Thomas Gray to William Mason (27 June 1760) Alexander Huber Editor Thomas Gray Archive
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 USA New York, NY New York Public Library Humanities and Social Sciences Library Henry W. And Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature

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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. 314, vol. ii, 682-684 http://www.e-enlightenment.com/search/letters/print/?printref_sourceedition=graythOU0084&printref_docnumber=314 The Correspondence of Thomas Gray and William Mason, with Letters to the Rev. James Brown, D.D. Ed. by the Rev. John Mitford. London: Richard Bentley, 1853, letter LIII, 209-211 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/MiJ_1853/1/209 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, section iv, 284 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/1775/1/284 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. CCIII, vol. ii, 149-151 https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/diglib/primary/ToD_1900ii/1/149 Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771 London, United Kingdom Mason, William, 1724-1797 Aston, United Kingdom

Gregorian

 English Mason, William, 1724-1797 Conway Papers Quebec Oxfordshire Aston

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 Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) London. June 27. 1760. Dear Old Soul

I can not figure to myself what you should mean by my old papers. I sent none. all I can make out is this. when I sent the Musæus and the Satyr home to Mr Fraser, my Boy carried back the Conway-Papers to a house in your street. as I remember, they were divided into three parcels, on the least of wch I had wrote the word Nothing or Of no consequence. it did not consist of above 20 letters at most, & if you find any thing about Mr Bourne's affairs, or Steward's & Servants letters & bills, it is certainly so. this was carried to Mr Fraser by mistake, & sent to Aston; and if this is the case, they may as well be burnt. but if there is a good number, & about affairs of state (wch you may smell out) then it is one of the other parcels, & I am distress'd, & must find some method of getting it up again. I think I had inscribed the two packets, that signified any thing, one Papers of Q: Elizabeth, or earlier, the other (wch was a great bundle) Papers of K: James & Charles 1st. pray heaven, it is neither of these: therefore don't be precipitate in burning.

I do not like your improvements at Aston, it looks so like settling: if I come, I will set fire to it. your policy & your gratitude I approve, & your determination never to quarrel, & ever to pray: but I, that believe it want of power, am certainly civiller to a certain Person, than you, that call it want of exertion. I will never believe the [ ] ns are dead, tho' I smelt them; that sort of People always [live] to a good old-age. I dare swear, they are only gone to Ireland, & we shall soon hear they are Bishops.

The bells are ringing, the Squibs bouncing. the Siege of Quebec is raised. Swanton got up the river, when they were bombarding the Town. Murray made a sally, routed them & took all their baggage. this is sum & substance in the vulgar tongue, for I cannot get the Gazette till midnight. perhaps you have had an Estafette. since I find, their cannon are all taken, & that two days after a French Fleet going to their assistance was intercepted, & sunk or burnt.

Tomorrow I go into Oxfordshire, & a fortnight hence, when old Fobus's Owls-nest is a little aired, I go into it.

Adieu, I am ever & ever T G.