retired to Cambridge, where he soon after became Bachelor of Civil Law; and where, without liking the place or its inhabitants, or professing to like them, he passed, except a short residence in London, the rest of his life.

About this time [1742] he was deprived of Mr. West, the son of a chancellor of Ireland, a friend on whom he appears to have set a high value, and who deserved his esteem by the powers which he shows in his letters and in the Ode to May' which Mr. Mason has preserved, as well as by the sincerity with which, when Gray sent him part of Agrippina,' a tragedy that he had just begun, he gave an opinion which probably intercepted the progress of the work, and which the judgment of every reader will confirm. It was certainly no loss to the English stage that 'Agrippina' was never finished.

In this year (1742) Gray seems first to have applied himself seriously to poetry; for in this year were produced the Ode to Spring,' his' Prospect of Eton,'' and his 'Ode to Adversity' He began likewise a Latin poem, 'De principiis cogitandi.''

It may be collected from the narrative of Mr. Mason, that his first ambition was to have excelled in Latin poetry; perhaps it were reasonable to wish that he had prosecuted his design; for though there is at present some embarrassment in his phrase, and some harshness in his lyric numbers, his copiousness of language is such as very few possess ; and his lines, even when imperfect, discover a writer whom practice would quickly have made skilful.

He now lived on at Peterhouse, very little solicitous what others did or thought, and cultivated his mind and enlarged his views without any other purpose than of improving and amusing himself; when

speaks of her "lining close," and desires to be buried in “lining " in a coffin of polished oak, with black nails, in the same vault with her sister, Mary Antrobus. The hearse was to be accompanied by one mourning coach. Gray's own request in his will is that he should be buried by the side of his mother "in a coffin of seasoned oak, neither lined nor covered." She died 11th March, 1753. The story of the wedded life of the father and mother of Gray is told in a Case submitted to counsel in 1735, when the poet was entering his twentieth year. See Appendix.

Richard West died in his 26th year. Mr. Mitford, I am glad to think, is collecting his works for publication.

The Ode on Eton College was published in May, 1747, and was Gray's first English poem that was published.

When Gray published his exquisite Ode on Eton College-his first publication-little notice was taken of it.-Jos. WARTON: Essay on Pope, ii. 230, ed. 1782.

7 No; he began it at Florence in 1740.

Mr. Mason being elected Fellow of Pembroke Hall, brought aim a companion who was afterwards to be his editor, and whose fondness and fidelity has kindled in him a zeal of admiration which cannot be reasonably expected from the neutrality of a stranger, and the coldness of a critic.

In this retirement he wrote (1747) an ode on the Death of Mr. Walpole's Cat;' and the year afterwards attempted a poem of more importance, on Government and Education,' of which the fragments which remain have many excellent lines.

His next production (1751) was his far-famed Elegy in the Church-yard,' which, finding its way into a Magazine, first, I believe, made him known to the public.''

An invitation from Lady Cobham about this time gave occasion to an odd composition called 'A Long Story,' which adds little to Gray's character.

Several of his pieces were published (1753), with designs by Mr. Bentley, and, that they might in some form or other make a book, only one side of each leaf was printed. I believe the poems and the plates recommended each other so well, that the whole impression was soon bought. This year he lost his mother.

Some time afterwards (1756) some young men of the college, whose chambers were near his, diverted themselves with disturbing him by frequent and troublesome noises, and, as is said, by pranks yet more offensive and contemptuous. This insolence, having endured it a while, he represented to the governors of the society, among whom perhaps he had no friends; and finding his complaint little regarded, removed himself to Pembroke Hall.

Afterwards (1751) published in 4to. An Elegy wrote in a Country Church Yard. London: printed for R. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall; And sold by M. Cooper in Pater-noster-Row, 1751. Price Sixpence.' A fourth edition appeared the same year.

SIR,—I am as much at a loss to bestow the commendations due to your Performance as any of our modern Poets wou'd be to imitate it. Ev'ry body that has seen it is charm'd, and Lady Cobham was the first (tho' not the last) that regretted the loss of the 500 stanzas. All that I can say is, your obliging intention in sending it has fully answer'd, as it not only gave us amusement the rest of the Evening, but always will upon reading it over. Lady Cobham and the rest of the Company hope to have yours tomorrow at din'er.

I am, Sir, Your most obliged and obedient

-Mason and Penn MSS.

HENRIETTA JANE SPEED.

In 1757 he published The Progress of Poetry' and 'The Bard,' two compositions at which the readers of poetry were at first content to gaze in mute amazement." Some that tried them confessed their inability to understand them, though Warburton said that they were understood as well as the works of Milton and Shakespeare, which it is the fashion to admire. Garrick wrote a few lines in their praise. Some hardy champions undertook to rescue them from neglect, and in a short time many were content to be shown beauties which they could not see."

Gray's reputation was now so high, that, after the death of Cibber [1757], he had the honour of refusing the laurel, which was then bestowed on Mr. Whitehead.

His curiosity, not long after, drew him away [1759] from Cambridge to a lodging near the Museum, where he resided near three years, reading and transcribing; and, so far as can be discovered, very little affected by two odes on 'Oblivion' and 'Obscurity' in which his lyric performances were ridiculed with much contempt and much ingenuity."

When [1762] the Professor of Modern History at Cambridge died, he was, as he says, "cockered and spirited up" till he asked it

10 Odes by Mr. Gray.

NANTA ZYNETOIEI.-Pindar, Olymp. ii. Printed at Straw berry Hill, for R. and J. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall, 1757, 4to. "The words of Pindar prefixed to them (Vocal to the Intelligent alone) were prophetic of their fate: very few understood them the multitude of all ranks called them unintelligible."-GRAY: MS. Note on his own copy, now (1854) in the possession of Mr. George Daniel of Canonbury.

11 Even my friends tell me that they [the Odes] do not succeed, and write me moving topics of consolation on that head. In short, I have heard of nobody but a player [Garrick] and a doctor of divinity [Warburton] that profess their esteem for them."-GRAY to Dr. Hurd, Aug. 25, 1757.

"I yet reflect with pain upon the cool reception which those noble odes, 'The Progress of Poetry' and 'The Bard,' met with at their first publication; it appeared that there were not twenty people in England who liked them."-WHARTON to Mason, May 29, 1781. (MS.)

"These two odes, it must be confessed, breathe much of the spirit of Pindar; but then they have caught the seeming obscurity, the sudden transition, and hazardous epithet of his mighty master, all which, though evidently intended for beauties, will probably be regarded as blemishes by the generality of his readers. In short, they are in some measure a representation of what Pindar now appears to be, though perhaps not what he appeared to the states of Greece, when they rivalled each other in his applause, and when Pan himself was seen danc ing to his melody."-GOLDSMITH: Monthly Review for Sept. 1757; Works by Cunningham,

iv. 316.

12 By Colman and Lloyd. The 'Ode to Obscurity' was directed chiefly against Gray; that to 'Oblivion' against Mason.

"It was some time after publication before the 'Odes' of Gray were relished and admired. They were even burlesqued by two men of wit and genius, who, however, once owned to me that they repented of the attempt "-Jos. WARTON: Pope's Werks, 1. 236.

of Lord Bute, who sent him a civil refusal; and the place was given to Mr. Brocket, the tutor of Sir James Lowther.

His constitution was weak, and believing that his health was promoted by exercise and change of place, he undertook (1765) a journey into Scotland, of which his account, so far as it extends, is very curious and elegant: for, as his comprehension was ample, his curiosity extended to all the works of art, all the appearances of nature, and all the monuments of past events. He naturally contracted a friendship with Dr. Beattie, whom he found a poet, a philosopher, and a good man. The Mareschal College at Aberdeen offered him the degree of Doctor of Laws, which, having omitted to take it at Cambridge, he thought it decent to refuse.

What he had formerly solicited in vain was at last given him without solicitation. The Professorship of History became again vacant, and he received (1768) an offer of it from the Duke of Grafton. He accepted, and retained it to his death; always designing lectures, but never reading them; uneasy at his neglect of duty, and appeasing his uneasiness with designs of reformation, and with a resolution which he believed himself to have made of resigning the office, if he found himself unable to discharge it.

Ill health made another journey necessary, and he visited (1769) Westmoreland and Cumberland. He that reads his epistolary narration wishes that to travel, and to tell his travels, had been more of his employment; but it is by studying at home that we must obtain the ability of travelling with intelligence and improvement.

His travels and his studies were now near their end. The gout, of which he had sustained many weak attacks, fell upon his stomach, and, yielding to no medicines, produced strong convulsions, which (July 30, 1771) terminated in death."

His character I am willing to adopt, as Mr. Mason has done, from a letter written to my friend Mr. Boswell by the Rev. Mr. Temple, rector of St. Gluvias in Cornwall; and am as willing as his warmest well-wisher to believe it true."

13 He died at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, and was buried by his own desire in the churchyard of Stoke-Pogeis, in Buckinghamshire.

14 This character of Gray originally appeared in the 'London Magazine' for March, 1772. Mr. Temple died 1796.

"Mr James Boswell, the friend of Paoli and Dr. Johnson, has writ me a very Scotch letter

Perhaps he was the most learned man in Europe. He was equally acquainted with the elegant and profound parts of science, and that not superficially, but thoroughly. He knew every branch of history, both natural and civil; had read all the original historians of England, France, and Italy; and was a great antiquarian. Criticism, metaphysics, morals, politics, made a principal part of his study; voyages and travels of all sorts were his favourite amusements; and he had a fine taste in paintings, prints, architecture, and gardening. With such a fund of knowledge, his conversation must have been equally instructing and entertaining; but he was also a good man, a man of virtue and humanity. There is no character without some speck, some imperfection; and 1 think the greatest defect in his was an affectation in delicacy, or 1ather effeminacy, and a visible fastidiousness, or contempt and disdain of his inferiors in science. He also had, in some degree, that weakness which disgusted Voltaire so much in Mr. Congreve: though he seemed to value others chiefly according to the progress they had made in knowledge, yet he could not bear to be considered himself merely as a man of letters; and though without birth, or fortune, or station, his desire was to be looked upon as a private independent gentleman, who read for his amusement. Perhaps it may be said, What signifies so much knowledge, when it produced so little? Is it worth taking so much pains to leave no memorial but a few poems? But let it be considered that Mr. Gray was to others at least innocently employed; to himself, certainly beneficially. His time passed agreeably; he was every day making some new acquisition in science; his mind was enlarged, his heart softened, his virtue strengthened; the world and mankind were shown to him without a mask; and he was taught to consider every thing as trifling, and unworthy of the attention of a wise man, except the pursuit of know

about Gray's character, to tell me it was written by a friend of his, Mr. Temple, and that he put it into the 'London Magazine' without his leave. I writ him a very plain English answer, which I hope will quit me of this correspondent."-MASON to Walpole, June 17, 1775.

"I never saw Mr. Gray: but my old and most intimate friend, the Rev. Mr. Temple, Rector of Mainhead, in Devonshire, knew him well. He knew his foibles, but admired his genius and esteemed his virtues. I know not if you were acquainted with Mr. Gray. He was so abstracted and singular a man that I can suppose you and him never having met."-Bos WELL to Garrick, 18th Sept. 1771.