Augustus Henry Fitzroy Grafton to Thomas Gray, [27 July 1768]

Letter ID: letters.0534

Writer: Grafton, Augustus Henry Fitzroy, Duke of, 1735-1811

Writer's age: 32

Addressee: Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771

Addressee's age: 51

Date of composition: [27 July 1768]

Calendar: Gregorian

Place of composition: [London, United Kingdom]

Language: [unknown]

Incipit: [not extant]

Contents: "[The Duke of Grafton wrote to Gray, on Wednesday, 27 July, to offer him the Regius Professorship of Modern History at Cambridge, as we know from Gray's letters to Mary Antrobus, Wharton, Mason, and Norton Nicholls (Letters 479 [letters.0536], 480 [letters.0537], 481 [letters.0538], 482 [letters.0539]). The Duke of Grafton's letter is not extant; but Gray's allusions are sufficient to show what its contents must have been. Certain passages, which Gray underlined in his letters to Mary Antrobus and Wharton, may be taken to contain the actual expressions used by Grafton. As Gray replied in the first person (Letter 478 [letters.0535]) it is probable that the Duke wrote in the same way. Three passages in the Duke's letter can be traced (the words in italics are those underlined by Gray):

1. The Duke had the King's commands to offer Gray the vacant Professorship (Letters 479, 480, 481, 483 [letters.0540]).
2. 'not only as a reward of &c:, but as a credit to &c:' (Letter 482: Gray alludes to compliments that he will not repeat in Letters 479, 480, 481).
3. The Duke added at the end 'that from private as well as publick considerations He must take the warmest part in approving so well judged a measure as he hopes I do not doubt of the real regard & esteem with w^ch he has the honor to be, &c:' (Letter 480, cf. Letter 479).]"

Correspondence of Thomas Gray, 3 vols. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], vol. iii, 1033-1034.

Mentioned: Cambridge

Availability: The original letter is not extant, no copy, transcription, or published version survives