she will demand with great exactness.-Adieu, dear

Sir, I am ever yours,

T. GRAY.

To me at Mrs. Rogers's of Stoke, near Windsor, Bucks.

Endorsed [1752-3.]

XCIII. TO THOMAS WHARTON.

Cambridge, Thursday, June 28, 1753. MY DEAR DOCTOR-You may well suppose me no longer here, as I have neglected thus long to answer two very kind letters, and (which is more) to congratulate you on what most of your friends regard as a very happy event: but to me, I own, it has another face, as I have a much greater regard for you than for the young gentleman, whom I never saw; and foresee, that from this time you will never part with your bottle, which is properly the father of this boy. All my rhetorick will be thrown away, the gout may groan at you, and brandish its crutches, the stone. rattle, and the palsy shake its head unheeded. We shall be no match for claret, if it can get an heir, as well as carry an election. Now I talk of elections, we have a report here that your friend Mr. V. (I mean Lord Barnard) means to bring in his son-in-law at Durham. Is this true? H. Vane sets out for the North on Saturday, so I suppose the Bishop's entry will be over next week: and next Monday fortnight I hope to set out myself with Stonehewer, who is

going down to his father's, in a post-chaise. We shall not come very fast, as I propose to see Burleigh, Bevoir Castle, etc., by the way. But I shall write again before I come, to tell you exactly what day we shall be at York. If the time does not suit you, you will inform me as soon as possible. I did not run away from his Grace, but followed your advice, had a very affectionate squeeze by the hand, and a fine compliment in a corner. Many people here have been curious to know what it was; but I have kept my own secret, for indeed I do not know myself; only I remember it felt warm, and sweated a little. Adieu! You will not fail to present my compliments to Mrs. Wharton. If she drank as much claret, as you have done, we shall have the boy stand for the county, as soon as he can walk alone. Mr. Brown (I believe) will be engaged here with Plummer greatest part of the summer; he and Tuthill desire to be remembered to you both.-I am ever, truly yours, T. GRAY.

XCIV.-TO THOMAS WHARTON.

Cambridge, Saturday, July 14, 1752.

MY DEAR DOCTOR-This is only to tell you, that we set out on Monday morning, and shall travel leisurely, not by the direct road, for we intend to see several houses and places as we go; on Thursday we shall see York, and next morning as early as we can (certainly before ten o'clock) shall hope to meet you

at Studley. You will understand all this with ArchBishop Potter's proviso, God willing, and provided nothing hinder, for if we are overturned and tous fracassées, or if the mob at Leeds cut us off, as friends to turnpikes; or if the waters be out, and drown us; or (as Herodotus says) if we can go no farther for feathers,1 in all these cases, and many more, we may chance to fail you.-My respects to Mrs. Wharton, I am ever yours, T. GRAY.

XCV.-TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON.

Durham, July 24, Tuesday, 1753. DEAR SIR-We performed our journey, a very agreeable one, within the time appointed, and left out scarcely anything worth seeing in or near our way. The Doctor and Mrs. Wharton had expected us about two hours, when we arrived at Studley on Friday. We passed that night at Ripon, and the next at Richmond; and on Sunday evening got to Durham. I cannot now enter into the particulars of my travels, because I have not yet gathered up my quotations from the Classics to intersperse, like Mr. Addison;

1 This passage from the 4th Book of Herodotus is humorously applied, by Swift, to the number of authors existing in England. "A happiness (he says) derived to us, with a great many others, from our Scythian ancestors, among whom the number of pens was so infinite, that the Grecian eloquence had no other way of expressing it than by saying-'That in the regions far to the North it was hardly possible for a man to travel; the very air was so replete with feathers.""-Tale of a Tub, sect. vii.-[Mit.]

but I hope to be able soon to entertain you with a dish of very choice erudition. I have another reason, too, which is, that the post is just setting out. Suffice it to tell you, that I have one of the most beautiful vales here in England to walk in, with prospects that change every ten steps, and open something new wherever I turn me, all rude and romantic; in short, the sweetest spot to break your neck or drown yourself in that ever was beheld. I have done neither yet, but I have been twice at the races, once at the assembly, have had a visit from Dr. Chapman, and dined with the Bishop.1

I am very shabby, for Stonhewer's box, with my coat in it, which went by sea, is not yet arrived. You are desired therefore to send Lee, the bedmaker at Peterhouse, to the master of the Lynn boats, to enquire what vessel it was sent by, and why it does not come. It was directed to Dr. Stonhewer, of Houghton, to be left with the rector of Sunderland. Another trouble I have to give you, which is to order Barnes to bring any letter Stonhewer2 or I

1 Doctor Richard Trevor, translated to Durham from St. David's. He succeeded Dr. Joseph Butler in 1752.

2 Mr. Stonehewer, son of Dr. Stonehewer, of Houghton, Durham, was Secretary to the Duke of Grafton, in conjunction with Mr. Bradshaw. "He was," says Horace Walpole, "a modest man, of perfect integrity, invariably attached to Lord Grafton from his childhood." He appears to have taken a high degree in 1749-50, by the Cambridge Calendar, as late Fellow of St. Peter's and after of Trinity College. He held for a considerable time the post of Commissioner of Excise, and lived in Curzon Street, in a house nearly opposite to the Chapel. It VOL. II. R

may have to you, and direct them hither. The Doctor and Mrs. Wharton desire their particular compliments to you, and are sorry you could not be with us. Adieu. I am ever sincerely yours,

T. G.

P.S.-I have left my watch hanging (I believe) in my bed-room: will you be so good as to ask after it.

XCVI.-TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON.

Durham, September 21, 1753.

DEAR MASON-It is but a few days since I was informed by Avison,1 that the alarm you had, on your sister's account served but to prepare you for a greater loss, which was soon to follow. I know what it is to lose a person that one's eyes and heart have long been used to, and I never desire to part with the remembrance of that loss, nor would wish you should. It is something that you had a little time to acquaint yourself with the idea beforehand, if I am informed right, and that he probably suffered but little pain, the only thing that makes death terrible.

was through his interest with the Duke of Grafton that Gray obtained the Professorship of Modern History.-[Mit.]

1 Mason, in his Essays on Church Music, mentions Mr. Avison, the author of the Essay on Musical Expression, as his friend. He adopted an opinion of Mason's on ancient and modern music, and published it in his Works. "Mason," says Mr. Boaden, in his Life of Kemble, i. 184, was not meanly skilled in choral and scientific composition.”—[Mit.]