Thomas Gray (December 26, 1716 - July 31, 1771)

[reviews_and_ramblings]

At ten years old, Horace Walpole was sent to Eton College, where he became part of the "Quadruple Alliance" of sensitive literary friends, which included Thomas Gray, who was to become the most popular poet of the century, Richard West and Thomas Ashton. Gray was an English poet, letter-writer, classical scholar and professor at Cambridge University. He is widely known for his Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, published in 1751. Walpole and Gray remained friends throughout the latter's life, and Walpole continued to champion his poetry and defend him personally in the many years he survived him. When Walpole decided to go travelling on the “Grand Tour” with Gray, he wrote a will whereby he left Gray all his belongings. In Europe the two had a bitter falling out that took years to put behind them. In later life, Walpole admitted that the fault lay primarily with himself: "to have been inattentive and insensible to the feelings of one I thought below me.”

Timeline & Places:

• December 26, 1716: born at 39 Cornhill, London EC3V 3ND, Regno Unito

• 1730s: attended Eton College, Windsor SL4 6DW, Regno Unito

• 1734: attended University Of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2, Regno Unito

• July 31, 1771: died. Buried at St Giles, Stoke Poges, Slough SL2, Regno Unito. Memorial at Westminster Abbey, 20 Deans Yd, Westminster, London SW1P 3PA, Regno Unito

References:

Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time
ISBN-13: 978-1500563325 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1500563323
CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/4910282
Amazon print: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500563323/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MZG0VHY/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Queer Places, Vol. 2.1: Retracing the Steps of LGBTQ people around the World
ISBN-13: 978-1532906312 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1532906315
CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/6228833
Amazon print: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1532906315/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IZ1KZBO/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Queer Places, Vol. 2.2: Retracing the Steps of LGBTQ people around the World
ISBN-13: 978-1544067568 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1544067569
CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/6980566
Amazon print: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1544067569/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IZ1KZBO/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Comments

[julian_griffith]

It's a delightful coincidence thay you're posting this story now, as I've just been reading up on the Strawberry Hill/Twickenham Set as background for a romance story about early 19th-century lesbians, and finally reading The Castle of Otranto!

[reviews_and_ramblings]

The Castle of Otranto was very popular at the time, I found fascinating to discover something more about its author. Horace and Thomas were very famous too among Italian art collectors, and most of the refer to them as a couple.