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Thomas Gray to Thomas Wharton, 9 August 1758

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To
Dr Thomas Wharton M:D: in
Southampton Row, Bloomsbury
London
10 AV

Dear Doctr

I have been, since I saw you in Town, pretty much on the wing, at Hampton, Twickenham, & elsewhere. I staid at the first of these places with the Cobhams two days & should (I own) gladly have done so longer, but for the reason we talk'd about. the place spite of the weather is delightful: every little gleam of sunshine, every accident of light, opens some new beauty in the view, & I never saw in so small a spot so much variety, & so many natural advantages, nor ever hardly wish'd more for your company to partake of them. we were also at Hampton-Court, Sion, & several places in the neighbourhood again, particularly at Ld Lincoln's, who (I think) is hurting his view by two plantations in front of his terrace, that regularly answer one another, & are of an oval form with rustic buildings in the middle of them, a farm, dairies, &c:. they stand on the opposite side of the water, & (as they prosper) will join their shade to that of the hills in the horizon, exclude all the intermediate scene of enclosures, meadows, & cattle feeding, & reduce that great distance to nothing. this seems to be the advice of some new Gardiner, or Director of my Lord's Taste; his Successor perhaps may cut all down again.

I shall beg the favor of you (as you were so kind to offer it) to buy us a Lottery-Ticket, if you find the Market will not be much lower than at present; & (if you think it has no great hazard in it) enclose it to me here: I will take care to repay you as soon as I come to Town, or (if you chuse it) directly. my best respects to Mrs Wharton. pray let me hear soon, how you both are.

believe me ever
Yours
TG.
Letter ID: letters.0317 (Source: TEI/XML)

Correspondents

Writer: Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771
Writer's age: 41
Addressee: Wharton, Thomas, 1717-1794
Addressee's age: 41[?]

Dates

Date of composition: 9 August 1758
Date (on letter): Aug: 9 ... 1758
Calendar: Gregorian

Places

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

Physical description

Form/Extent: A.L.S.; 1 page, 210 mm x 161 mm
Addressed: To / Dr Thomas Wharton M:D: in / Southampton Row, Bloomsbury / London (postmark: 10 AV)

Content

Language: English
Incipit: I have been, since I saw you in Town, pretty much on the wing,...
Mentioned: Hampton
Hampton Court
London
Oatlands Park, Weybridge
Speed, Henrietta Jane, 1728-1783

Holding Institution

Location:
(confirmed)
Egerton MS 2400, ff. 112-113, Manuscripts collection, British Library , London, UK <http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/bldept/manuscr/>
Availability: The original letter is extant and usually available for academic research purposes

Print Versions

  • The Works of Thomas Gray, 2 vols. Ed. by John Mitford. London: J. Mawman, 1816, section IV, letter LXXIV, vol. ii, 311-312
  • The Works of Thomas Gray, 5 vols. Ed. by John Mitford. London: W. Pickering, 1835-1843, section IV, letter LXXXII, vol. iii, 193-194
  • 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. CLXIX, vol. ii, 35-36
  • 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. 274, vol. ii, 578