reland and
Cumberland. He that reads his epistolary narration wishes that, to
travel, and to tell his travels, had been more of his employment; but
it is by studying at home that we must obtain the ability of travelling
with intelligence and improvement. His travels and his studies were now
near their end. The gout, of which he had sustained many weak attacks,
fell upon his stomach, and, yielding to no medicines, produced strong
convulsions, which (July 30, 1771) terminated in death. His character I
am willing to adopt, as Mr. Mason has done, from a letter written to
my friend Mr. Boswell by the Rev. Mr. Temple, rector of St. Gluvias in
Cornwall; and am as willing as his warmest well-wisher to believe it
true:--

"Perhaps he was the most learned man in Europe. He was equally
acquainted with the elegant and profound parts of science, and that not
superficially, but thoroughly. He knew every branch of history, both
natural and civil; had read all the original historians of England,
France, and Italy; and was a great antiquarian. Criticism, metaphysics,
morals, politics, made a principal part of his study; voyages and
travels of all sorts were his favourite amusements; and he had a fine
taste in painting, prints, architecture, and gardening. With such a fund
of knowledge, his conversation must have been equally instructing and
entertaining; but he was also a good man, a man of virtue and humanity.
There is no character without some speck, some imperfection; and I think
the greatest defect in his was an affectation in delicacy, or rather
effeminacy, and a visible fastidiousness, or contempt and disdain of his
inferiors in science. He also had, in some degree, that weakness which
disgusted Voltaire so much in Mr. Congreve: though he seemed to value
others chiefly according to the progress they had made in knowledge,
yet he could not bear to be considered merely as a man of letters; and,
though without birth or fortune or station, his desire was to be looked
upon as a private independent gentleman, who read for his amusement.
Perhaps it may be said, What signifies so much knowledge, when it
produced so little? Is it worth taking so much pains to leave no
memorial but a few poems? But let it be considered that Mr. Gray was to
others at least innocently employed; to himself certainly beneficially.
His time passed agreeably; he was every day making some new acquisition
in science; his mind was enlarged, his heart softened, his v