References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 138-140 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 306-308 (with English prose translation)
Summary: Written at Cambridge when Gray was about to join Richard West (Favonius) at the Inner Temple, where they intended to study law together. First published, untitled but referred to in a footnote as a "Sapphic Ode", in Mason'sMemoirs (1775), section I, letter no. XIV. Mason is the only source for this letter, dated June 1738, in which Gray originally sent the poem to West. MS translation into English by Thomas Wharton.
1 Manuscript:
Archive MS ID: mss.0233
Title: "Ode on Mr. West's leaving the University"
Date:1780[?]
Physical Description: 6 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand on Whatman paper
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "Ode on Mr. West's leaving the University" (p. 1) ("Ode. I." [p. 3]). The poem is part of a section called "Latin Pieces", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 24), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 144-145 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 310-312 (with English prose translation)
Summary: Written at Rome in the Spring of 1740 while on the Grand Tour with Horace Walpole. First published, untitled but referred to in a footnote as "Ad C. Favonium Zephyrinum", in Mason'sMemoirs (1775), section II, letter no. XXI. Mason is the only source for this letter, dated May 1740, in which Gray originally sent the poem to West (Favonius). MS translation into English by Thomas Wharton.
2 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0002
Title: "Ode to Mr. West"
Date:[between 1776 and 1804]
Physical Description: 3 pages, 193 mm x 160 mm; transcript and English translation in the hand of John Phillipps
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 79; Crum (ed.), First-Line Index (1969), vol. II, p. 668, item O754; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=76914>
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Phillipps (f. 43), followed by an English translation headed "Translation" (ff. 43v-44r), in a volume of collected verse, copied from manuscripts, printed editions and newspapers, by John Phillipps of the Middle Temple and Exeter College, Oxford, 1776-1804 (Summary Catalogue, 45759).
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
Archive MS ID: mss.0234
Title: "Ode to Caius Favonius Zephyrinus"
Date:1780[?]
Physical Description: 5 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand on Whatman paper
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "Ode to Caius Favonius Zephyrinus" (p. 7) ("Ode II." [p. 9]). The poem is part of a section called "Latin Pieces", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 24), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 84-92; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 27-43
Summary: Written at London, after returning from the Grand Tour, during the winter of 1741-42 and abandoned by 23 April 1742. First published in Mason'sMemoirs (1775), pp. 125-135. Mason is the only source for the two letters (one not extant and one dated [1?] April 1742) in which Gray originally sent the prefatory matter and scene I (ll. 1-182) of the fragmented drama to West. Scene II (ll. 183-194) was probably also finished before 23 April 1742, although it has been suggested that it might have been composed as late as the winter of 1746-47.
1 Manuscript:
Archive MS ID: mss.0198
Title: [untitled]
Date:[17??]
Physical Description: [1?] page, 250 mm x 200 mm; transcript in the hand of James Beattie, partial [dramatis personae and ll. 1-20]
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 169, p. 96; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414; Ellner, June, "Re: MS 30/44, James Beattie papers". E-mail to the editor, 20 December 2006
Contents: Transcript of the dramatis personae and ll. 1-20, here untitled, in the hand of James Beattie, together with Beattie's comments.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 151-152 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 317-318 (with English prose translation)
Summary:Gray wrote this poem in the album of the monastery of the Grande Chartreuse on this second visit on 21 August 1741, during his journey from Turin to Lyon, when he was returning alone from the Grand Tour. First published, as "Ode", in Mason'sMemoirs (1775), pp. 117-118. MS translation into English by Thomas Wharton.
3 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0005
Title: "Gray's Ode on visiting The Grand Chartreuse – written in The Album of the Fathers"
Date:[1807?]
Physical Description: 1 page, 167 mm x 103 mm; transcript in the hand of Joseph Hunter
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 79; Northup, Bibliography (1917), item 1997
Contents: Transcript, entitled "Gray's Ode on visiting The Grand Chartreuse – written in The Album of the Fathers", in the hand of Joseph Hunter, in a volume prefaced "Silva Poetica" (1807).
Archive MS ID: mss.0006
Title: "Ode to the Deity of the Grand Chartreuse"
Date:[between 1776 and 1804]
Physical Description: 3 pages, 193 mm x 160 mm; transcript and English translation in the hand of John Phillipps
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 79; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414; Crum (ed.), First-Line Index (1969), vol. II, p. 674, item O877; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=77055>
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Phillipps (f. 42), followed by an English translation headed "Translation" (ff. 42v-43r), in a volume of collected verse, copied from manuscripts, printed editions and newspapers, by John Phillipps of the Middle Temple and Exeter College, Oxford, 1776-1804 (Summary Catalogue, 45759).
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
Archive MS ID: mss.0235
Title: "Ode composed at the Grande Chartreuse"
Date:1780[?]
Physical Description: 4 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand on Whatman paper
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "Ode composed at the Grande Chartreuse" (p. 13) ("Ode III." [p. 15]). The poem is part of a section called "Latin Pieces", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 24), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
[The Alliance of Education and Government. A Fragment]
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 93-97; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 85-100
Summary: Written in 1748-49 and probably abandoned by March 1749. Gray sent ll. 1-57 of the fragment in a letter, dated 19 August 1748, to Thomas Wharton. First published, entitled "Essay I", in Mason'sMemoirs (1775), pp. 193-200.
2 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0011
Title: [untitled]
Date:[before 1794]
Physical Description: 3 pages, 230 mm x 185 mm; transcript in the hand of Thomas Wharton, partial [ll. 58-107]
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 8, p. 79; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414
Contents: Transcript of ll. 58-107, untitled, in the hand of Thomas Wharton, following a letter by Gray, containing ll. 1-57, to Wharton, 19 August [1748] (see MS 0010).
Archive MS ID: mss.0009
Title:An Essay on Education and Government
Date:[17??]
Physical Description: [?] pages, 250 mm x 200 mm; transcript in the hand of James Beattie
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 79; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414; Ellner, June, "Re: MS 30/44, James Beattie papers". E-mail to the editor, 20 December 2006
Contents: Transcript in the hand of James Beattie, entitled "An Essay on Education and Government" and annotated in his hand "This beginning of an ethical play is finished in the Author's highest manner. He began it in the year 1748, as appears from a letter to one on his friends inclosing a part of it. In that letter, he entitles it, "An Essay on Education and Government, or rather, on the necessary alliance of them to produce the external happiness of mankind." He relinquished the prosecution of this work on the publication of M. de Montesquieu's Esprit des Loix: a book which he highly admired; and which he said had forestalled the principal things he meant to advance upon the subject. And yet we see, from what he has here left, that he differed from the Baron in one material point, viz, the influence of soil or climate on national manners."
Contents: Transcript of variant versions of ll. 142, 128, and 130, in the hand of John Mitford, in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", f. 182r.
Archive MS ID: mss.0203
Title: "Bard"
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript of variant lines in the hand of John Mitford, partial [ll. 142, 128, 130] and crossed out
Contents: Transcript of variant versions of ll. 142, 128, and 130 (crossed out), in the hand of John Mitford, in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. IV, f. 33r.
Archive MS ID: mss.0204
Title: "Bard"
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript of variant lines in the hand of John Mitford, partial [ll. 111-112, 114, 116]
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "The Bard. A Pindaric Ode" (p. 47) ("Ode. VI." [p. 49]). The poem, which has numbered stanzas and includes the "Argument" and the "Advertisement" as a footnote to the half-title as well as Gray's notes to ll. 5, 11, 13, 14, 35, 38, 47, 54, 57, 59, 64, 67, 71, 77, 83, 87, 89, 90, 91, 93, 99, 109, 110, 117, 121, 128, 131, 133, and additional annotations to ll. 70 ("Richard II.") and 75 ("Henry IV."), is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
Archive MS ID: mss.0275
Title: "The bard; a Pindaric ode, by...founded on a tradition current in Wales that Edward the 1st ordered all the bards that fell into his hands to be put to death"
Date:[after 1773]
Physical Description: [?] pages, 190mm x 120mm (volume); transcript in the hand of John Freeman Milward Dovaston
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 661, item R0238; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 16 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10631>
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Freeman Milward Dovaston, entitled "The bard; a Pindaric ode, by...founded on a tradition current in Wales that Edward the 1st ordered all the bards that fell into his hands to be put to death", in his autograph Select, and Miscellaneous Poems, Scraps, Mottos &c, 1773 and later, a Commonplace book of verse by Dovaston and others.
Archive MS ID: mss.0289
Title: "Bard"
Date:3rd August 1824
Physical Description: 1 page; transcript (ll. 128-130) in the hand of R. Barneby
Contents: Transcript of three lines (ll. 128-130) in the hand of R. Barneby, beginning "In buskinn'd measures move" and signed "R. Barneby Aug.t 3rd. 1824."
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 19, p. 80; Lewis, W. S. et al. (eds.), Horace Walpole's Correspondence (New Haven, 1955), vol. 28, pp. 169-170, transcript printed, with notes on both MS 26 and MS 27; Powell, Margaret K., "Re: Fwd: Enquiry re. two MSS of a Thomas Gray poem". E-mail to the editor, 14 July 2006
Contents: Transcript of ll. 1-32 in the hand of Horace Walpole, endorsed on the verso in Mary Berry's hand, "Gray's Verses upon Lord Sandwich, from L. Orf. 1794.".
Archive MS ID: mss.0027
Title: "The Candidate. By Mr T. Gray"
Date:[1774]
Physical Description: [2?] pages; transcript in the hand of Horace Walpole
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 80; Zonghi, Roberta, "transcript". E-mail to the editor, 10 July 2006
Contents: Transcript of ll. 1-32 in the hand of Michael Tyson, headed "written by Mr. Gray at the time the Earl of Sandwich was candidate for the High Stewardship of the University of Cambridge".
Archive MS ID: mss.0024
Title: "On Lord Sandwich's canvass for the high stewardship of the University of Cambridge"
Date:[1783?]
Physical Description: 3 pages; transcript in an unidentified hand (32 lines)
References: Powell, Margaret K., "Re: Fwd: Enquiry re. two MSS of a Thomas Gray poem". E-mail to the editor, 14 July 2006
Contents: Transcript, beginning in one hand and ending in another, on the last leaf and continuing onto an extra leaf, in a copy of Mason'sMemoirs (1775).
Archive MS ID: mss.0200
Title: "The University Courtship"
Date:[between 1777 and 1826]
Physical Description: 2 pages; transcript in the hand of Bertie Greatheed
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 1000, item W1301; Ducharme, Diane, "Re: Fwd: Enquiry re. two MSS of a Thomas Gray poem". E-mail to Margaret K. Powell, forwarded to the editor, 13 July 2006; Powell, Margaret K., "Re: apologies". E-mail to the editor, 20 July 2006; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10646>
Contents: Transcript of ll. 1-32 in the hand of Bertie Greatheed, annotated "Written by Mr. Gray when Lord Sandwich was a candidate for the office of Stewart, of the University of Cambridge---".
Archive MS ID: mss.0241
Title: "The University Courtship"
Date:[later eighteenth century]
Physical Description: 2 pages; transcript in an unidentified hand
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, beginning "When sly Jemmy Twitcher had smugg'd up his face" and attributed "by Gray & not in his works", in a commonplace book, "apparently compiled by members of the Smyth family of Heath, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire" and "written c.1710 - c.1820 by six main hands here designated A-F (in this case E, later 18th cent.)".
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] of p. 272 from original MS available online.
Archive MS ID: mss.0243
Title: "Jemmy Twitcher or the Cambridge Courtship"
Date:[between 1782 and 1804]
Physical Description: 2 pages, 193 mm x 160 mm; transcript in the hand of John Phillipps
References: Crum (ed.), First-Line Index (1969), vol. II, p. 1088, item W1466; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=86775>
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Phillipps, including ll. 33-34 (crossed out), annotated below "Written by Mr. Gray at the time of Lord Sandwichs election for High steward of Cambridge. Gents Magazine Jan. 82", and with additions "To Jemmy" before ll. 31-32 and "To Physic & Law." before ll. 33-34. In a volume of collected verse, copied from manuscripts, printed editions and newspapers, by John Phillipps of the Middle Temple and Exeter College, Oxford, 1776-1804 (Summary Catalogue, 45759).
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
Archive MS ID: mss.0252
Title: "By Mr Gray on Lord S's soliciting the High Stewardship of Cambridge"
Date: [undated]
Physical Description: 2 pages, c. 230 mm x 190 mm; transcript in an unidentified hand (32 lines)
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand (32 lines), here beginning "When sly Jemmy Twitcher had snug'd up his face", in a quarto volume of miscellaneous pieces of poetry, entitled "Miscellaneous Poetry" and "presented by Rev. T. Crompton", written in the 18th and 19th centuries, to which the names of the respective authors are assigned.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), p. 106; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 279-280
Summary: Composed at Cambridge in spring, presumably between 1763 and 1767, in the company of Norton Nicholls. First published in Mathias (ed.), Works (1814), vol. II, p. 596.
2 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0028
Title: [untitled]
Date:November 1805
Physical Description: 1 page; transcript in the hand of Norton Nicholls
References: Mitford (ed.), Works (1843), vol. v, p. 34; Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 21, p. 81; Toynbee/Whibley (eds.), Correspondence (1971), vol. iii, p. 1290
Contents: Transcript, untitled, in the hand of Norton Nicholls, in his MS Reminiscences of Gray, p. 5.
Contents: Transcript of variant readings (18 lines) in the hand of John Mitford, in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", ff. 191r, 192r.
Archive MS ID: mss.0205
Title: "De Principiis Cogitandi"
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript of variant readings in the hand of John Mitford, partial [18 lines] and crossed out
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "The Death of Hoel. an Ode" (p. 99) ("Ode. XI." [p. 101]). The poem, which is annotated "See Mr. Evans's Specimens, p. 71 and 73." on the title page, is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 32-34; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 220-228
Summary: Written at London in 1761, the paraphrase of the original Icelandic is based largely on a Latin translation from Bartholinus. First published in Poems (1768).
2 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0039
Title: "The Vegtams Kwitha, from Bartholinus. L.3. C.2. p.632."
Date:[before 1794]
Physical Description: 4 pages, 230 mm x 186 mm; transcript in the hand of Thomas Wharton
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "The Descent of Odin, an Ode" (p. 83) ("Ode. IX." [p. 85]), followed by the first line of the original poem. The poem, which includes Gray's notes to ll. 4 and 90 (with Mason's addition), is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, entitled "Stanza written in a Country Church-Yard", together with a letter from Paget Toynbee suggesting it was a pre-publication transcript that had circulated (lot 46 from an unidentified sale; unknown relationship to Sotheby's sale [15 December 1930], lot 453, sold to Dobell: 2-page transcript with same title).
Related Material:Houghton MS Eng 116.1-8 contain Gray autographs and copies of manuscripts written by or concerning Thomas Gray. Houghton b MS Eng 116.6 (Papers on Thomas Gray) contains photostatic copies of commonplace books, journals, notes, travel notebooks, poems, and other materials chiefly from Pembroke College (Cambridge) and the Pierpont Morgan Library.
Archive MS ID: mss.0041
Title: "Stanzas Written in a Country Church Yard"
Date:[not later than 1794]
Physical Description: 5 pages, 315 mm x 196 mm; transcript in an unidentified hand
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 82; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414; Northup, Bibliography (1917), item 1997; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=138995>
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, entitled "Stanzas Written in a Country Church Yard", in a volume entitled Hardwicke Papers, vol. DCCCCXXII.
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 82; Catalogue of a Sotheby's sale (10 December 1913), lot 67, facsimile in catalogue
Contents: An unlocated transcript of the "Redbreast stanza" in a copy of Designs (1753) was sold as autograph, Sotheby's (10 December 1913), lot 67 (with a facsimile), it was sought by J. Hayward in The Book Collector 5 (1956), 384-385.
Archive MS ID: mss.0212
Title: [untitled]
Date:[after 1775]
Physical Description: 2 pages; transcript in an unidentified hand, partial [8 lines]
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand of 8 lines (one stanza after l. 100 and the "Redbreast stanza" after l. 116) with the former only in the "Eton MS", with notes, in a copy of the Elegy, 8th edition (London, 1753), pp. 10-11, bound in a volume entitled Poetical Tracts.
Related Material: MS 0212 apparently transcribed from MS 0043.
Archive MS ID: mss.0230
Title: "Elegy written in a Country Church-Yard"
Date:1780[?]
Physical Description: 11 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand on Whatman paper
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "Elegy written in a Country Church-Yard" (p. 117) ("Elegy." [p. 119]). The poem, which in this version has four unique readings ("winds" for "wheels" [l. 7], ", the" for "and" [l. 32], "to" for "on" [l. 68], and "sage" for "swain" [l. 97]), is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
Archive MS ID: mss.0210
Title: [untitled]
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 2 pages, 180 mm x 115 mm; transcript of variant lines in the hand of John Mitford, partial
Contents: Transcript of variants of several lines, headed "Various Readings in his Poems, from MSS.", in the hand of John Mitford, in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", ff. 180r, 181r.
Related Material: MS 0210 apparently transcribed from MS 0043.
Archive MS ID: mss.0211
Title: "The Elegy"
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 2 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript of variant lines in the hand of John Mitford, partial and crossed out
Contents: Transcript of variants of several lines, entitled "The Elegy. var." (crossed out), in the hand of John Mitford, in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. IV, ff. 32r, 33r.
Related Material: MS 0211 apparently transcribed from MS 0043.
Archive MS ID: mss.0239
Title: "An Elegy written in a Country Church Yard"
Date:[between c. 1760 and 1790]
Physical Description: 7 pages; transcript in an unidentified hand
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, beginning "The curfeu tolls the knell of parting day", in a commonplace book, entitled "Old songs & other poems", "in two hands, c.1760-90, containing transcribed verse and prose of the 17th and 18th centuries".
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] of f. 23r from original MS available online.
Archive MS ID: mss.0240
Title: "An Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard"
Date:[1750s?]
Physical Description: 3 pages; transcript in an unidentified hand, partial [ll. 1-92], in a manuscript volume "bound in dark brown leather which is gilt embossed with decorations and gilt tooling. There is marbling on both inside covers and endpapers. The back board is detached"
Contents: Transcript of ll. 1-92 in an unidentified hand, beginning "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day", in a Commonplace-book owned by the Lewis family. It is "in two hands, containing prose and poetry on diverse topics (written partly in the first half of the eighteenth century, partly in the mid eighteenth century); the signatures of Kath Lewis and Johana Lewis are visible on the flyleaf".
Archive MS ID: mss.0248
Title: "An elegy written in a country churchyard [by] ... author of The cat and vase"
Date:[c. 1765]
Physical Description: [?] pages; transcript in the hand of David Garrick
Alternate Form:
Microfilm copy available in Microfilm Collection, FILM Fo. 118.3a, Microfilm of W.a.118, 1 microfilm reel : negative, 12:1, 6 feet ; 35 mm.
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Ardagh of Thurles, a later addition on a blank verso, in an autograph volume by William Havard entitled Jeu d'esprit (c. 1733-1775).
Archive MS ID: mss.0253
Title: "Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard"
Date:1781/1782
Physical Description: 6 pages, c. 230 mm x 185 mm; transcript
Contents: Transcript of the poem in 32 numbered stanzas in the Strahan Papers, Vol. CVII (ff. 216), Miscellaneous correspondence and papers (1758-1821), ff. 64-66. The transcript follows the MS of John Young's A Criticism on the Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (ff. 37-63), sent in a letter of Young's (ff. 35-36) to Lord Maitland, which contains instructions about its printing and publication. The transcript is followed by a note (f. 67): "The Author's Compliments to Mr. Strahan. has transcribed over the Elegy as he wishes it printed. Thinks it will stand best between the Advertisement & the Criticism. - The Title as alter'd by Mr Strahan was / A Criticism / on the Elegy / written in a Country Churchyard / being a Continuation / of Dr J---ns Criticism / on the Poems of Gray."
Archive MS ID: mss.0256
Title: [untitled]
Date:between 1803 and 1808
Physical Description: 1 page; transcript, partial, in the hand of "Richard Harris Barham" (also known as Thomas Ingoldsby)
Contents: Transcript of the poem, partial, beginning "Approach and read, for thou canst read, the lay", in the hand of "Richard Harris Barham" (also known as Thomas Ingoldsby), in his Commonplace Book (1803-1808), containing poems, paraphrases, epigrams, and conundrums in English, Latin, Greek, and French (62 leaves, 21 cm.), f. 46v.
Archive MS ID: mss.0260
Title: "Elegy, written in a country-churchyard"
Date: [undated]
Physical Description: 4 pages; transcript in an unidentified hand
Contents: Transcript of the poem, in an unidentified hand, from the Egerton MS 2400.
Related Material: In the same file there is another transcript of the poem, from the Fraser MS, in the hand of the donor of the two items James Freeman Clarke.
Archive MS ID: mss.0261
Title: [?]
Date:[after 1751]
Physical Description: [?] pages; transcript in an unidentified hand
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 326, item H0937; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 16 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10636>
Contents: Transcript, partial, entitled "An epitaph", in a Commonplace book entitled Amusements 1768-69, a manuscript, in two hands, of a collection of several dozen primarily serious poems and poetical extracts, many on moral and elegiac subjects.
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10648>
Contents: Transcript entitled "A poem wrote in a country churchyard".
Archive MS ID: mss.0277
Title: "An elegy written in a country churchyard"
Date:[between 1766 and 1800]
Physical Description: [?] pages; transcript in the hand of James Forbes
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10630>
Contents: Transcript, entitled "An elegy written in a country churchyard", in James Forbes' Commonplace book, 1766-1800, vol. I "Poems on Several Occasions Collected from Different Authors", a manuscript of a collection of approximately 150 poems and excerpts, primarily epitaphs and elegies, poems in praise of virtues, odes dedicated to women, and poems on nature and weather.
Archive MS ID: mss.0278
Title: "Stanzas wrote in a churchyard in the country"
Date:[before 1805]
Physical Description: [?] pages, 290mm x 230mm (volume); transcript
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10641>
Contents: Transcript, entitled "Stanzas wrote in a churchyard in the country", in the Frances Boscawen and Julia Evelyn Commonplace Book, a collection of verse by various authors and some original verse, contains about 100 poems copied by the authors, beginning in 1746.
Archive MS ID: mss.0279
Title: "An elegy"
Date:[late 18th/early 19th century]
Physical Description: [?] pages, 210mm x 160mm (volume); transcript
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10647>
Contents: Transcript, entitled "An elegy", in a late 18th/early 19th century Commonplace Book, a collection of verse (including original poems), letters, drawings, etc., compiled by Martha, Ann, and William Dickinson (1746-1823).
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10649>
Contents: Transcript entitled "An elegy written in a country churchyard".
Archive MS ID: mss.0281
Title: "An elegy written in a country churchyard"
Date:[late 18th century]
Physical Description: [?] pages, 220mm x 130mm (volume); transcript in an unidentified hand
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10627>
Contents: Transcript, entitled "An elegy written in a country churchyard", in a late 18th century, anonymous Commonplace Book (4 vols.), which contains more than 1100 numbered extracts from works by various authors; a number of the poems are signed or initialed by William Warren Porter (1776-1804) or his sister, so possibly the books were compiled by a member of the Porter family.
Archive MS ID: mss.0282
Title: "An elegy, written in a country churchyard"
Date:[late 18th century]
Physical Description: [?] pages, 220mm x 130mm (volume); transcript in an unidentified hand
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10626>
Contents: Transcript, entitled "An elegy, written in a country churchyard", in a late 18th century, anonymous Commonplace Book (4 vols.), which contains more than 1100 numbered extracts from works by various authors; a number of the poems are signed or initialed by William Warren Porter (1776-1804) or his sister, so possibly the books were compiled by a member of the Porter family.
Archive MS ID: mss.0283
Title: "An elegy, written in a country churchyard...1751. In print"
Date:[c. 1751]
Physical Description: [?] pages, 240mm x 130mm (volume); transcript in the hand of Richard Gifford
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10629>
Contents: Transcript, entitled "An elegy, written in a country churchyard...1751. In print", in Richard Gifford's Miscellany (62 p.), which contains prose meditations, romantic and other poems, and Greek and Latin extracts from classical works.
Archive MS ID: mss.0284
Title: "Elegy written in a country churchyard"
Date:[before 1854]
Physical Description: [?] pages, 190mm x 120mm (volume); transcript in the hand of John Freeman Milward Dovaston
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10634>
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Freeman Milward Dovaston, entitled "Elegy written in a country churchyard", in his autograph Select, and Miscellaneous Poems, Scraps, Mottos &c, 1773 and later, a Commonplace book of verse by Dovaston and others.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), p. 104; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 209-210
Summary: Written in mid-June 1758 at the request of Thomas Wharton to commemorate his eldest son Robin who died in April 1758. First published in Gosse (ed.), Works (1884), vol. I, p. 126, from the transcript made by Alexander Dyce.
4 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0050
Title: "Epitaph on a Child"
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 115 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 38, p. 82; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Mitford, apparently from a Gray autograph and hence annotated "N.B. in Grays writing.", in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", f. 74r.
Archive MS ID: mss.0051
Title: "Epitaph on a Child"
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 115 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 39, p. 82
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Mitford, here beginning "Here free from Pain...", in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", f. 182r.
Archive MS ID: mss.0048
Title: "Epitaph on a Child"
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford, crossed out
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), p. 52; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 207-209
Summary: Written not long before 31 January 1758 presumably at the request of John Clerke to commemorate his wife Jane who died 27 April 1757 aged 31. Inscribed on a mural tablet in St George's parish church, Beckenham, Kent, 1758. First published, as "An Epitaph copied from a Tomb-stone in a Country Church Yard", in The Gentleman's Magazine, October 1759.
3 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0054
Title: [untitled]
Date:[1759?]
Physical Description: [1?] page; transcript possibly in the hand of Richard Hurd
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 42, p. 83; Pearce, E. H. and Leonard Whibley (eds.), The Correspondence of Richard Hurd and William Mason (Cambridge, 1932), p. 168
Contents: Transcript, possibly in the hand of Richard Hurd, here untitled and headed "By Mr. Gray", together with a Latin version, in the papers of Richard Hurd.
Archive MS ID: mss.0228
Title: "Epitaph on Mrs. Clarke"
Date:1780[?]
Physical Description: 4 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand on Whatman paper
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "Epitaph on Mrs. Clarke" (p. 109) ("Epitaph. I." [p. 111]). The poem, which is annotated "This Lady, the Wife of Dr. Clarke, Physician at Epsom, died April, 27, 1757; and is buried in the Church of Beckenham, Kent" on the title page, is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
Archive MS ID: mss.0245
Title: [untitled]
Date:1769[?]
Physical Description: 1 page, 220 mm x 162 mm; transcript in an unidentified hand
References: Crum (ed.), First-Line Index (1969), vol. I, p. 527, item L511 (no author attribution); Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=73561> (no author attribution)
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, headed "& Where is this Epitaph", in a volume entitled Memorials of Richard Gough, volume II, section I. "Poems preserved by Richard Gough Esq.". The volume, which is 14 5/8 x 9 3/4 in. in size and contains 320 leaves, is one of two Volumes of Poems and other interesting Memorials of Richard Gough, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A.., collected by J[ohn] B[owyer] Nichols (Summary Catalogue, 32551).
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), p. 105; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 255-256
Summary: Written between 27 March and 23 May 1767 for Mason's wife Mary who died on 27 March 1767 aged 28. Inscribed on a monument in Bristol Cathedral, [1767]. First published in The New Foundling Hospital for Wit (London, new edn. 1784), vi. 45. Transcripts of Mason's own epitaph on his wife beginning "Take, holy Earth, all that my soul holds dear", are at PwV 304 and 1010(ii), Portland Collection, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
1 Manuscript:
Archive MS ID: mss.0056
Title: [untitled]
Date:November 1805
Physical Description: 1 page; transcript in the hand of Norton Nicholls
References: Mitford (ed.), Works (1843), vol. v, p. 40; Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 44, p. 83; Toynbee/Whibley (eds.), Correspondence (1971), vol. iii, p. 1294
Contents: Transcript in the hand of Norton Nicholls, in his MS Reminiscences of Gray, p. 12.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 104-105; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), p. 238-240
Summary: Written between May and August 1761 at the request of one of the executors of Sir William Williams, a politician and soldier Gray briefly met early in October 1760, who died 27 April 1761 on an expedition against Belle Ile. First published, as "Epitaph II. On Sir William Williams", in Mason'sPoems (1775), p. 62.
5 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0060
Title: "Epitaph on Sr W J Williams"
Date:[after 1771]
Physical Description: 1 page; transcript in the hand of William Mason
Alternate Form:
Microfilm copy available in Poetic Commonplace Books and Manuscripts of Thomas Gray, 1716-1771, from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1999), reel one
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 46, p. 83; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), p. 30; Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), p. 105, for variants and rejected stanza
Contents: Transcript in the hand of William Mason, here entitled "Epitaph on Sr W J Williams" with two variants of l. 12 in "Variations" and a "Rejected Stanza", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. III, p. 1108.
Archive MS ID: mss.0229
Title: "Epitaph on Sir Willm. Williams"
Date:1780[?]
Physical Description: 4 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand on Whatman paper
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "Epitaph on Sir Willm. Williams" (p. 113) ("Epitaph II." [p. 115]). The poem, which is annotated "This Epitaph (hitherto unpublished) was written at the request of Mr. Fred. Montagu, who intended to have inscribed it on a Monument at Bellisle, at the siege of which this accomplished youth was kill'd, 1761; but for some difficulty attending the erection of it, the design was not executed" on the title page, is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
Archive MS ID: mss.0058
Title: [untitled]
Date:[17??]
Physical Description: [1?] page, 250 mm x 200 mm; transcript in the hand of James Beattie
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 83; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414; Ellner, June, "Re: MS 30/44, James Beattie papers". E-mail to the editor, 20 December 2006
Contents: Transcript in the hand of James Beattie, annotated in his hand "Sir William Williams (on whose death these lines were written at the request of his friend Mr Frederick Montagu) was killed in the last war. They were meant to be inscribed on a monument at Bellisle; but from some difficulties attending the execution of it, this design was not executed."
Archive MS ID: mss.0061
Title: "Epitaph on Sir W. Williams."
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 115 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford, partial [ll. 1-2, 5-6]
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 47, p. 83; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414
Contents: Transcript of ll. 1-2 and 5-6 in the hand of John Mitford, here entitled "Epitaph on Sir W. Williams." and annotated "Mr. Montague asked him to write the Epitaph on Sir W. Williams and he could not refuse. He did not know much of him...", in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", f. 181r.
Archive MS ID: mss.0057
Title: [untitled]
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford, partial [ll. 5-6] and crossed out
Contents: Transcript of ll. 5-6 in the hand of John Mitford (crossed out), annotated "Mr. Montague asked him to write the Epitaph on Sir W. Williams, he could not refuse. He did not know much of him...", in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. IV, f. 32v.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 27-31; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 210-220
Summary: Written at London not later than the beginning of May 1761, based largely on a Latin translation of the original poem preserved in the late 13th-century Njáls Saga, ch. 157. This untitled Old Norse poem is a prophetic account of the Battle of Clontarf, fought on Good Friday 1014. First published in Poems (1768).
2 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0069
Title: "The Song of the weird Sisters Translated from the Norwegian written about 1029."
Date:[1761?]
Physical Description: 3 pages, 229 mm x 186 mm; transcript in the hand of Thomas Wharton
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "The Fatal Sisters, an Ode" (p. 75) ("Ode. VIII." [p. 77]), followed by the first line of the original poem. The poem, the preface of which is here entitled "Argument" and to which Gray's note on the Valkyriur has been appended, is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 134-137 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 303-306 (with English prose translation)
Summary: Written probably in 1737 or 1738 when Gray was corresponding and exchanging poetry with Richard West who was then at Christ Church, Oxford. First published, untitled, in Tovey (ed.), Gray and his Friends (1890), pp. 296-298.
1 Manuscript:
Archive MS ID: mss.0074
Title: [untitled]
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 3 pages, 180 mm x 115 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 60, p. 84
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Mitford of an unfinished draft, untitled but headed "MS Poem", in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", ff. 83-85.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 73-74; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 74-77
Summary: Written between March and October 1742 after Gray's arrival in England from the Grand Tour and before his return to Peterhouse, Cambridge. First published, untitled but referred to as a "Hymn or Address to Ignorance", in Mason'sMemoirs (1775), pp. 176-177.
2 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0075
Title: "Fragment of an address or Hymn to Ignorance"
Date:[after 1771]
Physical Description: 3 pages; transcript in the hand of William Mason
Alternate Form:
Microfilm copy available in Poetic Commonplace Books and Manuscripts of Thomas Gray, 1716-1771, from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1999), reel one
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 61, p. 85; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), p. 30
Contents: Transcript in the hand of William Mason, here entitled "Fragment of an address or Hymn to Ignorance", annotated "...about the year 1743", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. III, pp. 1103-1105.
Archive MS ID: mss.0231
Title: "Ode to Ignorance. A Fragment"
Date:1780[?]
Physical Description: 5 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand on Whatman paper
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "Ode to Ignorance. A Fragment" (p. 1) ("Ode. I." [p. 3]). The poem, which is marked with a line of asterisks after l. 38, followed by "caetera desunt", is part of a section called "Fragments", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 19), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 64-67; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 44-47
Summary: Probably written in April of 1742 and sent in a letter to Richard West, [23 April 1742]. First published, except ll. 1-30, in Mathias (ed.), Works (1814), vol. II, pp. 87-89, published in full in Gosse (ed.), Works (1884), vol. i, p. 153.
1 Manuscript:
Archive MS ID: mss.0079
Title: "To Mecaenas"
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 2 pages, 180 mm x 115 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford, partial [ll. 1-30]
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 65, p. 85
Contents: Transcript of ll. 1-30, here entitled "To Mecaenas", in the hand of John Mitford, headed "Propertii Eleg. 1. Lib. 2" and annotated "The first 30 Lines...are here supplied from Grays MS", in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", ff. 77-78.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 81-82; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 278-279
Summary: These epigrams, subsumed under the work title [Impromptus], were composed possibly at a single point in time between 1753 and 1770. First published in Gosse (ed.), Works (1884), vol. i, pp. 140-141, except "One day the Bishop having offered...", first published in Joseph Cradock, Literary and Miscellaneous Memoirs (London, 1828), iv 224.
5 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0081
Title: "And this upon his Lady --"
Date:[between 1753 and 1770]
Physical Description: 1 page, 205 mm x 163 mm; transcript in the hand of Thomas Wharton
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 76, p. 86; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Mitford, here entitled "Lines", in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", f. 184r.
Archive MS ID: mss.0209
Title: "Lines"
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford, crossed out
References: Mitford (ed.), Works (1843), vol. v, p. 34; Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 77, p. 86; Toynbee/Whibley (eds.), Correspondence (1971), vol. iii, p. 1290
Contents: Transcript, untitled, in the hand of Norton Nicholls, in his MS Reminiscences of Gray, p. 5.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), p. 74; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), p. 280
Summary: Written between 1742 and 1768, prompted presumably by a proposal by Dr Smith to cut down the Chestnut Walk at Trinity College, Cambridge. First published, entitled "Lines", in Gosse (ed.), Works, rev. ed. (1902), vol. i, p. 142.
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 411, item I1013; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 16 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10625>
Contents: Transcript, partial, headed "Lady Schaub and Miss Harriet Speed went one morning...to find Gray the poet and missing of him left a card...to whom he sent these verses".
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "An Irregular Ode for Music" (p. 63) ("Ode. VII" [p. 65]). The poem, which has numbered stanzas (I.-VIII.) and several annotations to the half-title page, based on information on the title page of the 1769 edition, and to ll. 39, 41, 42, 43, 45, 66, 70, and 84, is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
Archive MS ID: mss.0101
Title: [untitled]
Date:November 1805
Physical Description: 1 page; transcript in the hand of Norton Nicholls, partial [l. 1]
References: Mitford (ed.), Works (1843), vol. v, p. 50; Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 87, p. 87; Toynbee/Whibley (eds.), Correspondence (1971), vol. iii, p. 1301
Contents: Transcript of l. 1 in the hand of Norton Nicholls, in his MS Reminiscences of Gray, p. 26.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 7-10; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 54-63
Summary: Written at Stoke Pogesc. August 1742 during one of Gray's most productive periods. First published, anonymously, as a folio pamphlet by Dodsley, 30 May 1747.
7 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0102
Title: "Reflections on Human Life, An Ode"
Date:[17??]
Physical Description: 6 pages, 230 mm x 160 mm; transcript in an unidentified hand, two leaves bound with blue publisher's binding paper
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 87; Johnsen, Mary Catharine, "Gray's Distant prospect". E-mails to the editor, 8 and 19 January 2007
Contents: Transcript, possibly contemporary, entitled "Reflections on Human Life, An Ode, Occasion'd by a distant Prospect of Eton: College, where the author was educated". According to a dealer-catalogue ticket on the front paste-down of the little portfolio holding the MS, the MS was initially purchased by William H. Robinson Ltd. Pall Mall by private treaty from the Bibliotheca Phillippica and, according to a pencilled note on the rear paste-down, acquired by Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt in 1953.
Archive MS ID: mss.0218
Title: "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eaton College"
Date:1780[?]
Physical Description: 10 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand on Whatman paper
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eaton College" (p. 15) ("Ode. III." [p. 17]). The poem, which includes the motto (attributed in a different hand to "Menander") on the title page and Gray's note to l. 4, is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
Archive MS ID: mss.0255
Title: "On a distant Prospect of Eton & the adjacent Country"
Date: [?]
Physical Description: 4 pages, c. 220 mm x 184 mm; transcript
Contents: Transcript of the poem in Vol. DCXXXI (a volume of unbound MSS of "Misc. prose and verse") of the Holland House Papers, the papers of the Fox and Fox-Strangways families, Barons Holland and Earls of Ilchester, of Holland House, Kensington.
Archive MS ID: mss.0258
Title: [untitled]
Date:July/August 1827
Physical Description: [?] pages, 191 mm x 125 mm (volume); transcript, partial, in the hand of William Pitter Woodhouse
Contents: Transcript of the poem, partial, beginning "Say [i.e. Gay] hope is theirs by fancy led", in the hand of William Pitter Woodhouse, in his Commonplace book of verse and prose by various authors, July-August 1827, vol. i (82 leaves), f. 17.
Archive MS ID: mss.0263
Title: "An Ode On a distant prospect of Eton College"
Date:[between 1749 and 1750]
Physical Description: 9 pages; transcript in the hand of Melesinda Munbee
Contents: Transcript of the poem in the hand of Melesinda Munbee in her autograph Commonplace book (1749-1750), signed, containing poetry in the form of odes, epitaphs, and riddles.
Surrogates: Digital facsimiles [JPEG] from original MS available online.
Archive MS ID: mss.0287
Title: "Ode on a distant prospect of Eton College"
Date:[before 1805]
Physical Description: [?] pages, 290mm x 230mm (volume); transcript
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 1075, item Y0034; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10639>
Contents: Transcript, entitled "Ode on a distant prospect of Eton College", in the Frances Boscawen and Julia Evelyn Commonplace Book, a collection of verse by various authors and some original verse, contains about 100 poems copied by the authors, beginning in 1746.
Archive MS ID: mss.0288
Title: "Ode on a distant prospect of Eton College"
Date:[between 1766 and 1800]
Physical Description: [?] pages; transcript in the hand of James Forbes
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 1075, item Y0034; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10638>
Contents: Transcript, entitled "Ode on a distant prospect of Eton College", in James Forbes' Commonplace book, 1766-1800, vol. I "Poems on Several Occasions Collected from Different Authors", a manuscript of a collection of approximately 150 poems and excerpts, primarily epitaphs and elegies, poems in praise of virtues, odes dedicated to women, and poems on nature and weather.
"Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes"
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 5-6; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 78-85
Summary: Written at Cambridgebetween 22 February and 1 March 1747 and sent in a letter of that date to Horace Walpole. Mason is the only source for this letter, the poem sent in it has not survived. First published in Dodsley'sCollection of Poems by Several Hands, 3 vols, vol. II. (London, 1748), pp. 267-269, reprinted in 6 vols, vol. II. (London, 1758 and later edns.), pp. 328-330.
6 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0107
Title: "Ode On the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes"
Date:[after 1748]
Physical Description: 3 pages, 180 mm x 120 mm; transcript in an unidentified hand
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 88; Crum (ed.), First-Line Index (1969), vol. II, p. 990, item T3395; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=84496>
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, stanzas numbered 1.-7., in a volume of copies of verse from various sources, mainly printed, 18th cent., with a list of contents on pp. i, 1-4 (Summary Catalogue, 46462).
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
Archive MS ID: mss.0217
Title: "Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes"
Date:1780[?]
Physical Description: 6 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand on Whatman paper
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes" (p. 9) ("Ode. II." [p. 11]). The poem is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
Archive MS ID: mss.0238
Title: "On a favourite Cat called Selima that fell into a China Cistern that had Gold Fish in it, and was Drown'd"
Date:[before 1758?]
Physical Description: 2 pages; transcript in the hand of Mary Capell, "bound in contemporary calf, but with the spine broken, gatherings loose, worn, and with light spotting or dust-staining"
Contents: Transcript in the hand of Mary Capell, beginning "T'was on a lofty Vase's side", in an autograph manuscript volume "signed by 'Mary Capell' on the first folio. Comprises an anthology of over eighty manuscript poems, of which some are dated from 1740 to 1751, with a six-page index at the end."
Archive MS ID: mss.0264
Title: "An ode on a favorite cat called Selima which fell into a china cistern..."
Date:[between 1750 and 1780]
Physical Description: [?] pages, 210mm x 170mm (volume); transcript in an unidentified hand
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 911, item T3301; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 16 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10632>
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, entitled "An ode on a favorite cat called Selima which fell into a china cistern...", in a Commonplace book (c. 1750-1780), in several hands, a collection of over a hundred lighthearted, satirical, and serious poems, primarily on the subjects of politics and women's conduct.
Archive MS ID: mss.0265
Title: "On a favorite cat called Selima that fell into a china tub with goldfishes in it and was drowned"
Date: [?]
Physical Description: [?] pages; transcript in an unidentified hand
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 911, item T3301; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 16 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10644>
Contents: Transcript, in an unidentified hand, entitled "On a favorite cat called Selima that fell into a china tub with goldfishes in it and was drowned".
Archive MS ID: mss.0266
Title: "Upon a cat drown[ed] in a china basin in which were goldfish"
Date:[before 1805]
Physical Description: [?] pages, 290mm x 230mm (volume); transcript
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 911, item T3301; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 16 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10640>
Contents: Transcript, entitled "Upon a cat drown[ed] in a china basin in which were goldfish", in the Frances Boscawen and Julia Evelyn Commonplace Book, a collection of verse by various authors and some original verse, contains about 100 poems copied by the authors, beginning in 1746.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 100-103; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 201-207
Summary: Written probably in 1754 or 1755. First printed privately in 1774. First published, in two versions, among the notes to the poems, entitled "Ode, On the Pleasure arising from Vicissitude", and as "Ode" in Mason'sMemoirs (1775), pp. 78-81 (with Mason's additions) and pp. 236-237 (ll. 1-48 only) respectively.
7 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0113
Title: "Fragment of an Ode found amongst Mr. Grays papers after his decease and here transcribed from the corrected Copy"
Date:[after 1771]
Physical Description: 4 pages; transcript in the hand of William Mason, partial [wanting ll. 17-20]
Alternate Form:
Microfilm copy available in Poetic Commonplace Books and Manuscripts of Thomas Gray, 1716-1771, from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1999), reel one
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 95, p. 88; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), p. 30; Clark (ed.), Ode on Vicissitude (1933), discussion of Mason's transcript and facsimile of 1774 pamphlet
Contents: Transcript in the hand of William Mason, headed "Fragment of an Ode found amongst Mr. Grays papers after his decease and here transcribed from the corrected Copy", wanting ll. 17-20 and accompanied by a list of "Variations in the first copy", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. III, pp. 1097-1100. Ll. 21-24 and 69-96 were composed by Mason.
Archive MS ID: mss.0114
Title: [untitled]
Date:[after 1771]
Physical Description: 1 page; transcript in the hand of William Mason, partial [ll. 17-20]
Alternate Form:
Microfilm copy available in Poetic Commonplace Books and Manuscripts of Thomas Gray, 1716-1771, from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1999), reel one
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 96, p. 88; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), p. 30; Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), p. 247, notes; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), p. 201, notes
Contents: Transcript of ll. 17-20 in the hand of William Mason, within the "Extract from Mr Gray's Pocket Books... 1754", which also contains notes arguably related to the poem, in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. III, p. 1110.
Archive MS ID: mss.0111
Title: [?]
Date:[17??]
Physical Description: [?] pages, 250 mm x 200 mm; transcript in the hand of James Beattie
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 88; Ellner, June, "Re: MS 30/44, James Beattie papers". E-mail to the editor, 20 December 2006
Contents: Transcript in the hand of James Beattie, annotated in his hand "A note which I find in a Memorandum-book of Mr Gray's 1754 will best explain the intended plan of this beautiful Lyrical fragment, and will give the poetical reader how he meant to conclude it. "Contrast between the winter past and coming spring – Joy owing to that vicissitude – many who never feel that delight – Sloth - Envy - Ambition – how much happier the Rustick who feels it though he knows not how.""
Archive MS ID: mss.0112
Title: [?]
Date:[?]
Physical Description: [?] pages; transcript in an unidentified hand
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "Ode On the Pleasure arising from Vicissitude" (p. 7) ("Ode. II." [p. 9]). The poem, which is annotated "N.B. This Ode was left unfinished by Mr. Gray; but was compleated by Mr. Mason. // The lines by Mr. Mason are marked * / single words _" and is identical to the version in Mason'sPoems (1775), pp. 78-81, is part of a section called "Fragments", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 19), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
Contents: Transcript of the poem, partial, beginning "The common sun, the air, the skies", in the Amy LowellCollection of Manuscripts of literary and musical figures, collected by American poet Amy Lowell.
Archive MS ID: mss.0272
Title: "Ode on the pleasure arising from vicissitude"
Date:1799
Physical Description: [?] pages, 200mm x 170mm (volume); transcript in the hand of Thomas Binns
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 561, item N0507; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 16 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10643>
Contents: Transcript in the hand of Thomas Binns, entitled "Ode on the pleasure arising from vicissitude", in his autograph Miscellaneous manuscripts, vol. 4, a manuscript of a collection of about 100 primarily elegiac or sentimental poems.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 3-4; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 47-53
Summary: Written at Stoke Pogesearly in June 1742 and sent in a letter, [c. 3 June 1742], to Richard West who was then dead. The letter was returned unopened and does not survive. First published, anonymously, in Dodsley'sCollection of Poems by Several Hands, 3 vols, vol. II. (London, 1748), pp. 265-267, reprinted in 6 vols, vol. II. (London, 1758 and later edns.), pp. 325-327.
4 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0216
Title: "Ode on the Spring"
Date:1780[?]
Physical Description: 7 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand on Whatman paper
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "Ode on the Spring" (p. 1) ("Ode. I." [p. 3]). The poem is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
Archive MS ID: mss.0250
Title: [untitled]
Date:[before 1860]
Physical Description: 4 pages, c. 190 mm x 115 mm; transcript (lines 1-7, 11-50) in the hand of George Hamilton-Gordon
Contents: Transcript (lines 1-7, 11-50) in the hand of George Gordon, afterwards (1818) Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, K.G., K.T., Prime Minister (b. 1784, d. 1860) in his Aberdeen Papers, Vol. CCCIX (ff. 210) "Miscellaneous papers", section 2 "Miscellaneous English occasional verse, centring chiefly round George, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, and the circle of visitors he met at Bentley Priory, Stanmore, the home of his father-in-law, John James Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn, which became his own residence for many years", item q "Poem, beg. 'Lo! Where the rosy-bosom'd hours', ff. 51-52b".
Archive MS ID: mss.0115
Title: "Lines"
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 115 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford, partial [ll. 3-4]
Contents: Transcript of ll. 3-4, in the hand of John Mitford, possibly transcribed from one of the autograph MSS., in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", f. 181r.
Archive MS ID: mss.0206
Title: "Lines"
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford, partial [ll. 3-4] and crossed out
Contents: Transcript of ll. 3-4, in the hand of John Mitford (crossed out), possibly transcribed from one of the autograph MSS., in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. IV, f. 29r.
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "Ode to Adversity" (p. 25) ("Ode. IV." [p. 27]). The poem, which includes the motto in Greek and attribution on the title page, is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
Archive MS ID: mss.0242
Title: "Hymn to Adversity. By Mr Gray."
Date:1755[?]
Physical Description: 3 pages, 152 mm x 90 mm; transcript in an unidentified hand
References: Crum (ed.), First-Line Index (1969), vol. I, p. 185, item D41; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=65390>
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, in six numbered stanzas, in a volume containing extracts and notes, many relating to grammar and language, with copies of verse, in several hands, mainly from printed sources, 18th cent., inscribed Miscellanies and signed "Rob: Trail" (Summary Catalogue, 45980).
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
Archive MS ID: mss.0268
Title: "Hymn to adversity"
Date:[between 1768 and 1769]
Physical Description: [?] pages, 190mm x 130mm (volume); transcript
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 175, item D0034; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 16 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10635>
Contents: Transcript, entitled "Hymn to adversity", in a Commonplace book entitled Amusements 1768-69, a manuscript, in two hands, of a collection of several dozen primarily serious poems and poetical extracts, many on moral and elegiac subjects.
Archive MS ID: mss.0269
Title: "Hymn to adversity"
Date:[between 1766 and 1800]
Physical Description: [?] pages; transcript in the hand of James Forbes
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 175, item D0034; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 16 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10637>
Contents: Transcript, entitled "Hymn to adversity", in James Forbes' Commonplace book, 1766-1800, vol. I "Poems on Several Occasions Collected from Different Authors", a manuscript collection of approximately 150 poems and excerpts, primarily epitaphs and elegies, poems in praise of virtues, odes dedicated to women, and poems on nature and weather.
"On L[or]d H[olland']s Seat near M[argat]e, K[en]t"
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), p. 53; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 259-264
Summary: Written while on a visit to William Robinson in Denton, Kent, in June 1768. First published, anonymously without Gray's consent, as "Inscription for the Villa of a decay'd Satesman [sic] on the Sea-Coast", in The New Foundling Hospital for Wit (London, 1769) iii. 34-35.
9 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0130
Title: "On L.d H--ds Seat near M--e. K.t"
Date:[before 1794]
Physical Description: 2 pages, 198 mm x 161 mm; transcript in the hand of Thomas Wharton
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 109, p. 89; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414; Northup, Bibliography (1917), item 1997; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=109944>
Contents: Transcript, revised and annotated, in the hand of William Cole, in a volume entitled Cambridgeshire Collections, Vol. XX, bequeathed by Rev. W. Cole. The transcript is here entitled "On seeing the Seat of a decayed Nobleman in Kent" and beginning "Old & abandon'd by its venal Friend", annotated "These Verses on Lord Holland, are said to have been composed by Mr. Gray: Dr Glynn dictated them to me at Milton May 1. 1777."
Archive MS ID: mss.0127
Title: "On Lord Holland's seat at Kingsgate"
Date:[after 1804?]
Physical Description: 2 pages, 198 mm x 159 mm; transcript in an unidentified hand
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 89; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414
Contents: Transcript, entitled "On Lord Holland's seat at Kingsgate. By Mr. Gray" in an unidentified hand, in a volume entitled Twining Papers, vol. VIII "Miscellaneous".
Archive MS ID: mss.0207
Title: [untitled]
Date:[after 1769]
Physical Description: 2 pages, 220 mm x 177 mm; transcript in an unidentified hand
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 89; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=137055>
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand in the form of six numbered stanzas, untitled, but headed "The following Stanzas were written by Mr. Gray at Kingsgate in Kent, the Seat of Lord Holland", in a volume entitled Eighteenth Century Verse.
Archive MS ID: mss.0128
Title: On Lord Holland's Marine Villa at Kingsgate, by Mr Gray
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 89; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=55640> (no author attribution)
Contents: Transcript of the poem in Charlotte Anne Hester Burney's (who became Mrs. Francis, and afterwards married Ralph Broome) verse Commonplace book (1771-1806), pp. 116-118.
Surrogates: Digital facsimiles [JPEG] from original MS available online.
Archive MS ID: mss.0129
Title: [?]
Date:[1782?]
Physical Description: [?] pages; transcript in an unidentified hand
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, beginning "Old and abandon'd by each venal friend", on a "leaf watermarked 1805 inserted in a scrapbook of miscellaneous original and transcribed poems written out from c.1750 to the twentieth century".
Archive MS ID: mss.0244
Title: "On Lord Holland [...] at Kingsgate near Margate"
Date:1769[?]
Physical Description: 2 pages, 220 mm x 162 mm; transcript in an unidentified hand
References: Crum (ed.), First-Line Index (1969), vol. II, p. 681, item O1000; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=77210>
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, in six numbered stanzas, in a volume entitled Memorials of Richard Gough, volume II, section I. "Poems preserved by Richard Gough Esq.". The poem is listed with the date "1769" in the table of contents on fol. 7 of the volume. The volume, which is 14 5/8 x 9 3/4 in. in size and contains 320 leaves, is one of two Volumes of Poems and other interesting Memorials of Richard Gough, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A.., collected by J[ohn] B[owyer] Nichols (Summary Catalogue, 32551).
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
Archive MS ID: mss.0273
Title: "On the seat of a decayed nobleman in the Isle of Thanet"
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 608, item O0840; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 16 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10645>
Contents: Transcript entitled "On the seat of a decayed nobleman in the Isle of Thanet".
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 112-114 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 285-287 (with English prose translation)
Summary: Written probably as a school exercise at Eton between 1725 and 1734, possibly Gray's earliest complete composition. First published, ll. 1-20 only, in The Gentleman's Magazine N.S. 32 (October 1849), p. 343, published in full, as "Early Alcaics of Gray", in Tovey (ed.), Gray and his Friends (1890), pp. 300-301.
1 Manuscript:
Archive MS ID: mss.0134
Title: [untitled]
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 2 pages, 180 mm x 115 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 111, p. 90
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Mitford, untitled, subscribed "The above is the 84th Psalm" and "[N.B. The above Ode is written in Mr Grays Hand: but evidently when young, the hand being unformed, & like a Schoolboys, tho' very plain & careful. The Leaf on which it is written, apparently torn from a Copy-book. Some of the Expressions resemble those in the Gr. Chartreuse Ode.]", in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", ff. 67-68.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), p. 82; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 256-257
Summary: Composed shortly after visiting the church at Appleby, c. 3 September 1767, while on a short tour of the Lake District with Thomas Wharton. First published, untitled, in Gosse, Gray (1882), p. 176.
1 Manuscript:
Archive MS ID: mss.0135
Title: [untitled]
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 162 mm x 101 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford, partial [2 lines]
Contents: Transcript, untitled but headed "Grays MSS (in Masons collection)", of a 2-line version beginning "She swept, she hissd, grew mellow & lookd gruff", in the hand of John Mitford, in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. IV, f. 1.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 12-17; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 155-177
Summary: Begun not earlier than September 1751 and completed by December 1754 when Gray sent the poem in a letter to Thomas Wharton, dated 26 December 1754. First published, as "Ode." in Odes by Mr. Gray (1757), p. 5.
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 90; Catalogue of a Sotheby's sale (10 December 1913), lot 67, facsimile in catalogue; Toynbee, "Alleged Holograph of Gray" (1928), p. 834
Contents: An unlocated transcript in a copy of Designs (1753) was sold as autograph, Sotheby's (10 December 1913), lot 67 (with a facsimile).
Archive MS ID: mss.0220
Title: "The Progress of Poesy. A Pindaric Ode"
Date:1780[?]
Physical Description: 13 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand on Whatman paper
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "The Progress of Poesy. A Pindaric Ode" (p. 33) ("Ode. V." [p. 35]). The poem, which has numbered stanzas and includes the motto in Greek and attribution on the title page as well as Gray's notes to ll. 3, 13, 25, 42, 54, 66, 84, 95, 111, and 115, is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
Archive MS ID: mss.0262
Title: [untitled]
Date:July/August 1827
Physical Description: 1 page, 191 mm x 125 mm (volume); transcript, partial, in the hand of William Pitter Woodhouse
Contents: Transcript of the poem, partial, beginning "Thoughts that breathe and words that burn", in the hand of William Pitter Woodhouse, in his Commonplace book of verse and prose by various authors, July-August 1827, vol. i (82 leaves), f. 80v.
Archive MS ID: mss.0267
Title: "Ode"
Date:[after 1773]
Physical Description: [?] pages, 190mm x 120mm (volume); transcript in the hand of John Freeman Milward Dovaston
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 101, item A1906; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 16 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10642>
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Freeman Milward Dovaston, entitled "Ode", in his autograph Select, and Miscellaneous Poems, Scraps, Mottos &c, 1773 and later, a Commonplace book of verse by Dovaston and others.
Archive MS ID: mss.0290
Title: "Progress of poesy"
Date:3rd August 1824
Physical Description: 1 page; transcript (ll. 83-94) in the hand of R. Barneby
Contents: Transcript of 12 lines (ll. 83-94) in the hand of R. Barneby, beginning "Far from the sun and summer gale" (III.1) and signed "R. Barneby Aug.t 3rd. 1824."
"Satire on the Heads of Houses; or, Never a Barrel the Better Herring"
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 76-77; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 280-282
Summary: According to Starr/Hendrickson, possibly written in the late 1740s or early 1750s when Gray's criticism of the University authorities was particularly severe. First published in Gosse (ed.), Works (1884), vol. I, pp. 134-135, where the poem is dated "about 1765".
2 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0146
Title: "Lines on the Heads of Houses. Never a barrell better Herring"
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 2 pages, 180 mm x 115 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 121, p. 91; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Mitford, here entitled "Lines on the Heads of Houses. Never a barrell better Herring" and beginning "Oh! Cambridge attend", in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", ff. 186-187.
Archive MS ID: mss.0144
Title: "Lines on the Heads of Houses. Never barrell a better Herring"
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 2 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 91; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414
Contents: Transcript, entitled "Lines on the Heads of Houses. Never barrell a better Herring", in the hand of John Mitford, in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. IV, ff. 30r, 31r.
Alternate Form:
Microfilm copy available in Poetic Commonplace Books and Manuscripts of Thomas Gray, 1716-1771, from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1999), reel one
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 122, p. 91; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), p. 31
Contents: Transcript in the hand of William Mason, here untitled, in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. III, p. 1111.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), p. 99; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 240-241
Summary: Written before October 1761 at the request of Gray's friend Henrietta Speed. Walpole transcribed and sent it in a letter to Caroline Campbell, Countess of Ailesbury, 28 November 1761. First published, beginning "With beauty, with pleasure surrounded, to languish", in Pope's Works (1797), ed. Joseph Warton, vol. II, p. 285n. Entitled "Amatory Lines" by Mitford and Northup, Bibliography (1917), p. 61.
6 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0148
Title: "Song"
Date:[after 1771]
Physical Description: 1 page; transcript in the hand of William Mason
Alternate Form:
Microfilm copy available in Poetic Commonplace Books and Manuscripts of Thomas Gray, 1716-1771, from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1999), reel one
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 123, p. 91; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), p. 30
Contents: Transcript in the hand of William Mason, here entitled "Song" and annotated "From an interlind & corrected Copy", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. III, p. 1105.
Archive MS ID: mss.0149
Title: [untitled]
Date:July 1790
Physical Description: [1?] page; transcript in the hand of Hester Lynch Thrale
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 124, p. 91; Balderston, K. C. (ed.), Thraliana (Oxford, 1942)
Contents: Transcript in the hand of Hester Lynch Thrale, untitled and beginning "With Beauty, with Pleasure surrounded--to languish", in her MS Thraliana, vol. V, p. 153.
Archive MS ID: mss.0150
Title: [untitled]
Date:[?]
Physical Description: 2 pages; transcript in an unidentified hand
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 125, p. 91; Munby (ed.), Sale Catalogues (1971), Sotheby's sale (28 August 1851), lot 53(?), p. 41, Sotheby's sale (4 August 1854), lot 228(?), p. 69; W[right]., Catalogue (1851), [lot 53?,] p. 9; Nelson, Christine, "extra-illustrated copy of Gray's Odes". E-mail to the editor, 14 November 2006
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, apparently copied from an autograph MS, bound with Gray's copy of Odes (1757).
Archive MS ID: mss.0151
Title: [untitled]
Date:[after 1761]
Physical Description: 1 page, 230 mm x 190 mm; transcript in an unidentified hand
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 126, p. 91; Richardson, Gayle M., "HM 12550". E-mail to the editor, 15 November 2006
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, untitled and beginning "With beauty with pleasure surrounded to languish", together with MS 0159, annotated in the hand of Horace Walpole "The following two poems were given to Mr. Jacob by (Miss Speed) Countess of Vim, who told him they (were) written by Mr. Gray".
Archive MS ID: mss.0214
Title: [?]
Date:[17??]
Physical Description: [1?] page, 250 mm x 200 mm; transcript in the hand of James Beattie
References: Ellner, June, "Re: MS 30/44, James Beattie papers". E-mail to the editor, 20 December 2006
Contents: Transcript in the hand of James Beattie, prefaced in his hand "The following Songs being found amongst the Author's papers, with marginal corrections by his own hand which serve to authenticate them, are here inserted chiefly of that account. The former, if not the latter, has undoubtedly a degree of Lyrical merit appropriated to that species of composition."
Archive MS ID: mss.0286
Title: [untitled]
Date:[late 18th century]
Physical Description: 1 page, 220mm x 130mm (volume); transcript in an unidentified hand
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 1058, item W2376; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10628>
Contents: Transcript, beginning "With beauty, with pleasure surrounded, to languish---", in a late 18th century, anonymous Commonplace Book (4 vols.), which contains more than 1100 numbered extracts from works by various authors; a number of the poems are signed or initialed by William Warren Porter (1776-1804) or his sister, so possibly the books were compiled by a member of the Porter family.
Alternate Form:
Microfilm copy available in Poetic Commonplace Books and Manuscripts of Thomas Gray, 1716-1771, from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1999), reel one
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 128, p. 91; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), p. 30
Contents: Transcript in the hand of William Mason, here entitled "Song", together with a list of variants entitled "First Expressions", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. III, p. 1106.
Archive MS ID: mss.0156
Title: [untitled]
Date:28 November 1761
Physical Description: [1?] page; transcript in the hand of Horace Walpole
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 129, p. 91; Catalogue of a Sotheby's sale (5 December 1921), lot 6; Lewis, W. S. et al. (eds.), Horace Walpole's Correspondence (New Haven, 1974), vol. 38, pp. 144-145
Contents: Transcript, here untitled, in the hand of Horace Walpole, in a letter to Caroline Campbell, Countess of Ailesbury, 28 November 1761.
Archive MS ID: mss.0157
Title: [untitled]
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 115 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 130, p. 92; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414
Contents: Transcript of MS 0154, untitled, in the hand of John Mitford, including variant readings, in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", f. 73.
Archive MS ID: mss.0152
Title: "Thyrsis"
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 115 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford, partial [ll. 10, 12]
Contents: Transcript, here entitled "Thyrsis", of variants of ll. 10 and 12 in the hand of John Mitford, in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", f. 181r.
Archive MS ID: mss.0208
Title: "Thyrsis"
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford, partial [ll. 10, 12] and crossed out
Contents: Transcript, here entitled "Thyrsis", of variants of ll. 10 and 12 in the hand of John Mitford (crossed out), in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. IV, f. 29r.
Archive MS ID: mss.0158
Title: [untitled]
Date:July 1790
Physical Description: [1?] page; transcript in the hand of Hester Lynch Thrale
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 132, p. 92; Richardson, Gayle M., "HM 12550". E-mail to the editor, 15 November 2006
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, here untitled and beginning "Thyrsis when he left me swore", together with MS 0151, annotated in the hand of Horace Walpole "The following two poems were given to Mr. Jacob by (Miss Speed) Countess of Vim, who told him they (were) written by Mr. Gray".
Archive MS ID: mss.0153
Title: [untitled]
Date:[between 1776 and 1804]
Physical Description: 1 page, 193 mm x 160 mm; transcript in the hand of John Phillipps
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 91; Crum (ed.), First-Line Index (1969), vol. II, p. 953, item T2676; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=83634>
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Phillipps, endorsed beneath the poem "Mr. Gray", in a volume of collected verse, copied from manuscripts, printed editions and newspapers, by John Phillipps of the Middle Temple and Exeter College, Oxford, 1776-1804 (Summary Catalogue, 45759).
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
Archive MS ID: mss.0215
Title: [?]
Date:[17??]
Physical Description: [1?] page, 250 mm x 200 mm; transcript in the hand of James Beattie
References: Ellner, June, "Re: MS 30/44, James Beattie papers". E-mail to the editor, 20 December 2006
Contents: Transcript in the hand of James Beattie, prefaced in his hand "The following Songs being found amongst the Author's papers, with marginal corrections by his own hand which serve to authenticate them, are here inserted chiefly of that account. The former, if not the latter, has undoubtedly a degree of Lyrical merit appropriated to that species of composition."
Archive MS ID: mss.0254
Title: "Song By Mr Gray"
Date: [?]
Physical Description: 1 page, c. 230 mm x 185 mm; transcript
Contents: Transcript of the poem, in a volume entitled "Manuscript Poems" (ff. vii+94), in the Holland House Papers, the papers of the Fox and Fox-Strangways families, Barons Holland and Earls of Ilchester, of Holland House, Kensington.
Archive MS ID: mss.0285
Title: "Lines by..."
Date:[between 1793 and 1800]
Physical Description: 1 page, 250mm x 200mm (volume); transcript in the hand of Anne Jane (Gore) Hamilton
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 873, item T2582; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10650>
Contents: Transcript in the hand of Anne Jane (Gore) Hamilton, entitled "Lines by...", in her autograph Commonplace book of original verse and verses contributed by her friends (1 v.; 135 p.).
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), p. 92; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 64-68
Summary: Composed at Stoke Poges shortly after the death of Richard West, Gray's closest friend, on 1 June 1742. First published, entitled "Sonnet On the Death of Mr. Richard West", in Mason'sPoems (1775), p. 60.
2 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0202
Title: "Sonnet, On the Death of Richard West Esq."
Date:[between 1771 and 1820]
Physical Description: 1 page; transcript in an unidentified hand
References: Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 415; Young, Anne, "Re: English MS 656/74". Two e-mails to the editor, 16 and 18 August 2006
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, probably addressed to Hester Lynch Thrale, in a section of the Thrale Piozzi Collection described as "Poems in various hands, some initialled or signed, other copied... there are 135 items, dated between c. 1735 and 1820." Beneath the sonnet is written "This is the Sonnet I was mentioning to you of Grays which you did not recollect...".
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
Archive MS ID: mss.0227
Title: "Sonnet on the Death of Mr. Richard West"
Date:1780[?]
Physical Description: 4 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand on Whatman paper
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "Sonnet on the Death of Mr. Richard West" (p. 105) ("Sonnet." [p. 107]). The poem is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 153-156 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 318-321 (with English prose translation)
Summary: Written before mid-May 1742. First published in Mason'sMemoirs (1775), section III, letter X. Mason is the only source for this (probably conflated) letter, dated [27 May 1742], in which Gray originally sent the poem to Richard West.
1 Manuscript:
Archive MS ID: mss.0236
Title: "Sophonisba Massinissae. Epistola"
Date:1780[?]
Physical Description: 6 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand on Whatman paper
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "Sophonisba Massinissae. Epistola" (p. 17) ("Epistola." [p. 19]). The poem, which contains three variant readings ("fata" for "fama" [l. 15], "Consideramque" for "Credideramque" [l. 44] and "resurgat" for "recursat" [l. 51]), is part of a section called "Latin Pieces", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 24), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
Alternate Form:
Microfilm copy available in Poetic Commonplace Books and Manuscripts of Thomas Gray, 1716-1771, from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1999), reel one
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 134, p. 92; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), p. 30
Contents: Transcript in the hand of William Mason, wanting the ends of ll. 26-28, in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. III, p. 1107.
Archive MS ID: mss.0161
Title: [?]
Date:[17??]
Physical Description: [?] pages, 250 mm x 200 mm; transcript in the hand of James Beattie
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), p. 92; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414; Ellner, June, "Re: MS 30/44, James Beattie papers". E-mail to the editor, 20 December 2006
Contents: Transcript in the hand of James Beattie, annotated in his hand "These verses were written in compliment to Mr Bentley for the designs which he drew to several of Mr Gray's poems, and which were engraved by Grignion, and published by Dodsley. Those persons who have only seen the graved prints will be inclined to think the panegyrick outreé. The Drawings themselves in the possession of Mr Walpole have undoubtedly much more merit. The original M.S. is unfortunately torn at the bottom which occasions a chasm in the last stanzas."
Archive MS ID: mss.0257
Title: [untitled]
Date:July/August 1827
Physical Description: 1 page, 191 mm x 125 mm (volume); transcript, partial, in the hand of William Pitter Woodhouse
Contents: Transcript of the poem, partial, beginning "Enough for me, if to some feeling breast", in the hand of William Pitter Woodhouse, in his Commonplace book of verse and prose by various authors, July-August 1827, vol. i (82 leaves), f. 67.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), p. 75; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 100-103
Summary: Written c. 1749 under a sketch of the Rev. Henry Etough drawn by William Mason. First published, ll. 1-2, 5-8, as On Mr. E---'s being ordained and beginning "Such Tophet was--so grum'd the bawling Fiend", in The London Magazine 52 (June 1783), p. 296. The text, ll. 1-2, 5-8, was also issued on an etching by Michael Tyson of the drawing of Tophet by Mason, 1769.
5 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0163
Title: "Inscription on a portrait"
Date:[after 1771]
Physical Description: 1 page; transcript in the hand of William Mason
Alternate Form:
Microfilm copy available in Poetic Commonplace Books and Manuscripts of Thomas Gray, 1716-1771, from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1999), reel one
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 136, p. 92; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), p. 30
Contents: Transcript of ll. 1-2, 5-8, 3-4 in the hand of William Mason, here entitled "Inscription on a portrait", with ll. 3-4 annotated "addition in the first Copy", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. III, p. 1106.
Archive MS ID: mss.0164
Title: [?]
Date:26 November 1769
Physical Description: 1 page; transcript in the hand of William Cole
Alternate Form:
Microfilm copy available in Poetic Commonplace Books and Manuscripts of Thomas Gray, 1716-1771, from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1999), reel two
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 137, p. 92; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), p. 31; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 415
Contents: Transcript in the hand of William Cole, ll. 1-2, 5-8 beginning "Such Tophet was--so grinn'd the bawling Fiend", on an early state of Tyson's etching (before the text had been added), annotated by Cole on the recto "Mr. Etough, Rector of Therfeild in Hartfordshire, who had been a dissenting Teacher in a Barn at Debden at Essex, died in August 1757" and on the verso "Donum Mich Tyson Arm: & Collegii Corporis Chri Cantabr Socij Nov: 26.1769, Gulielmo Cole A: Mro".
Archive MS ID: mss.0165
Title: [untitled]
Date:1769
Physical Description: 1 page, c. 245 mm x 180 mm; transcript in the hand of Michael Tyson
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 138, p. 92; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 415
Contents: Copy of Tyson's etching with the text, annotated "Gray". Above the sketch is an annotation by William Cole "Mr. Etough of Therfeild in Hartfordshire, obiit 1757", and on verso "Given to me by Mr. Tyson in Nov: 1769. Wm. Cole". Bound in a volume entitled History of King's College Cambridge, vol. IV, XVI, bequeathed by Rev. W. Cole.
Archive MS ID: mss.0247
Title: Lines by ... on Mr. E___'s characature
Date:[between 1793 and c. 1800]
Physical Description: [1?] page, 240 mm x 180 mm (volume); transcript
Alternate Form:
Microfilm copy available in Microfilm Collection, FILM Fo. 2321, Microfilm of M.a.182, 1 microfilm reel : negative, 12:1, 12 feet ; 35 mm.
Contents: Transcript, here beginning "Such E___ was, so grinn'd the brawling fiend", in a volume entitled Manuscript Collection, a miscellaneous collection in prose and verse in which are included several original pieces 1793 ... Vol. I (97 leaves), compiled by A. S. W.
Archive MS ID: mss.0251
Title: [untitled]
Date: [undated]
Physical Description: 1 page, c. 55 mm x 160 mm; transcript in an unidentified hand (6 lines)
Contents: Transcript (6 lines) in an unidentified hand, here beginning "Such Tophet was, so grinned the bawling fiend" and attributed above "By Mr Gray", in a quarto volume of miscellaneous pieces of poetry, entitled "Miscellaneous Poetry" and "presented by Rev. T. Crompton", written in the 18th and 19th centuries, to which the names of the respective authors are assigned.
"[Translation from Dante, Inferno Canto xxxiii 1-78]"
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 61-63; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 23-25
Summary: Written probably in 1737 or 1738 when Gray was translating other Italian verse by Tasso and Petrarch. First published, 15 lines only, in The Gentleman's Magazine N.S. 32 (October 1849), p. 343, published in full in Gosse (ed.), Works (1884), vol. I, pp. 157-160, as "Dante. Canto 33, dell' Inferno".
3 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0167
Title: "Dante, Canto 33 dell' Inferno"
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 4 pages, 180 mm x 115 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 139, pp. 92-93
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Mitford, introduced "DANTE. It is uncertain when Mr Gray translated the following Story from Dante; but most probably very early, and when he was making himself Master of the Italian language.", headed "Dante, Canto 33 dell' Inferno", and annotated "N.B. The above is not in Grays Writing, but in a clear large hand. perhaps Mr. Stonehewer's. (yes.)", in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", ff. 70-73.
Archive MS ID: mss.0168
Title: "Translation in blank verse of Dante's Ugolino c. xxxiii."
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 2 pages, 180 mm x 115 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford, partial [ll. 1-4, 82-84]
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 140, p. 93
Contents: Transcript of ll. 1-4 and 82-4 in the hand of John Mitford, here beginning "From his dire food the greisly father raisd", annotated "Mason says, Gray translated this when learning Italian" and "N.B. The MS is not in Gray's writing", in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", ff. 182-183.
Archive MS ID: mss.0166
Title: "Translation in Blank Verse of Dante's Ugolino c. xxxiii."
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford, partial [ll. 1-4, 82-84] and crossed out
Contents: Transcript of ll. 1-4 and 82-84 in the hand of John Mitford (crossed out), annotated "Mason says Gray translated this, when learning Italian", in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. IV, f. 29.
"[Translation from Statius, Thebaid VI 646-88, 704-24]"
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 54-55; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 17-19
Summary: Written before the end of May 1736 when Gray was learning Italian, and sent in two letters, dated [8 May 1736] (ll. 646-88) and [before 24 May 1736] (ll. 704-24), to Richard West. Gray's translation of ll. 689-703 has not survived. Translation of ll. 646-88 (59 lines) first published, untitled, in Mitford (ed.), Correspondence of Gray and Mason (1853), letter I, pp. 2-4, and of ll. 704-24 (27 lines) first published in Mason'sMemoirs (1775), section I, pp. 9-10.
2 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0213
Title: [untitled]
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 3 pages, 180 mm x 115 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford, partial [ll. 32-52, 1-31, 53-59]
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 145, p. 93
Contents: Transcript, here untitled, of ll. 32-52, 1-31, 53-59, in the hand of John Mitford, in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", ff. 192r, 193r, 194r.
Archive MS ID: mss.0173
Title: [untitled]
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford, partial [ll. 1-2, 51-52] and crossed out
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 115-117, 250-251 (with English prose translation and the original English version); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 287-290 (with English prose translation and the original English version)
Summary: Written probably as a school exercise at Eton between 1725 and 1734. First published, untitled, in Tovey (ed.), Gray and his Friends (1890), pp. 298-300.
2 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0176
Title: [untitled]
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 2 pages, 180 mm x 115 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 147, p. 93; Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), p. 250
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Mitford, untitled, but identified "N.B. The above is a free Translation of Gilb. Coopers Ode / Away let Nought to Love displeasing / ..." and annotated "The following Poem is written with Ink by Mason over Gray's Pencil, which was very faint, in order apparently to preserve it." and "N.B. Grays writing perceptible below the Ink-letters", in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", ff. 86-87.
Related Material: MS 0176 apparently transcribed from MS 0175.
Contents: Poem in English, beginning "Away! let nought to love displeasing", and Latin verse translation beginning "Vah! tenero quodcunque potest obsistere amori", from the G. E. Solly and Mrs. M. A. Carew sale of Garrick MSS at Sotheby's, June 18-21, 1928.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 35-36; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 228-233
Summary: Written probably in 1760 or 1761 when Gray was living in London. Based on a Latin translation by Evan Evans of the original Welsh "Arwyain Owain Gwynnedd" by Gwalchmai ap Meilyr. First published in Poems (1768).
2 Manuscripts:
Archive MS ID: mss.0225
Title: "The Triumphs of Owen. A Fragment. From Mr. Evans's specimens of Welch Poetry; London, 1764, Quarto"
Date:1780[?]
Physical Description: 6 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand on Whatman paper
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "The Triumphs of Owen. A Fragment" (p. 93) ("Ode X." [p. 95]). The poem, which includes Gray's notes and the additional lines after l. 26 by Mason, is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
Archive MS ID: mss.0274
Title: "The triumphs of Owen Gwynedd a fragment"
Date:[after 1773]
Physical Description: [?] pages, 190mm x 120mm (volume); transcript in the hand of John Freeman Milward Dovaston
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, p. 624, item O1156; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 16 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10633>
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Freeman Milward Dovaston, entitled "The triumphs of Owen Gwynedd a fragment", in his autograph Select, and Miscellaneous Poems, Scraps, Mottos &c, 1773 and later, a Commonplace book of verse by Dovaston and others.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), p. 196; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 277-278
Summary: Written probably in 1754, copied by William Mason from Gray's pocketbook for that year. First published, among "Thoughts and Verse Fragments", in Tovey (ed.), Gray and his Friends (1890), pp. 269-270.
1 Manuscript:
Archive MS ID: mss.0193
Title: [untitled]
Date:[1754]
Physical Description: 1 page; transcript in the hand of William Mason
Alternate Form:
Microfilm copy available in Poetic Commonplace Books and Manuscripts of Thomas Gray, 1716-1771, from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1999), reel one
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 165, p. 95; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), p. 30
Contents: Transcript in the hand of William Mason, 12 lines beginning "Gratitude/ The Joy that trembles in her eye", within the "Extract from Mr Gray's Pocket Books... 1754", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. III, p. 1110.
"William Shakespeare to Mrs Anne, Regular Servant to the Revd Mr Precentor of York"
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 168, p. 96
Contents: Transcript, with stanza 5 following stanza 2, in the hand of John Mitford, here entitled "Verses from Wm Shakspeare to Mrs Anne Regular Servant to the Revd Mr Precentor of York" and annotated "Tell me, if you don't like this, and I'll send you a worse", in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", f. 185.
Archive MS ID: mss.0194
Title: [untitled]
Date:[between 1845 and 1856]
Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in the hand of John Mitford, crossed out
Contents: Transcript, with stanza 5 following stanza 2, here untitled and annotated "Tell me if you don't like this, & I will send you a worse", in the hand of John Mitford (crossed out), in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. IV, f. 31v.
![[MS image]](http://www.thomasgray.org/images/diglib/primary/mss/mss0002/thumbs/eadthumb.jpeg)
Archive MS ID: mss.0002![[MS image]](http://www.thomasgray.org/images/diglib/primary/mss/mss0006/thumbs/eadthumb.jpeg)
Archive MS ID: mss.0006![[MS image]](http://www.thomasgray.org/images/diglib/primary/mss/mss0243/thumbs/eadthumb.jpeg)
Archive MS ID: mss.0243![[MS image]](http://www.thomasgray.org/images/diglib/primary/mss/mss0245/thumbs/eadthumb.jpeg)
Archive MS ID: mss.0245![[MS image]](http://www.thomasgray.org/images/diglib/primary/mss/mss0107/thumbs/eadthumb.jpeg)
Archive MS ID: mss.0107![[MS image]](http://www.thomasgray.org/images/diglib/primary/mss/mss0242/thumbs/eadthumb.jpeg)
Archive MS ID: mss.0242![[MS image]](http://www.thomasgray.org/images/diglib/primary/mss/mss0244/thumbs/eadthumb.jpeg)
Archive MS ID: mss.0244![[MS image]](http://www.thomasgray.org/images/diglib/primary/mss/mss0153/thumbs/eadthumb.jpeg)
Archive MS ID: mss.0153![[MS image]](http://www.thomasgray.org/images/diglib/primary/mss/mss0202/thumbs/eadthumb.jpeg)
Archive MS ID: mss.0202