Summary: Written while on a visit to William Robinson in Denton, Kent, in June 1768. First published, anonymously without Gray's consent, as "Inscription for the Villa of a decay'd Satesman [sic] on the Sea-Coast", in The New Foundling Hospital for Wit (London, 1769) iii. 34-35.
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 109, 89; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 414; Northup, Bibliography (1917), item 1997; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=109944>
Contents: Transcript, revised and annotated, in the hand of William Cole, in a volume entitled Cambridgeshire Collections, Vol. XX, bequeathed by Rev. W. Cole. The transcript is here entitled "On seeing the Seat of a decayed Nobleman in Kent" and beginning "Old & abandon'd by its venal Friend", annotated "These Verses on Lord Holland, are said to have been composed by Mr. Gray: Dr Glynn dictated them to me at Milton May 1. 1777."
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), 89; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 414
Contents: Transcript, entitled "On Lord Holland's seat at Kingsgate. By Mr. Gray" in an unidentified hand, in a volume entitled Twining Papers, vol. VIII "Miscellaneous".
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), 89; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 414; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=137055>
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand in the form of six numbered stanzas, untitled, but headed "The following Stanzas were written by Mr. Gray at Kingsgate in Kent, the Seat of Lord Holland", in a volume entitled Eighteenth Century Verse.
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), 89; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=55640> (no author attribution)
Contents: Transcript of the poem in Charlotte Anne Hester Burney's (who became Mrs. Francis, and afterwards married Ralph Broome) verse Commonplace book (1771-1806), 116-118.
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, beginning "Old and abandon'd by each venal friend", on a "leaf watermarked 1805 inserted in a scrapbook of miscellaneous original and transcribed poems written out from c.1750 to the twentieth century".
References: Crum (ed.), First-Line Index (1969), vol. II, 681, item O1000; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=77210>
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, in six numbered stanzas, in a volume entitled Memorials of Richard Gough, volume II, section I. "Poems preserved by Richard Gough Esq.". The poem is listed with the date "1769" in the table of contents on fol. 7 of the volume. The volume, which is 14 5/8 x 9 3/4 in. in size and contains 320 leaves, is one of two Volumes of Poems and other interesting Memorials of Richard Gough, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A.., collected by J[ohn] B[owyer] Nichols (Summary Catalogue, 32551).
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, 608, item O0840; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 16 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10645>
Contents: Transcript entitled "On the seat of a decayed nobleman in the Isle of Thanet".