great applause which the new Pope meets with.-One of his Bon mots

p. 265

LETTER 29. To his FATHER.-Total want of amusement at Florence, occasioned by the late Emperor's funeral not being public. A procession to avert the ill effects of a late inundation.Intention of going to Venice.-An invasion from the Neapolitans apprehended.—The inhabitants of Tuscany dissatisfied with the government

p. 267 LETTER 30. To Mr. WEST.-The time of his departure from Florence determined.—Alteration in his temper and spirits.—Difference between an Italian Fair and an English one.-A farewell to Florence and its prospects in Latin Hexameters.—Imitation, in the same language, of an Italian Sonnet

P. 270

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

P. 274

SECTION III.

Prefatory narrative.—Mr. Gray's father dies, and the year after he returns to Cambridge, and takes a degree in Civil Law; during that interval he corresponds with Mr. West

P. 277

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

p. 280 LETTER 2. To Mr. WEST.-Earnest hopes for his friend's better health, as the warm weather comes on.-Defence of Tacitus, and his character.-Of the new Dunciad.-Sends him a speech from the first scene of his Agrippina

p. 281

The Plan, Dramatis Personæ, and all the speeches which Mr.
Gray wrote of that Tragedy inserted

p. 285

LETTER 3. From Mr. WEST.-Criticism on his friend's tragic

style.-Latin Hexameters on his own cough

LETTER 4. To Mr. WEST.-Thanks for his verses.

p. 298 -On Joseph

Andrews.-Defence of old words in Tragedy. p. 300 LETTER 5. From Mr. WEST.-Answer to the former, on the sub

ject of antiquated expressions

p. 305 LETTER 6. To Mr. WEST.-Has laid aside his Tragedy.—Difficulty of translating Tacitus

p. 309 LETTER 7. From Mr. WEST.-With an English Ode on the approach of May LETTER 8.

p. 311 To Mr. WEST.-Criticises his Ode.-Of his own classical studies p. 313 LETTER 9. From Mr. WEST.-Answer to the foregoing p. 315

1

ODE I.

ON THE SPRING.

LO! where the rosy-bosom'd Hours,

Fair VENUS' train appear,
Disclose the long-expecting flowers,
And wake the purple year!
The Attic warbler pours her throat,
Responsive to the cuckoo's note,
The untaught harmony of spring:
While whisp'ring pleasure as they fly,
Cool Zephyrs thro' the clear blue sky
Their gather'd fragrance fling.

Where'er the oak's thick branches stretch

A broader browner shade;

Where'er the rude and moss-grown beech O'er-canopies the glade,

VOL. I.

B

Beside some water's rushy brink
With me the Muse shall sit, and think
(At ease reclin❜d in rustic state)
How vain the ardour of the Crowd,
How low, how little are the Proud,
How indigent the Great!

1

Still is the toiling hand of Care:
The panting herds repose:

Yet hark, how thro' the peopled air
The busy murmur glows!

The insect youth are on the wing,
Eager to taste the honied spring,
And float amid the liquid noon:
Some lightly o'er the current skim,
Some shew their gaily-gilded trim
Quick-glancing to the sun.

To Contemplation's sober eye

Such is the race of Man:

And they that creep, and they that fly,

Shall end where they began.

Alike the Busy and the Gay

But flutter thro' life's little day,

In fortune's varying colours drest:
Brush'd by the hand of rough Mischance,