GRAY, or Grey, a mixed colour partaking of the two extremes of black and white. See Dyeing. Gray, Lady Jane. See Grey. Gray, Thomas, an eminent English poet, was the youngest and only surviving son of Philip Gray, a citizen and money-scrivener of London, and was born in Cornhill, on the 20th of December 1716. He was educated at Eton, where he contracted a friendship with Horace Walpole, afterwards Earl of Orford, and with Mr Richard West, son of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Mr West and Mr Gray were both intended for the bar; but the former died early in life, and the latter was diverted from that pursuit by an invitation to accompany Mr Walpole in his travels, which he accepted, without any fixed plan for his future life. During his travels, which included the customary tour through France and Italy, he wrote a variety of letters to Mr West and to his parents, which are printed with his poems, and full of interest. Architecture, Gothic as well as Grecian, painting and music, with the manners and customs of the people, were all studied by him with success. But, whilst at Reggio, an unfortunate difference took place between him and Walpole, and they parted in mutual displeasure. A great deal has been said of this quarrel, but the real cause of it has never been sufficiently explained. Walpole, however, affected to take the blame on himself, and in doing so he was very probably right. On his return, Gray finding himself in narrow circumstances, yet with a mind indisposed to active employment, retired to Cambridge, where he devoted himself to study; and soon afterwards his friend West died. The melancholy impressed on him by this event may be traced in his admired Elegy written in a Country Churchyard[7:10:718]; which is believed to have been begun, if not finished, about this time, though the conclusion, as it stands at present, is certainly different from what it was in the original manuscript copy. The first impulse of hie sorrow for the death of his friend gave birth to a tender sonnet in English, written on the model of Petrarch; and also to a sublime apostrophe in hexameter verse, with which he intended to commence one of his books De Principiis Cogitandi.

From the winter of the year 1742 till the day of his death, his principal residence was at Cambridge, whence he seldom was absent for any considerable time, except between the years 1759 and 1762, when, on the opening of the British Museum, he took lodgings in Southampton Row, in order to have access to the Harleian and other manuscripts there deposited, from which he made several curious extracts, amounting in all to a tolerably sized folia volume.

About the year 1747, Mason, afterwards the editor of his poems, was introduced to Gray. The former had written, a year or two before, some imitations of Milton’s juvenile poems, particularly a Monody on the Death of Pope, and two pieces entitled II Bellicoso and II Pacifico on the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle; and the latter had revised them at the request of a friend. This laid the foundation of an intimacy which continued without interruption until the death of Gray.

About the year 1750, Mr Gray having put the last touches to his Elegy written in a Country Churchyard, communicated it to Walpole, who was too much charmed with it to withhold it from his acquaintance. Accordingly it was shown about for some time in manuscript, and received with all the applause which it so justly merited. At last the publisher of one of the magazines having surreptitiously obtained a copy, Gray wrote to Walpole, desiring that he would put the manuscript into the hands of Mr Dodsley, and order him to print it immediately. This proved the most popular of all our author’s publications. It passed through eleven editions in a very short space of time, and was translated into Latin, first by Ansty and Roberts, and afterwards by Lloyd.

From July 1759 till the year 1762, Gray resided generally in London, with the view, as we have already mentioned, of having more ready access to the British Museum. In the summer of 1765 he undertook a journey to Scotland for the benefit of his health, which was then in a precarious state, and having passed through Edinburgh and Perth, he proceeded to Glammis Castle, the seat of Lord Strathmore, where he resided for some time; after which he visited the north, where he formed an acquaintance with Dr Beattie, then but little known beyond the immediate circle of his friends at Aberdeen. Gray’s account of this journey is praised by Dr Johnson as curious and elegant; “for,” says the doctor, “as his comprehension was ample, his curiosity extended to all the works of art, all the appearances of nature, and all the monuments of past events.” Part of the summers of 1766 and 1767 he passed in journeys in England; and he had intended to make a second tour in Scotland, but returned to London without accomplishing his design. In July 1768 his grace the Duke of Grafton wrote him a polite letter, informing him that his majesty had been graciously pleased to offer to him the professorship of modem history in the university of Cambridge, then vacant by the accidental death of Mr Brocket. This place was valuable in itself, as the salary amounted to L.400 a year; but what rendered it particularly acceptable to Mr Gray was its being given him without solicitation. He was indeed remarkably disinterested or indifferent about money in all his pursuits. Though his income, before this addition, was but small, he never readorwrote with a view of rendering his labours useful to himself. He may be said to have been one of the few personages connected with literature, especially the poetical department, who are devoid of selfishness, and at the same time attentive to economy; and he was also amongst mankind in general one of those rare economists, who possess that talent, untinctured with the slightest stain of avarice. When his circumstances were at the lowest, he gave away such sums in private charity as would have done credit to an ampler purse. But what chiefly deterred him from seeking any advantage by his literary pursuits, was a certain degree of pride, which led him to despise the idea of being thought an author by profession.

It is probable, however, that early in life he had an intention of publishing an edition of Strabo; for his papers contain a great number of notes and geographical disquisitions on that author, particularly respecting that part of Asia which comprehends Persia and India. The indefatigable pains which he had bestowed on the writings of Plato, and the quantity of critical as well as explanatory observations which he left upon almost every part of that ancient philosopher’s works, plainly indicate that no man in Europe was better prepared to republish and illustrate them than Mr Gray. Another work, on which he had bestowed uncommon labour, was the Anthologie. In an interleaved copy of that collection of Greek epigrams, he has transcribed several additional ones, which he selected in his extensive reading, inserted a great number of critical notes and emendations, and also subjoined a copious index. But whether he intended this performance for the press or not, has not been ascertained. The only work which he meditated with a direct view to publication from the beginning, was a history of English Poetry, upon a plan sketched out by Pope. He has mentioned this himself in an advertisement to the three fine imitations of Norse and Welsh poetry which he gave the world in the last edition of his poems. But after he had made considerable preparations for the execution of this design, and Mason had proffered his assistance, he was informed that Mr Wharton, of Trinity College, Oxford, was engaged in a work of the same kind. The undertaking was therefore relinquished by mutual consent; and s∞n afterwards, upon that gentleman desiring a sight of the plan, Gray readily sent him a copy of it.

Amongst other sciences which he cultivated, Gray had acquired a great knowledge of Gothic architecture. He had seen and accurately studied on the spot, whilst abroad, the Roman proportions, both in ancient times, and in the works of Palladio. In his later years he applied himself to study those stupendous structures of more modem date which adorn our own country, and which, if they have not the same grace, undoubtedly possess at least equal dignity, with those of ancient times. He endeavoured to trace this mode of building from its commencement through the various changes it underwent, until it arrived at its perfection in the reign of Henry VIII. and ended in that of Elizabeth. For this purpose, he did not so much rely upon written accounts, as on that internal evidence which the buildings themselves exhibit of their respective antiquity; since they constantly furnish to the well-informed eye, arms, ornaments, and other marks, by which their several ages may be ascertained. On this account he applied himself to the study of heraldry as a preparatory science; and he has left behind him a number of genealogical papers, more than sufficient to prove him a complete master of that subject. By these means he attained such prompt sagacity in architectural matters, as to be enabled to pronounce, at first sight, the precise time when every particular part of any of our cathedrals was erected. But the favourite study of Gray for the last ten years of his life was natural history, which he then rather resumed than commenced; for, by the instructions of his uncle An-trobus, he was a considerable botanist at the age of fifteen. The marginal notes which he has left on Linnaeus and other writers on the vegetable, animal, and fossil kingdoms, are [7:10:719]very numerous; but the most considerable are those on ' Hudson’s Flora Anglica, and the tenth edition of the Systema Natura·, which he interleaved and filled almost entirely. Whilst employed on zoology, he read with great care Aristotle’s treatise on that subject, and explained many difficult passages of that obscure ancient, by the lights he had received from modem naturalists. In a word, excepting pure mathematics, and the studies dependent on that science, there was hardly any branch of human learning in which he had not acquired a competent skill, and in most of them a consummate mastery. To this account of his literary character we may add, that he had a fine taste in painting, prints, gardening, and music; and was moreover a man of good breeding, as well as of virtue and humanity.

Gray died in 1771; and an edition of his poems, with memoirs of his life and writings, were published by Mr Mason in 1775, 4to. This gentleman, however, instead of employing his own pen in delineating the character of Gray, has adopted one drawn by the Reverend Mr Temple, rector of Mamhead in Devonshire, and communicated in a letter to Mr Boswell. “Perhaps,” says Mr Temple, “he (Gray) was the mostleamed man in Europe. He was equally acquainted with the elegant and profound parts of science, and that not superficially, but 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 antiquarian. Criticism, metaphysics, morals, politics, made a principal part of his plan of study; voyages and travels of all sorts were his favourite amusement; and he had a fine taste in painting, prints, architecture, and gardening. With such a fund of knowledge, his conversation must have been equally instructing and entertaining; but he was also a good man, a well-bred 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 without 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 produces 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 acquisition in science; his mind was enlarged, his heart softened, and his virtue strengthened; the world and mankind were shown to him without a mask; and he was taught to consider every thing as trifling, and unworthy the attention of a wise man, except the pursuit of knowledge, and the practice of virtue in that state wherein God hath placed us.”

The more recent, and perhaps also the more valuable editions of the collected works of Gray, are, 1. That by Thomas James Mathias, London, 1814, in 4to; and, 2. That by the Rev. John Mitford, London, 1816, in two vols. 4to. The edition of Mathias, besides the poetical works of Gray, contains Memoirs of his Life and Writings, including his correspondence, by Mason, together with extracts, philological, poetical, and critical, from the author’s original manuscripts. In the edition of Mitford the poems are accompanied and illustrated with critical notes, and to them are prefixed a Life of the author, and an Essay on his Poetry.