AS you and Mr. R. Wharton seemed determined for the foundation, I shall say no more on the subject; it is pity you could not resolve sooner, for I fear you are now too late, and must defer your design till the next year; as the election at Eton begins this day se'nnight, and your nephew ought to be there on the evening of the 27 at farthest, which is scarce possible. You have never told me his age; but I suppose you know that after 15 complete, boys are excluded from the election, and that a certificate of their age (that is, an extract from the Parish Register, where they were baptized) is always required, which must be attested and signed by the minister and churchwardens of the said parish. Your nephew (I imagine) is much younger than fifteen, and therefore there will be no great inconvenience, if he should be placed at Eton, whenever it suits Mr. Wharton to carry him, and there wait for the next election. This is commonly practised, and Dr. Ashton (I do not doubt) will be equally ready to serve him then as now; he will probably be placed pretty high in the school, having had the same education, that is in use there, and will have time to familiarize himself to the place, before he actually enters the college. I have waited to know your intentions before I could answer Dr. Ashton's letter, and wish you would now write to me what you finally determine. There is a month's breaking up immediately after the

Election which lasts a week, so it is probable Mr. Wharton will hardly send his son till those holidays are over.

I do not mention the subject you hint at for the same reason you give me; it should be offered and clear of all taxes before I would go into it, in spite of the Mines in America, on which I congratulate you.

I shall hope to see Old Park next Summer, if I am not bedrid, but who can tell? Mr. Brown presents his best services to the family, with mine; he is older than I.

Adieu! the

BE assured your York Canon never will die; so the better the thing is in value, the worse for you*. The true

* This was written at a time, when, by the favour of Dr. Fountayne, Dean of York, I expected to be made a Residentiary in his Cathedral.-Mason.

way to immortality is to get you nominated one's successor. Age and Diseases vanish at your name; Fevers turn to radical heat, and Fistulas to issues: it is a judgement that waits on your insatiable avarice. You could not let the poor old man die at his ease, when he was about it; and all his family (I suppose) are cursing you for it.

I wrote to Lord ** on his recovery; and he answers me very cheerfully, as if his illness had been but slight, and the pleurisy were no more than a hole in one's stocking. He got it (he says) not by scampering, racketing, and riding post, as I had supposed; but by going with Ladies to Vauxhall. He is the picture (and pray so tell him, if you see him) of an old Alderman that I knew, who, after living forty years on the fat of the land, (not milk and honey, but arrack punch and venison) and losing his great toe with a mortification, said to the last, that he owed it to two grapes, which he ate one day after dinner. He felt them lie cold at his stomach the minute they were down.

Mr. Montagu (as I guess, at your instigation) has earnestly desired me to write some lines to be put on a monument, which he means to erect at Bellisle *. It is a task I do not love, knowing Sir William Williams so slightly as I did: but he is so friendly a person, and his affliction seemed to me so real, that I could not refuse him. I have sent him the following verses, which I neither like myself, nor will he, I doubt: however, I have shewed him that I wished to oblige him. Tell me your real opinion.

LETTER C.

MR. GRAY TO DR. WHARTON.

DEAR DOCTOR,

I AM just come to town, where I shall stay six weeks, or more, and (if you will send your dimensions) will look out for papers at the shops. I own I never yet saw any Gothic papers to my fancy. There is one fault that is in the nature of the thing, and cannot be avoided. The great beauty of all Gothic designs is the variety of perspectives they occasion. This a painter may represent on the walls of a room in some measure, but not a designer of papers, where what is represented on one breadth must be exactly repeated on another, both in the light and shade, and in the dimensions. This we cannot help, but they do not even do what they might. They neglect Hollar, to copy Mr. Halfpenny's Architecture, so that all they do is more like a goose-pie than a cathedral. You seem to suppose that they do Gothic papers in colours, but I never saw any but such as were to look like Stucco; nor indeed do I conceive that they could have any effect or meaning. Lastly, I never saw any thing of gilding, such as you mention, on paper; but we shall see. Only pray leave as little to my judgement as possible.

I thanked Dr. Ashton before you told me to do so. He writes me word that (except the first Sunday of a month) he believes he shall be at Eton, till the middle of November; and (as he now knows the person in question as your nephew) adds,

I remember Dr. Wharton with great pleasure, and beg you will signify as much to him, when you write.

The King is just married; it is the hottest night in the year. Adieu! it is late. I am ever

DO not think me very dilatory, for I have been sending away all my things from this house (where neverthe less I shall continue while I stay in town) and have besides been confined with a severe cold to my room. On rummaging Mr. Bromwick's and several other shops, I am forced to tell you that there are absolutely no papers at all that deserve the name of Gothic, or that you would bear the sight of. They are all what they call fancy, and indeed resemble nothing that ever was in use in any age or country. I am going to advise what