EXTRACT OF A LETTER

FROM

MR. HOW TO MR. GRAY.

Brussels, Nov. 8, 1763.

AS in the letter with which you honoured me of late, you expressed a solicitude about the imputation, laid upon us by Count Algarotti, of a borrowed taste in our method of laying out grounds, this, I think, may well warrant, and perhaps even demand of me the communication of a passage in his last letter relative to that point.

"Mi spiace solamente che quella critica concernente i Giardini `Inglesi non la abbia fatta á me medesimo; quasi egli dovesse "credermi piu amico della mia opinione che della veritá Ecco, come ho cangiato qual luogo. Dopo le parole nel tesser la favola di un poema. • Simili ai Giardini della Cina sono

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quelli che piantano gl'Inglesi dietro al medesimo modello "della Natura.' Quanto ella ha di vago é di vario, boschetti, "collinette, acque vive, praterie con dei tempietti, degli obelischi, ed anche di belle rovine che spuntano quá e lá, si "trova quivi reunito dal gusto dei Kent, e dei Chambers*, "che hanno di tanto sorpassato il le Nautre, tenuto giá il "maestro dell' Architettura, diro cosi, dé Giardini. Dalle Ville

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* As he had written on the subject, this mistake was natural enough in Count Algarotti.-Mason.

d'Inghilterra sbandita la simmetria Francese, i più bei ́siti pajono naturali, il culto é misto col neglecto, élie disordine "che vi regna é l'effetto dell' arte la meglio ordinata."

May I take the liberty of remarking here, Sir, that every Author of a reputation so established will not quite so easily soV readily, and so explicitly give up his own opinion in deference to that of another, or even to conviction itself! Nor perhaps would he so soon have kissed the rod from any vulgar hand; but he is thoroughly informed to whose correction he submits.

MR. GRAY TO THE REV. WILLIAM ROBINSON.

DEAR (REVEREnd) Billy,

Pembroke Hall, October 10, 1763,

HAVING been upon the ramble, I have neglected all my duties, in hopes of finding pleasures in their room; which, after all (as you know well), one never finds. My conscience reproaches me with your obliging letter, and would (I 'really think) carry me into Somersetshire, did not poverty and winter stare me in the, face, and bid me sit still. I well remember Dr. Ross's kind invitation, and in better days still hope to accept it. Doubt not but my inclinations will be quickened by the hopes I entertain of seeing you in so many

new lights; the travelled Mr. Robinson, with a thousand im portant airs and graces, so much virtù, so much sçavoir-vivre! the husband, the father, the rich clergyman, warm, snug, and contented as a bishop. My mouth waters; but sure-the family will be in town this winter, and I shall see you there in November. Is this the fine autumn you promised me? Oh! I hear you (not curse, you must not, but) . this untoward climate. I doubt not but you write to Mason, though he does not tell me so. There is he, repining at his four-andtwenty weeks residence at York, unable to visit his bowers, the work of his own hands, at Aston, except in the depth of winand longing for the flesh-pots and coffee-houses of Cambridge. There is nobody contented but you and I-oh yes, and Dr. Ross, who (I shrewdly suspect) is the happiest of the three. Adieu, dear Sir, and believe me sincerely

ter;

Your friend and humble servant,

Present my compliments to Mrs. Robinson.

T. GRAY.

Some time or

other I hope to have the honour of being better known to her. Mr. Brown is well, and much obliged to you for your kind remembrance of him. :

LETTER CXII.

MR. GRAY TO MR HOW.

London, November, 1763.

I AM ashamed of my own indolence in not answering your former letter: a second, which I have since received, adds to my shame, and quickens my motions. I can see no manner of objection to your design of publishing C. A.'s works complete in your own country. It will be an evidence of your regard for him, that cannot but be very acceptable to him. The Glasgow-press, or that of Baskerville, have given specimens of their art, equal (at least) in beauty to any thing that Europe can produce. The expence you will not much regard on such an occasion, and (if you suffer them to be sold) that would be greatly diminished, and most probably reimbursed. As to notes (and I think some will be necessary) I easily believe you will not overload the text with them, and besides every thing of that kind will be concerted between you. If you propose any vignettes or other matters of ornament, it would be well they were designed in Italy, and the gravings executed either there or in France, for in this country they are woeful and beyond measure dear. The revising of the press must be your own labour, as tedious as it is inglorious; but to this you must

* The following Letter, with the exception of two or three short sentences, does not appear in Mason's Edition of Gray. It is addressed to Mr. How, at Brussels.-Ed.

submit. As we improve in our types, we grow daily more negligent in point of correctness, and this even in our own tongue. What will it be in the Italian?

I did not mean you should have told C. A. my objection, at least not as from me, who have no pretence to take such a liberty with him; but I am glad he has altered the passage. He cannot wonder, if I wished to save to our nation the only honour it has in matters of taste, and no small one, since neither Italy nor France have ever had the least notion of it, nor yet do at all comprehend it, when they see it. Mr. Mason has received the books in question from an unknown hand, which I take to be Mr. Hollis, from whom I too have received a beautiful set of Engravings, as a present; I know not why, unless as a friend of yours. I saw and read the beginning of this year, the Congresso di Citéra, and was excessively pleased in spite of prejudice, for I am naturally no friend to allegory, nor to poetical prose. Entre nous, what gives me the least pleasure of any of his writings, that I have seen, is the Newtoniasm. It is so direct an imitation of Fontenelle, a writer not. easy to imitate, and least of all in the Italian tongue, whose character and graces are of a higher style, and never adapt themselves easily to the elegant badinage and legereté of conversation, that sets so well on the French. But this is a secret between us.

I am glad to hear he thinks of revisiting England; though I am a little ashamed of my country at this present*. Our late acquired glory does not set becomingly upon us; and even

* This refers to another extract from Count Algarotti's Letter, given by Mr. How in his Letter to Mr. Gray, dated Brussels, Nov. 8, 1763, in which the Count mentions the probability of his visiting England.-Ed.