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Thomas Gray to Horace Walpole, [27 October 1736]

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To
The Honble Horatio Walpole, Esq,
at the Treasury
London
 CAMBRIDGE 29 OC

[           ]

Here am I, a little happy to think, I sha'nt take Degree's; and really, now I know there is no occasion, I don't know but I may read a little Philosophy; it is sufficient to make a thing agreeable, not to have much need of it: such is my humour, but let that pass: West sup'd with me the night before I came out of town; we both fancied at first, we had a great many things to say to one another; but when it came to the push, I found, I had forgot all I intended to say, & he stood upon Punctilio's and would not speak first, & so we parted: Cole has been examined by the Proctors, & took Bachelour's degree's, in order (he says) when he is Master of Arts, to assist a friend with his Vote & Interest; he told me he would not be puzzled in Philosophy, because he would not expose himself, but desired to be examined in Classicks, which he understood: he still talks of having his Leg cut off, & then being married: I have not seen Ashton; he is at St Ive's, & I don't know when he comes back; Berkly makes a Speech the 5th of November; I am,

Dr, Dear Horace
Yours most truly,
T: G:
Oct: 27:

when d'ye come

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Letter ID: letters.0035 (Source: TEI/XML)

Correspondents

Writer: Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771
Writer's age: 19
Addressee: Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797
Addressee's age: 19

Dates

Date of composition: [27 October 1736]
Date (on letter): Oct: 27:
Calendar: Julian

Places

Place of composition: [Cambridge, United Kingdom]
Place of addressee: [London, United Kingdom]

Physical description

Addressed: To / The Honble Horatio Walpole, Esq, / at the Treasury / London (postmark: CAMBRIDGE 29 OC)

Content

Language: English
Incipit: Here am I, a little happy to think, I sha'nt take Degree's;...
Mentioned: Ashton, Thomas, 1715-1775
Cole, William, 1714-1782
West, Richard, 1716-1742

Holding Institution

Location:
(confirmed)
GBR/1058/GRA/3/4/27, 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. 46, vol. i, 108-109
  • 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, 115-116
  • 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. 32, vol. i, 55