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Thomas Gray to Norton Nicholls, 2 January 1769

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To The Revd Mr Nicholls at Blundeston near Leostoffe Suffolk By Yarmouth
CAMBRIDGE

Dear Sr

Here am I once again, & have sold my estate, & got a thousand guineas, & fourscore pound a year for my old Aunt, & a 20£ prize in the lottery, & Lord knows what arrears in the Treasury, & am a rich Fellow enough, go to; & a Fellow, that hath had losses, & one, that hath two gowns, & every thing handsome about him! & in a few days I shall have curtains, are you avised of that; ay, & a matterass to lie upon.

And there's Dr Hallifax tells me, there are three or four fellow-commoners got into the lodge. but they will be out in a week's time, & all ready for Mrs Nicholls's reception & yours. so do your pleasures, I invite nobody. and there's Dr Thomas may be Bp of Carlisle, if he pleases; & (if not) Dr. Powell: & in the first case Dr Ross will be Dean of Ely and so I am

Yours
T G:
Letter ID: letters.0548 (Source: TEI/XML)

Correspondents

Writer: Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771
Writer's age: 52
Addressee: Nicholls, Norton, c. 1742-1809
Addressee's age: 27[?]

Dates

Date of composition: 2 January 1769
Date (on letter): 2 Jan: 1769
Calendar: Gregorian

Places

Place of composition: Cambridge, United Kingdom
Address (on letter): Pemb: Coll:
Place of addressee: Blundeston, United Kingdom

Physical description

Form/Extent: A.L.S.; 1 page
Addressed: To The Revd Mr Nicholls at Blundeston near Leostoffe Suffolk By Yarmouth (postmark: CAMBRIDGE)

Content

Language: English
Incipit: Here am I once again, & have sold my estate, & got a thousand guineas,...
Mentioned: Brown, James, 1709-1784

Holding Institution

Location:
(confirmed)
College Library, Eton College , Windsor, UK <http://www.etoncollege.com/collegelibrary.aspx>
Availability: The original letter is extant and usually available for academic research purposes; bound into a copy of Mathias's Works of Thomas Gray (London, 1814), vol. II, part 2; a photocopy is at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, OSB MSS c 467, box 1, folder 78

Print Versions

  • The Poems of Mr. Gray. To which are prefixed Memoirs of his Life and Writings by W[illiam]. Mason. York: printed by A. Ward; and sold by J. Dodsley, London; and J. Todd, York, 1775, letter ii, section v, 346-347
  • The Works of Thomas Gray, 5 vols. Ed. by John Mitford. London: W. Pickering, 1835-1843, letter XVII, vol. v, 86-87
  • 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. CCCXLI, vol. iii, 218-219
  • 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. 490, vol. iii, 1053-1054