Richard West to Thomas Gray (17 September 1738) Alexander Huber Editor Thomas Gray Archive
info@thomasgray.org https://www.thomasgray.org/
Oxford

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 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], letter no. 57, vol. i, 91-92 http://www.e-enlightenment.com/search/letters/print/?printref_sourceedition=graythOU0084&printref_docnumber=57 The Poems of Mr. Gray. To which are prefixed Memoirs of his Life and Writings by W[illiam]. Mason. York: printed by A. Ward; and sold by J. Dodsley, London; and J. Todd, York, 1775, letter xviii, section i, 37-39 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/1775/1/37 The Correspondence of Gray, Walpole, West and Ashton (1734-1771), 2 vols. Chronologically arranged and edited with introduction, notes, and index by Paget Toynbee. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1915, letter no. 85, vol. i, 198-200 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/TyP_1915i/1/198 Gray and his Friends: Letters and Relics, in great part hitherto unpublished. Ed. by Duncan C. Tovey. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1890, section II, letter no. 22, 117-119 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/ToD_1890/1/117 The Works of Thomas Gray, 2 vols. Ed. by John Mitford. London: J. Mawman, 1816, section I, letter XVIII, vol. ii, 30-31 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/MiJ_1816ii/1/30 The Works of Thomas Gray, 5 vols. Ed. by John Mitford. London: W. Pickering, 1835-1843, section I, letter XVIII, vol. ii, 34-35 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/MiJ_1843ii/2/34 The Letters of Thomas Gray, 2 vols. in one. London: J. Sharpe, 1819, letter XVIII, vol. i, 33-34 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/1819/1/33 The Works of Thomas Gray, 2 vols. Ed. by Thomas James Mathias. London: William Bulmer, 1814, section I, letter XVIII, vol. i, 165-167 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/MaW_1814i/1/165 West, Richard, 1716-1742 London, United Kingdom Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771 Richmond, United Kingdom

Julian

 English

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I thank you again and again for your two last most agreeable letters. They could not have come more a-propos; I was without any books to divert me, and they supplied the want of every thing; I made them my classics in the Country, they were my Horace and Tibullus – Non ita loquor assentandi causâ ut probè nosti si me noris, verum quia sic mea est sententia. I am but just come to Town, and, to shew you my esteem of your favours, I venture to send you by the penny-post, to your Father's, what you will find on the next page; I hope it will reach you soon after your arrival, your boxes out of the waggon, yourself out of the coach, and tutors out of your memory.

Adieu, we shall see one another, I hope, to-morrow.

ELEGIA.

Quod mihi tam gratæ misisti dona Camænæ, Qualia Mænalius Pan Deus ipse velit, Amplector te, Graie, & toto corde reposco, Oh desiderium jam nimis usque meum: Et mihi rura placent, et me quoqb sæpe volentem Duxerunt Dryades per sua prata Deæ; Sicubi lympha fugit liquido pede, sive virentem, Magna decus nemoris, quercus opacat humum: Illuc mane novo vagor, illuc vespere sero, Et, noto ut jacui gramine, nota cano. Nec nostræ ignorant divinam Amaryllida silvæ: Ah, si desit amor, nil mihi rura placent. Ille jugis habitat Deus, ille in vallibus imis, Regnat & in Cælis, regnat & Oceano; Ille gregem taurosqb domat, saeviqb leonem Seminis; ille feros, ultus Adonin, apros: Quin & fervet amore nemus, ramoqb sub omni Concentu tremulo plurima gaudet avis. Duræ etiam in sylvis agitant connubia plantæ, Dura etiam & fertur saxa animasse Venus. Durior & saxis, & robore durior ille est, Sincero siquis pectore amare vetat: Non illi in manibus sanctum deponere pignus, Non illi arcanum cor aperire velim; Nescit amicitias, teneros qui nescit amores: Ah! si nulla Venus, nil mihi rura placent. Me licet a patriâ longè in tellure juberent Externâ positum ducere fata dies; Si vultus modo amatus adesset, non ego contra Plorarem magnos voce querente Deos. At dulci in gremio curarum oblivia ducens Nil cuperem præter posse placere meæ; Nec bona fortunæ aspiciens, neqb munera regum, Illa intrà optarem brachia cara mori.

Sept. 17. 1738.