the first line--

"The curfew tolls the knell of parting day."

Lord Byron, in his notes to the third canto of _Don Juan_, says that this
was adopted from the following passage in Dante's _Purgatory_, canto viii.:

---- "si ode squilla di lontano
Che paja 'l giorno pianger che si muore."

And it is worthy of notice that this passage corresponds with the first
line of Giannini's translation of the Elegy, as quoted by J.F.M.:--

"Piange la squilla 'l giorno, che si muore."

I must add, however, that long before Lord Byron thought of writing _Don
Juan_, Mr. Cary, in his excellent translation of the Italian poet, had
noticed this plagiarism in Gray; and what is more, had shown that the
principal thought, the "giorno che si muore," was borrowed by Dante from
Statius's

"Jam moriente die."

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, West Indies, Nov. 1850.

[The preceding communication was accompanied by several others, and by
the following gratifying letter, which we print as a fresh proof that
our paper is fulfilling the object for which it was instituted, namely,