References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 138-140 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 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.
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 1, 79; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 21; Martin, Chronologie (1931), 136
Contents: Autograph fair copy, annotated "Cambridge. June, 1738" in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, split over two pages: p. 53 (ll. 1-40) and p. 90 (ll. 41-52).
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 144-145 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 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.
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 2, 79; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 22; Martin, Chronologie (1931), 138
Contents: Autograph fair copy, annotated "Wrote at Rome, the latter end of the Spring, 1740. after a journey to Frescati & the Cascades of Tivoli", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 128.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
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 3, 79; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 33
Contents: Autograph fair copy, here entitled "Alcaïca", endorsed in an unidentified hand "by T. Gray, from Tivoli".
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 140-141 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 308 (with English prose translation)
Summary: Written at Cambridge when Gray was about to join Richard West at the Inner Temple, where they intended to study law together. First published, untitled, 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.
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 5, 79; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 21; Martin, Chronologie (1931), 137
Contents: Autograph fair copy, untitled but identified in the index at the end as "Tears, (Latin Alcaïc) fragment on them", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 90.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 151-152 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 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), 117-118. MS translation into English by Thomas Wharton.
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 6, 79; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 22
Contents: Autograph fair copy, headed "In the Book at the Grande Chartreuse among the Mountains of Dauphiné", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 129.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
De Principiis Cogitandi. Liber Primus. Ad Favonium.
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 23, 81; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 22, 23, 25, 26; Martin, Chronologie (1931), 128
Contents: Autograph, revised, with line numbers (10, 20, etc.) and marginal notes, unfinished, annotated "Begun at Florence in 1740", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, split over four pages: p. 129 (ll. 1-27), 138 (ll. 28-79), 289 (ll. 80-151), and p. 438 (ll. 152-207). In the index to the Commonplace Book, the poem is listed as "Thinking (the Principles of) a Latin Poem, unfinish'd".
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 24, 81; Munby (ed.), Sale Catalogues (1971), Sotheby's sale (28 August 1851), lot 53, 41, Sotheby's sale (4 August 1854), lot 230, 70; W[right]., Catalogue (1851), [lot 53,] 9; Catalogue of a Sotheby Parke-Bernet sale (6 April 1982), lot 53; Bonhams sale (10 April 2013), lot 185 (with facsimile)
Contents: An autograph of 28 lines and 6 deleted lines, revised, of Book II of De Principiis Cogitandi written in red crayon and pencil (two lines), together with a note on human desires.
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 25, 81; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 25
Contents: Autograph fair copy, revised, here entitled "Liber Secundus. De Principiis Cogitandi", unfinished, annotated "Begun at Stoke, June, 1742", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol I, 286.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
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 26, 81; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 33; Toynbee/Whibley (eds.), Correspondence (1971), letter no. 131, vol. i, 264-268 (subscription required); Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 415
Contents: Autograph fair copy, here untitled and referred to as "the Beginning of the fourth Book" of "a large Design", in a letter to Horace Walpole, [8 February 1747].
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 149-150 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 315 (with English prose translation)
Summary: Written at Florence not later than 21 April 1741 and introduced "Eleven months, at different times, have I passed at Florence; and yet (God help me) know not either people or language. Yet the place and the charming prospects demand a poetical farewell, and here it is." Shortly before leaving Florence, Gray sent it in a letter of that date to Richard West. First published, untitled, in Mason'sMemoirs (1775), 115.
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 48, 83; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 23
Contents: Autograph fair copy, here untitled, in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 139.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
First Line: Uror io! veros at nemo credidit ignes:
Language: Latin
First Published: 1814
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 141-142 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 308-309 (with English prose translation)
Summary: Written probably in 1737 or 1738 when Gray was translating other Italian verse by Tasso and Dante. First published in Mathias (ed.), Works (1814), vol. II, 93.
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 56, 84; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 23
Contents: Autograph fair copy, in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 139.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
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 57, 84; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 22; Martin, Chronologie (1931), 138
Contents: Autograph fair copy, here untitled, under the heading "Carmina" and annotated "Rome -- July, 1740 just return'd from Naples", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, split over two pages: p. 115 (ll. 1-52) and p. 128 (ll. 53-61).
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
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 58, 84; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 33
Contents: Autograph fair copy, here untitled, annotated in an unidentified hand "A Fragment in the Stile of Virgil, by T. Gray from Naples".
First Line: Gratia magna tuae fraudi quod Pectore, Nice
Language: Latin
First Published: 1890
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 134-137 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 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), 296-298.
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 62, 85; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 23
Contents: Autograph fair copy, headed "Imitated", together with a copy of the Italian original "Spesso Amor sotto la forma", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 139.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
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 73, 86; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 32; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 415
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 72, 86; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 32; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 415
First Line: Pendet Homo incertus gemini ad confinia mundi
Language: Latin
First Published: 1882 and 1884
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 117-121 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 290-293 (with English prose translation)
Summary: Composed as a school exercise at Eton between February 1733 and September 1734. First published, in part and untitled, in Gosse, Gray (1882), 6-7, published in full in Gosse (ed.), Works (1884), vol. i, 163 as "Play Exercise at Eton".
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 78, 86; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 21; Martin, Chronologie (1931), 136
Contents: Autograph fair copy, here untitled but under the heading "Carmina", annotated by Gray "Play-Exercise at Eton" and listed in the index at the end as "Knowledge of Himself, Latin Verses at Eton", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 50-51.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 152 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 318 (with English prose translation)
Summary: Written probably at London soon after returning from the Grand Tour, in [September] 1741. First published, untitled, in Tovey (ed.), Gray and his Friends (1890), 296.
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 107, 89; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 26
Contents: Autograph, revised, here untitled, in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 381.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
First Line: Alas lorica tectas Coleoptera jactant.
Language: Latin
First Published: 1814 and 1966
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 179-185 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 337-342 (with English prose translation)
Summary: Begun not earlier than 1759, the year Gray bought his copy of Linnaeus, but possibly only in the last years of his life. The additional lines were presumably abandoned due to his last illness in 1771. First published, as Generick Characters of the Orders of Insects, and of the Genera of the first six Orders, named Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Neuroptera, Hymenoptera, and Diptera; expressed in Technical Verses, in Mathias (ed.), Works (1814), vol. II, 570-573. Additional lines ("Palpos ore duos, triplexque Lepisma flagellum") first published in Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 185.
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 110, 90, in an interleaved copy of Linnaeus, Systema Naturae, 10th rev. ed. (Holmiae, 1758-59), item GrT 334, 113
Contents: Autograph fair copy, untitled, in an interleaved copy of Linnaeus, Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum charateribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis ..., 10th rev. ed. (Holmiae, 1758-59).
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 4, 79, together with a list of books, item GrT 178, 97, cf. item GrT 233, 102; Jones, Thomas Gray, Scholar (1937), "Register of Gray Autograph Manuscripts", VI. 20(d), 181
Contents: Autograph fragment, revised, here untitled, five additional lines on one page, together with a list of books, later tipped(?) into Herbert Paul, Queen Anne (Asnières, 1906).
"[Translation of Ode 'Away; let nought to love displeasing']"
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.
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).
First Line: Fertur Aristophanis fatorum arcana rogatum, [etc.]
Language: Latin
First Published: 1814 and 1890
References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 170-178 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 332-337 (with English prose translation)
Summary: Thirteen small pieces, subsumed under the work title [Translations from the Greek Anthology], presumably written late in Gray's Latin period, after his return from the Continent in 1742. First published in Mathias (ed.), Works (1814), vol. II, 94-97, except nos. [I] and [XII], first published in Tovey (ed.), Gray and his Friends (1890), 295. No. [VI] was first published as "Nymph offering a Statue of herself to Venus" and beginning "Te tibi, sancta, fero nudam; formosias, ipsa". First published complete and in Gray's order in Bradshaw (ed.), Poetical Works (1891), 168-172.
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 149, 94; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 25
Contents: Autograph fair copy in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 287.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
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 150, 94; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 25
Contents: Autograph fair copy in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 287.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
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 151, 94; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 25
Contents: Autograph fair copy in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 287.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
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 152, 94; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 25
Contents: Autograph fair copy in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 287.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
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 153, 94; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 25
Contents: Autograph fair copy in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 287.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
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 154, 94; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 25
Contents: Autograph, revised, the first line altered from "Te tibi, sancta, fero nudam: formosius ipsâ" in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 287.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
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 155, 94; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 25
Contents: Autograph fair copy in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 287.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
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 156, 94; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 25
Contents: Autograph fair copy in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 288.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
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 157, 95; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 25
Contents: Autograph fair copy in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 288.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
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 158, 95; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 25
Contents: Autograph fair copy in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 288.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
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 159, 95; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 25
Contents: Autograph fair copy in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 288.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
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 160, 95; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 25
Contents: Autograph fair copy, headed "...Of Bassus", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 288.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
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 161, 95; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 25
Contents: Autograph fair copy, headed "Of Rufinus...", in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. I, 288.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.