Thomas Gray to Horace Walpole, [5 March 1735]
To
The Honble [Mr Horace] Walpole
at [his house in] St James's [Square London]
If you please to remember, that about a fortnight ago, you sent me to Almanzor's room, there to wait for you: & there it seems I might have stayed till this time, & been never the nearer: after all this, I see nothing should hinder, but that about the 29th of next February there may be some small probability of your being just a-going to think of setting out on ye 29th of Febr: Anno Domini, 1737: at which time your humble servant will most punctually meet you; but in the mean time I would advise with you how Almanzor & I shall pass the time; whither you think it best for us to double our selves up nicely in the corner of some old Draw, that at your arrival, we may come out spick & span new in all our pleats; but perhaps by that time we may grow out of fashion, or moth-eaten; or to compose ourselves with a good dose of Laudanum for a year or two, & so dream of you; [but then you may] find it too hard a matter to wake us, or perhaps you will let us lye, & snore on till Doomsday: prithee don't mind Finances & my lord Chancellour, but make haste hither. oh! I forgot how obligingly in your last letter to me, you let us both know, that you did not care a farthing, whither you saw us this twelve-month; for I imagine you mean't it to both, because it was directed to me at Kings-colledge: I own, I quite believe you; but did not think you would mortify me so much as to tell me so; however I have learn'd to be pleased with anything, that comes from you, & still try to persuade myself, that you would think Cambridge more disagreeable without, than you will with
Correspondents
Dates
Places
Physical description
Content
Holding Institution
(confirmed)
Class No. LC II, 90, College Library, Pembroke College, Cambridge , Cambridge, UK <http://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/>
Print Versions
- The Correspondence of Gray, Walpole, West and Ashton (1734-1771), 2 vols. Chronologically arranged and edited with introduction, notes, and index by Paget Toynbee. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1915, letter no. 14, vol. i, 34-36
- The Yale Edition of Horace Walpole's Correspondence. Ed. by W. S. Lewis. New Haven, Conn.: Yale UP; London: Oxford UP, 1937-83, vols. 13/14: Horace Walpole's Correspondence with Thomas Gray, Richard West and Thomas Ashton i, 1734-42, Horace Walpole's Correspondence with Thomas Gray ii, 1745-71, ed. by W. S. Lewis, George L. Lam and Charles H. Bennett, 1948, vol. i, 82-83
- Correspondence of Thomas Gray, 3 vols. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], letter no. 15, vol. i, 26-27