Speaking of Nurse Dodsley's "pinches," the following extract from a letter to Walpole, dated March 3, 1751, proves of additional interest: "I do not expect any more editions; as I have appeared in more magazines than one. The chief errata were sacred bower for secret; hidden for kindred (in spite of dukes and classics); and "frowning as in scorn" for smiling. I humbly propose, for the benefit of Mr. Dodsley and his matrons, that take awake for a verb, that they should read asleep, and all will be right."
The two versions of the poem probably appeared on the same day.
The Magazine of Magazines Compiled from Original Pieces, With Extracts from the moſt celebrated Books And Periodical Compoſitions Publiſhed in Europe, was issued by William Owen, maker of mineral water, at Homer's Head, near Temple Bar. Owen's compositor, having had more time, avoided some of the errors of the printers of the book, but he fell into others of his own; and he completely frustrated Gray's desire to be anonymous. The poem is introduced, amidst a running fire of talk, in this way: "Gentlemen, ſaid Hilario, give me leave to ſooth my own melancholy, and amuſe you in a moſt noble manner, with a fine copy of verſes by the very ingenious Mr. Gray, of Peterhouſe, Cambridge.—They are—"Stanza's written in a Country Church-yard.""
The book proved immensely popular. Gray himself received no pecuniary reward from it, having given the copyright to Dodsley in accordance with a notion, very common in the preceding century but seeming quixotic now, that it was beneath a gentleman to receive money from a bookseller, a view in which, we are told, Dodsley warmly concurred. Later, Mason, Gray's friend, attempted to regain possession of the copyright by means of litigation.
We are indebted to our Author for the following bibliographical note: "Publish'd in Febry, 1751, by Dodsley, & went thro' four editions, in two months; and afterwards a fifth, 6th, 7th, & 8th, 9th, & 10th, & 11th; printed also in 1753 with Mr. Bentley's Designs, of wch there is a 2d Edition, & again by Dodsley in his Miscellany, Vol. 7th & in a Scotch Collection call'd the Union; translated into Latin by Chr Anstey, Esq., and the Revd. Mr. Roberts, & published in 1762, & again in the same year by Rob. Lloyd, M.A."
Dodsley figures so prominently in the publication of the Elegy that we are reminded that he was himself a poet and also a dramatist. His epitaph in the churchyard of Durham cathedral lays stress on this point:
"If you have any respect
for uncommon industry and merit,
regard this place,
in which are deposited the remains of