CONTENTS. commences a friendship with the Hon. Horace Walpole and Mr. Richard West. Account of the latter, with whom and with Mr. Wal- pole a correspondence begins on their leaving school, and going to the 3. From Mr. WEST. Approbation of the version. Ridicule on the Cambridge Collection of Verses on the marriage of the Prince of 4. To Mr. WEST. On the little encouragement which he finds given to classical learning at Cambridge. His aversion to metaphysical and 5. From Mr. WEST. Answer to the former, advises his correspondent 6. To Mr. WALPOLE. Excuse for not writing to him, &c. 7. From Mr. WEST. A poetical epistle addressed to his Cambridge friends, taken in part from Tibullus and a prose letter of Mr. Pope. 21 8. To Mr. WEST. Thanks him for his poetical epistle. Complains of low spirits. Lady Walpole's death, and his concern for Mr. H. 10. To Mr. WALPOLE. Supposed manner in which Mr. Walpole spends 11. From Mr. WEST. Sends him a translation into Latin of a Greek epi- Page 32 33 36 37 38 LETTER 13. From Mr. WEST, on leaving the University, and removing to the Temple 14. To Mr. WEST. A Sapphic Ode, occasioned by the preceding letter, with a Latin postscript, concluding with an Alcaic fragment 15. From Mr. WEST. Thanks for his Ode, &c. His idea of Sir Robert 17. To Mr. WEST. On his own leaving the University Short narrative, concluding the Section 39 41 SECTION II. Connecting narrative. Mr. Gray goes abroad with Mr. Walpole. 1. To his MOTHER. His voyage from Dover. Description of Calais. Abbeville. Amiens. Face of the country, and dress of the people 43 2. To Mr. WEST. Monuments of the Kings of France at St. Denis, &c. French opera and music. Actors, &c. 3. To Mr. WEST. Palace of Versailles. Its gardens and water-works. Installation of the Knights du S. Esprit 4. To his MOTHER. Rheims. Its cathedral. Disposition and amusements of its inhabitants 5. To his FATHER. Face of the country between Rheims and Dijon. Description of the latter. Monastery of the Carthusians and Cis 6. To Mr. WEST. Lyons. Beauty of its environs. Roman antiquities 7. From Mr. WEST. His wishes to accompany his friend. His retired life in London. Address to his Lyre, in Latin Sapphics, on the prospect of Mr. Gray's return 8. To his MOTHER. Lyons. Excursion to the Grande Chartreuse. Solemn and romantic approach to it. His reception there, and commendation of the monastery 9. To his FATHER. Geneva. Advantage of a free government exhibited in the very look of the people. Beauty of the lake, and plenty of its fish Journey over the Alps to Turin. Singular accident in passing them. 12. To Mr. WEST. Genoa. Music. The Doge. Churches and the Palazzo Doria LETTER Page 74 76 13. To his MOTHER. Paintings at Modena. Bologna. Beauty and rích- 14. To his MOTHER. The Appennines. Florence and its Gallery 16. From Mr. WEST. Latin Elegy, expressing his wishes to see Italy · 82 · 83 17. To his MOTHER. Death of the Pope. Intended departure for Rome. First and pleasing appearance of an Italian spring 18. To his MOTHER. Cathedral of Sienna. Viterbo. Distant sight of Rome. The Tiber. Entrance into the city. St. Peter's. Introduction of the Cardinal d'Auvergne into the Conclave 19. To his MOTHER. Illumination of St. Peter's on Good Friday, &c. . 87 20. To Mr. WEST. Comic account of the palace of the Duke of Modena at Tivoli. The Anio. Its cascade. Situation of the town. Villas of Horace and Mecænas, and other remains of antiquity. Modern aqueducts. A grand Roman ball 21. To Mr. WEST. An Alcaic Ode. Ludicrous allusion to ancient Ro man customs. Albano and its lake, Castle-Gondolfo. Prospect from 88 ⚫ 92 22. To his MOTHER. Road to Naples. Beautiful situation of that city. Its bay. Of Baiæ, and several other antiquities. Some account of the first discovery of an ancient town, now known to be Herculaneum . 97 23. To his FATHER. Departure from Rome and return to Florence. No likelihood of the Conclave's rising. Some of the cardinals dead. Description of the Pretender, his sons, and court. Procession at Naples. Sight of the King and Queen. Mildness of the air at Florence .. 24. From Mr. WEST. On his quitting the Temple, and reason for it 25. To Mr. WEST. Answer to the foregoing letter. Some account of Naples and its environs, and of Mr. Walpole's return to Florence. 104 26. To his MOTHER. Excursion to Bologna. Election of a pope; description of his person, with an odd speech which he made to the cardinals in the Conclave 27. To Mr. WEST. Description, in Latin hexameters, of the sudden rising of Monte Nuovo near Puzzoli, and of the destruction which attended it 110 . 114 28. To his FATHER. Uncertainty of the route he shall take in his return to England. Magnificence of the Italians in their reception of strangers, and parsimony when alone. The great applause which the new Pope meets with. One of his bon mots 29. To his FATHER. Total want of amusement at Florence, occasioned by the late Emperor's funeral not being public. A procession to avert the ill effects of a late inundation. Intention of going to Venice. An invasion from the Neapolitans apprehended. The inhabitants of Tuscany dissatisfied with the government 30. To Mr. WEST. The time of his departure from Florence determined. Alteration in his temper and spirits. Difference between an Italian fair and an English one. A farewell to Florence and its prospects, in Latin hexameters. Imitation, in the same language, of an Italian sonnet Page - 118 Account of Mr. Gray's return home, and of his second visit to the Grande Chartreuse, where he wrote an Alcaic Ode, which concludes the Section 121 SECTION III. Prefatory narrative. Mr. Gray's father dies, and the year after he re- LETTER • 123 • 126 1. From Mr. WEST. His spirits not as yet improved by country air. Has begun to read Tacitus, but does not relish him 2. To Mr. WEST. Earnest hopes for his friend's better health, as the warm weather comes on. Defence of Tacitus, and his character. Of the new Dunciad. Sends him a speech from the first scene of Agrippina 126 The plan, dramatis personæ, and all the speeches which Mr. Gray 130 3. From Mr. WEST. Criticism on his friend's tragic style. Latin hexameters on his own cough 138 4. To Mr. WEST. Thanks for his verses. On Joseph Andrews. Defence of old words in tragedy 140 5. From Mr. WEST. Answer to the former, on the subject of antiquated expressions 147 148 6. To Mr. WEST. Has laid aside his tragedy. Difficulty of translating Tacitus 7. From Mr. WEST. With an English Ode on the approach of May 8. To Mr. WEST. Account of Mr. WEST's death. Of Mr. Gray's English poetry, writ- 153 157 |