person, and his affliction seemed to me so real, that I could not refuse him. I have sent him the following verses, which I neither like myself, nor will he, I doubt: however, I have showed him that I wished to oblige him. Tell me your real opinion.

CXIV.

TO MR. WALPOLE.

Sunday, February 28, 1762.

I RETURN you my best thanks for the copy of your book,* which you sent me, and have not at all lessened my opinion of it since I read it in print, though the press has in general a bad effect on the complexion of one's works. The engravings look, as you say, better than I had expected, yet not altogether so well as I could wish. I rejoice in the good dispositions of our court, and in the propriety of their application to you: the work is a thing so much to be wished; has so near a connection with the turn of your studies and of your curiosity; and might find such ample materials among your boards and in your head; that it will be a sin if you let

* The Anecdotes of Painting. B.

it drop and come to nothing, or worse than nothing, for want of your assistance. The historical part should be in the manner of Henault, a mere abridgement, a series of facts selected with judgment, that may serve as a clew to lead the mind along in the midst of those ruins and scattered monuments of art, that time has spared. This would be sufficient, and better than Montfaucon's more diffuse narrative. Such a work (I have heard) Mr. Burke is now employed about, which though not intended for this purpose, might be applied perhaps to this use. Then at the end of each reign should come a dissertation explanatory of the plates, and pointing out the turn of thought, the customs, ceremonials, arms, dresses, luxury, and private life, with the improvement or decline of the arts during that period. This you must do yourself, beside taking upon you the superintendance, direction, and choice of materials. As to the expense, that must be the king's own entirely, and he must give the book to foreign ministers and people of note; for it is obvious no private man can undertake such a thing without a subscription, and no gentleman will care for such an expedient; and a gentleman it should be, because he must have easy access to archives, cabi22

VOL. IV.

nets, and collections of all sorts. I protest I do not think it impossible but they may give into such a scheme: they approve the design, they wish to encourage the arts and to be magnificent, and they have no Versailles or Herculaneum.

I hope to see you toward the end of March. If you bestow a line on me, pray tell me whether the baronne de la Peyriere is gone to her castle of Viry; and whether Fingal be discovered or shrewdly suspected to be a forgery. Adieu!

CXV.

TO DR. WHARTON.

Cambridge, Dec. 4, 1762.

I FEEL very ungrateful every day that I continue silent; and yet now that I take my in hand I have only time to tell you, pen that of all the places which I saw in my return from you, Hardwicke pleased me the most.* One would think that Mary, queen of Scots, was but just walked down into the park with her guard for half an hour; her

* A seat of the Duke of Devonshire, in Derbyshire.

gallery, her room of audience, her antichamber, with the very canopies, chair of state, footstool, lit de repos, oratory, carpets, and hangings, just as she left them: a little tattered indeed, but the more venerable; and all preserved with religious care, and papered up in winter.

When I arrived in London, I found professor Turner* had been dead above a fortnight; and being cockered and spirited up by some friends (though it was rather the latest) I got my name suggested to lord Bute. You may easily imagine who undertook it, and indeed he did it with zeal. I received my answer very soon, which was what you may easily imagine, but joined with great professions of his desire to serve me on future occasions, and many more fine words that I pass over, not out of modesty, but for another reason: so you see I have made my fortune like sir Francis Wronghead. This nothing is a profound secret, and no one here suspects it even now. To-day I hear

* Professor of modern languages in the university of Cambridge. This person was the late sir Henry Erskine. As this was the only application Mr. Gray ever made to ministry, I thought it necessary to insert his own account of it. The place in question was given to the tutor of sir James Lowther.

Mr. E. Delaval* has got it, but we are not yet certain; next to myself, I wished for him.

You see we have made a peace. I shall be silent about it, because if I say any thing anti-ministerial, you will tell me you know the reason; and if I approve it, you will think I have my expectations still. All I know is, that the duke of Newcastle and lord Hardwick both say it is an excellent peace, and only Mr. Pitt calls it inglorious. and insidious.

CXVI.

TO MR. MASON.

February 8, 1763.

DOCTISSIME domine, anne tibi arrident complimenta? If so, I hope your vanity is

* Fellow of Pembroke-Hall, and of the Royal Society.

William Taylor Howe, esq. of Stondon Place, near ChippingOngar, in Essex, an honorary fellow of Pembroke-Hall, was now on his travels in Italy, where he had made an acquaintance with the celebrated count Algarotti, and had recommended to him Mr. Gray's poems and my dramas. After the perusal he received a jetter from the count, written in that style of superlative panegyric, peculiar to Italians. A copy of this letter Mr. Howe had just now