CONTENT S. SECTION 1. Page INTRODUCTION. Mr. Gray's birth. Education at Eton, where he commences a friendship with the Hon. Horace Walpole and Mr. Richard West. Account of the latter, with whom and with Mr. Walpole a correspondence begins on their leaving school, and going to the University . . . . . . . . . . 5 10 LETTER from Statius . . . . . . . . . . 3. From Mr. West. Approbation of the version. Ridicule on the Cambridge Collection of Verses on the marriage of the Prince of . . . . 11 4. To Mr. West. On the little encouragement which he finds given to classical learning at Cambridge. His aversion to metaphysical and mathematical studies . . . . . . . . 5. From Mr. West. Answer to the former, advises his correspondent not to give up poetry when he applies himself to the law : : 6. To Mr. WALPOLE. Excuse for not writing to him, &c. . . 7. From Mr. West. A poetical epistle addressed to his Cambridge friends, taken in part from Tibullus and a prose letter of Mr. Pope. 8. To Mr. West. Thanks him for his poetical episule. Complains of low spirits. Lady Walpole's death, and his concern for Mr. H. . 9. To Mr. WALPOLE. How he spends his own time in the country. Meets with Mr. Southern, the dramatic poet . . . . 10. To Mr. WalPOLE. Supposed manner in which Mr. Walpole spends his time in the country . . . . . . 11. From Mr. West. Sends him a translation into Latin of a Greek epi gram . . . . . . . . . . 12. To Mr. WEST. A Latin epistle in answer to the foregoing · · 25 26 28 29 31 LETTER Page 13. From Mr. West, on leaving the University, and removing to the Temple . . . . . . . . . . 32 14. To Mr. West. A Sapphic Ode, occasioned by the preceding letter, with a Latin postscript, concluding with an Alcaic fragment . 33 15. From Mr. West. Thanks for his Ode, &c. His idea of Sir Robert Walpole . . . . . . . . . . 36 16. To Mr. WalPOLE. Congratulates him on his new place. Whimsical description of the quadrangle of Peter-house . . . . 17. To Mr. West. On his own leaving the University . . . 38 18. From Mr. West. Sends him a Latin Elegy in answer to Mr Gray's Sapphic Ode . . . . . . . . . 39 Connecting narrative. Mr. Gray goes abroad with Mr. Walpole. Corresponds, during his tour, with his parents and Mr. West : 42 1. To his Mother. His voyage from Dover. Description of Calais. Abbeville. Amiens. Face of the country, and dress of the people 43 2. To Mr. West. Monuments of the Kings of France at St. Denis, &c. French opera and music. Actors, &c. . . . . . 46 3. To Mr. West. Palace of Versailles. Its gardens and water-works. Installation of the Knights du S. Esprit . . . . 50 4. To his MOTHER. Rheims. Its cathedral. Disposition and amuse ments of its inbabitants . . . . . . . 5. To his Father. Face of the country between Rheims and Dijon. Description of the latter. Monastery of the Carthusians and Cis.. tertians . . . . . . . . . . 56 6. To Mr. West. Lyons. Beauty of its environs. Roman antiquities 57 7. From Mr. West. His wishes to accompany his friend. His retired life in London. Address to bis Lyre, in Latin Sappbics, on the prospect of Mr. Gray's return . . . . . . 60 8. To his Mother. Lyons. Excursion to the Grande Chartreuse. So lemn and romantic approach to it. His reception there, and com mendation of the monastery . . . . . . 9. To his FATHER. Geneva. Advantage of a free government exhi bited in the very look of the people. Beauty of the lake, and plenty of its fish . . . . . . . . 64 10. To his MOTHER. Journey over the Alps to Turin. Singular accident in passing them. Method of travelling over mount Cenis 66 11. To Mr. West. Turin. Its carnival. More of the views and scenery on the road to the Grande Chartreuse. Wild and savage prospects amongst the Alps agreeable to Livy's description . . . 69 12. To Mr. West. Genoa. Music. The Doge. Churches and the Pa lazzo Doria . . . . . . . . . 72 13. To his MOTHER. Paintings at Modena. Bologna. Beauty and rich ness of Lombardy . . . . . . . . 74 14. To his MOTHER. The Appennines. Florence and its Gallery : 76 15. To Mr. West. Journey from Genoa to Florence. Elegiac verses occasioned by the sight of the plains where the battle of Trebiæ was fought . . . . . . . . . . 79 16. From Mr. West. Latin Elegy, expressing his wishes to see Italy and Greece . . . . . . . . . 17. To his Mother. Death of the Pope. Intended departure for Rome. First and pleasing appearance of an Italian spring . . . 18. To his MOTHER. Cathedral of Sienna. Viterbo. Distant sight of Rome. The Tiber. Entrance into the city. St. Peter's. Intro- 83 19. To his MOTHER. Illumination of St. Peter's on Good Friday, &c. . 87 20. To Mr. West. Comic account of the palace of the Duke of Modena at Tivoli. The Anio. Its cascade. Situation of the town. Villas aqueducts. A grand Roman ball . . . . . 88 21. To Mr. WEST. An Alcaic Ode. Ludicrous allusion to ancient Ro man customs. Albano and its lake, Castle-Gondolfo. Prospect from part of Italy. Latin inscriptions, ancient and modern . . 92 22. To his MOTHER. Road to Naples. Beautiful situation of that city. Its bay. Of Baiæ, and several other antiquities. Some account of laneum . . . . . . . . . . 97 23. To his FATHER. Departure from Rome and return to Florence. No likelihood of the Conclave's rising. Some of the cardinals dead. Description of the Pretender, his sons, and court. Procession at Naples. Sight of the King and Queen. Mildness of the air at Florence . . . . . . . . . . 99 24. From Mr. West. On his quitting the Temple, and reason for it . 102 25. To Mr. West. Answer to the foregoing letter. Some account of Naples and its environs, and of Mr. Walpole's return to Florence · 104 26. To his MOTHER. Excursion to Bologna. Election of a pope; des cription of his person, with an odd speech which he made to the cardinals in the Conclave . . . . . . . 108 27. To Mr. West. Description, in Latin hexameters, of the sudden rising of Monte Nuovo near Puzzoli, and of the destruction which at tended it . . . . . . . . . 110 28. To his Father. Uncertainty of the route he shall take in his return to England. Magnificence of the Italians in their reception of strangers, and parsimony when alone. The great applause which the new Pope meets with. One of his bon mots . . . 114 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 . 116 30. To Mr. West. The time of his departure from Florence determined. Page 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 . . . . . . . . . 118 Account of Mr. Gray's return bome, and of his second visit to the Grande Chartreuse, where he wrote an Alcaic Ode, which concludes the Section . . . . . . . . 121 SECTION III. Prefatory narrative. Mr. Gray's father dies, and the year after he re turns to Cambridge, and takes a degree in civil law; during that . 123 LETTER Has begun to read Tacitus, but does not relish him . . . 126 2. To Mr. WEST. Earnest hopes for his friend's better health, as the warm weather comes on. Defence of Tacitus, and his character. . . . . . . . . 126 The plan, dramatis personæ, and all the speeches which Mr. Gray · · · · 150 3. From Mr. West. Criticism on his friend's tragic style. Latin hexa meters on his own cough . . . . . . . 158 4. To Mr. West. Thanks for his verses. On Joseph Andrews. De fence of old words in tragedy . . . . . . 140 5. From Mr. West. Answer to the former, on the subject of antiquated expressions . . . . . . . . . 144 6. To Mr. West. Has laid aside his tragedy. Difficulty of translating Tacitus . . . . . . . . . . 147 7. From Mr. West. With an English Ode on the approach of May · 148 8. To Mr. West. Criticises his Ode. Of his own classical studies · 150 9. From Mr. West. Answer to the foregoing . . . . 152 10. To Mr. West. Of his own peculiar species of melancholy. Inscrip tion for a wood in Greek hexameters. Argument and exordium of Account of Mr. West's death. Of Mr. Gray's English poetry, writ ten about this time, with the general plan, argument of the first book, |