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Thomas Gray to Horace Walpole, [27 February 1753]

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To
The Honble Horace Walpole Esq
in Arlington Street
London
 1 MR

Stoke. Feb: 27

I am obliged on the sudden to come hither to see my poor mother who is in a condition between Life & Death, tho' (I think) much nearer the latter. yet I could not help telling you, I had received your Letter, & am pleased to find, I was in the wrong. you may be sure, I was not willing to think you so. do what you please about the title, if it is time; but it seems to me the less of Puff or Ostentation it has, the better it will be, even for Dodsley. excuse my brevity,

Adieu, I am ever
Yours
T G:
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Letter ID: letters.0204 (Source: TEI/XML)

Correspondents

Writer: Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771
Writer's age: 36
Addressee: Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797
Addressee's age: 35

Dates

Date of composition: [27 February 1753]
Date (on letter): Feb: 27
Calendar: Gregorian

Places

Place of composition: Stoke Poges, United Kingdom
Address (on letter): Stoke
Place of addressee: [London, United Kingdom]

Physical description

Addressed: To / The Honble Horace Walpole Esq / in Arlington Street / London (postmark: 1 MR)

Content

Language: English
Incipit: I am obliged on the sudden to come hither to see my poor mother...
Mentioned: Designs by Mr. R. Bentley (1753)
Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764
Gray, Mrs. (Dorothy), 1685-1753

Holding Institution

Location:
(confirmed)
GBR/1058/GRA/3/4/58, 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. 184, vol. ii, 131-132
  • 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, 66
  • 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. 175, vol. i, 375