"About Two Days Ago, About Four O'clock In The Afternoon ...
As we were
picking our teeth round a littered table and in a crumby room, Gray[395]
in an undress,
Mr Conway in a morning-grey coat and I in a trim white
night-gown and slippers, very much out of order, with a very little
cold, a message discomposed us all of a sudden, with a service to Mr
Walpole from Mr More, and that, if he pleased, he would wait on Mr
Walpole. We scuttle upstairs in great confusion, but with no other
damage than the flinging down two or three glasses and the dropping a
slipper by the way. Having ordered the room to be cleaned out, and sent
a very civil response to Mr More, we began to consider who Mr More might
be."[396]
In the tour of Walpole and Gray one may see a change in the interest of
travel; how the romantic spirit had already ousted the humanistic love
of men and cities. As he drifted through Europe Gray took little
interest in history or in the intricacies of human character. He would
not be bothered by going to Courts with Walpole, or if he did he stood
in the corner of the ballroom and looked on while Walpole danced. What
he cared for was La Grande Chartreuse, with its cliffs and pines and
torrents and hanging woods.[397] He is the forerunner of the Byronic
traveller who delighted in the terrific aspects of nature and disdained
mankind.
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