Thomas Gray to Horace Walpole (12 June 1750) Alexander Huber Editor Thomas Gray Archive
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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. 153, vol. i, 326-327 http://www.e-enlightenment.com/search/letters/print/?printref_sourceedition=graythOU0084&printref_docnumber=153 The Works of Horatio Walpole, Earl of Orford, 5 vols. London: G. G. and J. Robinson and J. Edwards, 1798, vol. v, 386 Essays and Criticisms by Thomas Gray. Ed. with Introduction and Notes by Clark Sutherland Northup. Boston and London: D. C. Heath & Co., 1911, letter excerpt, 160-161 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/NoC_1911/1/160 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. 170, vol. ii, 101-103 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/TyP_1915ii/1/101 The Letters of Thomas Gray, including the correspondence of Gray and Mason, 3 vols. Ed. by Duncan C. Tovey. London: George Bell and Sons, 1900-12, letter no. XC, vol. i, 204-205 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/ToD_1900i/1/204 The Works of Thomas Gray, 2 vols. Ed. by John Mitford. London: J. Mawman, 1816, section IV, letter XXII, vol. ii, 204-205 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/MiJ_1816ii/1/204 The Works of Thomas Gray, 5 vols. Ed. by John Mitford. London: W. Pickering, 1835-1843, section IV, letter XXIX, vol. iii, 71-72 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/MiJ_1843iii/1/71 The Letters of Thomas Gray, 2 vols. in one. London: J. Sharpe, 1819, letter LXXIII, vol. i, 157-158 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/1819/1/157 The Yale Edition of Horace Walpole's Correspondence. Ed. by W. S. Lewis. New Haven, Conn.: Yale UP; London: Oxford UP, 1937-83, vols. 13/14: Horace Walpole's Correspondence with Thomas Gray, Richard West and Thomas Ashton i, 1734-42, Horace Walpole's Correspondence with Thomas Gray ii, 1745-71, ed. by W. S. Lewis, George L. Lam and Charles H. Bennett, 1948, vol. ii, 43-44 https://libsvcs-1.its.yale.edu/hwcorrespondence/page.asp?vol=14&page=43 The Works of Thomas Gray, 2 vols. Ed. by Thomas James Mathias. London: William Bulmer, 1814, appendix, letter III, vol. i, 542-543 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/MaW_1814i/1/542 Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771 Stoke Poges, United Kingdom Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797

Julian

 English Ashton, Thomas, 1715-1775 Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard Stoke Poges

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 Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) Stoke, June 12, 1750. Dear Sir,

As I live in a place, where even the ordinary tattle of the town arrives not till it is stale, and which produces no events of its own, you will not desire any excuse from me for writing so seldom, especially as of all people living I know you are the least a friend to letters spun out of one's own brains, with all the toil and constraint that accompanies sentimental productions. I have been here at Stoke a few days (where I shall continue good part of the summer); and having put an end to a thing, whose beginning you have seen long ago, I immediately send it you. You will, I hope, look upon it in the light of a thing with an end to it; a merit that most of my writings have wanted, and are like to want, but which this epistle I am determined shall not want, when it tells you that I am ever

Yours, T. GRAY.

Not that I have done yet; but who could avoid the temptation of finishing so roundly and so cleverly in the manner of good queen Anne's days? Now I have talked of writings; I have seen a book, which is by this time in the press, against Middleton (though without naming him), by Asheton. As far as I can judge from a very hasty reading, there are things in it new and ingenious, but rather too prolix, and the style here and there savouring too strongly of sermon. I imagine it will do him credit. So much for other people, now to self again. You are desired to tell me your opinion, if you can take the pains, of these lines.

I am once more Ever Yours.