The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-10-22

STOKE POGES, England, Oct. lO.-l once
knew little old bookworm who haunted
the New York libraries, and whose manner,
WAYS and character bore a most striking
resem blance TO that poet who wrote the
most perfect elegy in the English tongue
Thomas Gray.
He was little, dainty man, with silvered
hair and a rounded paunch-his most
striking physical characteristic If his fine,
pensive blue eyes were not beaming upon
YOU. His clothing was faulticss. His
manners were courtly. His very pensive-
ness was benignant and restful He seemed
10 exhale an odor of musk and migronette.
and as used to look at him for an Eight
zenith century remainder, the grotesque
notion always came that his melancholy
signs Of pleasure or disapproval as he fed
upon the musty tones before him, could
they be given physical aspect, would con-
form to the pearly lavender of his ample
stock and spotess trousers.
Bv and by / missed him. His little
paunch had gone riot and overcome his
stomach with govt or something, and
the dainty and learned little bookworm
had turned from the tones Of the Astor
and Mercantile to the endless tome Of
eternity. was sure that here was an
other Gray. Yes. lie had been. found,
supported in academy, college, university
and in travel by the thrift and trade of
two women, who blindly believed that in
time he would astonish the world with the
product OF his genius. Like Gray, he never
earned penny; his unconscious winsome-
ness conquered all; his learning was vast,
and his Incidence was astounding. lie
had spent IL lifetime in exhausting the his
toric. scientific and philosophic researches
and product of others He left tons of be-
pinnings of great endeavors If he had
been forced into country environment, as
was GRAY at Stoke Poges, he might have
given the world an idyl or an elegy, and
then the likeness would have been com
plete.
The very accident Of rural retirscy COM
pelled or induced Thomas Gray to create
the one bit of verse which gave him place
among the immortals. From 1877, at the
age of ten, when his mother placed him in
Elton. and where, tradition has il, he at
once began to versify until he expired Of
inertia and govt in the arms Of DIR. James
Brown, Master of picturesque old Penn
broke Hall, Cambridge, on the 30th of
July, lila period Of forty-four years-he
was as continuously in all atmosphere of
books as any man who ever lived. For his
day and time he was the most variously
and penetratingly learned man in Europe.
He was practically mad for and from
book knowledge. His devotion to research
seemed an endless intoxication of acquire
ment for the thing or fact encompassed,
rather than that healthful acquisition Of
knowledge for the uses to which it may DO
wisely put.
1t is no doubt also true that had he not
written the "Elegy" his place in the BIZ
ographes would have been no more than
Thomas Gray, erudite annotator accom-
plshed translator and sometime companion
of Horace Walpoe" Because his surpass-
ing genius. through the blessed incident of
rural inspiration, for once burst the letters
of sodden bookish enslavement and its con-
sequent physical Incidence. he attained
fame and left US our most perfect revela-
ton of tenderest emotions and introspecf
tions to the universal human heart. The
nalignancy of johnson is quite forgiven
for the one honest sentence he ever wrote
about Gray. Had Gray written often thus
said the cantankerous master of words, ut
had been vain to blame and useless TO
praise him."
For these and other reasons the one
place in all the world-Stokes Poges-which
prompted n single, incompatible example
OF what Gray might have been to litera-
ture had he been shut away from the
deadening influence of Cambridge books,
and perhaps compelled to earn his own
living, becomes doubly interesting Be
sides the poet resided here for frequent
intervals from 1912 TO 1859. His grave is
here. A stupendOus monument stands al
most within sight of his old home The
very church in which be worshiped, and
the churchyard rendered dear TO the hearts
of all men by his melodious, mournful ell
egg, remain today just as he saw and
knew them in life. The place, too has
some historic Importance, and the manor
of Stoke Park was once the home of the
descendants of William Penn, many Of
whom are buried in the family vault in the
nave of the messy old church.
But better than all else, you will find
the place marvellous revelation OF the
elegy, as you have already felt the elegy to
be perfect Interpretation of those exquisite
emotions which only the rarest scene and
associative condition can impart Our New
World affections cling very tenderly to GER
tain Old World shrines. They fold about
them filmy glamour Of loving ideaity,
and cradle them in the soft and misty cor
ries of the heart. | can recall but few
which are not better for the distant sight
less lullaby, and this is one.
Stoke Poges is thinly settled village or
a thickly settled sylvan parish of Buck
inghamshire, not over twenty five miles
west Of London and about two miles
north Of the railway station of Slough,
which is in turn the same distance north
of Windsor and Castle. 1t derives it's I'M
poetic name from Amicia de Stoke, who
brought the manor III marriage to a certain
Robert Pogeis, knight Of the shire in the
Twelfth century In the time of Edward
III the estate passed into the possession of
Sir John Molyns. He had a license from
the king to fortify and embattle a mansion
here, and IL was he who built the pictur-
esque old church made famous by Gray's
"Elcgy." The manor descended through
female heirs TO the great earls of Hunting
don, one of whom rebuilt the manor house
early in the reign of Elizabeth. Then Sir
Edward Coke possessed it and sumptuous-
ly entertained Elizabeth here Remains
of this splendid manor house are still stand
ing few rods northwest of the old church.
Aside from it's poetic associations, the
manor came TO have peculiar interest to
Americans when, in 1850, 10 was purchased
from the noble family of Gotham by
Thomas Penn, second son of the great