lumns of Girgenti and the tremendous cavern of Syracusa, refresh yourselves amidst the fragrant vale of Enna. Oh! che bel riposo !"

In May, after a visit to the Frascati and the Cascades of Tivoli, Gray sent his beautiful 'Alcaic Ode' to West. In June he made a short excursion to Naples; and was charmed with the scenery that presented itself in that most delightful climate. He describes the large old fig-trees, the oranges in bloom, the myrtles in every hedge, and the vines hanging in festoons from tree to tree. He must have been among the first English travellers who visited the remains of Herculaneum,* as it was discovered only the preceding year; and he pointed out to his companion, the description in Statius that pictured the latent city:

"Hæc ego Chalcidicis ad te, Marcelle, sonabam
Litoribus, fractas ubi Vesbius egerit iras,

* Some excavations were made in Herculaneum in 1709 by the Prince D'Elbeuf: but thirty years elapsed after the orders given to the Prince to dig no farther, before any more notice was taken of them. In December, 1738, the King of the two Sicilies was at Portici, and gave orders for a prosecution of the subterraneous labours. There was an excavation in the time of the Romans; and another in 1689. In a letter from H. Walpole to West on this subject (see Walpole's Works, vol. iv. p. 448), dated Naples, June 14, 1740, is a passage which shows Mr. Mason's conjecture, that the travellers did not recognise the ancient town of Herculaneum by name, to be unfounded. H. Walpole calls it by that name in his letter.

Amula Trinacriis volvens incendia flammis.

Mira fides! credetne virum ventura propago,

Cum segetes iterum, cum jam hæc deserta virebunt,
Infra urbes, populosque premi?"

Statii Sylv. IV. iv. 78:*

At Naples the travellers stayed ten days; and Gray's next letter to his father, in which he talks of his return to England, is dated again from Florence; and whence he sent, soon after, his Poem on the 'Gaurus' to West. He remained, however, at that place about eleven months; and during this time commenced his Latin poem ' De Principiis Cogitandi. He then set off with Walpole, on the 24th of April, for Bologna and Reggio,† at the latter of which towns an unfortunate difference took place between them, and they parted. The exact cause of this quarrel has been passed over by the delicacy of his biographer, because H. Walpole was alive when the Memoirs of Gray were written. The former, however, charged himself with the chief blame; and lamented that he had not paid more attention and deference to Gray's superior judg

* See also Martial. Epig. Lib. iv. Ep. 43, ed. Delph. and the note by Stephens on Statii Sylv. v. 3. 205, p. 155.

He

Jamque et flere pio Vesuvina incendia cantu
Mens erat, &c.

† Dr. Johnson has two slight mistakes in his 'Life of Gray." says that they quarrelled at Florence and parted, instead of Reggio. He says also, that Gray began his poem‘De Principis Cogitandi' after his return: but it was commenced in the winter of 1740, at Florence.

ment and prudence. In the 'Walpoliana' (vol. i. p. 95, art. cx.) is the following passage: "The quarrel between Gray and me arose from his being too serious a companion. I had just broke loose from the restraint of the University, with as much money as I could spend; and I was willing to indulge myself. Gray was for antiquities, &c.; whilst I was for perpetual balls and plays; — the fault was mine." Perhaps the freedom of friendship spoke too openly to please: for in a letter from Walpole to Mr. Bentley, some years afterwards, he says: "I was accustomed to flattery enough when my father was minister: at his fall I lost it all at once and since that I have lived with Mr. Chute, who is all vehemence; with Mr. Fox, who is all disputation; with Sir C. Williams, who has no time from flattery, himself; and with Gray, who does not hate to find fault with me."* Whatever was the cause of this quarrel, it must have been very serious, if the information is correct which is given in the manuscript of the Rev. W. Cole, a person who appears to have lived in terms of intimacy with

* See Walpole's Works, vol. v. p. 334. In a letter from Gray to Walpole in 1751, is a sentence which seems to point towards this quarrel: "It is a tenet with me, (he says) — a simple one, you will perhaps say,- that if ever two people who love one another come to breaking, it is for want of a timely eclaircissement, a full and precise one, without witnesses or mediators, and without reserving one disagreeable circumstance for the mind to brood upon in silence." See Walpole's Works, vol. v. p. 389.

Gray during the latter part of his life. "When matters (he says) were made up between Gray and Walpole, and the latter asked Gray to Strawberry Hill, when he came, he without any ceremony told Walpole, that he came to wait on him as civility required, but by no means would he ever be there on the terms of his former friendship, which he had totally cancelled." Such is the account given by Mr. Cole, and which I suppose is worthy of credit: at any rate, it does not seem at all inconsistent with the independence and manly freedom which always accompanied the actions and opinions of Gray.*

Having thus lost his companion, and, with the separation of friendship, all inducement to remain abroad, Gray went immediately to Venice, and returned through Padua and Milan, following almost the same road through France, which he had travelled before. If he sent any letters to West on his return, it was not thought requisite to publish them: those to his father were only accounts of his health and safety. Though he returned to England

*For a further elucidation of this subject, the reader is referred to the second volume of the Aldine edition of Gray's Works, p. 174-5, where I have stated what are the supposed causes of the quarrel; and the terms of the reconciliation will be best learned, from the expressions which Gray uses in his letter to Mr. Wharton on this subject.

† Some letters from Walpole to West, while the former was on his travels with Gray, are in Walpole's Works, vol. iv. p. 419-463. There is one letter from Reggio, May 10th, but not mentioning any quarrel, nor even Gray by name.

as speedily and directly as he could, yet he once diverged from his way, between Turin and Lyons, again to contemplate the wild and magnificent scenery that surrounded the Grande Chartreuse; and in the Album of the Fathers he wrote his beautiful 'Alcaic Ode,' which bears strong marks of proceeding from a mind deeply impressed with the solemnity of the situation; where "every precipice and cliff was pregnant with religion and poetry."*

In two months after the return of Gray in 1741, his father died,† his constitution being worn out by repeated attacks of the gout; and Gray's filial duty was now solely directed to his mother. To the friend who condoled with Pope on his father's death, he answered in the pious language of Euryalus,"Genitrix est mihi,”- and Gray, in the like circumstances, assuredly felt no less the pleasure that arose from contributing to preserve the life and happiness of a parent. With a small fortune, which her husband's imprudence had materially impaired, Mrs. Gray and a maiden sister retired to the house

*See Letter XI. dated Turin, November 16, 1739.

Gray came to town about the 1st of September, 1741. His father died on the 6th of November following, at the age of 65. Mason.

Mr. Philip Gray built a country house at Wanstead, at a very considerable expense, which was sold after his death at £2000 less than its original cost. It was purchased by Alderman Ball, who was still resident in it in 1776. Isaac Reed.