Alternate Form:
Several facsimiles, including P. J. Croft, Autograph Poetry in the English Language, 2 vols, (Oxford, 1969), Sherburn (ed.), Elegy (1951), and Elegy (1976), where the MS and its provenance are discussed
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 32, 82; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 414; Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), additional lines in the "Eton MS", 40-41nn; Fukuhara/Bergen, Elegy (1933); Northup, Bibliography (1917), item 1995; Munby (ed.), Sale Catalogues (1971), Evans sale (27-29 November 1845), lot 602, 9, Sotheby's sale (28 August 1851), lot 53, 40-41, Sotheby's sale (4 August 1854), lot 226, 69; W[right]., Catalogue (1851), [lot 53,] 8-9
Contents: Autograph draft, here entitled "Stanza's wrote in a Country Church-Yard", and reading "Curfeu". This MS, sometimes called the "Eton MS" or "Fraser MS", contains five additional stanzas (four after l. 72, and the "Redbreast stanza" after l. 116), which were omitted in the first edition of 1751, in 1753, and in 1768.
Alternate Form:
Facsimiles include McDermott, Penn and Gray (1930), 14-16 and Fukuhara, Bibliographical Study (1933), plate II
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 33, 82; Toynbee/Whibley (eds.), Correspondence (1971), letter no. 156, vol. i, 334-340 (subscription required); Elegy (1976); Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 414; Northup, Bibliography (1917), item 1996; Catalogue of a Sotheby's sale (27 February 1950), lot 239, facsimile in catalogue
Contents: Autograph fair copy, following a letter to Thomas Wharton, 18 December [1750].
Alternate Form:
Microfilm copy available in Poetic Commonplace Books and Manuscripts of Thomas Gray, 1716-1771, from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1999), reel one. Full facsimile published in A facsimile of the original autograph manuscript of Gray's Elegy. Photographed by Messrs. Cundall, Downes & Co. London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co. 1862, other facsimiles include Mathias (ed.), Works (1814), vol. I, following p. [64], Poole (ed.), Poetical Works (1917), 90-91, and Folger Shakespeare Library, ART Vol. a9, follows p. 50.
Contents: Autograph, revised, here entitled "Elegy, written in a Country-Church Yard. 1750" and reading "Curfeu", with numbered lines (10, 20, etc.), an additional quatrain, the "Redbreast stanza", annotated "Insert" after l. 116 and "Omitted in 1753", and an extensive prose note, in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. II, 617-618.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 35, 82
Contents: Autograph notes to the poem, untitled but numbered 10. and identified on f. 3r as "10. Elegy, written in a country-churchyard" in MS instructions to Dodsley for the 1768London edition, sent in a letter, [1?] February 1768. The notes were first published in the poem's version in Poems (1768).
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 36, 82; Heist, Michael, "RE: Modern (Bound) Manuscripts, vol.52, Robert H. Taylor Collection". E-mail to the editor, 11 January 2007
Contents: Autograph notes to the poem, in MS instructions to Beattie for the 1768Glasgow edition, originally sent in a letter, 1 February 1768.
Separated Material: The letter in which these instructions were originally sent is now at Historic Collections, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, entitled "Stanza written in a Country Church-Yard", together with a letter from Paget Toynbee suggesting it was a pre-publication transcript that had circulated (lot 46 from an unidentified sale; unknown relationship to Sotheby's sale [15 December 1930], lot 453, sold to Dobell: 2-page transcript with same title).
Related Material: Houghton MS Eng 116.1-8 contain Gray autographs and copies of manuscripts written by or concerning Thomas Gray. Houghton b MS Eng 116.6 (Papers on Thomas Gray) contains photostatic copies of commonplace books, journals, notes, travel notebooks, poems, and other materials chiefly from Pembroke College (Cambridge) and the Pierpont Morgan Library.
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), 82; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 414; Northup, Bibliography (1917), item 1997; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=138995>
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, entitled "Stanzas Written in a Country Church Yard", in a volume entitled Hardwicke Papers, vol. DCCCCXXII.
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), 82; Catalogue of a Sotheby's sale (10 December 1913), lot 67, facsimile in catalogue
Contents: An unlocated transcript of the "Redbreast stanza" in a copy of Designs (1753) was sold as autograph, Sotheby's (10 December 1913), lot 67 (with a facsimile), it was sought by J. Hayward in The Book Collector 5 (1956), 384-385.
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand of 8 lines (one stanza after l. 100 and the "Redbreast stanza" after l. 116) with the former only in the "Eton MS", with notes, in a copy of the Elegy, 8th edition (London, 1753), 10-11, bound in a volume entitled Poetical Tracts.
Related Material: MS 0212 apparently transcribed from MS 0043.
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "Elegy written in a Country Church-Yard" (p. 117) ("Elegy." [p. 119]). The poem, which in this version has four unique readings ("winds" for "wheels" [l. 7], ", the" for "and" [l. 32], "to" for "on" [l. 68], and "sage" for "swain" [l. 97]), is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
Contents: Transcript of variants of several lines, headed "Various Readings in his Poems, from MSS.", in the hand of John Mitford, in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. III "Mitford. Extracts from Mr Grays Common-place books", ff. 180r, 181r.
Related Material: MS 0210 apparently transcribed from MS 0043.
Contents: Transcript of variants of several lines, entitled "The Elegy. var." (crossed out), in the hand of John Mitford, in John Mitford, Note-Books, vol. IV, ff. 32r, 33r.
Related Material: MS 0211 apparently transcribed from MS 0043.
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, beginning "The curfeu tolls the knell of parting day", in a commonplace book, entitled "Old songs & other poems", "in two hands, c.1760-90, containing transcribed verse and prose of the 17th and 18th centuries".
Surrogates: Digital facsimile of f. 23r from original MS available online.
Title: "An Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard"
Date:[1750s?]
Physical Description: 3 pages; transcript in an unidentified hand, partial [ll. 1-92], in a manuscript volume "bound in dark brown leather which is gilt embossed with decorations and gilt tooling. There is marbling on both inside covers and endpapers. The back board is detached"
Contents: Transcript of ll. 1-92 in an unidentified hand, beginning "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day", in a Commonplace-book owned by the Lewis family. It is "in two hands, containing prose and poetry on diverse topics (written partly in the first half of the eighteenth century, partly in the mid eighteenth century); the signatures of Kath Lewis and Johana Lewis are visible on the flyleaf".
Alternate Form:
Microfilm copy available in Microfilm Collection, FILM Fo. 118.3a, Microfilm of W.a.118, 1 microfilm reel : negative, 12:1, 6 feet ; 35 mm.
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Ardagh of Thurles, a later addition on a blank verso, in an autograph volume by William Havard entitled Jeu d'esprit (c. 1733-1775).
Contents: Transcript of the poem in 32 numbered stanzas in the Strahan Papers, Vol. CVII (ff. 216), Miscellaneous correspondence and papers (1758-1821), ff. 64-66. The transcript follows the MS of John Young's A Criticism on the Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (ff. 37-63), sent in a letter of Young's (ff. 35-36) to Lord Maitland, which contains instructions about its printing and publication. The transcript is followed by a note (f. 67): "The Author's Compliments to Mr. Strahan. has transcribed over the Elegy as he wishes it printed. Thinks it will stand best between the Advertisement & the Criticism. - The Title as alter'd by Mr Strahan was / A Criticism / on the Elegy / written in a Country Churchyard / being a Continuation / of Dr J---ns Criticism / on the Poems of Gray."
Contents: Transcript of the poem, partial, beginning "Approach and read, for thou canst read, the lay", in the hand of "Richard Harris Barham" (also known as Thomas Ingoldsby), in his Commonplace Book (1803-1808), containing poems, paraphrases, epigrams, and conundrums in English, Latin, Greek, and French (62 leaves, 21 cm.), f. 46v.
Contents: Transcript of the poem, in an unidentified hand, from the Egerton MS 2400.
Related Material: In the same file there is another transcript of the poem, from the Fraser MS, in the hand of the donor of the two items James Freeman Clarke.
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, 326, item H0937; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 16 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10636>
Contents: Transcript, partial, entitled "An epitaph", in a Commonplace book entitled Amusements 1768-69, a manuscript, in two hands, of a collection of several dozen primarily serious poems and poetical extracts, many on moral and elegiac subjects.
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10648>
Contents: Transcript entitled "A poem wrote in a country churchyard".
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10630>
Contents: Transcript, entitled "An elegy written in a country churchyard", in James Forbes' Commonplace book, 1766-1800, vol. I "Poems on Several Occasions Collected from Different Authors", a manuscript of a collection of approximately 150 poems and excerpts, primarily epitaphs and elegies, poems in praise of virtues, odes dedicated to women, and poems on nature and weather.
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10641>
Contents: Transcript, entitled "Stanzas wrote in a churchyard in the country", in the Frances Boscawen and Julia Evelyn Commonplace Book, a collection of verse by various authors and some original verse, contains about 100 poems copied by the authors, beginning in 1746.
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10647>
Contents: Transcript, entitled "An elegy", in a late 18th/early 19th century Commonplace Book, a collection of verse (including original poems), letters, drawings, etc., compiled by Martha, Ann, and William Dickinson (1746-1823).
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10649>
Contents: Transcript entitled "An elegy written in a country churchyard".
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10627>
Contents: Transcript, entitled "An elegy written in a country churchyard", in a late 18th century, anonymous Commonplace Book (4 vols.), which contains more than 1100 numbered extracts from works by various authors; a number of the poems are signed or initialed by William Warren Porter (1776-1804) or his sister, so possibly the books were compiled by a member of the Porter family.
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10626>
Contents: Transcript, entitled "An elegy, written in a country churchyard", in a late 18th century, anonymous Commonplace Book (4 vols.), which contains more than 1100 numbered extracts from works by various authors; a number of the poems are signed or initialed by William Warren Porter (1776-1804) or his sister, so possibly the books were compiled by a member of the Porter family.
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10629>
Contents: Transcript, entitled "An elegy, written in a country churchyard...1751. In print", in Richard Gifford's Miscellany (62 p.), which contains prose meditations, romantic and other poems, and Greek and Latin extracts from classical works.
References: Parks, Stephen et al. (ed.), Osborn Collection First-Line Index. New Haven: Beinecke Library, Yale University, 2005, 760, item T0441; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 23 April 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=10634>
Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Freeman Milward Dovaston, entitled "Elegy written in a country churchyard", in his autograph Select, and Miscellaneous Poems, Scraps, Mottos &c, 1773 and later, a Commonplace book of verse by Dovaston and others.