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Richard West to Thomas Gray, [April 1740]

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ELEGIA.

Ergo desidiæ videor tibi crimine dignus;
Et meritò: victas do tibi sponte manus.
Arguor & veteres nimium contemnere Musas,
Irata et nobis est Medicæa Venus.
Mene igitur statuas & inania saxa vereri!
Stultule! marmoreâ quid mihi cum Venere?
Hìc veræ, hìc vivæ Veneres, & mille per urbem,
Quarum nulla queat non placuisse Jovi.
Cedite Romanæ formosæ et cedite Graiæ,
Sintque oblita Helenæ nomen et Hermionæ!
Et, quascunque refert ætas vetus, Heroinæ:
Unus honor nostris jam venit Angliasin.
Oh quales vultus, Oh quantum numen ocellis!
I nunc & Tuscas improbe confer opes.
Ne tamen hæc obtusa nimis præcordia credas,
Neu me adeo nullâ Pallade progenitum:
Testor Pieridumque umbras & flumina Pindi
Me quoque Calliopes semper amasse choros;
Et dudum Ausonias urbes, & visere Graias
Cura est, ingenio si licet ire meo:
Sive est Phidiacum marmor, seu Mentoris æra,
Seu paries Coo nobilis e calamo;
Nec minus artificum magna argumenta recentûm
Romanique decus nominis & Veneti:
Quà Furor & Mavors & sævo in Marmore vultus,
Quàque et formoso mollior ære Venus.
Quàque loquax spirat fucus, vivique labores,
Et quicquid calamo dulciùs ausa manus:
Hìc nemora, et solâ mærens Melibœus in umbrâ,
Lymphaque muscoso prosiliens lapide;
Illìc majus opus, faciesque in pariete major
Exurgens, Divûm & numina Cœlicolûm;
O vos fælices, quibus hæc cognoscere fas est,
Et totâ Italiâ, quà patet usque, frui!
Nulla dies vobis eat injucunda, nec usquam
Norîtis quid sit tempora amara pati.

Letter ID: letters.0096 (Source: TEI/XML)

Correspondents

Writer: West, Richard, 1716-1742
Writer's age: 24[?]
Addressee: Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771
Addressee's age: 23

Dates

Date of composition: [April 1740]
Calendar: Julian

Places

Place of composition: [London, United Kingdom]

Content

Language: Latin
Incipit: Ergo desidiæ videor tibi crimine dignus;...
Mentioned: Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797

Holding Institution

Availability: The original letter is unlocated, a copy, transcription, or published version survives

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 ii, 76-77
  • The Works of Thomas Gray, 2 vols. Ed. by Thomas James Mathias. London: William Bulmer, 1814, section II, letter XVI, vol. i, 201-202
  • The Works of Thomas Gray, 2 vols. Ed. by John Mitford. London: J. Mawman, 1816, section II, letter XVI, vol. ii, 69-70
  • The Letters of Thomas Gray, 2 vols. in one. London: J. Sharpe, 1819, letter XXXIV, vol. i, 71-72
  • The Works of Thomas Gray, 5 vols. Ed. by John Mitford. London: W. Pickering, 1835-1843, section II, letter XVI, vol. ii, 82-83
  • 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. 115, vol. i, 288-289
  • 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. 84, vol. i, 151-152