The Works of Thomas Gray, Esq

LETTER

26. To his MOTHER. Excursion to Bologna. Election of a pope; description

of his person, with an odd speech which he made to the cardinals in the

Conclave

•

27. To Mr. WEST. Description, in Latin hexameters, of the sudden rising of

Monte Nuovo near Puzzoli, and of the destruction which attended it

28. To his FATHER. Uncertainty of the route he shall take in his return to

England. Magnificence of the Italians in their reception of strangers, and

parsimony when alone. The great applause which the new Pope meets

with. One of his bon mots

•

29. To his FATHER. Total want of amusement at Florence, occasioned by the

late Emperor's funeral not being public. A procession to avert the ill

effects of a late inundation. Intention of going to Venice. An invasion

from the Neapolitans apprehended. The inhabitants of Tuscany dissa-

tisfied with the government

30. To Mr. WEST. The time of his departure from Florence determined.

Alteration in his temper and spirits. Difference between an Italian fair

and an English one. A farewell to Florence and its prospects, in Latin

hexameters. Imitation, in the same language, of an Italian sonnet

Account of Mr. Gray's return home, and of his second visit to the Grande
Chartreuse, where he wrote an Alcaic Ode, which concludes the Section

SECT. III.

Prefatory narrative. Mr. Gray's father dies, and the year after he returns
to Cambridge, and takes a degree in civil law; during that interval he cor-
responds with Mr. West

1. From Mr. WEST. His spirits not as yet improved by country air. Has
begun to read Tacitus, but does not relish him

2. To Mr. WEST. Earnest hopes for his friend's better health, as the warm
weather comes on. Defence of Tacitus, and his character. Of the new
Dunciad. Sends him a speech from the first scene of Agrippina

The plan, dramatis personæ, and all the speeches which Mr. Gray wrote of
that tragedy, inserted

109

3. From Mr. WEST. Criticism on his friend's tragic style. Latin hexa-
meters on his own cough

4. To Mr. WEST. Thanks for his verses. On Joseph Andrews. Defence

of old words in tragedy

•

5. From Mr. WEST. Answer to the former, on the subject of antiquated ex-

pressions

•

6. To Mr. WEST. Has laid aside his tragedy. Difficulty of translating

Tacitus

Page

•

7. From Mr. WEST. With an English Ode on the approach of May
8. To Mr. WEST. Criticises his Ode. Of his own classical studies
9. From Mr. WEST. Answer to the foregoing
10. To Mr. WEST. Of his own peculiar species of melancholy. Inscription
for a wood in Greek hexameters. Argument and exordium of a Latin
heroic epistie, from Sophonisba to Massinissa

Account of Mr. WEST's death. Of Mr. Gray's English poetry, written

about this time, with the general plan, argument of the first book, and all

the parts which the Author finished of a Latin didactic poem "De Prin-

. 132

•

9. To Dr. WHARTON.

10. To Dr. WHARTON.

Birch's State Papers. Of his own studies, and a table of Greek chrono-

logy, which he was then forming

11. To Dr. WHARTON. Ludicrous account of the Duke of Newcastle's Instal-

lation at Cambridge. On the Ode then performed, and more concerning

the Author of it

designs for his Poems.

work.

Character of M. de Montesquieu's L'Esprit des Loix 166

Account of books continued. Crebillon's Catilina.

•

168

Consolatory on the death of her sister

. 170

12. To his MOTHER.

13. To Dr. WHARTON.

Wishes to be able to pay him a visit at Durham. On

Dr. Middleton's death. Some account of the first volumes of Buffon's

Histoire Naturelle

Narrative of the incident which led Mr. Gray to write his Long Story.

That poem inserted, with notes by the Editor, and prefaced with his idea

of Mr. Gray's peculiar vein of humour

14. To Dr. WHARTON. On the ill reception which the foregoing poem met

with in town when handed about in manuscript, and how much his Elegy

in a Country Church-yard was applauded

15. To Mr. WALPOLE. Desires him to give his Elegy to Mr. Dodsley to be

printed immediately, in order to prevent its publication in a magazine 180

16. To Dr. WHARTON. Of Madame Maintenon's Character and Letters. His

high opinion of M. Racine. Of Bishop Hall's Satires, and of a few of

Plato's Dialogues

17. To Mr. WALPOLE.

Concerning the intention of publishing Mr. Bentley's

Refuses to have his own portrait prefixed to that

Farther account of those designs, with stanzas which Mr. Gray wrote to

Mr. Bentley on that occasion

LETTER

184

Epitaph on Mr. Gray's aunt and mother in the church-yard of Stoke-Pogis 186

19. To Dr. Wharton. On Strawberry-Hill. Occasional remarks on Gothic

architecture

•

20. To Dr. WHARTON. Objection to publishing his Ode on the progress of

Poetry singly. Hint of his having other lyrical ideas by him unfinished 189

Explanation of that hint, and a fragment of one of those lyrical pieces

inserted.

21. To Mr. STONHEWER.

Of Monsignor Baiardi's book concerning Hercu-

laneum. A poem of Voltaire. Incloses a part of his Ode entitled the
Bard.

and of Madame Staal. Intention of coming to town

24. To Mr. MASON. Of his reviewers. Offers to send him Druidical anec-

dotes for his projected drama of Caractacus

25. To Mr. MASON. On hearing Parry play on the Welch harp, and finishing

his Ode after it. Account of the Old Ballad on which the Tragedy of

Douglas was founded

•

26. To Mr.HURD.

On the ill reception his two Pindaric Odes met with on

their publication

27. To Mr. MASON.

28. To Mr. MASON.

22. To Dr. WHARTON. On his removing from Peter-House to Pembroke-Hall.
His notion of a London hospital. Of Sully's Memoirs. Mason's four odes 196
23. To Dr. WHARTON. Of his own indolence. Memoirs of M. de la Porte

His opinion of the dramatic part of Caractacus
Dissuading him from retirement. Advice concerning
Caractacus. Criticisms on his Elegy written in the garden of a Friend.
Refusal of the office of Poet Laureat

•

29. To Dr. WHARTON. Account of his present employment in making out a

list of places, in England, worth seeing

30. To Dr. WHARTON. On the forementioned list. Tragedy of Agis. Va-

rious authors in the last volumes of Dodsley's Miscellany. Dr. Swift's

four last years of Queen Anne

31. To Mr. STONHEWER. On infidel writers and Lord Shaftsbury

A paper of Mr. Gray inserted, relating to an impious position of Lord

Bolingbroke

32. To Dr. WHARTON. On the death of his son, and an excuse for not writing

•

an epitaph

33. To Mr. PALGRAVE. Desiring him to communicate the remarks he should

make in his tour through the North of England

34. To Mr. MASON. Some remarks on a second manuscript copy of Carac-

•

tacus

35. To Mr. PALGRAVE. Description of Mr. Gray's present situation in town,

and of his reading in the British Museum

36. To Dr. WHARTON. On employment. Gardening. Character of Froissart.

King of Prussia's Poems. Tristram Shandy

37. To Mr. STONHEWER. On the latter volumes of M. d'Alembert and the

187

190

•

Erse Fragments .
38. To Dr. CLARKE. His amusements with a party on the banks of the Thames.

Death of a Cambridge Doctor. More of the Erse Fragments

39. To Mr. MASON. On two Parodies of Mr. Gray's and Mr. Mason's Odes.

50. To Dr. WHARTON. Description of the old castle of Glamis, and part of

the Highlands

ib.

51. To Mr. BEATTIE. Apology for not accepting the degree of Doctor offered

him by the University of Aberdeen

52. To Dr. WHARTON. Buffon's Natural History. Memoirs of Petrarch,

Mr. Walpole at Paris. Description of a fine lady

53. To Dr. WHARTON.

Tour in Kent. New Bath Guide. Another volume

of Buffon

54. To Mr. MASON. On his wife's death

55. To Mr. BEATTIE. Thanks for a manuscript poem. Mr. Adam Ferguson's

Essay on Civil Society. A compliment to Lord Gray

56. To Mr. BEATTIE. On the projected edition of our Author's Poems in

England and Scotland. Commendation of Mr. Beattie's Ode on Lord

Hay's birth-day.

. 266

57. To Mr. BEATTIE. More concerning the Glasgow edition of his Poems

58. To the Duke of GRAFTON. Thanking him for his Professorship

268

269

Letter to MARY ANTROBUS, written on the day of his presentation to
George III. upon his appointment to the Professorship. [Not in Mr.
Mason's edition]

59. To Mr. NICHOLLS. Account of Mr. Brocket's death, and of his being

made his successor in the Professorship

60. To Mr. BEATTIE. On the same subject

261

. 263

1. To Mr. NICHOLLS. On the death of his uncle, Governor Floyer, and ad-

vising him to take orders

2. To Mr. NICHOLLS. Congratulating him upon his situation, and mention-
ing his own Ode on the Installation of the New Chancellor

3. To Mr. BEATTIE. His reason for writing that Ode

SECT. V.

Enumeration of such other literary pursuits of Mr. Gray as were not suffi-
ciently dilated upon in the preceding letters

. 273

ib.

LETTER

4. To Dr. WHARTON. A journal of his tour through Westmoreland, Cum-

berland, and a part of Yorkshire
Description of Kirkstall-Abbey, and some other

5. To Dr. WHARTON.

places in Yorkshire

6. To Mr. NICHOLLS. Of Nettley-Abbey and Southampton

7. To Mr. BEATTIE. On the first part of his Minstrel, and his Essay on the
Immutability of Truth. Stricture on Mr. D. Hume

8. To Mr. How. On receiving three of Count Algarotti's Treatises, and
hinting an error which that author had fallen into, with regard to the
English taste of gardening

The manner in which the Count rectified his mistake

9. To Mr. How. After perusing the whole of Count Algarotti's works in the
Leghorn edition, and his sentiments concerning them
10. To Mr. NICHOLLS. On the affection due to a mother. Description of

320

that part of Kent from whence the letter was written

11. To Mr. NICHOLLS. Character of Froissart and other old French histo-

rians. And of Isocrates

12. To Dr. WHARTON. Of his tour, taken the year before, to Monmouth,

&c. Intention of coming to Old Park. And of his ill state of health

Conclusion, with the particulars of Mr. Gray's death. His character by

another hand, and some annotations on it by the Editor

APPENDIX.

LETTERS TO MR. WALPOLE.

1. The little concern produced by public calamities. Some remarks upon the

character of Mr. Pope

332

2. Description of true philosophy. Conduct of Mr. Ratcliffe at his execution 333
3. Elegy written in a Country Church-yard first forwarded. Hints respect-

ing a work in the press against Mr. Middleton

4. Observations upon a dramatic performance, entitled Elfrida, from the pen
of Mr. Mason

5. Same subject continued

6. Mr. Lyttleton's Elegy and Mr. Walpole's Epistle from Florence considered
-favourable views of the latter