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THE POET GRAY.
From 'P. L. B.':— 'The Hon. A. H.
Peake would have been more .inst, both
to Gray and to Dr. Johnson, if he had
onoted also the latter's remarks on The
Elegv' in The Lives of the Poets/ viz.,
In the character of his Elegy I rejoice to
concur with the common reader; for by the
commonsense of readers nncorrupted with
literary prejudices, ? fifter all the refine
ments of enbtfltv and iQie dogmatism of
learning, must be finally decided all claim
to poetical honours. The churchyard
abounds with images which find a mirror
in every mind, and with sentiments to
?which every bosom returns an echo. The
four stanzas beginning *Yet even these
bones'' are to me original; I have never
seen the notions in any other place; yet he
that reads 'them here persuades himself
that be has always felt them. Had Gray
written often thus, it had been vain to
blame, and useless to praise him.' This is
high praise from such a learned critic as
Johnson, and counter-balances 'She faults
that he finds with Gray's other poems,
wlrich will probably be always considered
inferior. It has been pointed out as some
what of an irony that BosweH took Ma
son's. 'Life of Gray* as a pattern for his
'Life of Dr. Johnson.' I do not think that
Mr. Peake makes it clear either that Gray
and Horace Wa3pole were completely recon
ciled a few years after their qnarrel, and
again became intimate. Their lives, how
ever, wore cast in different ways and
places; and therefore there was no con
stant intercourse. The life of Gray_ in
Johnson's 'Lives' is well worth reading,
Mid the 'Gray* by Edmund Gosse in 'The
English Men of Letters' series is a good
biography. A large number of Gray's let
ters has been published, and are of much
irtterest to those who care to study his
character.'
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