tainly not inexcusable, when composing in a language not our own. Gray's Latin poetry, however, appears to me to be peculiarly forcible and correct; and formed attentively after the best models-Virgil and Lucretius. Dr. Johnson, who was a good judge of the purity of Latin composition (although he did not always himself compose with that classical exactness which may be desired), allowed, "that it were reasonable to wish Gray had prosecuted his design of excelling in Latin poetry; for though there is at present some embarrassment in his phrase, and some harshness in his lyric numbers, his copiousness of language is such as very few possess; and his lines, even when imperfect, discover a writer whom practice would have made skilful." If Gray, however, should need any further defence, it must be observed, that his Latin poems were never intended by him for publication, if we except the two that he wrote at College; that they were found by his executors among his own papers, or those of his friends, and that they did not receive his last corrections.*

I have never understood that his knowledge of modern languages extended beyond the French and Italian: these, however, he studied when he was abroad with considerable diligence, and

second thoughts, I deemed it best to let them stand exactly as I found them in the manuscripts. The accurate classical reader will perhaps be best pleased with finding out the faulty passages himself; and his candour will easily make the proper allowances for any little mistakes in verses, which, he will consider, never had the author's last hand." Memoirs, vol. iv. p. 234.

* The ode written at the Grande Chartreuse perhaps ought also to be excepted.

VOL. I.

i

cultivated afterwards, in the leisure which he enjoyed at home. Indeed his acquaintance with the beautiful works of the Tuscan bards, has contributed in no small degree, to enrich and adorn ́ many passages of his English poetry:

"Dum vagus, Ausonias nunc per umbras,

Nunc Britannica per vireta lusit."

It remains now only to speak of an intended publication in English literature, which Gray mentioned in an advertisement to the Imitation of the Welsh Odes, and which was an 'History of English Poetry.' It appears that Warburton had communicated to Mr. Mason, a paper of Pope's, which contained the first sketch of a plan for a work of that nature, and which was printed in the Life of Pope by Ruffhead, and subsequently in many other works.

"Milton (says Dryden in the preface to his Fables) was the poetical son of Spenser, and Mr. Waller of Fairfax; for we have our lineal descents and clans as well as other families.” Upon this principle, Pope* drew up his little catalogue of the English

* Pope observed to Spence that "Michael Drayton was one of the imitators of Spenser, and Fairfax another. Milton, in his first pieces, is an evident follower of Spenser too, in his famous Allegro and Penseroso, and some others. Carew (a bad Waller), Waller himself, and Lord Lansdown, are all of one school; as Sir John Sucking, Sir John Minnes and Prior, are of another. Crashaw is a coarse sort of Cowley; he was a follower too of Petrarch and Marino, but most of Marino. He and Cowley were good friends; and the latter has a good copy of verses on his death. About this pitch were Stanley (the author of the Opinions of Philosophers); Randolph, though rather superior; and Sylvester, though rather of a lower form. Cartwright and Bishop Corbet are of this class of poets; and Ruggle, the

poets;* and Gray was so much pleased with the method of arrangement which Pope had struck out, that on Mr. Mason's agreeing to assist him, he examined and considerably enlarged the plan. He meant in the introduction, to ascertain the Origin of Rhyme ; to give specimens of the Provençal Scaldic, British, and Saxon poetry: and when the different sources of English poetry were ascertained, the history was to commence with the school of Chaucer. Mr. Mason collected but few materials for this purpose; but Gray, besides writing his imitations of Norse and Welsh poetry, made many curious and elaborate disquisitions into the origin of rhyme, and the variety of metre to be found in the ancient poets. He transcribed many passages from Lidgate, from the manuscripts which he found at Cambridge, remarking the beauties and defects, of this immediate scholar of Chaucer..

About this time, however, T. Warton was engaged in a work of the same nature; and Gray, fatigued with the extent of his plan,

author of the Counter-Scuffle, might be admitted among them. Herbert is lower than Crashaw, Sir John Beaumont higher, and Donne a good deal so." [Spence's Anecdotes, quoted in] Malone's Dryden, vol. iv. p. 589.

* I have placed Pope's Catalogue of the Poets in the Appendix D. (with Gray's Letter on the same subject), with some observations upon it. It is singular that this sketch of Pope's should have been so often printed, without any of the editors, except Mr. Malone, pointing out its mistakes and inaccuracies. It disagrees also, in many points, with the account which he gave to Spence; printed in the preceding note. I must observe, that this catalogue is printed by Mr. Mathias, in a far more correct manner, than that, in which it usually appears. It is published by him from Gray's own hand-writing; and many of the inaccuracies pointed out by Mr.. Malone, are only the blunders of printers and transcribers.

relinquished his undertaking, and sent a copy of his design to Warton; of whose abilities, from his observations on Spenser, Mr. Mason says, he entertained an high opinion. It is well known, that Warton did not adopt this plan; and gave his reasons for his departure from it, in the preface to his history. Gray died some years before Warton's publication appeared ;* but Mr. Mason mentions it with praise, in a note in the fourth volume of his Memoirs of Gray, where he calls it, "a work, which, as the author proceeds in it through more enlightened periods, will undoubtedly give the world as high an idea of his critical taste, as the present specimen does of his indefatigable researches into antiquity."

In the short, and I am afraid, imperfect account which I have now given of the life and character of Gray, I may be permitted, before I close the narrative, to express my own sincere admiration of that splendid genius, that exquisite taste, that profound and extensive erudition, those numerous accomplishments, and those real and unassuming merits, which will preserve for him a very eminent reputation, exclusively of that, which he so justly enjoys in his rank among the English poets. His life, indeed, did not abound with change of incident, or variety of situation; it was not blessed with the happiness of domestic endearments, nor spent in the bosom of social intercourse; but it was constantly and contentedly employed in the improvement of the various talents with which he was so highly gifted; in a sedulous cultivation both of

* Gray died in July 1771, and Warton's first volume appeared in 1774.

the moral and intellectual powers; in the study of wisdom, and in the practice of virtue.

To present his poetry to the public, in a more correct, as well as in a completer form, than it has yet appeared, has been the design of this edition. And I am willing to hope, that I have made no unacceptable present to the literary world, in enabling them for the first time to read the genuine correspondence of Gray, in an enlarged as well as authentic form. Assuredly, to some, his letters will not be less interesting than his poetry; and they will be read by all who are desirous of estimating, not only the variety of his learning, and the richness and playfulness of his fancy, but the excellence of his private character, the genuine goodness of his heart, his sound and serious views of life, and his warm and zealous affection towards his friends.