Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-07-21

Special Correspondence
ONDON. July il.-Before this let
ter Is printed. probably, one o.
the most popular Meccas Of the
thousands Of American literary
rlgrims who visit England annually
viii have been sold. Stoke Park, which
includes stoke Pogls, where Gray BE-
gan and finished his immortal "Elegy
is 10 come under the hammer on June
q. and there Is much interest 10 see
who the purchaser Of this historic state
and literary shrine viii be. or course,
however, the coming change Of owner
ship VIII make no difference In the ad-
mission ~ visitors 10 the famous
country Churchyard" where the Elegy
was composed and where It's author lies
buried.
Meanwhile the story Of Gray's long
association with Stoke Poges is being
recalled IL was iu l142 that his moth
OF took up her residence there but since
that time the quaint two-storied house,
with us porch and old world garden has
been greatly altered Sun. even AS u
exists today. % ls easy 20 understand
why the SPOT should be so singularlY
favored by the muse. Gray had been
there only a few days when the poetic
Inspiration seized upon him and he
wrote his 'Ode 10 Spring. This was
soon followed by his "Ode on Distant
Prospect of Eton college" which can
bc seen from a SPOT near the house.
The famous elegy WAS begun az Stoke
On the same year laid aside Tor seven
years. taken mp again at stoke rough
ly finished 40 Cambridge. and finally
given the polish OF perfection at Stoke
iu 1850.
10 hls connection with Stoke Is due
another 81 Grays poems, In fine
old Tudor manor house there dwelt a
Lady Gotham. something ~ a literary
lion huntei. n species ~ which Gray
shy aud retiring. had a great horror
she was not "a hit shy herself and was
determined 90 make the poets ac-
quaintmce. She importunsd Mr. Purt
clergyman df stoke. Tor an intr0duC-
ton. but on the ground that hts own
acquaintance with Gray was very
slight one Dee shirkel The possibility.
But she discovered that one % her
guests Lady >Ch3ub. knew a lady
Brown. and that this Lady Brown en-
ioyei the felicity oi knowing Gray she
made this an excuse Tor calling On him
without am Introduction. They be-
came quite good friends afterwards,
and LADY Gotham tried 10 marry the
poet 90 her u.ccc-at any rate. no got
the idea that some such plot was afoot
Gray commem0ratci the circumstances
OF hts Introduction 90 LADY Gotham Boz
The "LoDs Story and put poor purts
name iu 20. Zoo. That so mortified
and annoyed the sensitive clergyman
thar Doe dios OF smallpox shortly after
wards
Because o. its literary associations.
Bath is one OF the English cities most
visited by American travellers and
Henry Fieldlngs house there win be
more readily Identified by future Wis
itors because ~ a memorial tablet
which was unveiled this week hy Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle Widcombe Lodre.
as the ola house Is called. WAS occu-
pied hy the author Of Tom Jones
from IS3S 90 isi2. during which years
Fielding mixed freely with the fashion,
able folk who throngei The bathrooms
0f Bath. one Of his friends there
was Ralph Allen. the man who reyo-
lutionizei the English postal service,
bat who De- better assured ~ Immortal
ity. perhaps as the original 81 Squire
Ailworthy. H Tom Jones" In un-
yelling the Fielding memorial Conan
Doyle remarked jocuiarly that Il Bath
placed "a tablet 0n every house in which
q celebrity had dwelt. Il would BE- the
most spotted city in Europe
The attempt t1 establish more cordial
relations between England and Ger
many. by inviting a lot 81 German
Journalists % London. has led 20 some
researches AZ 10 the beginning 81 jour
nalism in Germany. There. az IN most
European countries. the FIRST newspaper
appeared early ln tae seventeenth cen
iury tie pioneer being bookseller OF
Frankfort on-the- Main. who brought
out The hrst number Of the Franklin
ter Journal" In 1915 The FIRST German