"There scatter'd oft, the earliest of the year, By hands unseen are showers of violets found: The redbreast loves to build and warble there, And little footsteps lightly print the ground." A LONG STORY. P. 79. Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard, previous to its publication, was handed about in manuscript; and had among other admirers the Lady Cobham, who resided at the mansion-house at Stoke Pogis. The performance inducing her to wish for the author's acquaintance, her relation, Miss Speed, and Lady Schaub, then at her house, undertook to effect it. These two ladies waited up. on the author at his aunt's solitary habitation, where heat that time resided; and not finding him at home, they left a card behind them. Mr. Gray, surprised at such a compliment, returned the visit. And as the beginning of this acquaintance bore some appearance of romance, he soon after gave a humorous account of it in the verses, which he entitled "A Long Story." Printed in 1753, with Mr. Bentley's designs. P. 79. An ancient pile of building stands.] In the sixteenth century the house belonged to the Earls of Huntingdon, and to the family of Hatton. On the death of Lady Cobham, 1760, the estate was purchased from her executors by the late Hon. Thomas Penn, Lord Proprietary of Pennsylvania: his son, the present John Penn, Esq., finding the interior of the ancient mansion in a state of considerable decay, it was taken down in the year 1789, with the exception of a wing, which was preserved, partly for the sake of its effects as a ruin, harmonizing with the churchyard, the poet's house, and the surrounding scenery. P. 79. The ceiling's fretted height.] The style of building called Queen Elizabeth's is here admirably described, both with regard to its beauties and defects; the third and fourth stanzas delineate the fantastic manners of the time with equal truth and humor. P. 79. My grave Lord-Keeper.] Sir Christopher Hatton, promoted by Queen Elizabeth for his graceful person and fine dancing. P. 79. Brawls.] Brawls were figure-dances then in fashion. P. 80. The first came cap-à-pie from France.] The lady's husband, Sir Luke Schaub, had been ambassador at Paris some years before. P. 80. The other Amazon.] Miss Harriet Speed, Lady C.'s relation, afterward married to the Count de Viry, Sardinian Envoy at the court of London. P. 81. Mr. P-t.] The Rev. Mr. Purt, tutor to the Duke of Bridgewater, then at Eton School. P. 82. To rid the manor of such vermin.] Henry the Fourth, in the fourth year of his reign, issued out the following commission against this species of vermin: "And it is enacted, that no master-rimer, minstrel, or other vagabond, be in anywise sustained in the land of Wales, to make commoiths, or gatherings upon the people there." P. 82. O'er stiles they ventured.] The walk from Stoke old mansion to the house occupied by the poet's family is peculiarly retired. The house is the property of Captain Salter, and it has belonged to his family for many generations. It is a charming spot for a summer residence, but has undergone great alterations and improvements since Gray gave up in 1758. P. 83. A spell upon the table.] The note which the ladies left upon the table. P. 84. And from the gallery.] The music. gallery which overlooked the hall. P. 84. Tyacke.] The housekeeper. P. 85. P. 85. Squib.] Groom of the chamber. P. 85. Macleane.] A famous high wayman, hanged the week before. P. 86. See a Sequel to the Long Story, in Hakewill's History of Windsor, by John Penn, Esq., and a further sequel to that, by the late laureate, H. J. Pye, Esq. ODE ON THE PLEASURE ARISING FROM VICISSITUDE. P. 87. Left unfinished by Gray. With additions by Mason, distinguished by inverted commas. TRANSLATION OF A PASSAGE FROM STATIUS. Mr. P. 92. This translation, which Gray sent to West, consisted of about a hundred and ten lines. Mason selected twenty-seven lines, which he published, as Gray's first attempt in English verse. THE FRAGMENT OF A TRAGEDY. P. 95. "The Britannicus of Racine, I know, was one of Gray's most favorite plays; and the admirable manner in which I have heard him say that he saw it represented at Paris, seems to have led him to choose the death of Agrippina for his first and only effort in the drama. The execution of it also, as far as it goes, is so very much in Racine's taste, that I suspect, if that great poet had been born an Englishman, he would have written precisely in the same style and manner. However, as there is at present in this nation a general prejudice against declamatory plays, I agree with a learned friend who perused the manuscript that this fragment will be little relished by the many: yet the admirable strokes of nature and character with which it abounds, and the majesty of its diction, prevent me from withholding from the few, who I expect will relish it, so great a curiosity (to call it nothing more) as part of a tragedy written by Gray. These persons well know that, till style and sentiment be a little more regarded, mere action and passion will never secure reputation to the author, whatever they may do to the actor. It is the business of the one to strut and fret his hour upon the stage; and if he frets and struts enough, he is sure to find his reward in the plaudit of an upper gallery; but the other ought to have some regard to the cooler judgment of the closet: for I will be bold to say, that if Shakspeare himself had not written a multitude of passages which please there as much as they do on the stage, his reputation would not stand so universally high as it does at present. Many of these passages, to the shame of our theatrical taste, are omitted constantly in the representation: but I say not this from conviction that the mode of writing which Gray pursued is the best for dramatic purposes. I think myself, what I have asserted elsewhere, that a medium between the French and English taste would be preferable to either; and yet this medium, if hit with the greatest nicety, would fail of success on our theatre, and that for a very obvious reason. Actors (I speak of the troop collectively) must all learn to speak as well as act, in order to do justice to such a drama. "But let me haste to give the reader what little insight I can into Gray's plan, as I find and select it from two detached papers. “AGRIPPINA, A TRAGEDY. "The argument drawn out by him, in these two papers, under the idea of a plot and under-plot, I shall here unite; as it will tend to show that the action itself was possessed of sufficient unity. The drama opens with the indignation of Agrippina, at receiving her son's orders from Anicetus to remove from Baiæ, and to have her guard taken from her. At this time Otho, having conveyed Poppea from the house of her husband Rufus Crispinus, brings her to Baiæ, where he means to conceal her among the crowd; or, if his fraud is discovered, to have recourse to the Emperor's authority; but, knowing the lawless temper of Nero, he determines not to have recourse to that expedient but on the utmost necessity. In the meantime he commits her to the care of Anicetus, whom he takes to be his friend, and in whose age he thinks he may safely confide. Nero is not yet come to Baiæ; but Seneca, whom he sends before him, informs Agrippina of the accusation concerning Rubellius Plancus, and desires her to clear herself, which she does briefly: but demands to see her son, who, on his arrival, acquits her of all suspicion, and restores her to her honors. In the mean while, Anicetus, to whose care Poppea had been entrusted by Otho, contrives the following plot to ruin Agrippina: he betrays his trust to Otho, and brings Nero, as it were by chance, to the sight of the beautiful Poppæa; the Emperor is immediately struck with her charms, and she, by a feigned resistance, increases his passion: though, in reality, she is fro the first dazzled with the prospect of empire, and forgets Otho she therefore joins Anicetus in his design of ruining Agrippina, soon perceiving that it |