ne, and avow to you, that till fourscore and d, whenever the humour takes me, I will ; because I like it, and because I like mysel. when I do so. If I do not write much, it cause I cannot."--" Gray," says Walpole, added to his Poems three ancient odes from ay and Wales. The subjects of the two first and and picturesque, and there is his genuine n them; but they are not interesting, and do ke his other poems, touch any passion: our a feelings, which he masters at will in his pieces, are not here affected. Who can care gh what horrors a Runic savage arrived at e joys and glories they could conceive,---the me felicity of boozing ale out of the skull of emy in Odin's Hall?"* To his Odes, Gray ound it necessary to add some notes, "Partly ys) from justice, to acknowledge a debt when borrowed anything: partly from ill-temper, o tell the gentle reader, that Edward the First not Oliver Cromwell, nor Queen Elizabeth Witch of Endor,"t Walpole in a letter to G. agu, says: "You are very particular, I can tell in liking Gray's Odes; but you must rememhe age likes Akenside, and did like Thomson, The same people like both? Milton was forced it till the world had done admiring Quarles.

*See Letter to G. Montagu, p. 405.

+ See Southey's Life of Cowper, vol. i. p. 325.

Cambridge told me t'other night, that my Lord Chesterfield had heard Stanly read them as his own, but that must have been a mistake of my Lord's deafness. Cambridge said---' Perhaps they are Stanly's, and not caring to own them, he gave them to Gray.' I think this would hurt Gray's dignity ten times more than his Poetry not succeeding."

In 1768 the professorship of modern history again became vacant by the accidental death of. Mr. Brocket; and the Duke of Grafton, then in power, at the request of Mr. Stonehewer, immediately bestowed it upon Gray.* In 1769, on the death of the Duke of Newcastle,† the Duke of Grafton was elected to the chancellorship of the University. His installation took place in the summer; and Gray wrote his fine Ode that was set to music on the occasion: "He thought it better that Gratitude should sing, than Expectation." He told Dr. Beattie," that he considered himself bound in gratitude to the Duke of Grafton,

* The professorship became vacant on Sunday, and the Duke of Grafton wrote to Gray on the following Wednesday see Walpole's Letters, vol. v. p. 137, and Pursuits of Literature, p. 51, and H. Walpole's Letter to Conway, Aug. 9, 1768.

:

+ The Duke of Newcastle died in Lincoln's Inn Fields, the 17th of November 1768, in the 77th year of his age.

Pope told Lord Halifax he would be troublesome out of gratitude, not expectation.' v. Johnson's Life of Pope, p. 94.

to

te this Ode; and that he foresaw the abuse would be thrown on him for it, but did not it worth his while to avoid it." He did not r to set much value on the poem, for he says, annot last above a single day, or if its exisbe prolonged beyond that period, it must be ans of newspaper-parodies, and witless criti

Posterity however has more correctly esed this beautiful production, than the author; a very splendid creation raised on an appa- barren subject.*

en this ceremony was past, he went on a o the Lakes of Cumberland and Westmore

His friend Dr. Wharton, who was to be mpanion on the journey, was seized with the n of an asthmatic attack on the first day, and home. To this accident we are indebted for st elegant and lively journal of his tour, ind for his friend's amusement. The style in these letters are written, is evidently the ction of a person thoroughly accustomed to contemplation of his subject; it is peculiarly - simple and elegant; and abounds with those resque descriptions, which, though they can

Gray," says a writer of very superior talent and taste, finely glanced at the bright point in Henry's cha-The Majestic Lord'-in that beautiful stanza where s made the founders of Cambridge pass before our like shadows over a magic glass." See Hallam's Eitut. History, vol. i. p. 49.

never enable language totally to supply, can at least make it much assist, the local powers of the pencil. "He that reads his epistolary narrative (says Dr. Johnson) wishes, that to travel, and to tell his travels, had been more of his employment: but it is by staying at home, that we must obtain the ability of travelling with intelligence and improvement."

In April 1770 he complains much of a depression of spirits, talks of an intended tour into Wales in the summer, and of meeting his friend Dr. Wharton at Mr. Mason's. In July, however, he was still at Cambridge, and wrote to Dr. Beattie, complaining of illness and pain in his head; and in this letter, he sent him some criticisms on the first book of the Minstrel, which have since been published.* His tour took place in the autumn : but not a single letter is preserved in Mr. Mason's book on this journey, to any of his correspondents. He wrote no journal, and travelled with Mr. Nicholls,+ of Blundeston, in Suffolk, a gentleman of

* See Forbes's Life of Beattie, vol. i. p. 197, 4to. letter xlv.

+ The taste of Mr. Nicholls enabled him to adorn, in the midst of a flat and unvaried county, and on the bleak eastern shore of England, a little valley, near Lowestoff, with beauties of no ordinary kind. Οὐ γάρ τι καλὸς χῶρος, ουδ' ἐφίμερος, ουδ' ἔράτος, διος ἀμφὶ Ζίριος ̔ροαῖς. v. Archilochi, Fr. p. 63.ed Liebel. La villa (says Mr. Mathias) del Sig. Nicholls, detta Blundeston, alla spiaggia Orientale della contéa de Suffolk, due miglia lontana dal mare, disposta, ed

accomplishment, and who was admitted more ny other person, into intimate and unreserved ship with Gray. He was I believe the Ocof the Pursuits of Literature. The sketch life was written by Mr. Mathias, in 1809, › Gent. Mag. and subsequently enlarged. etters of Gray to Mr. Nicholls, which Mr. on Turner possesses, fully prove the truth of Mathias's belief that with the single exn of Mr. West, Gray was more affectionately ed to him than any to other person.'

May 1771 he wrote to Dr. Wharton, just hing the outlines of his Tour in Wales and of the adjacent Counties. This is the last that remains in Mr. Mason's Collection. He complains of an incurable cough, of spirits ually low, and of the uneasiness which the ght of the duties of his professorship gave which, after having held nearly three years, Mason says he had now a determined resoluto resign. He mentions also different plans musement and travel, that he had projected;