This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The original letter is extant and usually available for academic research purposes
Julian
This letter is part of the Primary Texts section of the Thomas Gray Archive.
XML created for the Thomas Gray Archive.
This letter is part of the correspondence calendar of the complete correspondence of Thomas Gray. The calendar contains detailed bibliographic records for all known original, copied, or published letters written by or to the poet as well as the full-text, where available. Each record is accompanied by digitised images of the manuscript, where available, or digitised images of the first printed edition.
I rejoice to hear you are safe arrived, tho' drawn by four wild Horses, like People one reads of in the Book
of Martyrs. yet I can not chuse but lament your Condition, so coop'd up in the Elvet-House with
Spirits & Hobgoblins about you, & Pleasure at one Entrance quite shut out; you must so much the more set open all the other
Avenues to admit it, open your Folio's, open your De L'Isle, & take a Prospect of that World, wch
the cruel Architect has hid from your corporeal Eyes, & confined 'em to the narrow Contemplation of your own Backside, & Kitchen Garden. Mr Keene has been here, but is now gone to Town for a little
While, & returns to pass the Winter with us. we are tolerably gracious, & he speaks mighty well of you: but when I look upon
his countenance & his Ways, I can never think of bestowing [Tuthill] upon him (tho' it were never
so advantagious, & they both had a Mind to it) and so I have said nothing to either of them. I found, he had no Hopes of your
Petition; & believe, you are right in thinking no farther of it. your Mention of Mr Vane, reminds me of poor Smart (not that I, or any other Mortal, pity him)
about three Weeks ago he was arrested here at the Suit of a Taylor in London for a Debt of about 50£ of three Years standing. the
College had about 28£ due to him in their Hands, the rest (to hinder him from going to the Castle,
for he could not raise a Shilling) Brown, May, & Peele, lent him upon his Note. upon this he
remain'd confined to his Room, lest his Creditors here should snap him; & the Fellows went round to make out a List of his Debts,
wch amount in Cambridge to above 350£. that they might come the readier to some Composition, he was advised to go off in the Night,
& lie hid somewhere or other. he has done so, & this has made the Creditors agree to an Assignment of 50£ per ann: out of his
Income, wch is above 140£, if he lives at Cambridge (not else). but I am apprehensive, if this come to the Ears of Mr Vane he may take
away the 40£ hitherto allowed him by the Duke of Cleveland; for before all this (last Summer) I know
they talk'd of doing so, as Mr Smart (they said) was settled in the World. if you found an Opportunity, possibly you might hinder this
(wch would totally ruin him now) by representing his Absurdity in the best Light it will bear: but at the same Time they should make
this a Condition of its Continuance; that he live in the College, soberly, & within Bounds, for that upon any Information to the
Contrary it shall be absolutely stop'd. this would be doing him a real Service, tho' against the Grain: yet I must own, if you heard
all his Lies, Impertinence, & Ingratitude in this Affair, it would perhaps quite set you against him, as it has his only Friend (Mr
Addison) totally. & yet one would try to save him, for Drunkenness is one great Source of all
this, & he may change it. I would not tell this Matter in the North, were I you, till I found it
was known by other Means. we have had an Opinion from the Attor:ny General in a manner directly
contrary to the former. he does not seem to have been clear then; so that he may possibly not be so now. the Kings-Bench (he says) can
take no Cognizance of it; the Visitor must do all, & he is the Vice-Chancellor by K: James's
Charter, wch is good. this is sad indeed, & the Fellows, before they acquiesce in it, seem desirous of consulting Dr Lee, who is well acquainted with College-Matters.
Have you seen Lyttelton's Monody on his Wife's Death? there are Parts of it too stiff & poetical; but others truly tender & elegiac, as one would wish. Dodsley is publishing three Miscellaneous Volumes; some new, many that have been already printed. Lyttelton, Nugent, and G: West have given him several Things of theirs. Mr W: has given him three Odes of mine (wch you have seen before) & one of Mr West's (my Friend, who is dead) wch in Spite of the Subject is excellent: it is on the late Queen's Death. there is a Mr Archibald Bower, a Scotchman bred in Italy, Professour in three Universities there, & of the Inquisition. he was employed by the Court of Rome to write a History of the Popes. as he searched into the Materials, his Eyes were open'd: he came to England, has changed his Religion, & continues his Work in our Language under the Patronage of Mr Pitt, the Yorks, &c: the Preface is come out with the Proposals, & promises exceeding well. doubtless there is no part of History more curious, if it be well perform'd.
My best wishes wait upon Mrs. Wharton, and —. my Compliments to Miss Wharton, & to King Harry, the 8th – . Brown will write; [he's the ... little man and always ...]
P:S: I said something to Stonhewer, who (I believe) will do what he can. he is now in London.