Thomas Gray to William Mason, 23 July 1759

I was alarmed to hear the condition you were in, when you left Cambridge, & tho' Mr Brown had a letter to tell him, you were mending apace, while I was there; yet it would give me great pleasure to hear more particularly from yourself, how you are. I am just settled in my new habitation in Southampton-Row, &, tho' a solitary & dispirited creature, not unquiet, nor wholly unpleasant to myself. the Musæum will be my chief amusement. I this day passed thro' the jaws of a great Leviathan, that lay in my way, into the belly of Dr Templeman, Super-Intendent of ye reading-room, who congratulated himself on the sight of so much good company. We were A Man, that writes for Ld Royston; A Man, that writes for Dr Burton of York; a third, that writes for the Emperour of Germany, or Dr Pocock, for he speaks the worst English I ever heard; Dr. Stukely, who writes for himself, the very worst Person he could write for; & I, who only read to know, if there were any thing worth writing, & that not without some difficulty. I find, that they printed 1000 copies of ye Harleian Catalogue, and have sold fourscore; that they have 900£ a year income, & spend 1300, & that they are building apartments for the Under-Keepers, so I expect in Winter to see the Collection advertised, & set to auction.

Have you read the Clarendon-book? do you remember Mr Cambridge's account of it, before it came out; how well he recollected all the faults, & how utterly he forgot all the beauties? surely the grossest Taste is better, than such a sort of Delicacy.

The Invasion goes on as quietly, as if we believed every Frenchman, that set his foot on English ground, would die on the spot, like a Toad in Ireland: no body, but I & Fobus, are in a fright about it. by the way he goes to Church (not for the invasion) but eversince his Sister Castle-comer died, who was the last of ye brood.