entitled it, A Long Story. When it was handed about in manuscript, nothing could be more various than the opinions concerning it. By some it was thought a master-piece of original humour; by others, a wild and fantastic farrago. And, when it was published, the sentiments of good judges were equally divided about it.

To return to the Elegy. Mr. Gray, in Feb. 1751, having been informed, that the publisher of one of the magazines had obtained a surreptitious copy of it, wrote to Mr. Walpole, desiring him, that he would put his own manuscript into the hands of Mr. Dodsley, and order him to print it immediately.

This was the most popular of all our author's publications. It ran through eleven editions in a very short space of time; was finely translated into Latin by Messrs. Ansty and Roberts; and, in the same year, by Mr. Lloyd. The author, in his original manuscript, gave it only the simple title of, Stanzas written in a Country Church-yard. Mr. Mason persuaded him to call it, An Elegy; because the subject authorized him so to do: and the alternate measure, in which it was written, seemed peculiarly fit for that species of composition.

In March, 1753, Mr. Gray lost his mother; which must have deeply affected him, as he had always expressed for her the tenderest regard.

She was buried at Stoke-Pogis, in the same vault, in which the remains of her sister Antrobus had been deposited, about three years before. The inscription on the tomb-stone is supposed to have been written by Mr. Gray, and is as

follows:

be

Mr. Mason observes, that this inscription has a peculiar pathos to recommend it; and, at the same time, a true inscriptive simplicity. -Perhaps therefore it may thought fastidious criticism to make an exception to any part of it; yet we will venture to ask, Whether, according to the course of nature, and in the estimation of a Christian philosopher, it can be accounted a misfortune, that a young man of 37 should survive his mother, an old woman of 67 ?

But to return to Mr. Gray. About the beginning of the year 1756, while he resided at PeterHouse, two or three men of young fortune, who lived in the same staircase, frequently and intentionally disturbed him with their riots. He complained to the governing part of the society; but not thinking that his remonstrance was suffici ently attended to, he quitted the college, and removed to Pembroke

Hall.

From July, 1759, to the year 1762, he generally resided in London, with a view, as we have already observed, of having recourse. to the British Museum.

In July, 1768, his Grace the Duke of Grafton wrote him a polite letter, informing him, that his Majesty had been pleased to offer to him the Professorship of Modern History in the University of Cambridge, then vacant by the death of Mr. Laurence Brocket.

This

This place was valuable in itself, the salary being 4001. a year; but what rendered it particularly acceptable to Mr. Gray was its being given him without any solicitation. He was indeed remarkably disinterested in all his pursuits. Though his income, before this addition, was very small, he never read or wrote with a view of making his labours useful to himself. He may be said to have been one of those few personages in the annals of literature, especially in the poetical class, who are devoid of self-interest, and at the same time attentive to economy; and also was, among mankind in general, one of those very few economists, who possessed that talent, untinctured with the slightest stain of avarice. When his circumstances were at the lowest, he gave away such sums in private charity, as would have done credit to an ampler purse. But what chiefly deterred him from seeking any advantage by his literary pursuits, was a certain degree of pride, which led him to despise the idea of being thought an author by profession.

However, it is probable, that early in life he had an intention of publishing an edition of Strabo; for his papers contain a great number of notes and geographical disquisitions on that author, particularly with respect to that part of Asia which comprehends Persia and India. The indefatigable pains which he took with the writings of Plato, and the quantity of critical, as well as explanatory observations, which he has left upon almost part of his works, plainly indicate, that no man in Europe was better prepared to re-publish and illustrate that philosopher, than Mr. Gray.

every

Another work, on which he be stowed uncommon labour, was the Anthologia. In an interleaved copy of that collection of Greek epigrams, he has transcribed several additional ones, which he selected in his extensive reading; has inserted a great number of critical notes and emendations, and subjoined a copious index. But, whether he intended this performance for the press or not, is uncertain. The only work, which he meditated upon, with this direct view from the beginning, was a history of English poetry, upon a plan sketched out by Mr. Pope, and since published in Ruff head's Life of Pope. He has mentioned this himself in an advertisement to those three fine imitations of Norse and Welch poetry, which he gave the world in the last edition of his poems. But, after he had made some considerable preparations for the execution of this design, and Mr. Mason had offered him his assistance, he was informed, that Mr. Warton, of Trinity-College, Oxford, was engaged in a work of the same kind. The undertaking was therefore relinquished, by mutual consent; and, soon after, on that gentleman's desiring a sight of the plan, our author readily sent him a copy of it.

Among other sciences, Mr. Gray had acquired a great knowledge of Gothic architecture. He had seen, and accurately studied in his youth, while abroad, the Roman proportions on the spot, both in ancient times, and in the works of Palladio. In his later years, he applied himself to consider those stupendous structures of more modern date, that adorn our own country; which, if they have not the same grace, have undoubtedly equal dignity. He

endea

endeavoured to trace this mode of building, from the time it sommenced, thro' its various changes, till it arrived at its perfection in the reign of Henry VIII. and ended in that of Elizabeth. For this purpose, he did not so much depend upon written accounts, as that internal evidence, which the build ings themselves give of their respective antiquity; since they constantly furnish to the well-informed eye, arms, ornaments, and other marks, by which their several ages may be ascertained. On this account he applied himself to the study of heraldry, as a preparatory science, and has left behind him a number of genealogical papers, more than sufficient to prove him a complete master of it. By these means he arrived at so very extraordinary a pitch of sagacity, as to be enabled to pronounce, at first sight, on the precise time, when every particular part of any of our cathedrals was erected.

But the favourite study of Mr. Gray, for the last ten years of his life, was natural history, which he then rather resumed than began; as by the instructions of his uncle Antrobus he was a considerable botanist at fifteen. The marginal notes, which he has left on Linnæus, and other writers on the vegetable, animal, and fossile kingdoms, are very numerous but the most considerable are on Hudson's Flora Anglica, and the tenth edition of the Systema Natura; which latter he interleaved and filled almost entirely. While employed on zoology, he read Aristotle's treatise on that subject with great care, and explained many obscure passages in the ancient, by the lights he had received from modern natu

ralists. In a word, excepting pure mathematics, and the studies dependant on that science, there was hardly any part of human learning in which he had not acquired a competent skil!; and, in most of them, a consummate mastery.

To this account of his literary character we may add, that he had a fine taste in painting, prints, gardening, and music; and was moreover a man of good-breeding, virtue, and humanity.

His health, especially in the latter part of his life, was precarious. The gout, which he always believed hereditary in his constitution, (for both his parents died of that distemper) had for several years attacked him in a weakly and unfixed manner; the great temperance which he observed, particularly in regard to drinking, served perhaps to prevent any severe paroxysm, but by no means eradicated the constitational malady. About the end of May, 1771, he removed to London, where he became feverish ; and his dejection of spirits increased. The weather being then very sultry, his friend, Dr. Gisborne, advised him, for an opener and freer air, to remove from his lodgings in Jermyn-street to Kensington, where he frequently attended him, and where Mr. Gray so far got the better of his disorder, as to be able to return to Cambridge; meaning from thence to set out very soon for OldPark, near Durham, the residence of his intimate friend and corres-. pondent, Dr. Wharton; in hopes that travelling, from which he usually received great benefit, would complete his cure. But, on the 24th of July, while at dinner in the college hall, he felt a sudden nausea, which obliged him to rise from

table,