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16 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.

inferior condition. A still more tragic colour is
given to this strange story by what seems to have
been a later discovery of Mitford's. "In a note
hitherto unpublished," says Mr Gosse, "Dyce says that
Mitford told him 'that West's death was hastened by
mental anguish, there having been good reason to
suspect that his mother poisoned Ms father." These
suspicions we can scarcely suppose were in West's
mind before Sept. 28, 1739, on which day writing to
Gray he speaks of his mother's health with filial
anxiety, as the reason why they were then together
at Tunbridge; and one cannot help wondering
whether it was ^can honest ghost' that breathed into
the young man's ear this tale of secret murder.
Even in 1737 West describes himself as having been
very ill, and it is probable that his feeble constitution
was a legacy from his father. His own end was
awfully sudden ; both Gray and Ashton wrote to him
when he was no more: Gray's letter is lost, but it
enclosed the Ode on Spring for the eyes which were
never to see it; Ashton's letter is given below; while
it was being written, West was already two days
dead. Always careless about his health, it is pro-
bable that the knowledge of his mother's guilt which
came to him at some time within the last three years

was any sad story connected with the name Williams at
all. He would haye felt that in writing tlms to his friend,
he would be touching a wound.



	16 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. inferior condition. A still more tragic colour is given to this strange story by what seems to have been a later discovery of Mitford's. "In a note hitherto unpublished," says Mr Gosse, "Dyce says that Mitford told him 'that West's death was hastened by mental anguish, there having been good reason to suspect that his mother poisoned Ms father." These suspicions we can scarcely suppose were in West's mind before Sept. 28, 1739, on which day writing to Gray he speaks of his mother's health with filial anxiety, as the reason why they were then together at Tunbridge; and one cannot help wondering whether it was ^can honest ghost' that breathed into the young man's ear this tale of secret murder. Even in 1737 West describes himself as having been very ill, and it is probable that his feeble constitution was a legacy from his father. His own end was awfully sudden ; both Gray and Ashton wrote to him when he was no more: Gray's letter is lost, but it enclosed the Ode on Spring for the eyes which were never to see it; Ashton's letter is given below; while it was being written, West was already two days dead. Always careless about his health, it is pro- bable that the knowledge of his mother's guilt which came to him at some time within the last three years was any sad story connected with the name Williams at all. He would haye felt that in writing tlms to his friend, he would be touching a wound.