re refreshed by
the sweet thoughts of her; that, in fact, his toil is no toil, and that
when he is "most busy" he "least does it," and suffers least under it.
The delight he takes in his "mean task" renders it none.

Such I take to be the clear meaning of the poet, though somewhat
obscurely and paradoxically expressed--

"Most busy, least when I do it;"

and when Theobald proposed to substitute

"Most busy-less when I do it,"

he saw, though perhaps not quite distinctly, that such was the poet's
intention, only, as I have said above, he arrived at it by altering, and
I by adhering to, the poet's language. I may be allowed to add that I
came to my conclusion many years before I was asked to put my name to an
edition of Shakspeare, which interrupted one of the most valuable
friendships I ever formed.

MR. SINGER will see at once that my interpretation (which I consider
quite consistent with the character of Shakspeare's mind, as well as
quite consistent with the expressions he has used throughout the speech
of the hero), steers clear of his proposal to alter "busie lest," or
"busie least," of the folios of 1623 and 1632, to _busyest_ or
_busiest_; although everybody at all acquainted with our old language
will agree with him in thinking, that if Shakspeare had used "busiest"
at all, which he does not in any of his productions, he might have said
_most busiest_ without a violation of the constant practice of his day.

J. PAYNE COLLIER.

September 24. 1850.

* * * * *

GRAY'S ELEGY.

Perhaps the HERMIT of HOLYPORT will be satisfied with proofs from GRAY
himself as to the time and manner of the first appearance of the
_Elegy_.

GRAY thus writes to Dr. Wharton, under the date of "Dec. 17, 1750." [I
quote Mason's "Life" of its Author, p. 216.]

"The stanzas" [which he afterwards called _Elegy_ at the
suggestion of Mason] "which I now enclose to you have had the
misfortune, by _Mr._ [Horace] _Walpole's fault_, to be made
still more public," &c.

The next letter in Mason's publication is a letter from "Mr. Gray to Mr.
Walpole" (p. 217.), and is dated "_Cambridge, Feb._ 11, 1751," which
runs thus:--

"As you have brought me into a little sort of distress, you must
assist me, I believe, to get out of it as well as I can.
Yesterday I had the misfortune of receiving a letter from
certain gentlemen (as their bookseller expresses it) who have