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Thomas Gray to Horace Walpole, [14 April 1765]

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To The Honble Horace Walpole in Arlington Street London
 SAFFRON WALDEN 15 AP

Pemb: Coll: Sunday

I exist, tho' it is but of late, that I walk again on two legs after a gentle fit of the gout, that held me for six weeks. in about a fortnight I shall be in town, but had rather not stay so long for a sight of your new edition, & should wish, if you have a copy to spare, that you would send it me hither.

Mr B:, since he was in the ministry, has taken advice of no one, but perhaps his Brother-ministers. Patriotism appears again with all its old faults on its head, even to the Dutchess of Marlborough's striped gown. don't you reckon, that there is a little flirt aim'd at you in it?

I see the BP & You are destined to come together: however I make my protestation beforehand, that I never will believe, you had an eye to the Eleusinian mysteries; or that you have demonstrated the truth of the Copernican system by making no mention of it in any part of your writings.

Adieu! I am
Ever Yours
T G:
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Letter ID: letters.0454 (Source: TEI/XML)

Correspondents

Writer: Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771
Writer's age: 48
Addressee: Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797
Addressee's age: 47

Dates

Date of composition: [14 April 1765]
Date (on letter): Sunday
Calendar: Gregorian

Places

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

Physical description

Addressed: To The Honble Horace Walpole in Arlington Street London (postmark: SAFFRON WALDEN 15 AP)

Content

Language: English
Incipit: I exist, tho' it is but of late, that I walk again on two legs after a...
Mentioned: Bentley, Richard
Warburton, William

Holding Institution

Location:
(confirmed)
GBR/1058/GRA/3/4/93, College Library, Pembroke College, Cambridge , Cambridge, UK <http://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/>
Availability: The original letter is extant and usually available for academic research purposes

Print Versions

  • 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. 227, vol. ii, 228-229
  • The Yale Edition of Horace Walpole's Correspondence. Ed. by W. S. Lewis. New Haven, Conn.: Yale UP; London: Oxford UP, 1937-83, vols. 13/14: Horace Walpole's Correspondence with Thomas Gray, Richard West and Thomas Ashton i, 1734-42, Horace Walpole's Correspondence with Thomas Gray ii, 1745-71, ed. by W. S. Lewis, George L. Lam and Charles H. Bennett, 1948, vol. ii, 138-139
  • 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. 400*, vol. ii, 868-870