vacancy was taken by Sparkes, Edward Green's by Hall. WagstafF and Prinsep never went to King's. Ewer became Rector of Bottesford in 1735. He en- joyed a year of grace. This explains Ashton's statement that he "is obliged to resign within the year". Willymott was presented to the Rectory of Milton, Cambridgeshire, in 1735. It is possible that Berriman was to use his in- fluence with Willymott not to avail himself of his year of grace, or at least not to press his tenure to the uttermost. 5. *ASHTON TO WEST. (No date.) (Extract.) Tho' I am not insensible to the beautys that occur in every part of yr Epistle, yet no place of it made so deep an impression on my mind as that which relates to Quid. Poor Quid! if his cheek had burnt every time I thought of him, he would wish I had chose another subject for my thoughts. I hope you think not I want any instigation to exert 74 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. myself in behalf of so good a man. The recollection of what I have felt will represent his misfortunes to me in the justest light. Non ignaru' mali miseris succun-ere disco. Fortune has learnt me to pity the distressd, but has put it out of my Power to relieve them. What I can, I will. Prinsep should be happy, if I could say, What I will, I can. He is most powerfully recommended by two very prevailing advocates, Great merit & small fortune. I went immediately to Horatio & acquainted him with the Case. He seemd extremely willing to do anything he could; but as he has no acquaintance with any of the Gentlemen who are likely to hasten the succession from Eton, I really cannot see how he can be of any service to Quid. Whatever is or may be in my Power to oblige him, he may infallibly depend upon, as upon many accounts, so because he is approved by you, Avho are most dear to ASHTON. 6. * ASHTON TO WEST. [Probable date June 1736.] I am in raptures, my dearest West, at the de- scription of Oxford. If it exceeds my idea, it must exceed every thing. 1 can imagine nothing less than Heaven top'd Towers, Hesperian groves, & Gates of Chrysolite, if it-sh'* answer my expectation it is the Place in the World the most improper for what it is OF R. WEST. 75 designd, unfitt for any Study, but Architecture & Botany. Yet Philosophical insensibility clouds the eyes of y"^ elders, and Aristotle is permitted to fix his throne, in a City too noble for the Court of Alexander. Well ■ but do they not pay adoration to the steps of Newton? is not Lock' reverd among you? I am sure my dear, you must admire the human wits divine, who have so artfully unravelld the intricate Maze of thought, so curiously explaind the grand Simplicity of the works of Nature. But pray, have you laid out any Plan for Study, or do you rove at large in the field of literature ? I am at a loss here, my dear Zephyrille, I travell in an unknown region without a guide & if I err in my first step my ex- pedition mil only serve to carry me further from my way. But of this hereafter. I have just received a little intelligence which I will communicate to you instantly. It relates to Prinsep. We have heard that M"^ Lane a fellow of our Society is dead. If it is true, tho' it is not yet confirmd, Prinseps Suc- cession is by no means impossible. Bid him look about him. What he does should be done quickly, I take it for granted that if the Captain take advantage of M'^ Lane's death, the two next Seniors will make sufficient (?) interest for their own Election. Hall we hear is secure of M'' Green, and D'' Berriman will undoubtedly (prevail upon?) Willymot..., Prinsep 76 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. then will stand first upon the roll. What I would propose then is to make personal interest with M"^ Ewer, or M"" Sleech (who are both oblig'd to resign within the year) or if he can more conveniently engage these by means of the Duke of Rutland & the Bishop of Exeter. He will say, this is proceeding upon supposition. 'Tis true, M"" Lane's death is not yet certain, but consider, it will be suff* for him to engage a conditional Promise, that if his seniors shall be all... before the Election bills are closd : either of the Gentlemen I mentiond (who will be both of them on the spot) would make (way?) for his succession. And in the meantime alarm Hall and Wagstaffe with the news of Lane's death, to set their friends at work, but be as silent as may be of his own design. What think you ? is the scheme impracticable ? I profess I don't think it is. Let him make sure, in case he comes to be senior, for it is here confidently believed he will be, and if he is but a moment so, it will be enough if Ewer and Sleech are upon the Place. Only upon the supposition of the certainty of this intelligence, lett us substitute in the room of M'' Lane 1 Sparkes W Greene [ Hall D-- Willymott J Wagstaffe M-- Ewer ) ^ . M- Sleech ^'''''''' OF R. WEST. 77 I VOW I see no cause of Despair, but all the reason in the world to attempt some difficulty in the hopes of so great advantage. I am his & yrs sin- cerely ' T: AsHTON. 7. *ASHTON TO WEST. My dear West, The reason of entertaining you with this intelligence is, that I am uncertain where to find out Prinsep, which I hope you will do, if he is in Terra Cognita, and because to one of yr humanity, I am confident nothing can be more agreable than any Proposal which may tend to the advancement of Learning and Sincerity, both which qualities, I think, are inherent in Prinsep. We had a public Com- mencement voted, but the decree is now reversd. Gray has left us a good while I have not yet wrote to him. I love you and long to see you. ASHTON June 24. 1736 King's Coll. ^ In the suggestions of doubtful words above, I have not been guided so much by the ductus literanim of Mitford's extremely minute transcript, which I had not before me, when the explanation of this letter came to hand; but rather by the probable sense. 78 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. 8. WEST TO ASHTON. ...Arethusa mihi concede laborem Pauca meo Gallo — You may see, by what I wrote to Gray that I intend you a visit the latter end of next month. I long to compare Colleges. I must absolutely take measure of King's College, Chapell. Have you any such walks as Maudlin? and then I want much to see D"" Bentley the 6 -n-dw Commentator : what is he about? I hear your D"" Middleton is about obliging us with Cicero's Life. Esse nihil dicis quidquid petis improbe Cinna Si nil Cinna petis, nil tibi Cinna negoi. Whenever Ciniaa asks a favor 'tis nothing Sir he'll say; Cinna, you are too modest rather — Is't really nothing? — take it, pray. [This letter probably belongs to July, 1736.] 9. ASHTON TO WEST. Thursday 12 Aug. 1736. My dear Zephyrille, When I reflect that this is the anniversary of my arrival at Cambridge, the 2"'^ Anniversary"; this 1 Martial iii. 61. - Ashton was elected to King's in 1733. It would appear from the above that he did not go up to Cambridge until 1734. He was in fact admitted a Scholar of King's on the evening of Aug. 11, 1734, as the Provost of King's kindly informs me. OF R. WEST. 79 agreeable thought suggests to me one of a very ditferent complexion; videlicet that it is now above two years since I saw you : but the Promise with which you conclude yr letter, gives me hope, that in much less time I shall see you again. Return, thou wandring Child, return to thy father's house, and accept the fatted Calf which I am determind to sacrifice to thy arrival. Come, my swain and bring with thee Jest & youthful joUity Quirks^ and cranks & wanton wiles Nods and becks and wreathed smiles Sport that wrinkled Care derides And Laughter holding both her^ sides. I sliowd Horatio yr letter ; he hopes for yr coming as well as I. We neither of us leave College till the beginning of September. Make haste, my dear, I am tired of old, musty Philosophy & learned Dust. You are the only author I would care to read. Prithee come and bring with you a new edition of yrself multo auctior & emendatior, Oxford printed anno Domini 25 & 26'. The vivacity of yr agre- able Page will be some relief to a Soul half extinguishd with the suffocating fume of Jargon and Nonsense. Yrs eternally ASHTON. 1 'Quips' and 'his' ap. Milton. 2 Sic, I believe, ap. Mitford. But perhaps it should be '35 & '36, years of West's residence at Oxford. 80 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. My liearty Service to Prinsep. I think him much injurd. pray determine instantly & let us know yr resolutions. Walpole wrote to West from King's College, Cambridge, Aug. 17, 1736 : 'Gray is at Burnham, and what is sur- prising has not been to Eton....'Tis the head of our genealogical table, that is since sprouted out into the two branches of Oxford and Cambridge. You seem to be the eldest son, by having got a whole inheritance to yourself ; while the manor of Granta is to be divided between your three younger brothers, Thomas of Lancashire [Ashton] Thomas of London [Gray] and Horace i... I hope you are a mere elder brother, and live upon what your father left you... poetry ; l)ut we are supposed to betake ourselves to some trade, as logic, philosophy, or mathematics....! tell ^ In a previous letter to West, dated Nov. 9, 1735, Walpole says "Tydeus rose and set at Eton; he is only known here to be a scholar of King's ; Orosmades and Almanzor are just the same; that is, I am almost the only person they are acquainted with, and consequently the only person acquainted with their excellencies. Plato improves every day ; so does my friendship with him. These three divide my whole time, though I believe you will guess there is no quadruple alliance ; that was a happiness which I only enjoyed while you was at Eton. A short account of the Eton people at Oxford would much oblige " (fee. It should be obvious enough that this is an account of ' the Eton people ' at Cambridge and therefore that West at Oxford is not Almanzor, as Cunningham thinks. Nor is Walpole Tydeus ; for Walpole never was a Scholar of King's, and it is utterly inconceivable that an Etonian writing from King's to a brother Etonian would use this term in any but its exactest OF R. WEST. 81 you what I see ; that by living amongst mathematicians, I write of nothing else : my letters are all parallelograms, two sides equal to two sides ; and every paragraph an axiom, that tells you nothing but what evei'y mortal almost knows.' 10. WEST TO WALPOLE. Aug. 1736. My dearest Walpole : Yesterday I received your lively — agreeable — gilt — epistolary — parallelogram, and to-day I am preparing to send you in return as exact a one as my little cofnpass can aftord you. And so far, sir, I am sure we and our letters bear some resemblance to parallel lines, that, like them, one of our chief pro- perties is, seldom or never to meet. Indeed, lately sense. Plato is certainly not Henry Coventry as Mr Gosse conjectures ; witness the way in which in a letter to George Montagu, himself an Etonian, this Henry Coventry is spoken of (May 30, 1736) by Walpole : " There is lately come out a new piece called A Dialogue between Philemon and Hydaspes on false Religion, by one Mr Coventry, A.M. and fellow, formerly fellow commoner, of Magdalen. He is a young man, but 'tis really a pretty thing." Plato I am nearly certain is Ashton. In evidence of this, I would refer to sect. ii. let. 23, infra, written by West at a time when Ashton was in his company. Orosmades is certainly Gray ; though I know no other proof of this, tban the letter of West (sect. ii. let. 27, infra) to Walpole, when Gray and Walpole were travelling together abroad. Who Tydeus and Almanzor were does not much concern us ; they were not, it is clear, members of the Quadruple Alliance. G. 6 82 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. my good fortune made some incUnation from your university to mine ; but whether I can reciprocate or no, I leave you to judge from hence — I sent Ashton word that I should more than probably make an expedition to Cambridge this August; but Prinsep, who was to have been my fellow-traveller, and would have gone with me to Cambridge, though not to King's, is unhappily dis- appointed ; and therefore my measures are broke, and I am very much in the spleen — else by this time I had flown to you with all the wings of impatience Ocyor cervis, et agente nimbos Ocyor Faivo^. But now, alas ! as Horace said on purpose for me to apply it, Sextilem totum mendax desideror — This melancholy reflection would certainly infect all the rest of my letter, if I were not revived by the sal volatile of your most entertaining letter. I am afraid the younger brother will make much the better gentleman, and so far verify the proverb; and indeed all my brothers' are so very forward, that like the first and heaviest element, I shall have nothing but mere dirt for my share : — and really such is the case of most of your landed elder brothers, while the younger run away with the more fine and delicate ^ In playful allusion to his own name of Favonius. - Of the Quadruple Alliance. [Cunningham.] OF R. WEST. 83 elements. As for my patrimony of poetry, my dearest Horace, ut semper en's derisor ! what little I have I borrowed from my friends, and like the poor am- bitious jay in the trite fable, I live merely on tlie charity of my abounding acquaintance. Many a feather in my stock was stolen from your treasures ; but at present 1 find all my poetical plumes moulting apace, and in a small time I shall be nothing further than, what nobody can be more, or more sincerely, Your humble servant, and obliged friend, E,. West. Gray at Burnham, and not see Eton? I am Ashton's ever, and intend him an answer soon — I beg pardon for what's over leaf ; but as I am moulting my poetry, it is very natural to send it you, from whom and my other friends it originally came. I translated', and now I have ventured to imitate the divine lyric poet. Ode— TO MARY MAGDALENE. Saint of this learned awful grove, While slow along thy walks I rove, The pleasing scene, which all that see Admire, is lost to me. 1 This version is lost ; he sent another, of Hor. Carm. i. 5 to Walpole July 12, 1737 (sect. ii. let. 15). — Bryant, in his in- teresting, but perplexing, letter of Reminiscences to an unknown correspondent (given in Mitford's 2nd Life of Gray), says that there survives of West's 'a curious parody upon the fourth ode of the fourth book of Horace.' Where? 6—2 84 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. The thought, which still my breast invades. Nigh yonder springs, nigh yonder shades Still as I pass, the memory brings Of sweeter shades and springs. Lost and inwrapt in thought profound, Absent I tread Etonian ground; Then startling from the dear mistake, As disenchanted, wake. What though from sorrow free, at best I'm thus but negatively blest: Yet still, I find, true joy I miss ; True joy's a social bliss. Oh! how I long again with those, Whom first my boyish heart had chose, Together through the friendly shade To stray, as once I stray'd! Their presence would the scene endear, Like paradise would all appear, More sweet around the flowers would blow. More soft the waters flow. Adieu ! In December, 1736, Gray writes to West : "You must know that I do not take degrees, and, after this term, shall have nothing more of college impertinences to undergo.... Surely it was of this place, now Cambridge, but formerly known by the name of Babylon, that the prophet spoke when he said 'The wild beasts of the desert shall dwell there...' You see here is a pretty collection of desolate animals, which is vei'ified in this town to a tittle, and perhaps it may also allude to your habitation... however I defy your owls to match mine." An undated letter of Ashton's to West has this : *' perhaps the fame of our OF R. WEST. 85 young Kefiuers^ may not yet have reached your Ears, a congress of young Gentlemen, enemies to Prejudice and contracted notions, upon a thoro' examination of their Powers and Properties have found that our ancestors for 6000 years past, have laboured under the Servile State of unnecessary dependence, which intolerable yoke these public spirits, for the honor of themselves and advantage of Posterity, have resolvd to shake off, and in consequence of this noble resolution, have declared themselves In- dependent. Now the Revd Doctors have called some Privy Councillors to examine it, peradventure they may be able to find a flaw in this Demonstration. Since a' corollary immediately deducible from this Proposition will strike at the root of Preferment & be destructive of the glorious expectation of a Lawn Sleeve & Crosier.' Mitford interprets these young Refiners or Reformers to be Gray, Walpole &c. AVhether Ashton's not very excellent fooling refers to any real circumstance, it is perhaps impossible to determine ; it is inserted here as descriptive of the attitude of these young people. He concludes 'I sh** be glad to hear from Prinsep' who was possibly then at Oxford with West. 11. WEST TO GRAY. I congratulate you on your being about to leave college*, and rejoice much you carry no degrees with you. For I would not have You dignified, and I not, 1 Or ' Reformers ' for Mitford is scarcely decipherable here. - I suspect that Mr West mistook his correspondent ; who in saying he did not take degrees, meant only to let his friend know that he should soon be released from lectures and disputations. [Mason.] 86 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. for the Avorld, you would have insulted nie so. My eyes, such as they are, like yours, are neither meta- physical nor mathematical ; I have, nevertheless, a great respect for your connoisseurs that way, but am always contented to be their humble admirer. Your collection of desolate animals pleased me much ; but Oxford, I can assure you, has her owls that match yours, and the prophecy has certainly a squint that way. Well, you are leaving this dismal land of bondage, and which way are you turning your face ? Your friends, indeed, may be happy in you, but what will you do with your classic companions ? An inn of court is as horrid a place as a college, and a moot case is as dear to gentle dulness ' as a Syllogism. But wherever you go, let me beg you not to throw poetry "like a nauseous Aveed away;" cherish its sweets in your bosom ; they will serve you now and then to correct the disgusting sober follies of the common law, misce stultitiam consiliis brevem, dulce est desipere in loco ; so said Horace to Virgil, those sous of Anac in poetry, and so say I to you, in this degenerate land of pigmies, Mix with your grave designs a little pleasure, Each day of business has its hour of leisure. In one of these hours 1 hope, dear sir, you will ^ Pope's expression, already become a commonplace, ['And gentle Dulness ever loves a joke.' Dunciad, Bk ii. 1. 34, anno 1728.] OF R. WEST. 87 sometimes think of me, write to me, and knuw me yours, that is, write freely to me and openl}', as I do to you, and to give you a proof of it I have sent you an elegy of Tibullus translated. Tibullus, you must know, is my favourite elegiac poet ; for his language is more elegant and his thoughts more natural than Ovid's. Ovid excels him only in wit, of which no poet had more in my opinion. The reason I choose so melancholy a kind of poesie, is because my low spirits and constant ill health (things in me not imaginary, as you surmise, but too real, alas ! and, I fear, constitutional) "have tuned my heart to elegies of woe;'' and this likewise is the reason why I am the most irregular thing alive at college, for you may depend upon it I value my health above what they call discipline. As for this poor unlicked thing of an elegy', pray criticise it unmercifully, for I send it mth that intent. Indeed your late translation of Statins might have deterred me ; but I know you are not more able to excel others, than you are apt to 1 This elegy, the sapient Mason tells us, he omits ' because ' (among other reasons) *it is not wi'itten in alternate but heroic rhyme: which I think is not the species of English measure adapted to elegiac poetry.' We may have suffered little loss; but the same principle would have justified the suppression of Pope's 'Eloisa to Abelard'. 88 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. forgive the want of excellence, especially when it is fonnd in the productions of Your most sincere friend. Christ Church, Dec. 22. 1736. 12. WEST TO WALPOLE. Christchurch Jan. 12. 1736-7. Dear Sir: Poetry, I take it, is as universally con- tagious as the small-pox ; every one catches it once in tlieir life at least, and the sooner the better ; for methinks an old rhymester makes as ridiculous a figure as Socrates dancing at fourscore. But I can never agree with you that most of us succeed alike ; at least I'm sure few do like you : I mean not to flatter, for I despise it heartily ; and I think I know you to be so much above flattery, as the use of it is beneath every honest, every sincere man. Flattery to men of power is analogous with hypocrisy to God, and both are alike mean and contemptible ; nor is the one more an instance of respect, than the other is a proof of devotion. I perceive I am growing serious, and that is the first step to dulness : but I believe you won't think that in the least ex- traordinary, to find me dull in a letter, since you have knowui me so often dull out of a letter. As for poetry, I own, my sentiments of it are very different from the vulgar taste. There is hardly OF R. WEST. 89 anywhere to be found (says Shaftesbury) a more insipid I'ace of mortals, than those whom the moderns are accustomed to call poets — but methinks the true legitimate poet is as rare to be found as Tully's orator, orator qualis adliuc nemo fortasse fuerit. Truly, I am extremely to blame to talk to you at this rate of what you know much better than myself: but your letter gave me the hint, and I hope you will excuse my impertinence in pursuing it. It is a difficult matter to account why, but certain it is that all people, from the duke's coronet to the thresher's flail' are desirous to be poets : Penelope herself had 1 A hint at Stephen Duck the Thresher-poet, then an object of Queen Caroline's bounty, and of Pope's satire. [Cunningham.] Later in this year, after the death of Caroline, West writes of him ' Mean time thy rural ditty was not mute. Sweet bard of Merlin's cave.' Merlin's Cave was a fancy or folly of Queen Caroline's at Eichmond; in it she had a library, of which Duck was custodian. How shall we fill a library with wit When Merlin's Cave is half unfuruish'd yet? says Pope in his 'Epistle to Augustus.' He was angry, as Mr Pattison explains, because his own writings had no place in the royal collection — 'Call Tibbald Shakesi^ear, and he'll swear the nine Dear Cibber! never match'd one ode of thine. Lord ! how we strut thro' Merlin's Cave, to see No poets there, but Stephen, you and me.' (Sat. and Ep. vi. 140.) 90 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. not more suitors, though every man is not Ulysses enough to bend the bow. The poetical world, like the terraqueous, has its several degrees of heat from the line to the pole — only differing in this, that whereas the temperate Zone is most esteemed in the terraqueous, in the poetical it is the most despised. Parnassus is divisible in the same manner as the mountain Chimaera — mediis in paitibus hircum, Pectus et ora leae, caudam serpentis habebat. The medium between the rampant lion and the creeping serpent is the filthy goat — the justest picture of a meddling poet, who is generally very Stephen boie his honours meekly, if we may trust the testimony of ' unfastidious Vinny Bourne ' — 'Nee mutantur adhuc mores; sed et ille modestus Ille verecundus, qui prius, usque manes.' [V. Bourne, Ad Stephan. Duck, 'FiyKUfiiaaTiKov. 1743.] "The destruction of Merlin's Cave is commemorated by Mason, Heroic Epistle 1. 55 — '...for see untutor'd Brown Destroys those wonders which were once thy own. Lo, from his melon-ground the peasant slave Has rudely rush'd and level'd Merlin's Cave, Knock'd down the waxen wizard, seiz'd his wand, Transform'd to lawn what late was fairy-land. And mar'd with impious hand each sweet design Of Stephen Duck and good Queen Caroline.'" [Pattison.] Duck was gardener as well as librarian. 'Te Curatorem Regius Hortus habet' says Vincent Bourne 1. c. OF R. WEST. 91 bawdy and lascivious, aiici like the goat, is mighty ambitious of climbing up mountains, where he does nothing but browse upon weeds. Such creatures as these are beneath our notice. But whenever some wondrous sublime genius arises, such as Homer or Milton, then it is that different ages and countries all join in an universal admiration. Poetry (I think I have read somewhere or other) is an imitation of Nature : the poet considers all her works in a superior light to other mortals ; he discerns every secret trait of the great mother, and paints it in its due beauty and proportion. The moral and the physical world all open fairer to his enthusiastic imagination : like some clear-flowing stream, he reflects the beauteous prospect all around, and like the prism-glass, he separates and disposes nature's colours in their justest and most delightful appear- ances. This sure is not the talent of every dauber : art, genius, learning, taste, must all conspire to answer the full idea I have of a poet ; a character which seldom agrees with any of our modern mis- cellany-mongers — But Quid lotjuor? aut ubi sum? quae mentem insania mutat? I have got into enchanted ground, and can hardly get out again time enough to finish my letter in a decent and laudable manner Dear sir, excuse and pardon all this rambling criticism — I writ it out of 92 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. pure idleness ; and I can assure you, I wish you idle enough to read it through. I am, my dear Walpole, Yours most sincerely, R. West. 1 wish you a happy new year. 13. WEST TO WALPOLE. ChristChnrch February 27, 1736-7. My dear Walpole : It seems so long to me since I heard from Cambridge, that I have been reflecting with myself what 1 could have done to lose any of my friends there. The uncertainty of my silly health might have made me the duller companion, as you know very well ; for which reason Fate took care to re- move me oiit of your way : but my letters, I am sure, at least carry enough sincerity in them to recommend me to any one that has a curiosity to know some- thing concerning me and my amusements. As for Asliton, he has thought fit to forget me entirely ; and for Gray, if you correspond with him as little as I do (wherever he be, for I know not) your correspondence is not very great. — Full in the midst of these re- flections came your agreeable letter. I read it, and wished myself among you. You can promise me no diversion, but the novelty of the place, you say, and a renewal of intimacies. Novelty, you must know, I OF R. WEST. 93 am sick of ; I am surrounded with it, 1 see nothing else. I could tell you strange things, my dear Walpole, of anthropophagi, and men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders. I have seen Learning drest in old frippery, such as was in fashion in Duns Scotus' days : I have seen Taste in changeable, feeding like the chameleon on air : I have seen Stupidity in the habit of Sense, like a footman in the master's clothes : I have seen the phantom mentioned in The Dunciad', with a brain of feathers and a heart of lead : it walks here, and is called Wit. Your other inducement you suggested had all its influence with me : and I had before indulged the thought of visiting you all at Cambridge this next spring — But Fata ohstant — I am unwillingly obliged to follow much less agTeeable engagements. In the mean time I shall pester you with quires of correspondence, such as it is : but remember, you were two letters in my debt^ — though indeed your last letter may fully cancel the obligation. You may recollect my last was a sort of criticism upon poetry ; and this will present you with a sort of poetry' which nobody ever dreamt of but myself I am, dear sir, Yours very sincerely, R. West. 1 Book ii. 1. 42. - This poetry does not appear. [Berry.] 94 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. On the 5th of April 1737 Ashton sends to West from King's a critique or panegyj-ic of Glover's Leonidas which has a Postscript — * " M' Walpole is gone as far as Hockrelli with Dodd & Whalley'-^ (sic) who are coming ^ Chesterfield writes to liis godson ' you put me in mind of that great man mentioned by Homer, and afterwards by Horace, qui vwreii multorum homintim (nic) ridit et urbes, for you have not only seen Cambridge, but also Clare Hall and Hockrel.' (let. clviii.) 'The Fly for Four Passengers at 12.s-. each goes to London every day by Chesterford, Hockerill and Epping.' [Cantahrigia Depicta 1763 p. 112.) It was a suburb of Bishop's Stortford. [Ld. Carnarvon.] - ' My iniblic tutor [at Cambridge] was Mr John Smith ; my private Mr Anstey ; afterwards Mr John Whaley was my tutor.' [Short Notes of my Life. Walpole, Letters, i. p. Ixii. ed. Cunningham.] ' Mr Dodd was my fellow-collegian and school-fellow at Eton, a man universally beloved, lively, generous and sensible. I think his father kept an inn at Chester; but a Judge Dodd, of that county, related to him, left him his large fortune. He had a wretched tutor at College, John Whaley, who would have ruined most other people; but Mr Dodd's natural good sense got the better of his vile example. Mr Walpole and Mr Dodd, while at College were united in the strictest friendship.' Cole, Atheiue Cantahrigienses. Jis. [Walpole's Letters, Cunningham vol. IX. A-pp. p. 522.] Dodd is perhaps 'Tydeus', p. 80 n. Cole's antipathy to Whaley is manifested in another ms. He has transcribed a Tour through England in 1735 by Whaley, who records that he dined at Shrewsbury ' with much pleasure, at finding a large collection of honest Whigs met together in Shropshire. ' On which Cole notes ' Whatever this honest collection of Salopian Whigs may have been on the whole, I am as well satisfied as of any thing I know, that there was one rascal, duly and tntlij in the company.' [vid. Murray's Johnsoniana 183G p. 417.] OF R. WEST. 95 to Town, he has Leonidas with him & will be home to- night. I paid y'' compliments to Dodd & Whaley Gray longs to hear from you." 14. WEST TO GRAY. I have been very ill, and am still hardly re- covered. Do you remember Elegy 5th, Bocjk tlie 3rd, of Tibiillns, Vos tenet &c. and do you remember a letter of M" Pope's, in sickness, to M'' Steele ? This melancholy elegy and this melancholy letter I turned into a more melancholy epistle of my own, during my sickness, in the way of imitation ; and this I send to yoii and my friends at Cambridge, not to divert them, for it cannot, but merely to show tliem how sincere I was when sick : I hope my sending it to them now may convince them I am no less sincere, though perhaps more simple, when well. AD AMICOS. While yoii, where Camus rolls his sedgy tide, Feel every joy, that friendship can divide; Now, as each art and science you explore. And with the ancient blend the modern lore. Studious to learn alone whate'er may tend To raise the Genius — or the heart to mend: Now pleased along the cloister'd walk to rove. And trace the verdant mazes of the Grove, Where social oft, & oft alone you use To catch the Zephyr, or to court the Muse. At me meantime (while e'en devoid of art These lines give back the image of my heart) 96 CORRESPONDENCE ETC, At me the power, that comes or soon or late, Or aims, or seems to aim the dart of fate. From you remote — methinks alone I stand Like some sad exil in a dreary land; Around no lenient friend, no friend to join In mutual warmth, or mix his heart with mine. Or real pains, or those which spleen can raise For ever blot the Sunshine of my days. — To sickness still, & still to "grief a prey, From me Health turns her rosy face away. Just Heaven! what sin, eie life begins to bloom. Devotes my head untimely to the tomb? Did e'er this hand against a brother's life Drug the dire bowl, or i^oint the murd'rous knife? Did e'er this tongue the Slanderer's tale proclaim. Or madly violate the Maker's name? Did e'er this heart betray a friend, or foe Or know a thought, but all the world might know? As yet just started from the lists of time My growing years have scarcely told their prime ; Useless as yet, through life I've idly run. No pleasures tasted, and few dirties done. Ah! who, ere autumn's mellowing Suns appear, Would pluck the promise of the vernal year? Or ere the grapes their purple hue betray. Tear the crude cluster from the mourning Spray? Stern power of Fate, whose Ebon Sceptre rules The Stygian desarts, & Cimmerian pools. Ah spare, nor rashly smite the youthful heart, A victim yet unworthy of thy dart! Then, when late age shall blast my withering face, Shake in my head, and falter in my pace ; Then aim the Shaft, then meditate the blow And to the dead my willing Shade shall go. How weak is Man to Reason's judgeing eye! Born in this moment, in the next we dye. OF R. WEST. 97 Part mortal clay, and part ethereal fire, Too proud to creep, too humble to aspire ; In vain our Plans of happiness we raise : Pain is our lot, and patience is our praise Wealth, bii'th or honours, Conquest or a Throne Are, what the wise would fear to call their own, Health is at best a vain precarious thing. And fair-faced youth is ever on the wing. I'Tis like the stream, beside whose watry bed Some blooming plant exalts his flowry head; Nursed by the wave the spreading branches rise, Shade all the ground, & blossom to the skies, The waves the while beneath in secret flow. And undermine the hollow bank below ; Wide and more wide the waters urge their way. Bare all the root, and on the fibres prey. Too late the plant bewails his foolish pride And sinks untimely in the whelming tide. But why these thoughts, or what's my death to me? Few will lament perhaps whene'er it be. -For those the wretches I despise, or hate, I neither envy nor enquire their fate. For me, whene'er almighty Death shall spread His wings around my unrepineing head, ■''I care not tho' this face be seen no more, The world will pass as chearful as before; ^ "Youth, at the very best, is but the betrayer of human life in a gentler and smoother manner than age : 'tis like the stream that nourishes a plant upon a bank, and causes it to flourish and blossom to the sight, but at the same time is undermining it at the root in secret." Pope's Works, vol. vii. p. 254, 1st edition. Warburton. [Mason's note.] 2 "I am not at all uneasy at the thought that many men whom I never had any esteem for, are likely to enjoy this world after me." Ibid. [Mason.] 3 "The morning after my exit the sun will rise as bright as ever, the flowers smell as sweet, the plants spring as green." Ibid. [Mason.] G. 7 98 CORRESPONDENCE ETC, Bright as before the Day-Star will appear The fields as verdant, and the skies as clear : Nor storms, nor comets will my doom declare, Nor signs on earth, nor portents in the air; Unknown and silent will depart my breath, Nor Nature e'er take notice of ray death. Yet some there are (ere sunk in endless night) Within whose breasts my monument I'd write: Loved in my life, lamented in my end, Their praise would crown me, as their precepts mend : To them may these fond lines my name indear, Not from the Author but the Friend sincere ^ Christ Church, July 4, 1737. 15. *WEST TO WALPOLE. Tuesday July 12 1737 My dearest Walpole, I have writ Asliton a long .serious letter, for which reason I intend to be very witty in this, I tell you so beforehand, for fear you should mistake me ; you must expect a Similie in every letter, and a Metaphor in every syllable. Nay, you'll find a je ne s^ay, in every Comma,, and something very surprizing in every full Stop.*' I don't intend to think neither, for I've heard your great Wits never think — J The text above, is taken from Gray's Common Place Books at Pembroke, i. 91, Gray's handwriting, subscribed Pav: 1737. * Marks like those above ( ] *) seem to indicate some playful eccentricities of writing here transcribed by Mitford. OF R. WEST. 99 Critics indeed prescribe it as a rule That you must think before you write, But I who am you know, no fool Aver their judgment is not right Now if you ask the reason why I'll tell you truly by and bye Meantime if you should rashly think My Pen will drop a word of Sense Pray read no more, but with the rest dispense For faith, I send you nought but Ink, But if you deem the want of thought A tolerable fault, Prithee, proceed On that condition you may read. I think these lines very much a la Frangaise you can tell why? and now I'll give you some in the English fashion To thee my thoughts magnetically roll My heart the Needle is, and tliine the Pole Since thou art gone, no Company can please. They rather show my Want, than give me Ease. Wlien Sol resigns our Hemispheres to night Ten thousand Stars, but ill supply his light Tho' to repay thy loss, enough there be They're all a poor Equivalent of thee. Like Ovid thus I stand, whose lines declare No inspiration like our native air Banished from thee, I feel my notes decay And miss the Muse, to animate the lay. Now, what Muse do you like the best, French or English? in my opinion the first is in a Consumption, & the latter in a dropsy. The French one is a pale 7—2 100 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. Slammekin without any color in her Skin ; and the English drab' is a flush'd' Dowdy as full of pimples as she can stare. Had I time, I w** rifle all Petrarca, but I would send you some Sonnetti, madrigalletti Versi sciolti, vezzozetti- Per signor, mio Valpoletti. I would send you some Spanish too, not plain but mighty ampullated, were I suff^*' versd in the obras del Poetas Castellanos; and then I'd tell you that the Italian and Spanish Muse both usd a great deal of Paint, only the last laid on in higher colors. I dare say, after all, you'll tell me this is nothing to you, and yet so far it is, that I intended all this to divert you, & if it does not, at least the intention was good. If I knew as many languages as Briareus had hands, I should tell you a hundred Ways only, how much I am — I know I might end my letter here, very con- veniently, and end very prettily, but I wont ; I'll wi'ite as far as my Paper will let me, & then as Alexander wept heretofore, that he had no more to conquer, or as the wild Indian that gallopd with full speed, till he came to the sea, & then wonderd that he could gallop no further, so I — . h propos, an ode of Horace lies before me, which I translated about 3 months ago — here it is ^ 'dab' and 'flusd' in Mitford's us. ^ sic. OF R. WEST. 101 Ad Pyrrham. Say what dear Youth his amorous rapture breathes Within thy arms beneath some Grott reclind? Pyrrha, for whom dost thou in wreathes Thy golden tresses bind In plainness elegant? how oft shall he Complain alass! upon the fickle skies And suddenly astonishd see The blackning tempest rise : Who now enjo.ys thee, happy in Conceit Who fondly thinks thy love can never fail Never to him — unmindful yet Of the fallacious Gale. Wretch! to whom thou uutryd seemest fair, For me, I've scapd the Wreck; let yonder fane Inscrib'd my gratitude declare To him that rules the Main. I am, dear Sir, with all sincerity, your most liumble Servant & affectionate friend Rich. West P.S. I am afraid I cannot see you this Summer, but I long to hear from you To Horace Walpole Esq'' at King's College Cambridge (from Oxford) To the letter enclosing 'Ad Amicos' {supra) Gray re- plied Aug. 22, 1737 'If what you sent me last be the pro- «luct of your melancholy, what may I not expect from your more cheerful hours? But while I write to you I hear the sad news of Lady Walpole's death on Saturday night 102 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. last.' A lettei' from Aslitou to West, undated but placed by Mitford among those of 1737, has * 'M' Walpole is now with us & his Sense will soon get the better of his mis- fortune.' Ashton continues ' D' Barnard's determination of me for Eton is an honor I have no inclination to accept. My friend Horace has disposd of me in a way more to my Satisfaction. I am engagd to Ld Plymouth. When I leave Cambridge I am not certain.' By comparison with the letter which follows it, and in the absence of other evidence I am disposed (but very doubtfully) to assign to the year 1 737 this letter of Ashton's to West. 16. * ASHTON TO WEST. King's Coll : Camb : Nov 16 (?) Dear West, If you judge my esteem for you by the number of my letters, you err in yr judgment. 'Tis true I am very dilatory in my remittances ; at which you will less wonder, when I acquaint you with the Cause. You must know then that for the three months past I have constantly laboured under the intolerable fatigue of having nothing to do, & it is my mis- fortune (excuse my infirmity) always to be most bus)' when I have least business. This to you will seem a Paradox : but my Case is much the same as Charles Lyttleton's, who staid 2 years at Oxford, without seeing the Musaeum, because he might have seen it every day. When I liad so much time upon my hands, I could not see one hour more convenient for OF R. WEST. 103 writing than another, and tlierefore I did not write at all. Now I ain engaged in a constant & necessary round of eating, reading & praying, I find that if I do not write to you this Minute, I cannot write to you the next. So my multiplicity of business sup- plies me with an opportunity, of which my want of any has long deprivd me. I could wish to have had Gray's fortune ; but I often see you by him at second hand. I find by his Picture of you that there is a different sameness in you, an improved resemblance of what you was. but this Pleasure I receive from the copy, only makes me desirous to see the originall — I am Dear West Y"^ most sincerelj' ASHTON. 17. WEST TO GRAY. Receiving no answer to my last letter, which I writ above a month ago, I must own I am a little uneasy. The slight shadow of you which I had in to^vn, has only served to endear you to me the more. The moments I passed with you made a strong im- pression upon me. I singled you out for a friend, and I would have you know me to be yours, if you deem me worthy. Alas, Gray, you cannot imagine how miserably my time passes away. My health and 104 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. nerves and spirits are, thank ni)^ stars, the very worst, I think, in Oxford. Four-and-tvventy hours of pure unalloyed health together, are as unknown to me as the 400,000 characters in the (Jhinese vocabulary. One of my complaints has of late been so over-civil as to visit me regularly once a month — ^jam certus conviva. This is a painful nervous headache, which perhaps you have sometimes heard me speak of before. Give me leave to say, I find no physic com- parable to your letters. If, as it is said in Eccle- siasticus "Friendship be the physic of the mind," prescribe to me, dear Gray, as often and as much as you think proper, I shall be a most obedient patient. Non ego Fidis irascar medicis, offendar amicis, I venture here to \vi-ite you down a Greek epigram, which 1 lately turned into Latin, and hope you will excuse it. [nOSEIAIlIlIGT.] Tbf TpLeTT] TraL^ovTa irtpl (ppiap ' AarvdvaKTa Ei'5coXoj' /jLopst from Rheims June 18, 1739 N.S.: "I had prepared the ingredients for a description of a ball, but Gray has plucked it from me... to stay your stomach, I will send you one of their vaudevilles or ballads, which they sing at the comedy after their petites pieces." He then mentions Henry Brooke's ' Gustavus Vasa.'- 23, WEST TO WALPOLE. Temple, June 21. 1739 Dear Walpole : Your last letter puts me in mind of some good people, who, though they give you the best dinner in the world, are never satisfied with themselves, but — -wish they had known sooner — quite ashamed — a little unprepared — hope you'll excuse, and so forth : for you tell me, you only send me this to stay my stomach against you are better furnished, and at the same time you treat me, ut nunquam in vita melius. Nor is it now alone that I have room to say so, but 'tis always : and I know I had rather gather the crumbs that fall from under your table, 1 Gray's note. - See p. 43 stqn-a and note. IS-i CORRESPONDENCE ETC. than be a prime guest with most other people. Sin- cerely, sir, nobody in Great Britain, nor, I believe, in France, keeps a more elegant table than yourself: mistake me not, I mean a metaphorical one, for else I should lie confoundedly : for you know you did not use to keep a very extraordinary one, at least when I had the honour to dine with you : — boiled cliickens and roast legs of mutton were yoiir highest effort. But with the metaphor, the case is quite altered : 'tis no longer chapon toujours' bouilli : 'tis varium et nmtabile semper enough, I am sure : 'tis Italo per- J'lisus aceto : 'tis tota merum sal: you see too, it has a particularity, which perhaps you did not know before, that it is of all genders, and is masculine, feminine, or neuter, which you please. Your feasts are like Plato's : one feeds upon them for two or three days together, et e convivio sajjientiores resur- gim/is qmm acculmimus. So it is with me ; and I never receive any of your tables, or tahulcv, for you know 'tis the same thing, but I exclaim to myself Di magni! salicippium- disertum ! If you don't understand tliis line, you must consult with Doctor Bentley's nephew, who thinks nobody can understand it without him ; when after all it does not signify a brass farthing whether you under- stand it or no. But, sir, this is not all : you not ^ [tovijours chapon ?] - vid. Catullus 53. 5. OF R. WEST. 125 only treat me with a whole bushel of attic salt, and a gallon of Italian vinegar, but you give me some English-French music — a vaudeville in both lan- guages ! Docte sermones iiti'ius(^ue linguae — But now I talk of music at a feast ; I'll tell you of a feast and music too. About a fortnight ago, walking through Leicester-fields, I ran full-butt against some- body. Upon examination, who should it be but Mr A — ? I mean the nephew of the lord of . So we saluted very amicably, and I engaged to sup with him Thursday next. To his lodgings I went on Thursday, and there I found Plato, PufFendorf, and Prato (can't you guess who they be ?) A very good supper we had, and Plato gave your health. I believe he is in love. Did you ever hear of Nanny Blundel ? But I forget our music. We had sir, for an hour or two, an Ethiopian, belonging to the Duchess of Atliol, who played to us upon the French-horn. A — made me laugh about him very much. I said, I suppose you give this Ethiopian something to drink ? Upon which he ordered him half-a-crown. I said, So muehl Oh ! he's only a Black, answered he. Puffendorf (who you know says good things sometimes) said, not amiss. Oh, sir, if he had been a White, he'd have given him a crown. I don't pretend to compare our supper with your partie de cabaret at Rheims ; but 126 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. at least, sir, our materials were more sterling than yours. You had a gout^ forsooth, composed of des fraises, de la creme, du vin, des gateaux, &c. We, sir, we supped h, I'Angloise. Inprimis we had buttock of beef, and Yorkshire ham ; we had chickens too, and a gallon bowl of sallad, and a gooseberry pye as big as anything. Now, sir, notwithstanding (do you know what this notwithstanding relates to ? I'll mark the cue for you — 'tis) notwithstanding, I say, I am neither solers citharae, neque musae deditus ulli, as you are ; yet, as I am very vain, and apt to have a high opinion of my own poetry, I have a mind to treat you as elegantly as you have treated me — as you remember a certain doctor at King's College did the Duke of Devonshire — and so have prepared you a little sort of musical accompagnamento for your entertainment. 'Tis true I said to myself very often — An quodcunque facit Maecenas, Te quoque verum est, Tanto dissimilem, at tanto certare minorem ? Then I reflected — Ut gratas inter mensas .symphouia discors, Et crassum uuguentura, et Sardo cum melle i^apaver, Offendunt, poteiat duci quia coena sine illis ; Sic animis natum inventumque poema juvandis, Si paulum summo discessit, vergit ad imum. Yet in spite of these two long quotations (which I made no other use of than what you see) I still OF R. WEST. 127 determined to scrape a little, and accordingly have sent yon, in lien of your vaudeville, a miserable elegy'. * Imitated from Propertius El : 15 : Lib. S : Nunc, oh Bacche tnis &c. Now prostrate Bacchus at thy Shrine I bend: This once be gracioiis Father and attend ! Thine great Lyaeus is the power confest To chase our sorrows, & restore our rest : 'Tis thine, each joy attendant on the bowl, Thine each gay Lenitive that glads the Soul. God of the rosey cheek, & laughing eye. To thee from Cynthia and from love I fly : If ever Ariadne was thy Care, Now shew thy pity, & accept my prayer. Then, Bacchus, if by thee renew'd I find, As once, my old serenity of mind, My Umbrian hill shall flourish with the vine Thine Bacchus, all my labours shall be thine With my own hands the generous growth I'll rear. Rank the young shoots, & watch the riseing year, Till all my boughs with the red Autumn bend, And the large Vintage in my Vats descend. Hail, mighty Bacchus, to my latest hour In grateful strains I'll celebrate thy power ; And as I strike the Dithyrambic string, Thy name, thy glory, & thy ijower I'll sing : Thy birth I'll sing, thy mother's fatal fires. Thy Indian trojjhies, & Nysaean choirs : ^ This elegy does not appear. [Berry.] I think it must be the Imitation of Propertius which I find in Gray's Common Place Books at Pembroke with date of this month and year. 128 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. I'll sing Lycurgus by his Pride undone : The dire disaster of Agave's son : And the false Tuscans hurl'd into the Main. I'll sing the wonders of the Naxian plain Thy lakes of honey & thy floods of wine ; Such blessings, father, are reserved for thine! Now, lo Bacchus! to the general Song, Bacchus, to thee I'll lead the pomp along : O'er thy white neck the vivid Ivy spread, The Lycian mitre nodding on thy head : Divine with oil thy honest face shall glow, And to thy feet the dauncing robe shall flow. Meantime thy Orgies in procession come : Dii'caean Thebes shall beat the hollow Drum, Th' Arcadian reed shall give a softer sound. And Phrygian cimbals rattle hoarse around : High at thy shrine the Flamen Priest shall stand White-robed, with Ivy crown'd, and in his hand The golden Vase : th' inferiour throng shall sing : lo ! again shall thro' the Temple ring. And I thy Bard these wonders will rehearse. And sound thy glories in no common verse : Of thee this only recompense I ask, A slight reward for such a toilsome task, 'Tis but to ease my bosom of its pain. And never may I feel the pangs of love again. i I dare say you wish you could shake the pen out of my hand. But I do'nt know how it is ; I am at present in a vein to make up for the dryness of most of my former letters since you have been abroad; and I can't tell but that I may fill up this sheet, if not another, with more such trumpery. I forgot all 1 'Fav: June 1739' — Gray's note. OF R. WEST. 129 this while to thank for the packet' which I have received, and which was more welcome to me than an Amiens-pye ; for I can't help running on with the metaphor I set out with ; and you know I always was a heluo librorum. The first thing I pitched upon was Crebillon's love-letters, allured by the garnishing, I fancy ; that is, the red leaves and the blue silk kalendar. 'Tis an ingenious account of the progress of love in a very virtuous lady's heart, and how a line gentleman may first gain her approbation, then her esteem, then her heart &c. But do'nt you think it ends a little too tragically ? For my part, I protest, I was very sorry ; the last letter made me cry. But the passions are charmingly described all through, and the language is fine. After this I would have read the Amusement Philosophique ; but Asheton has run away with it — Callidus, quicquid placuit jocoso Condere furto. Very jocose indeed to rob a body ! So I ha'n't seen it since. Gustave is no bad thing, as far as I can judge. One may see the author was young when he wrote it, and it looks to me like a first play of an ^ ' We are making you a little bundle of petites pieces : there is nothing in them, but they are acting at present ; there are too Crebillon's letters, and Amusemens sur le langage des Betes, said to be of one Bougeant, a Jesuit ; they are both esteemed, and lately come out.' Gray to West, from Paris, May 22, 1739. G. 9 130 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. author. But the language is natural, and in many places poetical. The plot is very entertaining, only I do'nt like the conclusion. It ends abrupt, and Leonor comes in at last too much like an apparition. The rest of the pieces I have not read ; but from what I can discover by a transient view, I fancy they are better seen than read. I am now at the eigtli page : 'tis time to have done, and wish you adieu, I hear Sir Eobert is very well. My Lord Conway' is reckoned one of the prettiest persons about town. Yours ever K West. 24. *ASHTON TO WEST. London. Aug. 25. 1739. Friend ^ The kind Message thou didst leave with my servant John raisd my Appetite of seeing thee to a very great Pitch, in so much that my bowells did yearn, yea verily I did hunger & thirst for thy Company many days. I would have devourd thy Sayings, & would have hung upon thy Mouth, as an infant hangs on the Nipple of the breast. I would have suckd in thy words, as the warm new Milk, but thou 1 See siqyya p. 40 n. 1 and p. 44. ■■^ This Letter is in a large regular assumed Hand, to imi- tate tlie Quakers' Manner of Penmanship. (Mitford.) OF R, WEST. 131 hast defrauded my Soul, & withdrawn thyself un- kindly from me. The exhortation I gave thee was good, tho' clothd in the language of the Profane. Feed thy Soul with such food, and truly thou wilt be fat & well liking. Our friend Whitfield is too hard for Edmund Gibson'. Perhaps thou hast seen his Answer it is wrote in the meek Spirit of Satyr, in all the humility of religious Sneer. I doubt the Spirit of Truth had no hand in the Controversy. Our friends on the other side of the Water salute thee, but they complain as much of the want of thy letters as I do of the want of thyself. Fare thee well. The following is in answer to a letter from Gray dated Lyons, Sept. 18 N.S. 17.39, in which he reproaches West for having let him reside three months at Rheims without writing more than once. Gray describes in pretty and. humorous fashion the junction of the Rhone and Saone and says "All yesterday morning we were busied in climbing up Mount Fourvi^re where the ancient city stood perched at such a height that nothing but the hopes of gain could certainly ever persuade their neighbours to pay them a visit." He concludes by saying that there are at Lyons "a thousand matters that you shall not know till you give me a description of the Pais de Tombridge, and the effect its waters have upon you." 1 Bp of London. He wrote a Pastoral Letter against Lukewarmness and Enthusiasm (1739), to which Whitefield rephed in the same year. 9—2 132 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. 25. WEST TO GRAY. Temple, Sep. 28. 1739. If wishes could turn to realities, I would fling- down my law books, and sup with you to-night : But, alas! here I am doomed to fix, while you are fluttering from city to city, and enjoying all the pleasures which a gay climate can afford. It is out of the power of my heart to envy your good fortune, yet I cannot help indulging a few natural desires ; as for example, to take a walk with you on the banks of the Rhone, and to be climbing up mount Fourviere ; lam mens praetrepidans avet vagari: lam laeti studio pedes vigescunt. However, so long as I am not deprived of your correspondence, so long shall I always find some pleasure in being at home. And, setting all vain curiosity aside, when the fit is over, and my reason begins to come to herself, I have several other power- ful motives which might easily cure me of my restless inclinations. Amongst these, my mother's ill state of health is not the least, which was the reason of our going to Tunbridge ; so that you cannot expect much description or amusement from thence. Nor indeed is there much room for either ; for all diver- sions there may be reduced to two articles, gaming OF R. WEST. 133 and going to church. They were pleased to publish certain Tunbrigiana this season; but such ana! I believe there were never so many vile little verses put together before. So much for Tunbridge. London affords me as little to say. What ! So huge a town as London? Yes, consider only how I live in that town. I never go into the gay or high world, and consequently receive nothing from thence to brighten my imagination. The busy world I leave to tlie busy; and am resolved never to talk politics till I can act at the same time. To tell old stories, or prate of old books, seems a little musty; and toujours chapon bouilli, won't do. However, for want of better fare, take another little mouthful of my poetry. mesB jucunda comes quietis! Qu£e fere aegrotum solita es levare Pectus, et sensim, ah! nimis ingruentes Fallere curas: Quid canes? quanto Lyra die furore Gesties quando hac reducem sodalem Glauciam^ gaudere simul videbis Meque sub umbra? Walpole to We^t from Turin Nov. 11, 1739, N.S. relates how on the passage of Mont Cenis his spaniel 'Tory' was seized by a young wolf 2. He sends a copy of an inscription ' He gives Mr Gray the name of Glaucias frequently in his Latin verse, as Mr Gray calls him Favonius. [Mason.] ■■' Letters of Walpole ed. Cunningham, vol. i. no. 18. Gray to his Mother, Works vol. ii. let. xxi. ed. Gosse. 134 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. recording how Charles Emmanuel II., duke of Savoy 'viam regiam...dejectis scopulorum repagulis, eequata montium iniquitate, quae cervicibus imminebant praecipitia pedibus substernens, seternis populorum commerciis patefecit. A.D. 1670...'. Among the English at Turin he mentions 'a Mr C * * *, a man that never utters a syllable. We have tried all stratagems to make him speak. Yesterday he did at last open his mouth and said Bee. We all laughed so at the novelty of the thing that he shut it again, and will never speak more.' 26. WEST TO WALPOLE. Temple, Dec. 13, 1739. Dear Walpole : Bee! for I have not spoke to-day, and there- fore I am resolved to speak to you first. Asheton is of opinion you have read Herodotus ; but I imagine no such thing, and verily believe the gentleman to be a Phoenician'. I can't forgive Mont Cenis poor Tory's death! 1 can assure her I'll never sing her panegyric, unless she serves all her wolves as Edgar the Peaceable did. It did touch a little upon the traveller. What do you think it put me in mind of? ^ See Herodotus ii. 2. West here makes a slip. The experiment of Psammetichus discovered that the Fhrygians were the oldest nation, ^4kos being the Phrygian name lor bread. OF R. WEST. 13o Not a bit like, but it put me in mind of poor Mrs Eider in Cleveland', where she's tore to pieces by the savages. I can't say I much like your Alps by the description you give ; but still I have a strange ambition to be where Hannibal was: it must be a pretty thing to fetch a walk in the clouds, and to have the snow up to one's ears. But I am really surprised at your going two leagues in five hours: a'n't it prodigious quick, to go down such a terrible descent? The inscription you mention is very pretty Latin. I see already you like Italy .better than France and all its works. When shall you be at Rome? Middleton, I think, says, you find there everything you find everywhere else. I expect volume upon volume there. Do you never write folios as well as quartos? You know I am a helao of everything of that kind, and I am never so happy as when — nerhosa et grandis epistola venit-^—We have strange news here in town, if it be but true : we hear of a sea-fight between six of our men of war and ten 1 Probably the Histoire de 31. Cleveland, Jils naturel de Cromwel; ou, le Philoi^ophe Anglais. Ecrite par Lui-meme. Utrecht (Paris) 1732-9. It appeared almost at the same time in English, being published by Nicholas Prevost in the Strand. It was written by the Abbe Prevost, the author of Manon Lescaut. (The editor finds these particulars of Cleveland, which he has never read, in Notes and Queries 1885 vol. i. pp. 370, 371, contributions by Mr Edward Solly and Mi Henri van Laun.) 13(5 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. Spanish; and that we sunk one and took five. I should not forget that Mr Pelham' has lost two only children at a stroke : 'tis a terrible loss : they died of a sort of sore-throat. To muster up all sort of news : Glover^ has put out on this occasion a new poem, called London, or The Progress of Commerce ; where- in he very much extols a certain Dutch poet, called Janus Douza, and compares him to Sophocles; I suppose he does it to make interest upon 'Change. Plays we have none, or damned ones. Handel has had a concerto this winter. No opera, no nothing. All for war and Admiral Haddock. Farewell and adieu ! Yours, E. West. Walpole at Bologna had been reading the 2nd Georgic. He says that 11. 461 — 466 are exactly like Martial : that 11. 495—498 resemble Claudian ; 11. 501—506, Juvenal ; 11. 523—534, Horace. He does not intend, he says, to send West an account of what he has seen. "Only think what a vile employ- ment 'tis making catalogues. And then one should have 1 The Eight Honourable Henry Pelham, brother of the Minister Duke of Newcastle, and Prime Minister himself at the time of his death in 1754. [Cunningham.] - Richard Glover, author of Leonidas, died 1785. West's father was the maternal uncle of Glover, and in the Inner Temple Hall is a portrait of Lord Chancellor West, presented by Glover. [Cunningham.] OF R. WEST. 187 that odious CurP get at one's letters, and publish them like Whitfield's Journal, or for a supplement to the Traveller's Pocket-companion." (Letters i. p. 31 ed. Cunningham.) Meanwhile the winter in England, as will be seen, has been very severe. * Ipse Pater Thamisinus aquas jam frigore vinci Ingemit, hostilemq a magno corpore frustra Connisus glaciem, & srevas relevare catenas, Indignans imo cursum eluctatur in alveo : Ingruit interea, & toto se flumine sternit Torpida Vis hyemis: lympharum agitabilis humor Deperit, & solidi mutatur imagine campi. Nee jam u.squam ratibus locus, ut imus; omnia duris Irrita substiterunt vinclis, lateque rigescunt Relliquiffi cymbarum, & fracto robore palmse, Velaq et antennfe: tristis stat navita ripa Ingratasque rates artemq reponit inanem. At populum tota certatim ex urbe ruentem Migrare in fluvium cemas, durumque per iequor Hue illuc volitare : omnes uno impete gaudent Immixti pueriq leves, timidaeq puellae Nymphffiq, juvenesq & gressu tardior fetas. Quin subitis etiam constructa mapalia tignis iEdificant : Thamisisq suo consurgere dorso Miratur, scenamque fori, stabilesque tabernas Insuetosq Lares, & non navaUa tecta. Fav: the hard Winter 17402. ' Walpole was of course not aware that Curll was tricked by Pope into pubHshing his correspondence. See Courthope's Life of Pope, pp. 283—290. * Gray's note in Pembr. Common Place Books, whence the above is transcribed. 138 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. 27. WEST TO WALPOLE. Jan. 23. 1740. It thaws, it thaws, it thaws ! A' n't you glad of it ? I can assure you we are: we have been this four weeks a-freezing: our Thames has been in chains, our streets almost unpassable with snow, and dirt, and ice, and all our vegetables and animals in distress. Really, such a frost as ours has been is a melancholy thing. I don't wonder now that whole nations have worshipped the sun; I am almost inclined myself to be a Guebre: tell Orosmades'. I believe you think I'm mad, but you would not if you knew what it was to want the sun as we do : 'tis a general frost delivery. Heaven grant the thaw may last ! for 'tis a question. Your last letter, my dear Walpole, is welcome. I thank you for its longitude, and all its parallel lines. You have rather transcribed too many lines out of Virgil : but your criticism I agree with, without any hesitation. Whimsical, quotha: 'tis just and new. You might have added Ovid — Quos rami fructus, quos ipsa — - and Statius: At secura quies — •* and what follows down to Non absunt — But what do you think? Your observations have set 1 Gray, see n. pp. 80, 81. - Georg. ii. 500. ■- lb. 4G7— 471. OF R. WEST, 139 me a-translating, and Ashton has told me it was worth sending. Excuse it, 'tis a tramontane. I shall cer- tainly publish your letters. But now I think on't, 1 won't; I should make Pope quite angry. Addio, mio caro, addio ! Dove sei ? Ritorna, ritorna, amato bene ! Yours from S. Paul's to St Peter's! R. West. I believe you must send my translation to the academy of the Gelati. My love to Gray, and pray tell him from me ^vxos S^ XeTTTiS XP'^'^'- TToKefituiTaToi'.^ 28. WEST TO WALPOLE. March 29, 1740. My dear Walpole : Since I have finished the first act', I send you now the rest of it. Wliether I shall go on with it is to me a doubt. I find you all make the same objec- tions to my style: but change my manner now I ^ A fragment of Euripides quoted by Cicero, Ep. ad Fam. XVI. 8. [Berry.] - Of his tragedy of Pausanias. Gray wrote from Florence more than a year after this to West (April 21, 1741): "I mujst defer giving my opinion of Pausanias till I can see the whole, and only have said what I did in obedience to your commands." That West may have his revenge he sends him the first 58 lines of his 'De Principiis Cogitandi'. 'Pausanias' is lost, or at least evades search. 140 CORRESPONDENCE ETC, ca'nt, for it would not be all of a piece, and to begin afresh goes against my stomach ; so I believe I must even break it off and bequeath it to my grandchildren to be finished with other old pieces of family work. I have another objection to it, and that is, the unlucky affair of an impeachment in the play. For, supposing the thing public, which it was never intended to be, every blockhead of the faction would swear Pausanias was Greek for Sir Robert, though it may as well stand for Bolingbroke. But the truth is, the Greek word signifies neither one nor t'other, as you may find in Scapula, Suidas, and other lexicographers. R. W. Gray writes to West from Florence, Jan. 15, 1740, re- coimting the places which he has visited since leaving Genoa, but refusing to give him a detailed account even of Florence itself. 'Before I enter into particulars' he says 'you must make your peace both with me and the Venus de Medicis, who, let me tell you, is highly and justly offended at you for not inquiring, long before this, concerning her symmetry and proportions.' Mason tells us that the letter which accompanied West's Elegy in j*eply 'is not extant: probably it was only enclosed in one to Mr Walpole.' ELEGIA. Ergo desidiae videor tibi crimine dignus; et merito: victas do tibi sponte manus. Arguor & veteres nimium contemnere Musas irata et nobis est Medicaea Venus. OF R. WEST. 141 Mene igitur statuas & iiiania saxa vereri ! Stultule! marmorea quid mihi cum Venere? Hie verse, hie vivae Veneres, et mille per urbem quarum nulla queat non plaeuisse lovi. Cedite Eomanae formosae, et cedite Graiae, siutq oblita Helenas nomen, et Hermionae! Et quascuuq refeit aetas vetus, Heroinae: unus houos nostris jam venit Aiigliasin. Ob quales vultus ! Oh quantum numeu ocellis! i nunc, et Tuscas improbe confer ojDes. Ne tamen haec obtusa nimis praecordia credas, neu me adeo nulla Palladc progenitum : Tester Pieridumq umbras & flumina Pindi, me quoque Calliopes semper amasse choros; Et dudum Ausonias urbes, & visere Graias cura est, ingenio si licet ire meo: Sive est Phidiacum manner, seu Mentoris aera. Sen paries Coo nobilis e calamo ; Nee minus artificum magna argumenta recentum Romaniq decus nominis, & Veneti: Qua Furor & Mavors & saevo in marmore vultus, quaq et formoso mollior aere Venus ; Quaq loquax spirat fucus, viviq labores, et quidquid calamo dulcius ansa manus : Hie nemora et sola mserens Meliboeus in umbra, lymphaq muscoso prosiliens lapide; Illic majus opus, faciesque in pariete major exsurgens^, Divum et numina Coelicolum. vos felices^, quibus haec cognoscere fas est, et tota Italia qua patet usque frui! Nulla dies vobis eat injucunda nee usquam noritis^ quid sit tempora amara pati.- 1 Gray's transcript has 'exurgens', 'foelices', noritis. - [Gray notes on Pemb. mss. "Fav: sent from London to Florence. April — 17iO."] 142 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. 29. WEST TO GRAY. Bond-street, June 5, 1740 1. I lived at the Temple till I was sick of it : 1 have just left it, and find myself as much a lawyer as I was when I was in it. It is certain, at least, I may study the law here as well as I could there. My being in chambers did not signify to me a pinch of snuff. They tell me my father was a lawyer, and, as you know, eminent in the profession; and such a circumstance must be of advantage to me. My imcle" too makes some figure in Westminster-hall; and there's another advantage: then my grand- father's name would get me many friends. Is it not strange that a young fellow, that might enter the world with so many advantages, will not know his own interest? &c. &c. What shall I say in answer to all this? For money, I neither dote upon it nor despise it ; it is a necessary stuff enough. For ambition, I do not want that neither; but it is not to sit upon a bench. In short, is it not a dis- agreeable thing to force one's inclination, especially when one's young? not to mention that one ought to ^ A letter of Asbtou's partly badinage, partly flattery, and neither in good taste, (belonging I think to this time approxi- mately), was directed to Mr Richard West at Mrs Sherard's in Prince's Court near Story's gate, Westminster. - Sir Thomas Burnet. OF R. WEST, 143 have the strength of a Hercules to go through our common law; which I am afraid, I have not. Well! but then, say they, if one profession does not suit you, you may choose another more to your inclination. Now I protest I do not yet know my own inclination, and I believe, if that was to be my direction, I shovild never fix at all. There is no going by a weather- cock. I could say much more upon this subject; but there is no talking tete-i\-tete cross the Alps. Oh the folly of young men, that never know their own interest! they never grow wise till they are ruined! and then nobody pities them, nor helps them. Dear Gray! consider me in the condition of one that has lived these two years without any person that he can speak freely to. I know it is very seldom that people trouble themselves with the sentiments of those they converse with; so that they can chat aboiit trifles, they never care whether your heart aches ov no. Are you one of these? I think not. But what right have I to ask you this question? Have we known one another enough, that I should expect or demand sincerity from you ? Yes, Gray, I liope we have; and I have not quite such a mean opinion of myself, as to think I do not deserve it. But, signor, is it not time for me to ask something about your future intentions abroad? Where do you ])ropose going next? an in Apuliam? nam illo si adveneris, tanquam Ulysses, cognosces tuorum nemi- 144 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. nem. Vale. So Cicero prophesies in the end of one of his letters'— and there I end. Yours &c. Of the preceding letter Mason says that it is ' written apparently in much agitation of mind which Mr West endeavours to conceal by an unusual carelessness of manner.' To it Gray replies in a letter from Florence (July 16, 1740): "You do yourself and me justice, in imagining that you merit, and that I am capable of sin- cerity. .. .Why did you change your lodging? Was the air bad, or the situation melancholy ? If so, you are quite in the right." He then tries to reconcile him to the study of the law. "Are you sure, if Coke had been printed by Elzevir, and bound in twenty neat pocket volumes, instead of one folio, you should never have taken him for an hour, as you would a TuUy, or drank your tea over him2?...Do you really think, if you rid ten miles every morning, in a week's time you should not entertain much stronger hopes of the Chancellorship... than you do at present?" On August 13th 1740 Ashton sent to West a tedious (but happily incomplete) letter on the Sublime. The following replies are only given in extenso to make the collection of West's work as complete as possible. Ash- ton's letter was directed " To be left at Morley's Coffee House, Tunbridge Wells, Kent." ' Cicero to L. Valerius (Ad Diversos i. 10), but with more point 'Neque in Apuliam tuam accedas ' &c. " Cf. Henry Mackenzie's 'Man of Feeling' chap. sii. 'One of his guardians indeed, who in his youth had been an in- habitant of the Temple, set him to read Coke upon Littleton, a book which is very properly put into the hands of beginners in that science, as its simplicity is accommodated to their under- standings, and its size to their inclination.' OF R. WEST. 145 30. * WEST TO ASHTON. To Thomas Asliton Esq"" at the Honble M'"'' Lewis's in Hanover Square London No more of your civil Prefaces, dear Ashton ; I am sorry we can't agree, but who can help it? I shall never be of your opinion, till you can convince me ; and I beg you'll never be of mine, but upon the same Condition. Our controversy, I find, is reduced to this one question. Whether your definition of the Sublime is a just and comprehensive definition or not? The Sublime, say you, is a just and lively re- presentation of the grand objects and Circumstances of Nature. Now, I humbly propose another question first i.e. whether your definition is a clear and ex- pressive definition or not? This question indeed is of little importance to yrself, who made the definition & consequently must know yr own Meaning when you made it: but to me, who did not make it, and only guess yr Meaning from the Words, I read in the definition itself, it is of great importance. For how should I know whether the Meaning of a Definition is just, G. 10 14G CORRESPONDENCE ETC. unless the Words are clear to me? How should I judge whether 'tis comprehensive, unless I com- prehend it? I had no doubts about my comprehension till your last letter ; but now I have : for you seem there to give a greater latitude of meaning to some of your Words, than I think the Words will bear. I shall be in Town very soon & then you shall explain to me, if you'll give yourself the trouble : for I hate all explanations but oral explanations. Besides if you send any more letters I shall miss them: for the Company is all gone from here & the Consequence is, that the Post brings us no more letters. Yours internally R. W. Tunbridge Wells. Sept. 31. 1740. 31. * WEST TO ASHTON. [Imperfect.]^ I mean ; 'tis like that Picture of a handsome man, which, at the same time 'tis very well executed, yet owes its Principal beauty to its prototype. 2ndly. I am afraid I talk both superficially & unintelligibly : but I'll proceed, tho' I waste another 1 Mitford, — who seems to make this the second of these two letters on the Sublime. OF R. WEST. 147 sheet of paper. The Sublime therefore which I mean, I place neither in the object, nor in the idea immediately rising from it. I must place it therefore at last either in the Sentiment or expression, or both: and now methinks I am returnd to wliat occasiond tlie debate, between the Lord and the Doctor. Were I to place it in either singly, I .shoiild certainly place it in the Sentiment — for there is the Principium & fens. Unless yon think nobly, I defy you to talk so, or even to look so, much less to act so. Noble thoughts are the common Substratum of noble actions & discourses, the orator and the hero are both derived from hence. But I place it in both, tho' more in the Sentiment, than in the Expression. And this perhaps is the reason, why a great Sentiment expressd even in the simplest words, will neverthe- less appear sublime. The true sublime is like true Beauty 'Induitur formosa est; exuitur, ipsa forma est' — it rather looses' than gains by ornament. It thunders, it lightens, it bursts immediately from the mind of the Orator upon his Hearers, it convinces tliem, it amazes them, its authority is irresistible. Such are (?was) the Speech of Henry the IV*'' of France to his Soldiers— There are your Ennemyes — remember you are Frenshmen' — and that Henry is your General — Supposing these words accompanied 1 sic in Mitford's transcript. 10—2 148 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. Avitli their proper emphasis and Fire, in Speaking, do you think there was any Frenshman', there, who would not have fought to the last drop in his veins? and so much, Sirs, for the Sentiment. 3. I come now to the Expression, which is all, that is further requisite in the writer; but in the Orator there would be pronunciation, gesture &c. which it would be foreign to talk of here : nor have I room to talk much more about its Expression, I shall only make this one observation i.e. — That in the description of the Sublime, objects such [as ?] are so naturally 'tis usual to give into sounding Phrases and noble Metaphors — but when the Sublime is in the Sentiment itself, 'tis generally cloathd in simple expressions. If I may give the Preference, I should prefer the last kind, but I doubt— and you are tired I see, & think I have been talking nonsense for a good while together — so — Finis R. West. A6^a ixbvi^ T(fj Gey P.S. Alexander", the Great, Banquier j\ Paris, 1 sic in Mitford's transcript. - Walpole writes to West, Nov. 1740, 'Direct to me addressed to Monsieur Selwyn, chez Monsieur Alexandre, rue St ApoUine, a Paris. If Mr Alexandre is not there, the street is, and I believe that will be sufficient." OF R. WEST. 149 is in the Bastile. Pray how are we to send our letters. To Thomas Ashton Esq' at jVP^ Lewis's, at her house in Hanover Square, London. 32. * WEST TO ASHTON. To M"" Ashton at M''* Lewis's in Hanover Square London pour Angleterre Dear Ashton, West at Paris? would you believe it? and yet 'tis so. How it came about, is another Story. Some time or other, you may know it, but be assur'd, I did not come to divert myself. Expect therefore no letters of entertainment from me, I am taken up with something else, and consider myself at Paris, just as I did at London. Nevertheless, if you have a mind to hear from an old friend now and then, you shall ; have pity too on me, in a strange Country, and wTite to me sometimes. Be so good as to call or send to Dick's Coffee house, and if there are any letters for ' Ashton it will be noted was not ordained in 1740. In- troductory Essay, p. 3, n. 1. 150 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. me, I slid be glad to have them sent me. My address is racomand^ a Mess''^ Lubliard & Vernil, Banquiers, rue de St Martin a Paris. Excuse me, I am in haste, as everything here is. Adieu ! & do'nt forget me. Paris, May 8, N. S. [1741]. A Postscript of Gray's (Florence, July 31, X. S. 1740) to a letter from Walpole to West, throws some light upon the following application from West to Walpole. Gray says : "We shall never come home again; a universal war is just upon the point of breaking out; all out-lets will be shut up. You do'nt tell me what proficiency you make in the noble science of defence. Do'nt you start still at the sound of a gun ? Have you learned to say Ha ! ha ! and is your neck clothed with thunder? Are your whiskers of a tolerable length ? And have you got drunk yet with brandy and gunpowder I Adieu, noble Captain 1 " The criticism of Pausanias to which West refers infni, was sent from Reggio on the 10th of May N.S. 1741. From it we gather that there were two characters in the play named Cleodora and Argilius, who according to Walpole 'do not talk laconic but low English'; and that Cleodora was a Persian, and might be expected to speak more heroically. 33. WEST TO WALPOLE. Loudon, June 22, 1741. Dear Walpole : I have received your letter from Reggio, of the 10th of May, and have heard since that you fell OF 11. WEST. 151 iir there, and are now recovered and returning to England through France. I heard the bad and good news both together ; and so was afflicted and com- forted both in a breath. My joy now has got the better, and I live in hopes of seeing you here again. The author of the first act of Pausanias desires his love to you; and, in return for your criticism, which seems so severe to him in some parts and so prodigious favourable in others, that if he were not actpiainted with your unprejudiced way of tliinking, he should not know what to say to it, has ordered me to ac- quaint you with an accident that happened to him lately, on a little journey he made. It seems he had put all his writings, whether in jirose or rhyme, into a little box, and carried them with him. Now, 1 There is no mention of Gray in Walpole"s letter of the 10th of May, and it is probable that the quarrel and the de- parture of Gray for Venice, had alread}^ taken place. From a letter of Gray to West of the 21st of April from Florence it seems that Gray and Walpole had planned to visit Venice together by the 11th of May, in time to see the Doge wed the Adriatic. Walpole says (Short Notes of my Life) 'Mr Gray left me, going to Venice, with Mr Francis Whithed and Mr John Chute, for the festival of the Ascension. I fell ill at Keggio of a kind of quinzy and was given over for five hours, escaping with great difficulty.' Spence, (the Oxford Professor of Poetry and friend of Pope, author of the 'Anecdotes' &c.) whose acquaintance Walpole had made at Florence, fortunately found himself at Reggio, and his opportune assistance probably saved Walpole's life. (See Walpole's Letters ed. Cunningham, vol. I. p. 64 n.) 152 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. somebody imagining there was more in the box than there really was, has run away with them ; and, though strict inquiry has been made, the said author has learnt nothing yet, either concerning the person suspected, or the box. Since I am engaged in talking of this author, and as I know you have some little value for him, I beg leave to acquaint you with some particulars relating to him, which perhaps you will not be so averse to hear. You must know then, that from his cradle up- wards he was designed for the law, for two reasons : first, as it was the profession which his father followed, and succeeded in, and consequently there was a like- lihood of his gaining many friends in it : and, secondly, upon account of his fortune, which was so inconsider- able, that it was impossible for him to support himself without following some profession or other. Never- theless, like a rattle as he is, he has hitherto fixed on no profession : and for the law in particular, upon trial he lias found in himself a natural aversion to it : in the meanwhile he has lost a great deal of time, to the great diminution of his narrow fortune, and to the no little scandal of his friends and relations. At length, upon serious consideration, he has resolved that something was to be done, for that poetry and Pausanias would never be sufficient to maintain him. And what do you think he has resolved upon? Why, apprehending that a general war in Europe was OF R. WEST. 153 approaching, and therefore, that there might be some opportunity given, either of distinguishing himself, or being knocked of the head : being convinced, besides, that there was little in life to make one over fond of it — he has chosen the army; and being told that it was a much cheaper way to procure a com- mission by the means of a friend, than to buy one, to do which he must strip himself of what fortune he has left, he desired me to use what little interest I had with my friends to procure him what he wanted. At first I objected to him the weakness of his constitution, which might render him incapable of military service, and several other things; but all to no purpose. He told me, he was neither knave nor fool enough to run in debt, and that he must either abscond from mankind, or do something to enable him to live as he would upon a decent rank, and with dignity ; and that what he chose was this. I perceived there was nothing to reply; so I submitted ; and as I have some sort of regard for the man, I promised him I would iise what interest I had, and frankly told him, I would venture to ask for him what I should hardly ask for myself. Excuse my freedom, dear Walpole ; and whether I succeed or not, assure yourself that I shall always be. Yours most affectionately, K. West. 154 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. 34. *GRAY TO WEST. (date uncertain)! As I know you are a lover of Curiosities, 1 send you the following, which is a true and faithful Narrative of what passed in my study on Saturday the 16"', instant. I was sitting there very tranquil in my chair, when I was suddenly alarmd with a gTeat hubbub of Tongues. In the Street, you sup- pose? No! in my Study, Sir. In your Study say you? Yes & between my books, which is more. For why should not books talk as well as Crabs & Mice & files & Serpents do in Esop. But as I listend with great attention so as to remember what I heard pretty exactly, I shall set down the whole con- versation as methodically as I can, with the names prefixed. Mad. de Sevigne. Mon cher Aristote ! do get a little further or you will quite suffocate me. Aristotle. Ow'SeTroTc yw7^...I have as much right to this place as you, and I sha'nt remove a jot. M. Sevigne. Oh! the brute! Here's my poor Sixth tome is squeezed to death : for God's sake, Bussy, come & rescue me. 1 1 incline to assign it to Loudon, 1742 ; although Mitford writes 1740. I cannot think it is from abroad ; and Gray was abroad during the whole of 1740. From the fact that the letter is a fragment, I infer, but with some hesitation, that Mitford's date is conjectural. OF R. WEST. 155 Bussy Eabutin. Ma belle Cousine! I would Hy to your assistance. Mais voici un diable de Strabon qui me tue, and I have no one worth conversing with here but Catullus. Bruyere. Patience ! You must consider we are but books, and so ca'nt help ourselves, for my part I wonder who we belong to. We are a strange mixture here. I have a Malebranche on one side of me, and a Gronovius on t'other. Locke. Certainly our owner must have verj' con- fused ideas, to jumble us so strangely together. He has associated me with Ovid and Bay the Naturalist. Virgil. ' Me vero primum dulces ante omnia Musaj Accipiant !' H. More. Of all the Speculations that the Soul of Man can entertain herself withall there is none of greater moment than this of her immortality. Clieyne. Every man after fourty is either a fool or a Physician. Euclid. Punctum est cujus nulla est.... Boileau. Peste soit de cet homme avec son Punctum! I wonder any man of sense will have a Mathematician in his Study. Swift. In short, let us get the Mathematics banishd first, the Metaphysicks and Nat : Philosoph}- may follow them. Vade Mecum. Pshaw! 1 and the Bible are enough for any one Library. 156 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. This last ridiculous egotism made me laugh so heartily that I disturbd the poor books & they talk'd no more. 35. WEST TO GRAY. 1 write to make you write, for I have not much to tell you. I have recovered no spirits as yet, but, as I am not displeased with my company, I sit purring by the lire-side in my arm-chair, with no small satisfaction. I read too sometimes, and have begun Tacitus, but have not yet read enough to judge of him ; only his Pannonian sedition in the first book of his annals, which is just as far as I have got, seemed to me a little tedious. I have no more to say, but to desire you will write letters of a handsome length, and always answer me within a reasonable space of time, which 1 leave to your discretion. Popes 1, March '2H, 1742. P.S. The new Dunciad!" qu'en pensez vous ? To West's of March 28 Gray replies: "I trust to the country, and that easy indolence you say you enjoy there, to restore you your health and spirits ; and doubt not but, when the sun grows warm enough to tenipt you from your fire-side, you will (like all other things) be the better for his influence. He is my old friend, and an excellent nurse I assure you." Then follows an excellent criticism ^ David Mitcheirs Esii-, at Popes near Hatfield, Hertford- shire. - This is the 4th Book of the Dmiciad published in 1742. OF R. WEST. 157 of Tacitus. Gray proceeds: "As to the Dunciad, it is greatly admired; the Genii of Operas and Schools, with their attendants, the pleas of the Virtuosos and Florists, and the yawn of dulness in the end, are as fine as any thing he has written. The Metaphysicians' part is to me the worst: and here and there a few ill-expressed lines, and some hardly intelligible." He sends West the con- cluding speech of the first scene of his Agrippina, which he acknowledges to be much too long, and begs West to retrench. 36. WEST TO GRAY. Popes, April 4, 1742. I own in general I think Agrippiua's speech too long ; but how to retrench it, I know not : but I have something else to say, and that is in relation to the style, which appears to me too antiquated. Racine was of another opinion : he nowhere gives you the phrases of Ronsard : his language is the language of the times, and that of the purest sort; so that his French is reckoned a standard. I will not decide what style is fit for our Englisli stage : but I should rather choose one that bordered upon Cato, than upon Shakspeare. One may imitate (if one can) Shakspeare's manner, his surprising strokes of true nature, his expressive force in painting characters, and all his other beauties; preserving at the same time our own language. Were Shakspeare alive now, he would write in a different style from what he did. These are my sentiments upon these matters: per- haps I am wi'ong, for I am neither a Tarpa, nor am 158 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. I quite an Aristarchus. You see I write freely both of you and Shaks})eare ; but it is as good as writing not freely, where you know it is acceptable. I have been tormented within this week with a most violent cough ; for when once it sets up its note it will go on, cough after cough, shaking and tearing me for half an hour together ; and then it leaves me in a great sweat, as much fatigued as if I had been labouring at the plough. All this description of my cough in prose, is only to introduce another descrip- tion of it in verse, perhaps not worth your perusal; but it is very short, and besides has this remarkable in it, that it was the production of four o'clock in the morning, while I lay in my bed tossing and coughing, and all unable to sleep. Ante omnes morbos iinportunissima tussis. Qua durare clatur, traxitque sub ilia vires: Dura etenim versans inio sub j^ectore regna, Perpetuo exercet teneras luctamine costas, Oraque distorquet, vocemque immutat anhelam: Nee cessare locus: sed saevo concita motu, Molle domat latus, & corpus labor omne fatigat; Unde molesta dies, noctemque insomnia turbant. Nee Tua, si mecum Comes hie jucundus adesses, Verba juvare queant, aut hunc lenire dolorem, Suffieiat tua vox dulcis, nee vultus amatus.^ Do not mistake me, I do not condemn Tacitus : I 1 "Fav: April 4. Wrote in the Country, after his severe Illness, which left behind it continual Hectick, & Cough." (Gray's note in Pemb. Common Place Books.) OF R. WEST. 159 was then inclined to find him tedious: the Grerman sedition sufficiently made up for it; and the speech of Germauicus, by which he reclaims his soldiers, is quite nlasterl3^ Your New Dunciad I have no con- ception of I sliall be too late for our dinner if I write any more. Yours. Gray rei)lies : "You are the first who ever made a Muse of a Cough ; to me it seeius a much more easy task to versify in one's sleep (that indeed you were of old famous for)i than for want of it.... These wicked remains of your illness will sure give way to warm weather and gentle exercise; which I hope you will not omit as the season advances I talked of the Dunciad as concluding you had seen it ; if you have not, do 3'ou choose I should get and send it to you?"... He has been reading 'Joseph Andrews' upon West's invitation. 'The incidents are ill- laid and without invention' but 'the characters have a great deal of nature. Parson Adams is perfectly well ; so ' 'This i.s, I believe, founded in truth; for I remember some who were of the same house mentioning that he often composed in his dormant state, and that he wrote down in the morning what he had conceived in the night. He was, like his friend, quite faultless in respect to morals and behaviour, and, like many great geniuses, often very eccentric and absent. One of his friends, who partook of the same room, told me, that West, when at night composing, would come in a thouglit- fnl mood to him at his table, and carefully snuff his candle, and then return quite satisfied to his own dim taper, which he left unrepaired.' Bryant (letter of reminiscences in Mitford's 2nd life of Gray). 160 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. is Mrs Slipslop' &c. 'These light things (I mean such as characterise and paint nature surely are as weighty and much more useful than your grave discourses upon the mind, the passions and what not.'... His 'paradisiacal pleasures' he says should be to read 'eternal new romances of Marivaux and Crebillon.' Then follows an answer to West's criticism on the style of Agrippina, parts of which have often been quoted, latterly by Mr Matthew Arnold— 'the language of the age is never the language of poetry : except among the French, whose verse, when the thought or image does not support it, differs nothing from prose.' &c. He ends by saying ' You need not fear unravelling my web. ... I believe my amusements are as little amusing as most folks... but... it is better than iv dfiadla /cot dfiova-la KarajBiavac' 37. WEST TO GRAY. April [1742] To begin with the conchision of your letter, whicli is Greek, I desire that you will quarrel no more with your manner of passing your time. In my opinion it is irreproachable, especially as it produces such ex- cellent fruit; and if I, like a saucy bird, must be pecking at it, you ought to consider that it is because I like it. No una litura I beg you, no unravelling of your web, dear sir! only pursue it a little further, and then one shall be able to judge of it a little better. You know the crisis of a play is in the first act; its damnation or salvation wholly rests there. But till that first act is over, every body suspends his OF R. WEST. 161 vote; so how do yoii think I can form, as yet, any just idea of the speeches in regard to their length or shortness? The connexion and symmetry of such little parts with one another must naturally escape me, as not having the plan of the whole in my head ; neither can I decide about the thoughts, whether they are wrong or superfluous ; they may have some future tendency which I perceive not. The style only was free to me, and there I find we are pretty nnich of the same sentiment : for you say the affecta- tion of imitating Shakspeare may doubtless be carried too far: I say as much and no more. For old words we know are old gold, provided they are well chosen. Whatever Ennius was, I do not consider Shakspeare as a dunghill in the least ; on the contrary, he is a mine of ancient ore, where all our great modern poets have found their advantage. 1 do not know how it is, but his old expressions have more energy in them tlian (^urs, and are even more adapted to poetry; certainly, where they are judiciously and sparingly inserted, they add a certain gi'ace to the composition ; in the same manner as Poussin gave a beauty to his pictures by his knowledge in the ancient proportions : but should he, or any other painter, carry the imita- tion too far, and neglect that best of models Nature, I am afraid it would prove a very flat performance. To finish this long criticism : I have this further notion about old words revived, (is not this a pretty G. 11 162 CORRESPONDEXCE ETC. way of finiyhing?) I think them of excellent use in tales ; they add a certain drolleiy to the comic, and a romantic gravity to the serious, which are both charming in their kind; and this way of charming Dryden understood very well. One need only read Milton to acknowledge the dignity they give the epic. But now comes my opinion that they ought to be used in tragedy more sparingly than in most kinds of poetry. Tragedy is designed for public representation, and what is designed for that should certainly be most intelligible. I believe half the audience that come to Shakspeare's plays do not understand the half of what they hear. — But finissons eniin. — Yet one word more. — ^You think the ten or twelve tirst lines the best, now I am for the fourteen last ; add, that they contain not one word of ancientry. I rejoice you found amusement in Joseph Andrews. But then I think your conceptions of Paradise a little upon the Bergerac. Les Lettres dn Seraphim B. h Madame la Cherubinesse de Q. What a piece of extravagance would there be ! And now you must know that my body continues weak and enervate. And for my animal spirits they are in perpetual fluctuation : some whole days I have no relish, no attention for any thing ; at other times I revive, and am capable of writing a long letter, as you see; and though I do not write speeches, yet I translate them. When you understand what speech. OF R. WEST. 163 you will own that it is a bold and perhaps a dull attempt. In three words, it is prose, it is from Tacitus, it is of Germanicus. Peruse, perpend, pro- nounce. ' Gray answers from London, in the same month, that ' Agrippina is laid to sleep till next summer ', and Mason adds that ' he never after awakened her '. He commends West's translation of Tacitus and sends him a version of Propertius (Works, ed. Gosse, Vol. i. p. 153). 38. * WEST TO ASHTON. Dear Ashton, Had I anything instructive or amusing to send you you should have it : but as I have neither you must excuse me both, but the end of this letter is a Petition. If you can find the burlesque imita- tion, I left with you of Pope's Verses on his Grotto, I sh*^ be greatly obliged to you, to send it me. Vale mi Reverendissime* EV. Tuesday April 15 [1742]. i This speech I omit to print, as I have generally avoided to publish mere translations either of Mr Gray or his friend, [Mason.] 2 The reference to Pope's Verses, and this form of salu- tation, which shows that Ashton is now ordained, combine to fix the date of this letter to the time of West's lant illness, rather than to that of 1737. It will be seen that on June 3, Ashton dates from Downing Street, and he was probably much in Walpole's company at this time. 11—2 164 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. My compliments to Walpole. I wish he would write & comfort the Sick, 'tis a Christian duty. I apply it to yrself, Doctour, likewise. 39. WEST TO GRAY. Popes, May 5, 1742 Without any preface I come to your verses, which I read over and over with excessive pleasure, and Avhich are at least as good as Propertius. I am only sorry you follow the blunders of Broukhusius, all whose insertions are nonsense. I have some objec- tions to your antiquated words, and am also an enemy to Alexandrines ; at least I do not like them in elegy. But, after all, I admire your translation so extremely, that I cannot help repeating I long to show you some little errors you are fallen into by following Brouk- husius. ***** Were 1 with you now, and Propertius with your verses lay upon the table between us, 1 could discuss this point in a moment ; but there is nothing so tiresome as spinning o\it a criticism in a letter ; doubts arise, and explanations follow, till there swells out at least a volume of undigested observations; and all because you are not with him whom you want to convince. Read only the letters between Pope and Cromwell in proof of this ; they dispute without end. Are you aware now that I have an interest all this while in banishing criticism from our correspond- ence? Indeed I have; for I am going to write down OF R. WEST. 165 a little ode (if it deserves the name) for your perusal, which I am afraid will hardly stand that test. Never- theless I leave you at your full liberty; so here it follows. Dear Grayi that still within my Heart Possessest far the better part! What mean these sudden Blasts, that rise, And drive the Zephyrs from the Skies? The Winter yet is scarcely gone, And Summer comes but slowly on. Oh, fairest Month of all the year! In whom the Graces still appear Awake, & raise thy drowsy head From off the soft ambrosial Bed : Where, underneath your bower reclined You hear not the least breath of Wind. Awake in all your Glory dress'd Kecall the Zephyrs from the West Restore the Sun, revive the Skies! Awake, sweet Month, arise, arise ! Great Nature's self upbraids your Stay And misses her accustom'd May. See, all around demands your Aid, The Labours of Pomona fade ; The Trees their daily Plaints renew, And dyeing Flowers exclaim on You. No more the Birds their ditties sing: With Storms alone our Forests ring. Come then, but haste thee, gentle May! No slumb'ring now, nor dull Delay. ^ Modestly written 'Dear ' by Gray in Pembroke ms. 166 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. Oh, come with that enchanting Face That lively Look, that youthful Grace! Come, & diffuse thy Spirit round, Till Joy and Plenty do abound That all Things may partake a Part, And Heaven & Earth be glad at Heart.' Gray replies (London, May 8, 1742) : ' I rejoice to see you putting up your prayers to the May.' and then pro- ceeds to some appreciative criticism. — With respect to his own translation of Propertius he says ' I never saw Broukhusius in my life.... You see, by what I sent you that I converse with none but the dead ; they are my old friends, and almost make me long to be with them'; an expression which anticipates Southey's 'My days among the dead are passed.' He sends West a quotation from Anacreon ; and the lines Sigilla in mento impressa Amoris digitulo Vestigio demonstrant mollitudinem challenging West to guess whence they come. 40. WEST TO GRAY. Popes, May 11, 1742 Your fragment is in Aulus Gellius'; and both it and your Greek delicious. But why are you thus ^ This poem, as printed by Mason, differs considerably from the text given above, which is copied from Gray's transcript in Pemb. mss. 2 Mitford has a note to say that this is wrong, and that it is in Mori Marcellus, of course a simple misprint (caused probably by Mitford's minute writing) for Nonius Marcellus: Mitford adds that the passage is quoted by Marcellus s.v. 'Mollitudo'. OF R. WEST. 167 melancholy? I am so sovry for it, that you see I cannot forbear wTiting again the very first opportunity ; tho\igh I have little to say, except to expostulate with you about it. I find you converse much with the dead, and I do not blame you for that; I converse with them too, though not indeed with the Greek. But I must condemn you for your longing to be with them. What, are there no joys among the living? I could almost cry out with Catullus' "Alphene im- memor, atque unanimis false sodalibus!" But to turn an accusation thus upon another, is ungenerous ; so I will take my leave of you for the present with a "Vale, et vive paullisper cum vivis." * From Catullus. - Lesbia, let us (while we may) Live, and love the Time awaj', And never mind what old Folks say. Suns can set, & rise as bright: No rise attends our little Light. We set in everlasting Night. Count me a thousand kisses o'er, Count me a thousand kisses more Count me a thousand still, & then We'll count them o'er & o'er again. Why should I count? why should I know How many kisses you bestow? 'Tis better let the Reckoning fall. We'll kiss and never count at all, 1 Cat. XXX. 1. '■ Vo. v. 168 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. And thus we may avoid much Hate ; Since none can envy at our State; When none shall know our total Bliss, How often tt how much we kiss. Quffiris quot mihi basiationes?i &c. You ask how often you must kiss To make me up my Sum of Bliss, As many heaps of Lybian sand, As lie upon Cyrene's Strand, From Amnion's Shrine the whole Extent On to old Battus' Monument; Or as many Stars as spy From their Watch-Tower in the Sky The lawless Thefts of Soft Delight That pass beneath the Silent Night: So many Kisses you must kiss To make me up my Sum of Bliss. And when the Sum so great is grown, That ne'er its number can be known : The curious then their Tale will cease, And Envy's tongue repose in Peace. Fav: Wrote, May 11, 1742. He died, the first of June following. - Gray's last extant letter to West bears the date London, May 27, 1742. West has taken him too seriously. ' Mine is a white Melancholy, or rather Leucocholy for the most part., .a good easy sort of state.'...' The May seems to have come since your invatation' (let. 39) 'and I propose to bask in her beams.' He reminds him of a contemponiry at Eton who is now a husband and father, and of states- men whom they remember as 'dirty boys playing at ' Cat. VII. - [Gray's note in Pembroke Common-place Books.] OF R. WEST. 160 cricket'; sends him a Greek inscription for a wood, and (with a long explanation) the Latin poem ' Sophonisba Massinissae.' It is one of the brightest of Gray's letters, with no shadow on it of the impending calamity. It was the last of his that West ever saw, the next was from Stoke with the ode on Spring; thus the first of Gray's and the last of West's original efforts in English verse were on the same theme. In the Pembroke Common Place Book, Gray calls his poem 'Noon-tide, an ode'; to it he has appended the note "at Stoke, the beginning of June 1 742 sent to Fav : not knowing he was then Dead." 41. *ASHTON TO WEST. My dearest West, The melancliol)' acct of your Health, is an inexpressible concern to me, & I shall wait with an impatient expectation of yr Recovery & rejoice sin- cerely in every little accession to your Strength. But keep up your Spirits whatever you do. You have Youth and the Season of the year on yr side, 1 pray God to supply you with Strength, and bless you with a perfect Vigour of body & Mind. M'' Walpole sympathizes with you. As soon as you can use your Hand let us hear from you. Nobody can wish you better than we do. Yrs very sincerely Thos. Ashton. Downing Street June 8. 1742. 170 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. When this was written West had ah-eady been dead two days. Gray's letter, written on the impulse of this sudden grief, and the verses by Ashton to which he there refers, may fitly close this strange and rather sad little history. 42. * GRAY TO ASHTON. My dear Ashton, This melancholy day is the first that I have had any notice of my Loss in poor West, and that only by so unexpected a Means as some verses pub- lished in a Newspaper (they are fine & true & I believe may be your own.) I had indeed some reason to suspect it some days since from recieving a letter of my own to him sent back unopen'd. The stupid People had put it no Cover, nor thought it worth while to write one Line to inform me of the reason, tho' by knowing how to direct, they must imagine I was his friend. I am a fool indeed to be surprizd at meeting with Brutishness or want of Thought among Mankind; what I would desire is, that you would have the goodness to tell me, what you know of his death, more particularly as soon as you have any Leisure; — my own Sorrow does not make me in- sensible to your new Happiness', which I heartily ^ What this was, I do not know for certain, but it probably has to do with some piece of preferment, consequent on Ashton's ordination. It is stated in Aluiniti KtoiienseK that he was presented to the living of Aldingham in Lancashire, OF E. WEST. 171 congratulate you upon, as the means of Quiet, and Independence, & the Power of expressing yr benevo- lence to those you love, neither my Misfortune, nor my joy shall detain y(ju longer at a time, when doubtless you are a good deal emploj^d ; only believe me sincerely yours T. Gray. P.S. Pray do not forget my impatience, especially if you do not happen to be in London. I have no one to enquire of but yourself, 'tis now three weeks, that I have been in the Country, but shall return to Town in 2 days. June 17 Stoke, 1742. While surfeited with Life each hoary knave Grows here immortal, & eludes the Grave : Thy virtues prematurely met their Fate, Cramp'd in the Limits of too short a Date. Thy Mind not exercised so oft in vain In Health was gentle, & composed in Pain : Successive Tryal still refined thy Soul, And plastic Patience perfected the Wliole. A friendly Aspect not inform'd by Art, An Eye that look'd the Meaning of thy Heart, A Tongue with simple Truth & Freedom fraught, The Faithful Index of thy honest Thought. which he resigned in 1749; but the date of this iDresentation is not given. The ' happiness ' was probably nothing matri- monial; an engagement, later, which promised him £12,000, was, according to Gray, broken off in 1746 (Works ed. Gosse, ii. 144), and he married Miss Amyand, on the 10th of December, 1760. 172 CORRESPONDENCE ETC. OF R. WEST. Thy pen disdain'd to seek the servile Ways of partial Censure and more partial Praise. Thro' every Tongue it flow'd in nervous Ease With Sense to polish, & with Wit to please, No lurking Venom from thy Pencil fell ; Thine was the kindest Satyr, liveing well: The Vain, the Loose, the Base, might blush to see In what Thou wert, what they themselves should be. Let me not charge on Providence a Crime, Who suatch'd thee blooming to a better clime To raise those Virtues to a higher Sphere Virtues which only could have starved thee here. ASHTON^ [From Gray's ms. at Pembroke.] 1 Mitford, Life of Gray, Aldine ed. vol. 1 p. xvi has the note "There is in the European Magazine for Jan. 1788 p. 45 a poem said to be written by West, called 'Damon to Philomel', and a copy of Verses on his death, supposed to be written by his uncle Judge Burnet." On turning out this reference, I find that the poem " Damon to Philomel" is by Mr West "who died Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Dec. 3, 1726"; i.e. by West's father, and the verses on the death of the younger West are no other than those above given, known to be by Ashton. SECTION III. GRAY TO JOHN CHUTE. [LETTERS PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MR CHUTE'S HISTORY OF THE VYNE.] SECTION III. GRAY TO JOHN CHUTE. Thk following account of John Ohute is compiled from Mr Chaloner Chute's History of the Vyne. He was born Dec. 30, 1701, and was thus nearly 15 years older than Gray. He was educated at Eton, when Dr Godolphin was Provost. From the death of his father (Edward Chute) in 1722, until that of his elder brother Anthony in 1754, he lived principally abroad, spending much of his time in Florence at Casa Ambrosio, the house of Horace Mann, the British Resident. It was here that he made the acquaintance of Gray and Walpole in 1740. When Gray parted company with AValpole at Reggio, in the spring of 1741, he consoled himself with the com- panionship of John Chute and his young relative, Francis Thistlethwayte, of Southwick Park, Hampshire, who had recently taken the name of Whithed under his uncle's will. These three spent the festival of Ascensiontide 1741, in Venice together, after which Gray returned to England. John Chute, who never married, died May 26, 1776, at the Vyne, and was buried in the Parish Church of Sherborne St John. (For an account of his correspondence with Walpole, see Mr Chute's Ilist. of the Vyne, chap, v.) He built the Tomb Chamber adjacent to the Chapel of the Vyne and placed in it the beautiful recumbent figure of his ancestor Chaloner Chute (Speaker of the House of Com- mons under Richard Cromwell) — one of the best works of the sculptor Thomas Banks. He was a man of taste 176 GRAY TO JOHN CHUTE. and culture, — there is a quiet and graceful pleasantry in his recorded bons mots. See further, Walpole, S/iort Notes, &c.. Letters i. p. Ixvii (ed. Cunningham). The following was obviously written just after Gray's I'eturn from the Continent. 1. TO MR CHUTE. [Sep. 7, 1741.] My dear S'' I complain no more. You have not forgot me. IVP^ Dick, to whom I resorted for a Dish of Coffee, instead — thereof produced unto me from her Breast your kind Letter, big with another no less kind from our poor mangled Friend' to whom I now address myself (you do'nt take it ill) & let him know, that as soon as I got hither, I took wing for the Strand to see a certain Acquaintance of his (for I then knew not whether he were dead, or alive) & get some News of him. I was so struck with the great resemblance between them, that it made me cry out . he is a true Eagle, but a little tamer, & a little fatter than the Eagle Resident : I told him so, but he did not seem to think it so great a Compliment as I did. his Wife had miscarried but was quite well again ; his house half pulled down, but riseing again more magnificent 1 Gray soon after his arrival visited Galfridus, twin brother of Horace Mann, in Loudon. Mann was at this time much tried by illness, which he bore most patiently. (Mr Chute, Hist, of the Vyite, p. 86.) GRAY TO JOHN CHUTE. 177 from it's Euins. lie received me, as became a Bird of his Race, & suifer'd himself to be caressed with- out giveing me one Peck, or Scratch, the only bad thing I know of him, is, that he wears a Frock, & a Bobb-Wigg. may I charge you, my dear M"' Chute (I give you your great Name for want of a little tiny one) with my Compliments to D'' Cocchi', Benevoli (tho I hate him) and their Patient, particularly to this last for recovering so soon, & so much to my Satisfaction. I think one may call him dear Creature, & be fond in Security under the Sanction of your Cover. I carried his Mus^ Flor? to Commissioner Haddock, who is Liddel's uncle, that Gentleman had left Paris, haveing been elected for some place in this Parliament, & (tho' it is like to be controverted) took the opportunity to return to England for a time, but is now gone, I think to Spaw. Adieu ! M*^ M: Nunc ad te totum me converto, suavissime Chuti ! whom I wrote to from Dover, if this be London, Lord send me to Constantinople, either I, or it are ex- tremely odd. the Boys laugh at the depth of my Ruffles, the immensity of my Bagg, & and the length of my Sword. I am as an Alien in my native land, yea ! I am as an owl among the small birds, it rains, 1 Mann's Physician. Also an Author. Described in a letter from the Earl of Cork to Mr Duncombe, Nov. 29, 1754, as ' a man of most extensive learning ; understands, reads and speaks all the European languages.' [Wright.] G. 12 178 GRAY TO JOHN CHUTE. everybody is discontented, and so am I. you can't imagine how mortifieing it is to fall into the hands of an English Barber. Lord ! how you or Polleri would storm in such a Case, do'nt think of comeing hither without Lavaur, or something equivalent to him (not an elephant)\ the Natives are alive, & flourishing, the fashion is a grey frock with round Sleeves, Bob- Wig, or a Spencer, plain Hat with enormous Brims, & shallow Crown, cock'd as bluff, as possible, Muslin- Neckcloth twisted round, rumpled, and tuck'd into the breast ; all this with a certain Sa-faring Air, as if they were just come back from Cartagena", if my pockets had any thing in them, I should be afraid of every body I met. look in their face, they knock you down ; speak to them, they bite off your Nose. I am no longer ashamed in publick, but extremely afraid, if ever they catch me among'em, I give them leave to eat me. so much for Dress, as to Politicks, every body is extremely angry with all that has been, 1 Vide the anecdotes of Lord William Poulet (xxxv, of 'Walpoliana' vol. 1, p. 17). 'A gentleman writing to desire a fine horse he had, offered him any equivalent. Lord William replied that the horse was at his service, but he did not know what to do with an elephant.'' ^ i.e. from the disastrous expedition to that place under Vernon and Wentworth. The assault of Cartagena was aban- doned on the 24th of April, 1741. The best account of this sad affair is to be found in Smollett's Roderick Random. Smollett was surgeon's mate on board one of Admii'al Vernon's ships. GRAY TO JOHN CHUTE. 179 or shall be done : even a Victory at this time would be look'd upon as a wicked attempt to please the Nation, the Theatres open not till to morrow, so you will excuse my giveing no account of them to- night, now I have been at home, & seen how things go there, would I were with you again, that the Remainder of my Dream might at least be agreeable. as it is, my prospect can not well be more unpleasing ; but why do I trouble your Goodnature with such considerations ? be assured, that when I am happy (if that can ever be) your Esteem will greatly add to that happiness, & when most the contrary, will always alleviate, what I suffer, many, many thanks for your kindness ; for your travels, for your News, for all the trouble I have given, & must give you. omit nothing, when you write, for things that were q\iite indifferent to me at Florence, at this distance be- come interesting, humble Service to Polleri ; obliged for his harmonious Salutation, I hope to see some Scratches with his black Claw in your next. Adieu ! I am most sincerely, and ever Yours TG: London — Sept: 7: 0: S: P.S. Nobody is come from Paris yet. A Mons^ Monsieur Chute, Gentilhomme Anglois chez Monsf Ubaldini nel Corso de' Tintori h Florence. 12—2 180 GRAY TO JOHN CHUTE. The foregoing is the earliest of Gray's letters to Chute ; and for the convenience of those who would read this correspondence in its proper sequence, I will here give the dates of those letters which are already published in Mr Gosse's edition of Gray's Works, as they are determined by internal evidence, or by comparison with the letters of Walpole about the same time : let. Liv May 24, 1742. let. Lii July, 1742. let. Lv Oct. 25, 1743. let. Lxxv Oct. 1746 (early in the month) let. Lxxvi Oct. 12, Sunday, 1746. It is scarcely necessary to explain the steps by which this arrangement is arrived at; for if the letters are taken in this order, it will justify itself. The two letters of October 1746 are addressed to Chute upon his return with Mr Whithed to England ; what follows (probably in the same, or early in the next month) expresses the same impatience on Gray's part to embrace his friends. To what has been said of Mr Whithed already we may add the following from Gray's first letter of Oct. '46, with Mr Chaloner Chute's note thereon. ' I readily set Mr Whithed free from all imputation ; he is a fine young personage in a coat all over spangles, just come over from the tour of Eui'ope to take possession and be married, and consequently ca'nt be supposed to think of anything or remember any body.' [' A portrait of Francis Whithed at the Vyne by Rosalba shows him much as this letter describes him, " a fine young personage in a coat all over spangles." The picture is matched by a portrait, also by Eosalba, of Margaret, daughter and heiress of John Nichol, of Southgate, Middlesex, the lady here alluded to, to whom he was engaged to be married. But GRAY TO JOHN CHUTE. 181 Whithed died at the Vyne in March 1751, and Margaret Nichol eventually married James Brydges, Marquis of Car- narvon, afterwards 3rd Duke of Chandos.'] 2. TO MR CHUTE. Cambridge, Sunday [October? 1746]. Lustrissimo It is doubtless liiglily I'easonable that two young foreigners come into so distant a country to acquaint themselves with strange things, should liave some time allowed them to take a view of the King (God bless him) and the ministry & the theatres, and Westminster Abbey and the Lyons and such other curiosities of the capital city. You civilly call them dissipations, but to me they appear em- ployments of a very serious nature, as they enlarge the mind, give a just insight into the nature & genius of a people, keep the Spirits in an agreeable agita- tion, and (like, the true artificial spirit of lavender) amazingly fortify and corroborate the whole nervous system : but as all things sooner or later must pass away, and there is a certain period when by the rules of proportion one is to grow weary of everything, I may hope at length a season will arrive when you will be tired of forgetting me. 'Tis true you have a long journey to make first, a vast series of sights to pass through — let me see, you are at Lady Brown's 182 GRAY TO JOHN CHUTE. already; I have set a time when I may say 'Oh he is now got to the waxwork in Fleet Street; there is nothing more but Cupids Paradise and the Her- maphrodite from Guinea & the original Basilisk dragon & the buffalo from Babylon & the new Chimpanzee & then I. have a care, you had best, that I come in my Turn ; you know in whose Hands I have deposited my little Interests. I shall infallibly appeal to my best invisible Friend in the country. I am glad Castalio has justified himself »&; me to You. he seem'd to me more made for Tenderness than Horrour & (I have courage again to insist upon it) might make a better Player than any now on the Stage. I have not alone received (thank you) but almost got thro' Louis Onze'. 'tis very well, me- ^ The Histoire de Louis Onze of Duclos (Charles Duclos Pinot, as M. Auger says we should spell his full name) had been censured by au arret da conseil, of the 28th of March 1745 'comme contenant plusieurs endroits coutraires, non seulement aux droits de la couronne sur differentes provinces du royaume, mais au respect avec lequel on doit parler de ce qui regarde la religion ou les regies des mceurs, et la conduite des principaux membi-es de I'eglise.' This decree prohibited the reprinting of the work until the offensive passages had been removed. Duclos' editor M. Auger (1820) affirms that the order was disobeyed. Nevertheless it is perhaps significant that an edition of the work in the British Museum, which bears date 1745, 6, is printed at the Hague. However this may be, in 1750 Duclos, on Voltaire's going to Prussia, succeeded him as historiographer of France, on the strength of having written the work thus censured five years before. GRAY TO JOHN CHUTE. 183 thinks, but nothing particular, what occasioned his expurgation at Paris, I imagine, were certain Strokes in Defence of the Galhcan Church & its Liberties — a little contempt cast upon the Popes, and something here & there on the Conduct of great Princes, there are a few Instances of Malice against our Nation, that are very foolish. My Companion, whom you salute is (much to my sorrow) only so now and then. He lives 20 miles off at Nurse, and is not so meagre as when you first knew him, but of a reasonable Plumposity. He shall not fail being here to do the Honours, when you make your publick Entry. Heigh ho ! when will that be, chi sa? but mi lusigna il dolce sogno! I love M'' Whithed and wish him all Happiness. Farewell, my dear Sir I am, ever yours, T. G. Commend me kindly to M'' Walpole. ' Soon after writing these letters Gray joined his friends in London, and in a letter to Wharton of Dec. 11, 1746 says, " I have been in town flaunting about at public places with my two Italianized friends.'" [Mr Chaloner Chute, Hist, of the Vpie, p. 104.] 184 GRAY TO JOHN CHUTE. 3. TO MR CHUTE. [1762] My Dear S"^ I was yesterday told, that Turner (the Professor of Modern History here) was dead in London, if it be true; I conclude it is now too late to begin asking for it : but we had (if you remember) some conversa- tion on that Head at Twickenham; & as you have probably found some Opportunity to mention it to M'' W: since, I would gladly know his Thoughts about it. What he can do, he only can tell us : what he will do, if he can, is with me no Question, if he could find a proper channel ; I certainly might ask it with as much, or more Propriety, than any one in this Place, if any thing more were done, it should be as private as possible; for if the People, who have any Sway here, could prevent it, I think they would most zealously. I am not sorry for writing you a little interested Letter: perhaps it is a Stratagem; the only one I had left, to provoke an Answer from you, & revive our — Correspondence, shall I call it? there are many particulars relating to you, that have long interested me more than twenty Matters of this Sort, but you have had no Regard for my Curiosity ; & yet it is something, that deserves a better Name! GRAY TO JOHN CHUTE. 185 I don't so much as know your Direction, or that of M"" Whithed '. Adieu ! I am ever Yours T Gray. To John Chute Esq. The above letter concerns Gray's ?msuccessful applica- tion for the Professorship, which he obtained only in 1768. The Professor appointed in 1762 was Mr Brockett of Trinity. See Mr Gosse's Life of Gray, pp. 157, 158 and infr. Sect. iv. y. n. Also Gray to Wharton, Dec. 4, 1762 (Works ed. Gosse, lii. p. 136), in a note to which Mason states that Gray's name was suggested to Lord Bute by Sir Henry Erskine. 1 It is noteworthy, as indicating how completely this cor- respondence had been dropped, that Gray has no suspicion that Whithed died more than eleven years ere this date. SECTION IV. GRAY TO PERCY AND BROCKETT. SECTION IV. GRAY TO PERCY AND BROCKETT. These letters, &c. are iu the Percy Mss. in the British Museum [Add. MSS. 32,329]. The note to Brockett is followed by a tantalizing fragment (? in the handwriting of Percy) "Short minutes of my Conversation with Mr Gray, the Poet. [Though dated at the time, they were not written till a month after, when it was possible for some small parti- culars to have escaped my memory, and some trifling mistakes to have occiu'red to me.]" And then, on the other side of the leaf is nothing but the well-known story of the reason 'assigned me by my Cambridge friends ' for Gray's leaving Peterhouse — even this tale breaking off in the middle. In Gray's observations on the Pseudo - Rhythmus [Works ed. Gosse, vol. I. p. 371], he mentions having read " ' Death and Life in two fitts ' and Scottish Field in a MS . Collection belonging to the Rev. Mr Thomas Piercy in 1761." Perhaps to this year then belongs the note to Percy (a). That to Brockett is earlier than (a), and collected, it may be, by Percy on his visit to Cambridge, as a r clique. Brockett, it is to be noted, is not here Professor ; he did not become so until 1762. The first edition of Percy's Reliques was published in 1765. 190 GRAY (a) M"" Gray presents his compliments to M"" Piercy & is very sorry for the mistake he has made, concluded that he was lodged at Maudlin, & there- fore sent the book this morning to M"" Blakeway's^ Chambers, where he imagined M'' Piercy to be. The Messenger is a little in liquor, therefore have a care of sending him to fetch it. tlie letter* was in the book, w*"'' M'' Gray thought was deliver'd to M"" P: own hands * viz. M"" Evan Evan's Letter. (/3) (On a separate piece of paper) THE ABBOT OF 3IEUX. Look in a Map of the East-riding of Yorkshire, & you will see, that at a few miles distance — north of Lekenfield lies Watton ; to the South lies Beverley (the usual Burying-Place of the Percies); & to the S. East the Abbey of Meaux, of which there are still some remains visible ; the name is pronounced Meuss. (M'' Mason dictates this note) M"^ Percy's note therefore is wrong. (y) M'' Gray sends his compliments to M^ Brocket". Shall be extremely obliged to him, if 1 " To Mr Blakeway, late fellow of Magdalen College, the Editor owes all the assistance received from the Pepysian library." Preface to Eeliques of Ancient English Poetry, 1765. ^ Of Trinity. Tutor to Sir James Lowther ; Professor of History at Cambridge, 1762 ; supported the Earl of Sandwich TO PERCY AND BROCKETT. 191 lie would make inquiry (when he has occasion to go into Trin: Library) after the following old English Books Paradise of dainty devices 1578 4'° & 1585 England's Helicon 4'" W. Webbe's Discourse of Eng: Poetrie 1585 4*° Fr: Mere's Wit's Commonwealth : 1598 Lond: & 1634^ Sam: Daniel's Musa, or Defence of Rhyme 1611 ' gvo Stephen Hawes' Pastime of Pleasure 1555 4'° Gawen Douglas' Palace of Honour 1533 London 1579 Edinb: Earl of Surrey's Ecclesiastes 1567 4'° 2"* & 4*'' Books of the ^neid 1557 12'"'' Gascoign's Works, 2 v: 4'° 1577 & 1587. If they should not be in the Library, M"^ Gray believes that Professor Torriano" could favour him with a sight of some of them for a few days, he will take all imaginable care of them. in his candidature for the High Stewardship of Cambridge, 1764. 'On Sunday Brocket died of a fall from his horse, drunk, I believe, as some say returning from Hinchinbroke' [Lord Sandwich's place in Huntingdonshire]. Gray to Mason, Aug. 1, 1768. 1 The dates here are uncertain, being blotted or stained. - C. Torriano was Regius Professor of Hebrew from 175.S to 1757. SECTION V. MISS SPEED TO GRAY. G. 13 SECTION V. MISS SPEED TO GRAY. Ai,MO.sT all that we know of Miss Speed is to be found in the life and letters of (jlray. The incident which led to the Long Story is well told by Mr Gosse in his Life of Gray, p. 100. In Cole's ms. note to Mason's Edition, p. 211 (Mitford, Works of (4ray, Vol. i. Appendix D, p. cvii.) we find ' Such was the friendship between the late Lord Viscount Cobham & Colonel Speed, Miss Speed's father, that upon his decease, he esteemed her as his own child ; brought her up in his family, and treated her with a paternal care and tenderness.' Gray relates with manifest pleasvu'e that she used to say (pcovaura awe- To'iai in so many words to those who could not under- stand his Odes. Let us add these notices ^ from Gray : July 1760 (to Wharton): "I remain... still in town, though for these three weeks I have been going into Oxfordshire with Madam Speed ; but her affairs, as she says, or her vagaries, as I say, have obliged her to alter her mind ten time's within that space: no wonder, for 1 The earliest notice of her is by Pope to Martha Blount. Writing from Stowe the seat of Lord Cobham, July 4, 1739 be says " Lady Cobham and M" Speed who (except two days) have been the sole inhabitants, wish you were here." She was then 16 years old. 13—2 196 MISS SPEED she has got at least £30,000 with a house in town, plate, jewels, china and old japan infinite [left her by Lady Cobham] so that indeed it would be ridiculous for her to know her own mind. I who know mine, do intend to go to Cambridge," &c. Oct. 21, 1760 (to the same) : " You astonish me in wondering, that my Lady C* left me nothing. For my part, I wondered to find she had given me £20 for a ring ; as much as she gave to several of her own nieces. The world said, before her death, that ]\Irs Speed and I had shut ourselves up with her in order to make her will, and that afterwards we were to be married." Jan. 1761 (to the same) : " My old friend Miss Speed has done what the world calls a very foolish thing. She has married the Baron de la Peyriere, son to the Sardinian minister, the Comte de Viry. He is about 28 years old (ten years younger than herself) but looks nearer 40... The Castle of Viry is in Savoy a few miles from Geneva, commanding a fine view of the Lake . . Her religion she need not change, but she must never expect to be well received at that court till she does ; and I do not think she will make quite a Julie in the country." March 5, 1766 (to the same) : " Mad. de la Perrifere is come over from the Hague to be Ministress at London... She is a prodigious fine lady, and a Catholick (though she did not expressly own it to me) not fatter than she was : she had a cage of foreign birds and a piping bullfinch at her elbow, two little dogs on a cushion in her lap, a cockatoo on her shoulder, and a strong suspicion of rouge on her cheeks. They were all exceeding glad to see me, & I them," TO GRAY. 197 MISS SPEED TO CxEAY.i Sir, I ,1111 as uiuch at a loss to bestow the Com- mendation due to your x>erforiiiance as any of our modern Poets would be to imitate them ; Everybody tliat lias seen it, is charm'd and Lady Cobliam'- was the first, tho' not the last that regretted the loss of the 400 stanzas^; all that I can say is, that your obliging inclination* in sending it has fiilly answerd; as it not only gave us amusement the rest of the Evening, but always will, on reading it over. Lady Cobham and the rest of the Company hope to have your's tomorrow at dinner. I am your oblig'd & obedient Henrietta Jane Speed. Sunday. The date of the above letter is probalily August, 1750, in which month the Lonfj Stnri/ was written. ' Mitford [Add. mss. 32,.5»)I p. 208]. 2 Ann, widow of Field-Marshal Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham, who died in 1749, daughter of Edmund Halsey Esci. of Southwark : she lived at the Old House at Stoke Park. [Mitford.] Halsey was the predecessor of Thrale's father in the brewery. [Boswell's JoJinsnii, B. Hill's ed. vol. i. p. 491 n.] •^ ' Here .500 stanzas are missing.' Lonn Story. I think I have transcribed Mitford accurately. * She probably means ' intention '. 198 MISS SPEED MISS SPEED TO GRAY. 25 Aug 5i^. My dear Sir, I wonder whether you think me capable of all the gratitude I really feel for the late marks you have given me of your friendship. I will venture to say, if yoii knew my Heart you Avould be content with it. but knowing my exterior so well as you do, you can easily conceive me vain of the Partiality you shew me ; in return for putting me in good humour with myself, I will give you pleasure by assuring you Lady Cobham is surprizingly Avell & most extremely obliged to you for the anxiety you expressed on her acct. — We now take the air eveiy day, and are returnd to our old way of living, & hope we shall go on in the same way many years. We are both scandalizd at your being in Toun ' at this time of the year, not because (as you may think) that it is unfashion- able, but because we think it very unwholsouie from the heat of the Season. Now I know you are insen- sible to heat or cold, not but that your body suffers by either extreme, but you have not attention enough to yourself to seek a remedy. We beg now to point out one against the excessive heat of London, by desiring you wou'd come down to Stoke, where you will find everything cool but the reception, we shall ' Sic apparently in Mitfoid. TO GRAY. 199 give you. There is always a Bed aired for you, & one for your Serv* indeed I can make use of the strongest argument to tempt you, which is that at this time it will be a deed of Charity as we are abso- lutely alone. jVP^ Clavering and ]M'' Crane the Apo- thecary left us yesterday. I don't know Avhether you are acquainted with the latter, but 1 have such a partiality from his attendance on Lady Cobham that 1 almost wish for a slight fit of illness, that I may have something to do with him — if you are at present an invalide, let that prompt you to come, for from the affected Creature you knew me, I am nothing now but a comfortable nurse. You sent me dreadful news in regard to the K. of P. ' I now begin to fear for him, it was vastly good (jf you to give us a detail of what passes in the World, for few people will be at that trouble, indeed a Certain Countess with whom I correspond does not spare Pains, but such news as she sends is not always to be depended on.— I have kept her last letter for your entertainment. I am au desespoire ^ about my friend L. G. S.' and am sorry from difft. hands to 1 Book XIX. of Carlyle's Frederick the Great 1759—1760, bears the significant heading ' Like to be overwhelmed.' The disastrous battle of Kunersdorf had been fought on the 12th of August. - sic. ^ Lord George Sackville, who being in command of the cavalry at the battle of Minden (Aug. 1, 1759) declined to 200 MISS SPEED TO GRAY. hear that his narrative is about as much in his favour, as you seem to think his letter to Col: Fitzroy. — I hope to talk all these matters over with you, soon, therefore shall add no more at present, but that I am with great Truth Dear M'' Greys' faithfull Serv* Henrietta Jane Speed. Never make excuses about franks, for I shall never grudge the expense you put me to by your letters. charge, and thus lost the opportunity of entii'ely routing the enemy. He was tried by court-martial in the following year, and cashiered. See Gray's letter to Brown (vol. iii. let. iii. ed. Gosse). In letter iv. ib. he gives him a fuller account of the battle ; while in letter v. Sept. 28 to Wharton he says ' The night we rejoiced for Boscawen [his victory in the Mediter- ranean over the French fleet] in the midst of squibs and bonfires arrived Lord G. Sackville. He sees company ; and to-day has put out a short address to the Public, saying, he expects a Court-Martial (for no one abroad had authority to try him) and desires people to suspend their judgement. I fear it is a rueful case.' He concludes ' I believe I shall go on Monday to Stoke for a time, where Lady Cobham has been dying,' — indicating a sudden change for the worse since Miss Speed's letter supra. (Gray's next letter is from Stoke Oct. 6.) 1 sic. SECTION VL GRAY'S NOTES OF TRAVEL. FRANCE, ITALY, SCOTLAND. (hitherto unpublished.) From the Collection of Mr John Morris. SECTION VI. GRAY'S NOTES OF TRAVEL. Mr Gosse (Gray's Works, vol. iv. p. 340) describes the following as 'rather dry and impersonal notes of the journey in France in 1739,' up to the point where the journal printed in vol. I. (pp. 235 — 246) of his edition of Gray begins. It will be found, however, that they run considerably beyond that point. For instance, both sets of notes include Dijon, Chalons sur Saone, Tournus, Lyons, Geneva. I believe that Gray kept two records, meant to supplement each other. The general character, however, of the notes here given, as compared with the more or less parallel notes which Mr Gosse has printed, bears out his description of them. They are like an embryo catalogue or topographical history. It is signiti- cant that here he gives an account of Chalons-sur-Saone, through which, in the other journal he says he ' went without stopping.' In the Italian notes, there is not the same parallelism. Those here given, headed ' Florence, April 1740i,' are pro- bably the earliest ; next come those called by Mitford ' Criticisms on Architecture and Poetry during a tour in 1 Mr Gosse [Gray's Works, ii. p. 58] says that Gray's short remarks on the pictures which he saw at Florence and other places were published in 1843 by Mitford. 1 have not found any but the Roman notes, in the Aldine edition, vol. iv. 183(5 ; [vol. v. bears date 1843]. 204 GRAY. Italy,' which will he found, however, on examination to belong entirely to Eome; and lastly — by far the most interesting — those under the heading ' Road to Naples June 12.' Even in Italy, however, it is probable that Gray kept two sets of papers. It has seemed best not to attempt to annotate this part of the work, which, if done at all, should be done by some one well acquainted with art and ai-chitecture. Accordingly only one or two references or explanations are here added. Cathedral of Amiens', — Shrine of S* Firmin, of massy Gold — rich painted windows. Abbey, and ('athedral of S*^ Dennis — Monuments of the Kings of Prance — Lewis 12 Francis P', Henry 2*^, Catharine of Medicis, particularly fine; some good Bas-reliefs, rich mosaic windows — the Treasury — inestimable antique Vase of oriental Onyx with admirable Sculptures representing the mysteries of Bacchus — Crown of Cliarlemagne ; Rubies, Emeralds & Sapphires of vast bigness — Coronation roljes & other Regalia. PARIS. 1. The Palais Royal, built by Card: Richelieu, inhabited at present by the Duke of Orleans — a 1 In a letter to Dorotliy Gray Ajnil 1, 17H9 [ii. p. K), ed. Gosse], he says ' the Cathedral is just what that of Canterbmy must have been before tlie Reformation.' He is speaking of course only of the subordinate decorations ; in a letter to his mother architectural distinctions would have been out of iilace. NOTES OF TRAVEL, 205 noble collection of near 500 Pictures of great masters — the S* John Baptist of Eaphael — Naked Venus, wringing her hair, by Guido — the Leda and Danae of Corregio — a whole room of the finest Paid Veronese — the 7 Sacraments of Poussin — small copies in Bronze of the Toro, Lyon & Horse, &c: — the new Gallery, design'd by Mansart, & richly adorn'd with sculpture, gilding and furniture of fine embroidery ; painted by Coypel with stories from th' Eneid — The Walks belonging to the Palace. 2. The Palace Luxembourg, built by Mary of ]\ledicis; at present the residence of the 2"* Queen Dowager of Spain — the Gallery so well known, of Eubens. 3. The Invalides — the Church, beautiful disposi- tion of the Chapels, & Dome; Altar imitated from S* Peter's at Rome. 4. The Val de Grace — tine Chappel; beautiful Statues of the Virgin & Joseph by Anguier. 5. The Hotel de Toulouse — the grand Gallery, rich gilding, embroidery, and Glasses, on each side 5 Capital pictures — the Rape of Helen, by Guido, the Sabine Wives separating the two armies by Guercino, a Divorce, by P*T° di Cortona. — 6. Cathedral of Notre Dame — Statues of the Virgin with the dead Christ, & those of Louis the 13*^ & U*'', by the 2 Coutoux, & Coysevox. 7. Church of the Carmelites — a fine Annuncia- 206 GRAY. tion, of Guido — a Magdalen, of Le Brim. Statue of Cardl BeniUe, by Sarazin. 8. The English Benedictins. Body of K. James '2'\ deposed here. 9. Abbey of >S'' Genevieve — fine Library — ancient ( 'hurch, Monument of Des Cartes. 10. Abbey of S^ Germain de Pres. — Library, collection of antiquities — the Church sepulchres of the Kings of y'' first race — great Altar, a handsome piece of architecture. Monument of Casimir, K: of Poland. IL Church of the Celestines — fine tomb of the Const: Monmorency — Monument over y'' Heart of Harry 2*^ — & of Charles 9"' — another to the memory of Francis 2"^ — Tomb of the D: of Orleans & his wife — that of the D: of Longueville. 12. Church of S* Eustache. Tomb of Mons^ Colbert by Coysevox. 13. Church of >S'* Snljnre, a vast, new building, handsome enough. 14. 7Vie Sorhonne, the admirable tomb of Card: Richelieu, by Girardon. 3 figures. 15. The College de quatre Nations — monument & fine statue of C: Mazarin. 16. The Grand Jesuits — Monument of Silver gilt over the heart of Lewis 13: — Chapel & monument of H: Prince of Condd with fine Bas-reliefs & Statues by Sarrazin in Bronze. NOTES OF TRAVEL. 207 17. Hotel de Mezieres, where the Cardinal Polignac resides — a collection of statues — 4 figures representing the discovery of Achilles, the bodies and drapery Antique, arms & head modern, fine Sarco- phagus with a Bacclianal in alto-relievo. Bust of Julius Cffisar young, several urns, some of Oriental Alabaster, P(^rphiry, Serpentine & Granate. Tables of Verde autico, and other precious marbles. Pictures, a S* Sebastian's Head, very fine, an Endymion sleeping, an Adonis dead ; by Guercino. a Woman & a child, Portraits; by Titian, a Virgin's Head, by Carlo Dolci View of S' Peter's, by Paolo Pan- nini, &c: — 18. Hotel de My lord Walgrave. — Susannah ^K: the Elders, by Guido. Woman taken in Adultery by Luca Giordano, the Brazen Serpent, by Sebast: Bordone. fine Landscapes, of Claude Lorraine. 1 9. Hotel de Mons'" Knight, death of Orpheus ; & Bacchus with xiriadne, by Pietro di Cortona. Landscapes of CI: Lorraine. 20. Hotel de M"" Hayes. David with the Head of Goliah, by Guido, exceeding fine. Lanscapes of 01: Lorraine, veiy good. 21. Place royale. a handsome Square, fine equestrian Statue of Lewis 13, by Ricciarelli. 22. Place de Vendome. an Octagon of regular buildings, fine Statue of Lewis 14, on horseback by Girardon. 208 GRAY. 23. Place des Victoires. an oval, but small, liuge gilt Statue of 1/. 14'*' with a Victory. 24. The Chartreux. — the Cloyster, with the life of S' Bruuo, by Le Sueur in 24 pictures, admirably fine ; figures about a foot high. — Cells of the religious, composed of a parlour, a bed-chamber, a library, a galleiy, & a garden; very small, but excessively neat. 25. Hotel de Soubise — fine furniture, Tapestry, gilding, lustres of rock-Crystal, & embroider'd beds. 26. Versailles. 27. 3IarU. 28. Chantilly. 29. S* Clou. 30. aS" Germains. 31. Trianon. DIJON. Founded by Aurelian, called Divio, usual residence of the Dukes of Burgundy : the Kings used to reside at Vienne, or Chalons. Hugues 3'', D. of B : made it a City first, in 12*'' Century, bestowed upon a younger branch of the Ducal house, holding in fee of the Bishops of Langres. Robert, K : of France, haveing bought the Bishop's pretensions, bestows it on a younger Son of his own ; but the Dukes of B"*^ find means to reunite to their other possessions, till at the death of Charles le Hardi Lewis 11"' of France NOTES OF TRAVEI-. 209 seizes upon it together with the whole Dutchy. Parliament held here. Monuments of the Dukes at the Carthusians. CHALONS SUE SAONE. Anciently Cabillonum, great causeway made by -T. Cpesar between this & Bibracte (or Augustodunum) now Autun. Counts of Chalons independant of the Df of Burgundy. Kings of France passing thro' here are invested by the Bishop with the robes of a Canon, they bestow the robe on some Ecclesiastic, who from thence has a right to the next vacant stall in the (Jathedral. Abelard died here in the monastery of S* Marcel. TOURNUS. Trenurchium : an old & rich Abbey here, mth two exceeding high spires, dedicated to S*" Philibert ; the Abbots were once sovereigns of the town. Mar- garet, Widow to Charles d'Anjou, K: of Sicily, built here a small palace, where she ended her days, it is now an Hospital. MASCON. Matisco. DUTCHY OF BURGUNDY. John, K: of France, seized upoii it, & bestow'd it on Philip de Valois, his youngest Son, surnamed the Bold, this Philip married Margaret, Heiress of G. 14 ■210 GRAY. Flandere, & Widow of his Predecessour, Philip de Rouvr^, who had died without Issue. Philip the Bold was regent of France during the Lunacy of Charles the G**' his nephew. Jean, Sans peur, suc- ceeded Philip, his father, he had Lewis, D : of Orleans assassinated, & made himself Regent of France, for 12 years, he was murther'd at a con- ference with Charles 7* then but Dauphin, at the Bridge of Montereau in L'lsle de France. Philip le Bon, his Son, succeeded him, & enter'd into an alliance with England, after many years of War is reconciled to the K: of France, the Low- Countries are united in his Person, he founded the Order of the Golden-fleece. Charles le Hardi succeeded him. he is defeated by the Swiss at Morat, & killed in Lorain at the battle of Nancy. Lewis 11**" seizes upon Burgundy in prejudice to the rights of Mary, Daughter of D : (Charles, and Wife to Maximilian, Son to the Emperour Frederick. Maximilian consents to a peace with Lewis, & gives his daughter Margaret to the Dauphin Charles with Burgundy, Artois, &c: for a Dowry. LYONNOIS. The way between Macon & Lyons runs thro' a fine Champain country, with Convents & Villages in view ; you pass thro' Villefranche, a small town, but the Capital of Beaujolois. NOTES OF TRAVEL. 211 LYONS. The distant survey from the streets exceeding narrow; the best point of view from the principal bridge over the Rhone, where once was a wooden one which broke down with an infinite number of people on it, as K : Philip Augustus & Richard P* of England had just pass'd it in their way to the holy land, this city was the Ancient Lugdunum, the first Roman colony was in the time of Augustus settled there by Munatius Plancus (whose monument is extant near Cajeta in Italy) it is situated in the Province of the Segusii, Hannibal is supposed to have passed the Rhone hereabouts, & enterred (sic) Italy by the Country of the Insubri (the Milanese) by Chambery & the Vale of Aosta ; here was then a small Island formed by the conflux of the Rhone & Saone, & a Canal, which is now filled up, & on which a part of the city is built, particularly the place des Terreaux. the Abbey of Aisnay stands, where was once the temple of Augustus ; it was erected to his memory by 60 Nations of the Gauls. Drusus is said to have consecrated it, the day his Son Claudius was born here, the four pillars which support the mid Arch of the Abbey-Church, were made out of two, that stood at each Angle of the ancient altar ; they appear of pure oriental Granite, there are some bas-rehefs & inscriptions about the Abbey : it was consecrated in 14—2 212 GRAY. the 12"' century by Pope Paschal. the famous harangue of Claudius upon two brass plates is in the Hotel de Ville. it was made to introduce some great families of Gallia Lugdunensis into the Senate, in Nero's time, when the whole city was burnt, these tables were lost, but discover'd in the ruins of Mont S* Sebastien in the year 1529. in the place de Ter- reaux, Cinq-Mars was executed in Card: Richelieu's Ministry, the Place de Bellecourt is magnificent, upon the bridge o'er the Rhone, the Enip: Gi'atian was murder 'd by Andragatius, General to Maximus. the Castle de Pierre-Encise was once the Archbishop's palace, but is now a State-prison, on the side of a hill near S* George's gate are still to be seen some remains of Agrippa's Causeway, it lies 12 foot deep & led from Lyons to Narbonne. the other 3 he made led, 1 to the Pyrenseans by Auvergne, the 2°^ to the Rhine by Strasburg. the third to the Western Ocean near Mardyke. near the gate du Trion are the ruins of an Aqueduct built by M. Antony to carry water to the legions quarter'd on Mount Fourviere ; in this Mountain the Taurobolium was discover'd. some vestigia of the amphitheatre are visible at the Minims ; it was built by Claudius, the Jesuits have a cabinet of curiosities, at S'' Irende are fragments of a Mosaic pavement ; at la Trinity abundance of Roman Epitaphs. a picture of S*^ Thomas's unbelief by Salviati, at the Jacobins, the NOTES OF TRAVEL. 213 Lyonnois belonged to the Constable, Charles of Bourbon, & on his defection was seized by Louisa of Savoy, Mother to Francis 1** who ceded it to the King, her son. DAUPHIN]£. VIENNE. Vienna, Capital of tlie Allobroges ; a Colony sent liither by the Senate in the year 693, another to Colonia Allobrogum (Geneva), and a third to Cularo (Grenoble, Gratianopolis). it was the Capital of the Burgundian Kings, and comeing to a younger branch of that house, they stiled themselves Counts Dauphins of the Viennois, Humbert, the last of them made it over to Charles, D : of Normandy, Son to King John of France on the well-known conditions, here is to be seen the old temple, or Pr?etorium. GENEVA. Anciently Geneva; Genoa in Italy is supposed by Livy to be a colony from this Geneva or Genua, or Gebennse. it was the frontier town of the Allobroges towards Helvetia. 1. Gallos ab Aquitanis Garumna flumen, a Belgis Matrona & Sequana dividit. Helvetii reliquos Gallos virtute prrecedunt, quod fere quotidianis prreliis cum Germanis contendunt, 2. Helvetii continentur una ex parte flumine Rheno latissimo atq altissimo, qui agrum Helvetium a 214 GRAY. Germanis dividit: alter,! ex parte, inonte lura al- tissimo, qu0e est inter Sequanos & Helvetios ; tertia, lacu Lemauo, & flumine Rliodano, qui provinciani nostram ab Helvetiis dividit. 3. Santonum fines non \ong6 a Tolosatium finibus absimt ; quse civitas est in provinci^. 4. Ocelum, quod est citerioris provinciae ex- tremum. 5. Segusiani sunt extra provinciani trans Rho- danum primi. 6. Flumen est Arar, quod per fines ^duorum & Sequanorum in Rhodanum influit incredibili lenitate, ita ut oculis in utrara partem fluit (sic) judicari nou possit. 7. Omnis civitas Helvetia in quatuor pagos divisa est; Tigurinum \ Verbigenuni ', 8. Bibracte, oppidum ^duorum longe maximum ac copiosissimum. 9. Boios petentibus .SIduis, quod egregia virtute erant, ut in finibus suis collocarent ', concessit ; quibus illi agros dederunt; quosq postea in parem juris libertatisq conditionem, atq ipsi erant, receperunt. 10. Omnium rerum summa erat Helvetiorum 263,000, Tulingorum 36,000, Latobrigorum 14,000, 1 Added by Gray to these words of Caesar (De Bell. Gall. I. 12). The patjun Tigurimts is mentioned 1. c ; the pagus Verbigenus i. 27. The other two Csesar does not name. 2 Gray writes 'collocassent'. NOTES OF TRAVEL. 215 Rauracorum 22,000, Boiorum 32,000; ex his, (^ui arma ferre possent, ad 92,000. eoriini, qui doirmui rediex'unt censu habito repertus est immenis 110,000. 11. Ager Sequanus, qui est optimus totius Gallise. 1. Gallia propria, or the country of the Celtaj, was divided from the Belgse by the R: Seine & Marne, from the Aquitani, by the Garonne, so that it contained of the modern France all Normandy W: of the Seine, Bretagne, the Orleanois, Poitou, Burgundy, Champagne, Dauphin e, Provence, & Languedoc with all the country contained between these ; & moreover Switzerland, the Franche-Comt^, Alsace, & Lorraine, with most of Savoy, out of this, all comprehended between the MediteiTanean on the South, the Alpes on the E:, a line drawn along the Rhone, under Auvergne as far as the Garonne about Toulouse, on the N, & that river & a part of the Pyrenees on the W: was the Roman Province of Gallia Ulterior. 2. Helvetii, the Swisses have still their ancient bounds ; the Rhine divides 'em from Germany, Mount Jura from the Sequani, or Franche-Comtd, & the Lake of Geneva, with the Rhone from Savoy &c: they still retain too their ancient valour. 5. Segusiani, supposed the inhabitants of La For^z, & Beaujolois. 216 GRAY. FLORENCE. April, 1740. Palazzo Pitti. A vast Structure begun by a private Man, Messer Luca Pitti. his Heirs finding themselves reduced by the great Expence he had been at, & themselves unable to finish it, sold it to Leonora of Toledo, the Wife of Cosimo 1™". it was begun on the designs of the famous Ser Brunelleschi, who carried the building as high as the 2^ Story of the Grand Front: after- wards Bart" Ammanati finish'd it on a Model of his own. The Terreno has it's Windows placed at a great distance from one another, the next order has 23 arched Windows in a manner close together with a small & low Balustrade running alone before them of neither Use nor Ornament, over this is a 3** Story smaller of only eleven Windows of the same fashion, this whole front is charged all over with Rustick after the Tuscan fashion in large Bozzi, & makes an ap- pearance grand enough, opening upon a large Piazza (tho' this Piazza is neither levell'd, nor paved, it has one Gate, which brings you into a Cortile, square, & surrounded on 3 Sides by a Loggia, over which run the Apartments, this Portico is of the Tuscan order, arched ; & both its Columns, & the face of its Arches charged all over ^v^th Rustick in the Manner of th' Hotel de Luxembourg at Paris, the 2*^ Order is Ionic, & its Pilasters have also a Rustick in square Bozzi, NOTES OF TRAVEL. 217 but placed at some distance one from the other, the highest Order is Corinthian, & this too has it's Bozzi Kound, Hke the lower one, but not close together, the whole surmounted by a handsome & rich Intabla- ture. the fourth side of the Cortile {which fronts you, as you enter) rises no higher than the top of the Loggia, in the midst of it is a kind of Grotta, containing a large Bason of stagnated Water with little leaden figures of Cupids, as it were swimming & sporting in it. in a Nich opposite to you is a bad Statue of Moses in Porphyry, & the Roof & Walls adorned with Rock-work & paintings, in the Court even with the front of this Grot are two large Niches on each hand, in one a Soldier supporting the body of a dead Youth, probably representing the same Persons with that Statue near the old Bridge, but in a manner much inferiour. in the other Hercules lifting Antaeus from the ground, both Antique, of indifferent workmanship, & much damaged, over this building, which joins the Ends of the Loggia ; & even with the 2*^ Story, is a large fountain, & the prospect lies open to the garden call'd Boboli. in the Testate of the Portico are on one side a Statue of Pluto naked with Cerberus by him; on the other a Hercules Colossal in the attitude of the Farnese. this is Antique & good; inscribed with the name of Lysippus counterfeited, under it is the known Bas- Relief of the Mule. You go up a Staircase by no 218 GRAY. means answerable to the Greatness of the Palace, which bi'ings you into the Sale des Gardes, on the left hand is the Apartment of the late Great- Prince Ferdinand, in the Salone are many Portraits of the house of Medici, a Square in tlie Cieling, but done in Oil — Virtue presenting a Person to- Jupiter &c — Luca Giordano Some very large Battle-Pieces, much damaged — Borgognone Nymphs surprized, & seized on by Satyrs, very bad indeed — Rubens. Two very large Views of Bays with Gallys re- fitting, one is quite spoil'd by Damp; the other exquisitely fine, Sun-beams playing on the Water, an old Castle with Pine-trees, figures going into the Water, a Ship sailing at a distance & loseing itself in Air, & Sunshine, admirable ! — — Salvator-Rosa. In the other Rooms. Christ standing on a kind of Pedestal, the Evan- gelists on each side, rather less than life, the Shades very black, & but disagreeable in the whole. — — II Frate. A Madonna, with a figure by her like a Pallas, unfinish'd, his worst Drawing — Correggio. Annunciation, there is a magnificent piece of Building with a View thro' into a Garden, it is a NOTES OF TRAVEL. 219 sort of Loggia, on one side kneels the Virgin, the Angel on the other, & two huge Columns between them, so that it is impossible they should see each other. — P: Veronese. The Madonna sitting, on one hand S* Peter stands, one arm extended, a veiy noble figure, an air of a head like Rafael, Profile, on the other S* Sebas- tian, his hands tied behind him, & pierced with arrows, naked, & finely painted, on the Ground sit Mary Magdalen, & another Male-Saint in changeable garments; they both squint extremely, as does the principal figure who is a mere dowdy, & the Bambino a Monster. S* Bruno & other Saints standing by. a peculiar Colouring like Andrea, but better. Large II Rosso Madonna del Collo lungo. the fault which gives name to the Picture immediately strikes the Eye. She is sitting, & uncovers the Child who sleeps in her Lap to several Angel -like figures, that crowd to see it. there is a Groupe of 3 heads inexpressibly fine, one a Youth's head in Profile (his whole figure appears, & he bears a Vase in his hand) another a face as of a Girl (seen full) with blew eyes & hght hair dress'd as fine as any antique statue, lovely beyond imagination, the other is of a boy, who presses forward between these two, his hair curled in Ringlets, & a most Natural expression, the Virgin is not handsome, but a most majestick Air, the head & dressing of the hair 220 GRAY. in exquisite Taste, her Drapery in little folds, that shows the rising & turn of the breast to a wonder, it is cracked from top to bottom being on board otherwise well preserved, the Bambino is very bad, & lies sprawling in a strange manner, a building at a distance with a Man displaying a Scrowl. much linish'd & big as life — Parmeggiano Madonna della Pescia. she sits on a high Tlirone under a Canopy, whose Curtains are supported by angels flying, on one side stand S: Peter & S:' 2 boy Angels on the foreground with Notes of Musick — extremely fine — Rafael Disputation on the Trinity. S' Austin is speaking, & addresses to S: Peter Martyr. S'' Laurence in his Sacerdotal habit, & S: Francis attending. Mary Magdalen, & S: Sebastian sit on the foregTound. it is famous, particularly for the degrees of Conviction, that appear in the figures suitable to their several Characters, finely painted undoubtedly, & perhaps the principal work of this Master, from whence he got his great Reputation 1 know not, Grace & Beauty 'tis certain he was an utter Stranger to ; Harmony in the Tout-Ensemble he was ignorant of; his Subjects are always ill-chosen, & if he colour'd a particular figure well, this is by no means sufiicient to put him on a rank with the greatest Masters, tlio' even in ^ So left by Gray. NOTES OF TRAVEL. 221 this he often fails, & there is a siiieariness in his shades that makes all his figures appear dirty, it is so even here Andrea del Sarto S: Mark, sitting in a Nich, a Colossal figure, with a book in his hand, a most noble Style, Drapery in marvellous folds, vastly great ! — ^ — II Frate ■ — ■ — Assumption of the Virgin : Apostles below looking into the Sepulchre. She looks like a dirty ordinary Grirl, abundance of Boy Angels about her. much gaiety of Colours in the several draperies, no har- mony - — • Andrea del Sarto Another ; much the same, some few figures ex- cepted — — Ditto S. Andrea Corsini praying : the Virgin above with Saints & Angels, she is a most aweful beauty ; there is S. Peter almost lost in Glory, the head is exactly Guido. the whole finely colour'd with great Warmth and Harmony large as life Carlo Maratti — — Ritratto of Card : Bentivoglio, easy and natural, yet perfectly great, the Colouring fine beyond all expression Vandike Card: Hippolito of Medici, half length, in the habit of a Hungarian, very gentile Titian — Seven more Portraits, half lengths — some very fine Ditto Charles the 5''', whole length, standing — the air has somewhat low & disagreeable Ditto 222 GRAY. Philip tlie 2**, same size, Young, pale & thin, a most unpromiseing countenance Ditto A Lady, dress'd in Crimson Satin. Half-length ; fat, red-hair'd, & the air of a Cook- Wench, but painted to the greatest perfection of Colouring Paris Bordone Luther (as it is called, tho' undoubtedly not so) playing on the Harpsicord. his head turned over his Shoulder towards a Man, who stands behind with a Lute ; on t'other side a Woman in a black Cap & feather, the two latter figures perfectly insignificant, but the head of the principal one has a most ex- quisite life & Spirit in the eyes, & is admirably painted. the Drapery is one great black Spot Giorgone — — Secretary of Leo the lO**", head & hands, a sort of Man, that should not have set for his picture ■ something hard Rafael The famous Portrait of Leo the 10 with the Cardinals Medici & Rossi, as fine as a Portrait can possibly be, & excellently preserved ! Ditto Pilgrims of Emaus, his dark, sooty Manner — Apollo, fleaing Marsyas — same Style — S. Sebastian, all blister'd & spoil'd — A fine Madonna, of Rubens Guercino NOTES <1F TRAVEL. 228 ROAD TO NAPLES. June 12. Yoli pass thro' the Porta Ccelimontana near S: John Lateran, & continue along the road to Albano with numberless little ruins of Sepiilchres spread in tlie fields all round you, particularly toward the right hand, where at a little distance the Via Appia i-uns along, they have been all extremely injured b}- time, & other means, so that there are but few, whose external form remains, some seem to have been small Rotundas, raised on a square Base, & ending in a Cupola ; others quadrangular buildings with a flat roof, & adorn'd with Pilasters ; (unless perhaps these last may have been little Sacella) they all are huge Masses of Brickwork, whose walls are often many Yards in thickness containing one or two appart- ments within ; & undoubtedly have been formerly incrusted with marble, or Tiburtine Stone, for all the ground is cover'd with fragments of it. there are every where remains of Aqueducts with 50 or 6( > Arches standing entire and uninterrupted togethei- in many places, which add a vast deal to the prospect, the Campagna of Rome is not alone ill-cultivated', but naturally a barren & disagreeable plain, & has need of these monuments of antiquity to add a 1 To Dorothy Gray, Naples, Juue 17, 1740 (ii. 81, eel. (iosse) — 'The minute one leaves his Holiness' dominions, the face of things begins to change from wide uncultivated plains to olive groves and well-tilled fields of corn,' &c. 224 GRAY. Ijeauty to it. one has always in view before one the hills at about 14 miles distance or more with the towns of Tivoli, Palestrina, & Frescati upon them, & a mixture of other little cities, & villages, beyond the Torre di Mezzavia one turns to the left out of the Alban road towards S. Marino, a large town belong- ing to the Colonna family situated on the side of one of those hills, that form a sort of natural bason, or receptacle for the Alban Lake, in the principal Church is a side Altar — The Martyrdom of S: Bartholomew, a famous picture, the 2 ruffians, who are employ'd about that bloody work are greatly in character, & are figures of much spirit, for the rest the Saint seems to feel nothing of the matter, but all his thoughts are fix'd on heaven, this is too tame, for if he suffer'd no- thing he was no martyr, & he might have shew'd the pains he endured, yet with dignity too : nor is his figure very well drawn : there are other people present ; large as life ; usual blackness in the Shades — Guercino There is the Martyrdom of another Saint at the upper end, seems also of him ; not good. In the Church della Trinitti behind the great Altar is The Trinity, of a size more than half-life, the Father with Sorrow in his countenance, & arms spread, supporting on his knees the dead Christ. NOTES OF TRAVEL. 225 some few Cherubs that form a Semicircle over them ; no other angels, the same Giac: Freii has graved. a fine picture, but much better treated by him in the Ch: of the Trinith de' Pellegrini at Rome Guido Here way' ascends the hills, & continues by a very pleasant & shady road along them — with the Lake in the Vale below to the right, & C^° Gandolfo appearing on the top of the mountains on t'other side of it. on the left is the Mons albanus, & the Dorsum running along it's side, on which Alba Longa was once situated, you continue among the hills, which are very green, & well cultivated to Velletri, seated on the top of a little mountain with a pretty Vale below it, anciently famous for nothing, as Sil. Italicus says — Quos incelebri miserunt valle Velitrte — upon descending these hills you have a most extensive view of the plain to the right, & the Marshes (Pomptina Palus) with the Sea beyond, & the Circeian Promontory, (that seems a huge Mountain, all alone) stretching into it. here turning something to the right one continues along the plain to Cisterna, a small town, whose inhabitants are Vassals of a Neapolitan Prince, of the Gaetano Family: he is also Lord of Sermoneta, & Caserta with a pretty extensive Territory round about them, a little farther we past thro' a large Park of his, ^ Gray, 'was'. G. 15 226 GRAY. one part of which is a noble wild Scene all over- run witli huge old Oaks, & Cork- Trees, the Moun- tains now begin to thicken, & approach nearer to the Sea, so as to leave but a narrow Tract of cultivated land between themselves, & the Marshes, one soon comes to the foot of a steep hill on whose top stands Sermoneta (Sulmo Volscorum) just by it one crosses a little stream of sulfureous Water, like the Albula. 'tis like that of a blewish white, & the Stench intoler- able, they call it Aqua Puzza. we past bj' Sezza (Setia) of ancient fame for its wines — Ipsius mensis seposta Lysi Setia— Sil: Ital : 8. This is situated much as the last, & as all the little cities are hereabouts, on a hill at the foot of more lofty mountains, which shelter them on one side from the North, & East Winds, while on the other they lie open to the breezes from the Sea, cK: are exalted above the noxious Vapours, that rise from the marshes, which would infect, & render uninhabitable Towns in a less elevated Situation, as they do all the plains of the Campagna upon a level with themselves, the ancients seem to have made choice of an exalted Site, whenever they could with convenience, & Virgil distinguishes the Cities of Italy by this particular. Adde tot egiegias urbes, operumq laborem Tot congesta manu praeruptis oppida saxis, Fluminaq antiques subterlabentia muros, Georg : 2. NOTES OF TRAVEL. 227 One has here the Httle river Ufens creepmg along on the right hand among the Fens, & slowly working it's way into the sea. Qua Satui-ffi jacet atra palus, gelidusq per imas Quaefit iter valles, atq in mare conditiir Ufens. Virg: 7. pestifera Pontini uligine campi Qua SatursB nebulosa palus restagnat, & atro Liventes cfeno per squalida turbidus arva Cogit aquas Ufens, atq inficit aequora limo. Sihital: 8. Somewhat farther is Piperno (Privermim) also seated on a high Hill. the Peasants here wear a sort of Bnskin, the sole of which is made of a raw hide with the hair on, bound about the foot, & half way up the Leg with Whipcord. Virgil distinguishes the inhabitants when they came to war, by almost a similar sort of Chaussure, only that they wore it on one foot only — - vestigia nuda sinistri Instituunt pedis, at crudus tegit altei'a pero. Vii-g: 7. haveing past thro' a noble old wood of Ilex's, Cork-trees, & Oaks one crosses the River Amaseno over a bridge, & keeping obliquely to the right, for so the course of the Mountains runs, which begin now to grow exceeding lofty, one strikes into the Via Appia (which has run strait along thro' the middle of the Pomptina palus, & tho' in perfect preservation, is useless by reason of the waters, that cover it) at a place call'd Torre delle Mole, a few 15—2 228 GRAY. miles on this side Terracina. 'tis I believe here as perfect as anywhere, not alone the midway for carriages remains, which is just of a breadth for 2 carriages to pass, but the raised causeway on each side for foot-passengers, the whole of a greyish coarse marble, the jjieces of Irregular Shapes generally a foot or two, sometimes more in breadth, laid as they suit one another best, the side ways are raised better than a foot above the middle. Statins gives a good description of these immense labours in the 4*'' Book of his Sylv», 3. Hie primus labor inchoare sulco^ Et rescindere limites, & alto Egestu penitus cavare terras: Mox haustas aliter replere fossas, Et sumnao gremium parare dorse, Ne nutent sola, ne maligna sedes, Et pressis dubium cubile saxis; Tunc umbonibus hinc et hinc coactis, Et crebris iter allegare ^ gomphis. quantae pariter manus laborant! Hi caedunt nemus, exuuntq montes; Hi ferro scopulos, trabesq caedunt; lUi saxa ligant, opusq texunt Cocto pulvere, sordidoq topho: Hi siccant bibulas manu lacunas, Et longe fluvios agunt minores. There are frequent ruins on each hand of it, not only of Sepulchres, but the foundations of larger buildings, & arched vaults of brick disposed Particu- 1 Sic ap. Gray. NOTES OF TRAVEL. 229 latfm. one continues along this way, which goes lip several mountains, & thro' deep vallies, still running obliquely towards the Sea, till one comes to Anxur, or Terracina seated on a fine hill with an open view of the Sea — iEquoreis splendidus Anxur aquis. Mart : passing by which one goes on along the shore between the Sea, & some exceeding lofty rocky Cliffs; on the very top of one of 'em are large remains of an ancient edifice, here are frequent square towers along the Coast built to prevent sudden descents of the Moorish Corsairs, but very incon- siderable, & ruinous, against the side of one of these rocks are cut the 12 Numbers mention 'd by Addison in decimal proportion, decreaseing upwards : a little further one enters the kingdom of Naples, tlie bounds are marked by an Inscription on a large stone monument erected in Philip 2'''^ time, one now sees several tracts of land, & little Isthmus's stretching into the Sea, which enters far in, & forms several bays, «&; lakes (as it were) — which, with a mixture of woods among them, form a view very agi'eeable to the eye. now one turns again to the left leaving the shore, & journeying thro' charming Vales to Fondi. the hedges abound with the broad-leaved Myrtle, Bay, Spanish-Broom, Laurustine & many flowering Shrubs I never saw before, one comes round to the Sea again very soon at Mola (Formise) most charm- ingly situated on the Bay of Gah'ta, the Usual 230 GRAY. Station of his Sicilian Majestie's Gallies. the air here is all perfumed with the large plantations of ancient Orange-trees about the town; they were at this time all cover'd with flowers & ripe fruit at once, & the first I had yet seen in Italy, that seem'd to gTow kindly in the natural earth, being of great bulk, & beauty. The bay was full of Fishing- Vessels ; on the right hand lies the Town and Castle of Gaeta in full view overlooked by a high hill on which is the Monument of Munatius Plancus, like a round tower, all alone, 'tis about half a dozen miles fi'om Mola cross (sic) the Bay to it. one still follows the Appian way, which runs thro' this town, to the banks of the River Garigliano: just on this side are pretty large ruins of Minturna;, a small aqueduct (if brick entire for a good way together, a Theatre, & something like a Circus, with many other little remains of building scatter'd about quite down to the Sea. one crosses this River (the Liris) in a ferry, it retains it's former calmness, and clearness, winding slowly thro' a charming plain, & full to the very brink, not like the generality of Italian rivers, shallow, and turbulent, one now leaves the Appian, which goes oft' towards the ruins of old Capua, that lay some miles more inland, than the new City does, the road now gi-ows extremely spatious, like those in Lombardy, &, tho' unpaved, is in extremely good condition, haveing been repair'd, & in a manner new-made against the arrival NOTES OF TRAVEL. 231 of tlie new Queen, one finds an extraordinary change upon leaving the Pope's dominions, the roads grow chearful, & frequented, the country cultivated, & the towns populous, this part of Italy is indeed a miracle of beauty, & fertility, these are the Massic, the Calatine, & Falernian fields, ilc indeed nothing can go beyond these. What must such a country be in the times of liberty, when even under the execrable government it has now long been subject to, it can flourish in this manner? at Capua one crosses the Vulturnus, which runs under it's walls, a shallow muddy furious Stream at that time not near filling it's Channel : the City is small, but full of people, an Archbishoprick, & gives the Title of Prince to a Son of the Royal family, the road passes thro' Aversa (Atella) a city of the Saracen's foundation, very neat, & airy, one enters Naples thro' a very handsome Suburb, in which are several Palaces, Churches, & publick buildings, large, & grand enough, but com- monly of a very ill taste in Architecture, charged with abundance of clumsy Ornaments, upon enter- ing the grand Street (Strada di Toledo) the infinite number of people, & coaches are somewhat amazeing, it is with difficulty one passes, & it is one continued market from one end to the other for Fruits, flowers, & Provisions of all kinds, I believe near a mile in length, reaching from the Porta della Spirito S*" to the King's Palace; towards the further end it winds 232 GRAY. something, otherwise quite strait, & paved admirably well (as are the streets in general) with square Stones laid corner-wise, so as to resemble the Opus reticu- latum, flat, & of about a foot & | dimensions, the houses are of the common people, but lofty (4 Stories high) & equal throughout, & the breadth of the street proportionable to it's length. THE CEBTOSA. This Convent one of the richest in Italy enjoys a most delicious Air, & Situation, being seated on a very lofty hill just above the ancient Castle of S. Elmo, from a Portico in it you have a noble prospect of the ivJiole City below you, & the Bay in it's whole Extent with M: Vesuvius, Surrentum, & all the country beyond it as far as the promontory of Minerva on the left, & on t'other hand Pausilipo stretching out into the Sea, & behind it a part of the Bay of Baise, the view being bounded by M: Miseno. before you is Capreae (30 Miles distant) appearing as a barren Mountain of a vast height divided into 2 Summits which lyes across the mouth of the Gulf, & leaves a Passage on each side of it — Insula portum Efficit objectu laterum, quibus omnis ab alto Frangitur, inq sinus scindit sese unda reductos. sucli a vast variety of buildings, mountains, woods & water; and that composeing a scene every part of NOTES OF TRAVEL. 233 which is mark'd out in ancient Story for some thing, or other remarkable can hardly be any where else parallel'd. the fathers are 60 in number, the building spatious, being begun by Charles of Anjou, D: of Cala- bria, Son of Robert, King of Naples, & perfected, and endowed by his Daughter, who succeeded her Grand- father by the name of Joan P> the great Cloyster is light and airy, it is a Portico supported by three- score Columns of white marble, & in the midst, as usual, is the common Burying Ground of the Convent enclosed by a Balustrade also of marble with Skulls, & such suitable decorations carved on it. in the Prior's Apartments are some Pictures, which they esteem greatly, tho' I saw little considerable there, a Crucifix, only a single figure, (of which the old Story is told of the Porter) between 2 & 3 foot long. Air like that of the Grand Duke, but not colour'd like anything else I have seen of him M: Angelo Buonaruoti. Martyrdom of S: Laurence, a Sketch in Oil for that in the Escurial. small figures Titian. The Sacresty. The whole cieling painted with histories in squares, small; & single figures between of a larger size, better than ordinary for him; there are some fine things Cav: Arpino Crucifixion, large as life, in Oil. not good; no nature at all Ditto 234 GRAY. Denyal of Christ ; heads and hands, this on the contrary is true nature indeed, and excellent in a low way, but it is a perfectly Dutch Scene M : Ang'? Caravaggio. Several others, but not good Luca Cangiari, GiacT Puntormo &c. The Treasuries. a Pietk, large as life, only the Virgin, & S: John ; she has a fine expression of Sorrow, but with- out beauty, or grace; the other a very mean, & ordinary figure : but the dead Christ, who, is thrown in a very uncommon attitude upon her knees, is a most admirable figure both for drawing & colouring ; nothing can be more easy, & it ])erfectly comes forward from the Canvass, the finest thing I ever saw of him. it cost 4000 Ducats, but the Fathers now esteem it at 10,000 Spagnuoletto Here are Ornaments for the Altar of amazing richness, half-figures of several Saints bigger than life, a Statue of the Virgin, great numbers of wrought stands, & large vases, all of massy Silver, & a (Justodia adorn'd with Sapphires, Emeralds, Topazes, & Rubies of a huge size. The Church. In the Choir behind the Great Altar is the Na- tivity, fig: as large as life, the Joseph is the only one quite compleat, for he left the picture unfinish'd. NOTES OF TRAVEL. 235 it shews no decay of Geniiis at all, & the heads have all that Divine beauty one sees only in his works Guido The Cnicifixion in the Arch over it in Fresco, verj^ large Lanfranco — — The whole Vault of the Church in 3 vast Com- partments, the Figures, that serve for Ornaments, & the 12 Apostles above the Cornice are all in general of the same Master, an immense Work, yet there are several others of him in Naples at least as consider- able, as this, if you come to particular parts, there is no great grace, or expression, neither is the Drawing always correct ; but in the whole a Greatness in the execution, a perfect Mastery in the management of his colours, & a great harmony, that strikes the eye all at once, a certain Furia in his Airs, & the Dra- peries always noble & simple, his works here are well preserved, & bright as if but just done THE ENVIRONS OF NAPLES. June IG, N: S: 1740. M. Pam'tlypo lies on the right side of the city, it is a long Dorsum, or Promont(jry, that runs out a good way into the Sea; of a considerable height, cover'd with little woods, & Villa's with Vineyards intermix'd. the Chiaia runs along from Naples almost as far as the side of this Mountain, thro' the bowels of which is cut the famous Grotta. one passes 236 GRAY. for some little space along a passage also pierced through the solid rock, but this is carried quite thro' to the top, & open to the Air, till one comes to the mouth of the Cave, which is a tall Arch better than 50 (?) ' Foot in height, & of a breadth sufficient for 3 Carriages at least to enter abreast, these latter dimensions are continued quite through it, but the height greatly decreases, till a little beyond the middle, where it appears not i of what it was at first; it then rises again till at''^ the mouth next Puzzuoli, 'tis almost as great as before, the top is form'd into an arch the whole way, & makes a solemn appearance, like some long vaulted Isle of a Gothick Church, upon entering it, as the light falls chiefly upon the two ends, & one has in view the Outlet at the opposite end, the eye is much deceived in it's length, which seems not above 100 Yards, tho' in reality near half a mile, there are 2 square passages over each entrance at a great height, that run ob- liquely thro' the rock, & open into the vault contrived to throw the light still a little further in, & admit more air. in a fine day one sees very well, till near the middle, where it grows somewhat dark, & carriages that meet are obliged to warn one another by crying out Alia marina, or Alia montagna. about 1 The margin here renders the number doubtful. " The margin here causes difficulty on both sides, but this is doubtless the reading. NOTES OF TRAVEL. 237 the midst of it in a small cave cut into the rock-side is a small chappel of the Madonna with lamps burning continually, tended by a Hermit. Alphonso the 1^* enlarged the Grotta, & in Charles 5* time D: Peter of Toledo, the Viceroy paved it, & made an excellent road, which still continues : as large Inscriptions near it testify, when it was first made is uncertain ; some people name one Cocceius, as the author of it; but these are of no authority, it is likely to have been done in the earlier days of Rome, as it appears more design'd for convenience than ostentation, for it seems to have been but a disagreeable passage in Seneca's time, & the aforemention'd king gave it it's present loftiness, haveing passed the Grot one comes into a most beautiful country, consisting of fertile hills cover'd with Vines, & Figs; or else Corn with rows of elms, eS: their Vines running up them, & hanging in Festoons from one to the other, one turns a little to the right of the Pozzuoli-Road, & ascending for some time between the rocks one comes to the top of a hill, from whence the Lake of Agnano discovers itself with its charming borders surrounded with mountains of a moderate height all cultivated & planted to the top. Upon descending into the Vale even at a distance the sulphureous Steams that rise from the Lake & the Ground about it are easily per- ceived, at the time I saw it, the way thither for ^ of a Mile at least, & the whole country about the lake 238 GRAY. was cover'd with an intinite swarm of very small frogs, there was no stepping without treading upon them, the Country people said it was common, & that they fell in the Rain ; but it had not rain'd that day, nor for several before it. on the right side of the Lake under the rocks is the (Irotta del Cane, they have closed up the mouth of it with a door, that locks; it is very small & low not above 5 foot & ^- high at the entrance, & does not extend above 3 yards into the rock growing still lower & lower, we made the usual experiment with a middle-sized Cur-Dog, that had frequently before undergone the same operation: the Man held his 4 legs, & laid him on the earth on his side with his head close to the ground, he struggled nuich, & began t(5 pant in a few Moments, in 3 Minutes fell into Con\ailsions, his strength soon left him, & he lay without motion of his limbs, only fetching his breath shorter & shorter, we took him out, & laid him on the Grass, & in about 5 Minutes he was quite recover'd, whine- ing, & seeming to rejoice, that he was restored to life, several of the little frogs were put in, who hop'd about a little, but stretch'd themselves out, & died in less than half a minute, the torches went out immediately being dip'd in the Vapour, which is not visible, but the experiments proved it did not rise more than ^ a foot above the ground, one may enter the cave without hurt; there is a sensible NOTES OF TRAVEL. 239 warmth in it, as in all the rocks hereabouts, & the ground & sides are moist, the Lake is very agreeable to the eye, almost round, & about a mile in compass ; it has much fish in it (Tench & Eels) but more frogs, near the margin in some places it boils very strongly, yet there is no perceptible heat in the water, a little distance from the Cave is a building with several little appartments call'd I Sudatorii di S: Germano. in the innermost of them the Vapour that rises is so violent as to piit anybody into a strong Sweat in some few Minutes, this is a visible smoke issuing out continually, & the Smell of Sulphur is extreraelj^ offensive, these places are used with success in several distempers, particularly the Pox, & the Itch, some say the Gout too. continuing along the side of the Lake to the left one ascends again to the top of a mountain, & thro' a narrow passage comes into a large hollow, or plain of better than a mile in compass surrounded with high Cliffs of a naked dismal appearance, with a little thin herbage scatter'd here & there the tallest of these towards one end of the plain from several parts send forth a thick white Smoke & that up to their very top. about the roots of them, and in 3 or 4 places of the plain are certain small cavities in the ga-ound, from whence rises the same Vapour, but more strongly ; on throw- ing a large stone against the ground it returns a deaf report, that shews all beneath is hollow, over several 240 GRAY. of the smaller Vents they pile up broken Potsherds, about which a Crust of Sal Armoniac' gathers in a short time, in this part of the Solfatara the heat is very sensible to one's hand upon touching the earth ; the other end of it seems in comparison to have but little of these warm springs & minerals ; plants grow there pretty thick: liere they have built up Sheds under which they make Alum, the Rain-water that falls hereabouts, naturally stagnates in the middle of the plain, which is the lowest part of it, from whence being impregnated with earth, they bring it hither, & digest it in proper receivers, where the Alum forms itself into a thin ice-like Crust on the surface, & sides of the Vessels. Petronius gives a good Description of this wonderful Spot in his fragment of a Poem : it was called Forum Vulcanium. the Capucins have a small convent a little above it; no ver}^ secure Situa- tion. PozzuoU is about a mile distant from hence; the country of extreme beauty and fertility with openings every now & then among the hills, that discover that part of the Bay between the little promontory on which this town is situated, & M: Pausilypo ; with the little Isle of Nisida, that lies just before the point of it; it is a high rock (but cul- tivated) & with a Castle on it's most elevated part, 1 Gray might find a precedent in Chaucer for this spelling, which probably rests on some false derivation. See Skeat's Etym. Diet., s.v. Ammonia. NOTES OF TRAVEL. 241 which gives to a Neapolitan Cavalier the title of Marquis of Nisida. it is about a Mile & h round, anciently call'd Nesis, & remarkable for certain un- wholesome exhalations; now no such thing is ob- served there: between this & the land is a low flat rock with buildings on it, call'd the Lazaretto, from Pozzuoli we t(^ok a large boat with 4 oars to go round the Bay of Baiw in, which presented a beautiful calm Sea to the eye. from this town runs for a con- siderable way into the water the Mole of Antoninus Pius, the large massy piles of Brick and Cement appear not to have been all of equal width, we went coasting the bay round, passing by Monte Barbaro (the ancient Gaurus) eversince the strange Eruption of M: Nuovo by it's side it has lain barren Ov: neglected, till within these few years past they have begun to cultivate it anew, & to plant Vines in some parts, which they find succeed very well', a little further on is the New Mountain itself, not so high as the last mention'd, tliinly cloath'd with a burnt, and rusty herbage — Qusa scabie, & salsl, Isedit rubigine ferrum. it retains no other marks of it's former horrours. every one knows how accompanied with an earthquake, & vomiting out fire it rose out 1 Cf. the last five lines of the Latin Hexameters on the Monte Barbaro and the Monte Nuovo sent to West from Florence Sep. 25, but written at Eome, July, 1740. (Works, i. 181, ed. Gosse.) G. 16 242 GRAY. of the earth in the space of one night about 200 years ago, & destroy'd or overwhelm'd all the country about it : it reaches from M : Gaurus to very near the lake Avernus. between the foot of this Hill, & the Sea lies the Lucrine Lake, whose i3resent condition can give but an imperfect Idea of its former beauty, since the mountain has rose in it's place, & cover'd the springs that used to supply it, so that nothing re- mains but a meer puddle, shallow & overgrown with reeds, & dwarf-myrtle, the ground that at present separates it from the Sea is not 10 Yards in breadth, & one sees no traces of the Jiilian Port Virgil men- tions, here we landed, & walked about -| a mile up among the Hills to the place, where the Avernus discovers itself in a charming vally surrounded by Vineyards & woods ; now much frequented by Water- fowl, & stock'd with fish, it is of a vast depth, & near 2 Mile in compass, at one end of the margin of it are the ruins of an Octagon temple of Brick, round withinside with 7 large Niches, & as many Windows over them : it is commonly named the Temple of Apollo, & by others of Neptune, or of Mercury, on another side of the Lake, after ascend- ing some way up one of the mountains by a narrow passage thro' the wood, one finds the mouth of the Sibyl's Grotta; 'tis very small, & one bends almost double to enter it; the straitness continues for a few paces; & then the cave rises into a tall Arch: this NOTES OF TRAVEL. 243 Vault continues strait on (being about 13 foot broad, & 12 high) 95 Canes in length, where one sees the Earth has fall'n in, & stop'd it up. not far from the end by a very narrow winding passage one descends into a little arched batliing room, where one can hardly enter for the water that comes into it; the cieling has been adorn'd with little Grotesque paint- ings, & Mosaic, there is also another little Cell near it, where are the remains of a brick winding Staircase, which is supposed to liave led up to the top of the mountain, it is very hard to imagine the Use of these subterraneous ducts, in all likelihood they were older than the Roman's time, & that their mere age & oddness gave room to apply certain religious Fables to them, that obtain'd among the Vulgar : some of them they took for the mouth of Hell, others for the habitation of a Sibyl, others for the Cave of the Cimmerians, &c : the little rooms fitted up for bathing seem to have been a Use they were afterwards put to by people, near whose Villa's they happen'd to be. this tho' call'd so, is undoubtedly not the Sibyl's Grot of Virgil ; that he says was Excisum Euboicffi latus ingens rupis in antrum. But the Euboic, or Cumroan coast was quite on t'other side the promontory of Misenus, & near the Remains of Cuma is still to be seen the mouth of a Cave like this, running directly towards the Avernus, but stop'd up within 50 paces of the entrance, from 16—2 244 GRAY. hence returning back to the Sea we continued along tlie bay, whose borders not here alone, but quite fi'om Pozzuoli are a most surprizeing Scene for the Instances of Roman Magnificence, that shew them- selves even from the Summits of those Mountains that surround it down to their foot, & quite oiit into the Sea for many Paces, vast vaults & arches of Masons-work, that hang over, & seem to grow to the sides of those Cliffs, still supporting themselves with- out the help of their foundations, which appear far off below in ruins, being huge Masses of Brickwork, that stretch themselves far into the bay. Marisq Baiis obstrepentis urges Summovere littora, Parum locuples continente ripa. These were call'd Cffimentis licet occupes [Caementa. Tyrrhenum omne tuis — Contracta pisces aequora sentiunt Jactis in altum molibus: hue frequeus C^nienta demittit redeniptor Cum famuHs— A little farther we landed again at the Sudatorii di Tritoli, supposed to have been the Thermce of Nero ; 'tis certain there are vast remains of building up to the very summits of the mountain, the baths are artificial caverns work'd far into the rock, one enters by certain long & narrow passages, in one of which the heat is almost insupportable, if you walk upright ; upon stooping pretty low you do not feel so strongly the violence of it. this is 120 paces long. NOTES OF TRAVEL. 245 & then one descends for 60 odd paces more, where a spring of scalding water boils out of the rock: biit this is a little too far to be led by mere curiosity, since two minutes at the entrance only of the Grott is sufficient to sweat one violently, the steam is very powerful & suffocating, & very visible at the mouth withoutside, where it issues out continually, the rich come hither in great numbers dureing the month of June, & use it seven days running, it belongs to the Annunziata, who send the patients of their hos- pitals hither sometimes 1000 at once, from whence we continued along an arch'd passage cut thro' the rock, & by a narrow pav'd road work'd also between the rocks, walk'd towards Baiaj : in the way we were very sensible of the hot vapour proceeding from the ground, & the mountain on our right: every now & then for a Pace or too (sic) it was intolerable, then one felt it no more, but only the common warmth of the Sun reflected from the Rock, there were several holes, in which one could scarce bear to thrust one's hand for the heat, a little further where the hills retire something from the shore, one sees a lofty Rotunda ; above half the Cupola is fall'n in, and a part of the Inclosure. the Structure is of Brick (as are most of the remains hereabout) neatly & strongly built, it has 4 great Niches below, and 7 Windows over them, there are so many ruins scatter'd about, & joining to it, that it is imagined to have been an 246 GRAY. appartment of the Baths of Piso, the famous head of a Conspiracy against Nero : but however it goes by the name of Dianas temple, a little further are several large arch'd Vaults, which stand always pretty deep in water, thro' which a Man carries you under a little arch into another round Edifice adjoin- ing, about 25 Paces in Diameter, with an opening atop as usual, & 4 windows below it. here they make you whisper, & it has the same efi'ect, as in the Dome of S. Pauls, this they name Truglio di Mercurio. a little farther, & upon the Shore is an Octagonal Edifice, the whole Recinto remains, but the top is demolish'd. it has an arch'd opening atop for a window in each side, & four great Niches, the shape of the frontispiece remains, being a large Arch, & two small ones on the sides ; these make a strait line, longer than the temple side they join to, & must have had but a bad effect, this is call'd the Temple of Venus, a little farther on the Shore is the Castle of Baise, built by D: Pedro of Toledo, seemingly pretty strong & in good repair, the body of it on an eminence, but it's fortification's descend to the Sea. something beyond it are some remains of Bauli, where on the coast they shew you a sepulchre for that of Agrippina Minor, it is almost cover'd with earth ; they have made a hole, into which by a ladder one descends, there is a vaulted passage runs round between the double Walls, like that in the Mauso- NOTES OF TRAVEL. 247 leum of Augustus, only in little : the roof has some remains of Stucco with little figures in Com- partiments & Borders of Grotesque, Sphinxes, & foliage, but much damaged & blacked by the smoke of Torches, a little distance from hence are tlie Cento Camerelle. there is a large Vault, sustain'd by about a dozen square pillars, & by a small stair- case one descends under ground by narrow passages into certain other appartments, whose use nobody seems to conceive, there are many & various ruins spread about the country here, to which they have aflfix'd the names of various gTeat Men, whose Villa's are mention'd as situated somewhere hereabouts, but upon trivial grounds, you now are not far from the Bay of Miseno the Station of the Roman fleet upon this Sea, & consequently almost at the end of the promontory : one ascends up the charming hills cover'd with Vineyards, & Plantations, that form the Back of it, about 3/4 of a mile, & passes in the way by rows of ruin'd sepulchres, in some of which is a little Mosaic, & a few grotesque ornaments of painting, this place they now call Mercato di Sabbato, & the country about it Campi Elisii, it is indeed of mira- culous fertility, & beauty, one has here a View of the Mare Mortuum, a pleasant lake, or rather bay, for it communicates with the Sea, & is only separated from it by a little tongue of land, a few paces in breadth, & M: Miseno beyond it which rises gra- 248 GRAY. dually without precipices, & is cultivated up to the Very top, where it spreads into a plain, a fine situa- tion for some Temple, or lofty building, there once was a Pharos upon it, but nothing now, it joins to the land by a narrow & low Isthmus, we tasted the wine of this country, which is of a full red, strong, & rough, like Bourdeaux Claret, & might with time come to be excellent, beyond Misenus are the Isles of Ischia & Procita (Arimse or Inarime, & Prochyta) the former much the larger, very lofty, especially to the N : East ; the more plain End of it has a large town, & several buildings, that make a great figure in the prospect, for it is much frequented on account of it's baths : Procita is much lower, less, & not so well inhabited, between the Mare Mortuum & Mercato di Sabbato is the huge antient Reservoir, call'd Piscina Mirabilis ; one descends into it by 40 Steps ; it is supported by 148 square Pilastroni. the whole work cover'd with a plaister as hard as stone itself, there are Spiracula in the roof for the passage of air & light, some attribute this work to LucuUus, others to Agrippa & say it was a Conserva- tory of fresh water for the Use of the Fleet, that lay at Misenus. the ruins of Cumse lie but a little way on the other side of the Promontory however we return'd to Pozzuoli cross the bay, and made another day of it thither wholly by land, near the foot of M: Gaurus by which one passes we turn'd towards NOTES OF TRAVEL. 249 the right to the place called Via Campana, where for more than a mile are numberless ancient remains without much distinguishable form or beauty indeed, but huge, & massy ; beside abundance of Sepulchres, some of them open'd not many years since : one is the most entire I have ever seen 'tis a square Colum- barium with 4 or 5 rows of Niches ; in the midst of 3 of the sides are as many large Enfoncemens with a Column on each side of them sustaining a pediment, much like a modern Chimneypiece ; the whole of brick cover'd with plaister, the roof & sides between the niches adorned with little Grotesques of painting, & Stucco in square Compartiments with small figures in the middle prettily executed enough & in tolerable preservation, there are Centaurs, Sphinxes, Loves, Harpies, &c : it seems to have been the monument of some considerable family, but all the inscriptions & Urns are taken away, & I could get no information of what might have been learnd from thence, the road runs along the hills, that form a circle about the Avernus. less than a mile on this side Cuma one passes under the Arco Felice, it joins two Hills together, handsomely built of Brick, & with vast Solidity, for the Mass is above 50 foot in thickness, the Arch is 20 foot wide, & 70 high, & there are 2 or 3 little ones still atop of that, so that it was even with the summit of the hills, not far from thence is the little temple call'd Del Gigante, 250 . GRAY. where is said to have been found the Colossal Statue of Jupiter now before the Palace at Naples, it is square with a vaulted roof in Compartiments, such as those of the Pantheon, at the end is a large Nich, but not near of a sufficient size to hold that statue, the re- mains of Cumse are nothing in themselves very consi- derable, but (as every thing else hereabouts) vast, & such as give one a great Idea of ancient art & industry, the rock, on which the famous temple of Apollo & Diana is supposed to have stood, is very steep, & close to the shore ; the Substructiones remain on the sides of it, & are of hewn Stone, extremely solid, & neat : this seems to have been the situation of both Temple, & Citadel, below this hill, on one side, where the rocks retire a little from the shore, is the mouth of a Cave, perhaps the true Grotta della Sibylla, this is very spacious, & only inconvenient by the num- ber of loose stones that roll down into it, for it is a gradual descent all the way. where the rock did not seem capable of supporting itself, it has been propped in several places of the sides by a wall of hewn stone built up to it. some paces within it on the left hand is a large & wide ascent of Stairs (I believe) more than 60 Steps, it goes strait at first, but winds a little towards the top, where when you land, there seems to have been another narrow flight of steps, leading- still higher, but this is quite stop'd up with earth, as is the Cave itself not a great way further, this many NOTES OF TRAVEL. 251 imagine to have been the other mouth of the Grot near Avernus, but it is conjecture only, all this part of the coast is exposed to an intense heat of the sun, fruits are consequently in very early perfection here, they used to have figs ripe at this Season, & Grapes in great forwardness ; at the time we were there indeed there was no appearance of it, the year being remarkably backward I believe all over Europe ; how- ever Barley was then ready to cut, & the Wheat had chang'd colour, we made a Utile journey also on the otherside of the Bay of Naples to Portici, where the King has a Villa about 4 Miles out of town, the way thither is thro' a number of small towns, & seats of the nobility close by the Sea, for Mount Vesuvius has not ever been able to deter people from inhabiting this lovely coast, & as soon as ever an irruption is well over, tho' perhaps it has damaged, or destroy'd the whole country for leagues round it, in some months every thing resumes its former face, and goes on in the old channel, that mountain lies a little distance from Portici towards the left, divided into 2 Summits, that farthest from the Sea is rather the largest, & highest called Monte di Somma. this has been hitherto very innocent ; the lesser one, which is properly Veswcio, is that so terrible for it's fires; it is better than 3 Miles to ascend & those extremely laborious, 'twas extremely quiet at the time I saw it : some days one could not perceive it smoke at all. 252 GRAY. others one saw it riseing like a white Column from it, but in no great quantity, about a mile beyond Por- tici we saw the Stream of combustible Matter, which run from it in the last eruption ; within |^ of a mile, or less from the Sea is a small church of Our Lady, belonging to certain Zoccolanti, into this church it enter'd thro' one of the side-doors without otherwise damageing the fabrick, run cross it, & was stop'd, I suppose, by the opposite Wall, the Fryars have dugg away that part of it, & left it whole riseing in a great rough mass at the door where it enter'd, as if the miraculous power of our Lady had forbid it to advance further : this is well-contrived, & carries some appearance with it. that part of the Stream, which comes along thro' the fields, at a distance resembles plough'd Land, but rougher, & in huge Clods; they are hard, & heavy, like the dross of some metals; the people pile the pieces up, & make an enclosure to their fields with them, this place is call'd Torre del Greco ; it is about 4 Years since the Eruption happen'd. I imagine the river of fire, or Lava, as they call it, may be 20 Yards, or more in breadth, it is not above a Year since they discover'd under a part of the town of Portici a little way from the Shore an ancient & terrible example of what this mountain is capable of ; J See Walpole's letter to West of June 14, 1740 N. S. from Naples (ed. Cunningham, i. p. 48). He gives, as obtained from Gray, the quotation from Statins infra. Also Gray to his mother, June 17, 1740 (ed. Gosse, ii. 80 sq.). NOTES OF TRAVEL. 253 as they were digging to lay the foundations of a house foi' the Prince d'Elboeuf, they found a Statue or two with some other ancient remains, which comeing to the King's knowledge he ordei''d them to work on at his expence, & continuing to do so they came to what one may call a whole city under ground ; it is supposed, & with great probability to be the Greek settlement call'd Herculaneum, which in that furious Eruption, that happen'd under Titus (the same in which the elder Pliny perish'd) was utterly over- whelmed, & lost with several others on the same coast. Statins, who wrote as it were on the spot, & soon after the accident had happen'd, makes a very poetical exclamation on the subject, which this discovery sets in it's full light. . . . Hffic ego Chalcidicis ad te, Marcelle, sonabara Littoribus, fractas ubi Vesbius egerit iras, iEmula Trinacriis volvens incendia flammis. Mira fides! credetne virum ventura propago i*Cum segetes iterum, cum jam hffiC deserta virebunt, Infra urbes populosq premi, iiroavitaq toto Eura abiisse mari? nee dum lethale minari Cessat apex. Silvie: Epist: ad Vict: Marcellum L: 4. The work is unhappily under the direction of Spaniards, people of no taste or erudition, so that the workmen dig, as chance directs them, wherever they find the ground easiest to work Avithout any 1 This line is inserted, obviously afterwards, by Gray and marked with an asterisk. 254 GRAY. certain view, they have been fearful of the earths falling in, & with reason, for it is but soft, & crumbling, so that the passage they have made, is but just sufficient for one person to walk upright in : I believe, with all its windings it is now a good mile in length & every day is increaseing. one descends conveniently to the depth of about 30 foot by the stone Steps of a Theatre, that they have found, one walks a good way by the side of one of it's Gal- leries ; one see's buildings of brick with incrustations of white marble, & here & there a solid column of it, some upright, cithers fall'n, & lieing at length, there is what appears the front of some edifice, an arch with double pilasters on each side, these are of brick cover'd witli a coat of plaister, and painted green with shades to imitate the trunk of a Palm- tree, one passes by many walls cover'd with the same plaister, painted in square compartiments either green, or red, & sometimes a little figure, or piece of grotesque in proper colours amongst it. most of these buildings are still upright, it's plain ; other parts seem overturn'd, & in ruins ; there is a mixture of woodwork amongst the brick, all black, as a coal, & tho' so firm as to show one even the Grain dis- tinctly, yet upon being touch'd, moulders away into dust, whether this be the effect of Fire, or merely Age, I can not say : it is certain, there are no marks of the first in any other instance; what there may NOTES OF TRAVEL. 255 be nearer the surface, I can't say. they have found an 011a with Rice, & Dates in it. the first I saw none of, but they say it retain'd it's hardness, the latter was as black as the wood ; & of a firmer consistence, there are inscriptions placed where the principal paintings, & Statues were found, which have been convey'd to the Palace, & there we went to see them, there are more than, 40 pieces from half a foot square to 6 or 7 feet, as they are painted on Wall considering the difficulty of removeing, & con- veying them one may call them well-preserved ; one may say the same of them, as to the "colouring, with regard to their antiquity, it is not to be imagined very lively; it is sufficient if the Clair Obscur be distinguishable ; the colours are laid on in a bold manner with strong strokes of the pencil, & not much softned one into the other, but that is a delicacy time may easily have destroy'd. the Airs, particularly of heads, are commonly the best, in other parts there are frequent incorrectnesses of drawing: one of the most considerable is, I think The Chiron, & Achilles. fig''f a little less than life, the latter is a Boy, whom the Centaur is in- structing to touch the Lyre, & a perfectly genteel figure ; he has a little drapery, about his middle, otherwise naked, & looks up in the other's face with a natural innocent air. the old Man's head is ex- cellent for the air, & expression; the hair & beard 256 GRAY. very great, & bold in a Style like Rafael; the naked too of the human part is fine, but the Horse (his hinder parts) is vastly too small, & out of proportion to the rest : the Scene is the front of a temple with a Portico, this is the best preserved among them. Theseus after his victory over the Minotaur, that Monster (a human figure with the head of a Bull, but no horns) lies dead at his feet, the Youth are flocking round him, & kissing his hands, the}^ are little figures with the proportions of full-grown people, but not a quarter so big as life, tho' he himself is rather larger, his head with the Sweep of the body as far as the middle is very noble, & resembles the famous Meleager: the legs & arms, particularly the extremities vastly inferiour, & good for little. A Wo- man sitting on a rock, her head on her hand, looking upwards, she is crown'd with flowers & (I think) has a Cornucopise. before her a naked figure, like a Her- cules, his back towards one, & face in Profile, & beyond him a Victory half-appearing out of the clouds, on the foregi'ound a small Doe (Capreola) giveing suck to an infant, & a little further an Eagle, & Lion, the principal figures big as life, some good things, but the extremities not good as in the former There are other large pieces, but more damaged than these, another old man (not a centaur) instruct- ing a Youth ; this is almost vanish'd. somewhat like NOTES OF TRAVEL. 257 a tryal, figures in Roman habits, & a Man seated, & crown'd with Lawrel, who seems to judge them. A Muse with two Fhites, &c: among the lesser are 2 Satyrs heads, one of them in a good taste ; a sort of Landscape with buildings on each side a Lake, where they lessen in proportion to their distance according to the rules of perspective. A piece of architecture, Avhere thro' an opening is seen a Portico with it's Columns showing, also according to art ; & many others exceeding curious, as indeed the whole discovery is one of the most considerable made for these many ages, there are 6 Consular Statues of white Marble in the Toga, & a Scroll in their hands, as usual, the head of one of them, an elderly Man, as fine as possible. An Lnperfect figure of a woman without head or arms ; the Drapery perfectly good Part of a Horse, much bigger than life, Bronze ; & many more fragments of brazen statues, several Ollai ; a Tripod of Marble with animals heads, & foliage ; some Liscriptions, one very large to the honour of Vespasian, another to Domitian's Wife, before he was Emperour (he is call'd Caesar in it) several Medals, particularly of Claudius Cses: many small Gold and silver instruments ; but these were in the King's own hands, & we could not see them, the view of Naples, & it's Bay in returning from hence is as beautiful, as possible, it forms a huge Semicircle, & tlie mouu- G. 17 258 GRAY. tains, that rise behind are (not like the barren ones of Genoa, but) as deliciously fertile as one can ima- gine, all cover'd with Verdure, & woods intermix'd with Villas, so is the whole Chain of Coteaux, that run along to the S:E. of the City in a line parallel to it. Naples has not the stately buildings of Genoa, the materials are not so rich, nor the tast so good, but in recompense it is larger, and it's bay with the country about it infinitely more beautiful, the streets are spacious, & well paved, the houses high, & of equal goodness for a great way together ; they reckon it 9 mile in circumference without the Suburbs, of which it has 7, & large ones, it is peopled to a redundancy; they reckon 500,000 Souls, & it seems not hard to believe : there are a greater num- ber of children than ever I saw anywhere ; they walk at 6 months old, and go stark naked for 4 or 5 Years which the Climate will easily bear, the people are lively to a degTee, and seem less inclined to Laziness than the rest of Italy, every body is busy, till the evening : then they give themselves up to diversion ; the Men take their Colascione (a great sort of Lute) or their Guitarre, & walk on the Shore to enjoy the Fresco, sometimes singing in their Dialect in concert with their instrument, the women sit at their doors playing on the Cymbal, to the sound of which the children dance with Castanets, this one sees all along the Chiaia, which runs out from the City near NOTES OF TRAVEL. 259 a mile in length towards Pausilypo, on one side are houses, chiefly of the common people intermix'd with some great ones, the other open to the Sea with Trees, & here and there a fountain, hither the Coaches resort in the evening, & drive slowly in 2 ranks backward & forward for an hour or two, a little beyond the end of this, & halfway up the side of Pausilipo is the little Church founded and endowed by Sanazarius in honour of the Partus Virginis ; at the end of it, where you enter, opposite to the high- Altar is his Monument, of the finest white Marble, on a spatious Basis are situated the figures of Apollo and Minerva sitting, & between them is a square bas-relief of Satyrs with Neptune & other figures, that shew he was the inventor of Piscatory Eclogues. above rises a Sarcofagus of a handsome figure with his bust upon it, an elderly man in long lank hair, the whole is a fine performance of Girolamo Santa Croce, a Neapolitan artist, compleated by Fr^ Gio : da Montorsoli, the Florentine, over the Mouth of the Grotta almost is the Toinb calVd of Virgil ; 'tis of difficult access, & all cover'd with Shrubs, that grow over it, a square sepulchre with a vaulted roof, & 10 little Niches like the Columbaria : it belonged to be sure to some family. The Grand Street (di Toledo aforemention'd) winding a little toward the further end opens into an irregular Piazza, one side of which (to the left) is form'd by the Palace, 17—2 260 GRAY. a fine piece of Cav: Fontana's Architecture ; it is of 23 Windows in front, & 3 Orders, Doric, Ionic, & Corinthian, the first of them is a Loggia, the other 2 the Apartments, the Great Gate consists of 4 Doric Columns of Granite, that support a Ringhiera of 50 Palms in length; the whole front is of 520 Palms, the 2 ends of 360 ; the height 130 Palms: these buildings enclose a Cortile, where the same Orders are observed. JOUENEY INTO SCOTLAND, FROM ROSE-CASTLE IN CUMBERLAND. Aug: 1764. Bp of Carlisle. To Netherby. Rev: M"" Graham's, who has built hot- houses there, & made a line Kitchen-Garden, & great plantations, here was probably the ^sica of Anton: Itiner: Cross the Sark (3 miles N:W:) & enter Scot- Annandale in Dumfries-Shire land A good road, ugly country. To Annam, at dinner, bad inn. excellent Mutton. Claret 3 S: a bottle, wretched appearance, , 220 Partus Virginis, Church of the, 259 Pastor Fido (Guarini's), lost version of a scene in, 117 'Pausanias,' West's, 131) and n., 150, 151 Pausilipo, 232, 235, 259 Pegafetta, 289 Pelham, Rt. Hon. Henry, 13G and n. Percy, Thos., 189, 190 Perriere, Baron de la or Peyriere, 19G Perriere, Mad. de la (Miss Speed), 195—200 Petronius, 240 Philip II., portrait by Titian, 220 Philips', John, 'Splendid Shil- ling,' version of, 298 Phrygians 7iot Phoenicians the oldest nation, 134 n. Pia7,za, Walpole's 'Italian,' 72 Piozzi, Mrs, 272 Piperno, chmissure of peasants at, 227 Piscina Mirabilis, 248 Pitt, Earl of Chatham, 23; speech on proposing a monu- ment to Wolfe, 24 ; 278 Pitti, Palazzo, 216 sq. 'Plato,' see Ash ton Plymouth, Lord, Preface ix, 4 n. 1, 45, 54 and n, Polleri, 178, 179 Polydore and Castalio, picture at Wohurn, 287 'Polyglot,' Mr, (West), 108 Poj^e's letter to Steele, para- phrased by West, 95 ; letters between Pope and Cromwell, 164; burlesque by West of Pope's verses on his Grotto, 163 ; Gray on, 270 ; ib. n. 2, 280, 281, 282 and notes, 283, 286 n., 287, '288 and notes Pope, Mrs, 286 n. Portia, Card., 49, 50 Portici, 251 Porto Bello, 53 and n. Poseidippus, translation of, by West, 104 Poulet, Lord W. ('elephant' for ' equivalent '), 178 and n. Poussin, 161, 205 Pozzuoli, 236, 240 'Prato,' nickname, 125 Pretender, the old, 52 and n., 280 Prevost (d'Exiles) Abbt', his 'Cleveland,' 135 and n. Princess of Wales, 279 Prinsep, 'Quid,' 72—77, 80, 82, 85 Prochyta or Procita, 248 Propertius, imitation of, by West, 127; Gray's version, sent to West, 163 ; criticised by West, 164 Prussia, Frederick the Great, King of, 199 and u. Psamnietichus, his experi- ment, 134 n. 810 INDEX. Puffendorff, 105; (nickname), 125 Pulteney (Lord Bath), 278, 279 n. Puntormo, 234 Quakers, Asliton imitates their style, 130 sq. and u. Eacine, 157 Eamusio, 289 Eaphael, 205, 220, 222 Eeed, Isaac, his account of the quarrel between Gray and Walpole, 8, 9 Eeggio, 58 n. 2, 150, 151 n. Eheims, 131 sq. Ehone and Saone, junction of, 131 Eicciarelli, 207 Eichelieu, Card., 204 Eizzio, 263 Eoberts, Mr, of the Pell office, his account of the quarrel between Gray and Walpole, 8, 9 Eogers, account of Gray, 19 Eon sard, 157 Eosalba, 180 Eose Castle, 260 Eosso, II, 219 Eosslin, 263 Eousseau, 25 Eubens, 205, 218, 222 Eussell, Lady, 287 Eussell, Mrs, 286 Sackville, Lord George, 199 and n. 2 Salvator Eosa, 218 Salviati, 212 Sandwich, Lord, 190 n. 2 Sannazarius, 259 Santa Croce, Girolamo, 259 Saone, junction with Ehone described by Gray, 131 Sarazin, 206 Sarto, Andrea del, 220, 221 Savoy, Charles Emmanuel D. of, his road, 134 Scotus, Duns, 93 Selwyn, George, 23, 46 and n., 48 Sermoneta, 226 Setebos, 289 S^vigne, Mad. de, 154 Sezza (Setia), 226 Shaftesbury, quoted, 89 Shakespeare, West on the im- itation of, 157, 161 ; emend- ations on the text of, in Gray's writing, 289—291 Sibyl's Grotto, 242, 243, 250 Silius Italicus quoted, 225, 226, 227 Smollett's Eoderick Eandom, account of expedition to Cartagena, 178 n. Solfatara, the, 240 Somma, Monte di, 251 Spa, 177 Spagnuoletto, 234 Spaniards, engaged on Her- culaneum, 253 Spectator, 272 Speed, Colonel, 195 Speed, Miss Henrietta Jane, 195-200 Spence, 151 n., 288 and n. Stair, Lord, 279 Statins, Gray's translation, 69, 70; Statins compared with Georg. 2, p.l38 ; quoted, 228, 253 St Denys, 204 Steele, Pope to, paraphrased by West, 95 sq. Stirling, 262 Story, the Long, 197 St Sulpice, 206 Stuart, see Pretender INDEX. 311 'Sublime,' West to Ashton on the, 145—148 Sueur, Le, 208 Sunderland, Lord, 278 Swift, 155 Syiin)honij's affair, 54, 55 Tacitus. West finds 'Pan- noniau sedition' a little tedious, 156; 157, 158, 159; translates speech of Ger- manicus, 103 Tatler, 272 Taverner, Mr, of Woodeaton, 67 Terracina, 228, 229 Thermae of Nero, 244 Theseus, 256 Tliistlethwayte. See Whithed Tibullus, West's favourite elegiac poet, 87; West's jjaraphrase of, 95 sq. Tillotson, Lady Russell to, 287 Titian, 207, 221, 222, 233 Toledo, Strada di, 231, 259 Torre del Greco, 252 Torre delle Mole, 227 Torriano, Professor, 191 and n. ' Tory,' Walpole's spaniel, death of, 133, 134 Tournus, 209 Townshend, G. , 280 Townshend, Lord, 278 Trant, (Proctor), 66 Tritoli, Sudatorii di, 244 Tucker, Miss (Mrs Warbur- ton), 281, 282 Tunbridge, 16, 131, 132; 'Tunbrigiaua,' 133 Tunbridge Wells, Horace Walpole at, 117 Turin, 133 Turner, Professor, 184 Tweedmouth, 264 Twickenham, 281 'Tydeus,' 80, perhaps Dodd, 94 u. 1 Val de Grace, 205 Valmote — Baroness de Wal- moden, 38 and n, Vandyke, 221 Velletri, 225 Venice, Gray at, 175 Venus de Medicis, offended with West, 140 Venus, temple of, 246 Veruil, 150 Veronese, Paolo, 205, 219 Verral's Cookery with Gray's notes, 18 and n. Vesuvius, M., 232, 251 sq. Via Campana, 249 Vienne, 213 Virgil, 136, 155; on cities of Italy, 226, 227, 232, 243 Virgil, tomb of, 259 Viry, Comte de, 196 Voltaire, 280 n., 286 and n, Vulturnus, 231 Vyne, Hampshire, 175, 180 Wales, Princess of, 279 Walmoden, Baroness de, 38 and n. Walpole, Horace. His quarrel with Gray and reconcilia- tion, 7 — 13 ; illness at Reg- gio, 58 and n., 150, 151 u.; grief at his mother's death, 5, 102 ; at Richmond Lodge, 115; Tunbridge Wells, 117 Walpole, Horace (Lord Wal- pole of Woolterton), 284, 285 and notes. Mrs Horace Walpole, ib. Walpole, Lady, her death, 5, 101, 102 312 INDEX. Walpole, 8ir 11., ('Cardinal Fleury'), llo and n.; 116, 130, 140, 277, 278, 285 and n., 286 Warburton, 277 n. 1, 281 n. 1, 282, 289—291 Warburton, Mrs, see Tucker Watton, 190 West, Elizabeth, daughter of Bishop Burnet, 108; sus- picions concerning her, 15—17 West, liichard, sen., Lord Cliaucellor of Ireland, 15; early death, ib. and 16 ; 'Damon to Philomel,' 172 West, Kichard, friend of (iray, 15 — 17; going to Epsom, 115 ; returns to the Temple, 117; sends Gray Imit. of Horace from Epsom, 123 ; at Tunbridge, 131, 132 ; in Bond-Street, 142 ; Prince's Court, ib. n.; at Tunbridge Wells, 144; at Paris, 149; military longings, 150, 152 sq.; 'Pausanias,' vid. s.v. ; at Popes, Hertfordshire, 156; 'makes a muse of a Cough,' 158, 159 ; his versi- fying in sleep, 159 ; absence of mind, ib. n.; death, 168 West's Poems, transl. of Martial iii. 61, p. 78 ; Ode to Mary Magdalene, 83 ; 'Ad Amicos,' 95 sq.; ran- dom verses, 99, 100 ; transl. of Horace Carm i. 5, p. 101 ; Latin version of epigram of Poseidippus, 104 ; ' Hearne to Time,' 108; 'Thanks Chloe' &c., 109; Monody on the Death of Queen Caroline, 110 sq. ; Elegia ' Quod mihi tam grata3,' 118; Imitation of Horace Epist. I. 2, p. 119 sq. ; of Propertius 3. 15, p. 127; Sapphics to his Lyre, 133 ; Hexameters on the hard Winter, 1740, p. 137 ; ' Elegia ' sent from London to Florence, 140, 141 ; Hexameters on his Cough, 158 ; Invocation to Ma,y, 165, 166 ; Translation from Catullus, 167, 168 Westminster critics at Christ- church amputate West's verses, 71 Whalley, (Whaley), 94 and n. Whit(e)tield's answer to Bp of London, 131 and n.; Journal, 137 Whithed, 175, 180, 181, 185 and n. Williams, Mr, 15 n. Williams, Sir C. Hanbury, 280 n. Willis, 278 Willymott, Dr, 72, 73, 75, 76 Wilmington, Lord, (Sir Spencer Compton), 278 Window tax in Scotland, 279 Winter, hard, 1740 (Jan.), 137, 138 Woburn, 286, 287 ' Wolfe, and Gray, 23, 24 Wordsworth, and Gray, 30, 31 Yarmouth, 278 Zelanti, 56 Zoccolauti, 252 CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. AND SONS, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: March 2009 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD lEAOFR IM rm i cpTin'"; PRESERVATION 111 Thomson Parl< Drive Cranberry Townstiip, PA 16066 (724) 779-2111