Extract of a letter from Mr. David Hume, concerning the authenticity of 40. To Dr. WHARTON. On his employments in the country. Nouvelle Eloise. Page 230 . 233 235 41. To Mr. MASON. More concerning the Nouvelle Eloise. Of Signor Elisi, 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. 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 gentlemen abroad relating to Count Algarotti, and recommending the Erse Poems 46. Count ALGAROTTI to Mr.GRAY. Complimentary, and sending him some 237 239 243 48. To Mr. PALGRAVE. What he particularly advises him to see when abroad 246 49. To Mr. BEATTIE. Thanks for a letter received from him, and an invitation 51. To Mr. BEATTIE. Apology for not accepting the degree of Doctor offered him by the University of Aberdeen 52. To Dr. WHARTON. Buffon's Natural History. Memoirs of Petrarch, ib. 258 260 261 55. To Mr. BEATTIE. Thanks for a manuscript poem. Mr. Adam Ferguson's Essay on Civil Society. A compliment to Lord Gray 56. To Mr. BEATTIE. On the projected edition of our Author's Poems in England and Scotland. Commendation of Mr. Beattie's Ode on Lord 57. To Mr. BEATTIE. More concerning the Glasgow edition of his Poems 58. To the Duke of GRAFTON. Thanking him for his Professorship Letter to MARY ANTROBUS, written on the day of his presentation to George III. upon his appointment to the Professorship. [Not in Mr. 59. To Mr. NICHOLLS. Account of Mr. Brocket's death, and of his being Enumeration of such other literary pursuits of Mr. Gray as were not suffi- ciently dilated upon in the preceding letters 1. To Mr. NICHOLLS. On the death of his uncle, Governor Floyer, and ad- 2. To Mr. NICHOLLS. Congratulating him upon his situation, and mention- 310 8. To Mr. How. On receiving three of Count Algarotti's Treatises, and hinting an error which that author had fallen into, with regard to the 9. To Mr. How. After perusing the whole of Count Algarotti's works in the Leghorn edition, and his sentiments concerning them 10. To Mr. NICHOLLS. On the affection due to a mother. Description of that part of Kent from whence the letter was written 11. To Mr. NICHOLLS. Character of Froissart and other old French histo- 12. To Dr. WHARTON. Of his tour, taken the year before, to Monmouth, &c. Intention of coming to Old Park. And of his ill state of health 323 Conclusion, with the particulars of Mr. Gray's death. His character by 2. Description of true philosophy. Conduct of Mr. Ratcliffe at his execution 333 3. Elegy written in a Country Church-yard first forwarded. Hints respect- 4. Observations upon a dramatic performance, entitled Elfrida, from the pen 5. Same subject continued 6. Mr. Lyttleton's Elegy and Mr. Walpole's Epistle from Florence considered 7. Inquiries concerning a new work of his, containing a history of his own 8. The Hymn to Adversity. Two publications of Dr. Middleton's noticed 10. Review of the writers who contributed to Mr. Dodsley's Collection of amusement 16. Means recommended to secure his restoration to health. Inquiries relative 12. Acknowledges the receipt of two specimens of Erse Poetry is anxious to 13. Complains of bodily indisposition, and begs to be supplied with literary 14. Thanks for a copy of Anecdotes of Painting: the Author's plan of an his- 15. Thanks for the Castle of Otranto. Remarks upon a pamphlet and Rous- 17. Prevailing opinions respecting the work entitled Historic Doubts. Alga- rotti's purchase of an excellent Holbein picture. Curious tapestry 18. Our Author's observations upon his own writings. Mr. Boswell's pam- LETTERS TO BONSTETTEN. 2. Continues to deplore his separation from his friend 3. Mentions his return from Suffolk, and still pursues the subject of his regret 370 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF MR. GRAY. SECT. I. THE lives of men of letters seldom abound with incidents; and perhaps no life ever afforded fewer than that which I have undertaken to write. But I am far from mentioning this by way of previous apology, as is the trite custom of biographers. The respect which I owe to my deceased friend, to the public, and (let me add) to myself, prompts me to waive so impertinent a ceremonial. A reader of sense and taste never expects to find in the memoirs of a philosopher, or poet, the same species of entertainment, or information, which he would receive from those of a statesman or general: he expects, however, to be either informed or entertained; nor would he be disappointed, did the writer take care to dwell principally on such topics as characterize the man, and distinguish that peculiar part which he acted in the varied drama of society. But this rule, selfevidently right as it may seem, is seldom observed. It + was said, with almost as much truth as wit, of one of these writers, that, when he composed the Life of Lord Verulam, he forgot that he was a philosopher; and, therefore, it was to be feared, should he finish that of the Duke of Marlborough, he would forget that he was a general. I shall avoid a like fault. I will promise + with neither wit not Imith. It is ssing of Christian lie, прошу Bacore. my reader that he shall, in the following pages, seldom behold Mr. Gray in any other light than that of a scholar and a poet: and though I am more solicitous to shew that he was a virtuous, a friendly, and an amiable man, than either; yet this solicitude becomes unnecessary from the very papers which he has bequeathed me, and which I here arrange for the purpose: since in these the qualities of his head and heart so constantly appear together, and the fertility of his fancy so intimately unites with the sympathetic tenderness of his soul, that were it in my intention, I should find it impossible to disjoin them. His parents were reputable citizens of London. His grandfather a considerable merchant: but his father, Mr. Philip Gray, though he also followed business, was of an indolent and reserved temper; and therefore rather diminished than increased his paternal fortune. He had many children, of whom Thomas, the subject of these Memoirs, was the fifth born. All of them, except him, died in their infancy; and I have been told that he narrowly escaped suffocation (owing to too great a fulness of blood which destroyed the rest) and would certainly have been cut off as early, had not his mother, with a courage remarkable for one of her sex, and withal so very tender a parent, ventured to open a vein with her own hand, which instantly removed the paroxysm. He was born in Cornhill, December the 26th, 1716; was educated at Eton school, under the care of Mr. Antrobus, his mother's brother, who was at that time one of the assistant masters, and also a fellow of St. Peter's College, Cambridge; to which place Mr. Gray removed, and was there admitted a pensioner in the year 1734. While at school, he contracted a friendship with Mr. Horace Walpole and Mr. Richard West: the former of these appears, at present, with too much distinction in the literary as well as fashionable world, |