Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/394

 322

NOTES AND QUERIES. [io> s. v. APRIL 28, 1900.

'The Progress of Poesy. A Pindaric Ode'

by 's ,he

'Designs/ 1765).

4 The Bard. A Pindaric Ode' (previously printed as "Ode II." in 'Odes by Mr. Gray,' Strawberry Hill, 1757 ; in Dodsley's 'Collec- tion,' vol. vi., 1758, and in the * Designs,' 1765). ' The Fatal Sisters. An Ode ' (first printed in the 'Poems 'of 1768).

'The Descent of Odin. An Ode' (first printed in the 'Poems' of 1768).

'The Triumphs of Owen. A Fragment (first printed in the ' Poems ' of 1768).

' Elegy written in a Country Church- lard (previously printed as a quarto pamphlet for ft. Dodsley, 16 Feb., 1751, and in ten other editions before 1753 ; in The Magazine of Magazines, 28 Feb., 1751 ; in The Scots Magazine, 31 March, 1751 ; in The Grand Magazine of Magazines, 30 April, 1751 ; in Bentley's ''Designs' 1753 and 1765; in Dodsley's 'Collection,* vol. iv., 1755; and in one or two other miscellanies).

The second issue of the ' Poems,' of which only 750 copies were printed, is rarer than the first, though of course not so valuable. The half-title, title, and contents are identical with those of the first issue, with one excep- tion : the words " A New Edition " are printed on the title-page. The register is also the same, and it is reprinted page for page with the original. But it is not, like so many other books of the period, a collection of "remainder" sheets with a new title-page. The whole of the letterpress, from the first page to the last, has been reimposed ; and the type employed is smaller and slightly less clear than in the first edition.

The contents of the Foulis edition are the same as in the two London editions, and this renders more interesting a fourth edition, which was printed at Dublin in the same year, and which, if not unknown to Gray, was ignored by him. It is, I think, a very scarce edition, as I have not seen any notice of it by bibliographers. It is not included by Dr. John Bradshaw in the 'Bibliography' of Gray, consisting of editions of his works in the British Museum and Bodleian, which is appended to his (Aldine) edition of Gray's ' Poetical Works ' ; nor will it be found in the catalogues of the Dyce and Forster libraries at the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington. The following is the title-page and collation of this book :

"Poems | by | M r Gray. 1 [Vignette on copper.] | Dublin: Printed by William Sleater | in Castle- Street. 1 1768."

Collation. 12mo, pp. 188, consisting of half-title, pp. [1, 2], verso blank ; frontis- piece ; title as above, pp. [3, 4], verso blank : Advertisement, pp. [5, 6], verso blank ; Contents, pp. [7, 8], verso blank ; text of the poems, pp. [9]-187 ; p. [188] blank. The register is A, four leaves ; B-H, in twelves ; i, six leaves.

The following 'Advertisement' precedes the poems :

"At the desire of some Gentlemen, for whose Taste and Judgment the Editor hath the greatest Respect, he has added to this Edition of Mr. Gray's Poems two Latin Translations of the celebrated Elegy written in a Country Church-yard, with a poetical Address to the Author ; one by the Rev. Mr. Lloyd, the other by an anomimous [sic] Person, which Translations and Poem, it is hoped, will not be unacceptable to the classical Reader."

The contents of the volume, so far as Gray's poems are concerned, are identical with those in the London edition, with the exception that 'A Long Story 3 is inserted between the Eton College 'Ode' and the 'Hymn to Adversity.' As we know the aversion that Gray had to the republication of this poem, we may be sure that this Dublin edition was issued without his knowledge or approval. Mr. Gosse, in his edition of Gray's 'Works,' i. 81, and Dr. Bradshaw, 'Poetical Works,' p. 231, both assert that *A Long Story ' was only printed once in Gray's lifetime ; but they were evidently unaware of this Irish edition.*

After ' Tiie Triumphs of Owen ' is printed 'Carmen Elegiacuuq, in Ccerneterio Rustico Compositum,' of which the first line is Audistin ! quam lenta sonans campana per agros. The author of this translation was Robert Lloyd, and the date and place of the first publication are doubtful (see 1 st S. i. 101). This is followed by ^ the 'Elegy,' with the Latin translation beginning,

Audin' ut oecidure signum campana diei. This had been printed anonymously at Cambridge in quarto in 1762, but the author was the Rev. W. Hildyard. After the ' Elegy ' comes an * Ode on Ranelagh, Addressed to the Ladies. Being a Parody on Mr. Gray's celebrated Ode on a distant Prospect of Eton College.' Then comes ' An Evening Contemplation in a College, being a Parody on the Elegy in a Country Church- yard/ The author of this skit was the Rev. John Duncombe, of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and it was first published by Dodsley in 1753. The volume concludes with

Bentley's ' Designs.'
 * It was also reprinted in the 1765 issue of