Summary: Written at Stoke Pogesearly in June 1742 and sent in a letter, [c. 3 June 1742], to Richard West who was then dead. The letter was returned unopened and does not survive. First published, anonymously, in Dodsley'sCollection of Poems by Several Hands, 3 vols, vol. II. (London, 1748), 265-267, reprinted in 6 vols, vol. II. (London, 1758 and later edns.), 325-327.
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 101, 89; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 414
Contents: Autograph notes to the poem, untitled but numbered 1. and identified on f. 3r as "1. Ode. (Lo, where the rosy-bosom'd &c:)" in MS instructions to Dodsley for the 1768London edition, sent in a letter, [1?] February 1768. The notes were first published in the poem's version in Poems (1768).
Contents: Transcript (lines 1-7, 11-50) in the hand of George Gordon, afterwards (1818) Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, K.G., K.T., Prime Minister (b. 1784, d. 1860) in his Aberdeen Papers, Vol. CCCIX (ff. 210) "Miscellaneous papers", section 2 "Miscellaneous English occasional verse, centring chiefly round George, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, and the circle of visitors he met at Bentley Priory, Stanmore, the home of his father-in-law, John James Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn, which became his own residence for many years", item q "Poem, beg. 'Lo! Where the rosy-bosom'd hours', ff. 51-52b".
Contents: Transcript of ll. 3-4, in the hand of John Mitford, possibly transcribed from one of the autograph MSS., in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", f. 181r.
Contents: Transcript of ll. 3-4, in the hand of John Mitford (crossed out), possibly transcribed from one of the autograph MSS., in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. IV, f. 29r.