ing simply as showing what attracted Gray's attention : "Beautiful way, commonly on the side of a hill, cover'd with woods, the river Marne winding in the vale below, and Côteaux, cover'd with vines, riseing gently on the other side; fine prospect of the town of Joinville, with the castle on the top of the mountain, overlooking it. . . . Ruins of an old castle on the brow of a mountain, whose sides are cover'd with woods."1 Again, describing the journey to Geneva: "The road runs over a Mountain, which gives you the first tast of the Alps, in it's magnificent rudeness, and steep precipices; set out from Echelles on horseback, to see the Grand Chartreuse, the way to it up a vast mountain, in many places the road not 2 yards broad; on one side the rock hanging over you, & on the other side a monstrous precipice. In the bottom runs a torrent . . . that works its way among the rocks with a mighty noise, and frequent Falls. You here meet with all the beauties so savage and horrid a place can present you with; Rocks of various and uncouth figures, cascades pouring down from an immense height out of hanging Groves of Pine-Trees, & the solemn Sound of the Stream, that roars below, all concur to form one of the most poetical scenes imaginable.' "2 All this is remarkable language for the year 1739. Probably very few private journals of the eighteenth century can show anything similar to it; for Gray's feelings were, at that time, almost exclusively his own. His letters, both at that time, and later, on Alpine scenery, may be read in part in this edition. All his most important remarks on nature have been included. By far the most significant of them is the Journal in the Lakes, written in 1769, and published in 1775. This document is of great value, as throwing light on the purely 2 Works, I, 244. 1 Works, I, 240. imaginative side of Gray's nature. He took this Lake trip alone, and wrote the Journal simply to amuse his friend, Dr. Wharton. Here we have a very different view of nature from that given by Dyer, Thomson and even by the Wartons. This remarkable Journal is written in the true Wordsworthian spirit. Gray not only observes but spiritually interprets nature. The Journal in the Lakes is one of the most significant pieces of eighteenth century prose. Mitford said: “No man was a greater admirer of nature than Mr. Gray, nor admired it with better taste.' Perhaps Walpole had partly in mind Gray's superior appreciation of Alpine scenery when he wrote, in 1775: "We rode over the Alps in the same chaise, but Pegasus drew on his side, and a cart-horse on mine."1 There is something noble and truly beautiful in the way in which Walpole always insisted on his own inferiority to Gray. His attitude in this was never cringing; it was a pure tribute of admiration, and that, too, from a sensitive man who had been repeatedly snubbed by the very object of his praise. It is interesting to notice the strange and strong contrast between the shy, reserved temperament of Gray, and the pronounced radicalism of his literary tastes. Had he been a demonstrative and gushing person like Mason, his utterances about mountains and Ossianic poetry would not seem so singular; but that this secluded scholar, who spent most of his hours over his books in Cambridge and the manuscripts in the British Museum, and who was always slow to speak, should have quietly cultivated tastes so distinctly Romantic-this is a noteworthy fact. It seems to show that the one-man power counts for something in literary developments. Gray 1 Letter to Cole, 10 December 1775. influenced the age more than the age influenced him; he led rather than followed. In addition to all the various forces silently working in the Romantic movement, we must add the direct influence of the courage and genius of Gray. VI. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 1716. Birth, 26 December, Cornhill, London. 1734. Enters Peterhouse, Cambridge. 1739. 1741. Travels on the Continent with Horace Walpole. 1741. Death of Gray's father, 6 November. 1742. 1742. Writes Ode on the Spring, Eton Ode, Hymn to Adver 1743. Takes the degree of LL.B at Cambridge. 1747. Writes Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat. 1748. Writes the Alliance of Education and Government. Completes the Elegy, and writes A Long Story. 1750. 1751. Elegy published. Publication of Six Poems. 1753. 1753. Death of Gray's mother, II March. 1754. 1756. Writes Progress of Poesy, and begins the Bard. 1757. Publication of Pindaric Odes. 1761. Writes the Norse Poems. 1764. Writes the Welsh Poems. 1768. Standard edition of his Poems published in London and Glasgow. 1768. Made Professor of Modern History and Languages at Cambridge. 1769. Writes Ode for Music, which is published the same year. 1769. Writes Journal in the Lakes. 1771. Death of Gray, 30 July. VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY. [The Bibliography up to 1771 is made as complete as possible; after that date, only the more important editions are included.] An Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College. (Anonymous.) London, 1747. Folio. Odes on Eton, on the Spring, and on the Death of a Favourite Cat. (Anonymous.) In Dodsley's Collection of Poems. Vol. II. London, 1748. An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard. London, 1751. (Anonymous.) This has an Advertisement by H. Walpole; the poem went through four editions in two months, and by 1759 had gone through eleven regular editions. Designs by Mr. R. Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray. (Vignette.) London, 1753. Folio. This beautiful volume contains six full-page prints, and a considerable number of smaller ones in the shape of front and tail pieces, and initial letters. The poems are set up in very large type, and are printed on only one side of the leaves. At the end of the volume are brief explanations of the prints. The poems included are Spring, Cat, Eton, Long Story, Adversity, Elegy. Odes by Mr. Gray. ΦΩΝΑΝΤΑ ΣΥΝΕΤΟΙΣΙ PINDAR, Olymp. II. (Vignette.) Printed at Strawberry-Hill, For R. and J. This is a thin quarto, and the first edition of the two famous Designs by Mr. R. Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray. London, 1765. Folio. Poems by Mr. Gray. London, 1768. This is the standard edition of Gray's poems, a small volume of 120 pages. It contains ten pieces, as follows: Spring, Cat, Eton, Adversity, Progress of Poesy, Bard, Fatal Sisters, Odin, Owen, Elegy. Poems by Mr. Gray. A New Edition. London, 1768. This is a reprint of the preceding, with the same paging; but the type is smaller. Poems by Mr. Gray. Glasgow, 1768. Quarto. This is a beautiful volume, in large type, and was printed by the Foulis Brothers from Gray's own MS. He gave them permission to print, to get what profit they could, and he himself sent them the MS., which was the same as that sent to Dodsley at the same time. Poems by Mr. Gray. Dublin, 1768. This is a small volume, but contains, besides the ten poems in the three preceding editions, the Long Story, two Latin translations of the Elegy Carmen Elegiacum and Elegia - also parodies on the Eton Ode, the Elegy, and the Bard. A Select Collection of Poems, from the most approved Authors. Edinburgh. Printed by A. Donaldson, 1768. 2 vols. In these volumes are included Eton (I, 128), Spring (I, 131), Cat (I, 133), Elegy (I, 220), Adversity (I, 225), Progress of Poesy (II, 196), and Bard (II, 201). Ode Performed in the Senate-House at Cambridge, July 1, 1769, at the Installation of his Grace Augustus-Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton, Chancellor of the University. Set to Music by Dr. Randal, Professor of Music. (Anonymous.) Cambridge, 1769. Quarto. This is a thin quarto of eight pages, printed in large type. Poems. London, 1770. 8vo. The Poems of Mr. Gray. To which are prefixed Memoirs of his Life and Writings, by W. Mason, M.A. York, 1775. Quarto. This thick quarto is the original standard Life of Gray. Mason simply arranged Gray's letters in chronological order, connecting them by comments of his own. He also printed among the letters a number of Gray's posthumous pieces. |