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Thomas Gray to Richard West, [22 January 1738]

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Glaucias Favonio suo S:

Literas, mi Favoni, abs te demum nudiustertiùs, credo, accepi; planè mellitas, nisi fortè quà de ægritudine quadam tuâ dictum: atque hoc sane mihi habitum est non paulò acerbiùs, quod te capitis morbo implicitum esse intellexi; oh morbum mihi quam odiosum! qui de industria id agit, ut ego in singulos menses, Dii boni, quantis juunditatibus orbarer! quàm ex animo mihi dolendum est, quod

Medio de fonte leporum
Surgit amari aliquid.

salutem mehercule, nolo, tam parvipendas, atqb amicis tam improbè consulas: quanquam tute fortassis – æstuas angusto limite mundi, viamqb (ut dicitur) affectas Olympo, nos tamen non esse tam sublimes, utpote qui hisce in sordibus & fæce diutius paululum versari volumus, reminiscendum est: illæ tuæ Musæ, si te ament modo, derelinqui paulisper non nimis ægrè patientur: indulge, amabo te, plus quam soles, corporis exercitationibus: magis te campus habeat, aprico magis te dedas otio, ut ne id ingenium quod tam cultum curas, diligenter nimis dum foves, officiosarum matrum ritu, interimas. vide, quæso, quàm ἰατρικῶς tecum agimus,

ἤδ' ἐπιθήσω
φάρμαχ' κεν παύσῃσι μελαινάων ὀδυνάων·

si de his pharmacis non satis liquet; sunt festivitates meræ, sunt facetiæ, & risus; quos ego equidem si adhibere nequeo, tamen ad præcipiendum (ut medicorum fere mos est) certè satis sim: id, quod poeticè sub finem epistolæ lusisti, mihi gratissimum quidem accidit. admodum latinè coctum & conditum tetrasticon Græcam tamen illam ἀφέλειαν mirificè sapit. tu, quod restat, vide sodes, hujus hominis ignorantiam; cum, unde hoc tibi sit depromptum, (ut fatear) prorsus nescio: sane ego equidem nihil in capsis reperio, quo tibi minimæ partis solutio fiat.

vale, & me ut soles, ama.
Letter ID: letters.0051 (Source: TEI/XML)

Correspondents

Writer: Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771
Writer's age: 21
Addressee: West, Richard, 1716-1742
Addressee's age: 22[?]

Dates

Date of composition: [22 January 1738]
Date (on letter): [A:D: 11: Kalend: Februar:]
Calendar: Julian

Places

Place of composition: [Cambridge, United Kingdom]

Content

Languages: Latin, Greek
Incipit: Literas, mi Favoni, abs te demum nudiustertius, credo, accepi;...

Holding Institution

Availability: The original letter is unlocated, a copy, transcription, or published version survives

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 xii, section i, 28-29
  • The Works of Thomas Gray, 2 vols. Ed. by Thomas James Mathias. London: William Bulmer, 1814, section I, letter XII, vol. i, 157-158
  • The Works of Thomas Gray, 2 vols. Ed. by John Mitford. London: J. Mawman, 1816, section I, letter XII, vol. ii, 23-24
  • The Letters of Thomas Gray, 2 vols. in one. London: J. Sharpe, 1819, letter XII, vol. i, 24-26
  • The Works of Thomas Gray, 5 vols. Ed. by John Mitford. London: W. Pickering, 1835-1843, section I, letter XII, vol. ii, 26-27
  • Gray and his Friends: Letters and Relics, in great part hitherto unpublished. Ed. by Duncan C. Tovey. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1890, section II, letter no. 18, 105-107
  • 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. IX, vol. i, 10-11
  • The Correspondence of Gray, Walpole, West and Ashton (1734-1771), 2 vols. Chronologically arranged and edited with introduction, notes, and index by Paget Toynbee. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1915, letter no. 74, vol. i, 175-177
  • 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. 47, vol. i, 77-78