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Thomas Gray to Horace Walpole, [21 January 1735]

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To
The Honble Mr Horace Walpole
at the house of the right honble Sr Robert Walpole
in St James's Square London
CAMBRIDGE 22 1A

I, Orozmades, Master of the noble Science of Defence, hearing of the great reputation of thee, Timothy Celadon, do challenge & invite thee to contend with me at long-love, great-affection, or whatever other weapon you shall make choice of, in Kings-Colledge Quadrangle, a Week hence precisely – – –

Vivat Rex –

And that you may not fail me, I believe I shall see you at London beforehand; Almanzor persuades me, and I have a months mind to it myself; tho' I think it a foolish undertaking enough would you advise me to come, or not? for I stand wavering. but pray, don't importune, don't press, dear Sr Celadon; oh Jesus! I believe, if you should importune, I shall– be very coming:–if I do venture, I must borrow your Disguise; for nobody, but you, must know, that I am in town: well! be it, as it will, you have got my Soul with you already; I should think, 'twould be better, for you to bring it hither to the rest of me, than make my body take a journey to it; besides it would be cheaper to me, for that can come down in the coach with you; but my limbs must pay for their passage up. I hate living by halves, for now I lead such a kind of I don't know how–as it were–: in short, what the devil d'ye mean by keeping me from myself so long? I expect to be pay'd with interest, & in a short time to be a whole thing, whereas at this present writing, I am but a

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Letter ID: letters.0011 (Source: TEI/XML)

Correspondents

Writer: Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771
Writer's age: 18
Addressee: Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797
Addressee's age: 17

Dates

Date of composition: [21 January 1735]
Date (on letter): Tuesday Jan: 21
Calendar: Julian

Places

Place of composition: Cambridge, United Kingdom
Address (on letter): [St.] P[eter's]:C[ollege]:
Place of addressee: [London, United Kingdom]

Physical description

Addressed: To / The Honble Mr Horace Walpole / at the house of the right honble Sr Robert Walpole / in St James's Square London (postmark: CAMBRIDGE 22 1A)

Content

Language: English
Incipit: I, Orozmades, Master of the noble Science of Defence, hearing...

Holding Institution

Location:
(confirmed)
GBR/1058/GRA/3/4/10, 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. 10, vol. i, 26-27
  • 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. i, 76-77
  • 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. 11, vol. i, 20-21