LIFE OF GRAY.

THOMAS GRAY was born in Cornhill in December 1716, descended of a very respectable family in the city of London. His grandfather was a considerable merchant; and his father, Philip Gray, was a money-scrivener. His mother's name was Dorothy Antrobus. They had many children, of whom the poet was the fifth born. All of them, except him, died in their infancy.

He was educated at Eton school, under the care of Mr Antrobus, his mother's brother.

In 1734 Gray removed from Eton to Cambridge, and

entered a pensioner in St Peter's College.

He returned to London in 1738, with the intention of applying himself to the study of the law; but this was soon laid aside; for, the year following, he accepted an invitation from Mr Walpole to accompany him on his travels.

After visiting a number of places on the continent, Gray returned to England in September 1741, and two months afterwards buried his father.

In 1742 he went to Cambridge, where he was admitted to the degree of Bachelor of the Civil Law. At this place he continued for a number of years, during which time he had the misfortune to lose his mother, to whom he was

strongly attached, and his conduct exemplary for the discharge of every filial duty towards her,

In 1765 Gray undertook a journey to Scotland, with a belief that he would recover his constitution, which was in a very weak state. He wrote a curious and interesting account of his journey.

Two years after this, he was appointed, by the Duke of Grafton, to the Professorship of Modern Languages and History at Cambridge, worth L.400 a-year.

In May 1771 he removed from Cambridge to London, after having suffered greatly from irregular attacks of an hereditary gout, to which he had long been subject, and from which a life of singular temperance could not protect him.

On the 24th of July, while at dinner, he felt a sudden

nausea, which obliged him to rise from table.

The gout

had fixed on his stomach, and resisted all the powers of medicine. On the 29th he was seized with a strong convulsion fit, which, on the 30th, returning with increased violence, he expired the next evening, in the 55th year of

his age.

Gray was an excellent poet, and considered one of the most learned men in Europe. His poems and letters were collected and published by his intimate friend Mr Mason,

in 1775. The Elegy is the most popular of all his productions.

LIFE OF PARNELL.

THOMAS PARNELL was descended from an ancient family, that had, for some centuries, been settled at Congleton, in Cheshire. His father, Thomas Parnell, who had been attached to the Commonwealth party, upon the Restoration went over to Ireland, where he purchased an estate, which, with his lands in Cheshire, descended to the poet, who was his eldest and still remains in the family.

son,

He was born in Dublin in the year 1679, and received

the first rudiments of his education at the school of Dr

Jones in that city.

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