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Thomas Gray to Horace Walpole, [11 March 1736]

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To
The Honble Mr Horace Walpole
near Whitehall Westminster
SAFFRON WALDEN 12 MR

My Dearest Horace

I was obliged by an unexpected accident to defer my journey somewhat longer than Monday, tho' it gave not at all the more time for pleasure, if it had, I should have been at the Masquerade with you: Ashton terrifies me with telling me, that according to his latest Advices we are to remain in a State of Separation from you the Lord knows how much longer; we are inconsolable at the News, & weep our half Pint apiece every day about it; if you don't make more haste, instead of us you may chance to find a couple of Fountains by your fireside: if that should be our fate I begg I may have the Honour of washing your hands, & filling your Tea-kettle every morning, [...]

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Letter ID: letters.0022 (Source: TEI/XML)

Correspondents

Writer: Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771
Writer's age: 19
Addressee: Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797
Addressee's age: 18

Dates

Date of composition: [11 March 1736]
Date (on letter): March: 11:
Calendar: Julian

Places

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

Physical description

Addressed: To / The Honble Mr Horace Walpole / near Whitehall Westminster (postmark: SAFFRON WALDEN 12 MR)

Content

Language: English
Incipit: I was obliged by an unexpected accident to defer my journey...
Mentioned: Ashton, Thomas, 1715-1775

Holding Institution

Location:
(confirmed)
GBR/1058/GRA/3/4/19, 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. 27, vol. i, 64-65
  • 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, 98-99
  • 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. 21, vol. i, 38