is dedicated to Mr. Pitt, whom he styles-Uomo immortale e Restitutore d'Inghilterra Amico del gran Frederico.

I was in town when Mr. Middleton died, and immediately got all the information I could (first from Stonehewer, and then from your brother) of the dispositions he had made. I suppose they are as good as you expected, and though the prospect is but small, that you should enjoy the benefit of them in your own person, yet that is not impossible; and your son (I think) stands a very good chance, which cannot chuse, but open an agreeable prospect to you, in which I take a part, and congratulate you both upon it. I doubt you have not read Rousseau's* Emile: every body that has children should read it more than once, for though it abounds with his usual glorious absurdity, though his general scheme of education be an impracticable chimera; yet there are a thousand lights struck out, a thousand important truths better expressed than ever they were before, that may be of service to the wisest man; particularly, I think, he has observed children with more at

* That I may put together the rest of Mr. Gray's sentiments concerning this singular writer, I insert here an extract from a Letter of a later date, written to myself. "I have not read the Philosophic Dictionary. can now stay with "great patience for any thing that comes from Voltaire. They tell me it is flippery, and blasphemy, and wit. I could have forgiven myself if I had not "read Rousseau's Lettres de la Montagne. Always excepting the Contract social, "it is the dullest performance he ever published. It is a weak attempt to separate "the miracles from the morality of the gospel. The latter (he would have you "think) he believes was sent from God; and the former he very explicitly takes "for an imposture: this is in order to prove the cruelty and injustice of the "State of Geneva in burning his Emile. The latter part of his book is to shew "the abuses that have crept into the constitution of his country, which point, if 66 you are concerned about it, he makes out very well; and his intention in this is "plainly to raise a tumult in the city, and to be revenged on the Petit Conseil, "who condemned his writings to the flames."-Mason.

tention, and knows their meaning and the working of their little passions better than any other writer. As to his religious discussions, which have alarmed the world, and engaged their thoughts more than any other part of his book; I set them all at nought, and wish they had been omitted. Mrs. Jonathan told me you begun your evening prayer as soon as I was gone, and that it had a great effect upon the congregation: I hope you have not grown weary of it, nor lay it aside when company comes. Poor Mrs. Bonfoy (who taught me to pray) is dead; she struggled near a week against the Iliac Passion (I fear) in great torture, with all her senses about her, and with much resolution took leave of her physician some days before she expired, and would suffer no one to see her afterwards but common servants.

You describe Winston con tanto amore, that I take it amiss I was not suffered to see it, and want to be buried there too. But enough of death! I have forgot to tell you that Dr. Long has had an audience of the King and Queen, an hour long, at Buckingham House. His errand was to present them with a Lyricord (such a one!) of his own making, and a glass sphere: he had long been soliciting this honour, which Lord Bute at last procured him, and he is very happy. The King told him he bid fair for a century of life at least; asked him whether he preached; why he did not write verses in the Cambridge collection; and what not! The Q. spoke French to him, and asked how he liked Handel. And I ask you how you like the present times? whether you had not rather be a printer's devil than a secretary of state? You are to expect (I hear) a new ministry, composed of the Earl of Shelburne, Mr. Rigby, Duke and Dutchess of Bedford, Earl Gower, &c. which doubtless will give universal satisfaction. The great Lord Holland, who is at Paris, being lately asked by a young man, who was

returning home, whether he had any commands in England, made no reply but by shrugging up his shoulders, and fetching a deep sigh.

I kept an exact account of heat and cold here in the Spring; the sum and substance of which is, that (at nine in the morning) on the 18th of January, the therm. was at 31; and the small birds were so tame you might take them up with your hand this was the greatest cold. : On the 15th of April it was at 58, and the same afternoon at 65, which was the greatest heat from Jan. to May 1st.

12. Crocus and hepatica fl. the snow then lieing, and therm. at 45,

18. Chaffinch sings. Bees appear.

21. White butterfly abroad.

25. Gnats fly, and large flies. Mezereon fl.

27. Honeysuckle and gooseberry unfold their leaves.

March 1. Violet flowers (in the garden) Rose opens its leaf. 3. Daffodil and single hyacinth fl. Spider spins.

April

5. Thrush singing.

6. Elder in leaf. Currant and weeping willow in leaf.

8. Apricot blows. Skylark singing.

11. Wind very high at S.E. which continued with hard frost.

16. Frost gone.

18. Apricot in full bloom.

19. Almond flowers. Lilac, barberry, and guelder-rose in leaf.

2. Standard apricot, and wall-pears flower. Quince, apple, and sweet-briar, in leaf. Currant flowers. Dutch elm opens its leaf.

4. Plumb in leaf.

5. Crown imperial fl.

6. Plumb flowers; hawthorn, horse-chesnut, mountain-ash in leaf.

9. Lime-tree in leaf; jonquil and single anemone flower. Lady-birds seen. 11. Cowslip flowers, and auriculas. Swallows appear. Young rooks caw

in the nest.

14. Red-start appears. Cherries in full bloom.

15. Frontignac vine in leaf; double wall-flower blows.

16. Nightingale sings. Apple blossoms.

April 19. Chaffinch and red-start sit on their eggs.

20. Elm, willow, and ash in flower, (with the black-thorn), hawthorn in

Pray present my respects to Mrs. and Miss Wharton.

I am ever sincerely yours.

Pembroke, August 5th, 1763.

We have nothing but rain and thunder of late.

SIR,

LETTER CIX.

MR. GRAY TO COUNT ALGAROTTI.

Cambridge, Sep. 9th, 1763.

I RECEIVED sometime since the unexpected honour of a Letter from you,* and the promise of a pleasure, which

* Mr. Taylor How was the channel of intercourse, between Mr. Gray, Mr. Mason, and Count Algarotti; with the latter he was particularly intimate, and it seems only to have been from the disapprobation expressed by Mr. Gray, that he was induced to lay aside his favourite intention of republishing the Count's works in England. By the kindness and liberality of the same gentleman, who has furnished him with the Originals of Mr. Gray's Letters to Mr. How and Count Algarotti, the Editor is enabled in this note to lay before the reader the great Lord Chatham's opinion of the Count, as expressed in two letters; the first of 3 H

VOL. II.

as I

till of late I had not the opportunity of enjoying. Forgive me if I make my acknowledgements in my native tongue, see it is perfectly familiar to you, and I (though not unacquainted with the writings of Italy) should from disuse speak its language with an ill grace, and with still more constraint to one, who possesses it in all its strength and purity.

I see with great satisfaction your efforts to reunite the congenial arts of poetry, music, and the dance, which with the assistance of painting and architecture, regulated by taste, and supported by magnificence and power, might form the noblest scene, and bestow the sublimest pleasure, that the imagination can conceive. But who shall realize these delightful visions? There is, I own, one Prince in Europe, that wants neither the

which is addressed to Mr. Hollis, (afterwards Mr. Hollis Brand) dated Hayes, Dec. 27, 1762." With regard to the great honour destined to him from Pisa Mr. Pitt blushes while he reads and while he answers; and standing as an example of human vanity, accepts with pride what he too well knows he has not the least title to receive."

Little did he dream that his name was to live to posterity before Count Algarotti, by joining it with his own, forbid it to die, "till Literature shall be no more, thus giving him to be indeed immortal."-" Mr. Pitt desires the favour of Mr. Hollis to convey to Count Algarotti, as soon as may be, these sentiments of respect and gratitude, at the same time offering to Mr. How his best acknowledgements, with the assurances of great esteem and consideration."

Lord Chatham in a Letter to Mr. How, dated Hayes, July 4th, 1764, on the death of Count Algarotti, mentions him in these terms:-"The honour of your obliging Letter from Spa, brought me the melancholy news of Count Algarotti's death, together with the information of the last very affecting testimony of esteem which that gentleman has left behind him in favour of one, who only knew him in his works, and in his fame; and who must for ever resign the pleasing hope he had formed of a personal acquaintance and friendship with a person, who does equal honour to Letters by the elegance of his compositions, and to human nature by the integrity, candour, and generosity of his character." Ed.