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), 267-269, reprinted in 6 vols, vol. II. (London, 1758 and later edns.), 328-330.
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), 88; Crum (ed.), First-Line Index (1969), vol. II, 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.