 Vol. III. The Eighteenth Century: Addison to Blake Critical
Introduction by Matthew Arnold Thomas Gray (1716–1771) [Thomas
Gray was born in London on the 26th of December 1716. His father
is described as ‘a citizen and money-scrivener’; we should say
nowadays, he was on the stock-exchange. He appears to have been
a selfish, extravagant, and violent man. Mr. Antrobus, Gray’s
uncle on the mother’s side, was one of the assistant masters at
Eton, and at Eton, under his care, Gray was brought up. At Eton
he formed a friendship with Horace Walpole, and with Richard
West, whose father was Lord Chancellor of Ireland. At Cambridge
Gray did not read mathematics and took no degree. He occupied
himself with classical literature, history and modern languages;
several of his translations and Latin poems date from this time.
He intended to read law; but a few months after his leaving
Cambridge, Horace Walpole invited him to be his companion on a
tour through France and Italy. The friends visited Paris,
Florence and Rome, a