Oct. 5. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



301 



ingenious poem, called ' Reflections in a Country 

 Church-yard,' has been communicated to them, which 

 they are printing forthwith ; that they are informed 

 that the excellent author of it is I by name, and tnat 

 they beg not only his indulgence, but the honour of his cor- 

 respondence, &c. ... I therefore am obliged to desire 

 you would make Dodsley print it immediately from 

 your copy, but without my name, &c. He must cor- 

 rect the press himself .... and the title must be 

 ' Elegy written in a Country Church-yard.' If he 

 would add a line or two to say it came into his hand 

 by accident, I slioidd like it better ... If Dodsley do 

 not do this immediately, he may as well let it alone." 



Dr. Johnson {Life of Gray) says : 

 " His next production, 1750, was his far-famed 

 Elegy," &c. 



The Doctor adds : 



" Several of his [Gray's] pieces were published, 1753, 

 with designs by Mr. Bentley, and that they might in 

 some form or other make a book, only one side of each 

 leaf was printed. I believe the poems and the plates 

 recommended each other so well, that the whole im- 

 pression was soon bought." 



It contains six poems, one being the Elegy. I 

 have before me a copy of this collection, which is 

 folio. The plates are clever, and very curious ; a 

 copy was sold at the Fonthill sale for 3/. 4s. ! 

 Tlie copy, admirably bound, which I quote, was 

 bought at a bookseller's front-window stall for 4s. 

 The title of this collection is, " Designs by Mr. R. 

 Bentley, for six poems by Mr. J. Gray." 



According to the title-j>age, it was " printed for 

 R. Dodsley, in Pall Mall, mdccliii.," two years 

 previously to the date to which your correspon- 

 dent refers. This (1753) collection gives the 

 line, — 



'• Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight." 



In the Elegant Extracts (vei'se), ed. 1805, 

 which, it must be needless to mention, was pre- 

 pared by the able and indefatigable Dr. Vicesimus 

 Knox, the accomjilished scholar gives the line — 



" Save where the beetle wheels his drony flight." 



Dr. Johnson's Dictionary does not insert the 

 word "droning" or "drony;" but among his Il- 

 lustrations attached to the verb " to drone," there 

 are two from Drydeii, each, it may be seen, using 

 the word " droning." There is no quotation con- 

 taining the word " drony." Gray's language is : 



" Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, 

 And drowsy tinhlinys lull the distant folds." 



Johnson's second quotation from Dryden may be 

 worth re])enting, as showing that Gray's language 

 is not wholly dillerent from his predecessor's : — 



" .Melfoil and honeysuckles poimd, 

 With these alluriuir savours strew the ground, 

 And mix with tin/ding l)rass the cymbal's droning sound." 



It is perhaps hardly worth noticing, that there 

 is not unifunuity even in the title. Johnson calls 



it. Elegy in the Church-yard; Dodsley (1753) 



styles it, Elegy written in a Country Church-yard. 



A Heemit at Hampstead. 



Grays Elegy (Vol. ii., p. 264.). — The Hermit 

 OF Holyport is referred to the 4to. edit, of the 

 Works of Gray, by Tlios. Jas. Mathias, in which, 

 vol. i. at the end of the Elegy, in print, he will find 

 "From the original in the handwriting of Thos. 

 Gray : 



' Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight.'" 



From the autograph the Elegy appears to have 

 been written in 1750; and the margin states, 

 published in Feb. 1751, by Dodsley, and went 

 through four editions in two months ; and after- 

 wards a fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth, ninth 

 and tenth, and eleventh: printed also in 1753, with 

 Mr. Bentley's designs, of which there is a second 

 edition ; and again by Dodsley in his Miscellany, 

 vol. iv. ; and in a Scotch collection, called the 

 Union. Translated into Latin by Chr. Anstey, Esq., 

 and the Rev. Mr. Roberts, and published in 1762 ; 

 and again in the same year by Rob. Lloyd, M. A. 

 The original MS. of the above will be found 

 among the MSS. of Tiios. Gray, in the possession 

 of the IMasters and Fellows of Pembroke House, 

 Cambridge. W. S. 



Richmond, Sept 21. 1850. 



BISHOPS AND THEIR PRECEDENCE. 



(Vol. ii., p. 254.) 



AauN is not right, in reference to this Query, in 

 saying that the precedence of bishops over the 

 temporal barons is regulated by the statute of 

 31 Hen. VIII. The precedence of bishops over 

 the temporal lords is not regulated by the Act of 

 31 Hen. VHI. for placing the lords. Tliey may 

 have originally been summoned to sit in parlia- 

 ment in right of their succession to certain baronial 

 lands annexed to, or supposed to be annexed to 

 their episcopal sees; but as some of the temporal 

 peers were also summoned in right of lands held 

 of the king^e;- baroniam, that is not a satisfactory 

 reason why they should take precedence of tem- 

 poral barons. 



The precedency must have been regulated by 

 some other laws, rules, or usage than are presented 

 by the Act of 31 Hen. VIII. The Archbishop of 

 Canterbury precedes the Lord Chancellor; the 

 Archbishop of York the Lord President of the 

 Council and the Lord Privy Seal ; and all bishops 

 precede barons. Tills precedency, however, is not 

 given by the statute. The Act provides only, in 

 reference to the spiritual peers, that the Vicegerent 

 for good and due ministration of justice, to be had 

 in all caii.ses and cases touching the ecclesiastical 

 jurisdiction, and for the godly reformation and 

 redress of all errors, heresies, and abuses in the 



