Somerset House.
_Gray's Alcaic Ode._--A question asked in Vol. i., p. 382, whether "Gray's
celebrated Latin Ode is actually to be found entered at the Grande
Chartreuse?" is satisfactorily answered in the negative at p. 416. of the
same volume, and its disappearance traced to the destructive influence of
the first French Revolution.
It may not, however, be without interest to some of your readers to know,
that this elegant "Alcaic" was to be found at the Chartreuse not very long
before the outbreak of that great political tempest, proof of which will be
found in the following extract taken from the 9th volume of Malte-Brun's
_Annales des Voyages_, Paris, 1809. It is found in a paper entitled "Voyage
à la Grande Chartreuse en 1789. Par M. T*******," and is in p. 230:
"L'Album, ou le grand livre dans lequel les étrangers inscrivent leurs
noms, présente quelquefois une lecture intéressante. Nous en copiâmes
quelques pages. Le morceau le plus digne d'être conservé est sans doute
l'Ode latine suivante du célèbre poëte anglais Gray. Je ne crois pas
qu'elle ait été publiée encore."
Then follows the ode, as usually printed, excepting that in the third line,
"Nativa nam certe fluentia,"
the words "nam certe" are transposed.