GRAYLING 



GRAY'S INN 



After J. 0. Eccardl in the /f) ./ 



Nal. Portrait Gallery f f ^6^1 



hildren, he was v J rt 

 iucated at Eton, J ^ 



children, 

 educated 



where he was a school friend and 

 contemporary of Horace Walpole. 

 After four years at Peterhouse, 

 Cambridge, where he went in 1734, 

 Gray accompanied Walpole on a 

 three years' tour on the Continent. 

 The scenes of travel made a deep 

 and lasting impression on Gray's 

 mind, though the end of the tour 

 was marred by a quarrel between 

 the two friends, each returning 

 home alone. Shortly afterwards, 

 in 1742, Gray went back to Cam- 

 bridge to resume the classical 

 studies he loved, and in Cambridge, 

 first at Peterhouse and afterwards 

 at Pembroke, he made his home 

 for the rest of his life, save for 

 brief periods, as, for instance, when 

 he visited Scotland in 17G5. In 

 1757 he was offered but declined 

 the poet laureateship, and in 1768 

 became professor of modern his- 

 tory at Cambridge. 



Apart from translations from 

 the classics, Gray's first poem was 

 the Ode to Spring, followed by the 

 Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton 

 College and the Hymn to Adver- 

 sity ; all these appeared in 1742. 



Thomas Gray. The poet's tomb in the beautiful church- 

 yard of Stoke Foges, near Slough 



Homeland Association, ltd. 



In 1747 appeared the Ode on the 

 Death of a Favourite Cat, an 

 earnest of his renewed friendship 

 with Walpole, to whom the cat 

 belonged. Three years later came 

 the Elegy Written in a Country 

 Churchyard. The inspiration came 

 from the churchyard at Stoke 

 Poges (q.-v.), and the poem, made 

 familiar by many quotations, is 

 one of the most beautiful and ex- 

 quisitely finished ever written. 

 Other well-known poems are The 

 Progress of Poesy, 1754, a magnifi- 

 cent piece of work written in the 

 so-called Pindaric metre ; The Bard, 

 1757 ; The Fatal Sisters, 1768 ; 

 The Descent of Odin, 1768. The 

 two last were the fruits of the 

 Norse and Icelandic studies which 

 occupied his later years. 



Very small in bulk, all Gray's 

 work is that of a consummate 

 artist. Though influenced by the 

 prevailing 18th century conven- 

 tionalism, he shows a depth of 

 thought and feeling notably absent 

 from most contemporary poetry. 

 Temperamentally shy and re- 

 served, and of melancholy dispo- 

 sition, he was capable of sincere 

 friendship with the few who could 

 appreciate his real nature. 



Gray died at Cambridge, July 30, 

 1771, and was buried in Stoke Poges 

 churchyard. A monument to him 

 consisting of a large sarcophagus 

 was erected in 1799 by John Penn 

 in a field adjoining the churchyard, 

 and a tablet was unveiled on the 

 walls of 39, Cornhill, London, his 

 birthplace, in 1918. There are 

 busts of the poet at Eton and at 

 Pembroke College, which latter 

 was largely rebuilt 1870-79 out of 

 a building fund started in his 

 honour in 1776. There is also a 

 monument to his memory with a 

 medallion portrait in Westminster 

 Abbey. See English Literature. 



J. McBain 



Bibliography. Lives, J. Mitford 

 (prefixed to 1814 edition of works) ; 

 E.Gosse, 1903; Life and Letters, W. 

 Mason, 1774; Gray and his Friends, 

 D. C. Tovey, 1890. 



Grayling (Thy- 



mallus vulgaris). 

 Fish of the salmon 

 family. It is fairly 

 common in Eng- 

 lish rivers, but has 

 only recently 

 found its way to 

 Scotland and is 

 still absent from 

 Ireland. Easily 

 recognized by its 

 large and many- 

 rayed dorsal fin, 

 it occasionally 

 attains a weight of 

 4 lb., and is a good 

 table fish. 



Grayling Butterfly (Salyrus 

 semele). British butterfly of heathy 

 and uncultivated lands, found also 

 in temperate Europe, N. Africa, 

 and W. Asia. The wings, which 

 have an expanse of about 2 his., are 

 smoky-brown in tint, with a broad 

 zigzag ochreous band near the 

 blackish margin. This band bears 

 two white-centred black spots on 

 the forewing and a smaller one on 

 the hindwing. The male is smaller 

 than the female, and the markings 

 are less bright and distinct. The 

 brown-striped, drab-coloured cater- 

 pillar feeds upon various wild 

 grasses. See colour plate, Butter- 

 fly, No. 34. 



Crrays OK GRAYS THUEEOCK. 

 ^Jrb. dist. and market town of 

 Essex. It stands on the Thames, 

 20 m, from London, and is served 

 by the London, Tilbury & Southend 

 Rly. The chief industries are brick 

 and cement making. Near are 

 some chalk pits, of interest to the 

 scientist. Pop. 16,000. 



Gray's Harbour. Inlet of 

 Washington, U.S.A. It has the 

 three small ports of Hoquiam, 

 Aberdeen, and Cosmopolis, which 

 are served by the N. Pacific and 

 other rlys., and are important for 

 the trade in lumber, canned fish, 

 and furs. The U.S.A. government 

 has built a system of jetties which 

 helps to maintain a minimum 

 depth of 24 ft. to a point 4 m. 

 above Aberdeen on the Hoquiam 

 river. The entrance, which is f m. 

 wide and 100 ft. deep, is ob- 

 structed by a shifting bar 3 m. 

 out ; the area at low water is 30 

 sq. m. There are facilities for ship 

 repairs and tug boats. 



Gray's Inn. One of the four 

 inns of court, London. On the N. 

 side of Holborn, with Gray's Inn 

 Road (formerly Gray's Inn Lane) 

 on the E. and Theobald's Road 

 (formerly King's Road) on the N., 

 near the Chancery Lane station of 

 the C.L.R. (Tube), it covers 30 

 acres, on the site 'of the old pre- 

 bendal manor of Portpbol, town 

 residence of the lords Gray de 

 Wilton, 1315-150o. It passed to 



Grayling, a British fresh-water fish 

 of the salmon family 



the priory of E. Sheen, Surrey, who 

 leased it to law students, and has 

 been a freehold of the Ancient and 

 Honourable Society of Gray's Inn 

 since 1733. Two chancery inns, 

 Staple Inn and Barnard's Inn, 



