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Thomas Gray to Horace Walpole, [29 December 1737]

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To
The Honble Horace Walpole Esq
at the Treasury
London
CAMBRIDGE 30 DE

My Dear

I should say Mr Inspector general of the Exports & Imports, but that appellation would make but an odd figure in conjunction with the two familiar monosyllables above written, for, Non bene conveniunt, nec in unĂ¢ sede morantur Majestas & amor, which is being interpreted, Love does not live at the Custom-house: however by what style, title, or denomination soever you please to be dignified or distinguish'd hereafter, you'll never get rid of these two words, nor of your christian-name: it will stick like a Burr, & you can no more get quitt of it, than St Anthony could of his Pigg: we had no Queen to bury here, so I have no procession to tell you of; but we are collecting our flowers, as fast as may be, to strew upon her tomb: Mr Pemberton of Cath: Hall & one Ambrose of Trin: Hall, a blind Man, they say will bear away the bell; both English; Mr Whitehead does not shine vastly this time: the bellman has paid his duty in the following epigram.

Oh cruel death! how could'st be so unkind
To snatch the Queen, & leave the King behind?

almost as Laconick, as Mr Conways letter; who has wrought to his sister in the same style, as one would write to the devil whose ancient title has been, Old Boy:,

I am
yours ever
T: GRAY
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Letter ID: letters.0048 (Source: TEI/XML)

Correspondents

Writer: Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771
Writer's age: 21
Addressee: Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797
Addressee's age: 20

Dates

Date of composition: [29 December 1737]
Calendar: Julian

Places

Place of composition: [Cambridge, United Kingdom]
Place of addressee: [London, United Kingdom]

Physical description

Addressed: To / The Honble Horace Walpole Esq / at the Treasury / London (postmark: CAMBRIDGE 30 DE)

Content

Language: English
Incipit: I should say Mr Inspector general of the Exports & Imports,...
Mentioned: Pietas Academiae Cantabrigiensis
Conway, Henry Seymour, 1721-1795
Whitehead, William

Holding Institution

Location:
(confirmed)
GBR/1058/GRA/3/4/32, 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 Poems of Mr. Gray. To which are prefixed Memoirs of his Life and Writings by W[illiam]. Mason. York: printed by A. Ward; and sold by J. Dodsley, London; and J. Todd, York, 1775, letter xvi, section i, 34-35
  • The Works of Thomas Gray, 2 vols. Ed. by Thomas James Mathias. London: William Bulmer, 1814, section I, letter XVI, vol. i, 163-164
  • The Works of Thomas Gray, 2 vols. Ed. by John Mitford. London: J. Mawman, 1816, section I, letter XVI, vol. ii, 27-28
  • The Letters of Thomas Gray, 2 vols. in one. London: J. Sharpe, 1819, letter XVI, vol. i, 30-31
  • The Works of Thomas Gray, 5 vols. Ed. by John Mitford. London: W. Pickering, 1835-1843, section I, letter XVI, vol. ii, 30-32
  • The Letters of Thomas Gray, including the correspondence of Gray and Mason, 3 vols. Ed. by Duncan C. Tovey. London: George Bell and Sons, 1900-12, letter no. XII, vol. i, 13-14
  • 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. 71, vol. i, 167-169
  • 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, 145-146
  • 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. 44, vol. i, 71-72