Essay on Gray's poetry [by J. Mitford] Letters

ENOX LIBRAR

NEW YORK

CHARLES WHITTINGHAM

LONDON

CONTENTS.

N. B. Those Letters entirely new, or not published in Mr. Mason's
Work, are marked with an Asterisk*; those imperfectly published
by Mr. Mason with a Dagger t.

SECTION THE FIRST.

Letter

Page

1. From Mr. West. Complains of his Friend's Silence

2. To Mr. West. Answer to the Former. A Translation of

some Lines from Statius ......

3. From Mr. West. Approbation of the Version. Ridicule

on the Cambridge Collection of Verses on the Marriage of

the Prince of Wales

.......

Preface of the Editor to the subsequent Letter

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 Cor-

respondent 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 Cam-

bridge Friends, taken in part from Tibullus and a Prose

Letter of Mr. Pope

8. To Mr. West. Thanks him for his Poetical Epistle. Com-

plains of Low Spirits. Lady Walpole's Death, and his

Concern for Mr. H. Walpole

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. Wal-
pole spends his Time in the Country

11. From Mr. West. Sends him a Translation into Latin of a

Greek Epigram

12. To Mr. West. A Latin Epistle in Answer to the foregoing 26

13. From Mr. West, on leaving the University, and removing
to the Temple

14. To Mr. West. A Sapphic Ode, occasioned by the pre-

ceding Letter, with a Latin Postscript, concluding with an

Alcaic Fragment

15. From Mr. West. Thanks for his Ode, &c. His Idea of

Sir Robert Walpole

........

16. To Mr. Walpole. Congratulates him on his New Place.

Whimsical Description of the Quadrangle of Peter-House 30

17. To Mr. West. On his own Leaving the University

18. From Mr. West. Sends him a Latin Elegy in Answer to

Mr. Gray's Sapphic Ode....

Letter

SECTION THE SECOND.

Connecting Narrative. Mr. Gray goes abroad with Mr.

Walpole. Corresponds, during his Tour, with his Parents

and Mr. West

Page

1. To his Mother. His Voyage from Dover. Description of

Calais. Abbeville. Amiens. Face of the Country, and

....

Palace of Versailles. Its Gardens and Wa-
Installation of the Knights du S. Esprit
Rheims. Its Cathedral. Disposition and
Amusements of its Inhabitants

4. To his Mother.

5. To his Father. Face of the Country between Rheims and

Dijon. Description of the latter. Monastery of the Car-

thusians and Cistercians ...

6. To Mr. West. Lyons. Beauty of its Environs. Roman

Antiquities

7. From Mr. West. His wishes to accompany his Friend,

His retired Life in London. Address to his Lyre, in Latin

Sapphics, on the Prospect of Mr. Gray's Return

........

8. To his Mother. Lyons. Excursion to the Grande Char-

treuse. Solemn and romantic Approach to it. His recep-

tion there, and commendation of the Monastery

9. To his Father. Geneva. Advantage of a free Government

exhibited in the very look of the People. Beauty of the

Lake, and plenty of its Fish

10. To his Mother. Journey over the Alps to Turin. Singular
Accident in passing them. Method of Travelling over
Mount Cenis

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

12. To Mr. West. Genoa. Music. The Doge. Churches and

the Palazzo Doria .....

13. To his Mother. Paintings at Modena. Bologna. Beauty

and Richness of Lombardy

14. To his Mother. The Appennines. Florence and its Gallery 77

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 Dr. Wharton. Proposals for Printing his Travels. His

arrival at Florence

18. To his Mother. Death of the Pope. Intended departure for

Rome. First and pleasing appearance of an Italian Spring 92

19. To his Mother. Cathedral of Sienna. Viterbo. Distant sight

of Rome. The Tiber. Entrance into the City. St. Peter's.

Introduction of the Cardinal d'Auvergne into the Conclave 93

Letter

Page

20. To his Mother. Illumination of St. Peter's on Good Fri-

day, &c.

*21. Mr. Walpole and Mr. Gray to Mr. West. Description of

the Ruins of the Temple of Minerva Medica. Some account

of the Cardinal Corini; his great Riches. Abstemious

Living of the Chief Princes. Cardinal Albani called ex-

travagant for laying out a Crown for his Dinner and Supper.

Humorous Description of some of the Clergy. Visit to St.

Peter's, and inspection of a piece of the True Cross, St.

Longinus's Spear, and St. Veronica's Handkerchief. Des-

cription of the Procession at St. Peter's

22. 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 Mæcenas, and other

remains of Antiquity. Modern Aqueducts. A grand Ro-

man Ball

23. To Mr. West. An Alcaic Ode. Ludicrous allusion to An-

cient Roman Customs. Albano and its Lake. Castle Gon-

dolpho. Prospect from the Palace; an Observation of Mr.

Walpole's on the Views in that part of Italy. Latin In-

scriptions Ancient and Modern

24. To his Mother. Road to Naples. Beautiful Situation of

that City. Its Bay. Of Baiæ, and several other Antiqui-

ties. Some Account of the First Discovery of an Ancient

Town, now known to be Herculaneum

25. To his Father. Departure from Rome and Return to Flo-

rence. 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

26. From Mr. West. On his quitting the Temple, and reason

for it

27. To Mr. West. Answer to the foregoing Letter. Some Ac-

count of Naples and its Environs, and of Mr. Walpole's

and his Return to Florence

*28. Mr. Walpole and Mr. Gray to Mr. West. Divisions in the

Conclave on the Election of a Pope. Walpole's Sarcasm

on the Ladies P-- and W- and Lady M- W

M. Gray's Description of the Method of Passing his

Time at Florence

121

.... 127

29. 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

30. To Mr. West. Description in Latin Hexameters of the sud-

den rising of Monte Nuovo near Puzzoli, and of the de-

struction which attended it

31. 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

32. To his Father. Total want of Amusement at Florence, oc-
casioned by the late Emperor's Funeral not being public.
A Procession to avert the ill effects of a late Inundation.

Letter

Page

Intention of going to Venice. An Invasion from the Ne-

apolitans apprehended. The Inhabitants of Tuscany dis-

satisfied with the Government .............

......

138

33. To Mr. West. The time of his Departure from Florence

determined. Alteration in his Temper and Spirits. Dif-

ference between an Italian Fair and an English one.

Farewell to Florence and its Prospects in Latin Hexame-

ters. Imitation, in the same Language, of an Italian Sonnet 141