THE POET GRAY.
(To rna Einem or rim "Sreerseoa."3
gm—With reference to the correspondence in your columns, will you kindly permit me to point out that there is no monument dedicated to the poet Gray in the churchyard of Stoke Poges? He was buried, by his ow-n desire, by the side of his mother in a tomb which stands about a foot from the church-tower. The inscription, written by himself, is unrivalled in its pathos, in which he speaks of her as "the careful, tender mother of many children, one of whom alone has the misfortune to survive her." The poet's name Is not on the tombstone, but a tablet beside the church window records his burial there. Many, like myself, would be very sorry to see any modern monument, or, as one of your correspondents suggests, "a suitable statue," placed in this quiet country church- yard, immortalized by his genius, and we venture to think that Gray himself would have deprecated any such memorial. It is evident that his own wish was to rest in peace among "the un- honoured dead" whom he has so touchingly commemorated. Moreover, there is a monument, very near the church, in the grounds of Stoke Park, long the home of the Penn family. It was erected by Mr. John Penn, grandson of the great William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, and bears on one side the following Inscription :—
"This Monument in honour of Thomas Gray was erected ‘n. 1799, among the scenes celebrated by that great Lyric and Elegiac Poet. He died July 30th, 1771, and lies unnoticed in the adjoining Churchyard."
On the sides are appropriate verses from the Elegy, and facing Eton College may be seen the pathetic lines from the famous Ode :— " Ah happy hills! ah pleasing shade!
Ah fields beloved in vain!
Where once my careless childhood stray'd, A stranger yet to pain! "
—I am, Sir, &c., I. A. LEEPER. 12 Belmont Avenue, Donnybrook.
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