Richard Hurd to Thomas Gray, 28 August 1757
To Thomas Gray Esqr;
I write this to be conveyed to you by Mr Mason. We were together, when your favour of the 25th arrived, and laughed very heartily at the judgments of your great men and great women. Poor people, it is not for them to understand what you write. But without understanding, they will learn to admire, of their Betters. Every body here, that knows anything of such things, applauds the Odes. And the readers of Pindar dote upon them.
I am truly concerned for what you tell me of your indisposition. You must abstain from books for the present, and use all the exercise you can. I should fancy, if you took a Post-chaise and went to dine with Mason at Kensington, it would be a relief to you. His Caractacus mends daily, and will come to good in the end, in spite of Lords and Ladies, who will not like it.
I set forward on my journey tomorrow. If I find a day of leisure, or rather of ennui, I may attempt to enliven it by writing to you again. In the mean time take care of your health and believe me,
Your very affectionate friend and
humble Servant
P.S. Mr Brown to whom I shew'd the paragraph in you Letter, sends compliments.
Correspondents
Dates
Places
Physical description
Content
Holding Institution
(unconfirmed)
Hurd Library, Hartlebury Castle , Hartlebury, UK <https://www.museumsworcestershire.org.uk/museums/county-museum-hartlebury/>
Print Versions
- The Correspondence of Richard Hurd & William Mason. And letters of Richard Hurd to Thomas Gray. With introduction & notes by the late Ernest Harold Pearce. Ed. with additional notes by Leonard Whibley. Cambridge: University Press, 1932, 38-39
- 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. 247*, vol. ii, 521