Thomas Gray to William Mason, 9 August 1767
To The Revd Mr Mason, Precentor of York
DARLINGTON
I have been at Hartlepool like any thing, & since that visiting about (wch is the ruin of all my country-expeditions) so that I was not able to write to you sooner. tomorrow I go vizzing to Gibside to see the new-married Countess, whom (bless my eyes!) I have seen here already: there I drop our beatified Friend, who goes into Scotland with them; & return hither all alone. soon after I hope to go into Cumberland, &c: & when that is over, shall let you know.
I exceedingly approve the Epitaph in its present shape: even what I had best liked before is alter'd for the better. the various readings I do not mind, only perhaps, I should read the 2d line
Grace, that with tenderness & sense combined
To form &c:
for I hate sentiment in verse. I will say nothing to Taste & Truth, for perhaps the A:p may fancy they are fine things, but to my palate they are Wormwood. all the rest is just as it should be, & what he ought to admire.
Billy Hervey went directly to Durham, & call'd not here. he danced at the Assembly with a conquering mien, & all the Misses swear, he is the genteelest thing they ever set eyes on, & wants nothing but two feet more in height. the Doctor & Mr Brown send their blessing, & I am ever
Correspondents
Dates
Places
Physical description
Content
Cumberland
Gibside
Hartlepool
Mason, William, 1724-1797
Wharton, Thomas, 1717-1794
Holding Institution
(confirmed)
Henry W. And Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, Humanities and Social Sciences Library, New York Public Library , New York, NY, USA <https://www.nypl.org/about/divisions/berg-collection-english-and-american-literature>
Print Versions
- The Correspondence of Thomas Gray and William Mason, with Letters to the Rev. James Brown, D.D. Ed. by the Rev. John Mitford. London: Richard Bentley, 1853, letter CXVI, 404-406
- The Letters of Thomas Gray, including the correspondence of Gray and Mason, 3 vols. Ed. by Duncan C. Tovey. London: George Bell and Sons, 1900-12, letter no. CCCIX, vol. iii, 155
- Essays and Criticisms by Thomas Gray. Ed. with Introduction and Notes by Clark Sutherland Northup. Boston and London: D. C. Heath & Co., 1911, letter excerpt, 282
- Correspondence of Thomas Gray, 3 vols. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], letter no. 451, vol. iii, 973-974