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Richard Hurd to Thomas Gray, 28 August 1757

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To Thomas Gray Esqr;

Dear Sir,

I write this to be conveyed to you by Mr Mason. We were together, when your favour of the 25th arrived, and laughed very heartily at the judgments of your great men and great women. Poor people, it is not for them to understand what you write. But without understanding, they will learn to admire, of their Betters. Every body here, that knows anything of such things, applauds the Odes. And the readers of Pindar dote upon them.

I am truly concerned for what you tell me of your indisposition. You must abstain from books for the present, and use all the exercise you can. I should fancy, if you took a Post-chaise and went to dine with Mason at Kensington, it would be a relief to you. His Caractacus mends daily, and will come to good in the end, in spite of Lords and Ladies, who will not like it.

I set forward on my journey tomorrow. If I find a day of leisure, or rather of ennui, I may attempt to enliven it by writing to you again. In the mean time take care of your health and believe me,

Dear Sir,
Your very affectionate friend and
humble Servant
R. Hurd.

P.S. Mr Brown to whom I shew'd the paragraph in you Letter, sends compliments.

Letter ID: letters.0282 (Source: TEI/XML)

Correspondents

Writer: Hurd, Richard, 1720-1808
Writer's age: 37
Addressee: Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771
Addressee's age: 40

Dates

Date of composition: 28 August 1757
Date (on letter): 28 Aug. 1757
Calendar: Gregorian

Places

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

Physical description

Addressed: To Thomas Gray Esqr;

Content

Language: English
Incipit: I write this to be conveyed to you by Mr Mason....

Holding Institution

Location:
(unconfirmed)
Hurd Library, Hartlebury Castle , Hartlebury, UK <https://www.museumsworcestershire.org.uk/museums/county-museum-hartlebury/>
Availability: The original letter is extant, but there is no further information about its availability

Print Versions

  • The Correspondence of Richard Hurd & William Mason. And letters of Richard Hurd to Thomas Gray. With introduction & notes by the late Ernest Harold Pearce. Ed. with additional notes by Leonard Whibley. Cambridge: University Press, 1932, 38-39
  • 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. 247*, vol. ii, 521