SECTION IV. Prefatory narrative. Mr. Gray takes his degree in civil law, and makes Cambridge his principal residence for the rest of his life. The Editor of these Memoirs becomes acquainted with him in the year 1747. He corresponds with Dr. Wharton and several other persons till the year 1768, when he is appointed Professor of Modern History LETTER Page . 169 1. To Dr. WHARTON. On taking his degree of Bachelor of Civil Law 172 2. To Dr. WHARTON. Ridicule on University laziness. Of Dr. Akenside's poem, on the Pleasures of Imagination . 176 3. To Dr. WHARTON. His amusements in town. Reflections on riches. Character of Aristotle . 178 4. To Mr. WALPOLE. Ridicule on Cibber's Observations on Cicero. On the modern Platonic Dialogue. Account of his own and Mr. West's poetical compositions . 181 - 184 - 187 5. To Mr. WALPOLE. Criticisms on Mr. Spence's Polymetis 6. To Mr. WALPOLE. Ludicrous compliment of condolence on the death of his favourite cat, inclosing his Ode on that subject 7. To Dr. WHARTON. Loss by fire of a house in Cornhill. On Diodorus Siculus. M. Gresset's Poems. Thomson's Castle of Indolence. Ode to a Water-Nymph, with a character of its Author 188 8. To Dr. WHARTON. More on M. Gresset. Account of his own projected poem on the alliance between government and education. 190 Fragment of that poem, with a commentary, notes, and detached sentiments relative to it · 192 9. To Dr. WHARTON. Character of M. de Montesquieu's L'Esprit des Loix . 199 10. To Dr. WHARTON. Account of books continued. Crebillion's Catalina. Birch's State Papers. Of his own studies, and a table of Greek chronology, which he was then forming . 200 11. To Dr. WHARTON. Ludicrous account of the Duke of Newcastle's Installation at Cambridge. On the Ode then performed, and more concerning the Author of it 202 204 12. To his MOTHER. Consolatory on the death of her sister . ⚫ 205 Narrative of the incident which led Mr. Gray to write his Long Story. 14. To Dr. WHARTON. On the ill reception which the foregoing poem b 207 LETTER Page met with in town when handed about in manuscript, and how much 216 15. To Mr. WALPOLE. Desires him to give his Elegy to Mr. Dodsley to be printed immediately, in order to prevent its publication in a magazine 217 218 16. To Dr. WHARTON. Of Madame Maintenon's Character and Letters. 220 Farther account of those designs, with stanzas which Mr. Gray wrote Epitaph on Mr. Gray's aunt and mother in the church-yard of Stoke- 222 18. To Mr. MASON. On the death of his father 20. To Dr. WHARTON. Objection to publishing his Ode on the Progress Explanation of that hint, and a fragment of one of those lyrical pieces 21. To Mr. STONHEWER. Of Monsignor Baiardi's book concerning Herculaneum. A poem of Voltaire. Incloses a part of his Ode en 22. To Dr. WHARTON. On his removing from Peter-House to Pembroke Hall. His notion of a London hospital. Of Sully's Memoirs. Mason's four odes 229 235 23. To Dr. WHARTON. Of his own indolence. Memoirs of M. de la 239 25. To Mr. MASON. On hearing Parry play on the Welch harp, and finishing his Ode after it. Account of the Old Ballad on which the Tragedy of Douglas was founded 26. To Mr. HURD. On the ill reception his two Pindaric Odes met with on their publication 27. To Mr. MASON. His opinion of the dramatic part of Caractacus • 246 28. To Mr. MASON. Dissuading him from retirement. Advice concerning Caractacus. Criticisms on his Elegy written in the Garden of a Friend. Refusal of the office of Poet Laureat 29. To Dr. WHARTON. Account of his present employment in making out a list of places, in England, worth seeing 30. To Dr. WHARTON. On the forementioned list. Tragedy of Agis. LETTER Page Various authors in the last volumes of Dodsley's Miscellany. Dr. • 256 31. To Mr. STONHEWER. On infidel writers and Lord Shaftsbury • 257 A paper of Mr. Gray inserted, relating to an impious position of Lord Bolingbroke • 260 32. To Dr. WHARTON. writing an epitaph On the death of his son, and an excuse for not 265 33. To Mr. PALGRAVE. Desiring him to communicate the remarks he 35. To Mr. PALGRAVE. Description of Mr. Gray's present situation in 271 . 272 37. To Mr. STONHEWER. On the latter volumes of M. d'Alembert and the Erse Fragments 38. To Dr. CLARKE. His amusements with a party on the banks of the Thames. Death of a Cambridge Doctor. More of the Erse Frag 39. To Mr. MASON. On two Parodies of Mr. Gray's and Mr. Mason's Odes. Extract of a letter from Mr. David Hume, concerning the authenticity of the Erse Poetry 40. To Dr. WHARTON. On his employments in the country. Nouvelle 44. To Mr. MASON. On Count Algarotti's approbation of his and Mr. Mason's poetry. Gothic architecture. Plagiary in Helvetius, from Elfrida 45. To Mr. BROWN. Sending him a message to write to a gentleman 48. To Mr. PALGRAVE. What he particularly advises him to see when 50. To Dr. WHARTON. Description of the old castle of Glamis, and part of the Highlands 305 abroad 49. To Mr. BEATTIE. Thanks for a letter received from him, and an invitation from Lord Strathmore to Glamis LETTER 51. To Mr. BEATTIE. Apology for not accepting the degree of Doctor offered him by the University of Aberdeen 52. To Dr. WHARTON. Buffon's Natural History. Memoirs of Petrarch. Mr. Walpole at Paris. Description of a fine lady Page 314 . 316 55. To Mr. BEATTIE. Thanks for a manuscript poem. Mr. Adam Ferguson's Essay on Civil Society. A compliment to Lord Gray 321 56. To Mr. BEATTIE. On the projected edition of our Author's Poems in England and Scotland. Commendation of Mr. Beattie's Ode on Lord Hay's birth-day 57. To Mr. BEATTIE. 324 More concerning the Glasgow edition of his 58. To the Duke of GRAFTON. Thanking him for his Professorship. Enumeration of such other literary pursuits of Mr. Gray as were not 1. To Mr. NICHOLLS. On the death of his uncle, Governor Floyer, and advising him to take orders 2. To Mr. NICHOLLS. Congratulating him upon his situation, and men- 3. To Mr. BEATTIE. His reason for writing that Ode 5. To Dr. WHARTON. Description of Kirkstall-Abbey, and some other places in Yorkshire 6. To Mr. NICHOLLS. Of Nettley-Abbey and Southampton 9. To Mr. How. After perusing the whole of Count Algarotti's works 387 390 LETTER Page 11. To Mr. NICHOLLS. Character of Froissart and other old French historians. And of Isocrates 391 393 12. To Dr. WHARTON. Of his tour, taken the year before, to Monmouth, &c. Intention of coming to Old Park. And of his ill state of health Conclusion, with the particulars of Mr. Gray's death. His character • 394 APPENDIX. LETTERS TO MR. WALPOLE. 1. The little concern produced by public calamities. Some remarks upon the character of Mr. Pope 2. Description of true philosophy. Conduct of Mr. Ratcliffe at his execution 3. Elegy written in a Country Church-yard first forwarded. specting a work in the press against Mr. Middleton 405 4. Observations upon a dramatic performance, entitled Elfrida, from the pen of Mr. Mason 6. Mr. Lyttleton's Elegy and Mr. Walpole's Epistle from Florence considered-favourable views of the latter 412 7. Inquiries concerning a new work of his, containing a history of his own time 8. The Hymn to Adversity. Two publications of Dr. Middleton's noticed 9. Promises a new ode 419 10. Review of the writers who contributed to Mr. Dodsley's Collection of Poems. A new ode 420 11. A visit intended 426 12. Acknowledges the receipt of two specimens of Erse Poetry: is anxious to discover the author 13. Complains of bodily indisposition, and begs to be supplied with literary amusement ✓ 14. Thanks for a copy of Anecdotes of Painting: the Author's plan of an historical work 429 15. Thanks for the Castle of Otranto. Remarks upon a pamphlet and Rousseau's Lettres de la Montague 16. Means recommended to secure his restoration to health. Inquiries relative to an old picture 435 17. Prevailing opinions respecting the work entitled Historic Doubts. Algarotti's purchase of an excellent Holbein picture. Curious tapestry |