• Archive Work ID: poems.odec
• Uniform Title: "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College" [e-text]
• First Line: Ye distant spires, ye antique towers,
• Language: English
• First Published: 1747
• References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), pp. 7-10; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), pp. 54-63
• Summary: Written at Stoke Poges c. August 1742 during one of Gray's most productive periods. First published, anonymously, as a folio pamphlet by Dodsley, 30 May 1747.

4 Manuscripts:

• • Archive MS ID: mss.0103
  • Title: "Ode, on a Prospect of Windsor, & the adjacent Country"
  • Date: 1743
  • Physical Description: 3 pages; autograph fair copy
  • Language: English
  • Location: MS 281B, College Library, Eton College, Windsor, UK <http://www.etoncollege.com/collegelibrary.aspx>
  • Alternate Form: Facsimile in Illustrated London News 132 (20 June 1908), p. 896
  • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 88, p. 87; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414
  • Contents: Autograph fair copy, here entitled "Ode, on a Prospect of Windsor, & the adjacent Country, in 1743".
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0104
  • Title: "Ode. on a distant Prospect of Windsor, & the adjacent Country"
  • Date: August 1742
  • Physical Description: 3 pages; autograph fair copy, revised
  • Language: English
  • Location: Commonplace Book, Vol. I, 278-279, 284, College Library, Pembroke College, Cambridge, Cambridge, UK <http://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/>
  • 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 89, p. 87; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), pp. 24-25; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414
  • Contents: Autograph fair copy, revised, here entitled "Ode. on a distant Prospect of Windsor, & the adjacent Country" and dated "at Stoke Aug: 1742", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol I, pp. 278-279 and continued on p. 284.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0105
  • Title: [untitled]
  • Date: [1?] February 1768
  • Physical Description: 1 page, 324 mm x 200 mm; autograph, partial [motto and notes only]
  • Language: English
  • Location: Add. MS 38511, f. 3r, Manuscripts Collection, British Library, London, UK <http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/bldept/manuscr/>
  • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 90, p. 88; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), p. 414
  • Contents: Autograph of the motto and notes to the poem, untitled but numbered 3. and identified on f. 3r as "3. Ode, on a distant prospect of Eton-College", in MS instructions to Dodsley for the 1768 London edition, sent in a letter, [1?] February 1768. The notes were first published in the poem's version in Poems (1768).
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0106
  • Title: [untitled]
  • Date: 1 February 1768
  • Physical Description: [1?] page, 324 mm x 200 mm; autograph, partial [motto and notes only]
  • Language: English
  • Location: Modern (Bound) Manuscripts, Vol. 52, Robert H. Taylor Collection of English and American Literature, Princeton University Library, Princeton, NJ, USA <http://www.princeton.edu/~rbsc/>
  • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 91, p. 88; Heist, Michael, "RE: Modern (Bound) Manuscripts, vol.52, Robert H. Taylor Collection". E-mail to the editor, 11 January 2007
  • Contents: Autograph of the motto and notes to the poem in MS instructions to Beattie for the 1768 Glasgow edition, originally sent in a letter, 1 February 1768.
  • Separated Material: The letter in which these instructions were originally sent is now at Historic Collections, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.