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Poems, [ca. 1725]-1771

  • "[Lines on Dr Robert Smith]"

    • Archive Work ID: poems.lods
    • Uniform Title: "[Lines on Dr Robert Smith]" [e-text]
    • First Line: Do you ask why old Focus Silvanus defies,
    • Language: English
    • First Published: 1902
    • References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 74; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 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, 142.

    1 Manuscript:

      • Archive MS ID: mss.0094 (Source: EAD/XML)
      • Title: [untitled]
      • Date: [between 1742 and 1768]
      • Physical Description: [1?] page; transcript[?]
      • Language: English
      • Location: [privately owned]
      • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 79, 86
      • Contents: A manuscript, here untitled, owned (1902) by Prof. Adam Sedgewick.


  • "[Ode on the Pleasure Arising from Vicissitude]"

    • Archive Work ID: poems.oopv
    • Uniform Title: "[Ode on the Pleasure Arising from Vicissitude]" [e-text]
    • First Line: Now the golden Morn aloft
    • Language: English
    • First Published: 1775
    • References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 100-103; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 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's Memoirs (1775), 78-81 (with Mason's additions) and 236-237 (ll. 1-48 only) respectively.

    1 Manuscript:

      • Archive MS ID: mss.0112 (Source: EAD/XML)
      • Title: [?]
      • Date: [?]
      • Physical Description: [?] pages; transcript in an unidentified hand
      • Language: English
      • Location: [privately owned]
      • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), 88
      • Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, owned (1969) by Arthur A. Houghton, Jr.


  • "Satire on the Heads of Houses; or, Never a Barrel the Better Herring"

    • Archive Work ID: poems.sahh
    • Uniform Title: "Satire on the Heads of Houses; or, Never a Barrel the Better Herring" [e-text]
    • First Line: O Cambridge, attend
    • Language: English
    • First Published: 1884
    • References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 76-77; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 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, 134-135, where the poem is dated "about 1765".

    1 Manuscript:

      • Archive MS ID: mss.0145 (Source: EAD/XML)
      • Title: "Satire on the Heads of Houses; or, Never a Barrel the Better Herring"
      • Date: [between 1747 and 1765]
      • Physical Description: [?] pages; autograph
      • Language: English
      • Location: [privately owned]
      • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 120, 91; Munby (ed.), Sale Catalogues (1971), Evans sale (27-29 November 1845), lot 615(?), 10, Sotheby's sale (28 August 1851), lot 53(?), 42, Sotheby's sale (4 August 1854), lot 229(?), 70; W[right]., Catalogue (1851), [lot 53?,] 10
      • Contents: Autograph, owned (1884) by Lord Houghton.


  • "[Translation of Ode 'Away; let nought to love displeasing']"

    • Archive Work ID: poems.lt24
    • Uniform Title: "[Translation of Ode 'Away; let nought to love displeasing']" [e-text]
    • First Line: Vah, tenero quodcunque potest obsistere amori,
    • Language: Latin
    • First Published: 1890
    • References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 115-117, 250-251 (with English prose translation and the original English version); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 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), 298-300.

    1 Manuscript:

      • Archive MS ID: mss.0175 (Source: EAD/XML)
      • Title: [untitled]
      • Date: [between 1725 and 1734]
      • Physical Description: [?] pages; autograph
      • Language: Latin
      • Location: [privately owned]
      • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 146, 93; Catalogue of a Sotheby's sale (29 February 1960), lot 67
      • Contents: Autograph in pencil and inked over, here untitled, bound into a copy of James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson (London, 1791), owned (1966) by Charles W. Traylen Booksellers (out of business since 2003).
      • Related Material: MS 0176.


  • "William Shakespeare to Mrs Anne, Regular Servant to the Revd Mr Precentor of York"

    1 Manuscript:

      • Archive MS ID: mss.0196 (Source: EAD/XML)
      • Title: [untitled]
      • Date: [1765]
      • Physical Description: 1 page; autograph draft, the whole erased
      • Language: English
      • Location: [privately owned]
      • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 167, 96, in a notebook, item GrT 295, 109; Toynbee, "Newly Discovered Draft" (1930), MS transcribed and discussed
      • Contents: Autograph draft, here untitled and the whole erased, owned (1988) by Lt.-Col. John Murray.


Contents

  • Collection: Poems, [ca. 1725]-1771
  • Location: privately owned
  • Works: 5
  • Manuscripts: 5

Works