The  death  of  his  aunt  Mary  at  Stoke  in
November,  1749,  seems  to  have  led  Gray  to
take  up  again  the  unfinished  "  Elegy "  which
he  had  commenced  just  seven  years  previously ;
he  kept  touching  it  up  for  some  months  longer,
and  when  at  last  finished  he  sent  a  copy  of  it  to
Horace  Walpole  on  the  12th  June,  1750.  Wai-
pole  having  handed  the  verses  about,  it  got
into  the  hands  of  the  editors  of  the  "  Magazine
of  Magazines,"  who  wrote  to  Gray  informing
him  of  their  intention  to  print  it.  To  antici-
pate them  Gray  requested  Walpole  to  have  it
published  at  once,  and  thus  this  famous  poem
appeared,  in  a  quarto  pamphlet,  on  the  16th
February,  1751,  entitled  "  An  Elegy  Wrote  in
a  Country  Church- Yard,"  price  sixpence.
