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1734

Age 17. 7 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

4 July

Entered as pensioner at Peterhouse, Cambridge.

11 August

Thomas Ashton entered King's College, Cambridge.

9 October

Gray fully admitted at Peterhouse.

Gray met Thomas Wharton, a pensioner at Pembroke College, Cambridge.

8 December

Gray had written his first extant English poem, "Lines Spoken by John Dennis at the Devil Tavern", and sent it to Walpole.

1735

Age 18. 14 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

11 March

Gray joined in Cambridge by his friend Horace Walpole, who entered at King's College.

22 May

West entered at Christ Church, Oxford.

22 November

Gray admitted at Inner Temple.

1736

Age 19. 19 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

12 February

Inherited the small property of his paternal aunt, Sarah Gray.

May

Gray's "Hymeneal" on the marriage of the Prince of Wales published in the Cambridge Gratulatio.

1737

Age 20. 12 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

March

Wrote Tripos Verses, i.e. the Latin verses printed with the list of Cambridge Tripos candidates each year, Luna habitabilis.

1738

Age 21. 16 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

14 September

Left Cambridge for his father's house in London without having taken a degree, intending to read for the Bar at the Inner Temple in London.

1739

Age 22. 23 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

29 March

Accompanied Horace Walpole on a two-year Grand Tour through France and Italy.

April - June

Stayed in Paris.

June - September

Stayed at Reims.

September - October

Was at Lyon, via Dijon.

October

On the way to Geneva, visited the Grande Chartreuse. Crossed the Mont Cenis.

7 November

Arrived at Turin.

Winter

By Genoa and Bologna to Florence, where he spent the winter at the house of Horace Mann.

1740

Age 23. 21 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

March - July

Visited Rome.

June

Excursion to Naples.

7 July

Returned to Florence.

During this period sent several Latin poems to West.

Second half of the year

Began writing De Principiis Cogitandi in Florence.

1741

Age 24. 7 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

April

Left Florence for Venice.

3 May

Quarrelled with Walpole at Reggio and proceeded to Venice.

May - July

Stayed at Venice with John Chute.

Returned to England alone through Padua, Verona, Milan, Turin, Lyon, and Paris.

21 August

Visited the Grande Chartreuse again and wrote an Alcaic Ode in the Visitors' Book of the Monastery.

1 September

Arrived back in England, went to London.

6 November

Gray's father, Philip, died, leaving the family financially insecure.

Winter

Gray began his only tragedy, the fragmentary Agrippina.

1742

Age 25. 15 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

Planned to study law in London with West. Regular correspondence with West, exchanging Latin verses and translations with him.

March

Wrote the "Hymn to Ignorance" (fragment).

28 May - 15 October

Visited his uncle Jonathan Rogers at Stoke Poges in Buckinghamshire.

Gray wrote the "Ode on the Spring", which he sent to Richard West on 3rd June.

1 June

Richard West, Gray's closest friend, died.

Mid-June - Mid-July

Gray briefly returned to London.

August

Gray wrote the "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College", "Sonnet on the Death of Richard West", and the "Ode to Adversity".

15 October

Returned to Peterhouse, as a Fellow-commoner, resided permanently at Cambridge, with a few protracted absences, for the rest of his life.

Gray's chief friends at Cambridge were Thomas Wharton, Fellow of Pembroke till his marriage in 1747, James Brown, afterwards Master of Pembroke, and William Mason (1724-97).

21 October

Gray's uncle Jonathan Rogers, died.

December

Gray's mother and her sister, Mary Antrobus, retired from Cornhill and settled with their third sister, Anne (1676-1758), the widow of Jonathan Rogers, at West End House at Stoke Poges in Buckinghamshire. Gray accordingly divided his summers between Stoke and London in the following decade.

1743

Age 26. 2 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

December

Granted a Bachelor of Laws degree.

1744

Age 27. 1 letter is known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

Spent the year in Cambridge, with summer visits to Stoke and London.

1745

Age 28. 2 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

8 November

Reconciled with Horace Walpole.

1746

Age 29. 13 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

Autumn

Gray shared some of his earlier poetry and probably the beginning of the "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard", which he had recently started, with Horace Walpole who had begun living in an apartment within the precincts of Windsor Castle.

1747

Age 30. 15 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

1 March

Sent the "Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes" to Walpole.

30 May

"Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College" published anonymously by Robert Dodsley.

Walpole leased the estate in Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, which he began turning into a Gothic castle.

1748

Age 31. 5 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

15 January

"Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College", "Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes", and "Ode on the Spring" published anonymously in R. Dodsley's Collection of Poems, vol. II

January / February

Met and befriended Rev. William Mason who was to become a fellow of Pembroke College in 1749 and eventually served as Gray's literary executor.

25 March

Gray's childhood home in Cornhill burned down.

August

Began "The Alliance of Education and Government".

1749

Age 32. 5 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

William Mason elected Fellow of Pembroke, partly through Gray's influence.

5 November

Gray's aunt and his mother's former business partner, Mary Antrobus, died.

1750

Age 33. 5 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

12 June

Completed the "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" at Stoke Poges and sent it to Walpole who circulated it in MS among his friends and acquaintances.

August - October

Wrote "A Long Story" for Lady Cobham, a neighbour at Stoke Poges. Met Henrietta Jane Speed (1728-1783).

1751

Age 34. 11 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

15 February

An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard published anonymously by Dodsley. Unauthorized versions appear almost immediately in a variety of publications.

1752

Age 35. 10 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

Planned to collaborate with William Mason on a "History of English Poetry".

July

Began "The Progress of Poesy".

1753

Age 36 . 16 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

11 March

Gray's mother, Dorothy, died at Stoke Poges.

29 March

Designs by Mr. R. Bentley for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, the first authorized collected edition of Gray's poetry, published by Dodsley.

July - September

Accompanied Stonhewer to Durham, visited Wharton.

1754

Age 37. 12 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

During this and the two following years Gray was engaged with the Pindaric Odes "The Progress of Poesy" and "The Bard".

Probably began "Ode on the Pleasure arising from Vicissitude".

June - September

Made a tour in Northamptonshire and Warwickshire.

December

"The Progress of Poesy" finished.

1755

Age 38. 18 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

14 September

Left Cambridge for his father's house in London without having taken a degree, intending to read for the Bar at the Inner Temple in London.

1756

Age 39. 19 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

5 March

Moved from Peterhouse to Pembroke College.

1757

Age 40. 37 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

May

Attended a concert by harper Mr. Parry. Completed "The Bard".

8 August

Odes by Mr. Gray ("The Progress of Poesy" and "The Bard") published by Walpole at his new Strawberry Hill press.

15 December

Was offered, but refused, the post of Poet Laureate, vacant through the death of Colley Cibber.

1758

Age 41. 31 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

January

Wrote "[Epitaph on Mrs. Clerke]" for John Clerke.

June or July

Wrote "Epitaph on a Child" for Thomas Wharton.

1 September

Gray's aunt, Mrs. Jonathan Rogers, died in Stoke Poges.

Gray's connection with the place ended the following year. Hereafter Gray usually spent his summers visiting friends in different parts of the country.

1759

Age 42. 25 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

9 July

Took lodgings in Southampton Row, London, in order to study at the British Museum, which was opened to the public in January. Collected materials for his planned "History of English Poetry".

1760

Age 43. 24 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

March

Lady Cobham died.

28 June - 21 July

Visited Henrietta Jane Speed at the home of her friend Mrs Jennings at Shiplake, in Oxfordshire.

Autumn

Read and studied the works of James Macpherson and later the Rev. Evan Evans.

1761

Age 44. 25 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

5 May

Gray had completed "The Fatal Sisters", "The Descent of Odin", and the other imitations of Welsh and Norse poems (including "The Triumphs of Owen"), expression of his culminating interest in early Welsh and Icelandic poetry. Intended to include them in his "History of English Poetry", which he had first projected in 1752.

August

Wrote "Epitaph on Sir W. Williams".

October

Wrote "Song" for Miss Speed.

12 November

Henrietta Jane Speed married to Baron de la Perriere.

19 November

Gave up London residence and returned to Pembroke College.

1762

Age 45. 13 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

11 June

Made the acquaintance of Norton Nicholls, an undergraduate at Cambridge, who became a close friend.

1 July - 11 November

Visited Mason in York and Wharton in Durham, and made a tour of places of interest in the north.

November

Gray made overtures for the post of Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, vacant through the death of Dr. Turner, but Lord Bute, George III's chief minister, gave it to Lawrence Brockett.

1763

Age 46. 20 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

Spent the year in Cambridge, with brief excursions to Epsom, Boxhill, and London.

1764

Age 47. 18 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

January - March

Gray wrote "The Candidate", a satire on the Earl of Sandwich's application for the High Stewardship of Cambridge University.

25 September - 22 October

Visited Southampton, Salisbury, etc.

1765

Age 48. 23 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

27 May - 18 August

Visited York and Durham.

18 August - 17 October

Made a tour in the Scottish Highlands with Lord Strathmore. Met Robertson and "other literati" at Edinburgh. Stayed at Glamis castle, where he met James Beattie (1735-1803).

1766

Age 49. 14 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

16 May - 4 July

Travelled in Kent.

1767

Age 50. 29 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

15 June - 2 November

Stayed at Durham, Hartlepool, York. First visit to the Lake District.

1768

Age 51. 31 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

12 March

Collected edition of Poems published by Dodsley in London.

4 May

Poems published by R. and A. Foulis in Glasgow.

7 April - 15 July

Stayed in Kent.

July

Wrote verses "On L[or]d H[olland']s Seat Near M[argat]e, K[en]t".

28 July

Appointed Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, and made Fellow of Pembroke College.

October

Poems published in a new edition by Dodsley.

1769

Age 52. 25 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

April

Completed the "Ode for Music".

1 July

Ode for Music performed at the installation of the Duke of Grafton, Chancellor of the University.

18 July - 15 October

Visited York, Durham, and the Lakes. Wrote his Journal on his tour

December

Met and befriended Charles Victor de Bonstetten (1745-1832), a young Swiss scholar, in Cambridge.

1770

Age 53. 43 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

March

De Bonstetten left England.

2 July

Gray made his will, left all his works to William Mason.

2 July - 3 August

Gray made an excursion through the Western Counties in company of Norton Nicholls.

1771

Age 54. 25 letters are known to have been written in this year.

From the Chronology:

24 July

Taken ill suddenly while dining at Pembroke College.

30 July

Gray died of suppressed gout.

6 August

He was buried beside his mother and aunt in the churchyard at Stoke Poges.