Thomas Gray to Thomas Wharton (18 October 1755) Alexander Huber Editor Thomas Gray Archive
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Oxford

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 UK London British Library Manuscripts collection Egerton MS 2400, ff. 77-78 2 pages 228 mm x 185 mm

The original letter is extant and usually available for academic research purposes

 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. 208, vol. i, 441-443 http://www.e-enlightenment.com/search/letters/print/?printref_sourceedition=graythOU0084&printref_docnumber=208 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 xxiii, section iv, 244-245 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/1775/1/244 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. CXXV, vol. i, 279-281 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/ToD_1900i/1/279 The Works of Thomas Gray, 2 vols. Ed. by John Mitford. London: J. Mawman, 1816, section IV, letter L, vol. ii, 265-266 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/MiJ_1816ii/1/265 The Works of Thomas Gray, 5 vols. Ed. by John Mitford. London: W. Pickering, 1835-1843, section IV, letter LVIII, vol. iii, 141-143 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/MiJ_1843iii/1/141 Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771 Stoke Poges, United Kingdom Wharton, Thomas, 1717-1794 London, United Kingdom

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 English

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 Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF)

To Dr Thomas Wharton M:D: in Kings-Arms Yard Coleman Street London
18 OC

My dear Doctor

I ought before now to have thanked you for your kind offer, wch I mean soon to accept for a reason, wch to be sure can be no reason to you or Mrs Wharton, & therefore I think it my duty to give you notice of it. it is a very possible thing I may be ill again in Town, wch I would not chuse to be in a dirty inconvenient lodgeing, where perhaps my nurse might stifle me with a pillow, and therefore it is no wonder, if I prefer your house. but I tell you of this in time, that if either of you are frighted at the thought of a sick body, you may make a handsome excuse, & save yourselves this trouble. you are not to imagine my illness is in Esse; no, it is only in Posse, otherwise I should myself be scrupulous of bringing it home to you. I shall be in town in about a fortnight. you will be sorry (as I am) at the destruction of poor [ ] views, wch promised so fair: but both he & I have known it this long time, so, I believe, he was prepared, & his old Patron is no bad ressource. I am told, it is the fashion to be totally silent with regard to the ministry. nothing is to be talked of, or even suspected, till the Parliament meets. in the mean time the new Manager has taken what appears to me a very odd step. if you do not hear of a thing, wch is in it's nature no secret, I can not well inform you by the Post. to me it is utterly unaccountable.

Pray what is the reason I do not read your name among the Censors of the College? did they not offer it you, or have you refused it? I have not done a word more of Bard, having been in a very listless, unpleasant, & inutile state of Mind for this long while, for wch I shall beg you to prescribe me somewhat strengthning & agglutinant, lest it turn to a confirm'd Pthisis. to shew you how epidemical Self-Murther is this year, Lady M. Capel (Ld Essex's Sister) a young Person, has just cut the veins of both arms across, but (they say) will not die of it. she was well & in her senses, tho' of a family that are apt to be otherwise.

Adieu, dear Doctr, I should be glad of a line from you, before I come. believe me ever Most sincerely Yours, T G: