Skip main navigation

Thomas Gray to John Chute, 14 August 1755

Back to Letters page

To
John Chute Esq,
of the Vine near Basingstoke
Hampshire
15 AV

Dear Sr

I write to the Vine imagining you may be still there to tell you, that I was to have gone to Strawberry on Monday last, but being ill was obliged to write the day before, & excuse myself. Mr W: could not receive my letter till Monday afternoon, & had therefore sent a Messenger from London early that morning to say, that he was very ill of a Fever & Rash, & unable to go himself to Twickenham. I know this is a dangerous season, & that malignant Fevers are now very common, & am therefore something alarmed at his situation. if you have heard anything, you will let me know; & particularly, if any thing should carry you soon to Town. I myself have been ill, eversince I came out of Hampshire. I have had advice, & have been bloodied, & taken draughts of salt of Wormwood, Lemons, Tincture of Guiacum, Magnesia, & the Devil. you will immediately conclude, they thought me rheumatic & feverish. no such thing! they thought me gouty, & that I had no fever. all I can say is, that my heats in the morning are abated, that my foot begins to ach again, & that my head achs, & feels light & giddy. so much for me. my Comp:ts to the Gentleman with the Moco -smelling-bottle, the Muntz's, the Betties, & the Babies.

Adieu, I am ever
[ ]
Letter ID: letters.0234 (Source: TEI/XML)

Correspondents

Writer: Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771
Writer's age: 38
Addressee: Chute, John, 1701-1776
Addressee's age: 53

Dates

Date of composition: 14 August 1755
Date (on letter): Aug: 14. 1755
Calendar: Gregorian

Places

Place of composition: Stoke Poges, United Kingdom
Address (on letter): Stoke
Place of addressee: Vyne, The, United Kingdom

Physical description

Addressed: To / John Chute Esq, / of the Vine near Basingstoke / Hampshire (postmark: 15 AV)

Content

Language: English
Incipit: I write to the Vine imagining you may be still there to tell you, that I was...
Mentioned: Hampshire
Strawberry-Hill
Vyne, The
Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797

Holding Institution

Location:
(confirmed)
Chute of The Vyne, Sherborne St John, The Vyne , Sherborne St John, UK <http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/vyne/>
[See this record from the Hampshire Record Office]
Availability: The original letter is extant, but there is no further information about its availability

Print Versions

  • The Works of Thomas Gray, 5 vols. Ed. by John Mitford. London: W. Pickering, 1835-1843, section IV, letter LV, vol. iii, 133-134
  • 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. CXXI, vol. i, 269
  • 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. 203, vol. i, 430-431