"The Bard. A Pindaric Ode"

• Archive Work ID: poems.bapo
• Uniform Title: "The Bard. A Pindaric Ode" [e-text]
• First Line: 'Ruin seize thee, ruthless king!
• Language: English
• First Published: 1757
• References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 18-24; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 177-200
• Summary: Begun late in 1754 and initially abandoned by August 1755, then taken up again, completed and revised, between May and August 1757. Gray sent the earlier parts of the poem in letters to Thomas Wharton, dated 6 August 1755 (ll. 1-56), and to Richard Stonhewer, dated 21 August 1755 (ll. 63-100), the latter part (ll. 111-144) to William Mason, dated [24 or 31] May 1757. First published, as "Ode II." in Odes by Mr. Gray (1757), 12-21.

16 Manuscripts:

• • Archive MS ID: mss.0014 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: Bard
  • Date: 21 August 1755
  • Physical Description: 1 page, 204 mm x 160 mm; autograph, partial [2 lines]
  • Language: English
  • Location: MS Egerton 2400 (Wharton MS), f. 73v, Manuscripts Collection, British Library, London, UK <http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/bldept/manuscr/>
  • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 10, 80; Toynbee/Whibley (eds.), Correspondence (1971), letter no. 205, vol. i, 433-434 (subscription required); Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 414
  • Contents: Autograph proposal of a revision of ll. 17-18, here beginning, "With fury pale, & pale with woe," in a letter to Thomas Wharton, 21 August 1755.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0015 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: [untitled]
  • Date: 27 August 1756
  • Physical Description: 1 page; autograph, partial [ll. 23-56]
  • Language: English
  • Location: HM 21912, Department of Manuscripts, The Huntington, San Marino, CA, USA <https://www.huntington.org/library-collections>
  • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 11, 80; Toynbee/Whibley (eds.), Correspondence (1971), letter no. 222, vol. ii, 474-478 (subscription required)
  • Contents: Autograph, of ll. 23-56, here untitled but referred to as "the British Ode", in a letter to Edward Bedingfield, 27 August 1756.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0016 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: [untitled]
  • Date: [beginning of June 1757]
  • Physical Description: 4 pages, 226 mm x 187 mm; autograph draft, partial [ll. 57-144]
  • Language: English
  • Location: MS Egerton 2400 (Wharton MS), ff. 75-76, Manuscripts Collection, British Library, London, UK <http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/bldept/manuscr/>
  • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 12, 80; Toynbee/Whibley (eds.), Correspondence (1971), letter no. 205A, vol. i, 434-437 (subscription required); Starr, "Gray's Craftsmanship" (1946), particularly pp. 424-429
  • Contents: Autograph draft, of ll. 57-144, here untitled, following a letter to Thomas Wharton, 21 August 1755, but according to Correspondence of Thomas Gray (1971), vol. i, 434 very probably written at the beginning of June 1757.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0017 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: [untitled]
  • Date: [24 or 31] May 1757
  • Physical Description: [1?] page; autograph fair copy, partial [ll. 111-144]
  • Language: English
  • Location: Henry W. And Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, New York Public Library, New York, NY, USA <https://www.nypl.org/about/divisions/berg-collection-english-and-american-literature>
  • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 13, 80; Toynbee/Whibley (eds.), Correspondence (1971), letter no. 238, vol. ii, 501-503 (subscription required); Starr, "Gray's Craftsmanship" (1946), particularly pp. 424-429
  • Contents: Autograph fair copy, of ll. 111-144, untitled but headed "Antist: 3^a." and beginning "Haughty Knights, & Barons bold", in a letter to William Mason, [24 or 31] May 1757.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0018 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: [untitled]
  • Date: [1757?]
  • Physical Description: 1 page; autograph, partial [argument]
  • Language: English
  • Location: GBR/1058/GRA/1, Commonplace Book, Vol. II, 932v, College Library, Pembroke College, Cambridge, Cambridge, UK <http://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/>
  • 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 14, 80; Poetic C. B., Pembroke College (1999), 29; Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 208
  • Contents: Autograph argument of the ode, here untitled, in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. II, 932v. First printed in Mason's Poems (1775), 91.
  • Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0019 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: [untitled]
  • Date: [1757?]
  • Physical Description: [9?] pages; autograph, revised and partial [notes only]
  • Language: English
  • Location: Bound PML 16518 (extra-illustrated copy of Gray's Odes), Literary and Historical Manuscripts (LHMS), Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, USA <http://www.themorgan.org/collection>
  • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 15, 80; Munby (ed.), Sale Catalogues (1971), Evans sale (27-29 November 1845), lot 788(?), 20, Sotheby's sale (28 August 1851), lot 53(?), 45, Sotheby's sale (4 August 1854), lot 241, 73; W[right]., Catalogue (1851), [lot 53?,] 13
  • Contents: Autograph notes to the poem, revised, in Gray's copy of Odes by Mr. Gray (1757). The notes were first published in the poem's version in Poems (1768).
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0020 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: [untitled]
  • Date: [1?] February 1768
  • Physical Description: 2 pages, 324 mm x 200 mm; autograph, partial [notes only]
  • Language: English
  • Location: Add. MS 38511, f. 4, Manuscripts Collection, British Library, London, UK <http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/bldept/manuscr/>
  • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 16, 80
  • Contents: Autograph notes to the poem, untitled but numbered 6. and identified on f. 3r as "6. The Bard, a Pindaric Ode", beginning "Prefix the original advertisement, The following Ode is founded &c:", in MS instructions to Dodsley for the 1768 London edition, sent in a letter, [1?] February 1768.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0021 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: [untitled]
  • Date: 1 February 1768
  • Physical Description: [2?] pages, 324 mm x 200 mm; autograph, partial [notes only]
  • Language: English
  • Location: Modern (Bound) Manuscripts, Vol. 52, Robert H. Taylor Collection of English and American Literature, Princeton University Library, Princeton, NJ, USA <http://rbsc.princeton.edu/>
  • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 17, 80; Heist, Michael, "RE: Modern (Bound) Manuscripts, vol.52, Robert H. Taylor Collection". E-mail to the editor, 11 January 2007
  • Contents: Autograph notes to the poem, headed "Prefix the origl. advertisement, The following Ode is founded, &c:", in MS instructions to Beattie for the 1768 Glasgow edition, originally sent in a letter, 1 February 1768.
  • Separated Material: The letter in which these instructions were originally sent is now at Historic Collections, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0022 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: "Gazetta Litteraire de l'Europe. 1764. Tom: 3. p: 259"
  • Date: 1764
  • Physical Description: 3 pages; autograph transcript
  • Language: French
  • Location: MS 351, College Library, Eton College, Windsor, UK <http://www.etoncollege.com/collegelibrary.aspx>
  • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 18, 80; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 413; Munby (ed.), Sale Catalogues (1971), Evans sale (27-29 November 1845), lot 606, 10
  • Contents: Autograph transcript of a translation into French prose, headed "Gazetta Litteraire de l'Europe. 1764. Tom: 3. p: 259". The translation is unlikely to be Gray's.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0013 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: "The Bard"
  • Date: [between 1845 and 1856]
  • Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 115 mm; transcript of variant lines in the hand of John Mitford, partial [ll. 142, 128, 130]
  • Language: English
  • Location: Add. MS 32561, f. 182r, Manuscripts Collection, British Library, London, UK <http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/bldept/manuscr/>
  • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), 80
  • Contents: Transcript of variant versions of ll. 142, 128, and 130, in the hand of John Mitford, in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", f. 182r.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0203 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: "Bard"
  • Date: [between 1845 and 1856]
  • Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript of variant lines in the hand of John Mitford, partial [ll. 142, 128, 130] and crossed out
  • Language: English
  • Location: Add. MS 32562, f. 33r, Manuscripts Collection, British Library, London, UK <http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/bldept/manuscr/>
  • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), 80
  • Contents: Transcript of variant versions of ll. 142, 128, and 130 (crossed out), in the hand of John Mitford, in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. IV, f. 33r.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0204 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: "Bard"
  • Date: [between 1845 and 1856]
  • Physical Description: 1 page, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript of variant lines in the hand of John Mitford, partial [ll. 111-112, 114, 116]
  • Language: English
  • Location: Add. MS 32562, f. 85v, Manuscripts Collection, British Library, London, UK <http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/bldept/manuscr/>
  • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), 80
  • Contents: Transcript of variant versions of ll. 111-112, 114, and 116, in the hand of John Mitford, in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. IV, f. 85v.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0201 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: [untitled]
  • Date: 17 June 1786
  • Physical Description: 74 folios, 230 mm x 300 mm; transcript, in form of a full score with four voices, in the hand of J. W. Callcott
  • Language: English
  • Location: Add. MS 27637, Music Collection, British Library, London, UK <http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/bldept/manuscr/>
  • References: Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 413; Northup, Bibliography (1917), item 1997
  • Contents: Transcript, untitled, in form of a full score with four voices, by J. W. Callcott.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0221 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: "The Bard. A Pindaric Ode"
  • Date: 1780[?]
  • Physical Description: 16 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand on Whatman paper
  • Language: English
  • Location: MS Add. 439, "Poems" section, 47-62, The Archives, York Minster Library & Archives, York, UK <https://yorkminster.org/treasures-and-collections.html>
  • Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "The Bard. A Pindaric Ode" (p. 47) ("Ode. VI." [p. 49]). The poem, which has numbered stanzas and includes the "Argument" and the "Advertisement" as a footnote to the half-title as well as Gray's notes to ll. 5, 11, 13, 14, 35, 38, 47, 54, 57, 59, 64, 67, 71, 77, 83, 87, 89, 90, 91, 93, 99, 109, 110, 117, 121, 128, 131, 133, and additional annotations to ll. 70 ("Richard II.") and 75 ("Henry IV."), is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0275 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: "The bard; a Pindaric ode, by...founded on a tradition current in Wales that Edward the 1st ordered all the bards that fell into his hands to be put to death"
  • Date: [after 1773]
  • Physical Description: [?] pages, 190mm x 120mm (volume); transcript in the hand of John Freeman Milward Dovaston
  • Language: English
  • Location: c.481, 36, Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University Library, New Haven, CT (Beinecke)/Farmington, CT (Lewis Walpole), USA <http://www.library.yale.edu/>
  • References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, 661, item R0238; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 16 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10631>
  • Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Freeman Milward Dovaston, entitled "The bard; a Pindaric ode, by...founded on a tradition current in Wales that Edward the 1st ordered all the bards that fell into his hands to be put to death", in his autograph Select, and Miscellaneous Poems, Scraps, Mottos &c, 1773 and later, a Commonplace book of verse by Dovaston and others.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0289 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: "Bard"
  • Date: 3rd August 1824
  • Physical Description: 1 page; transcript (ll. 128-130) in the hand of R. Barneby
  • Language: English
  • Location: PR2752 1823e copy 2 v.1 Sh.Col., front endleaf 2v (b), Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C., USA <http://www.folger.edu/>
  • References: Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Dec. 2012. Folger Shakespeare Library. 15 February 2013. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=295130>
  • Contents: Transcript of three lines (ll. 128-130) in the hand of R. Barneby, beginning "In buskinn'd measures move" and signed "R. Barneby Aug.t 3rd. 1824."