He died on the 23rd of June, 1770.
THOMAS GRAY.--Among those who form a link between the school of Pope and
that of the modern poets, Gray occupies a distinguished place, both from
the excellence of his writings, and from the fact that, while he
unconsciously conduced to the modern, he instinctively resisted its
progress. He was in taste and intention an extreme classicist. Thomas Gray
was born in London on the 26th December, 1716. His father was a money
scrivener, and, to his family at least, a bad man; his mother, forced to
support herself, kept a linen-draper shop; and to her the poet owed his
entire education. He was entered at Eton College, and afterwards at
Cambridge, and found in early life such friendships as were of great
importance to him later in his career. Among his college friends were
Horace Walpole, West, the son of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and
William Mason, who afterwards wrote the poet's life. After completing his
college course, he travelled on the continent with Walpole; but, on
account of incompatibility of temper, they quarrelled and parted, and Gray
returned home.
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