LETTER

13. To his MOTHER. Paintings at Modena. Bologna. Beauty and richness of Lombardy

-Page

74

76

14. To his MOTHER. The Appennines. Florence and its Gallery
15. To Mr. WEST. Journey from Genoa to Florence. Elegiac verses
occasioned by the sight of the plains where the battle of Trebia was
fought

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

80

82

18. To his MOTHER. Cathedral of Sienna. Viterbo. Distant sight of
Rome. The Tiber. Entrance into the city. St. Peter's. Intro-
duction of the Cardinal d'Auvergne into the Conclave

19. To his MOTHER. Illumination of St. Peter's on Good Friday, &c.
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
of Horace and Mecanas, and other remains of antiquity. Modern
aqueducts. A grand Roman ball

21. To Mr. WEST. An Alcaic Ode.

Ludicrous allusion to ancient Roman customs. Albano and its lake, Castle-Gondolfo. Prospect from the palace; an observation of Mr. Walpole's on the views in that part of Italy. Latin inscriptions, ancient and modern 22. To his MOTHER. Road to Naples. Beautiful situation of that city. Its bay. Of Baiæ, and several other antiquities. Some account of the first discovery of an ancient town, now known to be Herculaneum

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

97

. 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; description of his person, with an odd speech which he made to the cardinals in the Conclave

27. To Mr. WEST. Description, in Latin hexameters, of the sudden rising of Monte Nuovo near Puzzoli, and of the destruction which attended it

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 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

30. To Mr. WIST. The time of his departure from Florence determined.

108

110

114

116

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

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

Page

118

• 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
interval he corresponds with Mr. West

LETTER

• 123

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

126

126

The plan, dramatis personæ, and all the speeches which Mr. Gray
wrote of that tragedy, inserted

3. From Mr. WEST. Criticism on his friend's tragic style. Latin hexameters on his own cough

130

5. From Mr. WEST. Answer to the former, on the subject of antiquated expressions

4. To Mr. WEST. Thanks for his verses. On Joseph Andrews. Defence of old words in tragedy

140

6. To Mr. WEST. Has laid aside his tragedy. Difficulty of translating
Tacitus
7. From Mr. WEST.

With an English Ode on the approach of May
Criticises his Ode. Of his own classical studies
Answer to the foregoing

8. To Mr. WEST.
9. From Mr. WEST.
10. To Mr. WEST. Of his own peculiar species of melancholy. Inscrip-
tion for a wood in Greek hexameters. Argument and exordium of
a Latin heroic epistle, from Sophonisba to Massinissa

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,
and all the parts which the Author finished of a Latin didactic poem
"De Principiis Cogitandi"

153

157

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

1. To Dr. WHARTON. On taking his degree of Bachelor of Civil Law

Fragment of an Hymn to Ignorance

Page

. 169

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

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 Dio-
dorus Siculus. M. Gresset's Poems. Thomson's Castle of Indo-
lence. Ode to a Water-Nymph, with a character of its Author
8. To Dr. WHARTON. More on M. Gresset. Account of his own pro-
jected poem on the alliance between government and education

Fragment of that poem, with a commentary, notes, and detached sen-
timents relative to it

9. To Dr. WHARTON. Character of M. de Montesquieu's L'Esprit des
Loix
10. To Dr. WHARTON. Account of books continued. Crebillion's Ca-
talina. Birch's State Papers. Of his own studies, and a table of
Greek chronology, which he was then forming
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

12. To his MOTHER. Consolatory on the death of her sister
13. To Dr. WHARTON. Wishes to be able to pay him a visit at Durham.
On Dr. Middleton's death. Some account of the first volumes of
Buffon's Histoire Naturelle

Narrative of the incident which led Mr. Gray to write his Long Story.
That poem inserted, with notes by the Editor, and prefaced with
his idea of Mr. Gray's peculiar vein of humour

14. To Dr. WHARTON. On the ill reception which the foregoing poem

b

LETTER

met with in town when handed about in manuscript, and how much
his Elegy in a Country Church-yard was applauded

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 ma-

gazine

16. To Dr. WHARTON. Of Madame Maintenon's Character and Letters.

His high opinion of M. Racine. Of Bishop Hall's Satires, and of

a few of Plato's Dialogues

17. To Mr. WALPOLE.

Page

216

217

218

Concerning the intention. of publishing Mr.

Bentley's designs for his Poems. Refuses to have his own portrait

prefixed to that work

220

Farther account of those designs, with stanzas which Mr. Gray wrote
to Mr. Bentley on that occasion

Epitaph on Mr. Gray's aunt and mother in the church-yard of Stoke-

Pogis

222

224

20. To Dr. WHARTON. Objection to publishing his Ode on the Progress

of Poetry singly. Hint of his having other lyrical ideas by him

unfinished

• 228

Explanation of that hint, and a fragment of one of those lyrical pieces
inserted

21. To Mr. STONHEWER. Of Monsignor Baiardi's book concerning Her-

culaneum. A poem of Voltaire. Incloses a part of his Ode en-

titled the Bard

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

23. To Dr. WHARTON. Of his own indolence. Memoirs of M. de la
Porte and of Madame Staal. Intention of coming to town

24. To Mr. MASON. Of his reviewers. Offers to send him Druidical

anecdotes for his projected drama of Caractacus

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 concern-
ing 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.
Swift's four last years of Queen Anne

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. On the death of his son, and an excuse for not writing an epitaph

265

33. To Mr. PALGRAVE. Desiring him to communicate the remarks he
should make in his tour through the North of England
34. To Mr. MASON. Some remarks on a second manuscript copy of Ca-

35. To Mr. PALGRAVE. Description of Mr. Gray's present situation in town, and of his reading in the British Musæum

• 271

36. To Dr. WHARTON. On employment. Gardening. Character of Froissart. King of Prussia's Poems. Tristram Shandy

38. To Dr. CLARKE. His amusements with a party on the banks of the Thames. Death of a Cåmbridge 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 Eloise. Fingal. Character of Mr. Stillingfleet

41. To Mr. MASON. More concerning the Nouvelle Eloise. Of Signor Elişi, and other opera singers

42. To Mr. MASON. On his expectation of being made a residentiary of York. Recovery of Lord from a dangerous illness. Reason

for writing the Epitaph on Sir William Williams 43. To Dr. WHARTON. Description of Hardwick. Professor Turner's death. And of the peace

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
abroad relating to Count Algarotti, and recommending the Erse
Poems

46. Count ALGAROTTI to Mr. GRAY. Complimentary, and sending him
some dissertations of his own

47. To Dr. WHARTON. On Rousseau's Emile
48. To Mr. PALGRAVE.
abroad

What he particularly advises him to see when

300

49. To Mr. BEATTIE. Thanks for a letter received from him, and an invitation from Lord Strathmore to Glamis

50. To Dr. WHARTON. Description of the old castle of Glamis, and part of the Highlands

305