appointed by bad weather of the sight of Kirkstall Abbey, he yet made a diversion to Chatsworth and Hardwick; and, on his arrival in town, first heard of the death of Dr. Turner, Professor of Modern History to the University of Cambridge. By the earnest suggestion of his friends he was induced to make application, through the friendly medium of Sir Edward Erskine, for the vacant place, which was in the appointment of Lord Bute. That nobleman returned a very civil refusal, though joined with great professions of his desire to serve him on any future occasion; and the Professorship was given to Mr. Brocket, tutor to Sir James Lowther.

In the beginning of the year following Gray received intelligence of an unexpected panegyrist, on a soil to which he knew not that his fame had extended. This was the ingenious and accomplished Count Algarotti, to whom Gray's Poems, as well as those of Mason, had been communicated by Mr. Taylor Howe, an honorary Fellow of Pembroke Hall, at this time travelling in Italy. Not insensible to the value of such an admirer, Gray availed himself of the opportunity, his acquaintance with that gentleman afforded him, to exchange one or two communications with the polite Italian; and when Mr. Howe first had thoughts of publishing the Count's Works in England, Gray warmly encouraged the design. He afterwards, indeed, found reason to

alter his opinion on this point, and when the project was again mentioned, after Signor Algarotti's death, he rather dissuaded it, fearing the great inaccuracy which then prevailed in the printing of foreign books, and thinking that the knowledge of the Italian language was not sufficiently extensive in this country to secure for the work an adequate circulation.

During this part of his life Mr. Gray was subject to continued attacks of gout and to other afflicting maladies, for one of which he was obliged, about this time, to submit to a severe operation. He found, however, much relief, both to his bodily infirmities and to his spirits, which were always more or less affected from excursions during the summer, in the course of which his natural love of observation led him to examine closely all that was beautiful or curious in his native country. For the benefit of tourists like himself, he formed a list of objects worthy of notice, (such as gentlemen's seats, antiquities, &c.) in England and Wales, which he drew out on the blank leaves of Kitchen's Atlas. After his death it was printed by Mason, for private circulation among the Author's particular friends.

In the year 1765 he extended his tour to Scotland; and after visiting Edinburgh he proceeded, on the invitation of Lord Strathmore, to Glames Castle. In a place so remarkable for the beauty of

its situation, and the recollections with which it is associated, he spent some days much to his satisfaction, and thence diverging into the wildnesses of Scottish scenery, he took the route through Dunkeld to Taymouth, and advancing to the pass of Gillikrankie, returned by the Blair of Athol. The most important circumstance, however, which arose out of Mr. Gray's visit to this country, was the acquaintance it enabled him to form with the admired author of the Minstrel. During a few days which they spent in one another's society at Glames, an obvious congeniality of taste and sentiment led them to contract a cordial friendship; and shortly after Mr. Beattie (who was Professor of Moral Philosophy and Logic in the Mareschal College at Aberdeen) sent to Mr. Gray, in the name of that Society, the offer of a Doctor's degree. This, indeed, the latter thought it prudent to decline, as he had not proceeded beyond the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law in his own University.

In the following year, 1766, he chose Kent for the scene of his ramble, and in the course of the next visited Derbyshire, whence he was led on as far as Aston, the residence of Mr. Mason, who was then in much affliction from the loss of his wife. On his return thence, he received from Mr. Beattie a flattering request, that he would allow his Works to be printed at Glasgow by the celebrated Foulis.

To this Mr. Gray was ready enough to consent on his own part, but, unfortunately, he had but lately given leave to Dodsley to prepare a new edition, and this, he feared, would interfere materially with Foulis's views of profit. The book, however, made its appearance from the hands of both publishers; but in it the Long Story was omitted, and the reason for this was, that the plates, for the sake of which it had appeared in the first edition, were now worn out. To supply this defect in quantity, Mr. Gray added the Norwegian and Welsh fragments, which he had probably written some time before; and he also furnished some notes, chiefly to the Pindaric Odes: and this he did partly, as he says, to make acknowledgment where he was under obligation, and partly out of spite against the world for not understanding him..

Now it was that our Poet received, unsolicited, the appointment for which he had formerly applied in vain. On the accidental death of Mr. Brocket, the Professorship of Modern History was offered him by the Duke of Grafton, in the handsomest terms of compliment, and at the express command of his Sovereign. The emolument of this office was about four hundred a year, and though a constant residence in the University was required, we may suppose that Mr. Gray would readily acquiesce from obligation in that to which he had so long submitted

from choice. ingenious friend and biographer, "consisted of two parts; one, the teaching of modern languages; the other, the reading of lectures on modern history. The patent which created the office, authorised him to execute the former of these by deputies; the latter, the same patent prescribed to him, to commence by reading a public lecture in the schools, and to continue to do so, once at least in every term. As this patent did not ascertain the language in which the lecture was to be read, he was at liberty to do it either in Latin or English; he chose the former, and, I think, rather injudiciously because, though no man, in the earlier part of his life, was more ready in Latin composition, he had now lost the habit, and might, therefore, well have excused himself, by the nature of his subject, from any superadded difficulty of language. However, immediately on his appointment, he sketched out an admirable plan for his inauguration speech; in which, after enumerating the preparatory and auxiliary studies requisite, such as Ancient History, Geography, Chronology, &c. m he descended to the authentic

"His business as Professor," says his

m Amongst these auxiliaries, he has set down Memoria Technica; an art in which he had much exercised himself when young. I find many memorial verses among his scattered papers and I suspect he found good account in the practice; for few men were more ready and more accurate in their dates and events than our Author.