When Gray's _Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard_ appeared in 1751, the _Monthly Rev._, IV, p. 309, gave it the following curious notice:--"The excellence of this little piece amply compensates for its want of quantity." The immediate success and popularity of the _Elegy_ established Gray's poetical reputation; hence his _Odes_ (1757) were received and criticized as the work of a poet of whom something entirely different was expected. The thin quarto volume containing _The Progress of Poesy_ and _The Bard_ (entitled merely Ode I and Ode II in that edition) was printed for Dodsley by Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill, and was published on August 8, 1757. Within a fortnight Gray wrote to Thomas Warton that the poems were not at all popular, the great objection being their obscurity; a week later he wrote to Hurd:--"Even my friends tell me they [the Odes] do not succeed ... in short, I have heard nobody but a player [Garrick] and a doctor of divinity [Warburton] that profess their esteem for them." For further comment, see Gray's _Works_, ed. Gosse, II, pp. 321-328. Our review, which is reprinted from _Monthly Rev._, XVII (239-243) (September, 1757), was written by Oliver Goldsmith, and is included in most of the collected editions of his works. Although it was practically wrung from Goldsmith while he was the unwilling thrall of Griffiths, it is a noteworthy piece of criticism for its time--certainly far superior to the general standard of the _Monthly Review_. While recognizing the scholarly merit of the poet's work, Goldsmith showed clearly why the Odes could not become popular. A more favorable notice of the volume appeared in the _Critical Rev._, IV, p. 167. In reprinting this review, the long quotations from both odes have been omitted. This precedent is followed in all cases where the quotations are of inordinate length, or are offered merely as "specimens" without specific criticism. No useful end would be served in reprinting numerous pages of classic extracts that are readily accessible to every student. All omissions are, of course, properly indicated. 1. _Quinault_. Philippe Quinault (1635-1688), a popular French dramatist and librettist. 2. _Mark'd for her own_. An allusion to the line in the Epitaph appended to the _Elegy_: "And Melancholy marked him for her own." OLIVER GOLDSMITH Goldsmith's _Traveller_ (1764) was begun as early as 1755--before he had expressed what Professor Dowden calls his "qualified enthusiasm" and "official admiration" for Gray's _Odes_. In criticizing Gray, he quoted Isocrates' advice--_Study the people_--and properly bore that precept in mind while he was shaping his own verses. The _Odes_ and the _Traveller_ are respectively characteristic utterances of their authors--of the academic recluse, and of the warm-hearted lover of humanity.