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Glossary of Personal Names

Alderson, Christopher, Rev., 1738-1814

"The Rev. Christopher Alderson [...] became Mason's curate at Aston in 1763. In 1771 he entered Pembroke College, Cambridge, and in 1782 graduated B.D. as a 'ten year man' (without examination or regular residence). After holding other preferment, on the death of Mason in 1797 he succeeded him as Rector of Aston. He was Mason's sole executor, and many of Gray's and Mason's papers and books remained in his possession, and in that of his son William Alderson, who succeeded him in the rectory and whom Mitford visited in 1850."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. iii, 977.

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Algarotti, Francesco, Conte, 1712-1764

"Francesco Algarotti, the son of a wealthy merchant, was born at Venice in Dec. 1712. After studying at Rome and Bologna in 1732 he went to Paris, where he wrote his Newtonianismo per le dame, a work on optics, which was published in 1737 (see Letter 382 [letters.0435], n. 9), and translated into English by Elizabeth Carter as 'Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy Explain'd for the use of the Ladies' (Lond. 1739). He paid three visits to London, the first in 1736, when he became intimate with Lord Hervey and Lord Baltimore. On his way back from a journey to St. Petersburg with Lord Baltimore he visited Berlin, where he was welcomed by Frederick the Great (as yet Crown Prince), who on the occasion of his accession ceremony at Königsberg (July 1740), at which Algarotti was present, created him a Count of Prussia, and subsequently (1747) appointed him Court Chamberlain. After visiting England again in 1740 Algarotti returned to Italy. In 1762 he went to reside at Pisa, where he died on 3 May 1764. His works, of which an edition in seventeen volumes was published, under the editorship of Francis Aglietti, in 1791-4, include letters, poetical epistles, and essays on the fine arts (architecture, painting, music, &c.)."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. ii, 794.

See also: Algarotti project at the University of Trier, Germany | ODNB (subscription required)

Anstey, Christopher, 1724-1805

"Christopher Anstey (1724-1805), Scholar of Eton and King's, Fellow of King's, 1746-54. He graduated B.A. in 1746/7, but was refused his M.A. owing to differences with the College and University authorities. He is best known as the author of the New Bath Guide (1766) (see Letter 422 [letters.0477], n. 8). His translation of the Elegy into Latin hexameters was made in conjunction with his friend, William Hayward Roberts (1734-91), Scholar of Eton and King's, Fellow of King's, and of Eton, appointed Provost of Eton in 1781. The translation Elegia Scripta in Caemeterio Rustico Latinè Reddita was published anonymously in Feb. 1762 (it was advertised in Lloyd's Evening Post for 19-22 Feb.). John Anstey described it as the first translation, and its publication was a few weeks earlier than that made by Robert Lloyd (see Letter 357 [letters.0410])."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. ii, 748-49.

See also: Wikipedia | ODNB (subscription required)

Antrobus, Mrs. (Elizabeth), 1709-1773

"William Antrobus (1688-1742), Mary's father, a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge (1713-27), was for a time Assistant at Eton. From 1726 to 22 May 1742 (when he died) he was Rector of Everdon, Northants (an Eton living), where he was buried. On 5 Feb. 1727 he married at Hildersham, Cambridge, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Thomas Nutting, Alderman of Cambridge (see Letter 293 [letters.0338], n. 8), by whom he had four children, a son Robert (see n. 7) and the three daughters above mentioned (see Genealogical Table). He died intestate, and letters of administration were granted on 19 June 1742, at Northampton Registry, to his widow, who, at some time after his death, returned to Cambridge, where in 1755 she became Postmistress on the resignation of her father (see Letter 293, n. 8). She died in June 1773."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. ii, 594-595.

Antrobus, Mary, b. 1732

"Mary Antrobus (born 1732) was one of three daughters of William Antrobus, younger brother of Mrs. Gray. She was consequently Gray's first cousin; though, for some unexplained reason, in his will he describes her and her younger sister Dorothy (see Letter 293 [letters.0338], n. 3) as 'my second cousins by the mother's side'. Another sister, the only mention of whom occurs in Mrs. Rogers's will (see letter 281 [letters.0324], n. 1), Elizabeth, probably died before Gray. It is possible that she was the 'relation of mine, a poor girl, who is exceedingly ill', to whom Gray refers in his letter of 4 June 1762 (Letter 358 [letters.0411])."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. ii, 594.

Ashby, George, 1724-1808

"[...] Rev. George Ashby (1724-1808); admitted to St. John's 1740; B.A. 1744; M.A. and Fellow, 1748; President of the College, 1767-75. Subsequently Rector of Barrow in Suffolk. He was an antiquarian of varied learning. There is evidence of his interest in natural history and of his receiving help on the subject from Gray in a note-book now at Harvard University (bought by Mitford at the sale of Ashby's books in 1808). This contains notes based on the tenth edition of Linnaeus, which are, at least in great part, in Ashby's hand. There are references to Gray in some passages. (Mitford was probably mistaken in attributing entries to Gray; and a confused note in his Works of Gray (1835-43), vol. i, p. lxxiii, is also open to question.)"

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. iii, 1163.

See also: ODNB (subscription required) | CCEd

Ashton, Thomas, 1715-1775 | see gallery

"Thomas Ashton, who is almost certainly to be identified with 'Almanzor' of the 'Quadruple Alliance' (see Letter 2 [letters.0002], n. 8) - the 'long, ungainly mortal of King's' of Gray's letter to Walpole of 27 Jan. 1735 (Letter 12 [letters.0013]) - was the son of a school-master at Lancaster. He was born in 1716, the same year as Gray and West, and entered Eton about the same time, but was apparently somewhat their senior. From Eton he was elected to King's College, Cambridge, in 1733, and was admitted Scholar in 1734. In 1737, through the good offices of Walpole, he was appointed tutor to the youthful Earl of Plymouth. In 1738 he was elected to a Fellowship at King's, and having been ordained in 1740, he was in 1742, again by Walpole's influence, nominated to the Crown living of Aldingham, in Lancashire. In 1745 he was elected Fellow of Eton, which also, according to Cole, he owed to Walpole. In 1749 he was presented to the rectory of Sturminster Marshall, in Dorsetshire, which in 1752 he exchanged for that of St. Botolph, Bishopsgate. In 1759 he took the degree of D.D. at Cambridge, and in 1760 married a Miss Amyand. In 1761 he was elected to the preachership at Lincoln's Inn, which he held for two years. He died at Bath in 1775. His portrait by Eckhardt hung in Walpole's bed-chamber at Strawberry Hill, and he was also painted by Reynolds and Gainsborough. For the part played by Ashton in the quarrel between Gray and Walpole, see Letter 116 [letters.0134], n. 8."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 25-26.

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Beattie, James, 1735-1803

"James Beattie (1735-1803), Professor of Moral Philosophy and Logic, 1760-97, in the Marischal College, Aberdeen. He had published a volume of verse in 1761, and in 1771 published his Essay on Truth. The first book of The Minstrel appeared anonymously in 1771 (for Gray's criticisms see Letter 544 [letters.0624]). In the same year he visited London and made the acquaintance of Dr. Johnson. In 1773 he visited London again: he was made an honorary D.C.L. of Oxford, and was granted a pension of £200 a year by the King."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. ii, 885.

See also: Wikipedia | ODNB (subscription required)

Bedingfield, Edward, b. 1730

"Edward Bedingfield (or Bedingfeld, as the name is now spelt) was the youngest son of Sir Henry Arundell Bedingfield, third Baronet of Oxburgh, Norfolk, and of Lady Elizabeth Boyle, eldest daughter of Charles Boyle, second Earl of Burlington; he was born at Oxburgh 2 Feb. 1730, and married, 21 March 1754, Mary Swinburne (born at Capheaton 13 May 1729), third daughter of Sir John Swinburne, third Baronet of Capheaton, Northumberland, and of Mary Bedingfield, only daughter of Edward Bedingfield, youngest son of the first Baronet (see Letter 183 [letters.0212], n. 6); he had ten children, of whom the second son, Thomas (1760-89), a conveyancer, was the author of poems, which were published after his death. (See Genealogical Table.) Edward Bedingfield himself had a poetical gift, one of his poems, written in March 1753, being 'On receiving from the Countess of Burlington Mr Gray's Poems with Designs by Mr Bentley'. (From information kindly supplied by Mrs. Paston-Bedingfeld, and from Edward Bedingfield's Journal, kindly lent by Sir Henry Paston-Bedingfeld.)

From a series of 18 letters written by Mason to Edward Bedingfield between 29 Sept. 1769 and 19 July 1775, now in the Henry E. Huntington Library, it appears that Mason was largely indebted to Bedingfield not only for correcting the proofs of his own poems and of his Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Mr. Gray, but also for the revision of the latter, and for not a few of the notes."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 446.

Bentham, James, 1708-1794

"James Bentham (1708-94), of Trinity College, Cambridge; M.A. 1738; Minor Canon of Ely, 1737. Bentham began work on his History and Antiquities of the Conventual and Cathedral Church of Ely in 1756, began printing in 1764, and eventually delivered the work to the subscribers in 1771. It was printed at Cambridge in a 4to volume by the printer to the University, Joseph Bentham, a brother of the author. Among the subscribers were 'Rev. Mr. Cole of Milton, near Cambridge; Thomas Gray, Esq.: Professor of Modern History in the University of Cambridge; and The Hon. Horace Walpole, of Strawberry Hill'. In his preface Bentham says: 'My grateful acknowledgments are due to the Rev. Mr Cole ... and to Thomas Gray, Esq., of Pembroke Hall, for their kind assistance in several points of curious Antiquities.'"

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. ii, 862.

See also: ODNB (subscription required) | CCEd

Bentley, R. (Richard), 1708-1782 | see gallery

"Richard Bentley (1708-82), son of the famous scholar [and Master of Trinity] of the same name, for many years a friend and correspondent of Horace Walpole, to whom his wit and artistic talents specially recommended him. [...] Walpole had arranged for the Six Poems to be printed with illustrations by Richard Bentley."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 350, 83, 348.

See also: ODNB (subscription required)

Birkett, George, 1690-1745

"George Birkett (1690-1745), of Peterhouse, Scholar, 1711; B.A., 1711; M.A., 1714; Fellow, 1714-41; Moderator, 1718; Tutor, 1719; Proctor, 1726-7; D.D., 1730; Minister of Little St. Mary's, Cambridge, 1729-40; Rector of Stathern, Leicestershire, 1740-5. He was Gray's Tutor in College."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 52.

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Bonstetten, Charles Victor de, 1745-1832 | see gallery

"Charles Victor de Bonstetten (1745-1832), whose birth and early history Nicholls relates, came to England in Aug. 1767, and after a brief stay in London went to live in the family of a clergyman, whom he called 'Mr Schmidith', at South Moreton in Berkshire, that he might learn English. Early in Nov. 1769 he went to Bath, where he made the acquaintance of Nicholls (see n. 2), with the result described in this letter. From Bath, armed with letters of introduction, he went to London, where he was presented to the King, and lived in the fashionable world. (For an account of his stay at South Moreton, at Bath, and in London see de Bonstetten's letter of 30 Dec. 1827 to Heinrich Zchokke in Prometheus, Zweiter Theil, pp. 173 ff., Aarau, 1832.) Early in December, soon after he received the letter from Nicholls, Gray went to London, and made a stay there of two or three weeks, during which he introduced himself to Bonstetten, whom he took back with him to Cambridge before the end of the month. It was probably on this occasion that, as is related by Sir Egerton Brydges in his Autobiography (vol. ii, p. 111), Gray pointed out Dr. Johnson to Bonstetten, with the exclamation, 'Look! look! Bonstetten! the great bear - there goes Ursa Major!' (For Bonstetten's stay at Cambridge see Letter 512 [letters.0574].)"

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. iii, 1085.

See also: Wikipedia

Brockett, Lawrence, 1724-1768

"Lawrence Brockett, of Trinity, Scholar, 1744; B.A. 1747; Fellow, 1749; M.A. 1750; Tutor, 1751-3; B.D. 1761; Professor of Modern History, 1762-8 (see Letter 364 [letters.0417] ad fin.), to which chair he was nominated by Lord Bute, to whose son-in-law, Sir James Lowther (1736-1806), afterwards (1784) first Earl of Lonsdale (see Letter 475 [letters.0531], n. 7), he had been private tutor. He was a candidate for the Mastership of Trinity in 1768 (see Letter 467 [letters.0523]). He was killed by a fall from his horse, 24 July 1768 (see Letters 480 [letters.0537], 481 [letters.0538]). It was in succession to Brockett that Gray was appointed Professor by the Duke of Grafton. Gray's anticipation that the Visitor (the Bishop of Ely) {see Letter 149 (letters.0169)} would make Brockett a Fellow of Peterhouse was not fulfilled."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 318-319.

See also: Wikipedia | CCEd

Brown, James, 1709-1784

"James Brown (1709-84), son of James Brown, citizen and goldsmith of London, a Grecian from Christ's Hospital, was admitted as a Sizar at Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1726; B.A., 1730; M.A., 1733; Fellow, 1735; ordained Priest 1735; Vicar of Shepreth, Cambs., 1737; President (i.e. Vice-Master) of Pembroke, 15 May 1749; Proctor, 1750-1; Master, 21 Dec. 1770-84; D.D., 1771; Vice-Chancellor, 1771-2; Vicar of Stretham in Isle of Ely, 1771 (see Letter 540 [letters.0619]). He was a small man, precise in manner, and of a resolute courage. Gray writes in Letter 120: He 'wants nothing, but a Foot in height and his own Hair, to make him a little old Roman' [letters.0138], and there are many other playful allusions to his diminutive stature. Cole describes him as 'a very worthy man, a good scholar, small and short-sighted'. He probably made Gray's acquaintance when an undergraduate (see Appendix B), and he was his sponsor when Gray was admitted as a Fellow-commoner at Pembroke (see Appendix E, n. 7). He was a loyal friend and admirer of Gray throughout his life. He was joint-executor with Mason of Gray's will, and was present at his burial at Stoke-Poges. He was with him to the last during his brief illness (see his letters to Wharton and Nicholls in Appendix W)."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 222-223.

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Butler, J., Mr

"[...] 'Mr Butler', the anonymous correspondent, who addressed a letter 'to the Revd Mr Gray at Strawberry Hill', consisting of 'above nine pages, all about the Bard', and who intimated that if Gray wished to hear as much more about the other ode he was to direct to the Post-house at Andover (see Gray to Wharton, 8 Dec. 1757 (Letter 257 [letters.0293]); to Mason, 19 Dec. 1757 (Letter 259 [letters.0298]); and to Walpole, 17 Jan. 1758 (Letter 264 [letters.0304])). Gray took him at his word, and in January (see Letter 266* [letters.0308]) received a second letter from him, containing a lengthy criticism of the Progress of Poesy (Letter 265* [letters.0306]). In this same letter he furnished Gray, who had guessed him to be 'some reading clergyman', with a few personal details about himself, which Gray retailed to Mason: 'He is, he says, of the number of those, who live less contented than they ought, in an independent indolence, can just afford himself a horse for airings about Harewood-Forest ... half-a-score new books in a season, and good part of half an acre of garden-ground for honeysuckles and roses.'"

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. ii, 540.

Chute, John, 1701-1776 | see gallery

"John Chute (1701-76), the last descendant in the male line of Chaloner Chute, Speaker of the House of Commons (1659), was the tenth and youngest child of Edward Chute (1658-1722), of the Vyne, in Hampshire, his mother being Katherine Keck, widow of Ferdinand Tracy. He was educated at Eton, and after his father's death lived chiefly abroad until 1746, when he returned to England. On the death of his brother Anthony in 1754 he succeeded to the family estates, and thenceforth resided at the Vyne until his death. Walpole and Gray made his acquaintance at Florence in 1740, while they were staying with Mann. After Gray parted from Walpole at Reggio in 1741 he spent two months with Chute at Venice. On his return to England Chute became very intimate with Walpole, and renewed his friendship with Gray, who on more than one occasion was his guest at the Vyne. It seems probable that there was a breach in their friendship in 1758 (see Letter 228 [letters.0259], n. i)."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 184.

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Clerke, John, 1717-1790

"[...] John Clerke, son of Thomas Clerke, Rector of Beckenham, Kent (born in 1717), who was admitted Pensioner of St. Catharine's in April 1734 and migrated to Peterhouse in Nov. 1735; he was (like Gray) Cosin and Hale Scholar; B.A., 1738; Fellow, 1740; M.A., 1742; M.D., 1753; d. 1790. He practised for many years as a physician at Epsom. A letter to him from Gray, dated 12 Aug. 1760, was printed by Mason (see Letter 318 [letters.0366]). On the death of his wife (27 April 1757) Gray wrote the epitaph beginning, 'Lo! where this silent Marble weeps', which is inscribed on the tablet to her memory in the Church of Beckenham, Kent (see Letter 266). Gray visited him at Epsom in 1763 (see Letter 373 [letters.0426], n. 2)."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 143.

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Cole, William, 1714-1782 | see gallery

"William Cole (1714-82), the Cambridge antiquary; he was at Eton (1726-32) with Gray and Walpole, with the latter of whom he contracted a friendship which lasted till his death. In Jan. 1733 he was admitted as a Sizar at Clare Hall; Scholar, 1735; migrated to King's, 1735; B.A., 1737; M.A., 1740; ordained Deacon, 1744; Priest, 1745; Rector of Hornsey, 1749-51; of Bletchley, 1753-67; Vicar (non-resident) of Burnham, Bucks, 1774-82. After leaving Bletchley he resided at Waterbeach, near Cambridge, till 1770, when he removed to Milton. He was for twenty years (1762-82) a regular correspondent of Walpole's, nearly 200 of whose letters to him have been preserved. He made extensive MS. collections amounting to about 100 folio volumes, which he bequeathed to the British Museum. Included with these were his Athenae Cantabrigienses, which contain biographical details, not always to be relied upon, of many of his contemporaries, Gray among them. Cole may perhaps be identified with the individual who was nicknamed 'Plato' by his Etonian friends (see Letter 6 [letters.0006], n. 7)."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 49.

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Conway, Henry Seymour, 1721-1795

"Hon. Henry Seymour Conway (1721-95), second son of first Baron Conway by his third wife, Charlotte Shorter, sister of Lady Walpole, and thus first cousin of Horace Walpole. He entered the army in 1741. He and his elder brother, Lord Conway (afterwards Earl and Marquis of Hertford), were among Walpole's school-fellows at Eton."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 72.

See also: Wikipedia | ODNB (subscription required)

Dodsley, James, 1724-1797

"James Dodsley (1724-97), younger brother of Robert Dodsley (see Letter 144 [letters.0163], n. 2), after being employed in his brother's business was, about 1755, taken into partnership, the firm trading as 'R. and J. Dodsley'. In 1759, after Robert Dodsley's retirement, James carried on the business alone."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. iii, 999.

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Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764

"Robert Dodsley (1703-64), author and bookseller, originally a footman, started as a bookseller at the Tully's Head in Pall Mall in 1735, when he published, among others, for Pope, Akenside, Young, Johnson, and Goldsmith. About 1755 he took his younger brother, James, into partnership, in whose favour he retired in 1759. He died while on a visit to Joseph Spence at Durham in 1764."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 294.

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Farmer, Richard, 1735-1797

"Richard Farmer (1735-97), B.A. 1757; M.A. 1760; D.D. 1775; Fellow and Tutor of Emmanuel College, of which he subsequently became Master (1775), author of an Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare (his only published work). He was a friend and correspondent of Thomas Percy, who in the Preface to his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765) paid a tribute to Farmer's 'extensive knowledge of ancient English Literature' (see Letter 340 [letters.0391], n. 3).

Cole, in his note of 31 Oct. 1780 mentioned above, adds the following account of the relations between Gray and Farmer: 'it must have been about the Year 1770; as the first Time they ever met to be acquainted together, was about that Time, I met them at Mr Oldham's Chambers in Peter House to Dinner. Before, they had been shy of each other: and tho' Mr Farmer was then esteemed one of the most ingenious men in the University, yet Mr Gray's singular Niceness in the Choice of his Acquaintance made him appear fastidious to a great Degree to all who was not acquainted with his Manner. Indeed there did not seem to be any Probability of any great Intimacy, from the Style & Manner of each of them: the one a chearful, companionable, hearty, open, downright Man, of no great Regard to Dress or common Forms of Behaviour: the other, of a most fastidious & recluse Distance of Carriage, rather averse to all Sociability, but of the graver Turn: nice & elegant in his Person, Dress & Behaviour, even to a Degree of Finicalness & Effeminacy. So that Nothing but their extensive Learning & Abilities could ever have coalesced two such different Men: & both of great Value in their own Line & Walk. They were ever after great Friends, & Dr Farmer & all of his Acquaintance had soon after too much Reason to lament his Loss, & the Shortness of their Acquaintance.'

Cole's statement that it must have been about the Year 1770 that Dr Farmer and Mr Gray ever met to be acquainted together needs examination. It would have been scarcely possible for Gray and Farmer to have lived for so many years in Cambridge without being known to one another, and in Percy's letters to Farmer there are references which can only be explained on the assumption that Farmer could consult Gray about questions raised by Percy and ask for his help (see Appendix N). It seems reasonable to conclude that Cole's meaning is that, while Gray and Farmer had known each other before, it was not until they dined together at Mr. Oldham's chambers that they became on friendly terms."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. iii, 1119-1120.

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Grafton, Augustus Henry Fitzroy, Duke of, 1735-1811

"Augustus Henry Fitzroy (1735-1811), third Duke of Grafton (1757), styled Earl of Euston 1747-57. In 1751 he entered Peterhouse, where Stonhewer was his private tutor: he graduated M.A. in 1753. After holding various offices in the Government, he became Prime Minister in 1768, and in the same year was elected Chancellor of the University."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. iii, 1034.

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Gray, Mrs. (Dorothy), 1685-1753

Gray's mother. See the biographical sketch.

Gray, Philip, 1676-1741

Gray's father. See the biographical sketch.

Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771 | see gallery

See the biographical sketch.

How, William Taylor, d. 1777

"William Taylor How had entered Pembroke under the name of William Taylor in 1751. In 1752 he assumed the name of How, presumably on succeeding to an inheritance. In Nov. 1753 he left Cambridge, and was admitted to Lincoln's Inn, but in 1758 he was readmitted to his College as a Fellow-commoner. He graduated B.A. in 1760 and was elected Smart Fellow (to a bye-fellowship of small emolument). In the autumn of that year he went abroad for the sake of his health, and after staying in Italy travelled home in 1763 by Germany to Spa and Brussels (see Letter 370 [letters.0423], and for his correspondence while abroad, see Appendix O). Gray uses 'cousin' jocularly, as elsewhere he uses 'uncle', to denote a familiar acquaintance. How died in 1777."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. ii, 795.

Hurd, Richard, 1720-1808

"Richard Hurd (1720-1808), of Emmanuel College, B.A. 1739; M.A. 1742; Fellow, 1742; B.D. 1749; D.D. 1768; Preacher at Whitehall, 1750; Rector of Thurcaston, Leics., 1757; Rector of Folkton, Yorks., 1762; Preacher at Lincoln's Inn, 1765; Archdeacon of Gloucester, 1767; Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, 1774-81; Bishop of Worcester, 1781-1808.

Among other works he published editions of Horace's Ars Poetica (1749), and Epistola ad Augustum (1751), which were highly praised by Warburton, to whom he dedicated a second edition of the two Epistles in 1753; a third edition was issued in 1757, and a fourth in 1766; in 1759 he published a volume of Moral and Political Dialogues; and in 1762 Letters on Chivalry and Romance. His Warburton Lectures appeared in 1772. Hurd was a zealous supporter of his friend and patron, Warburton, whose collected works he edited in 1788. Warburton's correspondence with him was published in 1808, under the title of Letters from a late Eminent Prelate to one of his Friends.

Hurd was a friend both of Gray (who sent him a presentation copy of his Odes) and of Mason, the latter of whom submitted his poetical compositions to him for criticism. Norton Nicholls in his Reminiscences of Gray records that when he asked Gray 'what sort of a man Dr. Hurd was', Gray answered, 'The last person who left off stiff-topped gloves', meaning presumably that he was an upholder of old fashions."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. ii, 492-493.

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Jennings, Mrs, 1703-1790

"[Mrs Jennings, a friend of Lady Cobham and Miss Speed, through whom apparently Gray had become acquainted with her ...] was the widow of Henry Jennings (d. 1739), of Shiplake, Oxon., and had at this date two children living, a daughter, Susannah, and a son, Henry Constantine (1731-1819), the well-known eccentric virtuoso, known as 'Dog Jennings' (see Boswell's Johnson, under 3 Apr. 1778). Mrs. Jennings in 1753 gave her son possession of the family mansion, Shiplake Court, and herself removed to Grovelands (subsequently known as Shiplake House), where Gray and Miss Speed were her guests in July 1760 (see Letter 318 [letters.0366], n. 2). She died at the age of 87 in 1790 (see E. J. Climenson's History of Shiplake)."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. ii, 647.

Lort, Michael, 1725-1790

"Michael Lort (1725-90), the antiquary, of Trinity College, Cambridge; B.A. 1746; M.A. 1750; Fellow, 1750-81; B.D. 1761; D.D. 1780; Regius Professor of Greek, 1759-71. He was a correspondent of Horace Walpole, and published a vindication of Walpole's conduct with regard to Chatterton. See Letter 512* [letters.0575] for a letter of Gray to him."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. iii, 1036.

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Macpherson, James, 1736-1796

"MACPHERSON, James (1736-96), born near Kingussie, the son of a farmer, was educated at Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities. In 1758 he published The Highlander, a heroic poem in 6 cantos. In 1759 he met John Home, for whom he produced his first 'Ossianic' fragment 'The Death of Oscar'; encouraged by Home and Hugh Blair he then produced Fragments of Ancient Poetry, Collected in the Highlands of Scotland, and Translated from the Galic or Erse Language (1760). Interest in Primitivism was at this period considerable, and rumours that a Gaelic epic existed aroused much curiosity and enthusiasm; pressed on by his admirers, Macpherson travelled round Scotland collecting the materials for Fingal, an Ancient Epic Poem, in Six Books, which appeared in 1762. It purported to be Macpherson's faithful translation of an epic by Ossian, the son of Finn (or, in this version, Fingal), dating from some vague but remote period of early Scottish history. [...] Macpherson's other works include a prose translation of the Iliad (1773) and a History of Great Britain (1775). He wrote in defence of Lord North's ministry, was MP for Camelford from 1780, and was buried in Westminster Abbey at his own expense."

The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Fifth edition. Ed. by Margaret Drabble. Oxford: OUP, 1985, repr. 1992 [1st ed. 1932], 604-605.

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Mann, Horace, Sir, 1706-1786

"Horace, afterwards Sir Horace, Mann (1701[?]-86), second son of Robert Mann, a London merchant. He was in 1737 appointed assistant to the Minister at the Court of Tuscany, and in 1740 became Minister, and held the post until his death. He was created a Baronet, 1755; died unmarried at Florence, aged 85, Nov. 1786, having never revisited England since taking up his appointment. Walpole and Mann, whose families were connected, became intimate friends, and when the former returned to England they began a correspondence, which continued uninterruptedly for forty-five years (during which they never met), until Mann's death. During their stay in Florence (at least for part of the time), Walpole and Gray resided in Mann's house (see Letter 90 [letters.0102], n. 7)."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 135.

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Mason, William, 1724-1797 | see gallery

"William Mason (1724-97) (see Genealogical Table), the friend, literary executor, and biographer of Gray, whose acquaintance he had made in the previous year (1747), and by whom he was familiarly called 'Scroddles'. He had been admitted to St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1742, and graduated B.A. in 1745-6. In 1747, largely through the recommendation of Gray, he was nominated to a Fellowship in Pembroke College, but the Master prevented his election till March 1749. He was ordained Deacon 17 Nov., and Priest 24 Nov. 1754, and three days later was instituted Rector of Aston, Yorkshire, on the presentation of the Earl of Holdernesse, a distant connexion (see Letter 181 [letters.0210], n. 3), who appointed him domestic Chaplain, and whose private secretary he appears to have been for a time at the beginning of that year (see Letter 184 [letters.0213], n. 4). He was subsequently Chaplain to the King, 1757-60, 1761-72; Canon Residentiary and Precentor of York, 1762. He became acquainted with Horace Walpole in 1754 (see Letter 188 [letters.0218] ad fin.), or perhaps earlier (see Letter 159 [letters.0180]), and was on terms of intimacy with him until 1784, when a political difference put an end to their friendship for some years. Mason was the author of a number of plays, satires, and poems, many of which underwent a minute revision at the hands of Gray before publication. His Musaeus, a monody to the memory of Pope, written in 1744, had been published in the previous year (1747). At the beginning of Section IV of his Memoirs Mason writes: 'It was not till about the year 1747 that I had the happiness of being introduced to the acquaintance of Mr. Gray. Some very juvenile imitations of Milton's juvenile poems, which I had written a year or two before, and of which the Monody on Mr. Pope's death was the principal, he then, at the request of one of my friends, was so obliging as to revise. The same year, on account of a dispute which had happened between the master and fellows of Pembroke Hall, I had the honour of being nominated by the Fellows to fill one of the vacant Fellowships. I was at this time scholar of St. John's College, and Batchelor of Arts, personally unknown to the gentlemen who favoured me so highly; therefore that they gave me this mark of distinction and preference was greatly owing to Mr. Gray, who was well acquainted with several of that society, and to Dr. Heberden, whose known partiality to every, even the smallest degree of merit, led him warmly to second his recommendation.'"

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 298-299.

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Nicholls, Norton, c. 1742-1809

"Norton Nicholls (c. 1742-1809) was the only son of Norton Nicholls, a London merchant, who married in 1741 Jane, daughter of Lt.-Col. Charles Floyer, of Richmond, Surrey. There is reason to believe that the elder Nicholls deserted his wife soon after the marriage (see Letter 432 [letters.0488], n. 9). Nicholls entered Eton in 1756 under Dr. Barnard; in 1760 he was admitted, as a Pensioner, to Trinity Hall, graduated LL.B. in 1766, was ordained in 1767, and presented, in October of that year, to the livings of Lound and Bradwell in Suffolk (see Letter 455 [letters.0511], n. 1). The beginning of his friendship with Gray, which can be dated on Friday, 11 June 1762 (see his letter to Temple printed at the end of Appendix Z), was described by Nicholls in his Reminiscences of Gray: 'My first acquaintance with Mr Gray was one afternoon drinking tea at the rooms of Mr Lobb a fellow of Peter-House. The conversation turned on the use of bold metaphors in poetry; and that of Milton was quoted, ''The sun was pale, and silent as the moon'' &c. [a misquotation for ''The Sun to me is dark'', Samson Agonistes, l. 86] when I ventured to ask if it might not possibly be imitated from Dante, ''mi ripingeva la, dove il sol tace'' [Inferno, i. 60]. Mr Gray turned quickly round to me and said, ''Sir, do you read Dante?'' and entered into conversation with me.'

For the rest of Gray's life Nicholls was one of his closest friends. 'I enjoyed', he wrote in his Reminiscences, 'the inestimable advantage of living more in his society than any other person whom I recollect, and on a footing of the greatest intimacy.' Mathias (A Letter occasioned by the Death of the Rev. Norton Nicholls, p. 5) relates that: 'Mr Gray ... gave him instruction for the course of his studies, which he directed entirely, ... which happily continued till the time of Mr Gray's death.' After Nicholls was settled in his vicarage, Gray stayed with him more than once, and Nicholls paid visits to Cambridge every year to enjoy Gray's society. From 1764 at least an active correspondence was maintained between them. Nicholls, according to Mathias, was passionately addicted to music; Egerton Brydges (Autobiography, vol. ii, p. 88) describes him as 'a very clever man, with a great deal of erudition: but it must be confessed a supreme coxcomb'. After Gray's death he was a friend of Walpole, who mentions him in many of his letters, often with the nickname of the 'Abbé'."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. ii, 851-852.

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Palgrave, William, 1735-1799

"William Palgrave came of a Norfolk family, many of whom had been at Cambridge. His father, William Palgrave (d. 1742), had been a Fellow of Caius and practised as a physician at Ipswich. The son, who had been at Bury School, was admitted to Pembroke (aged 18) in July 1753, and commenced residence on 2 Nov. in that year. He was elected Scholar, and continued in partial residence until 1760. In 1757 he became a Fellow-commoner, he was admitted Bachelor of Laws in 1759, and in Nov. 1764 he was elected Lany Fellow, and held this Bye-Fellowship until his death in 1799. He was ordained Deacon at Norwich in June 1759 and Priest soon after, and became Rector of Thrandeston, Suffolk; seven years later he became Rector also of Palgrave in Suffolk, both of which livings he held until he died.

As a Fellow-commoner he was brought into companionship with Gray and they became intimate friends. Gray refers to him familiarly as 'Pa' or 'old Pa' (Letters 279 [letters.0322], 345 [letters.0396] &c.), a nickname explained (see Tovey, vol. ii, p. 54) by the fact that Gray pronounced his name Pagrave: another nickname given to him was 'Proud Palgrave' (Letters 461 [letters.0517], 484 [letters.0541]), and another, 'The Abbé' (Letter 414 [letters.0468]). He was also a friend of Mason, but seems to have treated Mason's poetry with flippancy. Gray wrote on the publication of Caractacus: 'Old Pa is outrageous about it' (Letter 294 [letters.0339]). Mitford, Gray-Mason Correspondence, p. 158 n., gives an account derived from the Rev. William Alderson, 'the last survivor of those who personally remembered Mr. Palgrave'. He described him as 'a person of small stature, neat in his appearance, agreeable and clever in conversation, and a very pleasant companion'.

Gray urged him to write notes on his travels (Letters 278 [letters.0321], 400 [letters.0453]), and he sent Gray his note-books. He was a virtuoso, and shared the tastes of his particular friend William Weddell, of Newby Hall, Yorks. (see Letter 400, n. 13), who entered St. John's at the same time that Palgrave began residence at Pembroke. With Weddell, in 1765, he travelled in France and Italy (see Letter 400). Lord Sheffield, in a note to Gibbon's Memoirs (ed. Birkbeck Hill, p. 169, n. 2), records that Palgrave and Weddell were members of the Roman Club, which Gibbon describes as 'a weekly convivial meeting established by myself and travellers'."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. ii, 576.

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Percy, Thomas, 1729-1811

"Thomas Percy (1729-1811), whose name was originally spelt Piercy, entered Christ Church, Oxford as an exhibitioner in 1746; B.A. 1750; M.A. 1753, in which year he was appointed by the College to the Vicarage of Easton Mauduit, Northants, which he held till 1782; in 1770 he proceeded D.D. from Emmanuel College, Cambridge; in 1778 he was made Dean of Carlisle, and in 1782 Bishop of Dromore. His celebrated Reliques of Ancient English Poetry was first published in 3 vols. sm. 8vo in 1765."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. ii, 747.

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Robinson, William, Rev., c. 1726-1803

"William Robinson (c. 1726-1803) was the son of Matthew Robinson, of West Leyton, Yorks.; his eldest brother Matthew Robinson-Morris was the second Lord Rokeby, and Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu, the blue stocking, was his sister. He graduated from St. John's College, Cambridge as B.A. in 1751, M. A. in 1754, and was a Fellow from 1752 to 1760. He was ordained in 1754. Conyers Middleton was the second husband of Robinson's grandmother, and Sir Egerton Brydges (who wrote an account of Robinson (who was his father-in-law) in his Autobiography, vol. ii, pp. 9 ff.) thinks that it was at Middleton's house that he first met Gray. He became Gray's intimate friend, and here and elsewhere Gray alludes to him as 'Billy Robinson'. Mitford printed one letter to him from Gray (Letter 380 [letters.0433]). At the date of this letter he was curate at Kensington (Letter 317 [letters.0365]). (For his marriage see Letter 316 [letters.0364], and for Gray's visits to him at Denton, where he was Rector, see Letters 421 [letters.0476], 423 [letters.0478] (1766), and 480 [letters.0537], n. 1 (1768).)"

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. ii, 646.

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Schaub, Lady, d. 1793

"Horace Walpole, in a MS. note in his copy of Maty's Memoirs of the Earl of Chesterfield (1777), says Lady Schaub 'was a French widow of Nismes, and a Protestant, and remarried to Sir Luke Schaub. She is one of the heroines in Gray's Long Story' (see Letter 155 [letters.0176], n. 2). Sir Luke Schaub was a Swiss, a native of Basle. He had been secretary to Lord Cobham (see Letter 155, n. 4) when he was ambassador at Vienna in 1715, and was afterwards secretary to the first Earl of Stanhope. He was knighted in 1720, and in the following year was sent as ambassador to Paris, in which capacity he remained till 1724. He died in 1758.

Lady Schaub had the reputation of being 'very gallant'. Horace Walpole, in the account of Sir Thomas Robinson's ball in his letter to Mann of 2 Nov. 1741, mentions among the pretty women there 'a Lady Schaub, a foreigner, who, as Sir Luke says, would have him: as the town says, Lord Chomley will have her'. She had apartments for many years in Hampton Court Palace, where she died in 1793 (D.N.B.)."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 331.

Speed, Henrietta Jane, 1728-1783 | see gallery

"The daughter of Samuel Speed (1682-1731), Lieut.-Colonel in Gore's Regiment of Dragoons, by his wife Cardonnel Jones, daughter of Richard Jones, of Brentford, Middlesex; she was born and baptized at Holyrood, 8 Jan. 1728. After the death of her only surviving brother, Lieut.-Colonel Samuel Speed (b. 1716), who was killed in action at Bergen-op-Zoom in 1747, she resided with Lady Cobham [...], whose niece she was, according to Walpole (see his notes on the PS. to his letter to Mann of 18 Sept. 1777). She inherited a large fortune from Lady Cobham (see [...] Letter 313 [letters.0361]), and it was rumoured that she and Gray were going to make a match (see Letters 313 and 321 [letters.0370]); but about the end of 1761 (see Letter 353 [letters.0406], n. 12) she married Joseph Marie de Viry, Baron de la Perrière, afterwards Comte de Viry, Sardinian Minister at The Hague, London and Paris (see Letters 353 and 420 [letters.0475]). She died in Savoy in 1783, as she was about to visit England (see Walpole to Lady Ossory, 30 Jan. 1783)."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 331-332.

Stonhewer, Richard, 1728-1809 | see gallery

"Richard Stonhewer (for so, and not Stonehewer, his name is spelt by Stonhewer himself in letters and in his will, and by Gray) (c. 1728-1809), son of Rev. Richard Stonehewer (d. 29 Oct. 1769), Rector of Houghton-le-Spring, Durham; he was educated at Kepyer in that parish, and at Trinity College, Cambridge (his father's College), where he was admitted Pensioner on 4 Nov. 1745; he matriculated 1745-6, and graduated B.A. in 1749-50, being eighth in the Tripos list; in Oct. 1751 he was elected Fellow of Peterhouse, and proceeded M.A. in 1753, in the same year as his pupil, the Earl of Euston, afterwards (1757) third Duke of Grafton, also a member of Peterhouse, whose intimate friend he subsequently became. In 1755 he was appointed Historiographer to his Majesty (see Letter 196 [letters.0227], n. 3), and in 1756 Knight Harbinger (he is entered in the Court and City Register for 1757, as holding this office). He seems to have received some further preferment in 1759, possibly the post of interpreter of Oriental Languages, which he is known to have held a year or two later (see Letter 294 [letters.0339], n. 19). When Grafton in 1765 became Secretary of State for the North he appointed Stonhewer under-secretary. On 15 Aug. 1766 he was appointed private secretary to the Duke of Grafton, then First Lord of the Treasury, and in January 1767 Commissioner of Excise. It was due to his influence with Grafton, then Prime Minister, that Gray was appointed in July 1768 to the Regius Professorship of Modern History at Cambridge.

Gray must have become acquainted with Stonhewer sometime before this date, probably soon after he came into residence at Trinity, through the introduction of Wharton. Their relations became intimate - in his letter to Stonhewer on the death of his father (see Letter 507 [letters.0566]) Gray calls him 'my best friend', and by his will he left him £500 stock and one of his diamond rings, a similar bequest being made to Wharton.

Stonhewer was also intimate with Mason (see Letter 144 [letters.0163], n. 33), who left to Stonhewer Gray's manuscripts and books. The three volumes of Gray's Commonplace-book, as well as portraits of Gray and Mason, Stonhewer bequeathed to Pembroke College. Cole says of Stonhewer: 'He was one of the prettiest Figures of a Man I ever saw, & was as pretty a scholar'."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 237-238.

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Talbot, William, d. 1811

"William Talbot, of Clare; B.A. 1743; M.A. 1746; Fellow, 1744-66; Rector of Elmseth, Suffolk, 1766-1811; Prebendary of Salisbury, 1767-71; d. 1811. He married a Miss Kirke, a relative and coheiress of Dr. Newcome, Master of St. John's (see Letter 399 [letters.0451], n. 15). In May 1761 the Duke of Newcastle (a member of Clare) as Chancellor of the University, appointed William Talbot his 'secretary for the business of the University', in succession to Dr. Samuel Squire (see Letter 248 [letters.0283], n. 2) who had been made Bishop of St. Davids (see Winstanley's The University of Cambridge in the Eighteenth Century, pp. 146-7)."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. ii, 509-510.

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Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797 | see gallery

"Horace Walpole (1717-97), third surviving son of Sir Robert Walpole, entered Eton in 1727, where he became an intimate friend of Gray, West, and Ashton. See Letter 2 [letters.0002], n. 8."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 1.

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Warton, Thomas, 1728-1790

"Thomas Warton (1728-90), younger son of Thomas Warton, the elder, and brother of Dr. Joseph Warton, Head Master of Winchester (see Letter 129 [letters.0147], n. 18), entered Trinity College, Oxford, in 1744; B.A. 1747; M.A. 1750; Fellow, 1751; Professor of Poetry at Oxford, 1757-67; Camden Professor of Ancient History at Oxford, 1785-90; Poet Laureate, 1785-90; author of the History of English Poetry (1774-81)."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. iii, 1092.

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West, Richard, 1716-1742

"Richard West, known from his name as 'Favonius' or 'Zephyrus' in the 'Quadruple Alliance' (see Letter 2 [letters.0002], n. 8), of which he was the only member to go to Oxford, was the only son of Richard West, an eminent lawyer, who became Lord Chancellor of Ireland; on his mother's side he was a grandson of Bishop Burnet. He was born in 1716, and went to Eton probably in 1726, the year of his father's death. He was a delicate youth; Cole, who had been intimate with him at Eton, describes him as 'tall and slim, of a pale and meagre look and complexion, and promised not half what he performed'. He went from Eton to Christ Church, Oxford, as a Commoner, in May 1735, and came away, after a residence of three years, without taking a degree. He had early been destined for his father's profession of the bar, and to this end had been admitted at the Inner Temple in 1733. On leaving Oxford in 1738 he settled in the Temple, where it was intended that Gray should join him; but this arrangement was upset by Gray's continental tour with Walpole. West, however, had no ambition 'to sit upon a bench', as he wrote to Gray in June 1740 (see Letter 89 [letters.0101]), and before the return of the latter he had left the Temple, and turned his thoughts to the army. Meanwhile the state of his health was becoming rapidly worse. Gray found him weak and dispirited, and before long, in the spring of 1742, he began to complain of a racking cough, which sapped his strength and robbed him of his sleep (see Letter 102 [letters.0118]). He died shortly after (1 June 1742) in a country house near Hatfield, so suddenly that both Gray (see Letter no 110* [letters.0128]) and Ashton (see Gray-Walpole Correspondence, no. 152) addressed letters to him after he had been dead some days. Gray gave expression to his own grief in the well-known sonnet On the Death of Richard West, and in some lines in the fragmentary "fourth book" of his Latin poem De Principiis Cogitandi, which was dedicated to West (see Letter 131 [letters.0149])."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 28-29.

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Whalley, John, 1698 or 9-1748

"John Whalley, Fellow of Pembroke, 1721; Master of Peterhouse, 1733-48; D.D., 1737; Regius Professor of Divinity, 1742."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 228.

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Wharton, Thomas, 1717-1794

"Thomas Wharton (1717-94), physician, Gray's most intimate friend, was the eldest of the three sons of Robert (1690-1752), Mayor of Durham, second son of Thomas (1652-1714), physician, eldest son of the celebrated physician and anatomist, Dr. Thomas Wharton (1614-73), Fellow, and for many years Censor, of the Royal College of Physicians, the friend of Isaac Walton and Elias Ashmole. Thomas, the friend of Gray (who was his senior by a year or more, but of the same standing in the University), was admitted as a Pensioner at Pembroke College, Cambridge (with which he had an hereditary connexion, his great-grandfather and uncle having both been members of the College) in 1734; B.A., 1738; elected Fellow, 1739; M.A., 1741; M.D., 1752. He vacated his Fellowship in 1747, on his marriage to Margaret Wilkinson, of Cross Gate, Durham, by whom he had three sons and five daughters (see Genealogical Tables). He succeeded to the estate of Old-Park[, Durham] (which had been acquired by his great-great-grandfather in 1620) on the death of his father in 1752. Gray, as the address of this letter shows, had become intimate with him during his first period of residence at Peterhouse; and the friendship was renewed after Gray's return to College in 1742, when he found Wharton in residence at Pembroke. Wharton continued to reside (at irregular intervals) until Oct. 1746, when he left Cambridge, after which he and Gray were separated for five years (see Letter 166 [letters.0188], n. 7). They met again in Cambridge in April 1752, and afterwards were often together in London, and at Wharton's home at Old-Park. Wharton, who became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1754, and was Censor in 1757, practised as a physician in London between 1754 and 1758, when he went to reside at Old-Park."

Correspondence of Thomas Gray. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, in 3 vols., with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. i, 142.