Thomas Gray to Horace Walpole, [21 January 1735]
To
The Honble Mr Horace Walpole
at the house of the right honble Sr Robert Walpole
in St James's Square London
CAMBRIDGE 22 1A
Tuesday Jan: 21 P:C:
I, Orozmades, Master of the noble Science of Defence, hearing of the great reputation of thee, Timothy Celadon, do challenge & invite thee to contend with me at long-love, great-affection, or whatever other weapon you shall make choice of, in Kings-Colledge Quadrangle, a Week hence precisely – – –
Vivat Rex –
And that you may not fail me, I believe I shall see you at London beforehand; Almanzor persuades me, and I have a months mind to it myself; tho' I think it a foolish undertaking enough would you advise me to come, or not? for I stand wavering. but pray, don't importune, don't press, dear Sr Celadon; oh Jesus! I believe, if you should importune, I shall– be very coming:–if I do venture, I must borrow your Disguise; for nobody, but you, must know, that I am in town: well! be it, as it will, you have got my Soul with you already; I should think, 'twould be better, for you to bring it hither to the rest of me, than make my body take a journey to it; besides it would be cheaper to me, for that can come down in the coach with you; but my limbs must pay for their passage up. I hate living by halves, for now I lead such a kind of I don't know how–as it were–: in short, what the devil d'ye mean by keeping me from myself so long? I expect to be pay'd with interest, & in a short time to be a whole thing, whereas at this present writing, I am but a
DEMI–OROZ:
Letter ID:
letters.0011 (Source: TEI/XML)
Correspondents
Writer's age: 18
Addressee's age: 17
Dates
Date (on letter): Tuesday Jan: 21
Calendar: Julian
Places
Address (on letter): [St.] P[eter's]:C[ollege]:
Physical description
Addressed: To / The Honble Mr Horace Walpole / at the house of the right honble Sr Robert Walpole / in St James's Square London (postmark: CAMBRIDGE 22 1A)
Content
Language: English
Incipit: I, Orozmades, Master of the noble Science of Defence, hearing...
Holding Institution
Location:
(confirmed)
GBR/1058/GRA/3/4/10, College Library, Pembroke College, Cambridge , Cambridge, UK <http://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/>
(confirmed)
GBR/1058/GRA/3/4/10, College Library, Pembroke College, Cambridge , Cambridge, UK <http://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/>
Availability: The original letter is extant and usually available for academic research purposes
Print Versions
- 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. 10, vol. i, 26-27
- 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. i, 76-77
- 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. 11, vol. i, 20-21