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GRAY AND HIS FRIENDS
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Cambridge: DEIGHTON, BELL AND CO.
Leipzig: F. A. BROCKHAUS.
GRAY AND HIS FRIENDS
357
LETTERS AND RELICS
IN GREAT PART HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED.
EDITED BY
Rockes
DUNCAN C. TOVEY, M.A.
TRINITY COLLEGE.
CAMBRIDGE:
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
1890
All Rights reserved
•
828
G 7820
T74
Cambridge:
PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. AND SONS,
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
->
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ΤΟ
:
THE MEMBERS PAST AND PRESENT
1
OF
THE ASCHAM SOCIETY OF ETON COLLEGE
THESE PAGES
ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
BY THEIR FORMER COLLEAGUE
THE EDITOR.
PREFATORY NOTICE.
HE Relics collected in this volume are de-
THE
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
PREFATORY 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
(6
Manuscript
Letters
of
Gray, West and Walpole
copied by me
from the Originals
lent
by Lady Frankld Lewist
to me
February 1853
J. M.
N.B. The Mrs Lewis, to whom the letters
directed to Mr Ashton, were enclosed, was Anne
daughter and Co-Heiress of Sir Nathan Wright,
Bt of Tofts Hall who died 1777.
Ms Letters
from
Ashton to West
and
Walpole
Lady Frankland Lewis was Harriet fourth daughter of
Sir George Cornwall Bt. married 11th March 1805 Rt Honble
Th³. 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
PREFATORY 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 Gray,
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.
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY
SECTION I. UNPUBLISHED LETTERS, CHIEFLY OF
FOREIGN TRAVEL.
GRAY, WALPOLE AND ASHTON.
PAGE
1
1.
Gray to Ashton .
37
2.
39
•
3.
""
""
41
""
4.
Gray and Walpole to Ashton
45
5.
Gray to Ashton .
47
6.
Walpole and Gray to Ashton
49
7.
Walpole to Ashton
54
8.
Ashton to Walpole
58
SECTION II.
CORRESPONDENCE AND REMAINS OF
RICHARD WEST.
Unpublished Letters marked thus *
1.
*Ashton to West.
2.
*
""
""
3.
4.
West to Gray
""
""
*Ashton to West
65
66
68
70
ib. n.
xiv
CONTENTS.
PAGE
5.
6.
*
""
7.
*
""
*Ashton to West.
73
74
""
""
77
10.
8. *West to Ashton
9. *Ashton to West.
West to Walpole
Ode to Mary Magdalene
*Ashton to West
78
ib.
81
83
•
84
11.
West to Gray
12.
West to Walpole
13.
""
""
*Ashton to West
14.
West to Gray
Ad amicos
85
•
88
92
94
95
ib.
15. *West to Walpole
Ad Pyrrham (trans.)
98
•
101
•
16.
*Ashton to West.
17.
West to Gray
Epigram of Poseidippus (transl.)
18.
Gray to West (Latin)
19.
West to Gray
102
103
•
104
105
107
'Hearne to Time' by Mr Polyglot
'Thanks, Chloe'
108
•
109
•
20.
21. *Ashton to West
Monody on the Death of Queen Caroline.
West to Gray
110
•
115
116
22.
West to Gray
117
Elegia. Quod mihi tam gratæ &c.
118
Imitation of Horace Ep. 1. 2
119
23.
225
West to Walpole
Propertius 3. 15 imitated
24. *Ashton to West
25.
West to Gray
Sapphics to his Lyre
123
127
130
•
132
133
CONTENTS.
XV
PAGE
رو
West to Walpole
Hexameters on the Winter of 1740
26.
27.
28.
West to Walpole
134
·
•
137
138
139
""
30.
32.
33.
Elegia. Ergo desidiæ &c.
29.
31.
West to Gray
*West to Ashton
*
*
""
""
West to Walpole
140
•
142
145
•
•
146
""
•
149
""
•
150
34. *Gray to West with Dialogue of the Books .
154
35.
West to Gray
156
•
36.
157
""
وو
Hexameters on his Cough.
158
.
37.
West to Gray
160
38.
*West to Ashton
163
39.
West to Gray
164
Invocation to May
165
•
40.
West to Gray
166
Transl. from Catullus
•
. 167,8
41. *Ashton to West
42. *Gray to Ashton
Ashton's Verses on the Death of West
SECTION III. GRAY TO JOHN CHUTE.
169
170
171
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.
SECTION VI. GRAY'S NOTES OF TRAVEL.
PAGE
In France
204
•
Italy
Scotland
216
•
260
SECTION VII. THOUGHTS AND VERSE FRAGMENTS
269
SECTION VIII. COLLECTANEA AND CONJECTURES.
Gweddi'r Hwsmon (The Husbandman's
Prayer)
Anecdotes &c.
Conjectural Readings on Shakespeare
SECTION IX. LATIN POEMS
275
•
277
289
295
CORRIGENDA.
Index, p. 312, col. 2, for 'Willis' read 'Willes.'
""
""
after Yarmouth' add' see Walmoden.'
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 four
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.
in 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'2
by his Eton friends; why, I cannot tell, except in
as far as he was supposed to have some skill in
Greek³; his temper, with a great affectation of
1 Mitford's Common Place Books ad. fin. (Add. Mss. Brit.
Mus. 32,562.)
2 See note infra p. 81.
3 Walpole to West from Florence Oct. 2, 1740, suggests that
Ashton shall turn into Greek Buondelmonti's 'Spesso Amor
&c.' which Gray had Latinized.
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
3
equanimity at times, is the reverse of philosophic.
He is fitted however for the part of a δευτεραγωνιστὴς
and in 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 Inn'. 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. 1. 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 be 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 misplaced 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).
"Mrs G. writes me word how much goodness she
met with in Hanover Sqre.' Poor Creature! 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 "Mrs G." would be alarmed more on
Walpole's account, or on Gray's, the reader may
determine as he can'. The concern of Gray himself
1 The residence of the Hon. Mrs Lewis, where Ashton was
living as Tutor to Lord Plymouth.
2 See further the n. on p. 60.
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
5
10
It
at the death of Lady Walpole is manifested in a
letter to West of Aug. 22, 1737, 'While I write 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.
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 thoughtfulness 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—
17
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 writing
to poor Gray. I am less impatient to see you, 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
2
1 Horace Walpole's Letters, ed. Cunningham, no. 42, vol. 1.
p. 731.
Quoted, I discover, with the same intention, in
Mitford's 2nd Life of Gray.
2 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 Dr Sr very sincerely yours
Cambridge, July 7
T GRAY
I shall be very glad, Sr, 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, & 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 believe, since he wrote 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 the 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 doubt 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.
1 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 wrote 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, which
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
know how old Mr 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 rap-
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
Ashton. 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) Mr Davie and my friend
Mr 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 Reed, that there was "little cordiality after-
wards between them". But how does this tally with
these words, written by Gray to Walpole (when
1 See also supra and Gray's Works (ed. Gosse), ii. 144, iii.
86, 87. In the Index to this edition Thomas Asheton and Dr
Ashton are treated as different persons, and this misconception
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 allusion to their own experience?-
"I always believed 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.'
"1
Is this the way men write to those who 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
INTRODUCTORY 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, I 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
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.
13
to judge as I am. Gray evidently believes that
Ashton 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 unfulfilled, 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,
1 Gray's Works (ed. Gosse), ii. 210.
14
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
ī
nor that of the present volume 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, engaging 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 Boëtie 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
1
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
father¹; Rogers was told that it was some person of
1 ¹´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 by a
friend of yours, and correspondent in a corner, who seems a
very agreeable man, one Mr Williams. I am sorry
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
hitherto 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 own 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 written, 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-ruffled
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 paullis-
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 draw 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 that 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 that I have not seen
all that it would be worth while to edit; yet I do
not edit all that I have 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 Mrs Anne, Regular servant to the
Rev. Mr 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
quaint 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
Mitford "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
¹ [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 Strawberry 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 the
younger Crébillon and his imperfect appreciation of
Fielding are in general contrast to his clear discern-
ment elsewhere; he 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 writer or a
man. Walpole's aversion to Johnson on the contrary
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
3
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 le 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 quaintly 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 'Il 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
richly 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 in his incidental treatment of public events
he 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 volitantes 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 weather 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 æsthetic 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 Republicâ is a deadly sin
in politics'; and again, after quoting Gresset's
Le cri d un peuple heureux est la seule éloquence
Qui sçait 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 'Phœbus', 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.
1
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 Il 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 Whitehall, 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 inertia 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 own 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 were 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 beauty 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
him 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,
I believe, rightly placed; though in this respect his
editors have declined to copy him. His notes, de-
signed for his own use, have been frequently quoted
by the late Master of Trinity; they prove very ex-
tensive reading and comparison of authorities; we
may infer that in the absence of adequate aids he
was often guided to the meaning more by the context
than by verbal scholarship. To history he brought
the modern spirit of research, which, like the cu-
riosity of Herodotus and Froissart, is a kind of
guarantee of impartiality, and virtually leaves to the
secure judgment of the world the task of pronouncing
sentence. His critical opinions are safe, because they
are not controversial nor addressed to a public, but
the outcome of impressions gathered at leisure by a
mind at once comprehensive and exact. We are no
losers by the circumstance that they were communi-
cated only to his friends, for next in sincerity to the
good criticism which may be found in some poetry, is
that which we can extract from private letters'.
1 Gray's friends caught something of his power of pointed
expression. Mason has not received many compliments of
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
33
And though Gray lived so much in the past, he is
receptive in the present, cognizant of new tendencies.
and apt to resign himself to them, and to forego his
penetration when these are concerned; he would
willingly believe in Macpherson's Ossian; he is
perhaps the only Englishman of note whom it affects,
as it affected the Continentals; this is because his
sensitive genius has a little shudder of presentiment,
at this first breath of the reviving spirit of Romance.
It is these characteristics which make him, as I have
said, still modern for us in the best sense and justify
the curious and minute interest which some feel in
him now; it is at any rate the best account I am
able to give of a sort of homage which seems to
belong to much greater names, and yet which inclines
one who has given much time to Gray, whilst perhaps
half-smiling at his own enthusiasm, to repeat to his
fascinating shade the invocation
Vagliami 'l lungo studio e 'l grande amore
Che m' han fatto cercar lo tuo volume.
late; but Mr Lowell pays him a very great one in attributing
to Gray his saying "Jeremy Taylor is the Shakespeare of
divines."
G.
3
SECTION I.
UNPUBLISHED LETTERS, CHIEFLY OF
FOREIGN TRAVEL;
GRAY, WALPOLE AND ASHTON.
3-2
GRAY, WALPOLE, ASHTON.
1. GRAY TO ASHTON.
To Mr Ashton at the Honble Mrs Lewis's, in
Hanover Square, London.
My dear Ashton,
It seems you have forgot the poor little
tenement in which you so long lodg'd, and have set
your heart on some fine Castle in the Air: I wish I
were Master of the Seat you describe, that I might
make yr Residence more agreeable, but as it is, I
fear you'll hardly meet with common Conveniences.
I deserve you should be angry with me for have-
ing been so little punctual, in paying my Dues, & re-
turning thanks for your advice some time since. All
is at present, mighty well, that is just as you remember
it, & imagin'd it would be: cool enough not to burn,
and warm enough not to freeze one, but methinks the
Counsel you gave me, was what you did not think
proper to make use of in like Circumstances yrself;
perhaps you know why the same way of acting should
be improper for you, & proper for me: I don't doubt
but you have your reasons, & I trust you would not
have me do anything wrong.
38
UNPUBLISHED LETTERS.
The account W: gives me of your way of Life is
better than I expected. to be sure you must meet
daily with little particulars enough to fill a letter,
and I should be pleasd with the most minute. Has
Mrs L: a pimple upon her nose? does her Woman
love Citron Water? &c: any of these would be a high
regale for me. but perhaps you think it telling tales:
you know best. Have you seen Madame Valmote¹?
naughty Woman! was you at the Christening? is
the Princess with Child again? was you at the
review? have you wrote e'er a Critique on the
Accidence? is Despauterius or Linacer most in your
favor? but perhaps you think this tittle-tattle. Well!
you know best. Pot-fair is at its height; there's old
raffleing. Walpole is gone to Stamford, & to Lynn
but returns in a day or two. I am gone to the
Carrier's with this letter, and am
ever yrs
T. G.
June 30—Cambridge. [1738]
1 Amelia Sophia, wife of the Baron de Walmoden, and
mistress of George II. She came to England after the death
of Queen Caroline in 1737. The christening referred to above
is that of George Augustus, afterwards George III., which took
place in June 1738.
2 Jean Despautère, born at Ninove in Flanders, died 1520.
His grammar was in vogue in France until superseded by that
of the Port-Royal.
GRAY, WALPOLE, ASHTON.
39
2. GRAY TO ASHTON.
Dear Ashton,
You and West have made us happy to
night in a heap of letters, & we are resolvd to
repay you twofold. Our English perhaps may not be
the best in the World, but we have the Comfort to
know that it is at least as good as our French. So to
begin. Paris is a huge round City, divided by the
Seine, a very near relation (if we may judge by the
resemblance) of your old acquaintance, that ancient
river, the river Cam. along it on either side runs a
key of perhaps as handsome buildings, as any in the
World. the view down which on either hand from
the Pont Neuf is the charming'st sight imaginable.
There are infinite Swarms of inhabitants and more
Coaches than Men. The Women in general dressd
in Sacs, flat Hoops of 5 yards wide nosegays of
artificial flowers on one shoulder, and faces dyed in
Scarlet up to the Eyes. The Men in bags, roll-upps,
Muffs & Solitaires. Our Mornings have been
mostly taken up in Seeing Sights: few Hotels or
Churches have escapd us, where there is anything
remarkable as to building, Pictures or Statues.
Mr Conway' is as usual, the Companion of our
¹ Walpole's maternal cousin, the Mr Conway and General
Conway of his correspondence, second son of the first Lord Con-
way, by Charlotte Shorter, his third wife, sister of Lady Walpole
40
UNPUBLISHED LETTERS.
travels, who, till we came, had not seen anything at
all; for it is not the fashion here to have Curiosity.
We had at first arrival an inundation of Visits
pouring in upon us, for all the English are acquainted,
and herd much together & it is no easy Matter to
disengage oneself from them, so that one sees but
little of the French themselves. To be introduced to
the People of high quality, it is absolutely necessary
to be Master of the Language, for it is not to be
imagined that they will take pains to understand
anybody, or to correct a stranger's blunders. Another
thing is, there is not a House where they do'nt play,
nor is any one at all acceptable, unless they do so too,
a professed Gamester being the most advantageous
character a Man can have at Paris. The Abbés
indeed & men of learning are a People of easy access
enough, but few English that travel have knowledge
enough to take any great pleasure in this Company,
at least our present lot of travellers have not. We
are, I think to remain here no longer than Lɗ¹
Conway stays, & then set out for Rheims, there to
reside a Month or two, & then to return hither again
...Commander in Chief 1782, Field Marshal 1793. He married
the Dowager Countess of Aylesbury, daughter of John D. of
Argyle; his only child by this marriage was Mrs Damer, the
sculptor, to whom Walpole left Strawberry Hill. [Cunningham.]
1 Elder brother of the Conway mentioned before. [After-
wards Earl of Hertford, Marquis 1793; died 14th of June 1794.
Cunningham.]
GRAY, WALPOLE, ASHTON.
41
& very often little hankerings break out, so that I am
not sure, we shall not come back to-morrow.
We are exceedingly unsettled & irresolute, do'nt
know our own Minds for two Moments together,
profess an utter aversion for all manner of fatigue,
grumble, are ill-natured & try to bring ourselves to a
State of perfect Apathy in which [we] are so far
advanced, as to declare we have no notion of caring
for any mortal breathing but ourselves. In short I
think the greatest evil could have happen'd to us, is
our liberty, for we are not at all capable to determine
our own actions.
My dear Ashton, I am ever
Paris Hotel de
Luxembourg, Rue
des petits Augustins
April 21, N. S. [1739]
Yours sincerely
T: G:
3. GRAY TO ASHTON.
My dear Ashton,
:
I shall not make you any excuses, because I
ca'nt I shall not try to entertain you with descrip-
tions for the same reason; and moreover because I
believe you do'nt care for them so that you can
42
UNPUBLISHED LETTERS.
**
have no occasion to wonder at my brevity, when you
consider me as confind to the narrow bounds of We,
quatenus We, which I continue.
Our tête a tête Conversations that you enquire
after, did consist less in Words, than in looks
and signs, & to give you a notion of them, I ought
to send you our Pictures: tho' we should find it
difficult to sit for 'em in such attitudes as we naturally
fall into, when alone together. At present M¹ Conway
who lives with us, joins to make them a little more
verbose, & everything is mighty well. On Monday
next we set out for Rheims, (where we expect to be
very dull) there to stay a Month or two, then we
cross Burgundy & Dauphiny, & so go to Avignon,✅
Aix, Marseilles &c. the Weather begins to be violently
hot already even here, and this is our ingenious Con-
trivance, as the Summer increases, to seek out cool
retreats among the scorchd rocks of Provence.
will not promise, but that if next Winter bid fair for
extreme Cold we shall take a trip to Muscovy. You
in the mean time, will be quietly enjoying the tem-
perate air of England, under yr own Vine, and under
your own (at least under Mrs Lewis's) Figtree and I
do'nt doubt but the fruits of your leisure will turn
to more account, than those of our laborious pere-
grination, and while our thoughts are rambling about
& changeing situation oftener than our bodies, you
will be fixing your attention upon some weighty
I
GRAY, WALPOLE, ASHTON.
43
truth, worthy a Sage of yr honor's magnitude. The
end of yr researches, I mean whatever your profound
Contemplation brings to light, I shd be proud to be
acquainted with, whether it please to be invokd under
the appellation of Sermon, Vision, Essay or dis-
course; in short, on whatever head, you may chuse
to be loquacious (Wall on Infant Baptism excepted) a
dissertation will be very acceptable, and receivd with
a reverence due to the hand it comes from.
We have seen here your "Gustavus Vasa'" that
had raisd the general expectation so high, long ago.
a worthy piece of prohibited Merchandise, in truth!
The Town must have been extreme mercifully dis-
posd; if for the sake of ten innocent lines that may
peradventure be pickd out, it had consented to spare
the lives of the ten thousand wicked ones, that
remain. I dont know what condition your Stage is
in, but the French is in a very good one at present.
Among the rest they have a Madle Dumenil whose
2
1 Walpole writing to West from Rheims June 18, 1739 N.S.,
describing his exercises in French says 'Besides this, I have
paraphrased half the first act of your new 'Gustavus' which
was sent us to Paris; a most dainty performance, and just
what you say of it.' Henry Brooke's 'Gustavus Vasa' was pro-
hibited by Sir Robert Walpole's Act for Licensing Plays. The
prohibition called forth Johnson's ironical Vindication of the
Licensers of the Stage.' Brooke subsequently wrote 'The Fool
of Quality,' a novel, by which he is better known.
2 Marie Françoise Dumesnil, of the Comédie Française,
born in 1711, retired from the stage 7 April 1776 and died in
44
UNPUBLISHED LETTERS.
every look and gesture is violent Nature, she is Passion
itself, incarnate.
I saw her the other Night do the Phædra of
Racine, in a manner which affected me so strongly,
that as you see, I ca'nt help prattling about her even
to you, that do not care two Pence.
You have got my Ld Conway' then among Ye:
what do People think about him, & his improve-
ments? You possibly see him sometimes, for he
visits at Mrs Conduit's. is he charming, and going to
be married like Mr Barrett? Pray write to me & per-
suade West to do the same, who, unless you rouse
him, & preach to him, what a Sin it is to have the
-vapours, & the dismals, will neglect himself; I
wont say his friends; that I believe him to be in-
capable of: I again recommend him to yr Care, that
1803, just after she had published her Memoirs under the editor-
ship of M. Coste. There is an interesting article about her in
the Biographie Universelle. Voltaire in an Essay "Des Divers
Changements arrivés à l'art tragique "-written in 1761, says of
her...'pour le grand pathétique de l'action, nous le vîmes la
première fois dans Mademoiselle Dumesnil' (Works ed. 1832,
vol. 65, p. 86). She seems to have shared the favour of the
Parisian public with Mlle Clairon. Walpole thought her
superior to Mrs Siddons. Writing to the Countess of Ossory
3 Nov. 1782, he says "All Mrs Siddons did, good sense or
good instruction might give. I dare say that were I one and
twenty, I should have thought her marvellous: but alas!
I remember Mrs Porter and the Dumesnil" &c. &c. (Works
ed. Cunningham, viii. 295.)
1 See p. 40, n. 1.
GRAY, WALPOLE, ASHTON.
45
you may nourish him, and cherish him & administer
to him, some of that cordial Spirit of Chearfulness
that you used to have the receipt of.
My Compliments to my Lord'. Good night
4.
Yours ever
T. G.
GRAY AND WALPOLE TO ASHTON.
To
Mr Ashton
at Mrs Lewis's
Hanover Square
London
Franc à Paris
My dear Ashton,
The exceeding Slowness and Sterility
of me, & the vast abundance & volubility of M²
Walpole & his Pen will sufficiently excuse to you
the shortness of this little matter. He insists that it
is not him but his Pen that is so volubility, & so I
have borrowed it of him; but I find it is both of 'em
that is so volubility, for tho I am writing as fast, as
I can drive, yet he is still chattering in vast abun-
dance. I have desired me to hold his tongue, pho, I
mean him, & his, but his Pen is so used to write in
the first Person, that I have screwd my finger and
1 Lord Plymouth, to whom Ashton was Tutor.
X
46
UNPUBLISHED LETTERS.
thumb off, with forcing it into the third. After all
this confusion of Persons, & a little Stroke of Satyr
upon me the Pen returns calmly back again into the
old I and me, as if nothing had happened, to tell you
how much I am tired, & how cross I am, that this
cursed Scheme of Messrs Selwyn & Montague' should
have come across all our Measures, & broke in upon
the whole year, which, what with the Month we have
to wait for them, & the Month they are to stay
here, will be entirely slipt away, at least, the agreable
Part of it, and if we journey at all, it will be thro'
dirty roads and falling leaves.
The Man, whose arguments you have so learnedly
stated, & whom you did not think fit to honour with
a Confutation, we from thence conceive to be one,
who does us honour, in thinking us fools, & so you
see, I lay my claim to a share of the glory; we
are not vastly curious about his name, first because
it do'nt signify, 2dly because we know it already; it
is either Sr T: G: himself, or yr friend Mr Fenton, if
it's them we do'nt care, & if it is not, we do'nt care
1
¹ Walpole to West, Rheims, July 20, 1739, writes This is
the day that Gray and I intended for the first of a southern
circuit; but as Mr Selwyn and George Montagu design us a
visit here we have put off our journey for some weeks.' [George
Augustus Selwyn the wit. He was at Eton with Walpole, who
was about two years his senior. Cunningham.] Montagu is
of course Walpole's correspondent, concerning whom see Cun-
ningham's ed. of Walpole's Letters, vol. 1. p. 2, n. 4.
GRAY, WALPOLE, ASHTON.
47
neither, but if you care to convince the Man, whoever
he be, that we are in some points not altogether
fools, you might let him know that we are most
sincerely
Yours
H W. G
Rheims-July. [1739]
5. GRAY TO ASHTON.
My dear Ashton,
Rheims. 25 Aug. N: S [1739]
I am not so ignorant of Pain myself as
to be able to hear of anothers Sufferings, without any
Sensibility to them, especially when they are those of
one, I ought more particularly to feel for: tho' in-
deed the goodness of my own Constitution, is in some
sense a misfortune to me, for as the health of every-
body I love seems much more precarious than my
own, it is but a melancholy prospect to consider
myself as one, that may possibly in some years be
left in the World, destitute of the advice or Good
Wishes of those few friends, that usd to care for me,
and without a likelihood or even a desire of gaining
any new ones. this letter will, I hope, find you
perfectly recoverd, & your own painful experience
will, for the future, teach you not to give so much in
to a Sedentary Life, that has [I] fear been the Cause
of your illness. Give my duty to your Mind, & tell
her she has taken more care of herself, than of my
48
UNPUBLISHED LETTERS.
tother poor friend, your Body, & bid her hereafter
remember how nearly her Welfare is connected with
his: tell her too that she may pride herself in her
great family, & despise him for being a poor Mortal,
as much as she pleases, but that he is her wedded
husband, & if he suffers, she must smart for it. my
inferences you will say, do'nt follow very naturally,
nor have any great relation to what has been said,
but they are as follows. Messrs Selwin and Montagu
have been here these 3 weeks, are by this time
pretty heartily tired of Rheims, & return in about a
Week. The day they set out for England, we are to
do the same for Burgundy, in our way only as it is
said to Province', but People better informd con-
ceive that Dijon will be the end of our expedition.
for me, I make everything that does not depend on
me, so indifferent to me, that if it be to go to the
Cape of Good Hope I care not: if you are well
enough, you will let me know a little of the history
of West who does not remember there is such a place
as Champagne in the world.
To
Mr Ashton at Mrs Lewis's
in Hanover Square
London
franc a Paris.
Your's ever
T. G.
1 Sic ap. Mitford.
pour l'Angleterre
franc jusqu'a Paris
GRAY, WALPOLE, ASHTON.
49
6. WALPOLE AND GRAY TO ASHTON.
Rome, May 14, 1740 N. E.
Boileau's Discord dwelt in a College of Monks'. at
present the Lady is in the Conclave. Corsini has been
interrogated about certain Millions of Crowns that
are absent from the Apostolic Chamber; He refuses
giving an account, but to a Pope. However he has
set several arithmeticians to work, to compose Summs,
& flourish out expenses, which probably never ex-
isted. Cardinal Cibo pretends to have a Banker
at Genoa, who will prove that he has received three
Millions on the Part of the Eminent Corsini. This
Cibo is a madman, but set on by others. He had
formerly some great office in the government, from
whence they are generally raised to the Cardinalate.
after a time, not being promoted as he expected, he
resigned his Post, and retired to a Mountain where
he built a most magnificent Hermitage. There he
inhabited for two years, grew tired, came back and
received the Hat.
Other feuds have been between Card. Portia and
the father of Benedict the Thirteenth, by whom he
was made Cardinal. About a month ago, he was
within three votes of being Pope; he did not apply
to any Party, but went gleaning privately from all.
1 Le Lutrin' chant 1.
G.
4
50
UNPUBLISHED LETTERS.
and of a sudden burst out with a Number, but too
soon, and that threw him quite out. Having been
since left out of their meetings, he askd one of the
Benedictine Cardinals the reason, who replied that he
never had been their friend and never should be of
their assemblies, & did not even hesitate to call
him Apostate. This flung Portia into such a rage
that he spit blood, and instantly left the Conclave
with all his baggage. But the great Cause of their
antipathy to him, was, his having been one of the
four, that voted for putting Coscia to death, who
now regains his interest, & may prove somewhat
disagreeable to his Enemies: whose honesty is not
abundantly heavier than his own. He met Corsini
t'other day, and told him, he heard his eminence had
a mind to his Cell: Corsini answerd, he was very well
contented with that he had. Oh! says Coscia, I
do'nt mean here in the Conclave, but in the Castle
St Angelo.
With all these animosities, one is near having a
Pope'. Card. Gotto, an old, inoffensive Dominican,
without any Relations, wanted yesterday but two
voices, and is still most likely to succeed. Card.
Altieri has been sent for from Albano, whither he
1 Clement XII. had recently died. [Gray to his mother
from Florence, March 19, 1740.] His successor was Benedict
XIV. [amusingly described, same to the same from Florence,
Aug. 21, 1740.]
GRAY, WALPOLE, ASHTON.
51
was retird on acct of his brothers death, & his own
illness, & where he was to stay till the Election
drew nigh. There! There is a sufficient quantity
of Conclave News I think...
We have miserable Weather for the season. Could
you think I was writing to you by my fireside at
Rome in the middle of May? the Common People
say 'tis occasioned by the Pope's soul, which cannot
find rest.
How goes your War? We are persuaded here of an
additional one with France, Lord! it will be dreadful
to return thro' Germany. I do'nt know who cooks
up the news here, but we have some strange Peice
every day. One that is much in vogue, & would
not be disagreeable for us, is, that the Czarina' has
clapt the Marquis de la Chétardie in Prison; one must
hope till some months hence, 'tis all contradicted.
1 The Czarina was Anne, who died on the 28th of October of
this year.
The Marquis de la Chétardie had been Ambassador
at Berlin. Carlyle (Frederick the Great, vol. III. p. 180 People's
ed.) under year 1734 describes him as "a showy restless
character, of fame in the Gazettes of that time; who did
much intriguing at Petersburg some years hence, first in a
signally triumphant way, and then in a signally untriumphant.”
The Crown Prince (afterwards Frederick the Great) 'took a
good deal to him' at this date. He was the lover of the
Princess Elizabeth and intrigued with "a Surgeon called
L'Estoc" to set her on the throne of Russia, Dec. 5th, 1741,
displacing the Regent Anne (Princess Catherine of Mecklen-
burg. Carlyle, Ib. iv. 180-183).
4-2
52
UNPUBLISHED LETTERS.
I am balancing in great uncertainty, whether to
go to Naples, or to stay here. You know 'twould be
provoking to have a Pope chosen just as one's back is
turnd: and if I wait, I fear the heats may arrive.
I do'nt know what to do. We are going to night to
a great assemblee at one of the villas just out of the
City, whither all the English are invited; amongst
the rest Mr Stuard' and his two Sons. There is one
lives with him calld Lord Dunbar, Murray's brother
who would be his Minister, if he had any occasion for
one-I meet him frequently in Public Places & like
him. He is very sensible, very agreable, & well
bred.
Good night Child; by the bye, I have had no
letters from England these two last Posts.
Yrs ever.
I am by trade a finisher of Letters. don't you
wonder at the Conclave? Instead of being immur'd,
every one in his proper hutch as one us❜d to imagine,
they have the Liberty of scuttling out of one hole
1 The Old Pretender. Gray describes this ball in a letter
to West of May 21 (Works, ed. Gosse II. 76 lett. 32). There
"Il Serenissimo Pretendente (as the Mantova gazette calls
him) displayed his rueful length of person, with his two young
ones, and all his ministry around him."
2 See also Gray's letter to his Father July 16, 1740. The
ball was given by Count Patrizii to the Prince and Princess
Craon.
GRAY, WALPOLE, ASHTON.
53
into another,
I do assure you, every thing one has heard
say of Italy, is a lye, & am firmly of opinion, that no
mortal was ever here before us. I am writeing to
prove that there never was any such a People as the
Romans, that this was antiently a Colony of the Jews,
and that the Coliseum was built on the model of
Solomon's temple. Our People have told so many
Stories of them, that they do'nt believe any thing we
say about ourselves. Porto Bello' is still said to be
impregnable and it is reported the Dutch have
declar'd War against us. The English Court here,
brighten up on the news of our Conquests, and
conclude all the Contrary has happen'd. You do not
know perhaps, that we have our little good fortune in
the Mediterranean, where Adm¹. Haddock has over-
1 It was of course already taken, by Admiral Vernon with
his six ships, Nov. 21, 1739.
2 Walpole writing to West from Rome, May 7 of this year,
says 'We heard the news last night from Naples that Admiral
Haddock had met the Spanish convoy going to Majorca, and
taken it all, all; three thousand men, three colonels, and a
Spanish grandee. We conclude it is true, for the Neapolitan
Majesty mentioned it at dinner.' On which Wright notes
"This report, which proved unfounded, was grounded on the
fact that on the 18th April his Majesty's ships Lennox, Kent,
and Orford, commanded by Captains Mayne, Durell, and
Lord Augustus Fitzroy, part of Admiral Balchen's squadron,
being on a cruise about forty leagues to the westward of Cape
Finisterre, fell in with the Princessa, esteemed the finest ship
of war in the Spanish navy, and captured her after an engage-
54
UNPUBLISHED LETTERS.
turnd certain little boats carrying Troops to Majorca,
drown'd a few hundred of them, and taken a little
Grandee of Spain, that commanded the Expedition.
at least, so they say at Naples. I'm very sorry. but
methinks they seem in a bad Condition. Is West
dead to the world in general, or only so to me? for
you I have not the impudence to accuse, but you
are to take this as a sort of reproof, and I hope you
will demean yourself accordingly. You are hereby
authoriz'd to make my particular Compliments to
my La Plymouth', and return him my thanks de
l'honneur de son Souvenir. So I finish my Postcript.
with
Your's ever
T. G.
7. WALPOLE TO ASHTON.
Rome. May 282 1740 N.S.
Dear Child,
I have just received your Letter of news; I
had heard before of Symphony's affair, with Lady
but they calld it a report; but I find like many
stories of that kind 'tis true. What?3 are We to be
ment of five hours." (Letters of Horace Walpole ed. Cunning-
ham, vol. 1. pp. 46, 47, lett. 29.)
1 Ashton was Tutor to the Earl of Plymouth. [Mitford.]
2 Possibly 23, for Mitford's MS is doubtful here.
3 Written by Mitford without this note of interrogation, but
it is necessary for clearness.
GRAY, WALPOLE, ASHTON.
55
to appear before the H: of Lords? are there to be
damages? or is it to be blown over, with only a
separate Maintenance for the Fair One? I am sorry
he has obviously established such a Character. Tis
too soon to be arrived at one's ne plus ultra. I
doubt 'tis all the fame he will ever be master of, & tis
horrid to begin where one must end.
By a considerable volume of Charts and Pyramids
which I saw at Florence, I thought it threatend a
Publication. His travels have really improvd him;
I wish they may do the same for any one else.
West has sent me a letter of Fragments, which
not being antique, I am extremely angry, are not
compleat.
'Nor cease the Maiden Graces from above
To shower their fragrance on the fields¹ of Love.'
I desire you will set him to digging in the same
Spot, where he found these verses, for the other parts
of the Poem. I took them for his own; but upon
showing them to a great virtuoso here, he assures
me they are undoubtedly ancient, by one of the best
hands, & in the true greek Taste.
This is the first day, we have had, that one can
call warm; they say, in England you have not a leaf
yet on the Trees.
I have made a Vow against Politics, or I wd wish
1 ? field or fields,-doubtful in мs.
56
UNPUBLISHED LETTERS.
Gray?
you joy of your W Indian Conquests. One shall not
know you again. You will be so martial all. Here
one should not know, if there had ever been such a
thing as War, if it were not now and then from
seeing a Scrap' of a Soldier on an old Bas-relief.
Tis comical to see a hundred & twenty thousand
inhabitants in a City where you scarce ever see one
that has not taken a vow never to propagate; But
they say there are larger Parsley beds here than in
other Countries. Dont talk of our Coronation; 'tis
never likely to happen. The divisions are so great
between the Albani and Corsini factions, that the
Conclave will probably be drawn out to a great length.
With Albani are his Uncle's Creatures, the Spanish
& Neapolitan factions, and the Zelanti; a set of
Cardinals, who always declare agst any Party, and
profess being solely in the interest of the Church.
With Corsini are the late Pope's Creatures, and the
Dependents of France.
Mrs G.2 writes me word how much goodness she met
with in Hanover Sqre. Poor Creature! You know,
how much it obliges me, my dear Ashton, & if that
can give you any Satisfaction, as I well believe it
does, be assurd, 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
1 Sic apparently.
2
pp. 3-5, 60.
GRAY, WALPOLE, ASHTON.
57
2
must make my particular' to Mrs Lewis; her kind-
ness to Mrs G: is adding to the severall great obli-
gations I have to her. 'Tis a pleasure to receive
such from one who acts from no Motives, but innate
goodness and benevolent virtue. You must not tell
that poor Woman, what I am now going to mention.
fear we shall not see Naples. We have been setting
out for some time; and if we do not to be back by
the end of this month, it will be impraticable from
the heats, and the bad air, in the Campania. but we
are prevented by a great body of banditti, Soldiers
deserted from the King of Naples, who have taken
Possession of the roads, & not only murderd several
Passengers, but some Sbirri who were sent agst them.
Among others was a poor Hermit, who had a few old
Medals which he had dug up, that they took for
Money. The Poverty of the Roman States and the
mutinous humor of the inhabitants who grow des-
perate for want of a Pope, thro' decay of trade, & a
total want of Specie are likely to encrease the bands,
while the Conclave sits, so that I fear we are Prisoners
at Rome, till the Election. I should not at all dis-
like my Situation, if I were entirely at Liberty & had
nothing to call me to England. I shall but too soon
miss there the Peace I enjoy here; I do'nt mention
1 Sic ap. Mitford.
2 I think this is the reading, the meaning being, 'if we do
not set out, so as to return &c.'
58
UNPUBLISHED LETTERS.
the pleasures I enjoy here, which are to be found in
no other City in the World, but them I could give up
to my friends with satisfaction. But I know the
Causes that drove me out of England, and I do'nt
know that they are remedied. But adieu! when I
leave Italy, I shall launch out into a Life, whose
Colour I fear, will have more of black than of White.
Yrs-
ever.
8. ASHTON TO WALPOLE.
My dearest Walpole
Since the last letter I received from you
which tho' it gave me the Pleasure of yr Recovery 2
did not however rid me from the fear of a Relapse I
have not been able this Week to pick up one Syllable
relating to you....Judge you what I have felt. an
interval of 7 weeks, without one word of intelligence
after so dangerous an indisposition, in so remote a
place unattended, as I feard, with Physician or
friend. I went from Somerset House to Downing St.
& from Downing Str. to Somerset House, but still
nothing. I would fain have persuaded poor Mrs Gr:
and myself that if any thing ill had happend we
must have heard. My apprehensions would have it,
1 Mitford Add. MSS. 32,562, p. 210.
2 For Walpole's illness at Reggio see sect. II. lett. 33 n. 1.
GRAY, WALPOLE, ASHTON.
59.
that that was at best conjecture. It might be so,
but it might be otherwise. So dextrously did we
impose a cruel deceit upon ourselves, by admitting
no Probability that would make for us, and by
stretching' every Possibility of the Contrary into a
Demonstration. In short we feard and felt the worst.
If one had told me you were actually dead, it would
have been no news to me. I had already attended
you to the grave & had become as lifeless as if I
had been laid there with you. I do solemly protest
to you that I would not feel again what I have done
on this occasion, no, not for the inexpressible satis-
faction of knowing the contrary. My senses are so
benumbd, with so long a concern, that it was almost
beyond the Power of any Pleasure to recall 'em. Dear
Mrs G, I thank her, did all she could; indeed I am
infinitely obligd to her. She enclosd yr letter to me
the moment she receivd it. I trembled when I opend
hers, but when I saw the jewel within, I do not know
or cannot tell you what I did This is the third
Letter I have wrote to you, since I have had yrs. My
dear Walpole, I speak sincerely to you. I would not
for the World go over that time again, which I have
passd since you left England. I would not, I do
assure you....I am like a Man who has been tossd
about a long Winter's Night in uneasy dreams. I
have been draggd thro rivers and thrown down
1 Possibly 'straining', for Mitford's мs is difficult here.
60
UNPUBLISHED LETTERS.
Precipices. Oh! it has been a weary Night. Come
dear Walpole and bring the day. I would say a
thousand things to you, but I will think of nothing
but yrself. Tell me for Gods sake all yr intended
Motions and let em be homeward all. Trifle not with
a Constitution which carries more lives in it than
your own.
Acton (?) July 5. 1741.
[P.S.]
I have not been able to see Mrs Gr: since your
letter; I will go [on?] perhaps next Week to rejoice
with her. Believe me, I am much obliged to her.
West is hic & ubique...at Paris', at London, in
the Country. I never see him.
I never see him. He talks of the
Army, the Law & the Ministry. He suspects
some disagrement between you and
I hope
the broken bone will be stronger when set. Mrs
came to me in such a Manner as makes me
believe she knows the whole¹.
1 Vide sect. II. lett. 32 infra.
2 Sect. II. lett. 33 infra.
3 Sic Ms.' [Mitford.]
3
The objections to identifying Mrs Gr: or G. with the
mother of the poet are (1) that she seems to be a different per-
son from the Mrs. of this Postscript, (2) that there is no proof
of her solicitude about Gray himself. The second difficulty
may be to some extent explained. For Mason tells us that
"When Mr Gray left Venice, which he did in the midst of July,
he returned home through Padua, Verona, Milan, Turin and
GRAY, WALPOLE, ASHTON.
61
Lyons. From all which places he writ either to his Father or
Mother with great punctuality: but merely to inform them of
his health and safety: about which (as might be expected) they
were now very anxious, as he travelled with only a 'Laquais de
Voyage'." It is uncertain whether Mason had seen any letters
of Gray from Venice; but it is most improbable that Gray left
his mother unacquainted with his movements at any time after
his separation from Walpole. Mr C. Vade Walpole obligingly
informs me that he knows of no Mrs G. connected in any way
with his family at this date, who fulfils the conditions of this.
correspondence. I leave this perplexing problem in medio.
SECTION II.
CORRESPONDENCE AND REMAINS OF
RICHARD WEST.
[Letters &c. marked * have not before been published. The
text of the other letters is from Mason's 'Gray' and Cunning-
ham's 'Letters of Walpole', Vol. I.]
SECTION II.
WEST.
THE famous singer Carlo Broschi (who probably took
the name Farinelli from his uncle the composer) was in
England during the years 1734, 5 and 6. What Ashton
means infra is, I think, that Gray has left London, where
Farinelli is singing, and that Walpole has gone thither.
2
1. * ASHTON TO WEST.
Jan 29. (1735 or 6)¹.
...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 Window³: 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.
2 For Farinelli in England see Grove's Dict. of Music and
Musicians, and the 4th Plate of Hogarth's 'Marriage à la mode.'
3 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, fixes
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-Chancellor admitted Trant (Chr.) as Proctor instead
of Caryl (Jes.), who had more votes than the other in the
Senate. Against this Caryl appealed.¹ "
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 enquiry
after them. What intelligence concerning them may
be collected from my information, hear shortly.
one.
To begin with the last, first. I can answer for
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 but ill correspond with the
1 Kindly communicated by Dr Luard, the University
Registrary.
OF R. 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-
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 & Lawyers. I am surprizd to
hear such poor paltry harangues as are utterd once at
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 happend that in the
absence of these three Concionators, Mr 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 &
2 Word illegible.
1 See p. 40, n. 1.
5--2
68
CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
the Swallows of Salvation &c.
Father &c. I heartily commend you.'
Now to God the
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
I am yrs—
then,
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 lull'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 by
things that call themselves doctors and masters of
OF R. WEST.
69
arts; a country flowing with syllogisms and ale,
where Horace & Virgil are equally unknown; consider
me, I say, in this melancholy light, and then think if
something be not due to
Christ Church. Nov. 14. 1735.
Yours.
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 II. 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 grandfather. 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 'For 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 Mason 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's
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 Hymeneal²
1 'extremos' in Statius.
See
2 On the Marriage of Frederic, Prince of Wales.
Works of Gray ed. Gosse, vol. 1., 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,
and 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.
Public
As yet I have not looked into sir Isaac.
disputations I hate; mathematics I reverence; history,
morality, and natural philosophy have the greatest
charms in my eye; but who can forget poetry? they
call it idleness, but it is surely the most enchanting
thing in the world, "ac dulce otium et pæne omni
negotio pulchrius.
""
I am, dear sir, yours while I am
Christ Church, May 24, 1736.
R. W.
happiness, or unwilling 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, 1736¹,
from King's he excuses himself, in answer I think to a
polite remonstrance of West'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 efforts 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 four 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,
1736. 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
succurrere 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, who are most dear to
6.
*ASHTON TO WEST.
ASHTON.
[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. I can imagine nothing less than
Heaven top'd Towers, Hesperian groves, & Gates of
Chrysolite. if it shª answer my expectation it is the
Place in the World the most improper for what it is
d
OF R. WEST.
75
designd, unfitt for any Study, but Architecture &
Botany. Yet Philosophical insensibility clouds the
eyes of y¹ 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 will 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 M² 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 Mr Lane's death, the two next Seniors will make
sufficient (?) interest for their own Election. Hall
we hear is secure of Mr Green, and Dr Berriman will
undoubtedly (prevail upon?) Willymot.... Prinsep
1 sic.
76
CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
then will stand first upon the roll. What I would
propose then is to make personal interest with Mr
Ewer, or Mr 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, Mr Lane's death is not
yet certain, but consider, it will be sufft 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 Mr Lane
Mr Greene
Sparkes
Hall
Dr Willymott) Wagstaffe
Mr Ewer
Prinsep
Mr 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.
1 In the suggestions of doubtful words above, I have not
been guided so much by the ductus literarum 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-
I
You may see, by what I wrote to Gray that I
intend you a visit the latter end of next month.
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 Dr Bentley the ỏ Trávʊ Commentator: what is he
about? I hear your Dr Middleton is about obliging
us with Cicero's Life.
Esse nihil dicis quidquid petis improbe Cinna
Si nil Cinna petis, nil tibi Cinna nego¹.
Whenever Cinna asks a favor
O'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.
My dear Zephyrille,
Thursday 12 Aug. 1736.
When I reflect that this is the anniversary of
my arrival at Cambridge, the 2nd Anniversary²; this
1 Martial iii. 61.
2 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
different 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 jollity
Quirks and cranks & wanton wiles
Nods and becks and wreathed smiles
Sport that wrinkled Care derides
And Laughter holding both her¹ sides.
I showd 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 & 262. The vivacity of yr agre-
able Page will be some relief to a Soul half extinguishd
with the suffocating fume of Jargon and Nonsense.
1 'Quips' and 'his' ap. Milton.
Yrs
eternally
ASHTON.
2 Sic, I believe, ap. Mitford. But perhaps it should be
'35 & '36, years of West's residence at Oxford.
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CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
My hearty 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 Horace¹...I hope you are a
mere elder brother, and live upon what your father left
you...poetry; but we are supposed to betake ourselves to
some trade, as logic, philosophy, or mathematics....I tell
¹ 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" &c.
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 every mortal
almost knows.'
10. WEST TO WALPOLE.
My dearest Walpole:
Aug. 1736.
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 compass can afford 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, than 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
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CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
my good fortune made some inclination 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 Euro¹.
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
2
¹ In playful allusion to his own name of Favonius.
2 Of the Quadruple Alliance. [Cunningham.]
OF R. WEST.
83
elements. As for my patrimony of poetry, my dearest
Horace, ut semper eris 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 the
charity of my abounding acquaintance. Many a
feather in my stock was stolen from your treasures;
but at present I 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,
R. 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. 1. 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
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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 verified 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 Refiners¹ 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. Whether 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 shª 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.
2 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 world, you would have insulted me 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 weed 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 sons.
of Anac in poetry, and so say I to you, in this
degenerate land of pigmies,
(C
Mix with your grave designs a little pleasure,
Each day of business has its hour of leisure.
In one of these hours I hope, dear sir, you will
1 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 know me
yours,
Εξαύδα, μὴ κεῦθε νόῳ, ἵνα εἴδομεν ἄμφω
that is, write freely to me and openly, 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
with that intent. Indeed your late translation of
Statius 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 written 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
found 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 their 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 known 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 race 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 adhuc 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
Richmond; 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 unfurnish'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 Shakespear, 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.)
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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 partibus 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
こ ​Stephen bore his honours meekly, if we may trust the.
testimony of 'unfastidious Vinny Bourne'
'Nec mutantur adhuc mores; sed et ille modestus
Ille verecundus, qui prius, usque manes.'
[V. Bourne, Ad Stephan. Duck, 'Eykwμiaσrikóv. 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, and 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-
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
ances.
:
Quid loquor? 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
enough to read it through.
you
idle
I am, my dear Walpole,
Yours most sincerely,
R. WEST.
I wish you a happy new year.
13. WEST TO WALPOLE.
My dear Walpole :
ChristChurch February 27, 1736–7.
It seems so long to me since I heard from
Cambridge, that I have been reflecting with myself
what I 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 out 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
Ashton, 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, I 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 obstant I am unwillingly obliged to follow
much less agreeable 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,
1 Book ii. 1. 42.
Yours very sincerely,
R. WEST.
2 This poetry does not appear. [Berry.]
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CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
On the 5th of April 1737 Ashton sends to West
from King's a critique or panegyric of Glover's Leonidas
which has a Postscript― * "Mr Walpole is gone as far as
Hockrell¹ with Dodd & Whalley2 (sic) who are coming
¹ Chesterfield writes to his godson 'you put me in mind of
that great man mentioned by Homer, and afterwards by
Horace, qui mores multorum hominum (sic) vidit et urbes, for
you have not only seen Cambridge, but also Clare Hall and
Hockrel.' (let. CLVIII.) 'The Fly for Four Passengers at 12s.
each goes to London every day by Chesterford, Hockerill and
Epping.' (Cantabrigia Depicta 1763 p. 112.) It was a suburb
of Bishop's Stortford. [Ld. Carnarvon.]
2 My public 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, 1. p. lxii. 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,
Athenæ Cantabrigienses. Ms. [Walpole's Letters, Cunningham
vol. ix. App. 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 truly in the company.' [vid. Murray's
Johnsoniana 1836 p. 417.]
OF R. WEST.
95
to Town, he has Leonidas with him & will be home to-
night. I paid yr 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, Book the 3rd,
of Tibullus, Vos tenet &c. and do you remember a
letter of Mr Pope's, in sickness, to Mr 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 you and my friends at Cambridge, not to divert
them, for it cannot, but merely to show them 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 you, 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)
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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, ere 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 point 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 duties 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, birth 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.
'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.
2For 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,
31 care not tho' this face be seen no more,
The world will pass as chearful as before;
1 "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. vir.
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 my 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 ¹.
Christ Church, July 4, 1737.
*
15. WEST TO WALPOLE.
Tuesday July 12 1737
My dearest Walpole,
I have writ Ashton 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 sçay, 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-
1 The text above, is taken from Gray's Common Place
Books at Pembroke, 1. 91, Gray's handwriting, subscribed
Fav: 1737.
2 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 Française 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 thine the Pole
Since thou art gone, no Company can please,
They rather show my Want, than give me Ease.
When 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
UorM
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 wd 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 suffly 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
write 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-. à propos, an ode
of Horace lies before me, which I translated about 3
months ago-here it is
1 'dab' and 'flusd' in Mitford's Ms.
2 sic.
Mou
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 enjoys 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 untryd 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
humble 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-
duct 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 letter from Ashton to West, undated but placed
by Mitford among those of 1737, has * 'Mr Walpole is now
with us & his Sense will soon get the better of his mis-
fortune.' Ashton continues 'Dr 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 1737 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 busy
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 had so much time upon my
hands, I could not see one hour more convenient for
OF R. WEST.
103
writing than another, and therefore I did not write
at all. Now I am 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
Yrs most sincerely
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
town, 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 my stars, the very worst,
I think, in Oxford. Four-and-twenty hours of pure
unalloyed health together, are as unknown to me as
the 400,000 characters in the Chinese 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 write you down a Greek epigram,
which I lately turned into Latin, and hope you will
excuse it.
[ΠΟΣΕΙΔΙΠΠΟΥ.]
Τὸν τριετῆ παίζοντα περὶ φρέαρ Αστυάνακτα
Εἴδωλον μορφᾶς κωφὸν ἐπεσπάσατο.
Ἐκ δ᾽ ὕδατος τὸν παῖδα διάβροχον ἥρπασε μάτηρ,
Σκεπτομένα ζωᾶς εἴ τινα μοίραν ἔχει.
Νύμφας δ᾽ οὐκ ἐμίνεν ὁ νήπιος, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ γούνων
Ματρὸς κοιμηθεὶς τὸν βαθὺν ὕπνον ἔχει.
Perspicui puerum ludentem in margine rivi
Immersit vitreae limpidus error aquae:
At gelido ut mater moribundum e flumine traxit
Credula, & amplexu funus inane fovet;
Paullatim puer in dilecto pectore, somno
Languidus, aeternum lumina composuit.
OF R. WEST.
105
Adieu! I am going to my tutor's lectures on one
Puffendorff, a very jurisprudent author as you shall
read on a summer's day.
Believe me, yours &c.
Christ Church Dec. 2, 1737.¹
In the interval between the preceding letter and the
Latin reply of Gray, Ashton writes from King's to West
Dec. 6th, 1737 (Founder's Day at King's and Eton):
*“Only think that I am just risen from a fat Founder's
feast and then guess what kind of a letter you are to
receive from me...With respect to the little insults that
have been levelled at you, I would not have you perceive
them." Then follows sage advice, throwing however but
little light on the nature of the insults in question, of
which West nowhere makes mention in his extant cor-
respondence.
18. GRAY TO WEST.
Literas, mi Favoni! abs te demum, nudiustertius
credo, accepi plane mellitas, nisi forte quâ de ægri-
tudine quâdam tuâ dictum : atque hoc sane mihi
habitum est non paulo acerbius, quod te capitis
morbo implicitum esse intellexi; oh morbum mihi
quam odiosum! qui de industriâ id agit, ut ego in
1 The date in Mason and Mitford is Dec. 2, 1738. As how-
ever the letter of West's on p. 108 is expressly dated Feb. 21
1737-8 it is plain that the year of this letter is 1737. It is
possible also that the day of the month is wrongly given.
The letter was not received by Gray till Jan. 20th. Gray's
'demum' shows that there was some delay, but an interval of 49
days is difficult to account for.
106
CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
singulos menses, Dii boni, quantis jucunditatibus
orbarer! quam ex animo mihi dolendum est, quod
Medio de fonte leporum
Surgit amari aliquid!
Salutem, mehercule, nolo tam parvipendas, atque
amicis tam improbe consulas: quanquam tute for-
tassis aestuas angusto limite mundi, viamque (ut
dicitur) affectas Olympo, nos tamen non esse tam
sublimes, utpote qui hisce in sordibus et fæce diutius
paululum versari volumus, reminiscendum est: illæ
tuæ Musæ, si te ament modo, derelinqui paulisper
non nimis ægre patientur: indulge, amabo te, plus
quam soles corporis exercitationibus: magis te campus
habeat, aprico magis te dedas otio, ut ne id ingenium
quod tam cultum curas, diligenter nimis dum foves.
officiosarum matrum ritu, interimas. Vide, quæso,
quam iarρik@s tecum agimus,
•
ἠδ᾽ ἐπιθήσω
φάρμαχ᾽ ἅ κεν παύσῃσι μελαινάων ὀδυνάων.
Si de his pharmacis non satis liquet, sunt fes-
tivitates meræ, sunt facetiæ et risus; quos ego
equidem si adhibere nequeo, tamen ad praecipiendum
(ut medicorum fere mos est) certe satis sim;
id quod poeticè sub finem epistolæ lusisti, mihi
gratissimum quidem accidit; admodum Latine coc-
tum et conditum tetrastichon, Græcam tamen illam
apéλeɩav mirifice sapit: tu quod restat, vide, sodes,
hujusce hominis ignorantiam; cum, unde hoc tibi sit
OF R. WEST.
107
depromptum, (ut
equidem nihil in
partis solutio fiat.
fatear) prorsus nescio: sane ego
capsis reperio quo tibi minimæ
Vale, et me ut soles, ama.
A. D 11 Kalend. Februar. [1738]
19. WEST TO GRAY.¹
I ought to answer you in Latin, but I feel I dare
not enter the lists with you-cupidum, pater optime,
vires Deficiunt. Seriously, you write in that lan-
guage with a grace and an Augustan urbanity, that
amazes me your Greek too is perfect in its kind.
And here let me wonder that a man, longe Græcorum
doctissimus, should be at a loss for the verse and
chapter whence my epigram is taken. I am sorry I
have not my Aldus with me, that I might satisfy
your curiosity; but he, with all my other literary
folks, are left at Oxford, and therefore you must still
rest in suspense. I thank you again and again for
your medical prescription. I know very well that
those "risus, festivitates, et facetia" would contribute
greatly to my cure, but then you must be my apo-
thecary as well as physician, and make up the dose
as well as direct it; send me, therefore, an electuary
of these drugs, made up secundum artem, 'et eris
1 This was written in French, but as I doubted whether it
would stand the test of polite criticism, so well as the pre-
ceding would of learned, I chose to translate so much of it as
I thought necessary in order to preserve the chain of corre-
spondence. (Mason.)
108
CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
mihi magnus Apollo' in both his capacities, as a god
of poets and god of physicians. Wish me joy of
leaving my college, and leave yours as fast as you
can. I shall be settled at the Temple very soon.
Dartmouth-Street. Feb. 21. 1737-8.
Mitford says, “In Walpole's Works vol. 1. p. 204, is a
well known epigram which was written by West, 'Time
and Thomas Hearne,' which was printed by Mr Walpole
in a paper intended for the 'World' but not sent, and
which is commonly attributed to Swift." But this is not
exact. On turning out the reference I find it is only the
Answer by Mr Polyglot that is attributed to West. The
authorship of the original epigram is not there discussed
it is only called 'the known distich'.
Pox on't, quoth Time to Thomas Hearne,
Whatever I forget, You learn.
Answer by Mr Polyglot.
+Damn it, quoth Hearne, in furious fret,
Whate'er I learn, You soon forget.
+ It was written at Christ-Church, Oxford, by Richard
West, esq. a young gentleman of great genius, who died at the
age of twenty-six. He was son of Mr West, lord Chancellor of
Ireland, by Elizabeth, daughter of bishop Burnet. [Note in
Walpole's Works l.c.]
If this note is correct West wrote this 'Answer' before
the date of the above letter, though at what time during
his college residence I have no means of determining. I
am inclined to attribute the following verses also to some
time during West's stay at Christchurch. They are
think the basis of the Latin Verses attributed by me to
Gray among the Latin poems infra, 'Gratia magna tuæ
fraudi' &c. The 'Monody' was probably written in
December 1737. Queen Caroline died on the 20th of Nov.
in that year.
OF R. WEST.
109
From A Collection of English Songs by Dalrymple.¹
Thanks, Chloe, thy coquetting Art
At length hath heal'd my love-sick heart,
At length Thy Slave is free:
I feel no Tyrant's proud control!
I feel no Inmate in my Soul
But Peace and Liberty.
Put on thy Looks of cold disdain,
Or speak respectful, 'tis in vain,
Nor Frowns nor Smiles can move,
Those Lips no more have words to bind,
Those Eyes no more have light to find
The Path that leads to Love.
But still I hear You, smiling, say
"Tis sign You've flung your chains away
You take such pains to shew 'em"
Why, Chloe, there's a fond delight
Our former dangers to recite,
And let our Neighbours know 'em.
After the thunder of the Wars,
The Vet'ran thus displays his Scars,
And tells You of his Pains;
The Galley-Slave, enslav'd no more,
Shews You the Shackles which he wore,
And where their mark remains.
For me, I quit a fickle fair;
Chloe, has lost a heart sincere;
Who first should sing Te Deum?
You'll never find so true a Swain:
But Women full as false and vain,
By dozens One may see 'em.
RICHARD WEST.
1 (Brit. Mus.
992 h
4
23).
110
REMAINS
From Dodsley's Collection Vol. 2, London 1758 p. 274¹.
A MONODY ON THE DEATH OF QUEEN CAROLINE.
BY RICHARD WEST ESQ.; SON TO THE CHANCELLOR OF IRELAND,
AND GRANDSON TO BISHOP BURNET.
I.
Sing we no more of Hymeneal lays,
Nor strew the land with myrtles and with bays:
The voice of joy is fled the British Shore
For Caroline's no more:
And now our sorrows ask a sadder string;
Come, plaintive goddess of the Cyrrhan Spring,
Pour thy deep note, and shed thy tuneful tear,
And, while we lose the memory of pain
In thy oblivious strain,
-Ah! drop thy cypress on yon mournful bier!
Begin: nor more delay
The sacred meed of gratitude to pay:
Begin: whate'er inmortal song can do,
To the dear name of Caroline is due:
Who loves the Muse, deserves the Muse's love:
Then raise thy numbers high,
Sound out her glory to the throne of Jove,
Spread the glad voice thro' all the ambient sky,
From the dull marble vindicate her praise,
And waft it down to lighten future days.
II.
Ye bards to come, the song of truth attend:
This, this is she, the Muse's judge and friend!
The royal female! whose benignant hand
Throughout fair Albion's land
Dealt every useful, every decent part,
Each Memphian science, and each Attick art:
¹ [Brit. Museum, 992 d 131.]
OF R. WEST.
111
Within the Muse's bower
She oft was wont to lose the vacant hour,
Or underneath the sapient grot reclin'd,
Her soul to contemplation she resign'd,
And for a while laid down
The painful, envied burthen of a crown:
Mean time thy rural ditty was not mute,
Sweet bard of Merlin's cave!¹
Tho' rude, thy ditty was of her, who gave
Thy voice to sing, and tun'd thy oaten flute ·
In strains unwonted to the ear of swain:
As when the lark, ambitious of the skies,
Quits the low harvest of the golden plain,
Taught by the sun's inspiring warmth to rise,
Sublime in air he spreads his dappled wings,
Mounts the blue aether, and in mounting sings.
III.
But whither wander the licentious song?
Such joyous notes to happier days belong!
Ah me! our happier days are now no more:—
Return, sad Muse: see pale Britannia weep,
See all the sisters of the subject deep
Their sovereign's loss deplore!
See fond Ierne give her sorrow vent,
And as she tunes her brazen lyre to woe,
Indulge her grief to flow!
See even the northern Orcades lament!
Nor ends the wailing here:
Where-e'er beneath our flag wild Ocean roars,
From furthest Orient to Hesperia's shores,
From torrid Affrick to the world's cold end
The British woes extend:
And every colony has dropt a tear.
¹ Stephen Duck. See note p. 89.
112
REMAINS
IV.
O honour'd flood! with reeds Pierian crown'd
Isis! whose argent waters glide along
Fair Bellosite's Lycaean shades renown'd,
Now aid my feeble song;
And call thy chosen sons, and bid them bring
Their lays of Dorick air,
With lenient sounds to steal awhile from care
Th' inconsolable King:
Oh! sooth his anguish, and compose his pains
With artful unimaginable strains,
According sweetly to the golden lyre,
Such as might half inspire
The iron breast of Hades to resign
Our lost, lov'd Caroline.
These are thy glorious deeds, almighty Death!
These are thy triumphs o'er the sons of men,
That now receive the miserable breath,
Which the next moment they resign again!
1 Ah me! what boots us all our boasted power,
Our golden treasure, and our purpled state?
They cannot ward th' inevitable hour,
Nor stay the fearful violence of Fate;¹
-Virtue herself shall fail:
Else now, if virtue ever could prevail,
Death had not dar'd to violate the throne,
Nor had Britannia heard her sovereign groan.
-Ye nymphs! recall the Song:
For heaven-born virtue does to heaven belong,
And scorns the meanest of her sons should die,
But opens him a passage to the sky;
1 Ah me...Fate. The suggestion of the stanza in the elegy,
The boast of heraldry the pomp of pow'r &c.
OF R. WEST.
113
Her rod ay-pointing to th' eternal goal,
From the brute earth she frees the ardent soul;
Swift from the vulgar herd aloft she springs,
Spurns the moist clay, and soars on azure wings.
V.
Then hence with sorrows vain:
Ye Theban Muses! elevate the strain:
Search o'er the records of immortal fame,
And high refulgent on the female line,
Imblaze in starry characters the name
Of British Caroline:
While sacred story rings with Sheba's praise,
While Berenice's virtues still inspire
The Cyrenean lyre,
And Gloriana blooms in Spenser's lays:
Thy name, great Queen, shall glow in every page,
Shall dwell in every clime, and live in every age.
When George shall go, where William went before,
And all the present world shall be no more;
When the fond factions of unjust mankind,
The mean, the mad, the envious, and the blind
Shall turn to worms and dust;
Then Time, impartial judge, that states the price
Of each man's virtue, and of each man's vice
From thy bright fame shall clear the cank'ring rust;
And O! the Muses ever shall be just.
VI.
But lo! what sudden radiance gilds the skies?
'Tis Gratitude descending from above,
Known by the sweetness of her dove-like eyes,
Daughter of truth and universal love!
To Henry's sacred dome she wafts along,
And on thy tomb she pours
Celestial sweets and amaranthine flowers:
G.
8
114
REMAINS
The old, the young, the rich, the wretched crowd
Numerous around her, and with accents loud
Raise the mix'd voice, and pour the grateful song
"Hail Queen! adorn'd by nature and by art!
Thine was each virtue of the head and heart
Thy people blest thee, and thy children lov'd
And thy King honour'd, and thy God approv'd."
VII.
But here my labours cease:
'Tis time the foaming courser to release.
And thou, O royal Shade
Forgive the Muse that these vain honours paid
A Muse as yet unheeded and unknown;
That dares to sacrifice to truth alone,
Not prone to blame, not hasty to commend,
No foe unjust, no mercenary friend,
No sensual bosom, no ungenerous mind,
And, tho' not virtuous, virtuously inclin'd.¹
[1737]
In June, 1738 Gray sent West another Latin letter
commencing with the Sapphic ode
'Barbaras ædes aditure mecum
Quas Eris semper fovet inquieta'
from which it would appear that he at that time was him-
self contemplating a career at the Bar. The ode proceeds
to say how much pleasanter it were to spend the hours
with books and the Muse under the shady elm,—and
describes Gray's enjoyment of the spring and sunshine.
1 This follows, in Dodsley's collection, the Ode on а
Distant Prospect of Eton College, the Ode on the Spring Lo
where the rosy-bosom'd hours,' and that on the Death of
Walpole's Cat.
OF R. WEST.
115
Then follows prose, and then the Alcaic stanza ‘O lacry-
marum fons' &c. To which West replies infra.
20. WEST TO GRAY.
I return you a thousand thanks for your elegant
ode, and wish you every joy you wish yourself in it—
But, take my word for it, you will never spend so
agreeable a day here as you describe: alas! the sun
with us rises only to show the way to Westminster-
Hall. Nor must I forget thanking you for your little
Hall.—Nor
Alcaic fragment. The optic Naiads are infinitely
obliged to you.
I was last week at Richmond Lodge, with Mr Wal-
pole, for two days, and dined with Cardinal Fleury';
as far as my short sight can go, the character of his
great art and penetration is very just, he is indeed
I
nulli penetrabilis astro.
go to-morrow to Epsom, where I shall be for about
a month. Excuse me, I am in haste, but believe me
always &c.
August 29, 17382.
1 Sir Robert Walpole. (Mason.) Fleury, the contemporary
French minister, was, like Walpole, credited with a love of
Peace. In 1733, Pope had written
'Peace is my dear delight-not Fleury's more:
But touch me, and no minister so sore.'
2 I am again perplexed at the long interval between this
letter and that to which it is the answer.
8—2
116
CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
21.
My dear West,
* ASHTON TO WEST.
Sep. 9. 1738 Hanover Sq.
Why must you vent all your dear Spleen at a
Coffee House to deprive me of a pleasure which it is
not often in your Power to give, of seeing you out of
humor? I shall go to the Temple to-morrow, & I
am determind to visit yr door, tho' I am afraid it
will not open its Eyes upon me. I shall however
enjoy the happiness (the loss of which old Adam
most regretted at his expulsion from Paradise)' of
saying to myself
'In this room he appeard: behind this door
Stood visible: among those books his voice
I heard here with him on this Staircase talk'd.'
}
I thank you, my dear for your invitation to Epsom
or Oxford, I am sorry I am not a free agent to comply
with it……..a small Piece of Paper light at this House
to day with Gray's name attachd to it, & declares
he is very well, that Stourbridge fair is full blown &
that he will go to bed at Cambridge but 14 nights
more.
You know that the alarm of Sir Robert's Danger
had set many hearts a beating with hopes and fears,
which are now equally dispersd-our friend Horace
1 Par. Lost, XI. 320 sq.
OF R. WEST.
117
has received good advantages by Tunbridge Wells.
He will be in Town next Tuesday.
Yrs very sincerely
Write soon-oro, obsecro, obtestor.
ASHTON.
In Sept. 1738 Gray writes to West:
"I am at this instant in the very agonies of leaving
college....If you knew the dust, the old boxes, the bed-
steads and tutors that are about my ears, you would look
upon this letter as a great effort....I fill up my paper with
a loose sort of version of that scene in Pastor Fido that
begins, Care selve beati.”
“This Latin version" says Mason "is extremely elegiac,
but as it is only a version I do not insert it." Accordingly
it has disappeared, as far as I know, altogether. To it
West refers in the Elegia which follows infra.
22. WEST TO GRAY.
I thank you again and again for your two' last
most agreeable letters. They could not have come
more à-propos; I was without any books to divert
me, and they supplied the want of every thing; I
made them my classics in the country; they were
my Horace and Tibullus-Non ita loquor assentandi
causâ, ut probe nôsti si me nôris, verum quia sic mea
est sententia. I am but just come to town, and, to
show you my esteem of your favours, I venture to
1 Those of June and September, 1738.
118
CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
send you by the penny-post, to your father's, what
you will find on the next page: I hope it will reach
you soon after your arrival, your boxes out of the
waggon, yourself out of the coach, and tutors out of
your memory.
Adieu, we shall see one another, I hope, to-
morrow.
ELEGIA.
Quod mihi tam gratæ misisti dona Camenæ
Qualia Maenalius Pan Deus ipse velit,
Amplector te, Graie, & toto corde reposco,
Oh desiderium jam nimis usque meum!
Et mihi rura placent, et me quoque sæpe volentem
Duxerunt Dryades per sua prata Deæ;
Sicubi lympha fugit liquido pede, sive virentem,
Magna, decus nemoris, quercus opacat humum :
Illuc mane novo vagor, illuc vespere sero,
Et, noto ut jacui gramine, nota cano.
Nec nostrae ignorant divinam Amaryllida silvæ:
Ah, si desit Amor, nil mihi rura placent.
Ille jugis habitat Deus, ille in vallibus imis,
Regnat et in Cælis, regnat et Oceano;
Ille gregem taurosque domat, saevique leonem
Seminis; ille feros, ultus Adonin, apros:
Quin et fervet amore nemus, ramoque sub omni
Concentu tremulo plurima gaudet avis.
Duræ etiam in silvis agitant connubia plantae,
Dura etiam et fertur saxa animâsse Venus.
Durior et saxis, et robore durior ille est,
Sincero siquis pectore amare vetat :
Non illi in manibus sanctum deponere pignus,
Non illi arcanum cor aperire velim;
Nescit amicitias, teneros qui nescit amores:
Ah! si nulla Venus, nil mihi rura placent.
OF R. WEST.
119
Me licet a patriâ longe in tellure juberent
Externâ positum ducere Fata dies;
Si vultus modo amatus adesset, non ego contra
Plorarem magnos voce querente Deos.
At dulci in gremio curarum oblivia ducens
Nil cuperem præter posse placere meæ:
Nec bona fortunae aspiciens, neque munera regum,
Illa intra optarem brachia cara mori.
Sep. 17. 1738.
* IMITATION OF HORACE. Lib: I: Ep: 2.1
While haply You (or haply not at all)
Hear the grave Pleadings in the Lawyers' Hall
Or, while you haply Littleton explore,
Turning the learned leaden Pages o'er,
Think me again transported to peruse
The golden Rhapsodies of Milton's Muse:
Who shews us in his high Seraphic Song,
What just, what unjust, what is Right, what Wrong,
With Sense at least, and Evidence as true,
As all our Judges of the Bench could do.
Why thus I think (to Hardwick no Offence)
Give Ear, and with your Coke awhile dispense.
The Tale disastrous You remember well,
How Satan tempted and how Adam fell;
And how he tasted the forbidden Tree,
Induced by female Curiosity;
X
How thus our Paradise we lost, & all
The Children perish'd in the Fathers' Fall
Nor be that other Tale forgotten here
More moral, tho' less pleasing to the Ear
1 From Pemb. Common Place Books, vol. 1. p. 273.
120
REMAINS
How in the Desart Wild with Hunger spent
Full forty Days our patient Saviour went
Then spurning back to Hell the wily Fiend
Taught us on Heaven (Heaven only) to depend,
Hence us redeem'd at our Messiah's cost:
The Cross regaining, what the Apple lost. X
Thus while I read our Epic Bard divine,
My Mind intent with Pleasure Use to joyn,
From either Poem this Instruction draws,
To trust in God, and to obey God's Laws.
Enough of Sermon: I perceive you nodd.
You think me mighty wise, & mighty odd:
Your Lips, I see, half verge upon a Smile—
Dear Sir, observe the Horace in my Style.
Just such to Lollius, his misguided Friend,
He knew with decent Liberty to send
Beneath the Critique dext'rous to convey
Advice conceal'd, in the best-natured Way.
But you're no Lollius, and no Horace I:
Here is no Room sage Maxims to apply.
Would you not burst outright to hear me say
Satan, my friend, may lead the best astray;
By Nature ill, by Habit worse inclined,
Add Pride, add Envy, add the willful Mind
Still prone to disobey & to deceive,
All men are Adam, & all women Eve.
Thus bad, thus all corrupted, much I fear
Morality sounds painful to the Ear.
The Dogs of Night, that murder & that steal,
Outwatch the Watchmen of the publick Weal:
Fools, that we are! less Labour to employ
To save ourselves, than Villains to destroy.
Suppose your Body sick; at any Price
You run to Mead or Hollings for Advice:
This for thy Body: but suppose thy Mind,
For that what Mead or Hollings will you find?
OF R. WEST.
121
Rise, Sluggard, rise & quit thy Morning-Bed
E're yet Aurora lifts her rosy Head:
Take Plato down, take Tully, take Bruyère¹,
Make honest Things, & Studies all thy Care:
At sight of Industry Vice flies away,
As Spectres vanish at the Face of Day.
If ought offensive to the Eye appear
Not long You let the Object be too near:
What hurts the Mind more patient to endure,
For Years together we delay the Cure.
Meanwhile the Time irrevocable flies:
Begin, & have the Spirit to be wise:
Begin, nor do, as did the Rustick Ass
Who stood, & waited till the Stream should pass
The Stream, Poor fool! you little seem to know
Flows, as it flow'd, and will for ever flow.
The gay Town-house, the pleasant Country-Seat,
The fertile Meadow, & the Garden neat,
The fruitful Nursery, the tender Wife,
Are Joys Men almost value with their Life:
Yet all these Joys, and more (could more be sent)
Make not the total of one Word, Content.
Not all the Gold of the Peruvian Mine,
Not all the Gems that blaze beneath the Line
Can cure a Fever, or one Care expell:
Possessions make not the Possessour well.
The Man, who lives in Hope, or lives in Fear,
In nougt he has can tast the Joy sincere.
Sooner shall Handel give the deaf delight,
And Rafael's Pencil charm the Blind to Sight.
•
1 Norton Nicholls falls into a curious error about this line.
He says (Reminiscences of Gray) ...I remember part of a line
among some juvenile мs. verses in his commonplace book of
advice to West, in which he recommends him to rise early,
and
-read Plato, read Bruyère.'
122
REMAINS
First cleanse the Vessel, e're the Wine you pour
T'will else be Vinegar, and Wine no more.
Obvious to Sense the Allegory lies:
Would you be happy, be but only wise
Reject all Pleasures of the Sense; they're vain.
Each Hour of Pleasure has it's Hour of Pain.
Bound thy mad Wishes: fix on something sure:
The Harpy Avarice is ever poor.
May none but Vilain's¹, be with Envy curst!
Of all the Vices 'tis the Vice the worst:
Scarce all the Tortures of the Damn'd in Hell
The Pangs of wretched Envy can excell.
Sore shall He smart & most severely pay,
Who lets his Passion o'er his Reason sway:
Oft, to his Scorn, shall his unguarded Rage
Act o'er the Part of Cassius on the Stage
Reprove his Friend, upbraid, insult, resent,
Rave like one wild, grow sorry, & repent
Oh! if you'd live in gentle Peace with all
Restrain the boiling Fury of thy Gall:
Oh! early wise it's growing force restrain
Like the Steed, curb it: like the Lyon, chain.
Youth, Youth's the Season for Instruction fit.
The Colt's young Neck is pliant to the Bit.
The young Hawk listens to the Master's sound,
The Whelp unlash'd was never yet a Hound.
Now, Boy, 's the time, my gentle Boy, draw nigh:
Come with thy blushing Front, & open Eye
Now, while thy Breast is, as the Current, clear,
Unruffled, unpolluted, & sincere:
Now fair and honest all thy Hours employ,
For know, the Man is grafted on the Boy.
The Cask once season'd keeps the Flavour long,
Adieu! thus ends my moralizeing Song.
1 sic.
OF R. WEST.
123
Abrupt I finish: my hard Task is o'er:
Forgive me, Pope! I'll imitate no more.
Fav: from Epsome, before I went
to France in 1739¹.
Walpole writes to West 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
pièces." He then mentions Henry Brooke's 'Gustavus
Vasa.'2
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
vitâ 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,
2 See p. 43 supra and note.
1 Gray's note.
124
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 chickens
and roast legs of mutton were your highest effort.
But with the metaphor, the case is quite altered: 'tis
no longer chapon toujours' bouilli: 'tis varium et
mutabile semper enough, I am sure: 'tis Italo per-
fusus 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 è convivio sapientiores resur-
gimus quàm accubuimus. So it is with me; and I
never receive any of your tables, or tabulæ, for you
know 'tis the same thing, but I exclaim to myself
Di magni! salicippium² disertum !
If you don't understand this 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
¹ [toujours chapon ?]
2 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 utriusque 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 Athol,
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 much?
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 goûté forsooth, composed of des
fraises, de la crême, du vin, des gateaux, &c. We,
sir, we supped à l'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, et tanto certare minorem?
Then I reflected-
Ut gratas inter mensas symphonia discors,
Et crassum unguentum, et Sardo cum melle papaver,
Offendunt, poterat duci quia cœna 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 you, in lieu of your vaudeville, a miserable
elegy'.
* IMITATED FROM PROPERTIUS El: 15: Lib. 3:
Nunc, oh Bacche tuis &c.
Now prostrate Bacchus at thy Shrine I bend:
This once be gracious 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 power I'll sing:
Thy birth I'll sing, thy mother's fatal fires,
Thy Indian trophies, & Nysaean choirs:
¹ 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, Io 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:
Dircaean 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:
Io! 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.¹
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
fine 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
1 '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
Bêtes, 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 eigth page: 'tis time to have
done, and wish you adieu. I hear Sir Robert is very
well. My Lord Conway' is reckoned one of the
prettiest persons about town.
Yours ever
R. WEST.
24. *ASHTON TO WEST.
London. Aug. 25. 1739.
Friend²,
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 supra p. 40 n. 1 and p. 44.
2 This Letter is in a large regular assumed Hand, to imi-
tate the 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. 1739, 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 Rhône and Saône
and says
"All yesterday morning we were busied in
climbing up Mount Fourvière 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 Païs 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
replied 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 Rhône, and to be climbing up mount Fourviere ;
Iam mens praetrepidans avet vagari:
Iam 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!
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 the
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.
O meæ jucunda comes quietis!
Quæ fere ægrotum solita es levare
Pectus, et sensim, ah! nimis ingruentes
Fallere curas:
Quid canes? quanto Lyra dic furore
Gesties quando hâc reducem sodalem
Glauciam¹ gaudere simul videbis
Meque sub umbrâ?
Walpole to West from Turin Nov. 11, 1739, N.S. relates
how on the passage of Mont Cenis his spaniel 'Tory' was
seized by a young wolf2. He sends a copy of an inscription
1 He gives Mr Gray the name of Glaucias frequently in his
Latin verse, as Mr Gray calls him Favonius. [Mason.]
2 Letters of Walpole ed. Cunningham, vol. 1. 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, æquata montium
iniquitate, quæ cervicibus imminebant praecipitia pedibus
substernens, æternis 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 Bec. 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:
Bec! 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! I 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
It did touch a little upon the
traveller. What do you think it put me in mind of?
1 See Herodotus II. 2. West here makes a slip. The
experiment of Psammetichus discovered that the Phrygians
were the oldest nation, ẞékos being the Phrygian name for
bread.
OF R. WEST.
135
Not a bit like, but it put me in mind of poor
Mrs Rider 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 heluo of
everything of that kind, and I am never so happy as
when-verbosa 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 M. Cleveland, fils naturel de
Cromwel; ou, le Philosophe Anglais. Écrite par Lui-même.
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 Abbé Prévost, the author of Manon
Lescaut. (The editor finds these particulars of Cleveland,
which he has never read, in Notes and Queries 1885 vol. 1.
pp. 370, 371, contributions by Mr Edward Solly and Mr Henri
van Laun.)
136
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,
R. 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 Right Honourable Henry Pelham, brother of the
Minister Duke of Newcastle, and Prime Minister himself at
the time of his death in 1754. [Cunningham.]
2 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.
137
that odious Curl¹ 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, & sævas 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.
Nec jam usquam ratibus locus, ut prius; omnia duris
Irrita substiterunt vinclis, lateque rigescunt
Relliquiæ cymbarum, & fracto robore palmæ,
Velaq et antennæ: tristis stat navita ripâ
Ingratasque rates artemq reponit inanem.
At populum tota certatim ex urbe ruentem
Migrare in fluvium cernas, durumque per æquor
Huc illuc volitare: omnes uno impete gaudent
Immixti pueriq leves, timidæq puellæ
Nymphæq, juvenesq & gressu tardior ætas.
Quin subitis etiam constructa mapalia tignis
Edificant: Thamisisq suo consurgere dorso
Miratur, scenamque fori, stabilesque tabernas
Insuetosq Lares, & non navalia tecta.
Fav: the hard Winter 17402.
1 Walpole was of course not aware that Curll was tricked
by Pope into publishing his correspondence. See Courthope's
Life of Pope, pp. 283–290.
2 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-
and Statius:
Quos rami fructus, quos ipsa-2
At secura quies—³
and what follows down to
Non absunt-
But what do you think? Your observations have set
1 Gray, see n. pp. 80, 81.
2 Georg. ii. 500.
3 Ib. 467-471.
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, I
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
ψυχος δὲ λεπτῷ χρωτὶ πολεμιώτατον.
28. WEST TO WALPOLE.
My dear Walpole:
March 29, 1740.
Since I have finished the first act, I send you
now the rest of it. Whether 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
1 A fragment of Euripides quoted by Cicero, Ep. ad Fam.
XVI. 8. [Berry.]
2 Of his tragedy of Pausanias. Gray wrote from Florence
more than a year after this to West (April 21, 1741): "I
must 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 53 lines of his 'De Principiis Cogitandi'. 'Pausanias'
is lost, or at least evades search.
140
CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
caʼnt, 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-
counting 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
reply 'is not extant: probably it was only enclosed in one
to Mr Walpole.'
ELEGIA.
Ergo desidiæ 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 & inania saxa vereri!
Stultule! marmoreâ quid mihi cum Venere?
Hic veræ, hic vivæ Veneres, et mille per urbem
quarum nulla queat non placuisse Iovi.
Cedite Romanae formosae, et cedite Graiae,
sintq oblita Helenae nomen, et Hermionae!
Et quascunq refert aetas vetus, Heroinae:
unus honos nostris jam venit Angliasin.
Oh quales vultus! Oh quantum numen ocellis!
i nunc, et Tuscas improbe confer opes.
Ne tamen haec obtusa nimis praecordia credas,
neu me adeo nullâ Pallade progenitum:
Testor 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 marmor, seu Mentoris aera,
Seu paries Coo nobilis e calamo;
Nec minus artificum magna argumenta recentûm
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 ausa manus:
Hic nemora et sola mærens Meliboeus in umbrâ,
lymphaq muscoso prosiliens lapide;
Illic majus opus, faciesque in pariete major
exsurgens¹, Divûm et numina Coelicolûm.
O vos felices¹, quibus haec cognoscere fas est,
et totâ Italiâ qua patet usque frui!
Nulla dies vobis eat injucunda nec usquam
nôritis¹ quid sit tempora amara pati.²
1 Gray's transcript has 'exurgens', 'fœlices', norîtis.
2 [Gray notes on Pemb. MSS. "Fav: sent from London to
Florence. April — 1740.”]
142
CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
29. WEST TO GRAY.
Bond-street, June 5, 1740¹.
I lived at the Temple till I was sick of it: I 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
uncle² 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
1 A letter of Ashton'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.
2 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 should
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 tête-à-tête 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
about trifles, they never care whether your heart
aches or 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
hope 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
propose going next? an in Apuliam? nam illo si
adveneris, tanquam Ulysses, cognosces tuorum nemi-
144
CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
nem. Vale.
Vale. So Cicero prophesies in the end of one
of his letters¹-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 Tully, or drank your tea over him??...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."
1 Cicero to L. Valerius (Ad Diversos 1. 10), but with more
point 'Neque in Apuliam tuam accedas' &c.
2 Cf. Henry Mackenzie's 'Man of Feeling' chap. xii. '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
To
30. * WEST TO ASHTON.
me;
Thomas Ashton Esq™
at the Honble Mrs 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
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
146
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.]¹
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 what occasiond
the debate, between the Lord and the Doctor. Were
I to place it in either singly, I should certainly place
it in the Sentiment-for there is the Principium
& fons. Unless you 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.
thunders, it lightens, it bursts immediately from the
mind of the Orator upon his Hearers, it convinces
them, it amazes them, its authority is irresistible.
Such are (? was) the Speech of Henry the IVth 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.
It
10-2
148
CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
with 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.
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
Δόξα μόνῳ τῷ Θεῷ
R. WEST.
P.S. Alexander³, the Great, Banquier à Paris,
1 sic in Mitford's transcript.
2 Walpole writes to West, Nov. 1740, 'Direct to me
addressed to Monsieur Selwyn, chez Monsieur Alexandre, rue
St Apolline, à 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 Mrs Lewis's, at her house
in Hanover Square, London.
To
32. * WEST TO ASHTON.
Mr Ashton
pour
at Mrs Lewis's in
Hanover Square
London
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 write
to me sometimes. Be so good as to call or send to
Dick's Coffee house, and if there are any letters for
1 Ashton it will be noted was not ordained in 1740. In-
troductory Essay, p. 3, n. 1.
150
CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
me, I shd be glad to have them sent me. My address
is racomandè a Messrs Lubhard & 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, N. 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? Adieu, noble Captain!"
The criticism of Pausanias to which West refers infra,
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.
London, 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 R. WEST.
151
ill' there, and are now recovered and returning to
I heard the bad and good
so was afflicted and com-
England through France.
news both together; and
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 acquainted
with your unprejudiced way of thinking, 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 prose 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 already 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
Reggio 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. 1. 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 has 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 use 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,
R. WEST.
154
CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
34.
*GRAY TO WEST.
(date uncertain)¹
As I know you are a lover of Curiosities, I send
you the following, which is a true and faithful
Narrative of what passed in my study on Saturday
the 16th, instant. I was sitting there very tranquil
in my chair, when I was suddenly alarmd with a
great 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 Sevigné. Mon cher Aristote! do get a
little further or you will quite suffocate me.
Aristotle. Ovdéπотe yuvη…..I have as much right
Οὐδέποτε γυνή...I
to this place as you, and I sha'nt remove a jot.
M. Sevigné. Oh! the brute! Here's my poor
Sixth tome is squeezed to death: for God's sake,
Bussy, come & rescue me.
1 I incline to assign it to London, 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 Rabutin.
to your assistance.
Ma belle Cousine! I would fly
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 very con-
fused ideas, to jumble us so strangely together. He
has associated me with Ovid and Ray the Naturalist.
Virgil. 'Me vero primum dulces ante omnia Musa
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.
Cheyne. 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: Philosophy
may follow them.
Vade Mecum.
Pshaw! I 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.
I 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 fire-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 I leave to your discretion.
Popes¹, March 28, 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 tempt 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
¹ David Mitchell's Esq., at Popes near Hatfield, Hertford-
shire.
2 This is the 4th Book of the Dunciad published in 1742.
OF R. WEST.
157
of Tacitus. Gray proceeds: "As to the Dunciad, it is
greatly admired; the Génii 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 Agrippina'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 English 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 wrong, for I am neither a Tarpa, nor am
158
CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
I quite an Aristarchus. You see I write freely both
of you and Shakspeare; 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 importunissima tussis,
Qua durare datur, traxitque sub ilia vires:
Dura etenim versans imo sub pectore regna,
Perpetuo exercet teneras luctamine costas,
Oraque distorquet, vocemque immutat anhelam:
Nec cessare locus: sed saevo concita motu,
Molle domat latus, & corpus labor omne fatigat;
Unde molesta dies, noctemque insomnia turbant.
Nec Tua, si mecum Comes hic jucundus adesses,
Verba juvare queant, aut hunc lenire dolorem,
Sufficiat tua vox dulcis, nec vultus amatus.¹
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 German
sedition sufficiently made up for it; and the speech
of Germanicus, by which he reclaims his soldiers, is
quite masterly. Your New Dunciad I have no con-
ception of. I shall be too late for our dinner if I
write any more.
Yours.
Gray replies: "You are the first who ever made a
Muse of a Cough; to me it seems a much more easy task
to versify in one's sleep (that indeed you were of old
famous for)¹ 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 you 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
C
1 This is, 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 thought-
ful 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 ἐν ἀμαθίᾳ καὶ ἀμουσίᾳ
καταβιώναι.
37. WEST TO GRAY.
April [1742]
To begin with the conclusion of your letter, which
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 you 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
much 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. I do not know how it
is, but his old expressions have more energy in them
than ours, and are even more adapted to poetry;
certainly, where they are judiciously and sparingly
inserted, they add a certain grace 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
CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
way of finishing?) I think them of excellent use in
tales; they add a certain drollery 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 enfin.-Yet one word
more. You think the ten or twelve first 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 du Seraphim B. à
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.¹
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. 1. 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
sha be greatly obliged to you, to send it me.
mi
Reverendissime²
Vale
Tuesday April 15 [1742].
RV.
1 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 last 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
which 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 I with you now,
Were I with you now, and Propertius
with your verses lay upon the table between us, I
could discuss this point in a moment; but there is
nothing so tiresome as spinning out 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 Gray¹ 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
Recall 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.
1 Modestly written 'Dear -' by Gray in Pembroke мs.
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.¹
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
1 This poem, as printed by Mason, differs considerably
from the text given above, which is copied from Gray's
transcript in Pemb. мss.
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 sorry for it, that you see I
cannot forbear writing again the very first opportunity;
though 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. 2
Lesbia, let us (while we may)
Live, and love the Time away,
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.
2 Ib. 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 & how much we kiss.
Quæris quot mihi basiationes?¹ &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 Ammon'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.2
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 invitation' (let. 39) ‘and I propose
to bask in her beams.' He reminds him of a contemporary
at Eton who is now a husband and father, and of states-
men whom they remember as 'dirty boys playing at
1 Cat. VII.
[Gray's note in Pembroke Common-place Books.]
OF R. WEST.
169
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 1742 sent to Fav: not knowing he was then Dead."
41. ASHTON TO WEST.
My dearest West,
The melancholy 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.
I 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.
Downing Street
June 3. 1742.
Yrs
very sincerely
THOS. ASHTON.
170
CORRESPONDENCE ETC.
When this was written West had already 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
1 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 Alumni Etonenses that
he was presented to the living of Aldingham in Lancashire,
OF R. 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 you longer at a time, when
doubtless you are a good deal employd; 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 Whole.
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 presentation 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 snatch'd thee blooming to a better clime
To raise those Virtues to a higher Sphere
Virtues which only could have starved thee here.
ASHTON ¹.
[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.
THE following account of John Chute 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 Walpole 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 Hist. 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, Short
Notes, &c., Letters I. p. lxvii (ed. Cunningham).
The following was obviously written just after Gray's
return from the Continent.
1. TO MR CHUTE.
[Sep. 7, 1741.]
My dear Sr
You have not forgot me.
I complain no more.
Mrs 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 London. Mann was at this time much
tried by illness, which he bore most patiently. (Mr Chute,
Hist. of the Vyne, p. 86.)
GRAY TO JOHN CHUTE.
177
from it's Ruins. he received me, as became a Bird
of his Race, & suffer'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 Mr Chute
(I give you your great Name for want of a little tiny
one) with my Compliments to Dr 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 Florm 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! M² 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,
6
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 Sã-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.'
2 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 Admiral 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 quite
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.
I am most sincerely, and ever Your's
London-Sept: 7:0: S:
P.S. Nobody is come from Paris yet.
A Mons!
Adieu!
TG:
Monsieur Chute, Gentilhomme Anglois chez
Mons Ubaldini nel Corso de' Tintori à
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
let. LII
let. LV
let. LXXV
let. LXXVI
May 24, 1742.
July,
1742.
Oct. 25, 1743.
Oct. 1746 (early in the month).
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 Europe 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 Rosalba, 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.']
Lustrissimo
2. TO MR CHUTE.
Cambridge, Sunday [October? 1746].
It is doubtless highly reasonable that
two young foreigners come into so distant a country
to acquaint themselves with strange things, should
have 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-
1 The Histoire de Louis Onze of Duclos (Charles Duclos
Pinot, as M. Auger says we should spell his full name) had
been censured by an arrêt du conseil, of the 28th of March
1745 comme contenant plusieurs endroits contraires, non
seulement aux droits de la couronne sur différentes provinces
du royaume, mais au respect avec lequel on doit parler de ce
qui regarde la religion ou les règles des mœurs, et la conduite
des principaux membres de l'église.' 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 Gallican 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
Mr Whithed and wish him all Happiness. Farewell,
my dear Sir
I am, ever yours,
T. G.
Commend me kindly to Mr 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 lyne, p. 104.]
184
GRAY TO JOHN CHUTE.
3. TO MR CHUTE.
[1762]
My Dear St
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
Mr 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 Mr Whithed'.
To
Adieu! I am ever
John Chute Esq.
Yours
T Gray.
The above letter concerns Gray's unsuccessful 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, III. 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 in the Percy мss. 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 occurred 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. 1. 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 relique.
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
1
(a) Mr Gray presents his compliments to Mr
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 Mr Blakeway's'
Chambers, where he imagined Mr Piercy to be.
The Messenger is a little in liquor, therefore have
a care of sending him to fetch it. the letter* was in
the book, wch Mr Gray thought was deliver'd to
Mr P: own hands
* viz. Mr Evan Evan's Letter.
(B) (On a separate piece of paper)
THE ABBOT OF MEUX.
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.
(Mr Mason dictates this note)
Mr Percy's note therefore is wrong.
(y) Mr Gray sends his compliments to Mr
Brocket2. 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 Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, 1765.
2 Of Trinity. Tutor to Sir James Lowther; Professor of
History at Cambridge, 1762; supported the Earl of Sandwich
TO PERCY AND BROCKETT.
191
he would make inquiry (when he has occasion to
go into Trin: Library) after the following old
English Books
Paradise of dainty devices 1578 4to & 1585
England's Helicon
4 to
W. Webbe's Discourse of Eng: Poetrie 1585 4to
Fr: Mere's Wit's Commonwealth: 1598 Lond:
& 1634¹
Sam: Daniel's Musa, or Defence of Rhyme 1611'
8vo
Stephen Hawes' Pastime of Pleasure 1555 4to
Gawen Douglas' Palace of Honour 1533 London
1579 Edinb:
Earl of Surrey's Ecclesiastes 1567 4to
1557 12mo
2d & 4th Books of the Æneid
Gascoign's Works, 2 v: 4to 1577 & 1587.
2
If they should not be in the Library, Mr 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.
2 C. Torriano was Regius Professor of Hebrew from 1753
to 1757.
?
SECTION V.
MISS SPEED TO GRAY.
G.
13
SECTION V.
MISS SPEED TO GRAY.
ALMOST all that we know of Miss Speed is to be found
in the life and letters of Gray. 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 Gray, Vol. 1. 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 pleasure that she used to say φωνᾶντα συνε-
Toîσɩ in so many words to those who could not under-
stand his Odes. Let us add these notices¹ 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 he
says "Lady Cobham and Mrs 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 Mrs 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 Perrière 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 GRAY.¹
Sir,
I am as much at a loss to bestow the Com-
mendation due to your performance as any of our
modern Poets would be to imitate them; Everybody
that has seen it, is charm'd and Lady Cobham² was
the first, tho' not the last that regretted the loss of
the 400 stanzas³; all that I can say is, that your
obliging inclination in sending it has fully 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.
4
I am your oblig'd & obedient
HENRIETTA JANE SPEED.
Sunday.
The date of the above letter is probably August, 1750,
in which month the Long Story was written.
1 Mitford [Add. мss. 32,561 p. 208].
2 Ann, widow of Field-Marshal Richard Temple, Viscount
Cobham, who died in 1749, daughter of Edmund Halsey Esq.
of Southwark: she lived at the Old House at Stoke Park.
[Mitford.] Halsey was the predecessor of Thrale's father in the
brewery. [Boswell's Johnson, B. Hill's ed. vol. 1. p. 491 n.]
3 Here 500 stanzas are missing.' Long Story. I think
I have transcribed Mitford accurately.
She probably means 'intention'.
198
MISS SPEED
MISS SPEED, TO GRAY.
My dear Sir,
25 Aug 59.
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 you knew my Heart you would 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 well & most extremely
obliged to you for the anxiety you expressed on her
acct. We now take the air every 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 unwholsome 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
1 Sic apparently in Mitford.
TO GRAY.
199
give you. There is always a Bed aired for you, &
one for your Servt 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. Mrs Clavering and Mr Crane the Apo-
thecary left us yesterday. I don't know whether you
are acquainted with the latter, but I have such a
- partiality from his attendance on Lady Cobham that
I 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
of 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.3 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.
2 sic.
3 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 Mr Greys'
faithfull Servt
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 entirely routing the
enemy. He was tried by court-martial in the following year,
and cashiered. See Gray's letter to Brown (vol. 111. 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 VI
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. 1. (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 Saône, 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 signifi-
cant that here he gives an account of Chalons-sur-Saône,
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 1740¹,' 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. 53] says that Gray's short
remarks on the pictures which he saw at Florence and other
places were published in 1843 by Mitford. I have not found
any but the Roman notes, in the Aldine edition, vol. Iv. 1836;
[vol. v. bears date 1843].
204
GRAY.
Italy,' which will be found, however, on examination to
belong entirely to Rome; 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 architecture. Accordingly only one or two
references or explanations are here added.
Cathedral of Amiens',-Shrine of St Firmin, of
massy Gold-rich painted windows.
Abbey, and Cathedral of St Dennis-Monuments
of the Kings of France-Lewis 12 Francis 1st, Henry
2d, 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 Charlemagne; Rubies, Emeralds
& Sapphires of vast bigness-Coronation robes & 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 Dorothy Gray April 1, 1739 [11. p. 16, ed.
Gosse], he says 'the Cathedral is just what that of Canterbury
must have been before the Reformation.' He is speaking of
course only of the subordinate decorations; in a letter to his
mother architectural distinctions would have been out of place.
NOTES OF TRAVEL.
205
noble collection of near 500 Pictures of great masters
-the St John Baptist of Raphael-Naked Venus,
wringing her hair, by Guido-the Leda and Danae of
Corregio-a whole room of the finest Paul 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
Medicis; at present the residence of the 2ª Queen
Dowager of Spain-the Gallery so well known, of
'Rubens.
3. The Invalides-the Church, beautiful disposi-
tion of the Chapels, & Dome; Altar imitated from
St Peter's at Rome.
4. The Val de Grace-fine 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 Ptro di Cortona.-
6. Cathedral of Notre Dame-Statues of the
Virgin with the dead Christ, & those of Louis the
13th & 14th, by the 2 Coutoux, & Coysevox.
7. Church of the Carmelites-a fine Annuncia-
206
GRAY.
tion, of Guido-a Magdalen, of Le Brun. Statue of
Card! Berulle, by Sarazin.
8. The English Benedictins. Body of K. James
2d, deposed here.
9. Abbey of St Genevieve-fine Library-ancient
Church, Monument of Des Cartes.
10. Abbey of St Germain de Prés.-Library,
collection of antiquities—the Church sepulchres of
the Kings of ye first race-great Altar, a handsome
piece of architecture. Monument of Casimir, K: of
Poland.
11. Church of the Celestines-fine tomb of the
Const: Monmorency-Monument over ye Heart of
Harry 24-& of Charles 9th-another to the memory
of Francis 2ª_Tomb of the D: of Orleans & his wife
—that of the D: of Longueville.
12. Church of St Eustache.
Colbert by Coysevox.
Tomb of Mons
13. Church of St Sulpice, a vast, new building.
handsome enough.
14. The Sorbonne, 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 Condé 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 Bacchanal in alto-relievo. Bust of
Julius Cæsar young. several urns, some of Oriental
Alabaster, Porphiry, Serpentine & Granate. Tables
of Verde antico, and other precious marbles. Pictures.
a St 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 St Peter's, by Paolo Pan-
nini, &c:-
18. Hotel de Mylord Walgrave.-Susannah &
the Elders, by Guido. Woman taken in Adultery
by Luca Giordano. the Brazen Serpent, by Sebast:
Bordone. fine Landscapes, of Claude Lorraine.
19. Hotel de Mons' Knight. death of Orpheus ;
& Bacchus with Ariadne, by Pietro di Cortona.
Landscapes of Cl: Lorraine.
20. Hotel de Mr Hayes. David with the Head
of Goliah, by Guido, exceeding fine. Lanscapes of
Cl: Lorraine, very 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.
UorM
208
GRAY.
23. Place des Victoires. an oval, but small.
huge gilt Statue of L 14th with a Victory.
24. The Chartreux.-the Cloyster, with the life
of St Bruno, 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 gallery, & a garden; very small, but excessively
neat.
25. Hotel de Soubise-fine furniture, Tapestry,
gilding, lustres of rock-Crystal, & embroider'd beds.
Versailles.
26.
27. Marli.
28. Chantilly.
29. St Clou.
30. St 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 3d, D. of B: made
it a City first, in 12th 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 Bay
find means to reunite to their other possessions, till
at the death of Charles le Hardi Lewis 11th of France
Maol
NOTES OF TRAVEL.
209
seizes upon it together with the whole Dutchy.
Parliament held here. Monuments of the Dukes at
the Carthusians.
CHALONS SUR SAONE.
Anciently Cabillonum, great causeway made by
J. Cæsar between this & Bibracte (or Augustodunum)
now Autun. Counts of Chalons independant of the D
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
Cathedral. Abelard died here in the monastery of
St Marcel.
TOURNUS.
Mar-
Trenurchium: an old & rich Abbey here, with
two exceeding high spires, dedicated to St Philibert;
the Abbots were once sovereigns of the town.
garet, Widow to Charles d'Anjou, K: of Sicily, built
here a small palace, where she ended her days. it is
now an Hospital.
Matisco.
MASCON.
DUTCHY OF BURGUNDY.
John, K: of France, seized upon it, & bestow'd it
on Philip de Valois, his youngest Son, surnamed the
Bold. this Philip married Margaret, Heiress of
G.
14
210
GRAY.
Flanders, & Widow of his Predecessour, Philip de
Rouvré, who had died without Issue. Philip the
Bold was regent of France during the Lunacy of
Charles the 6th 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 7th then but Dauphin, at the
Bridge of Montereau in L'Isle 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 11th 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 Mâcon & 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 1st 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 Rhône & 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-reliefs &
inscriptions about the Abbey it was consecrated in
:
14-2
212
GRAY.
the 12th 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
St 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 Emp: Gratian
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 St 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 Pyrenæans by Auvergne, the 2nd 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 St Irenée are
fragments of a Mosaic pavement; at la Trinité
abundance of Roman Epitaphs. a picture of St
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 1st who ceded it to the
King, her son.
DAUPHINÉ.
VIENNE.
Vienna, Capital of the Allobroges; a Colony sent
hither 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 Prætorium.
GENEVA.
Anciently Geneva; Genoa in Italy is supposed by
Livy to be a colony from this Geneva or Genua, or
Gebennæ. 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 præcedunt, quod
fere quotidianis præliis cum Germanis contendunt.
Helvetii continentur unâ ex parte flumine
Rheno latissimo atq altissimo, qui agrum Helvetium a
214
GRAY.
Germanis dividit: alterâ ex parte, monte Iura al-
tissimo, quæ est inter Sequanos & Helvetios; tertiâ,
lacu Lemano, & flumine Rhodano, qui provinciam
nostram ab Helvetiis dividit.
3. Santonum fines non longé a Tolosatium finibus
absunt; quæ civitas est in provinciâ.
4. Ocelum, quod est citerioris provinciæ ex-
tremum.
5. Segusiani sunt extra provinciam trans Rho-
danum primi.
6. Flumen est Arar, quod per fines Æduorum &
Sequanorum in Rhodanum influit incredibili lenitate,
ita ut oculis in utram partem fluit (sic) judicari non
possit.
7. Omnis civitas Helvetia in quatuor pagos
divisa est; Tigurinum', Verbigenum ',
8. Bibracte, oppidum Æduorum longé maximum
ac copiosissimum.
9. Boios petentibus Eduis, quod egregiâ 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 Cæsar (De Bell. Gall.
1. 12). The pagus Tigurinus is mentioned 1. c; the pagus
Verbigenus 1. 27. The other two Cæsar does not name.
2 Gray writes 'collocassent'.
NOTES OF TRAVEL.
215
Rauracorum 22,000, Boiorum 32,000; ex his, qui
arma ferre possent, ad 92,000. eorum, qui domum
redierunt censu habito repertus est numerus 110,000.
11. Ager Sequanus, qui est optimus totius
Galliæ.
1. Gallia propria, or the country of the Celta,
was divided from the Belge 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, Dauphiné, Provence, &
Languedoc with all the country contained between
these; & moreover Switzerland, the Franche-Comté,
Alsace, & Lorraine, with most of Savoy. out of this,
all comprehended between the Mediterranean 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-Comté, & the
Lake of Geneva, with the Rhône from Savoy &c: they
still retain too their ancient valour.
5. Segusiani, supposed the inhabitants of La
Foréz, & 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 1mo. 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 3d 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 with Rustick in the Manner of th'
Hotel de Luxembourg at Paris. the 2ª 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
Round, like 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 Antæus from the ground. both Antique, of
indifferent workmanship, & much damaged. over
this building, which joins the Ends of the Loggia; &
even with the 2ª 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.
on
means answerable to the Greatness of the Palace,
which brings you into the Sale des Gardes.
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 the 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.
Il 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 St Peter
stands, one arm extended, a very noble figure, an air
of a head like Rafael, Profile. on the other St 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. St Bruno & other Saints standing by.
a peculiar Colouring like Andrea, but better. Large
Il 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 & light 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
finish'd & big as life
Parmeggiano
Madonna della Pescia. she sits on a high Throne
under a Canopy, whose Curtains are supported by
angels flying. on one side stand S: Peter & S:¹
1
2 boy Angels on the foreground with Notes of
Musick-extremely fine Rafael ---
Disputation on the Trinity. St Austin is speaking,
& addresses to S: Peter Martyr. St Laurence in
his Sacerdotal habit, & S: Francis attending. Mary
Magdalen, & S: Sebastian sit on the foreground. 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 I 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 sufficient to put him
on a rank with the greatest Masters. tho' even in
1 So left by Gray.
NOTES OF TRAVEL.
221
this he often fails, & there is a smeariness 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!
Il Frate
Assumption of the Virgin: Apostles below looking
into the Sepulchre. She looks like a dirty ordinary
Girl, 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
Maratti
Carlo
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
fine
Seven more Portraits, half lengths-some very
Ditto
Charles the 5th, whole length, standing-the air
has somewhat low & disagreeable - Ditto
222
GRAY.
Philip the 2ª, 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 10th, head & hands.
of Man, that should not have set for his picture
something hard
Rafael
a sort
The famous PORTRAIT of Leo the 10 with the
Cardinals Medici & Rossi, as fine as a Portrait can
possibly be, & excellently preserved!
Pilgrims of Emaus, his dark, sooty
Ditto -
Manner-
Apollo, fleaing Marsyas — same Style—
S. Sebastian, all blister'd & spoil'd -
A fine Madonna, of Rubens -
Guercino
NOTES OF TRAVEL.
223
ROAD TO NAPLES. June 12.
You pass thro' the Porta Colimontana near S:
John Lateran, & continue along the road to Albano
with numberless little ruins of Sepulchres spread in
the fields all round you, particularly toward the
right hand, where at a little distance the Via Appia
runs along. they have been all extremely injured by
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 60
Arches standing entire and uninterrupted together
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, June 17, 1740 (11. 81, ed.
Gosse) 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.
beauty 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 Trinità 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 Trinità 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, & Co 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
Velitræ 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 Circeïan 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 Gaëtano
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,
1 Gray, 'was'.
G,
15
226
GRAY.
one part of which is a noble wild Scene all over-
run with 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 by Sezza
(Setia) of ancient fame for its wines
-Ipsius mensis seposta Lyxi
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,
& 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 egregias urbes, operumq laborem
Tot congesta manu præruptis oppida saxis,
Fluminaq antiquos subterlabentia muros. Georg: 2.
NOTES OF TRAVEL.
227
One has here the little river Ufens creeping along
on the right hand among the Fens, & slowly working
it's way into the sea.
Quâ Saturæ jacet atra palus, gelidusq per imas
Quærit iter valles, atq in mare conditur Ufens. Virg: 7.
pestiferâ Pontini uligine campi
Quà Saturæ nebulosa palus restagnat, & atro
Liventes cæno per squalida turbidus arva
Cogit aquas Ufens, atq inficit æquora limo. Sil: Ital: 8.
Somewhat farther is Piperno (Privernum) also
seated on a high Hill. the Peasants here wear
a sort of Buskin, 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 altera pero. Virg: 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 pieces 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. Statius gives a
good description of these immense labours in the
4th Book of his Sylvæ, 3.
Hic primus labor inchoare sulco¹,
Et rescindere limites, & alto
Egestu penitus cavare terras:
Mox haustas aliter replere fossas,
Et summo gremium parare dorso,
Ne nutent sola, ne maligna sedes,
Et pressis dubium cubile saxis;
Tunc umbonibus hinc et hinc coactis,
Et crebris iter allegare¹ gomphis.
O quantæ pariter manus laborant!
Hi cædunt nemus, exuuntq montes;
Hi ferro scopulos, trabesq cædunt;
Illi saxa ligant, opusq texunt
Cocto pulvere, sordidoq topho:
Hi siccant bibulas manu lacunas,
Et longé 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 Síc ap. Gray.
NOTES OF TRAVEL.
229
latím. one continues along this way, which goes
up 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-Equoreis 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, the
bounds are marked by an Inscription on a large stone
monument erected in Philip 2d's 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 agreeable 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 (Formia) most charm-
ingly situated on the Bay of Gaëta, 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
grow 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 Gaëta 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 from 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 Minturnæ, a small aqueduct of 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 off towards
the ruins of old Capua, that lay some miles more
inland, than the new City does. the road now grows
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 the 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, & 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 Sto 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
1242
houses are of the common people, but lofty (4 Stories
high) & equal throughout, & the breadth of the
street proportionable to it's length.
THE CERTOSA.
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 whole 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 Baiæ, the view being bounded by M: Miseno.
before you is Capreæ (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.
such 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 1st 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: Anglo
Caravaggio.
-
Several others, but not good --Luca Cangiari,
Giacmo Puntormo &c.
THE TREASURIES.
a Pietà, 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 perfectly 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
Custodia 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 Genius at all, & the heads have
all that Divine beauty one sees only in his works
Guido
The Crucifixion in the Arch over it in Fresco, very
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 16, N: S: 1740.
M. Pausilypo lies on the right side of the city.
it is a long Dorsum, or Promontory, 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.
1
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 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 Alla marina, or Alla montagna. about
1 The margin here renders the number doubtful.
2 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 1st
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, & 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 1 of
a Mile at least, & the whole country about the lake
238
GRAY.
was cover'd with an infinite 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 Grotta 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 much, & began to pant in a
few Moments. in 3 Minutes fell into Convulsions,
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 put anybody into a strong
Sweat in some few Minutes. this is a visible smoke
issuing out continually, & the Smell of Sulphur is
extremely 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 ground, 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: here 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 very secure Situa-
tion. Pozzuoli 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. Dict., s.v. Ammonia.
NOTES OF TRAVEL.
241
we
which gives to a Neapolitan Cavalier the title of
Marquis of Nisida. it is about a Mile & 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 took a large boat with 4 oars to go round
the Bay of Baia 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.
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
& 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, thinly cloath'd with a
burnt, and rusty herbage-Quæ scabie, & salsâ lædit
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 Rome, July, 1740. (Works, 1.
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 present 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 Julian 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 bathing 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 have 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 Euboicæ latus ingens rupis in antrum.
But the Euboic, or Cumæan 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
the bay, whose borders not here alone, but quite
from 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 out 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 ripâ.
Camentis licet occupes
These were call'd
[Cæmenta.
Tyrrhenum omne tuis-
Contracta pisces æquora sentiunt
Jactis in altum molibus: huc frequens
Camenta demittit redemptor
Cum famulis-
A little farther we landed again at the Sudatorii
di Tritoli, supposed to have been the Thermæ 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
where a
& then one descends for 60 odd paces more,
spring of scalding water boils out of the rock: but
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 Baiæ: 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 Diana's 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 effect, 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 Baiæ, 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 the
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
affix'd the names of various great 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 (Arimæ 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
Lucullus, 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 Cuma 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.
far from thence is the little temple call'd Del Gigante,
not
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 Cumæ 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 little 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 Vesuvio, 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 of¹;
1 See Walpole's letter to West of June 14, 1740 N. S. from
Naples (ed. Cunningham, 1. p. 48). He gives, as obtained from
Gray, the quotation from Statius infra. Also Gray to his
mother, June 17, 1740 (ed. Gosse, 11. 80 sq.).
NOTES OF TRAVEL.
253
as they were digging to lay the foundations of a house
for the Prince d'Elbœuf, they found a Statue or two
with some other ancient remains, which comeing to
the King's knowledge he order'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. Statius, 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....
Hæc ego Chalcidicis ad te, Marcelle, sonabam
Littoribus, fractas ubi Vesbius egerit iras,
Emula Trinacriis volvens incendia flammis.
Mira fides! credetne virum ventura propago
1*Cum segetes iterum, cum jam hæc deserta virebunt,
Infra urbes populosq premi, proavitaq toto
Rura abiisse mari? nec dum lethale minari
Cessat apex.
Silvæ: 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 without 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, others 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 with 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 Olla 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. figres 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. they 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 Cornucopiæ. 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 foreground 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 Flutes, &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, where 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 Imperfect 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 Olla;
a Tripod of Marble with animals heads, & foliage;
some Inscriptions, one very large to the honour of
Vespasian, another to Domitian's Wife, before he
was Emperour (he is call'd Cæsar in it) several Medals,
particularly of Claudius Cæs: 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, & the moun-
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 Côteaux, 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 degree, 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 Frà
Gio: da Montorsoli, the Florentine. over the Mouth
of the Grotta almost is the Tomb call'd 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.
JOURNEY INTO SCOTLAND, FROM ROSE-CASTLE
IN CUMBERLAND. Aug: 1764. BP of Carlisle.
To Netherby. Rev: Mr Graham's, who has built hot-
houses there, & made a fine Kitchen-Garden, &
great plantations. here was probably the Esica
of Anton: Itiner:
Cross the Sark (3 miles N: W:) & enter Scot-
Annandale in Dumfries-Shire
land good road. ugly country.
Л
To Annam, at dinner. bad inn. excellent Mutton.
Claret 3 S: a bottle. wretched appearance, &
dwellings of the common People. huts of mud,
& no chimneys.
To Dumfreis, at night. a large & handsome Town.
excellent Inn. fine views from the walks, parti-
cularly that on the Galloway-side of the R: Nid
a little above the Bridge, & another on ye other
side of the Town along the River. 5 hours thro'
a fertile vale (Nithesdale)
NOTES OF TRAVEL.
261
To Drumlanrig, chief seat of the Duke of Queensbury,
in a dreary wild country. Castle very large &
strong, erected about 80 years ago. many por-
traits in the Gallery. 36 miles thro' Dresdear
(where the Queensberry Family lie buried) to Car-
in Lanark-Shire
Л
michael-House (Earl of Hyndford's) & only one
Inn in the way. the House is now building.
many pictures here. great plantations here.
country naked & mountainous. 6 miles to
Corr-house-Lynn. where the R: Clyde falls by three
different cataracts about 200 feet high, in a land-
scape of woods & rocks worthy the hand of Pous-
sin. walk from hence a mile along the River to
Bonnington-Lynn, where it falls again in a single
sheet. above the fall is a beautiful quiet pastoral
scene. a cut thro' the wood in returning dis-
covers Lanerke, a large Town not far distant on
an eminence.
Lanerke. thro' bad roads to
also on the Clyde
Л
Hamilton pretty large Town with one tolerable Inn.
Hamilton-Palace stands in a spacious Park at the
end of ye Town. a great ill-contrived edifice.
grand Front built within these 50 years: Back-
Front about James the 6th's time. Gallery full of
fine pictures: much of Gibbons's carving here.
bad turnpike road to
still on the Clyde
Glasgow an elegant City. Roman inscriptions at
262
GRAY.
the College. Mr Foulis' Picture-Gallery. the
Kirk was the ancient Cathedral, a noble Gothick
Building, miserably spoil'd with Galleries & out
of repair: 12 miles to the banks of
in Dumbarton-Shire
Inch-Mirin
Λ
Loch-Lomond row'd to Inys-Mary Ʌ an island with a
Л
Park of ye Duke of Montrose's, whose House at
Buchanan stands on the edge of ye Lake.
ex-
quisite Landscape round the Lake. view of Ben-
Lomond, the second mountain in Scotland for
read Ben-Nevish in Inverness-shire
height Ben-Evis being the first.
gow, by
return to Glas-
Dunbarton. Castle on a lofty rock garrison'd.
im-
mense view from thence. set out for (in one day)
Stirling. by Kilsyth thro' an ugly country cross
Graham's Dyke, (the wall of Antonine). fine
View from the Castle.
in Linlithgowshire
Thro' Falkirk; dine at Borrowstonness A good roads,
& fine corn-countrey. it is a Sea-Port for Coal.
fine rich prospect over the Firth. along the
coast to
Abercorn (now Hopton-House). fine situation on a
bold ascent from the Firth. the House built early
in the present century, irregular & ugly. small
appartments. well-furnish'd & good pictures.
two hours to
in Mid-Lothian
Edinborough miserable Inns. noble views from the
Castle. Holy-rood House, some of it 200 years
NOTES OF TRAVEL.
263
old at least, but mostly built by Sr Wm Bruce
100 years later. here in the Earl of Braidalbin,
& Duke Hamilton's lodgeings are a number of
pictures. room where Rizzio was murther'd shewn
here. Nave of ye Abbey Church standing, but
now repair'd
ready to fall Л went out of Town to
Dalkeith (Duke of Buccleuch's). fine tapestry & rich
old furniture. many pictures. an hour's drive to
Rosslon. in a lovely Valley. ruins of a Castle. the
famous chappel built in 1440. not far off is Haw-
thornden remarkable for its caverns, & romantic
situation. return to Edinburgh. go by dinner
time to
Duddiston (E: of Abercorn's). thence to
Newbattle (the Marq: of Lothian's) once an Abbey,
seated in a Park ill-kept, but full of pictures. go
to dine at
d
Drum (La Somerville's). a new House with some
in Berwickshire
good Portraits. from Duddiston by Dallhousie Λ
thro' a naked countrey by good roads to Bank-
End, where is a good Inn. thence by the even-
ing to
in Roxborough-Shire
Λ
Melross (or Meurs) a small Town with a great linnen
manufacture on the R: Tweed. noble ruins of the
Abbey-Church built about our Edw: 2d's time, &
exquisitely adorn'd. Colony of Masons still dwell-
ing here. difficult road to
264
GRAY.
Kelso. by Dryburgh, a ruin'd Abbey, & Fleurs (the
D: of Roxburgh's seat). Kelso is a poor dirty
Town, but with noble ruins of an Abbey in the
Saxon style. dine at Cornhill' in England, oppo-
site to Coldstream in Scotland. here is a neat
Inn. in the afternoon to
Tweedmouth. separated only by a fine Bridge from
Berwick passing (some miles out of the road) by
Norham-Castle on a high rock, of wch only one vast
Tower is standing. at Tweedmouth is an excel-
lent Inn. two hours driving at Low-Water from
Berwick to
Holy-Island. the Saxon Church there. return thence
to
or more (intricate road)
л
Belford. about 6 miles to
Bamburgh-Castle. very large. the Keep has been
repair'd for the Minister's habitation.
JOURNEY INTO SCOTLAND FROM DURHAM;
Aug: 19, 1765.
To Newcastle, 15 Miles. cross the Tyne.
To Morpeth (in Northumberland) a neat and well-
built Town standing in a pretty, but narrow,
valley, on the R: Wanspeck. Gateway of the old
Castle (now a Gaol) remaining on a hill, that
overlooks the Town, West of the Bridge. the
1 Substituted over 'Coleshill' erased.
NOTES OF TRAVEL.
265
Countrey hitherto cultivated, but naked & un-
pleasant. 14 miles.
To Alnewick, 19 miles, a very good Town on the R:
Alne, in a narrow valley, but inferior in beauty to
the former. the Castle is built on an eminence,
tho' far lower than the neighbouring hills, that
border the valley on either hand.
(N.B. The corrections and interlineations in the ac-
count of the first Journey to Scotland were made at a
later time, as appears from internal evidence, and by the
less faded character of the ink. Perhaps on this 2nd
Journey, a year later ?)
SECTION VII.
THOUGHTS AND VERSE FRAGMENTS.
GRAY.
SECTION VII.
THOUGHTS AND VERSE FRAGMENTS.
(a) EXTRACTS MADE FROM MR GRAY'S
P.B. of 1754
POCKET-BOOK.
+
[IN PEMBROKE MSS.]
Contrast between the Winter Past and coming
Spring. Joy owing to that Vicissitude. many that
never feel that delight Sloth envy Ambition. how
much happier the rustic that feels it tho he knows
not how.
Then follow a few lines of the ode Now the golden
Morn etc. so that the note above appears to be a kind
of argument to that fragment. Four lines also as follow
are among the others
Rise my soul on wings of fire
Rise the raptrous choir among
Hark tis nature strikes the Lyre
And leads the general Song.
On another page
Gratitude:
The Joy that trembles in her eye
She bows her meek and humble head
in silent praise
beyond the power of Sound.
270
GRAY.
(Mr Pope dead)
and smart beneath the visionary scourge
'tis Ridicule and not reproach that wounds
Their vanity and not their conscience feels.
On another page
a few shall
The cadence of my song repeat
and hail thee in my words.
Pocket Book of 1755
The Province of Eloquence is to reign over minds
of slow perception & little imagination to set things
in lights they never saw them in-to engage their
attention by details or circumstances gradually un-
folded, to adorn & heighten them with images &
colours unknown to them, to raise & engage their
rude passions &c.'
P.B. of 1760
The Grub that breeds in & perishes with the
Common Mass of Putrefaction without being regarded,
if a few Drops of Amber fall on it is embalmed for
ages, and becomes a rarity².
¹ [In a note to a letter from Gray to Norton Nicholls
(Mitford's Gray, Ald. ed., vol. iv. p. 196), Mason has quoted
the above, but in a characteristic fashion. He has either
invented or foisted in from another letter a passage upon
which to engraft the quotation, and then, as Mitford points
out, added to Gray's incomplete sentence words of his own.]
2 Pope, Prologue to the Satires (1732-3).
Pretty! in amber to observe the forms
Of hairs, or straws, or dirt, or grubs, or worms!
The things we know are neither rich nor rare,
But wonder how the devil they got there.
THOUGHTS AND VERSE FRAGMENTS.
271
The Gout de Comparaison (as Bruyère stiles it) is
the only taste of ordinary minds. They do not know
that Tibullus spoke the language of nature & love,
that Horace saw the vanities and follys of mankind
with the most penetrating eye and touched them to
the quick, that Virgil * * * But they know that
Virgil is a better poet than Horace, and that Horace's
Epistles do not run so well as Tibullus' elegies,
they
* *
(B) "Dumay the agreeable counsellor at Paris,
after he was blind, sent Menage these two lines,
having previously been told that his friend was laid
up with the gout;
Qui mala nostra tulit praestanti dote valebat ;
Ede viri nomen, dos tibi talis erit.
To which Menage instantly replied by the servant
who waited
Edipodem tecum facio. Tumet aeger uterque
Pes mihi. Caligat lumen utrumque tibi.
The answer is prettiest
In Edipus alone I read
Our miseries united;
My lameness was to him decreed,
His eyes like yours benighted.
I could do nothing with the RIDDLE itself-M™
Gray did me the honour to turn it thus
272
GRAY.
He who our ills united bare,
The art of divination knew;
If you the prophet's name declare,
I'll hail you prophet too.
And while the world owes him solid obligations,
let him neither be angry nor ashamed that it sees
he can trifle to oblige or divert a friend.”
Piozzi, British Synonymy, vol. 11. p. 223.
Mitford quotes the above passage in his note books
III. p. 237 [Add. мss. 32,562] under the heading 'Verses
by Gray,' with no suggestion of any difficulty; yet I know
of no edition of Piozzi's Synonymy earlier than 1794, and
Mrs Piozzi seems to speak of Gray as still living. The
explanation perhaps is that some of the materials for her
book were put together long before this.
(y) "I asked Mr Bryant, who was next boy to
him at Eton, what sort of a scholar Gray was; he
said a very good one; and added that he thought he
could remember part of an exercise of his on the
subject of the freezing and thawing of words, taken
from the Spectator, the fragment is as follows:
..'pluviaeque loquaces
Descendere jugis, et garrulus ingruit imber.'
NORTON NICHOLLS. Reminiscences of Gray.
Bryant himself writes that Gray made these verșes
'when he was rather low in the fifth form.' The theme
however was not from the Spectator, but from the 254th
Tatler.
•
SECTION VIII.
COLLECTANEA AND CONJECTURES.
GRAY.
[MITFORD'S EXCERPTS. ADD. MSS. BRIT. MUS.
32,561; 32,562.]
G.
18
SECTION VIII.
COLLECTANEA AND CONJECTURES.
GWEDDI'R HWSMON ¹.
BY THE VICAR OF LLANDYFRY IN Q. ELIZABETH'S REIGN.
(Lluniwr daiar, Helpwr dynion.)
Literal Translation.
Thou former of the earth, Helper of Men
Author of the Seeds of the Earth fruitfull
Giver of rain, increaser of corn
Hear the prayer of an Husbandman earnest
I am going to till the ground
And to sow in this my provision of Corn
Without seeing again of it
If thou dost not give a blessing on it.
Lord, vain it is to plant
To sow with an even hand & harrow,
Except thou make it to sprout forth,
And give a blessing & increase to it.
There will not come a grain thro' the earth
Of all that I have of provision
If thou wilt not make it sprout
Grow out and increase
I do therefore beg earnestly,
1 (i.e. The Husbandman's Prayer.)
18-2
276
GRAY.
Oh! God! thy blessing upon my corn
That I may have from it
Means, like a Christian, me to maintain.
Open to me the Windows of Heaven
Rain down a blessing upon my Lands,
Feed the seed with the fat of the earth,
And give prosperity to my Crop.
Let not the Heavens turn to brass
Nor the earth to iron by too much heat
Let not the fields large fail
For our backwardness in serving thee.
Give by measure the former rain
In it's season & the latter rain
A temperate Season, heat moderate,
Blessing & prosperity upon thy People
Forbid the locust, forbid the Lindis,
Forbid the Mildew, that freckles the barley,
Forbid the Scorch & Wind & Lightning
Whch occasions to the Corn hurt.
Crown the year with thy goodness
Pour ye fatness of thy blessing on it
Cloath the meads all with Sheep,
And our Mountains with beasts.
Give food to the Children of Men
Give fodder to the beasts dumb
Give Wine and Oil in plenty
To satisfy thine inheritance
Give us a harvest fruitful
A blessing from the fields and ye Cornstocks
Seed from the garden and fruit from the orchard
Honey from ye rock and milk from the fold
And bless the Work of our Hands
Lord gracious now & ever
So we will bless thee too
Upon our knees, night & morn.
(From Mrs Newcome, the Bº of Landaff's lady.)
COLLECTANEA AND CONJECTURES. 277
1
GRAY MSS.¹ (IN MASON'S COLLECTION).
(Mitford's Excerpts, Add. MSS. Brit. Mus. 32,562, vol. IV.
p. 1 sq.)
Sir R: Walpole raisd himself by the H. of Com-
mons in defiance of the Chiefs of his own Party. Mr
Pelham never speaks well but when provokd. Sir
R: W did not understand foreign affairs; had no
friendship but with persons much below him. jealous
of his Power, drove all considerable Men from Court.
Ps authority not depending on the Ks favor, he cares
less who obtains it. Timid, scrupulous, proud, in-
communicative. K. lost his eldest son, but glad of
it. did not love his children when young, now does
as well as most fathers. Q. of Denmark died of a
rupture conceald' (like her mother) who said to her
Louisa remember I die by being giddy and obstinate
in make a Secret of my disorder. K. of Denmark,
tho' very fond of her, kept a Mistress, & gave her
great uneasiness. (She) told her family at parting, if
she was unhappy, they shª never know it. moving
letter, when dying.
¹ The authorities for Gray's anecdotes are Mason (Mª or M)
from Warburton (W-n); Horace Walpole (Mr W); and Dr
Heberden. Who T. is, I do not know, but he seems to have
been a friend of the Mrs Bonfoy who 'taught' Gray 'to pray'.
(Works, ed. Gosse, iii. 152, ii. 378 n.) Some of these stories
are already familiar to us through Horace Walpole.
2 Cf. Walpole's Reminiscences (Letters, vol. 1. p. cxxxi sq.
Cunningham.)
278
GRAY.
d
D. of Newcastle raisd a Troop in the Preston Reb:
and in which Mr P: behavd with bravery-betray'd
Lord Sunderland his first Patron to La Townshend
who was therefore much agst Sir R W making him
Secretary. betrays Townshend to Walpole when they
began to disagree. The first insists on his dismission
in order to a Reconciliation. King consents to take
Methuen, Queen and Sir R Walpole save the Duke.
on the Fall of Sir R. W. he deals with the opposition
to compass his ruin. D. of Argyle (disappointed) bid
La Ila tell R. W. that the Duke N: & Chancellor had
long leagued with himself and Granville agst him.
N: betrays Granv: to Chesterfield. Lord Gr. swore
he would be a Page of the Backstairs, rather than
quit the Court again. same to Willes "What is it
to me who are judges and Bishops? I make Kings
and Emperors." Early attempts to unite with R: W.
by Lord Hervey's means, but he refusd, being per-
suaded he had connections with Pretender. La Orfa
applied to by the Ps comes to Town, writes to K: who
dismisses his ministers. Gr. & Bath keep up connec-
tion with K: by Yarmouth and persuade not make
Pit (sic) Secret: at War. Resignation. Wilmington
mediates. La Granv: had offerd the great Seal to
Willes and the Seals to Ld Cholmondely. Privy Seal
to L: Carlyle. D. of Grafton went into the Closet
laughing & said, 'Sir, I am come to direct your
Majesty, who shall be yr Minister.' Scheme to govern
COLLECTANEA AND CONJECTURES.
279
by Ps Emily.
to Queen "Gad Madam I wish I
could have been that man you could love." if the 3
days Ministry¹ had lasted, Lord Harlington (sic) was
to impeach Lª Granv—
...Sir R W. astonishd to hear the K: shª behave
well at the Battle of Dett".
the Court & went to the
Sir James Lowther left
Prince on the act for
K: sunk his Father's
reducing interest to 4 per c.
will2. Pr: sd to Ld Donerayl 'My Lord, whoever
are my Ministers, I shall be King'
on the
Friday of the Rebels' march was for going to Ports-
mouth with his Wife & family. Supper on the
Princ: lyeing in, during the Siege of Carlisle at
which my Lord Stair was present Desert was the
Citadel of Carlisle, wch was pelted & taken with
Sugar-plums³. La Chesterfield never coughs & says,
nobody need.
Window tax in Scotland returnd not a Shilling.
Davidson Min of Naver, Braes of Angus and......
Parishes prosecuted for wilful Fire-raising havg made
bonfires on Dukes birthday. Coach tax first year
£1000. 2ª year, nothing. Lord Ila betrayd the
burrows (sic) trusted to him to his brother, in 1741...
1 1746, when Lords Bath and Granville tried in vain to
displace the Duke of Newcastle.
2 Walp. Rem. chap. vI. (Letters, 1. p. cxx sq., ed. Cunning-
ham.)
3 Walpole to Mann. (Letters, 1. p. 407, ed. Cunningham.)
280
GRAY.
before Sir R. Walpole's fall'. ...Murray and Cresset
disciples of Bolingbroke and his bequest to late Prince.
Income of the Pret before Rebellion 23000£ a year.
Ld B. advisd he shª resign to his Son. Bp of Nor-
wich finds the Pretender reading P. d'Orleans. Mur-
ray and Bp of Norwich. Ld H a cypher. La W. too
young to govern, & too old to be governd.…………….
Mr E: Ws German footman, because he could
not find one Mr Abbot, that his master wanted,
fetchd another Mr Abbot that he thought would do
as well— M™ Le Neves maid desird her Mistress pic-
ture and sd the Man (she knew) had bought the best
of Colors, & anybody could lay them on. G: Towns-
hend put under arrest for 5 hours.
Pope was extremely desirous that Mr Allen shª
invite Pty Blount to his House near Bath, wch he
accordingly did ;-some time after the Men went out
together on some Party or other, and at their return,
1
'But how will Walpole justify his fate?
He trusted Islay till it was too late.
Sir C. Hanbury Williams on 1741.
Horace Walpole notes 'Archibald Campbell, Earl of Islay,
brother of John Duke of Argyll, in conjunction with whom
(though then openly at variance) he was supposed to have
betrayed Sir R. W. and to have let the Opposition succeed in
the Scotch elections, which were trusted to his management.
It must be observed that Sir Robert Walpole would never
allow that he believed himself betrayed by Lord Islay.' [See
Cunningham's ed. of Letters of Walpole, 1. p. 135.]
2 Voltaire's Pucelle.
COLLECTANEA AND CONJECTURES.
281
found Mrs Blount had quarrelld violently with Mrs
Allen & was determind to leave the House. at part-
ing she took a little bawble, that hung to her Watch,
and gave to Miss Tucker¹ (then a Child whom War-
burton afterwards married) for (she said) she was the
only Person in the House, that had been civil to her.
She went away directly, and Pope with her, & from
that time there was a coldness between him & Allen.
Mrs Warburton remembers that she lay at that time
in the next room to Pope, & that every Mors between
6 & 7 o'clock, Mrs Blount usd to come into his
Chamber, when she heard them talk earnestly together
for a long time. & that when they came down to
breakfast, Mrs B: usd alys to ask him how he had
rested that night.
That after this, Mr A: & his family came a time
to Mr Popes at Twick'nam, & that he wrote a letter³
1 Niece of the Allens. "In 1745 Warburton married
Allen's favourite niece, Gertrude Tucker; he owed to Allen's
interest several steps in his ecclesiastical advancement; and
eventually, after the owner's death, he became the possessor
of Prior Park." [Courthope, Life of Pope, p. 338.]
2 Not so: Pope left her with the Allens at Bath, as appears
by a letter from her to him, 1743 (Pope's Works, Courthope, ix.
332)....In reply to this Pope writes 'I think it best still to
enclose to Mr Edwyn. I should not wonder if listeners at doors
should open letters.' (Ib. p. 335.)
3 Probably that dated 25 March 1744 (Ib. p. 336). It was
only Allen who came, in Pope's account of the matter. Pope
died about two months after (May 30).
282
GRAY.
•
to Mrs Blount excusing it, in which he spoke slight-
ingly of them. This letter she showd about & it was
told Mr Aª which much increasd the Quarrell.
That she obligd Mr Pope to insert in his Will that
article of the 300£' returnd to Mr A: and threatend
she wd not accept of what he had left her, unless he
did so (M: from Mr & Mrs W-n)
W-n has a long & extremely fine character of
the D of Marlboro' wrote by P. on the margin of his
Characters of Men², but severe beyond measure.
could remember only these two lines
In vain a Nation's wish, a Senate's cares;
God said-Let lust & madness be his heirs.
M.
*
*
*
*
*
*
1 £150.
"Allen accepted the legacy, which he gave to the
Hospital at Bath, observing that Pope was always a bad
accountant, and that, if to 150l. he had put a cipher more, he
had come nearer the truth." (Johnson.) Johnson repeats the
Warburtonian legend about Martha Blount's conduct in this
matter, but it is contradicted by her own statement to Spence,
that she tried to persuade Pope to omit this mention of Allen.
(Courthope, Life of Pope, p. 341.)
2 Gray was mistaken on this point. It was in the margin
of the 4th Epistle of the Essay on Man. A facsimile of the
page is given in Courthope's Pope, vol. III. (ad in.). The
design of the change was to make the well-known reference
to Marlborough in the passage beginning
'Mark by what wretched steps their glory grows,
From dirt and sea-weed as proud Venice rose'.
more direct and pointed. The lines, says Mr Courthope, were
evidently well known in Pope's own circle, since Warton says
COLLECTANEA AND CONJECTURES.
283
When he [Bolingbroke] came to die, he appeared
to expect nothing but annihilation (M:)
The De of Marlboro' seriously ownd & lamented
to Sir J: Vanbrugh, that he cª not part with half-a-
crown, without Pain (T: from Mrs Bonfoy)
He has been often seen during a Campain, &
receivd Officers in his Tent, mending his old gloves.
himself (Mr W.)
Bp Atterbury, while in France, lost much of the
friendship he had once had for Pope, and has been
heard to say, of him, that he was as crooked in mind
as in body. He ownd that he could bear to read no
other Historian of modern times, than Burnet; and
sd there were many things in him, that were commonly
lookd upon as Fictions, which to his own knowledge
were very true. (T: from Mr Morris¹)
that Pope in some verses which he suppressed made Marl-
borough lament the loss of his son
'In accents of a whining ghost.'
This is a reminiscence of the words
'Hear him, in accents of a pining ghost
Sigh, with his captive, for his offspring lost'
as the lines quoted by Gray are of the words
'In vain a nation's zeal, a senate's cares.
"Madness and Lust" (said God) be you his heirs;
O'er his vast heaps, in drunkenness of pride,
Go wallow, Harpies, and your prey divide.
(See Courthope's Pope, vol. 1. p. 87 sq.).
1 Perhaps the Mr Morrice spoken of by Walpole (Short
Notes of my Life, Letters, Cunningham, 1. p. lxx) as the
284
GRAY.
d
Atterbury, about the time of Q: Anne's death,
offerd himself to the Ministry to go in his Episcopal
ornaments to Charing-cross, & solemnly proclaim the
Pretender there (Mr W: from Sir R W). The late
Pr. of Wales had among his Papers, one given him by
La Bolingbroke containing a Scheme to govern with-
out Parliament by getting the revenues settled on
him for 5 years.
He had a very great influence over
the Pee for some time before he died. (Mr W. from
the E of E-t, who had the Paper a good while in his
own hands)
Ld Egmont was never seen to laugh but once, &
that was at Chess (the same).
The late Ld Hervey asked the D. of Cleveland
(an idiot) how his Ebony-dutchess did? He an-
swered him that an Ebony Lady was as good as an
Ivory Lord.
*
*
*
*
*
*
Tom Earle & others passing by H. Walpole's'
house at Whitehall, saw a great Smoke come out of
the Laundry below. "What the Devil" (says one of
Bishop's grandson. Walpole said of Burnet 'It is observable,
that none of his facts has been controverted, except his
relation of the birth of the Pretender, in which he was
certainly mistaken--but his very credulity is a proof of his
honesty.' (Walpoliana, 1. p. 22.) Perhaps he does but speak
after Atterbury.
1 The brother of Sir Robert—and afterwards Lord Walpole
of Woolterton.
COLLECTANEA AND CONJECTURES.
285
them) "does Horace's Wife ever wash her Linnen?”
'No, no' says Earle, 'but she takes in other People's.'
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Sr R W gave his brother Horace a little Horse for
his Son to ride upon. but the boy not being big
enough, or not caring to ride, the horse continued in
Richmond Park a year or two, & when the present
Ld Orford was grown up, of an age fit for it, Sir Rt
let him ride it. as soon as Mrs Walpole heard of it,
she sent directly to demand the price of the Horse'.
1 Here is the story as Hor. Walpole told it to Sir Horace
Mann, [the date is noticeable, Oct. 8, 1742, when Walpole and
Gray were estranged]: 'We expect some company next week
from Newmarket: here is at present only Mrs Keene and Pig-
wiggin-you never saw so agreeable a creature,-oh yes! you
have seen his parents! I must tell you a new story of them:
Sir Robert had given them a little horse for Pigwiggin, and
somebody had given them another; both which, to save the
charge of keeping, they sent to grass in Newpark [Richmond].
After three years that they had not used them, my Lord
Walpole let his own son ride them, while he was at the Park,
in the holidays. Do you know that the woman Horace sent
to Sir Robert and made him give her five guineas for the two
horses, because George had ridden them? I give you my
word this is fact.'
'Pigwiggin', says Walpole, is the 'eldest son of old Horace
Walpole.' 'He was afterwards the second Lord Walpole of
Woolterton, and in 1806, at the age of eighty-three, created
Earl of Orford. He died in 1809.' (Wright.)
The miserable and malicious gossip of Walpole is only
worth quoting, as showing how religiously Gray echoed him in
social scandal. This is certainly the weak side of the poet's
character.
286
GRAY.
Sir R: W: us'd to say, that no Man ought to be
first Minister, least he shd conceive too bad an opinion.
of Mankind.
Mrs Russell (by no means famd for her Wit) a
Grand-daughter of Oliver Cromwell was dressing the
Princess Amelia one 30th of January, when late Pr: of
W: came in to her apartment & said, this is a day
that every body ought to be at Church, & especially
you, Mrs Russell, shª be mortifying & doing penance
S (says she) do you think it is not mortification
enough for a descendant of Ol. Cromwell's to be here
pinning up your Sister's tail. (the same¹)
If Voltaire had stay'd longer in England, he would
have been hangd for forging bank notes (Mn from
Warburton)2
*
*
*
*
*
*
In the D. of Bedfords gallery at Woburn is a
Portrait of that Earl of Courteney, whom Q. Mary
would have married, & who was supposed to have
been in Love with Q. Elizabeth. He is a pale Man
with a wild look, & red hair & beard. he was long
¹ i.e. Horace Walpole.
2 This is followed by an anecdote which it is quite impossi-
ble to repeat, of Voltaire's conversation at Pope's table. The
authorities for it are 'T: from Ld Bathurst & Mn from
Warburton'. It confirms the statement of Johnson, who
probably heard the same story, that Voltaire 'talked with
so much grossness that Mrs Pope was driven from the
room.'
COLLECTANEA AND CONJECTURES.
287
in the Tower, & died at Padua, as was thought of
Poison.
The D of Bedford has a volume of the Lady Rus-
sells orig: letters. there are several to a Dr Fitzwil-
liams soon after her Husbands death with his answers,
wherein he tells her by way of Consolation that she
ought to be thankful that Providence has separated
her from a Man, who had dipped his hands in rebellion
agst his Sovereign;-a letter from her at the Revolu-
tion to the same Clergyman, persuading him to take
the oaths, tho' to no Purpose, for he gave up his Pre-
ferments-a very elegant one to Tillotson, intreating
him to accept the Archb. of Canterbury (this will be
publishd in his Life wrote by Birch) one of Q. Mary
to Lay Russell just before the battle of the Boyne
expressing great desire to have the matter soon de-
cided &c.
In the same gallery at Woburn are Portraits of
two young Men. behind one of them is seen a
Woman in a Labyrinth, behind the other a Man gnawd
by Serpents & Monsters. In the family they are
calld by the names of Polydore & Castalio, & said to
have been Twin Sons of the 2d Earl of Bedford, they
add that the youngest was married. (Mr W: from
the D: & Das of Bedford)
When Pope was senseless & dying, Ld Boling-
broke stood by him, & broke into violent Exclama-
tions & blasphemies agst Heaven, for suffering its
288
GRAY.
noblest, divinest Work to be reduced to such a
wretched Condition. (Mr W from Mr Spence')
After his death, & the discovery made of the
Patriot Prince, printed & hid in a Cupboard, Ld B:
made it his business to abuse & expose him. Among
other things he said, that the story of stealing &
printing Popes letters, was all a juggle, and that he
had seen them long ago wrote out fair in a book, and
ready for the Press. (Dr Heb? & M² from W-n)
1 Spence appears to have toned down this anecdote at
another time. Spence says that Bolingbroke was greatly
affected when Pope spoke of the suffering he experienced at
not being able to think, and wept over him, exclaiming several
times, interrupted by sobs, "O great God, what is man?"
(Courthope, Life of Pope, p. 344, referring to Spence's Anec-
dotes p. 320.)
2 'Bolingbroke had instructed Pope, in 1738, to have
printed for him a few copies of "Letters on the Spirit of
Patriotism, On the Idea of a Patriot King, and On the State
of Parties." After Pope's death, Wright, a printer, brought
and gave over to Bolingbroke an impression of fifteen hundred
copies which the poet had ordered him to retain secretly.
Pope had, according to Bolingbroke's account, "taken upon
him further to divide the subject, and to alter or omit passages
according to his own fancy." (Life of Pope, pp. 346, 347.)
How Curll was tricked by Pope into publishing his corre-
spondence is told by Mr Courthope at length in the Life of
Pope, pp. 283-290. .
COLLECTANEA AND CONJECTURES.
289
CONJECTURAL READINGS ON SHAKESPEARE,
Theobald, ed. 1740.
The following readings are annotated with the help of
the Cambridge Shakespeare, because it seems probable that
Warburton derived some of the conjectures he put forward
as his own, from Gray. Warburton said of Hanmer,
'Having a number of my Conjectures before him, he took
as many as he saw fit to work upon, and by changing
them to something he thought synonimous or similar, he
made them his own.' He had himself, I believe, already
dealt with Gray in the same fashion, and perhaps accused
Hanmer of stealing that from him, which he had himself
stolen from another. The slight differences between
Gray's suggestions and Warburton's prevent our sup-
posing that Gray was simply transcribing his annotations;
to say nothing of the fact that he had no high opinion of
the man whom in a letter to John Chute (the proper date
of which is July 1742) he calls 'a very impudent fellow.'
Again, one of these conjectures, that on Merry Wives v. 5.
49, is certainly Gray's; at least it finds no place in the
Cambridge Shakespeare, and may be supposed to be quite
new to the world. These notes perhaps belong to 1742.
The Oxford edition of Shakespeare (Hanmer's) was first
published in 1744; that of Warburton (Pope and War-
burton) in 1747.
P. 12. In Ant: Pegafetta's voyage round the
World with Magellan, he says the Giants of Pata-
gonia call the chief of the Demons Setabos (sic) and
the inferior one Cheleule. see Ramusio 1. 353.
[See Dr Aldis Wright's note, Tempest, I. 2. 350 (Clar.
Press Series).]
G.
19
290
GRAY.
P. 31. This ancient morsel, this Sir Prudence....
1. moral.
[Act II. 1. 277. Warburton also conj. Moral.]
P. 54. Harmonious charmingly………………..l. charming
lays.
[Iv. 118, 119
Fer.
This is a most majestic vision, and
Harmonious charmingly.
charming lay Hanmer. charming lays Warburton.]
P. 72. Your words I'll catch......l. yours would
[I catch].
[M. N. D. 1. 1. 185, 186
Sickness is catching: O, were favour so
Your words I catch fair Hermia, ere I go
So QQ and F₁. Ide F₂FF. Yours would I Hanmer.]
P. 86. The middle summer spring…………..1. that.
[M. N. D. II. 1. 82
And never, since the middle summer's spring
Met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead &c.
that Hanmer (Warburton).]
P. 87. The human mortals want their Winter
here......1. harried i.e. celebrated.
[M. N. D. II. 1. 101.
Winters heryed. Warburton.]
P. 114. Opening on Neptune with fair blessed
beams......1. far-blessing.
[M. N. D. III. 2. 392.
far-blessing Hanmer (Warburton).]
COLLECTANEA AND CONJECTURES.
291
P. 128. That is hot ice, and wondrous strange
snow.
1. a......shew.
[M. N. D. v. 1. 59.
a wondrous strange shew. Warburton.]
one......l.
P. 238. This Punk is one…………….l. Pink.
[Merry Wives II. 2. 123
This Punk is one of Cupid's carriers.
pink Warburton.]
P. 245. Try'd game......l. cry'd aim!
[Wives II. Sc. 3. 79, 80
I will bring thee where Mistress Anne Page is, at a
farm-house a feasting; and thou shalt woo her. Cried
game (Q1 Q2) said I well?
Cried-Game Ff.Q3. Try'd game Theobald. Cry aim.
Warburton. Cried I aim? Dyce (Douce conj.) and modern
editors generally.]
P. 281. Raise up the organs.……....l. rein.
[Wives v. 5. 47 sq.
.....Go you, and where you find a maid
That, ere she sleep, has thrice her prayers said,
Raise up the organs of her fantasy;
Sleep she as sound as careless infancy.]
P. 299.
Leavend choice......1. levelld.
[Measure for Measure 1. 1. 52
We have with a leaven'd and prepared choice
Proceeded to you.
prepar'd and level'd Warburton.]
19—2
SECTION IX.
LATIN POEMS. GRAY.
'
SECTION IX.
LATIN POEMS.
1. FROM THE GREEK.
Fertur Aristophanis fatorum arcana rogatum
tempore sementis, rusticus isse domum;
(Sideris an felix tempestas, messis an esset
magna, vel agricolam falleret ustus ager)
Ille supercilio adducto multâ anxius arte
disposuit sortes, consuluitque Deos:
Tum responsa dedit: vernus suffecerit imber
Si modo, nec fruges læserit herba nocens;
Si mala robigo, si grando pepercerit arvis,
attulerit subitum pigra nec aura gelu;
Caprea si nulla, aut culmos attriverit hædus;
nec fuerit cælum, nec tibi terra gravis:
Largas polliceor segetes, atque horrea plena.
tu tamen, ut¹ veniat sera locusta, cave.
[Pembroke Common Place Bks.]
2. [Imitated from the Greek] of Bassus.
Non ego, cum malus urit amor, Iovis induor arma
nil mihi cum plumis, nil mihi cum corio:
Non ego per tegulas mittor liquefactus in aurum
promo duos obolos: sponte venit Danaë.
1 Sic.
Ib.
296
GRAY.
3. Oh ubi colles, ubi Fæsularum
Palladis curæ, plaga, Formiæq
Prodigæ florum, Genuæque amantes
Littora soles?
Abstulit campos oculis amœnos
Montium quantus, nemorumque tractus!
Quot natant eheu medii profundo
Marmore fluctus!
Pemb. Common Place Bks. 1. 381.
Not dated, but obviously written after his
return from the continent in 1741¹.
4. On p. 83 vol. III. of Mitford's Mss. is a Ms. Poem
which has no other description or designation, but which
seems, from the place in which it is found, to be Gray's.
Compare the English Poem of West on p. 109. The Latin
may also be West's; it is obviously in the rough.
Gratia magna tuæ fraudi quod Pectore, Nice,
Non gerit hoc ultra regna superba Venus:
Respirare licet tandem misero mihi, tandem
Appensa in sacro pariete vincla vides
Numquam
uror; liber sum: crede doloso
Suppositus Cineri non latet ullus amor.
Præsto non ira est, cujus se celet amictu;
Sera, sed et rediit vix mihi nota quies.
Nec nomen si forte tuum pervenit ad aures
Pallor et alternus surgit in ore rubor,
Corda nec incerto trepidant salientia pulsu
Irrigat aut furtim lacryma fusa genas.
Non tua per somnos crebra obversatur imago
Non animo ante omnes tu mihi mane redis.
Te loquor; at tener ille silet sub pectore sensus
Nec quod ades lætor; nec quod abes doleo.
1 It is an echo of the stanza beginning 'Horridos tractus
&c.' prefixed to letter to West from Genoa Nov. 21, 1739.
LATIN POEMS.
297
Rivalem tacitus patior; securus eburnea
Quin ego colla simul laudo, manusque tuas.
Longa nec indignans refero perjuria: prodis
Obvia, mens certâ sede colorque manet.
Quin faciles risus, vultusque assume superbos;
Spernentem sperno, nec cupio facilem.
Nescit ocellorum, ut quondam penetrabile fulgur
Ah! nimium molles pectoris ire vias;
Nec tam dulce rubent illi, mea cura, labelli¹
juris ut immemores imperiique sui.
Lætari possum, possum et mærere; sed a te
gaudia nec veniunt, nec veniunt lacrymæ.
Tecum etiam nimii Soles, & frigora lædunt;
Vere suo sine te prata nemusque placent.
Pulchra quidem facies, sed non tua sola videtur
(forsitan offendam rusticitate mea)
Sed quiddam invenies culpandum, qua mihi nuper
parte est præcipuè visus inesse lepor.
Cum primùm evulsi fatale ex vulnere telum
Credebam, ut fatear, viscera et ipsa trahi;
Luctanti rupere (pudor) suspiria pectus,
tinxit et invitas plurima gutta genas.
Aspera difficilem vicit Medicina furorem;
ille dolor sævus, sed magis asper Amor
Aucupis insidiis, et arundine capta tenaci
sic multo nisu vincula rupit avis;
Plumarum laceros reparat breve tempus honores
nec cadit in similes cautior inde dolos.
Tu tamen usque illam tibi fingis vivere flammam
Et male me veteres dissimulare faces.
Quod libertatem ostento, fractamq: Catenam,
tantus et insolitæ pacis in ore sonus,
Præteritos meminisse jubet natura dolores;
quæ quisque est passus, dulce pericla loqui.
Enumerat miles sua vulnera; navita ventos
Narrat & incauta saxa inimica rati;
1 Sic.
298
GRAY.
Sic ego servitium durum, & tua regna. laborant
Nice nullam a te quærere dicta fidem:
Nil nimium hæc mandata student tibi velle placere,
Nec rogito quali perlegis ore notas.
5. After some Latin Alcaics signed 'Antrobus' comes
in the 3rd volume of Mitford's Excerpts a Latin translation
of Philips's 'Splendid Shilling,' to which he does not assign
the authorship.
Oh! nimium felix! cura et discordibus armis
Cui procul exiguâ non deficiente Crumenâ
Splendet adhuc Solidus. non illum torquet egentem
Ostriferi Cantus, non allae¹ dira Cupido.
Ille inter Socios gelido sub vespere notum
Tendit iter, genialis ubi se Curia pandit
Juniperive Lares 2: hic Nympham, si qua protervo
Lumine pertentat Sensus, uritque videndo
(Sive Chloe, seu Phillis amanti gratior audit)
Alternis recolit cyathis, tibi, virgo, salutem
Lætitiamque optans, et amoris mutua vincla
Nec minus interea fumique jocique benignus
Non lateri parcit, si quando argutior alter
Fabellam orditur lepidam, vel Scommata spargit
Ambiguosve Sales, festiva Crepundia vocum.
*
*-
6. "The following Poem is written with Ink by Mason
over Gray's Pencil, which was very faint, in order ap-
parently to preserve it. N.B. Gray's writing perceptible
below the Ink-letters." (Mitford.)
1 Explained by a reference to the original
'he nor hears with pain
New oysters cried, nor sighs for cheerful ale.'
2 To Juniper's Magpie or Town-hall repairs.' Two ale-
houses at Oxford.
LATIN POEMS.
299
Vah, tenero quodcunque potest obsistere amori
Exulet ex animo & Delia cara meo
Ne timor infelix, mala ne fastidia sancti
Gaudia distineant, Delia cara, tori
Quid si nulla olim regalia munera nostras
Ornarunt titulis divitiisque domos?
At nobis proprioque et honesto lumine claris
Ex meritis ortum nobile nomen erit.
Dum tanto colimus virtutem ardore volabit
Gloria dulce sonans nostra per ora virum.
Interea nostram mirata Superbia famam
Talis splendoris tantum habuisse gemet
Quid si Diva potens nummorum divitis auri
Haud largo nostras proluit imbre Lares?
At nobis erit ex humili bona copia sensu
Vitaque non luxu splendida, læta tamen
Sic horas per quisque suas revolubilis annus
Nostra quod explerit vota precesque dabit
Nam duce natura peragemus, Delia, vitam
Vita ea vitalis dicier una potest.
Et juvenes et amore senes florebimus æquo
Et vitæ una alacres conficiemus iter
Nostros interea ornabit pax alma Penates
Iucundum Pueri pignora cara torum
Oh quanta aspicerem lepidam dulcedine gentem
Luderet ad patrium dum pia turba genu
Maternos vultu ridenti effingere vultus
Balbo maternos ore referre sonos
Iamque senescentes cum nos insederit ætas
Nostraque se credat surripuisse bona
In vestris tu rursus amabere pulchra puellis
Rursus ego in pueris Delia amabo meis.
"N.B. The above is a free translation of Gilbert
Cowper's Ode, 'Away let nought to Love displeasing.'
See Essay on Taste p. 97.” (Mitford.)
300
GRAY.
We may conjecture that it is an early effort. Nothing
but immaturity can account for some peculiarities in it;
'vestris' for example in the last line but one.
7. EARLY ALCAICS OF GRAY.
O Tecta, Mentis dulcis amor meæ
Oh! summa Sancti Relligio loci
Quæ me laborantem perurit
Sacra fames, et amicus ardor?
Præceps volentem quo rapit impetus!
Ad limen altum tendo avidas manus
Dum lingua frustratur precantem
Cor tacitum mihi clamat intus
Illic loquacem composuit domum
Laresque parvos Numinis in fidem
Præsentioris credit ales
Veris amans, vetus Hospes aræ:
Beatus ales! sed magis incola
Quem vidit ædes ante [focos Dei ¹]
Cultu ministrantem perenni
Quique sacrâ requievit umbrâ
Bis terque felix qui melius Deo
Templum sub imo Pectore consecrat
Huic vivida affulget voluptas
Et liquidi sine nube Soles,
Integriori fonte fluentia
Mentem piorum gaudia recreant
Quod si datur lugere, quiddam
Dulce ferens venit ipse luctus
Virtute virtus pulchrior evenit
Nascente semper, semper amabili
Eterna crescit, seque in horas
Subjiciet per aperta cæli.
1 [An erasure here, he seems certainly to have written
'focos'.]
LATIN POEMS.
301
Me, dedicatum qui Genus, et tuæ
Iudææ habenas tempero, Regio
Madens olivo, dexter audi
Nec libeat repulisse¹ Regem
Lux una Sanctis quæ foribus dedit
Hærere, amatæ limine Ianuæ
Lux inter extremas Columnas
Candidius mihi ridet una
Quam Seculorum Secula Barbaros
Inter Penates sub trabe gemmea
Fastus tyrannorum brevesque
Delicias et amoena Regni ;
Feliciori flumine Copiam
Pronâque dextrâ Cælicolum Pater
Elargietur, porrigetque
Divitias diuturniores.
The above is the 84th Psalm. (Mitford.)
[N.B. The above ode is written in Mr Gray's Hand;
but evidently when young, the hand being unformd and
like a schoolboys, tho' very plain & careful. The Leaf on
which it is written, apparently torn from a Copy-book…………..
Some of the expressions resemble those in the Gr. Char-
treuse Ode. (Mitford.)]
1 Sic.
INDEX.
Abelard, 209
Abercorn, 262
Achilles, 255
Addison's Cato, 157
Agnano, lake of, 237
'Agrippina,' Gray's; part of
first scene sent to West, and
West's criticism thereon,
157 sq., 160; 'laid to sleep,'
163
Agrippina Minor, sepulchre
of, 246
Albani, Card., 56
Alexandre, M., 148 and n.
Allen, 280, 281, 282 and ns.;
Mrs Allen, 281
Almanzor,' 80 n.
Alnwick, 265
Altieri, Card., 50
Amiens, 204
Amyand, Miss, (Mrs Ashton),
171 n.
Anguier, 205
Annan, 260
Anne, Czarina, 51 and n.
Anstey, 20
Antoninus, wall of, 262
Appia, Via, 223, 227 sq.
Arco Felice, the, 249
Argyle, Duke of, 278
Aristotle, 154
Arpino, 233
Ashton. 6
'Plato,' 2, 81 n.
n.;
'Thomas of Lancashire,'
80;
Fellow of King's &c.,
3 and n.; Tutor to Lord
Plymouth, 4 n., 102; con-
nected with the quarrel be-
tween Gray and Walpole,
8-10; wrote against Con-
yers Middleton, 13 and n.;
Walpole's Poetical Epistle
to Ashton, 13; 'in love,'
125; ordination, 3 n. 1, 149
n., 163 n. 2; preferment,
170 n.; marriage, ib.;
verses on the death of West,
171; death at Bath, 1775,
p. 13
Atterbury, Bp, 283, 284
Aulus Gellius, 166
Aversa (Atella), 231
Baiæ, bay of, 241
Baiæ, castle of, 246
Bamborough Castle, 264
Banks, sculptor, 175
Barbaro, M., 241 and n.
Barnard, Dr, offers Ashton an
appointment at Eton, 102
Bassus, imitation from the
Greek of, 295
Bath, Lord, 278
Bedford, D. of, 286, 287
304
INDEX.
Belford, 264
Benedict XIV., Pope, 50 n.
Benedictines, English, 206
Benevoli, 177
Bentley, Dr, 78
Bergerac, Cyrano de-'your
conceptions of Paradise a
little upon the Bergerac,'
162
Berriman, Dr, 72, 75
Berwick, 264
Beverley, 190
Blakeway, 190 and n. 1
Blount, Martha, 280, 281, 282
and notes
Blundel, 'Nanny,' 125
Boileau, 49 and n., 155
Bolingbroke, Lord, 140, 280,
283, 284, 287; 288 and notes
Bonnington-Linn, 261
Books, Dialogue of, 154-156
Bordone, Sebastian, 207
Bordone, Paris, 222
Borgonone, 218
Borrowstonness, 262
Boscawen, Admiral, 200 n.
Bougeant, le Père, 129 and n.
Brockett, 185, 189, 190 n. 2,
191
Brooke. His 'Gustavus Vasa'
(prohibited), 43 and n.; 123,
129, 130; 'Fool of Quality,'
43 n.
Broschi, (Carlo), see Farinelli
Broukhusius, his blunders on
Propertius, 164; 166
Brown's estimate, 22
Brown, Lady, 181
Brown, Master of Pembroke,
says of Gray 'he never
spoke out,' 21
Bruno, St, Life of, painted
by Le Sueur, 208
Bruyère (la), 121 and n., 155,
271
Bryant, letter of Reminis-
cences, 83 n.; 159 n.; 272
Buonarotti, see Michael An-
gelo
Burnet, Bp, West's grand-
father, 15; allusion to his
History of his own Time,
69; Atterbury on, 283
Burnet, Sir Thomas, judge,
West's uncle, 142 and n.,
172; Ashton's verses attri-
buted to him, 172
Bussy-Rabutin, 155
Bute, Lord, 185
Byng's loss of Minorca, 23
Cæsar, quoted, 213 sq.; bust
of, 207
Camerelle, Cento, 247
Campagna, 222
Campana, Via, 249
Cangiari, 234
Capua, 230
Caravaggio, 234
Carlisle, Lord, 278
Carlisle, siege of, 279
Carnarvon, James Brydges,
Marq. of, marries Miss
Margaret Nichol, 180
Caroline, Queen, 89 n.; death,
108; West's Monody on her
death, 110-114; 278, 279
Cartagena, 178 and n.
Caryl, appeals against admis-
sion of Trant as Proctor, 66
Castalio, 182
Castalio and Polydore, 287
'Cato,' Addison's, model for
the English stage, 157
Catullus, quoted, 124, 167;
translated, 167, 168
Cenis, Mt, 133
Cento Camerelle, the, 247
Certosa, the, 232
Chalons-sur-Saône, 209
INDEX.
305
Charles V., portrait by Titian,
219
Chartreux, at Paris, 208
Cheleule, 289
Chesterfield, Lord, (to his
Godson), 94 n.; ' never
coughs,' 279
Chétardie, Marquis de la, 51
and n.
Cheyne, 155
Chiaia, the, 235, 258 sq.
Chiron, 255
Cholmondeley, Lord, 278
Chute, Chaloner, Speaker; re-
cumbent figure by Banks,
175
Chute, John, account of, by
Mr Chaloner W. Chute, 175,
176
Cibo, 49
Cicero quoted, 143, 144 n.
Claude, 207
Claudian, part of 2nd Georgic
like, 136
Claudius, 211, 212
Clavering, Mrs, 199
Clement XII., Pope, 50 n.
Cleveland, Duke of, 284
Cleveland, novel by the Abbé
Prévost d'Exiles, 135 and n.
Clouet, 19
Cobham, Lord, 195, 197 n.
Cobham, Lady, 195, 197 and
n., 198-200
Cocchi, Dr, 177 and n.
Coke upon Littleton, a bulky
volume, 144 and n. 2
Colascione, sort of lute, 258
Coldstream, 264
Cole, quoted, 11, 94 n.
Compton (see Wilmington)
Conway, Hon. H. S., 6, 39, 40
and n.
Conway, Lord, 40 and n., 44;
fall from his horse, 67; 'one
of the prettiest persons a-
bout town,' 130
Cornhill, 264
Correggio, 205, 218
Corr-house-Linn, 261
Corsini, 49, 50, 56
Cortona, Pietro di, 205, 207
Coscia, 50
Cough, West's Latin verses on
his, 158; 'the first who ever
made a Muse of a cough,'
159
Courtenay, Earl of, portrait
at Woburn, 286, 287
Coustou, 205
Coventry, Henry, 81 n.
Cowper's, Gilbert, 'Away let
nought &c.' transl., 299
Coypel, 205
Coysevox, 205
Crane, Mr, the 'Apothecary,'
199
Crébillon, (the younger), Gray's
liking for, 20, 160; 'Letters,'
129 and n.
Cromwell (Henry), correspon-
dent of Pope, 164
Cromwell, Oliver, 286
Cuma (Cuma), 243, 248
Curll, 137 and n., 288 n.
Czarina, Anne, 51 and n.
Dalhousie, 263
Dalkeith, 263
Damer, Mrs, 40 n.
Davidson, Mr, of Nanver, 279
d'Elbœuf, Prince, 253
Denmark, K. and Q. of, 277
'De Principiis Cogitandi'-
Gray's, 139 n.
Despauterius, 38 and n.
Dettingen, battle of, 279
Diana's temple, 246
Dick, Mrs, 176
Dijon, 208
G.
20
306
INDEX.
Dodd, 94 and n. (perhaps
'Tydeus')
Dolci, Carlo, 207
Doneraile, Lord, 279
Douza, James, Dutch poet
compared by Glover to So-
phocles, 136
Drum, 263
Drumlanrig, 261
Drusus, 211
Dryburgh, 264
Dryden, 162
Duck, Stephen, the Thresher-
poet, 89 and n., 111
Duclos, historian, 182 n.
Duddiston, 263
Dumay, 271
Dumbarton, 262
Duménil, actress, 43, 44 and n.
Dumfries, 260
Dunbar, Lord, 52
Dunciad, 86 n., 93 and n.;
4th Book or 'New Dunciad,'
156 and n., 159
Duns Scotus, 93
Durham, 264
Earle, Tom, 284, 285
Edgar the Peaceable, 134
Edinburgh, 262, 263
Egmont, Lord, 284
Elizabeth, Queen, 286
Emily, Princess, 279
Ennius, 161;
Erskine, Sir Henry, 185
Euripides (fragm.), quoted,139
and n.
Evan Evan, 190
Ewer, 72, 76
Falkirk, 262
Farinelli, 65 and n. 2
Fenton, Mr, 46
Fielding, 20; 'Joseph Andrews'
criticised by Gray, 159, 160;
162
Fitzroy, Col., Lord George
Sackville's letter to, 200
Fitzwilliams, Dr, 287
Fleurs, 264
Fleury, Cardinal, name given
to Sir R. Walpole, 115 and
n.
Florence, 140, 216 sq.
Fondi, 229
Fontana, 260
Foulis, Mr, 262
Fourvière, Mt, 131, 132
Frate, Il, 218
Frederic, Prince of Wales-
Marriage, Epithalamia, &c.,
70 and n. 2, 71; 277, 279,
284
Frederick the Great, 199 and
n. 1
Gaëta, Bay of, 229
Garigliano (Liris), 230
Garrick, Gray and Walpole
depreciate, 20
Geneva, 213 sq.
George II., 38 n., 277, 279
George III., christening of, 38
and n.
Gibbon, on the 'Alliance of
Education and Govern-
ment,' 29
Gibbons, Grinling, carvings
at Hamilton Palace, 261
Gibson, Bp of London, con-
troversy with Whitefield,
131 n.
Gigante, temple del, 249 sq.
Giordano, Luca, 207, 218
Giorgone, 222
Girardon, 206, 207
Glasgow, 261, 262
'Glaucias,' West's name for
Gray, 133 and n.
INDEX.
307
Glover, Richard, his 'Leon-
idas,' 94, 95; his 'London,'
136; nephew of Lord Chan-
cellor West, presents his
portrait to Inner Temple
Hall, ib. n.
Goethe, 26 n.
Goldsmith, Walpole's judg-
ment of, 21
Gotto, Cardinal, 50
Graham, Rev. Mr, 260
Graham's Dyke, 262
Granville, Lord, 278, 279
Gray, quarrel with Walpole
and reconciliation, 7-12,
151 n.; Thomas of London,'
80; 'Orosmades,' ib. n. 1,
138; 'Glaucias,' 133 and
n.; goes to Venice with
Chute and Whithed, 151 n.
Gray, Mrs, 4, 5, 60 n. 4
Greco, Torre del, 252
Green, Edward, 73, 75, 76
Gresset, 26
Grotta, at Naples, 235, 236,
237
Grotta del Cane, 238
Grotta, Sibyl's, 242, 243, 250
Guercino, 205, 207, 222, 224
Guido, 205, 206, 207, 224, 225,
234, 235
Gweddi'r Hwsmon, 275
Haddock, Admiral, 53 and n.,
136
Haddock, Commissioner, 177
Halsey, Edmund, 197 n.
Handel, 136
Hanmer, Sir Thomas, 289,
290
Hawley, defeat at Falkirk, 23
Hawthornden, 263
Hearne, 'Time and Thomas,'
108
Helvetii, 211, 213
Herculaneum, 253 sq.
Herodotus, 134 and n.
Hervey, Lord, 278, 284
Hinchinbroke, 191 n.
Hockrell (Hockeril), 94 and n.
Holy Island, 264
Holyrood House, 262, 263
Hopton-House, 262
Horace, West's translation
(of Carm. 1. 5), 101; lost
parody by West of Carm. IV.
4, p. 83 n.; quotations from,
82, 126, 129; part of 2 Geor-
gic like Horace, 136; 242
Hyndford, Earl of, 261
Inarime, 248
Invalides, the, 205
Ischia, 248
Islay, Lord, 278, 279, 280 n. 1
James II., 206
Johnson and Gray, 20; Wal-
pole's judgment of Johnson,
ib.; Johnson on Voltaire,
286 n.
Juvenal, part of 2 Georgic like,
136
Kelso, 264
Lanark, 261
Lane, Mr, 72, 73, 75, 76
Lanfranco, 235
Le Brun, 206
Lekenfield, 190
Lewis, Hon. Mrs, Preface ix;
her kindness to Mrs G., 57
Liddel, 177
Llandyfry, Vicar of, 275
Locke, 75, 155
Lomond, Loch, 262; Ben Lo-
mond, ib.
Long Story, 195, 197
Lorraine, see Claude
308
INDEX.
Louis Onze, (of Duclos), 182
and n., 183
Lowell, Mr, quoted, 25
Lowther, Sir James, 190 n. 2,
279
Lubhard, 150
Lucrine lake, 242
Luther, so-called portrait of,
by Giorgone, 222
Luxembourg, the, 205
Lyons, 131, 211, 212
Lyttelton, Charles, 102
Macaulay, quoted, 22
Mackenzie's 'Man of Feeling,'
144 n.
Magellan, 289
'Man of Feeling,' Mackenzie's,
144 n.
Mann, Galfridus, 176 and n.
Mann, Horace, 175, 176
Mansart, 205
Maratti, Carlo, 221
Marcellus (Nonius), 166 n. 2
Mare Mortuum, 247
Marino, San, 224
Marivaux, Gray's liking for,
160
Marlborough, D. of, 282 and
n. 2, 283
Martial (transl. from), 78;
part of 2 Georg. like, 136;
quoted, 229
Mary Magdalene, West's ode
to, 83, 84
Mary, Queen, daughter of
Henry VIII., 286
Mary, Queen, daughter of
James II., 287
Mason, saying of his attributed
to Gray, 33 n.; dictates
note, 190; 270, 277 n.
Matthias quoted, 21
Melrose, 263
Menage, 271
Mercato di Sabbato, 248
Mercurio, Truglio di, 246
Merlin's Cave, 89 n., 111
Methuen, Lord, 278
Meux, 190
Michael Angelo, 233
Middleton, Conyers, 13, 78, 135
Milton (paraphrased), 116; 162
Minden, battle of, 199 n. 3
Minotaur, the, 256
Minturnæ, 230
Miseno, 232, 247
Mitford, Preface; designs to
collect West's Remains, &c.,
13
Mola (Formia), 229, 230
Montagu, George, 46 and n.,
48, 81 n.
Montorsoli, Frà Giovanni di,
259
More, Henry, 155
Morpeth, 264
Morrice, Mr, 283 and n.
Munatius Plancus, 211; monu-
ment, ib. and 230
Murray, 52, 280
Naples, 231 sq., 257 sq.
Netherby, 260
Nevis, Ben, 262
Newbattle, 263
Newcastle, 264
Newcastle, Duke of, 278
Newcome, Mrs, wife of Rich-
ard, Bp of Llandaff from
1755 to 1761, p. 276
Newton, 71
Nichol, Margaret, 180; engaged
to be married to Mr Whithed,
180; marries Marq. of Car-
narvon, 181
Nicholls, Norton, 121 n., 270
n., 272
Nisida, 240, 241
Nonius Marcellus, 166 n. 2
INDEX.
309
Norham Castle, 264
Norwich, Bp of, 280
Notre Dame, 205
Nuovo, M., 241 and n.
'Orosmades,' Gray, 80 n. 1
Ossian, Macpherson's, 33
Ovid; West compares him with
Tibullus, 87; passage in
Georg. 2 like Ovid, 138
Palais Royal, 204
Pannini, Paolo, 207
Paris, described, 39, 40; 204 sq.
Parmeggiano, 219, 220
Partus Virginis, Church of the,
259
Pastor Fido (Guarini's), lost
version of a scene in, 117
'Pausanias,' West's, 139 and
n., 150, 151
Pausilipo, 232, 235, 259
Pegafetta, 289
Pelham, Rt. Hon. Henry, 136
and n.
Percy, Thos., 189, 190
Perrière, Baron de la......or
Peyrière, 196
Perrière, Mad. de la (Miss
Speed), 195-200
Petronius, 240
Philip II., portrait by Titian,
220
Philips', John, 'Splendid Shil-
ling,' version of, 298
Phrygians not Phoenicians the
oldest nation, 134 n.
Piazza, Walpole's 'Italian,'72
Piozzi, Mrs, 272
Piperno, chaussure 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 Ashton
Plymouth, Lord, Preface ix,
4 n. 1, 45, 54 and n.
Polleri, 178, 179
Polydore and Castalio, picture
at Woburn, 287
'Polyglot,' Mr, (West), 108
Pope'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
Prévost (d'Exiles) Abbé, 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 n.
Psammetichus, his experi-
ment, 134 n.
310
INDEX.
Puffendorff, 105; (nickname),
125
Pulteney (Lord Bath), 278,
279 n.
Puntormo, 234
Quakers, Ashton imitates their
style, 130 sq. and n.
Racine, 157
Ramusio, 289
Raphael, 205, 220, 222
Reed, Isaac, his account of
the quarrel between Gray
and Walpole, 8, 9
Reggio, 58 n. 2, 150, 151 n.
Rheims, 131 sq.
Rhône and Saône, junction of,
131
Ricciarelli, 207
Richelieu, Card., 204
Rizzio, 263
Roberts, Mr, of the Pell office,
his account of the quarrel
between Gray and Walpole,
8, 9
Rogers, account of Gray, 19
Ronsard, 157
Rosalba, 180
Rose Castle, 260
Rosso, Il, 219
Rosslin, 263
Rousseau, 25
Rubens, 205, 218, 222
Russell, Lady, 287
Russell, Mrs, 286
Sackville, Lord George, 199
and n. 2
Salvator Rosa, 218
Salviati, 212
Sandwich, Lord, 190 n. 2
Sannazarius, 259
Santa Croce, Girolamo, 259
Saône, junction with Rhône
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
Sévigné, 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 Roderick Random,
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
Statius, Gray's translation,
69, 70; Statius compared
with Georg. 2, p.138; 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
Symphony's affair, 54, 55
Tacitus. West finds
'Pan-
nonian sedition' a little
tedious, 156; 157, 158, 159;
translates speech of Ger-
manicus, 163
Tatler, 272
Taverner, Mr, of Woodeaton,
67
Terracina, 228, 229
Thermæ of Nero, 244
Theseus, 256
Thistlethwayte. See Whithed
Tibullus, West's favourite
elegiac poet, 87; West's
paraphrase 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;
'Tunbrigiana,' 133
Tunbridge Wells,
Walpole at, 117
Turin, 133
Turner, Professor, 184
Horace
Tweedmouth, 264
Twickenham, 281
'Tydeus,' 80, perhaps Dodd,
94 n. 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
Vernil, 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 n.;
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, Sir R., ('Cardinal
Fleury'), 115 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, Richard, sen., Lord
Chancellor of Ireland, 15;
early death, ib. and 16;
'Damon to Philomel,' 172
West, Richard, friend of Gray,
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 1. 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 gratæ,'
118; Imitation of Horace
Epist. 1. 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 May,
165, 166; Translation from
Catullus, 167, 168
Westminster critics at Christ-
church amputate West's
verses, 71
Whalley, (Whaley), 94 and n.
Whit(e)field'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
Zoccolanti, 252
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