THE LIFE OF THOMAS GRAY.

THOMAS GRAY was born in Cornhill, in the city of London, on the 26th of December, 1716. His father, Philip Gray, was a money-ſcrivener; but being of an indolent and profuſe diſpoſition, he rather diminiſhed than improved his paternal fortune. Our Author received his claſſical education at Eton ſchool, under Mr. Antrobus, his mother's brother, a man of ſound learning and refined taſte, who directed his nephew to thoſe purſuits which laid the foundation of his future literary fame.

During his continuance at Eton, he contracted a friendſhip with Mr. Horace Walpole, well known for his knowledge in the fine arts; and Mr. Richard Weſt, ſon of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, a youth of very promiſing talents.

When he left Eton ſchool in 1734, he went to Cambridge, and entered a penſioner at Peterhouſe, at the recommendation of his uncle Antrobus, who had been a fellow of that college. It is ſaid that, from his effeminacy and fair complexion, he acquired, among his fellow ſtudents, the appellation of Miſs Gray, to which the delicacy of his manners ſeems not a little to have contributed. Mr. Walpole was at that time a fellow-commoner of King's College, in the ſame Univerſity; a fortunate circumstance, which af⯑forded Gray frequent opportunities of intercourſe with his Honourable Friend.

Mr. Weſt went from Eton to Chriſt Church. Ox⯑ford; and in this ſtate of ſeparation, theſe two vo⯑taries of the Muſes, whoſe diſpoſitions were conge⯑nial, commenced an epiſtolary correſpondence, part of which is publiſhed by Mr. Maſon, a gentleman whoſe character ſtands high in the republic of letters.

[vi] Gray, having imbibed a taſte for poetry, did not reliſh thoſe abſtruſe ſtudies which generally occupy the minds of ſtudents at College; and therefore, as he found very little gratification from academical purſuits, he left Cambridge in 1738, and returned to London, intending to apply himſelf to the ſtudy of the law: but this intention was ſoon laid aſide, upon an invita⯑tion given him by Mr. Walpole, to accompany him in his travels abroad; a ſituation highly preferable, in Gray's opinion, to the dry study of the law.

They ſet out together for France, and viſited most of the places worthy of notice in that country: from thence they proceeded to Italy, where an unfortunate diſpute taking place between them, a ſeparation enſued upon their arrival at Florence. Mr. Walpole after⯑wards, with great candour and liberality, took upon himſelf the blame of the quarrel; though, if we conſider the matter coolly and impartially, we may be induced to conclude that Gray, from a conſcious ſu⯑periority of ability, might have claimed a deference to his opinion and judgment, which his Honourable Friend was not at that time diſpoſed to admit: the rupture, however, was very unpleaſant to both par⯑ties.

Gray purſued his journey to Venice on an economic plan, ſuitable to the circumſcribed state of his finan⯑ces; and having continued there ſome weeks, returned to England in September, 1741. He appears, from his letters, publiſhed by Mr. Maſon, to have paid the minuteſt attention to every object worthy of notice throughout the courſe of his travels. His deſcriptions are lively and pictureſque, and bear particular marks of his genius and diſpoſition. We admire the ſub⯑limity of his ideas when he aſcends the ſtupendous heights of the Alps, and are charmed with his diſplay of nature, decked in all the beauties of vegetation. Indeed, abundant information, as well as entertain⯑ment, may be derived from his caſual letters.

[vii] In about two months after his arrival in England, he loſt his father, who, by an indiſcreet profuſion, had ſo impaired his fortune, as not to admit of his son's proſecuting the ſtudy of the law with that degree of reſpectability which the nature of the profeſſion re⯑quires, without becoming burthenſome to his mother and aunt. To obviate, therefore, their importunities on the ſubject, he went to Cambridge, and took his bachelor's degree in civil law.

But the inconveniencies and diſtreſs attached to a ſcanty fortune were not the only ills our Poet had to encounter at this time: he had not only loſt the friend⯑ſhip of Mr. Walpole abroad, but poor Weſt, the partner of his heart, fell a victim to complicated ma⯑ladies, brought on by family misfortunes, on the 1ſt of June, 1742, at Popes, a village, in Hertfordſhire, where he went for the benefit of the air.

The exceſſive degree in which his mind was agita⯑ted for the loſs of his friend, will beſt appear from the following beautiful little sonnet:

Mr. Gray now ſeems to have applied his mind very ſedulouſly to poetical compoſition: his Ode to Spring was written early in June, to his friend Mr. Weſt, before he received the melancholy news of his death: how our Poet's ſuſceptible mind was affected by that melancholy incident, is evidently demonſtrated by the lines quoted above; the impreſſion, indeed, appears [viii] to have been too deep to be ſoon effaced; and the te⯑nour of the ſubjects which called for the exertions of his poetical talents ſubſequent to the production of this Ode, corroborates that obſervation; theſe were his Proſpect of Eton, and his Ode to Adverſity. It is alſo ſuppoſed, and with great probability, that he began his Elegy in a Country Church Yard about the ſame time. He paſſed ſome weeks at Stoke, near Windſor, where his mother and aunt reſided, and in that pleaſing retirement finiſhed ſeveral of his moſt celebrated Poems.

From thence he returned to Cambridge, which, from this period, was his chief reſidence during the remainder of his life. The conveniencies with which a college life was attended, to a perſon of his narrow fortune, and ſtudious turn of mind, were more than a compenſation for the diſlike which, for ſeveral rea⯑ſons, he bore to the place: but he was perfectly re⯑conciled to his ſituation, on Mr. Maſon's being elected a fellow of Pembroke-Hall; a circumſtance which brought him a companion, who, during life, re⯑tained for him the highest degree of friendſhip and eſteem.

In 1742 he was admittted to the degree of Batchelor in the Civil Law, as appears from a letter written to his particular friend Dr. Wharton, of Old Park, near Durham, formerly fellow of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, in which he ridicules, with much point and humour, the [...]lies and foibles, and the dullneſs and formality, which prevailed in the Univerſity.

In order to enrich his mind with the ideas of others, he devoted a conſiderable portion of his time to the ſtudy of the beſt Greek authors; ſo that, in the courſe or ſix years, there were hardly any writers of emi⯑nence in that language whoſe works he had not only read, but thoroughly digeſted.

His attention, however, to the Greek claſſics, did not wholly engroſs his time; for he found leiſure [ix] to advert, in a new ſarcaſtical manner, to the igno⯑rance and dullneſs with which he was ſurrounded, though ſituated in the centre of learning. There is only a fragment remaining of what he had written on this ſubject, from which it may be inferred, that it was intended as an Hymn to Ignorance. The fragment is wholly introductory; yet many of the lines are ſo pointed in ſignification, and harmonious in verſifica⯑tion, that they will be admitted, by the admirers of verſe, to diſplay his poetical talents with more bril⯑liancy than appears in many of his lyric productions.

[x] In 1744 he ſeems to have given up his attention to the Muſes. Mr. Walpole, deſirous of preſerving what he had already written, as well as perpetuating the merit of their deceaſed friend, Weſt, endea⯑voured to prevail with Gray, to whom he had previ⯑ouſly become reconciled, to publiſh his own Poems, together with thoſe of Weſt; but Gray declined it, conceiving their productions united would not ſuffice to fill even a ſmall volume.

In 1747 Gray became acquainted with Mr. Maſon, then a ſcholar of St. John's College, and afterwards Fellow of Pembroke Hall. Mr. Maſon, who was a man of great learning and ingenuity, had written, the year before, his "Monody on the Death of Pope," and his "II Bellicoſo," and "Il Pacifico;" and Gray reviſed theſe pieces at the requeſt of a friend. This laid the foundation of a friendſhip that terminated but with life: and Mr. Maſon, after the death of Gray, teſtified his regard for him, by ſuperintending the publication of his works.

The ſame year he wrote a little Ode on the Death of a favourite Cat of Mr. Walpole's, in which hu⯑mour and inſtruction are happily blended: but the fol⯑lowing year he produced an effort of much more im⯑portance; the Fragment of an Eſſay on the Alliance of Education and Government. Its tendency was to de⯑monſtrate the neceſſary concurrence of both to form great and uſeful Men. It opens with the two follow⯑ing ſimilies. The exordium is rather uncommon; but he ſeems to have adopted it as a kind of clue to the ſubject he meant to purſue in the ſubſequent part of the Poem.

It is much to be lamented that our Author did not finiſh what was ſo ſucceſsfully begun, as the Fragment is deemed ſuperior to every thing in the ſame ſtyle of writing which our language can boaſt.

In 1750 he put his finiſhing ſtroke to his Elegy writ⯑ten in a Country Church-yard, which was communi⯑cated first to his friend Mr. Walpole, and by him to many perſons of rank and diſtinction. This beauti⯑ful production introduced the author to the favour of Lady Cobham, and gave occaſion to a ſingular compo⯑ſition, [xiii] called, A Long Story; in which various effu⯑ſions of wit and humour are very happily interſperſed.

The Elegy having found its way into the "Maga⯑zine of Magazines," the Author wrote to Mr. Wal⯑pole, requeſting he would put it into the hands of Mr. Dodſley, and order him to print it immediately, in order to reſcue it from the diſgrace it might have in⯑curred by its appearance in a Magazine. The Elegy was the moſt popular of all our Author's productions; it ran through eleven editions, and was tranſlated into Latin by Anſtey and Roberts; and in the ſame year a verſion of it was publiſhed by Lloyd. Mr. Bentley, an eminent Artiſt of that time, wiſhing to decorate this elegant compoſition with every ornament of which it is so highly deſerving, drew for it a set of deſigns, as he alſo did for the reſt of Gray's produc⯑tions, for which the artiſt was liberally repaid by the Author in ſome beautiful Stanzas, but unfortunately no perfect copy of them remains. The following, however, are given as a ſpecimen:

It appears, by a letter to Dr. Wharton, that Gray finiſhed his Ode on the Progreſs of Poetry early in 1755. The Bard alſo was begun about the ſame time; and the following beautiful Fragment on the Pleaſure ari⯑ſing from Viciſſitude the next year. The merit of the two former pieces was not immediately perceived, nor generally acknowledged. Garrick wrote a few lines in their praiſe. Lloyd and Colman wrote, in concert, two Odes to "Oblivion" and "Obſcurity," in which they were ridiculed with much ingenuity.

Our Author's reputation, as a Poet, was ſo high, that, on the death of Colley Cibber, in 1757, he had the honour of refuſing the office of Poet-Laureat, to which he was probably induced by the diſgrace brought upon it through the inability of ſome who had filled it.

His curioſity ſome time after drew him away from Cambridge to a lodging near the Britiſh Muſeum, where he reſided near three years, reading and tran⯑ſcribing.

In 1762, on the death of Mr. Turner, Profeſſor of Modern Languages and Hiſtory at Cambridge, he was, according to his own expreſſion, "cockered and ſpirited up" to apply to Lord Bute for the ſucceſſion. His Lordſhip refuſed him with all the politeneſs of a courtier, the office having been previouſly promiſed to Mr. Brocket, the tutor of Sir James Lowther.

His health being on the decline, in 1765 he under⯑took a journey to Scotland, conceiving he ſhould de⯑rive benefit from exerciſe and change of ſituation. His account of that country, as far as it extends, is curious and elegant; for as his mind was comprehen⯑ſive, it was employed in the contemplation of all the [xvi] works of art, all the appearances of nature, and all the monuments of paſt events.

During his ſtay in Scotland, he contracted a friend⯑ſhip with Dr. Beattie, in whom he found, as he him⯑ſelf expreſſes it, a poet, a philoſopher, and a good man. Through the intervention of his friend the Doctor, the Mariſchal College at Aberdeen offered him the degree of Doctor of Laws, which he thought it decent to decline, having omitted to take it at Cambridge.

In December, 1767, Dr. Beattie, ſtill deſirous that his country ſhould leave a memento of its regard to the merit of our Poet, ſolicited his permiſſion to print, at the Univerſity of Glaſgow, an elegant edi⯑tion of his works. Gray could not comply with his friend's requeſt, as he had given his promiſe to Mr. Dodſley. However, as a compliment to them both, he preſented them with a copy, containing a few notes, and the imitations of the old Norwegian poetry, intended to ſupplant the Long Story, which was printed at firſt to illuſtrate Mr. Bentley's deſigns.

In 1768 our Author obtained that office without ſolicitation, for which he had before applied without effect. The Profeſſorſhip of Languages and Hiſtory again became vacant, and he received an offer of it from the Duke of Grafton, who had ſucceeded Lord Bute in office. The place was valuable in itſelf, the ſalary being 400l. a year; but it was rendered peculi⯑arly acceptable to Mr. Gray, as he obtained it with⯑out ſolicitation.

Soon after he ſucceeded to this office, the impaired ſtate of his health rendered another journey neceſſary; and he viſited, in 1769, the counties of Weſtmoreland and Cumberland. His remarks on the wonderful ſcenery which theſe northern regions diſplay, he tranſ⯑mitted in epiſtolary journals to his friend, Dr. Whar⯑ton, which abound, according to Mr. Maſon's elegant [xvii] diction, with all the wildneſs of Salvator, and the ſoftneſs of Claude.

He appears to have been much affected by the anxiety he felt at holding a place without diſcharging the du⯑ties annexed to it. He had always deſigned reading lectures, but never put it in practice; and a conſci⯑ouſneſs of this neglect contributed not a little to in⯑creaſe the malady under which he had long laboured: nay, the office at length became ſo irkſome, that he ſeriouſly propoſed to reſign it.

Towards the cloſe of May, 1771, he removed from Cambridge to London, after having ſuffered violent attacks of an hereditary gout, to which he had long been ſubject, notwithſtanding he had obſerved the moſt rigid abſtemiouſneſs throughout the whole courſe of his life. By the advice of his phyſicians, he removed from London to Kenſington; the air of which place proved ſo ſalutary, that he was ſoon enabled to return to Cambridge, whence he deſigned to make a viſit to his friend Dr. Wharton, at Old Park, near Durham; indulging a fond hope that the excurſion would tend to the re-eſtabliſhment of his health: but, alas! that hope proved deluſive. On the 24th of July he was ſeized, while at dinner in the College hall, with a ſud⯑den nauſea, which obliged him to retire to his cham⯑ber. The gout had fixed on his ſtomach in ſuch a degree as to reſiſt all the powers of medicine. On the 29th he was attacked with a ſtrong convulſion, which returned with increaſed violence the enſuing day; and on the evening of the [...]ſt of May, 177 [...], he departed this life in the 55th year of his age.

From the narrative of his friend, Mr. Maſon, it appears, that Gray was actuated by motives of ſelf improvement, and ſelf gratification, in his application to the Muſes, rather than any view to pecuniary emo⯑lument. His purſuits were in general diſintereſted; and as he was free from avarice on the one hand, ſo was he from extravagance on the other; being one of [xviii] thoſe few characters in the annals of literature, eſpe⯑cially in the poetical claſs, who are devoid of ſelf in⯑tereſt, and at the ſame time attentive to economy; but Mr. Maſon adds, that he was induced to decline tak⯑ing any advantage of his literary productions by a de⯑gree of pride, which influenced him to diſdain the idea of being thought an author by profeſſion.

It appears, from the ſame narrative, that Gray made conſiderable progreſs in the ſtudy of architecture, particularly the gothic. He endeavoured to trace this branch of the ſcience, from the period of its com⯑mencement, through its various changes, till it ar⯑rived at its perfection in the time of Henry VIII. He applied himſelf alſo to the ſtudy of heraldry, of which he obtained a very competent knowledge, as appears from his Remarks on Saxon Churches, in the introduction to Mr. Bentham's Hiſtory of Ely.

But the favourite ſtudy of Gray, for the laſt two years of his life, was natural hiſtory, which he rather reſumed than began, as he had acquired ſome know⯑ledge of botany in early life, while he was under the tuition of his uncle Antrobus. He wrote copious marginal notes to the works of Linnaeus, and other writers in the three kingdoms of nature: and Mr. Maſon further obſerves, that, excepting pure mathe⯑matics, and the ſtudies dependent on that ſcience, there was hardly any part of human learning in which he had not acquired a competent ſkill; in moſt of them a conſummate maſtery.

Mr. Maſon has declined drawing any formal charac⯑ter of him; but has adopted one from a letter to James Boſwell, Eſq. by the Rev. Mr. Temple, Rec⯑tor of St. Gluvias, in Cornwall, firſt printed anony⯑mouſly in the London Magazine, which, as we con⯑ceive authentic, from the ſanction of Mr. Maſon, we ſhall therefore tranſcribe.

‘Perhaps he was the moſt learned man in Europe. He was equally acquainted with the elegant and pro⯑found parts of ſcience, and that not ſuperficially, but [xix] thoroughly. He knew every branch of hiſtory, both natural and civil; had read all the original hiſtorians of England, France, and Italy; and was a great anti⯑quarian. Criticiſm, metaphyſics, morals, and politics, made a principal part of his ſtudy; voyages and tra⯑vels of all ſorts were his favourite amuſements; and he had a fine taſte in painting, prints, architecture, and gardening. With ſuch a fund of knowledge, his converſation muſt have been equally inſtructive and entertaining; but he was alſo a good man, a man of virtue and humanity. There is no character without ſome ſpeck, ſome imperfection; and I think the greateſt defect in his was an affectation in delicacy, or rather effeminacy, and a viſible faſtidiouſneſs, or contempt and diſdain of his inferiors in ſcience. He alſo had, in ſome degree, that weakneſs which diſguſted Voltaire ſo much in Mr. Congreve: though he ſeemed to value others chiefly according to the progreſs they had made in knowledge, yet he could not bear to be conſidered himſelf merely as a man of letters; and though with⯑out birth, or fortune, or ſtation, his deſire was to be looked upon as a private independent gentleman, who read for his amuſement. Perhaps it may be ſaid, What ſignifies ſo much knowledge, when it produced ſo little? Is it worth taking ſo much pains to leave no memorial but a few Poems? But let it be conſidered that Mr. Gray was, to others, at leaſt innocently employed; to himſelf, certainly beneficially. His time paſſed agreeably; he was every day making ſome new ac⯑quiſition in ſcience; his mind was enlarged, his heart ſoftened, his virtue ſtrengthened; the world and man⯑kind were ſhewn to him without a maſk; and he was taught to conſider every thing as trifling, and unworthy of the attention of a wiſe man, except the purſuit of knowledge and practice of virtue, in that ſtate wherein God hath placed us.’

In addition to this character, Mr. Maſon has re⯑marked, that Gray's effeminacy was affected moſt [xx] before thoſe whom he did not wiſh to pleaſe; and that he is unjuſtly charged with making knowledge his ſole reaſon of preference, as he paid his eſteem to none whom he did not likewiſe believe to be good.

Dr. Johnſon makes the following obſervations:— ‘What has occurred to me, from the ſlight inſpection of his letters, in which my undertaking has engaged me, is, that his mind had a large graſp; that his curioſity was unlimited, and his judgment cultivated; that he was a man likely to love much where he loved at all, but that he was faſtidious, and hard to pleaſe. His contempt, however, is often employed, where I hope it will be approved, upon ſcepticiſm and inſide⯑lity. His ſhort account of Shafteſbury I will inſert.’

‘You ſay you cannot conceive how lord Shaſteſ⯑bury came to be a philoſopher in vogue; I will tell you: firſt, he was a lord; ſecondly, he was as vain as any of his readers; thirdly, men are very prone to believe what they do not underſtand; fourthly, they will believe any thing at all, provided they are under no obligation to believe it; fifthly, they love to take a new road, even when that road leads no where; ſixthly, he was reckoned a fine writer, and ſeems al⯑ways to mean more than he ſaid. Would you have any more reaſons? An interval of above forty years has pretty well deſtroyed the charm. A dead lord ranks with commoners: vanity is no longer intereſted in the matter; for a new road is become an old one.’

As a writer he had this peculiarity, that he did not write his pieces firſt rudely, and then correct them, but laboured every line as it aroſe in the train of com⯑poſition; and he had a notion not very peculiar, that he could not write but at certain times, or at happy moments; a fantaſtic foppery, to which our kindneſs for a man of learning and of virtue wiſhes him to have been ſuperior.

As a Poet he ſtands high in the eſtimation of the candid and judicious. His works are not numerous; [xxi] but they bear the marks of intenſe application, and careful reviſion. The Elegy in the Churchyard is deemed his maſter-piece; the ſubject is intereſting, the ſentiment ſimple and pathetic, and the verſification charmingly melodious. This beautiful compoſition has been often ſelected by orators for the diſplay of their rhetorical talents. But as the moſt finiſhed pro⯑ductions of the human mind have not eſcaped cenſure, the works of our Author have undergone illiberal comments. His Elegy has been ſuppoſed defective in want of plan. Dr. Knox, in his Eſſays, has ob⯑ſerved, ‘that it is thought by ſome to be no more than a confuſed heap of ſplendid ideas, thrown toge⯑ther without order and without proportion.’ Some paſſages have been cenſured by Kelly in the Babbler; and imitations of different authors have been pointed out by other critics. But theſe imitations cannot be aſcertained, as there are numberleſs inſtances of coin⯑cidence of ideas; ſo that it is difficult to ſay, with pre⯑ciſion, what is or is not a deſigned or accidental imitation.

Gray, in his Elegy in the Church-yard, has great merit in adverting to the moſt intereſting paſſions of the human mind; yet his genius is not marked alone by the tender ſenſibility ſo conſpicuous in that elegant piece; but there is a ſublimity which gives it an equal claim to univerſal admiration.

His Odes on The Progreſs of Poetry, and of The Bard, according to Mr. Maſon's account, ‘breathe the high ſpirit of lyric enthuſiaſm. The tranſitions are ſudden and impetuous; the language full of fire and force; and the imagery carried, without impro⯑priety, to the moſt daring height. They have been accuſed of obſcurity: but the one can be obſcure to thoſe only who have not read Pindar; and the other only to thoſe who are unacquainted with the hiſtory of our own nation.’

Of his other lyric pieces, Mr. Wakefield, a learned and ingenious commentator, obſerves, that, though, [xxii] like all other human productions, they are not with⯑out their defects, yet the ſpirit of poetry, and exqui⯑ſite charms of the verſe, are more then a compenſation for thoſe defects. The Ode on Eton College abounds with ſentiments natural, and conſonant to the feelings of humanity, exhibited with perſpicuity of method, and in elegant, intelligible, and expreſſive language. The Sonnet on the Death of Weſt, and the Epitaph on Sir William Williams, are as perfect compoſitions of the kind as any in our language.

Dr. Johnſon was confeſſedly a man of great genius; but the partial and uncandid mode of criticiſm he has adopted in his remarks on the writings of Gray, has given to liberal minds great and juſt offence. Ac⯑cording to Mr. Maſon's account, he has ſubjected Gray's poetry to the moſt rigorous examination. De⯑clining all conſideration of the general plan and con⯑duct of the pieces, he has confined himſelf ſolely to ſtrictures on words and forms of expreſſion; and Mr. Maſon very pertinently adds, that verbal criticiſm is an ordeal which the moſt perfect compoſition cannot paſs without injury.

He has alſo fallen under Mr. Wakefield's ſevereſt cenſure. This commentator affirms, that ‘he thinks a refutation of his ſtrictures upon Gray a neceſſary ſervice to the public, without which they might ope⯑rate with a malignant influence upon the national taſte. His cenſure, however, is too general, and expreſſed with too much vehemence; and his remarks betray, upon the whole, an unreaſonable faſtidiouſneſs of taſte, and an unbecoming illiberality of ſpirit. He appears to have turned an unwilling eye upon the beauties of Gray, becauſe his jealouſy would not ſuffer him to ſee ſuch ſuperlative merit in a cotemporary.’ Theſe remarks of Mr. Wakefield appear to be well founded; and it has been obſerved, by another writer, that Dr. Johnſon, being ſtrongly influenced by his politi⯑cal and religious principles, was inclined to treat with [xxiii] the utmoſt ſeverity ſome of the productions of our beſt writers; to which may be imputed that ſeverity with which he cenſures the lyric performances of Gray. It is highly probable that no one poetical reader will univerſally ſubſcribe to his deciſions, though all may admire his vaſt intuitive knowledge, and power of diſcrimination.

In the firſt copy of this exquiſite Poem, Mr. Maſon obſerves, the concluſion was different from that which the Author afterwards compoſed; and though his after-thought was unqueſtionably the beſt, yet there is a pathetic melancholy in the four ſtanzas that were rejected, following, "With incenſe kindled at the Muſes' flame," which highly claim preſervation.

In one inſtance, the Doctor's inconſiſtency, and de⯑viation from his general character, does him honour. After having commented with the moſt rigid ſeverity on the poetical works of Gray, as it conſcious of the injuſtice done him, he ſeems to apologize by the fol⯑lowing declaration, which concludes his Criticiſm, and ſhall conclude the Memoirs of our Author.

‘In the character of his Elegy (ſays Johnſon) I rejoice and concur with the common reader; for, by the common ſenſe of readers, uncorrupted with literary [xxiv] prejudices, after all the refinements of ſubtilty, and the dogmatiſm of learning, muſt be finally decided all claim to poetical honours. The Church-yard abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, and with ſentiments to which every boſom returns an echo. The four ſtanzas beginning, Yet e'en theſe bones are to me original; I have never ſeen the notions in any other place; yet he that reads them here, perſuades himſelf that he has always felt them. Had Gray written often thus, it had been vain to blame, and uſeleſs to praiſe him.’