Macaulay on Walpole.--Effect of the _Edinburgh_ Essay.--Macaulay
and Mary Berry.--Portraits of Walpole.--Miss Hawkins's
Description.--Pinkerton's Rainy Day at Strawberry.--Walpole's
Character as a Man; as a Virtuoso; as a Politician; as an Author and
Letter-writer.
When, in October, 1833, Lord (then Mr.) Macaulay completed for the
_Edinburgh_ his review of Lord Dover's edition of Walpole's letters to
Sir Horace Mann, he had apparently performed to his entire satisfaction
the operation known, in the workmanlike vocabulary of the time, as
'dusting the jacket' of his unfortunate reviewee. 'I was up at four
this morning to put the last touch to it,' he tells his sister Hannah.
'I often differ with the majority about other people's writings,
and still oftener about my own; and therefore I may very likely be
mistaken; but I think that this article will be a hit.... Nothing
ever cost me more pains than the first half; I never wrote anything
so flowingly as the latter half; and I like the latter half the best.
[The latter half, it should be stated, was a rapid and very brilliant
sketch of Sir Robert Walpole; the earlier, which involved so much
labour, was the portrait of Sir Robert's youngest son.] I have laid it
on Walpole [_i. e._, Horace Walpole] so unsparingly,' he goes on to
say, 'that I shall not be surprised if Miss Berry should cut me....
Neither am I sure that Lord and Lady Holland will be well pleased.'[193]
[193] Trevelyan's _Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay_, ch. v.
His later letters show him to have been a true prophet. Macvey
Napier, then the editor of the 'Blue and Yellow,' was enthusiastic,
praising the article 'in terms absolutely extravagant.' 'He says that
it is the best that I ever wrote,' the critic tells his favourite
correspondent,--a statement which at this date must be qualified by
the fact that he penned some of his most famous essays subsequent to
its appearance. On the other hand, Miss Berry resented the review so
much that Sir Stratford Canning advised its author not to go near her.
But apparently her anger was soon dispelled, for the same letter which
makes this announcement relates that she was already appeased. Lady
Holland, too, was 'in a rage,' though with what part of the article
does not transpire, while her good-natured husband told Macaulay
privately that he quite agreed with him, but that they had better not
discuss the subject. Lady Holland's irritation was probably prompted
by her intimacy with the Waldegrave family, to whom the letters edited
by Lord Dover belonged, and for whose benefit they were published.
But, as Macaulay said justly, his article was surely not calculated
to injure the sale of the book. Her imperious ladyship's displeasure,
however, like that of Miss Berry, was of brief duration. Macaulay was
too necessary to her _réunions_ to be long exiled from her little court.
Among those who occupy themselves in such enquiries, it has been matter
for speculation what particular grudge Macaulay could have cherished
against Horace Walpole when, to use his own expression, he laid it on
him 'so unsparingly.' To this his correspondence affords no clue. Mr.
Cunningham holds that he did it 'to revenge the dislike which Walpole
bore to the Bedford faction, the followers of Fox and the Shelburne
school.' It is possible, as another authority has suggested, that 'in
the Whig circles of Macaulay's time, there existed a traditional grudge
against Horace Walpole,' owing to obscure political causes connected
with his influence over his friend Conway. But these reasons do
not seem relevant enough to make Macaulay's famous onslaught a mere
_vendetta_. It is more reasonable to suppose that between his avowed
delight in Walpole as a letter-writer, and his robust contempt for him
as an individual, he found a subject to his hand, which admitted of
all the brilliant antithesis and sparkle of epigram which he lavished
upon it. Walpole's trivialities and eccentricities, his whims and
affectations, are seized with remorseless skill, and presented with
all the rhetorical advantages with which the writer so well knew how
to invest them. As regards his literary estimate, the truth of the
picture can scarcely be gainsaid; but the personal character, as
Walpole's surviving friends felt, is certainly too much _en noir_. Miss
Berry, indeed, in her 'Advertisement' to vol. vi. of Wright's edition
of the _Letters_, raised a gentle cry of expostulation against the
entire representation. She laid stress upon the fact that Macaulay had
not known Walpole in the flesh (a disqualification to which too much
weight may easily be assigned); she dwelt upon the warmth of Walpole's
attachments; she contested the charge of affectation; and, in short,
made such a gallant attempt at a defence as her loyalty to her old
friend enabled her to offer. Yet, if Macaulay had never known Walpole
at all, she herself, it might be urged, had only known him in his old
age. Upon the whole, 'with due allowance for a spice of critical pepper
on one hand, and a handful of friendly rosemary on the other,' as
Croker says, both characters are 'substantially true.' Under Macaulay's
brush Walpole is depicted as he appeared to that critic's masculine
and (for the nonce) unsympathetic spirit; in Miss Berry's picture,
the likeness is touched with a pencil at once grateful, affectionate,
and indulgent. The biographer of to-day, who is neither endeavouring
to portray Walpole in his most favourable aspect, nor preoccupied (as
Cunningham supposed the great Whig essayist to have been) with what
would be thought of his work 'at Woburn, at Kensington, and in Berkeley
Square,' may safely borrow details from the delineation of either
artist.
Of portraits of Walpole (not in words) there is no lack. Besides that
belonging to Mrs. Bedford, described at p. 11, there is the enamel by
Zincke painted in 1745, which is reproduced at p. 71 of vol. i. of
Cunningham's edition of the letters. There is another portrait of him
by Nathaniel Hone, R.A., in the National Portrait Gallery. A more
characteristic presentment than any of these is the little drawing by
Müntz which shows his patron sitting in the Library at Strawberry,
with the Thames and a passing barge seen through the open window. But
his most interesting portraits are two which exhibit him in manhood
and old age. One is the half-length by J. G. Eckardt which once hung
in its black-and-gold frame in the Blue Bedchamber, near the companion
pictures of Gray and Bentley.[194] Like these, it was 'from Vandyck,'
that is to say, it was in a costume copied from that painter, and
depicts the sitter in a laced collar and ruffles, leaning upon a copy
of the _Ædes Walpolianæ_, with a view of part of the Gothic castle in
the distance. The canvas bears at the back the date of 1754, so that
it represents him at the age of seven-and-thirty. The shaven face is
rather lean than thin, the forehead high, the brown hair brushed back
and slightly curled. The eyes are dark, bright, and intelligent, and
the small mouth wears a slight smile. The other, a drawing made for
Samuel Lysons by Sir Thomas Lawrence, is that of a much older man,
having been executed in 1796. The eyelids droop wearily, the thin
lips have a pinched, mechanical urbanity, and the features are worn by
years and ill-health. It was reproduced by T. Evans as a frontispiece
for vol. i. of his works. There are other portraits by Reynolds, 1757
(which McArdell and Reading engraved), by Rosalba, Falconet, and
Dance;[195] but it is sufficient to have indicated those mentioned
above.
[194] This is engraved in vol. ix. of Cunningham, facing the Index;
while the Müntz, above referred to, forms the frontispiece to vol. viii.
[195] The writer of the obituary notice in the _Gentleman's Magazine_
for March, 1797, says that Dance's portrait is 'the only faithful
representation of him [Walpole].' Against this must be set the fact
that it was not selected by the editor of his works; and, besides being
in profile, it is certainly far less pleasing than the Lawrence.
Of the Walpole of later years there are more descriptions than one, and
among these, that given by Miss Hawkins, the daughter of the pompous
author of the _History of Music_, is, if the most familiar, also the
most graphic. Sir John Hawkins was Walpole's neighbour at Twickenham
House, and the _History_ is said to have been undertaken at Walpole's
instance. Miss Hawkins's description is of Walpole as she recalled
him before 1772. 'His figure,' she says, '... was not merely tall,
but more properly _long_ and slender to excess; his complexion, and
particularly his hands, of a most unhealthy paleness.... His eyes were
remarkably bright and penetrating, very dark and lively; his voice
was not strong, but his tones were extremely pleasant, and, if I may
so say, highly gentlemanly. I do not remember his common gait;[196]
he always entered a room in that style of affected delicacy, which
fashion had then made almost natural,--_chapeau bras_ between his hands
as if he wished to compress it, or under his arm, knees bent, and
feet on tip-toe, as if afraid of a wet floor. His dress in visiting
was most usually, in summer when I most saw him, a lavender suit, the
waistcoat embroidered with a little silver, or of white silk worked
in the tambour, partridge silk stockings, and gold buckles, ruffles
and frill generally lace. I remember when a child, thinking him
very much under-dressed if at any time, except in mourning, he wore
hemmed cambric. In summer no powder, but his wig combed straight, and
showing his very smooth pale forehead, and queued behind; in winter
powder.'[197]
[196] It must, by his own account, have been peculiar. 'Walking is not
one of my excellences,' he writes. 'In my best days Mr. Winnington
said I tripped like a peewit; and if I do not flatter myself, my march
at present is more like a dabchick's' (_Walpole to Lady Ossory_, 18
August, 1775).
[197] _Anecdotes, etc._, by L. M. Hawkins, 1822, pp. 105-6.
Pinkerton, who knew Walpole from 1784 until his death, and whose
disappointment of a legacy is supposed, in places, to have mingled a
more than justifiable amount of gall with his ink, has nevertheless
left a number of interesting particulars respecting his habits and
personal characteristics. They are too long to quote entire, but
are, at the same time, too picturesque to be greatly compressed. He
contradicts Miss Hawkins in one respect, for he says Walpole was 'short
and slender,' but 'compact and neatly formed,'--an account which is
confirmed by Müntz's full-length. 'When viewed from behind, he had
somewhat of a boyish appearance, owing to the form of his person, and
the simplicity of his dress.' None of his pictures, says Pinkerton,
'express the placid goodness of his eyes,[198] which would often
sparkle with sudden rays of wit, or dart forth flashes of the most keen
and intuitive intelligence. His laugh was forced and uncouth, and even
his smile not the most pleasing.'
[198] 'I have lately become acquainted with your friend Mr. Walpole,
and am quite charmed with him.'--writes Malone to Lord Charlemont in
1782. 'There is an unaffected benignity and good nature in his manner
that is, I think, irresistibly engaging' (_Hist. MSS. Commission, 12th
Rept., App._, Pt. x., 1891, p. 395).
'His walk was enfeebled by the gout; which, if the editor's memory do
not deceive, he mentioned that he had been tormented with since the age
of twenty-five; adding, at the same time, that it was no hereditary
complaint, his father, Sir Robert Walpole, who always drank ale,
never having known that disorder, and far less his other parent. This
painful complaint not only affected his feet, but attacked his hands
to such a degree that his fingers were always swelled and deformed,
and discharged large chalk-stones once or twice a year; upon which
occasions he would observe, with a smile, that he must set up an inn,
for he could chalk up a score with more ease and rapidity than any man
in England.'
After referring to the strict temperance of his life, Pinkerton goes
on:--
'Though he sat up very late, either writing or conversing, he generally
rose about nine o'clock, and appeared in the breakfast room, his
constant and chosen apartment, with fine vistos towards the Thames. His
approach was proclaimed, and attended, by a favourite little dog, the
legacy of the Marquise du Deffand,[199] and which ease and attention
had rendered so fat that it could hardly move. This was placed beside
him on a small sofa; the tea-kettle, stand, and heater were brought
in, and he drank two or three cups of that liquor out of most rare and
precious ancient porcelain of Japan, of a fine white, embossed with
large leaves. The account of his china cabinet, in his description of
his villa, will show how rich he was in that elegant luxury.... The
loaf and butter were not spared, ... and the dog and the squirrels had
a liberal share of his repast.[200]
[199] Tonton. See note to p. 250.
[200] Another passage in the _Walpoliana_ (i. 71-2) explains this:
'Regularly after breakfast, in the summer season, at least, Mr. Walpole
used to mix bread and milk in a large bason, and throw it out at the
window of the sitting-room, for the squirrels; who, soon after, came
down from the high trees, to enjoy their allowance.'
'Dinner [his hour for which was four] was served up in the small
parlour, or large dining room, as it happened: in winter generally
the former. His valet supported him downstairs;[201] and he ate most
moderately of chicken, pheasant, or any light food. Pastry he disliked,
as difficult of digestion, though he would taste a morsel of venison
pye. Never, but once that [201] 'I cannot go up or down stairs without
being led by a servant. It is _tempus abire_ for me: _lusi satis_'
(_Walpole to Pinkerton_, 15 May, 1794).
he drank two glasses of white-wine, did the editor see him taste any
liquor, except ice-water. A pail of ice was placed under the table, in
which stood a decanter of water, from which he supplied himself with
his favourite beverage....
'If his guest liked even a moderate quantity of wine, he must have
called for it during dinner, for almost instantly after he rang the
bell to order coffee upstairs. Thither he would pass about five
o'clock; and generally resuming his place on the sofa, would sit
till two o'clock in the morning, in miscellaneous chit-chat, full
of singular anecdotes, strokes of wit, and acute observations,
occasionally sending for books or curiosities, or passing to the
library, as any reference happened to arise in conversation. After
his coffee he tasted nothing; but the snuff box of _tabac d'étrennes_
from Fribourg's was not forgotten, and was replenished from a canister
lodged in an ancient marble urn of great thickness, which stood in the
window seat, and served to secure its moisture and rich flavour.
'Such was a private rainy day of Horace Walpole. The forenoon quickly
passed in roaming through the numerous apartments of the house, in
which, after twenty visits, still something new would occur; and he
was indeed constantly adding fresh acquisitions. Sometimes a walk in
the grounds would intervene, on which occasions he would go out in his
slippers through a thick dew; and he never wore a hat. He said that,
on his first visit to Paris, he was ashamed of his effeminacy, when he
saw every little meagre Frenchman, whom even he could have thrown down
with a breath, walking without a hat, which he could not do, without
a certainty of that disease, which the Germans say is endemial in
England, and is termed by the natives _le-catch-cold_.[202] The first
trial cost him a slight fever, but he got over it, and never caught
cold afterwards: draughts of air, damp rooms, windows open at his back,
all situations were alike to him in this respect. He would even show
some little offence at any solicitude, expressed by his guests on such
an occasion, as an idea arising from the seeming tenderness of his
frame; and would say, with a half smile of good-humoured crossness,
"My back is the same with my face, and my neck is like my nose."[203]
His iced water he not only regarded as a preservative from such an
accident, but he would sometimes observe that he thought his stomach
and bowels would last longer than his bones; such conscious vigour and
strength in those parts did he feel from the use of that beverage.'[204]
[202] 'I have persisted'--he tells Gray from Paris in January,
1766--'through this Siberian winter in not adding a grain to my clothes
and in going open-breasted without an under waistcoat.'
[203] He was probably thinking of _Spectator_, No. 228: 'The _Indian_
answered very well to an _European_, who asked him how he could go
naked: I am all Face.' Lord Chesterfield wished his little godson to
have the same advantage. 'I am very willing that he should be _all
face_,' he says in a letter to Arthur Stanhope of 19th October, 1762.
[204] _Walpoliana_, i. xi-xiv.
The only particular that Cunningham adds to this chronicle of his
habits is one too characteristic of the man to be omitted. After dinner
at Strawberry, he says, the smell was removed by 'a censer or pot of
frankincense.' According to the _Description_, etc., there was a tripod
of ormolu kept in the Breakfast Room for this purpose. It is difficult
to identify the 'ancient marble urn of great thickness' in which the
snuff was stored; but it may have been that 'of granite, brought from
one of the Greek Islands, and given to Sir Robert Walpole by Sir
Charles Wager,' which also figures in the Catalogue.
Walpole's character may be considered in a fourfold aspect, as a man,
a virtuoso, a politician, and an author. The first is the least easy
to describe. What strikes one most forcibly is, that he was primarily
and before all an aristocrat, or, as in his own day he would have
been called, a 'person of quality,' whose warmest sympathies were
reserved for those of his own rank. Out of the charmed circle of the
peerage and baronetage, he had few strong connections; and although
in middle life he corresponded voluminously with antiquaries such as
Cole and Zouch, and in the languor of his old age turned eagerly to
the renovating society of young women such as Hannah More and the Miss
Berrys, however high his heart may have placed them, it may be doubted
whether his head ever quite exalted them to the level of Lady Caroline
Petersham, or Lady Ossory, or Her Grace of Gloucester. In a measure,
this would also account for his unsympathetic attitude to some of
the great _literati_ of his day. With Gray he had been at school and
college, which made a difference; but he no doubt regarded Fielding
and Hogarth and Goldsmith and Johnson, apart from their confessed
hostility to 'high life' and his beloved 'genteel comedy,' as gifted
but undesirable outsiders,--'horn-handed breakers of the glebe' in Art
and Letters,--with whom it would be impossible to be as intimately
familiar as one could be with such glorified amateurs as Bunbury and
Lady Lucan and Lady Di. Beauclerk, who were all more or less born
in the purple. To the friends of his own class he was constant and
considerate, and he seems to have cherished a genuine affection for
Conway, George Montagu, and Sir Horace Mann. With regard to Gray, his
relations, it would seem, were rather those of intellectual affinity
and esteem than downright affection. But his closest friends were
women. In them, that is, in the women of his time, he found just that
atmosphere of sunshine and _insouciance_,--those conversational 'lilacs
and nightingales,'--in which his soul delighted, and which were most
congenial to his restless intelligence and easily fatigued temperament.
To have seen him at his best, one should have listened to him, not when
he was playing the antiquary with Ducarel or Conyers Middleton, but
gossipping of ancient green-room scandals at Cliveden, or explaining
the mysteries of the 'Officina Arbuteana' to Madame de Boufflers or
Lady Townshend, or delighting Mary and Agnes Berry, in the half-light
of the Round Drawing Room at Strawberry, with his old stories of Lady
Suffolk and Lady Hervey, and of the monstrous raven, under guise of
which the disembodied spirit of His Majesty King George the First
was supposed to have revisited the disconsolate Duchess of Kendal.
Comprehending thoroughly that cardinal precept of conversation,--'never
to weary your hearer,'--he was an admirable _raconteur_; and his
excellent memory, shrewd perceptions, and volatile wit--all the more
piquant for its never-failing mixture of well-bred malice--must have
made him a most captivating companion. If, as Scott says, his temper
was 'precarious,' it is more charitable to remember that in middle
and later life he was nearly always tormented with a malady seldom
favourable to good humour, than to explain the less amiable details of
his conduct (as does Mr. Croker) by the hereditary taint of insanity.
In a life of eighty years many hot friendships cool, even with tempers
not 'precarious.' As regards the charges sometimes made against him
of coldness and want of generosity, very good evidence would be
required before they could be held to be established; and a man is not
necessarily niggardly because his benefactions do not come up to the
standard of all the predatory members of the community. It is besides
clear, as Conway and Madame du Deffand would have testified, that he
could be royally generous when necessity required. That he was careful
rather than lavish in his expenditure must be admitted. It may be
added that he was very much in bondage to public opinion, and morbidly
sensitive to ridicule.
As a virtuoso and amateur, his position is a mixed one. He was
certainly widely different from that typical art connoisseur of his
day,--the butt of Goldsmith and of Reynolds,--who travelled the
Grand Tour to litter a gallery at home with broken-nosed busts and
the rubbish of the Roman picture-factories. As the preface to the
_Ædes Walpolianæ_ showed, he really knew something about painting,
in fact was a capable draughtsman himself; and besides, through Mann
and others, had enjoyed exceptional opportunities for procuring
genuine antiques. But his collection was not so rich in this way as
might have been anticipated; and his portraits, his china, and his
miniatures were probably his best possessions. For the rest, he was
an indiscriminate rather than an eclectic collector; and there was
also considerable truth in that strange 'attraction from the great
to the little, and from the useful to the odd,' which Macaulay has
noted. Many of the marvels at Strawberry would never have found a
place in the treasure-houses--say of Beckford or Samuel Rogers. It
is difficult to fancy Bermingham's fables in paper on looking-glass,
or Hubert's cardcuttings, or the fragile mosaics of Mrs. Delany
either at Fonthill or St. James's Place. At the same time, it should
be remembered that several of the most trivial or least defensible
objects were presents which possibly reflected rather the charity of
the recipient than the good taste of the giver. All the articles over
which Macaulay lingers--Wolsey's hat, Van Tromp's pipe-case, and King
William's spurs--were obtained in this way; and (with a laugher) Horace
Walpole, who laughed a good deal himself, would probably have made as
merry as the most mirth-loving spectator could have desired. But such
items gave a heterogeneous character to the gathering, and turned what
might have been a model museum into an old curiosity-shop. In any case,
however, it was a memorable curiosity-shop, and in this modern era of
_bric-à-brac_ would probably attract far more serious attention than
it did in those practical and pre-æsthetic days of 1842, when it fell
under the hammer of George Robins.[205]
[205] See Mr. Robins's _Catalogue of the Classic Contents of Strawberry
Hill_, etc. (1842), 4to. It is compiled in his well-known grandiloquent
manner; but includes an account of the Castle by Harrison Ainsworth,
together with many interesting details. It gave rise to a humorous
squib by Crofton Croker, entitled _Gooseberry Hall_, with 'Puffatory
Remarks,' and cuts.
Walpole's record as a politician is a brief one, and if his influence
upon the questions of his time was of any importance, it must have been
exercised unobtrusively. During the period of the 'great Walpolean
battle,' as Junius styled the struggle that culminated in the downfall
of Lord Orford, he was a fairly regular attendant in the House of
Commons; and, as we have seen, spoke in his father's behalf when the
motion was made for an enquiry into his conduct. Nine years later, he
moved the address, and a few years later still, delivered a speech upon
the employment of Swiss Regiments in the Colonies. Finally he resigned
his 'senatorial dignity,' quitting the scene with the valediction of
those who depreciate what they no longer desire to retain. 'What could
I see but sons and grandsons playing over the same knaveries, that I
have seen their fathers and grandfathers act? Could I hear oratory
beyond my Lord Chatham's? Will there ever be parts equal to Charles
Townshend's? Will George Grenville cease to be the most tiresome of
beings?'[206] In his earlier days he was a violent Whig,--at times
almost a Republican' (to which latter phase of his opinions must be
attributed the transformation of King Charles's death-warrant into
'Major Charta'); 'in his old and enfeebled age,' says Miss Berry,
'the horrors of the first French Revolution made him a Tory; while he
always lamented, as one of the worst effects of its excesses, that
they must necessarily retard to a distant period the progress and
establishment of religious liberty.' He deplored the American War, and
disapproved the Slave Trade; but, in sum, it is to be suspected that
his main interest in politics, after his father's death, and apart
from the preservation throughout an 'age of small factions' of his own
uncertain sinecures, was the good and ill fortune of the handsome and
amiable, but moderately eminent statesman, General Conway. It was for
Conway that he took his most active steps in the direction of political
intrigue; and perhaps his most important political utterance is the
_Counter Address to the Public on the late Dismission of a General
Officer_, which was prompted by Conway's deprivation of his command for
voting in the opposition with himself in the debate upon the illegality
of general warrants. Whether he would have taken office if it had been
offered to him, may be a question; but his attitude, as disclosed
by his letters, is a rather hesitating _nolo episcopari_. The most
interesting result of his connection with public affairs is the series
of sketches of political men dispersed through his correspondence,
and through the posthumous _Memoirs_ published by Lord Holland and
Sir Denis Le Marchant. Making every allowance for his prejudices
and partisanship (and of neither can Walpole be acquitted), it is
impossible not to regard these latter as highly important contributions
to historical literature. Even Mr. Croker admits that they contain 'a
considerable portion of voluntary or involuntary truth;' and such an
admission, when extorted from Lord Beaconsfield's 'Rigby,' of whom no
one can justly say that he was ignorant of the politics of Walpole's
day, has all the weight which attaches to a testimonial from the
enemy.[207]
[206] _Walpole to Montagu_, 12 March, 1768.
[207] The full titles of these memoirs are _Memoires of the last Ten
Years of the Reign of King George II._ Edited by Lord Holland. 2 vols.
4to., 1822; and _Memoirs of the Reign of King George III._ Edited, with
Notes, by Sir Denis Le Marchant, Bart. 4 vols. 8vo., 1845. Both were
reviewed, _more suo_, by Mr. Croker in the _Quarterly_, with the main
intention of proving that all Walpole's pictures of his contemporaries
were coloured and distorted by successive disappointments arising
out of his solicitude concerning the patent places from which he
derived his income,--in other words (Mr. Croker's words!), that
'the whole is "a copious polyglot of spleen."' Such an investigation
was in the favourite line of the critic, and might be expected to
result in a formidable indictment. But the best judges hold it to
have been exaggerated, and to-day the method of Mr Croker is more or
less discredited. Indeed, it is an instance of those quaint revenges
of the whirligig of Time, that some of his utterances are really
more applicable to himself than to Walpole. 'His [Walpole's] natural
inclination [says Croker] was to grope an obscure way through mazes and
_souterrains_ rather than walk the high road by daylight. He is never
satisfied with the plain and obvious cause of any effect, and is for
ever striving after some tortuous solution.' This is precisely what
unkind modern critics affirm of the Rt. Honourable John Wilson Croker.
This mention of the _Memoirs_ naturally leads us to that final
consideration, the position of Walpole as an author. Most of the
productions which fill the five bulky volumes given to the world in
1798 by Miss Berry's pious care have been referred to in the course
of the foregoing pages, and it is not necessary to recapitulate them
here. The place which they occupy in English literature was never a
large one, and it has grown smaller with lapse of time. Walpole, in
truth, never took letters with sufficient seriousness. He was willing
enough to obtain repute, but upon condition that he should be allowed
to despise his calling and laugh at 'thoroughness.' If masterpieces
could have been dashed off at a hand-gallop; if antiquarian studies
could have been made of permanent value by the exercise of mere elegant
facility; if a dramatic reputation could have been secured by the
simple accumulation of horrors upon Horror's head,--his might have
been a great literary name. But it is not thus the severer Muses are
cultivated; and Walpole's mood was too variable, his industry too
intermittent, his fine-gentleman self-consciousness too inveterate, to
admit of his producing anything that (as one of his critics has said)
deserves a higher title than '_opuscula_.' His essays in the _World_
lead one to think that he might have made a more than respectable
essayist, if he had not fallen upon days in which that form of writing
was practically outworn; and it is manifest that he would have been
an admirable writer of familiar poetry if he could have forgotten the
fallacy (exposed by Johnson)[208] that easy verse is easy to write.
Nevertheless, in the Gothic romance which was suggested by his Gothic
castle--for, to speak paradoxically, Strawberry Hill is almost as
much as Walpole the author of the _Castle of Otranto_--he managed to
initiate a new form of fiction; and by decorating 'with gay strings
the gatherings of Vertue' he preserved serviceably, in the _Anecdotes
of Painting_, a mass of curious, if sometimes uncritical, information
which, in other circumstances, must have been hopelessly lost. If
anything else of his professed literary work is worthy of recollection,
it must be a happy squib such as the _Letter of Xo Ho_, a fable such as
_The Entail_, or an essay such as the pamphlet on Landscape Gardening,
which even Croker allows to be 'a very elegant history and happy
elucidation of that charming art.'[209]
[208] _Idler_, No. lxxvii. (6 Oct., 1759).
[209] See Appendix, p. 320. To the advocates of the rival school
Walpole's utterance, perhaps inevitably, appears in a less favourable
light. 'Horace Walpole published an _Essay on Modern Gardening_ in
1785, in which he repeated what other writers had said on the subject.
This was at once translated, and had a great circulation on the
Continent. The _jardin à l'Anglaise_ became the rage; many beautiful
old gardens were destroyed in France and elsewhere; and Scotch and
English gardeners were in demand all over Europe to renovate gardens in
the English manner. It is not an exhilarating thought that in the one
instance in which English taste in a matter of design has taken hold
on the Continent, it has done so with such disastrous results' (_The
Formal Garden in England_, 2nd edn., 1892, p. 86).
But it is not by his professedly literary work that he has acquired
the reputation which he retains and must continue to retain. It
is as a letter-writer that he survives; and it is upon the vast
correspondence, of which, even now, we seem scarcely to have reached
the limits, that is based his surest claim _volitare per ora virum_.
The qualities which are his defects in more serious productions become
merits in his correspondence; or, rather, they cease to be defects.
No one looks for prolonged effort in a gossipping epistle; a weighty
reasoning is less important than a light hand; and variety pleases more
surely than symmetry of structure. Among the little band of those who
have distinguished themselves in this way, Walpole is in the foremost
rank,--nay, if wit and brilliancy, without gravity or pathos, are to
rank highest, he is first. It matters nothing whether he wrote easily
or with difficulty; whether he did, or did not, make minutes of apt
illustrations or descriptive incidents: the result is delightful. For
diversity of interest and perpetual entertainment, for the constant
surprises of an unique species of wit, for happy and unexpected turns
of phrase, for graphic characterization and clever anecdote, for
playfulness, pungency, irony, persiflage, there is nothing in English
like his correspondence. And when one remembers that, in addition,
this correspondence constitutes a sixty-years' social chronicle of
a specially picturesque epoch by one of the most picturesque of
picturesque chroniclers, there can be no need to bespeak any further
suffrage for Horace Walpole's 'incomparable letters.'
APPENDIX.
BOOKS PRINTED AT THE STRAWBERRY HILL PRESS.
⁂ The following list contains all the books mentioned in the
_Description of the Villa of Mr. Horace Walpole_, etc., 1784, together
with those issued between that date and Walpole's death. It does _not_
include the several title-pages and labels which he printed from
time to time, or the quatrains and verses purporting to be addressed
by the Press to Lady Rochford, Lady Townshend, Madame de Boufflers,
the Miss Berrys, and others. Nor does it comprise the pieces struck
off by Mr. Kirgate, the printer, for the benefit of himself and his
friends. On the other hand, all the works enumerated here are, with
three exceptions, described from copies either in the possession of the
present writer, or to be found in the British Museum and the Dyce and
Forster Libraries at South Kensington.
1757.
Odes by Mr. Gray. [Greek: Phônanta synethoisi]--Pindar, Olymp. II.
[Strawberry Hill Bookplate.] _Printed at Strawberry-Hill, for R. and
J. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, MDCCLVII._
Half-title, 'Odes by Mr. Gray. [Price one Shilling.]'; Title as
above; Text, pp. 5-21. 4to. 1,000 copies printed. 'June 25th [1757],
I erected a printing-press at my house at Strawberry Hill.' 'Aug.
8th, I published two Odes by Mr. Gray, the first production of my
press' (_Short Notes_). 'And with what do you think we open? _Cedite,
Romani Impressores_,--with nothing under _Graii Carmina_. I found him
[Gray] in town last week: he had brought his two Odes to be printed.
I snatched them out of Dodsley's hands' ... (_Walpole to Chute_, 12
July, 1757). 'I send you two copies (one for Dr. Cocchi) of a very
honourable opening of my press,--two amazing Odes of Mr. Gray; they
are Greek, they are Pindaric, they are sublime! consequently, I
fear, a little obscure' (_Walpole to Mann_, 4 Aug., 1757). 'You are
very particular, I can tell you, in liking Gray's Odes; but you must
remember that the age likes Akenside, and did like Thomson! Can the
same people like both?' (_Walpole to Montagu_, 25 Aug., 1757).
To Mr. Gray, on his Odes. [By David Garrick.]
Single leaf, containing six quatrains (24 lines). 4to. Only six copies
are said to have been printed; but it is not improbable that there
were more. There is a copy in the Dyce Collection at South Kensington.
A Journey into England. By Paul Hentzner, in the year M.D.XC.VIII.
[Strawberry Hill Bookplate.] _Printed at Strawberry-Hill, MDCCLVII._
Title, Dedication (2 leaves); 'Advertisement,' i-x; half-title; Latin
and English Text on opposite pages, 1 to 103 (double numbers). Sm.
8vo. 220 copies printed. 'In Oct., 1757, was finished at my press an
edition of Hentznerus, translated by Mr. Bentley, to which I wrote
an advertisement. I dedicated it to the Society of Antiquaries, of
which I am a member' (_Short Notes_). 'An edition of Hentznerus, with
a version by Mr. Bentley, and a little preface of mine, were prepared
[_i. e._, as the first issue of the press], but are to wait [for
Gray's _Odes_]' (_Walpole to Chute_, 12 July, 1757).
1758.
A Catalogue of the Royal and Noble Authors of England, with Lists of
their Works. _Dove, diavolo! Messer Ludovico, avete pigliato tante
coglionerie?_ Card. d'Este, to Ariosto. Vol. i. [Strawberry Hill
Bookplate.] _Printed at Strawberry-Hill. MDCCLVIII._
---- Vol. ii. [Strawberry Hill Bookplate.] _Printed at
Strawberry-Hill. MDCCLVIII._
Vol. i.,--Title; Dedication of 2 leaves to Lord Hertford;
Advertisement, pp. i-viii; half-title; Text, pp. 1-219, and unpaged
Index. There is also a frontispiece engraved by Grignion. Vol.
ii.,--Half-title; Title; Text, pp. 1-215, and unpaged Index. 8vo.
300 copies issued. A second edition, 'corrected and enlarged,' was
printed in 1758 (but dated 1759), in two vols. 8vo., 'for R. and J.
Dodsley, in Pallmall; and J. Graham in the Strand.' According to Baker
(_Catalogue of Books, etc., printed at the Press at Strawberry Hill_
[1810]), 40 copies of a supplement or Postscript to the _Royal and
Noble Authors_ were printed by Kirgate in 1786. 'In April, 1758, was
finished the first impression of my "Catalogue of Royal and Noble
Authors," which I had written the preceding year in less than five
months' (_Short Notes_). 'My book is marvellously in fashion, to my
great astonishment. I did not expect so much truth and such notions
of liberty would have made their fortune in this our day' (_Walpole
to Montagu_, 4 May, 1758). 'Dec. 5th [1758] was published the second
edition of my "Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors." Two thousand
were printed, but _not_ at Strawberry Hill' (_Short Notes_). 'I have
but two motives for offering you the accompanying trifle [_i. e._, the
Postscript above referred to].... Coming from my press, I wish it may
be added to your Strawberry editions. It is so far from being designed
for the public that I have printed but forty copies' (_Walpole to
Hannah More_, 1 Jan., 1787).
An Account of Russia as it was in the Year 1710. By Charles Lord
Whitworth. [Strawberry Hill Bookplate.] _Printed at Strawberry-Hill.
MDCCLVIII._
Title, 'Advertisement' pp. i-xxiv; Text, pp. 1-158; Errata, one
page. Sm. 8vo. 700 copies printed. 'The beginning of October [1758]
I published Lord Whitworth's account of Russia, to which I wrote
the advertisement' (_Short Notes_). 'A book has been left at your
ladyship's house; it is Lord Whitworth's Account of Russia' (_Walpole
to Lady Hervey_, 17 Oct., 1758). Mr. (afterwards Lord) Whitworth was
Ambassador to St. Petersburg in the reign of Peter the Great.
The Mistakes; or, the Happy Resentment. A Comedy. By the late Lord *
* * * [Henry Hyde, Lord Hyde and Cornbury.] _London: Printed by S.
Richardson, in the Year 1758._
Title; List of Subscribers, pp. xvi; Advertisement, Prologue, and
_Dramatis Personæ_, 2 leaves; Text, 1-83; Epilogue unpaged. Baker
gives the following particulars from the _Biographia Dramatica_ as to
this book: 'The Author of this Piece was the learned, ingenious, and
witty LORD CORNBURY, but it was never acted. He made a present of it
to that great Actress, Mrs. PORTER, to make what Emolument she could
by it. And that Lady, after his Death, published it by Subscription,
at Five Shillings, each Book, which was so much patronized by the
Nobility and Gentry that Three Thousand Copies were disposed of.
Prefixed to it is a Preface, by Mr. HORACE WALPOLE, at whose Press at
Strawberry-Hill it was printed.' Baker adds, 'Mr. Yardley, who when
living, kept a Bookseller's Shop in New-Inn-Passage, confirmed this
account, by asserting, that he assisted in printing it at that Press.'
But Baker nevertheless prefixes an asterisk to the title, which
implies that it was 'not printed for Mr. Walpole,' and this probably
accounts for Richardson's name on the title-page. By the subscription
list, the Hon. Horace Walpole took 21 copies, David Garrick, 38, and
Mr. Samuel Richardson, of Salisbury Court, 4. All Walpole says is,
'About the same time [1758] Mrs. Porter published [for her benefit]
Lord Hyde's play, to which I had written the advertisement' (_Short
Notes_).
A Parallel; in the Manner of Plutarch: between a most celebrated
Man of Florence; and One, scarce ever heard of, in England. By the
Reverend Mr. Spence. '--_Parvis componere magna_'--Virgil. [Portrait
in circle of Magliabecchi.] _Printed at Strawberry-Hill, by William
Robinson; and Sold by Messieurs Dodsley, at Tully's-Head, Pall-Mall;
for the Benefit of Mr. Hill. M.DCC.LVIII._
Title; Text, pp. 4-104. Sm. 8vo. 700 copies printed. '1759. Feb. 2nd.
I published Mr. Spence's Parallel of Magliabecchi and Mr. Hill, a
tailor of Buckingham; calculated to raise a little sum of money for
the latter poor man. Six hundred copies were sold in a fortnight,
and it was reprinted in London' (_Short Notes_). 'Mr. Spence's
Magliabecchi is published to-day from Strawberry; I believe you saw
it, and shall have it; but 'tis not worth sending you on purpose'
(_Walpole to Chute_, 2 Feb., 1759).
Fugitive Pieces in Verse and Prose. _Pereunt et imputantur._
[Strawberry Hill Bookplate.] _Printed at Strawberry-Hill, MDCCLVIII._
Title; Dedication and 'Table of Contents,' iii-vi; Text, 1-219. Sm.
8vo. 200 copies printed. 'In the summer of 1758, I printed some of my
own Fugitive Pieces, and dedicated them to my cousin, General Conway'
(_Short Notes_). 'March 17 [1759]. I began to distribute some copies
of my "Fugitive Pieces," collected and printed together at Strawberry
Hill, and dedicated to General Conway' (_ibid._). One of these, which
is in the Forster Collection at South Kensington, went to Gray. 'This
Book [says a MS. inscription] once belonged to Gray the Poet, and
has his autograph on the Title-page. I [_i. e._, George Daniel, of
Canonbury] bought it at Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson's Sale Rooms for
£1. 19 on Thursday, 28 Augt. 1851, from the valuable collection of Mr.
Penn of Stoke.'
1760.
Catalogue of the Pictures and Drawings in the Holbein Chamber at
Strawberry Hill. _Strawberry-Hill, 1760._
Pp. 8. 8vo. [Lowndes.]
Catalogue of the Collection, of Pictures of the Duke of Devonshire,
General Guise, and the late Sir Paul Methuen. _Strawberry-Hill, 1760._
Pp. 44. 8vo. 12 copies, printed on one side only. [Lowndes.]
M. Annæi Lucani Pharsalia cum Notis Hugonis Grotii, et Richardi
Bentleii. _Multa sunt condonanda in opere postumo._ In Librum iv, Nota
641. [Emblematical vignette.] _Strawberry-Hill, MDCCLX._
Title, Dedication (by Richard Cumberland to Halifax), and
Advertisement (_Ad Lectorem_), 3 leaves; Text, pp. 1-525. 4to. 500
copies printed. Cumberland took up the editing when Bentley the
younger resigned it. 'I am just undertaking an edition of Lucan, my
friend Mr. Bentley having in his possession his father's notes and
emendations on the first seven books' (_Walpole to Zouch_, 9 Dec.,
1758). 'I would not _alone_ undertake to correct the press; but I am
so lucky as to live in the strictest friendship with Dr. Bentley's
only son, who, to all the ornament of learning, has the amiable turn
of mind, disposition, and easy wit' (_Walpole to Zouch_, 12 Jan.,
1759). 'Lucan is in poor forwardness. I have been plagued with a
succession of bad printers, and am not got beyond the fourth book. It
will scarce appear before next winter' (_Walpole to Zouch_, 23 Dec.,
1759). 'My Lucan is finished, but will not be published till after
Christmas' (_Walpole to Zouch_, 27 Nov., 1760). 'I have delivered to
your brother ... a Lucan, printed at Strawberry, which, I trust, you
will think a handsome edition' (_Walpole to Mann_, 27 Jan., 1761).
1762.
Anecdotes of Painting in England; with some Account of the principal
Artists; and incidental Notes on other Arts; collected by the late
Mr. George Vertue; and now digested and published from his original
MSS. By Mr. Horace Walpole. _Multa renascentur quæ jam cecidere._
Vol. I. [Device with Walpole's crest.] _Printed by Thomas Farmer at
Strawberry-Hill, MDCCLXII._
------ _Le sachant Anglois, je crus qu'il m'alloit parler d'edifices
et de peintures._ Nouvelle Eloise, vol. i. p. 245. Vol. II. [Device
with Walpole's crest.] _Printed by Thomas Farmer at Strawberry-Hill,
MDCCLXII._
------ Vol. III. (Motto of six lines from Prior's _Protogenes and
Apelles_.) _Strawberry-Hill: Printed in the Year MDCCLXIII._
------ To which is added the History of the Modern Taste in Gardening.
_The Glory of_ Lebanon _shall come unto thee, the Fir-tree, the
Pine-tree, and the Box together, to beautify the Place of my
Sanctuary, and I will make the Place of my Feet glorious_. Isaiah, lx.
13. Volume the Fourth and last. _Strawberry-Hill: Printed by Thomas
Kirgate, MDCCLXXI._
Vol. i.,--Title, Dedication, Preface, pp. i-xiii; Contents; Text, pp.
1-168, with Appendix and Index unpaged. Vol. ii.,--Title; Text, pp.
1-158, with Appendix, Index, and 'Errata' unpaged; and 'Additional
Lives to the First Edition of Anecdotes of Painting in England,' pp.
1-12. Vol. iii.,--Title; pp. 1-155, with Appendix and Index unpaged;
and 'Additional Lives to the First Edition of Anecdotes of Painting
in England,' pp. 1-4. Vol. iv.,--Title, Dedication, Advertisement
(dated October 1, 1780), pp. i-x; Contents; Text, pp. 1-151 (dated
August 12, 1770); 'Errata;' pp. x-52; Appendix of one leaf ('Prints
by or after Hogarth, discovered since the Catalogue was finished'),
and Index unpaged. The volumes are 4to., with many portraits and
plates. 600 copies were printed. The fourth volume was in type in
1770, but not issued until Oct., 1780. It was dedicated to the Duke
of Richmond,--Lady Hervey, to whom the three earlier volumes had been
inscribed, having died in 1768. A second edition of the first three
volumes was printed by Thomas Kirgate at Strawberry Hill in 1765.
'Sept. 1st [1759]. I began to look over Mr. Vertue's MSS., which I
bought last year for one hundred pounds, in order to compose the Lives
of English Painters' (_Short Notes_). '1760, Jan. 1st. I began the
Lives of English Artists, from Vertue's MSS. (that is, "Anecdotes of
Painting," etc.)' (_ibid._). 'Aug. 14th. Finished the first volume of
my "Anecdotes of Painting in England." Sept. 5th, began the second
volume. Oct. 23d, finished the second volume' (_ibid._). '1761, Jan.
4th, began the third volume' (_ibid._). 'June 29th, resumed the third
volume of my "Anecdotes of Painting," which I had laid aside after
the first day' (_ibid._). 'Aug. 22nd, finished the third volume of
my "Anecdotes of Painting"' (_ibid._). 'The "Anecdotes of Painting"
have succeeded to the press: I have finished two volumes; but as
there will at least be a third, I am not determined whether I shall
not wait to publish the whole together. You will be surprised, I
think, to see what a quantity of materials the industry of one man
[Vertue] could amass!' (_Walpole to Zouch_, 27 Nov., 1760.) 'You
drive your expectations much too fast, in thinking my "Anecdotes of
Painting" are ready to appear, in demanding three volumes. You will
see but _two_, and it will be February first' (_Walpole to Montagu_,
30 Dec., 1761). 'I am now publishing the third volume, and another of
Engravers' (_Walpole to Dalrymple_, 31 Jan., 1764). 'I have advertised
my long-delayed last volume of "Painters" to come out, and must be in
town to distribute it' (_Walpole to Lady Ossory_, 23 Sept., 1780).
'I have left with Lord Harcourt for you my new old last volume of
"Painters"' (_Walpole to Mason_, 13 Oct., 1780).
1763.
A Catalogue of Engravers, who have been born, or resided in England;
digested by Mr. Horace Walpole from the MSS. of Mr. George Vertue; to
which is added an Account of the Life and Works of the latter. _And
Art reflected Images to Art...._ Pope. _Strawberry-Hill: Printed in
the Year MDCCLXIII._
Title; pp. 1-128, last page dated 'Oct. 10th, 1762;' 'Life of Mr.
George Vertue' pp. 1-14; 'List of Vertue's Works,' pp. 1-20, last page
dated 'Oct. 22d, 1762;' Index of Names of Engravers, unpaged. 4to.
There are several portraits, including one of Vertue after Richardson.
'Aug. 2nd [1762], began the "Catalogue of Engravers." October 10th,
finished it' (_Short Notes_). 'The volume of Engravers is printed off,
and has been some time; I only wait for some of the plates' (_Walpole
to Cole_, 8 Oct., 1763). 'I am now publishing the third volume [of the
'Anecdotes of Painting'], and another of "Engravers"' (_Walpole to
Dalrymple_, 31 Jan., 1764).
1764.
Poems by Anna Chamber Countess Temple. [Plate of Strawberry Hill.]
_Strawberry-Hill: Printed in the Year MDCCLXIV._
Title, Verses signed 'Horace Walpole, January 26th, 1764,' Text, 1-34
in all. 4to. 100 copies printed by Prat. 'I shall send you, too, Lady
Temple's Poems' (_Walpole to Montagu_, 16 July, 1764).
The Magpie and her Brood, a Fable, from the Tales of Bonaventure des
Periers, Valet de Chambre to the Queen of Navarre; addressed to Miss
Hotham.
4 pp., containing 72 lines,--initialed 'H. W.' 4to. 'Oct. 15th, [1764]
wrote the fable of "The Magpie and her Brood" for Miss [Henrietta]
Hotham, then near eleven years old, great niece of Henrietta Hobart,
Countess Dowager of Suffolk. It was taken from _Les Nouvelles
Récréations de Bonaventure des Periers_, Valet-de-Chambre to the Queen
of Navarre' (_Short Notes_).
The Life of Edward Lord Herbert of Cherbury, written by Himself.
[Plate of Strawberry Hill.] _Strawberry-Hill: Printed by Prat in the
Year MDCCLXIV._
Title, Dedication, and Advertisement, 5 leaves; Text, pp. 1-171.
Folding plate portrait. 4to. 200 copies printed. '1763. Beginning of
September wrote the Dedication and Preface to Lord Herbert's Life'
(_Short Notes_). 'I have got a most delectable work to print, which I
had great difficulty to obtain, and which I must use while I can have
it. It is the life of the famous Lord Herbert of Cherbury' (_Letter
to the Bishop of Carlisle_, 10 July, 1763). 'It will not be long
before I have the pleasure of sending you by far the most curious and
entertaining book that my press has produced.... It is the life of
the famous Lord Herbert of Cherbury, and written by himself,--of the
contents I will not anticipate one word' (_Letter to Mason_, 29 Dec.,
1763). 'The thing most in fashion is my edition of Lord Herbert's
Life; people are mad after it, I believe because only two hundred were
printed' (_Letter to Montagu_, 16 Dec., 1764). 'This singular work
was printed from the original MS. in 1764, at Strawberry-hill, and is
perhaps the most extraordinary account that ever was given seriously
by a wise man of himself' (Walpole, _Works_, 1798, i. 363).
1768.
Cornélie, Vestale. Tragédie. [By the President Hénault.] _Imprimée à
Strawberry-Hill, MDCCLXVIII._
Title; Dedication '_à Mons. Horace Walpole_,' dated '_Paris ce 27
Novembre, 1767_,' pp. iii-iv; 'Acteurs;' Text, 1-91. 8vo. 200 copies
printed; 150 went to Paris. Kirgate printed it. 'My press is revived,
and is printing a French play written by the old President Hénault.
It was damned many years ago at Paris, and yet I think is better than
some that have succeeded, and much better than any of _our_ modern
tragedies. I print it to please the old man, as he was exceedingly
kind to me at Paris; but I doubt whether he will live till it is
finished. He is to have a hundred copies, and there are to be but an
hundred more, of which you shall have one' (_Letter to Montagu_, 15
April, 1768). President Hénault died November, 1770, aged eighty-six.
The Mysterious Mother. A Tragedy. By Mr. Horace Walpole. _Sit mihi fas
audita loqui!_ Virgil. _Printed at Strawberry-Hill: MDCCLXVIII._
Title, 'Errata,' 'Persons' (2 leaves); Text, pp. 1-120, with
Postscript, pp. 1-10 (which see for origin of play). Sm. 8vo. 50
copies issued. _The Mysterious Mother_ is reprinted in Walpole's
_Works_, 1798, i., pp. 37-129. 'March 15 [1768]. I finished a tragedy
called "The Mysterious Mother," which I had begun Dec. 25, 1766'
(_Short Notes_). 'I thank you for myself, not for my Play.... I accept
with great thankfulness what you have voluntarily been so good as to
do for me; and should the Mysterious Mother ever be performed when I
am dead, it will owe to you its presentation' (_Walpole to Mason_, 11
May, 1769).
1769.
Poems by the Reverend Mr. Hoyland. _Printed at Strawberry Hill:
MDCCLXIX._
Title, Advertisement [by Walpole], pp. i-iv; Text, 1-19. 8vo. 300
copies printed. In the British Museum is a copy which simply has
'Printed in the Year 1769.' 'I enclose a short Advertisement for
Mr. Hoyland's poems. I mean by it to tempt people to a little more
charity, and to soften to him, as much as I can, the humiliation of
its being asked for him; if you approve it, it shall be prefixed to
the edition' (_Walpole to Mason_, 5 April, 1769).
1770.
Reply to the Observations of the Rev. Dr. Milles, Dean of Exeter, and
President of the Society of Antiquaries, on the Ward Robe Account.
Pp. 24. Six copies printed, dated 28 August, 1770 [Baker]. 'In the
summer of this year [1770] wrote an answer to Dr. Milles' remarks on
my "Richard the Third"' (_Short Notes_).
1772.
Copies of Seven Original Letters from King Edward VI. to Barnaby
Fitzpatrick. _Strawberry-Hill._ _Printed_ in the Year _M.DCC.LXXII_.
Pp. viii-14. 4to. 200 copies printed. '1771. End of September, wrote
the Advertisement to the "Letters of King Edward the Sixth"' (_Short
Notes_). 'I have printed "King Edward's Letters," and will bring you a
copy' (_Walpole to Mason_, 6 July, 1772).
Miscellaneous Antiquities; or, a Collection of Curious Papers: either
republished from _scarce Tracts_, or now first printed from _original_
MSS. Number I. To be continued occasionally. _Invenies illic et festa
domestica vobis. Sæpe tibi Pater est, sæpe legendus Avus._ Ovid. Fast.
Lib. 1. _Strawberry-Hill: Printed by Thomas Kirgate, M.DCC.LXXII._
Title, 'Advertisement,' pp. i-iv; Text, 1-48. 4to. 500 copies printed.
'I have since begun a kind of Desiderata Curiosa, and intend to
publish it in numbers, as I get materials; it is to be an Hospital
of Foundlings; and though I shall not take in all that offer, there
will be no enquiry into the nobility of the parents; nor shall I care
how heterogeneous the brats are' (_Walpole to Mason_, 6 July, 1772).
'By that time too I shall have the first number of my "Miscellaneous
Antiquities" ready. The first essay is only a republication of some
tilts and tournaments' (_Walpole to Mason_, 21 July, 1772).
Miscellaneous Antiquities; or, a Collection of Curious Papers: either
republished from _scarce Tracts_, or now first printed from _original_
MSS. Number II. To be continued occasionally. _Invenies illic et
festa domestica vobis. Sæpe tibi Pater est, sæpe legendus Avus._
Ovid. Fast. Lib. i. _Strawberry-Hill: Printed by Thomas Kirgate_,
M.DCC.LXXII.
Title and Text, pp. 1-62. 500 copies printed. 'In July [1772] wrote
the "Life of Sir Thomas Wyat [the Elder]," No. II. of my edition of
"Miscellaneous Antiquities"' (_Short Notes_).
Memoires du Comte de Grammont, par Monsieur le Comte Antoine Hamilton.
Nouvelle Edition, augmentée de Notes & d'Eclaircissemens, necessaires,
par M. Horace Walpole. _Des gens qui écrivent pour le Comte de
Grammont, peuvent compter sur quelque indulgence._ V. l'Epitre prelim.
p. xviii. _Imprimée à Strawberry-Hill, M.DCC.LXXII._
Title, Dedication, 'Avis de L'Editeur,' 'Avertissement,' 'Epitre à
Monsieur le Comte de Grammont,' 'Table des Chapitres,' 'Errata,' pp.
xxiv; Text, pp. 1-290: 'Table des personnes,' 3 pp. Portraits of
Hamilton, Mdlle. d'Hamilton, and Philibert Comte de Grammont. 4to.
100 copies printed; 30 went to Paris. It was dedicated to Madame du
Deffand, as follows: '_L'Editeur vous consacre cette Edition, comme un
monument de son Amitié, de son Admiration, & de son Respect; à Vous,
dont les Grâces, l'Esprit, & le Goût retracent au siecle présent le
siecle de Louis quatorze & les agremens de l'Auteur de ces Mémoires._'
'I want to send you these [the _Miscellaneous Antiquities_] ... and a
"Grammont," of which I have printed only a hundred copies, and which
will be extremely scarce, as twenty-five copies are gone to France'
(_Walpole to Cole_, 8 Jan., 1773).
1774.
A Description of the Villa of Horace Walpole. [Plate of Strawberry
Hill.] A Description of the Villa of Horace Walpole, youngest son
of Sir Robert Walpole Earl of Orford, at Strawberry-Hill, near
Twickenham. With an Inventory of the Furniture, Pictures, Curiosities,
&c. _Strawberry-Hill: Printed by Thomas Kirgate_, M.DCC.LXXIV.
Two titles; Text, pp. 1-119. 4to. 100 copies printed, 6 on large
paper. Many copies have the following: 'Appendix. Pictures and
Curiosities added since the Catalogue was printed,' pp. 121-145; 'List
of the Books printed at Strawberry-Hill,' unpaged; 'Additions since
the Appendix,' pp. 149-152; 'More Additions,' pp. 153-158. Baker
speaks of an earlier issue of 65 pp. which we have not met with.
Lowndes (_Appendix to Bibliographer's Manual_, 1864, p. 239) states
that it was said by Kirgate to have been used by the servants in
showing the house, and differed entirely from the editions of 1774 and
1784.
1775.
To Mrs. Crewe. [Verses by Charles James Fox.] N.D.
Pp. 2. Single leaf. 4to. 300 copies printed. Walpole speaks of these
in a letter to Mason dated 12 June, 1774; and he sends a copy of
them to him, 27 May, 1775. Mrs. Crewe, the Amoret addressed, was the
daughter of Fulke Greville, and the wife of J. Crewe. She was painted
by Reynolds as an Alpine shepherdess.
Dorinda, a Town Eclogue. [By the Hon. Richard Fitzpatrick, brother of
the Earl of Ossory.] [Plate of Strawberry Hill.] _Strawberry-Hill:
Printed by Thomas Kirgate. M.DCC.LXXV._
Title; Text, 3-8. 4to. 300 copies printed. 'I shall send you soon
Fitzpatrick's "Town Eclogue," from my own furnace. The verses are
charmingly smooth and easy....' 'P.S. Here is the Eclogue' (_Letter to
Mason_, 12 June, 1774).
1778.
The Sleep-Walker, a Comedy: in two Acts. Translated from the
French [of Antoine de Ferriol, Comte de Pont de Veyle], in March,
M.DCC.LXXVIII. [By Elizabeth Lady Craven, afterwards Margravine of
Anspach.] _Strawberry-Hill: Printed by T. Kirgate, M.DCC.LXXVIII._
Title, Quatrain, Prologue, Epilogue, Persons, pp. i-viii; Text, 1-56.
8vo. 75 copies printed. The quatrain is by Walpole to Lady Craven,
'on her Translation of the Somnambule.' 'I will send ... for yourself
a translation of a French play.... It is not for your reading, but
as one of the Strawberry editions, and one of the rarest; for I have
printed but seventy-five copies. It was to oblige Lady Craven, the
translatress ...' (_Walpole to Cole_, 22 Aug., 1778).
1779.
A Letter to the Editor of the Miscellanies of Thomas Chatterton.
_Strawberry-Hill: Printed by T. Kirgate_, M.DCC.LXXIX.
Half-title; Title; Text, pp. 1-55. The letter is dated at end: 'May
23, 1778.' 8vo. 200 copies printed. '1779. In the preceding autumn
had written a defence of myself against the unjust aspersions in the
Preface to the Miscellanies of Chatterton. Printed 200 copies at
Strawberry Hill this January, and gave them away. It was much enlarged
from what I had written in July' (_Short Notes_).
1780.
To the Lady Horatia Waldegrave, on the Death of the Duke of Ancaster.
[Verses by Mr. Charles Miller.] N. D.
Pp. 3, dated at end 'A.D. 1779.' 4to. 150 copies printed. 'I enclose
a copy of verses, which I have just printed at Strawberry, only a few
copies, and which I hope you will think pretty. They were written
three months ago by Mr. Charles Miller, brother of Sir John, on seeing
Lady Horatia at Nuneham. The poor girl is better' (_Walpole to Lady
Ossory_, 29 Jan., 1780). Lady Horatia Waldegrave was to have been
married to the Duke of Ancaster, who died in 1779.
1781.
The Muse recalled, an Ode, occasioned by the Nuptials of Lord Viscount
Althorp and Miss Lavinia Bingham, eldest daughter of Charles Lord
Lucan, March vi., M.DCC.LXXXI. By William Jones, Esq. [afterwards
Sir William Jones]. _Strawberry-Hill: Printed by Thomas Kirgate,
M.DCC.LXXXI._
Title; pp. 1-8. 4to. 250 copies printed. There is a well-known
portrait of Lavinia Bingham by Reynolds, in which she wears a straw
hat with a blue ribbon.
A Letter from the Honourable Thomas Walpole, to the Governor and
Committee of the Treasury of the Bank of England. _Strawberry-Hill:
Printed by Thomas Kirgate, M.DCC.LXXXI._
Title, and pp. 16 (last blank). 4to. 120 copies printed.
1784.
A Description of the Villa of Mr. Horace Walpole, youngest son of Sir
Robert Walpole Earl of Orford, at Strawberry-Hill near Twickenham,
Middlesex. With an Inventory of the Furniture, Pictures, Curiosities,
&c. _Strawberry-Hill: Printed by Thomas Kirgate, M.DCC.LXXXIV._
Title; 'Preface.' i-iv; Text, pp. 1-88. 'Errata, etc.,' 'Appendix,'
pp. 89-92; 'Curiosities added,' etc., 93-4; 'More Additions,' 95-6.
27 plates. 4to. 200 copies printed. 'The next time he [Sir Horace
Mann's nephew] visits you, I may be able to send you a description
of my _Galleria_,--I have long been preparing it, and it is almost
finished,--with some prints, which, however, I doubt, will convey no
very adequate idea of it' (_Walpole to Mann_, 30 Sept., 1784). 'In the
list for which Lord Ossory asks, is the Description of this place;
now, though printed, I have entirely kept it up [i. e., _held it
back_], and mean to do so while I live' (_Walpole to Lady Ossory_, 15
Sept., 1787).
1785.
Hieroglyphic Tales. _Schah Baham ne comprenoit jamais bien que les
choses absurdes & hors de toute vraisemblance._ Le Sopha, p. 5.
_Strawberry-Hill: Printed by T. Kirgate, M.DCC.LXXXV._
Title; 'Preface,' iii-ix; Text, pp. 50; 'Postscript.' 8vo. Walpole's
own MS. note in the Dyce example says, 'Only six copies of this were
printed, besides the revised copy.' '1772. This year, the last, and
sometime before, wrote some Hieroglyphic Tales. There are only five'
(_Short Notes_). 'I have some strange things in my drawer, even
wilder than the 'Castle of Otranto,' and called 'Hieroglyphic Tales;'
but they were not written lately, nor in the gout, nor, whatever
they may seem, written when I was out of my senses' (_Walpole to
Cole_, 28 Jan., 1779), 'This [he is speaking of Darwin's _Botanic
Garden_] is only the Second Part; for, like my King's eldest daughter
in the 'Hieroglyphic Tales,' the First Part is not born yet: no
matter' (_Walpole to the Miss Berrys_, 28 April, 1789). In 1822, the
_Hieroglyphic Tales_ were reprinted at Newcastle for Emerson Charnley.
Essay on Modern Gardening, by Mr. Horace Walpole. [Strawberry Hill
Bookplate.] Essai sur l'Art des Jardins Modernes, par M. Horace
Walpole, traduit en François by M. le Duc de Nivernois, en MDCCLXXXIV.
_Imprimé à Strawberry-Hill, par T. Kirgate_, MDCCLXXXV.
Two titles; English and French Text on opposite pages, 1-94. 4to.
400 copies printed. 'How may I send you a new book printed here?...
It is the translation of my 'Essay on Modern Gardens' by the Duc de
Nivernois.... You will find it a most beautiful piece of French, of
the genuine French spoken by the Duc de la Rochefoucault and Madame de
Sévigné, and not the metaphysical galimatias of La Harpe and Thomas,
&c., which Madame du Deffand protested she did not understand. The
versions of Milton and Pope are wonderfully exact and poetic and
elegant, and the fidelity of the whole translation, extraordinary'
(_Walpole to Lady Ossory_, 17 Sept., 1785). The original MS. of the
Duc de Nivernois--'a most exquisite specimen of penmanship'--was among
the papers at Strawberry.
1789.
Bishop Bonner's Ghost. [By Hannah More.] [Plate of Strawberry Hill.]
_Strawberry-Hill: Printed by Thomas Kirgate, MDCCLXXXIX._
Title and argument, 2 leaves; Text, pp. 1-4. 4to. 96 copies printed,
2 on brown paper, one of which was at Strawberry. It was written when
Hannah More ('my _imprimée_,' as Walpole calls her) was on a visit to
Dr. Beilby Porteus, Bishop of London, at his palace at Fulham, June,
1789. 'I will forgive all your enormities if you will let me print
your poem. I like to filch a little immortality out of others, and
the Strawberry press could never have a better opportunity' (_Walpole
to Hannah More_, 23 June, 1789). 'The enclosed copy of verses pleased
me so much, that, though not intended for publication, I prevailed
on the authoress, Miss Hannah More, to allow me to take off a small
number.' ... 'I have been disappointed of the completion of "Bonner's
Ghost," by my rolling press being out of order, and was forced to
send the whole impression to town to have the copper-plate taken
off.... Kirgate has brought the whole impression, and I shall have
the pleasure of sending your Ladyship this with a "Bonner's Ghost"
to-morrow morning' (_Walpole to Lady Ossory_, 16-18 July, 1789).
The History of Alcidalis and Zelida. A tale of the Fourteenth Century.
[By Vincent de Voiture.] _Printed at Strawberry-Hill. MDCCLXXXIX._
Title; Text, pp. 3-96. 8vo. This is a translation of Voiture's
unfinished _Histoire d'Alcidalis et de Zelide_. (See _Nouvelles
Oeuvres de Monsieur de Voiture. Nouvelle Edition. A Paris, Chez
Louis Bilaine, au Palais, au second Pilier de la grand' Salle, à
la Palme & au Grand Cesar_, MDCLXXII.) There is a copy in the Dyce
Collection. Another was sold in 1823 with the books of John Trotter
Brockett, in whose catalogue it was said to be 'surreptitiously
printed.' Kirgate had a copy, although Baker does not mention it.
Doubtful Date.
Verses sent to Lady Charles Spencer [Mary Beauclerc, daughter of
Lord Vere, and wife of Lord Charles Spencer] with a painted Taffety,
occasioned by saying she was low in Pocket and could not buy a new
Gown.
Single leaf. Baker says these were by Anna Chamber, Countess Temple.
Besides the above, Walpole printed at his press in 1770 vols. i. and
ii. of a 4to edition of his works.
INDEX
A.
_Ædes Walpolianæ_, the, 75-77, 288.
Amelia, the Princess, 171, 228, 234.
American Colonies, the war with the, 252, 291.
_An Account of the Giants_, 189.
_Anecdotes of Painting_, 142, 150, 241, 295.
Ashe, Miss, 127-130.
Ashton, Thomas, 16-19, 58, 59.
B.
Balmerino, Lord, trial and execution of, 93-97.
Beauclerk, Lady Diana, 159, 161, 193, 243, 260, 286.
_Beauties, The_, 104.
Beauty Room, the, 211.
Benedict XIV., Pope, 50.
Bentley, Richard, 136, 137, 146, 148, 161, 214, 224.
Berry, the Misses Mary and Agnes, 233, 235, 244, 259-263, 265, 285,
286, 291.
Bland, Henry, 12.
Bologna, visited by Walpole, 42, 43.
Bracegirdle, Anne, 83.
Burnet, Bishop Gilbert, 16, 175.
Burney, Frances, 193, 257.
Byng, Admiral, 142, 143.
C.
_Castle of Otranto, The_, 161, 163, 164, 168, 192, 195.
_Catalogue of Engravers_, 155.
_Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors_, 142, 149-152.
_Catalogue of Strawberry Hill_, 262.
Charles X. (Comte d'Artois), 172.
Chartreuse, La Grande, visited by Walpole and Gray, 38.
Chartreux, Convent of the, described by Walpole, 34, 35.
Chatterton, Thomas, 196-200.
Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 86, 131, 177;
his _Letters_ parodied by Walpole, 236.
Choiseul, Madame la Duchesse de, 174, 176, 177, 180, 212.
Christopher Inn, the, 17.
Chudleigh, Elizabeth, Duchess of Kingston, 230.
Churchill, Lady Mary (Maria), 49, 63, 67, 100.
Chute, John, 52, 68, 118, 134, 171, 208.
Clement XII., Pope, 45.
Clinton, Henry, Earl of Lincoln, 56.
Clive, Kitty, 83, 121, 133, 140, 143, 192;
_bon mot_ of, 181;
allusions to, 213, 217;
death of, 255.
Cocchi, Dr. Antonio, 56.
Coke, Lady Mary, 169.
Cole, William, 13, 19, 161, 206, 285.
Congreve, William, 83.
Conway, Henry, 12, 31, 35, 36, 38, 40, 82, 87, 91, 105, 108, 150,
182, 201.
Cope, Gen. Sir John, 89.
Crawford, James, 179.
Culloden Moor, the battle of, 91, 92.
Cumberland, William, Duke of, 19, 86, 91, 92, 99, 108, 120, 122,
171.
Cunningham, Peter, 10;
his account of a drive with Walpole, 227, 229, 231;
his specimens of Walpole's letters, 255;
quoted, 212, 231.
D.
Damer, Anna (Miss Conway), 203, 242, 270.
Deffand, Madame du (Marie de Vichy-Chamrond), 177, 212;
Walpole's first impression of, 177, 178;
her conquest of Walpole, 178;
Walpole's letter to Gray concerning, 178, 179;
her fondness for Walpole, 179, 180;
the episode of the snuff-box, 180;
Walpole's second visit to, 187, 188;
death of, 252;
Walpole's letters to, 248, 249;
Walpole's adieu to, 251;
will of, 252.
_Delenda est Oxonia_, 124.
Dodington, Bubb, 92, 120.
Dryden, John, imitated by Walpole, 60;
claimed as great-uncle by Catherine Shorter, 210.
E.
Easton Neston (Northamptonshire), 23.
_Epitaphium Vivi Auctoris_, 264.
Eton College, 11-17.
F.
Falkirk, the battle of, 91.
Fielding, Henry, 79, 83, 160, 161, 230, 285.
Fielding, William, 160.
Florence, visited by Walpole and Gray, 43-45.
Fontenoy, the battle of, 87, 88, 104.
Foote, Samuel, 173.
Forcalquier, Madame de, 174.
Fortescue, Lucy, 105.
Fox, Charles James, his verses on Mrs. Crewe, 240.
Francklin, Richard, 111, 123.
Fraser, Simon, Lord Lovat, 97.
Frederick, Prince of Wales. (_See_ Wales.)
Freethinking in France, 167, 170.
French court, presentation of Walpole at the, 171, 172.
G.
Garrick, David, 83, 140, 146, 186.
Genlis, Stéphanie Félicité, Madame de, 173, 257.
Geoffrin, Madame, 175, 182.
George I., Walpole's visit to, 8-10;
the story of the raven, 286.
(_See_ Reminiscences.)
George II., 63. (_See_ Reminiscences.)
George III. (_See_ Memoirs.)
Goldsmith, Oliver, 19, 32, 105, 143, 198, 242;
Walpole's contempt for, 238, 285.
Gordon Riots, the, 253.
Granby, Lord, 129, 131.
Gray, Thomas, at Eton, 16, 19, 22, 25;
travels with Walpole, 29-32;
Versailles described by, 32, 33;
at Rheims, 35;
at Lyons, 38;
at La Grande Chartreuse, 38;
in Italy, 40-44, 49, 50, 53, 57;
his misunderstanding with Walpole, 52-55;
subsequent reconciliation, 55, 135;
praises Walpole's verse, 59;
quoted, 25, 30-34, 37, 38, 51, 59, 83, 97, 105, 115, 134, 135, 137,
148, 149, 219;
resumes his intimacy with Walpole, 103, 106, 173;
visits Strawberry Hill, 135;
his indebtedness to Walpole, 135;
his Elegy published by Dodsley, 135;
the _Poemata-Grayo-Bentleiana_, 137;
publication of the _Odes_ at Strawberry Hill, 142-148;
detects the Rowley forgeries, 197;
portrait of, 213;
Walpole's relations with, 285.
Grenville, George, 290.
H.
Harrison, Audrey, Lady Townshend, 101, 156.
Hawkins, Miss, 160, 244;
her description of Walpole, 277-279.
Hénault, Charles-Jean-François, President, 177, 183, 188, 195, 212.
Hervey, Baron, 123;
said to be Walpole's father, 4.
Hervey, Lady, 120, 171, 175, 201, 224.
Hill, Robert, the learned tailor, 150.
_Historic Doubts on Richard III._, 190, 191, 237.
Hogarth, William, 69, 79, 161, 213, 222, 242.
Houghton, the seat of the Walpoles, 1, 24, 65, 66, 69, 71, 80, 81;
the Houghton pictures sold to Catherine of Russia, 69, 246, 247;
Walpole buried at, 268.
Hume, David, 167, 171, 181-185.
Hyde Park, robbers in, 125, 126.
I.
Inn, the Christopher, 16, 17.
_Inscription for the Neglected Column_, 61.
J.
Jennings, Frances, Duchess of Tyrconnell, anecdote of, 7;
head of, 222.
Jenyns, Soame, quoted, 127, 131.
Jephson, Capt. Robert, 237, 239.
Johnson, Samuel, 55, 84, 236, 285.
K.
Kendal, the Duchess of, 8, 228, 287.
Ker, Lord Robert, 91.
Kilmarnock, Earl, 92;
trial and execution of, 93-98.
King's College, Cambridge, 18-20, 28.
Kirgate, Thomas, 150, 195, 235.
L.
Lens, Bernard, 19.
_Lessons for the Day_, 75.
_Letter from Xo Ho_, 143, 144, 295.
Louis XVI. (Duc de Berry), 172.
Louis XVIII. (Comte de Provence), 172.
M.
Macaulay, Lord, 229;
reviews Lord Dover's edition of Walpole's letters to Mann, 271-273;
letters to Hannah Macaulay quoted, 271, 272;
Lady Holland irritated by, 272;
his opinion of Walpole, 273-275.
McLean, James, robs Walpole, 125, 126;
is imprisoned, 126;
becomes a fashionable lion, 126;
is executed, 126.
Mann, Sir Horace, 43, 44, 47, 61, 69, 201, 254;
death of, 255;
Walpole's affection for, 286.
Mason, Rev. William, 53, 197, 202.
_Memoirs of the Reign of King George III._, 189, 292.
Middleton, Dr. Conyers, 286;
praises Walpole's attainments, 57, 58.
Montagu, Lieut.-Gen. Charles, K. C. B., 14.
Montagu, Brig-Gen. Edward, 14.
Montagu, George, M. P., 14, 17, 21, 29, 187, 201, 286.
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, 4, 48, 133;
described by Walpole, 49-51;
quoted, 50, 102.
Mont Cenis, 40.
Moore, Edward, 131.
More, Hannah, 258, 264, 285.
Müntz (German artist), 138, 142, 146, 210, 279.
_Mysterious Mother, The_, 190-193;
Byron's praise of, 193;
printed at the Strawberry Hill Press, 195;
illustrated by Lady Di. Beauclerk, 243.
N.
_Nature will Prevail_, 239.
Neale, Betty, 130.
Neuhoff, Baron ('Theodore, King of Corsica'), 132, 142.
Nolkejumskoi. (_See_ Cumberland, William, Duke of.)
O.
Officina Arbuteana. (_See_ Strawberry Hill.)
Orford, George, third Earl of (nephew of Horace Walpole), 69, 141,
202, 245, 247, 263.
Orford, Horace, fourth Earl of. (_See_ Walpole, Horace.)
Orford, Robert, first Earl of. (_See_ Walpole, Sir Robert.)
Orford, Robert, second Earl of. (_See_ Walpole, Robert.)
Ossory, Lady, 202;
letters of Walpole to, 207, 233, 246, 247, 252, 260, 266.
P.
Paris, Walpole's first visit to, 31, 32;
state of society in, 166-168;
second visit to, 169, 173-181;
third visit to, 186, 187, 189;
fourth visit to, 249.
_Parish Register of Twickenham, The_, 158, 160, 161, 245.
Parodies by Walpole, 77, 236.
Patapan, 66.
Petersham, Lady Caroline, 127-130, 285.
Picture Gallery at Houghton, 69, 71, 246, 247.
Pinkerton, John, his _Walpoliana_ quoted, 3, 10, 84, 220, 258, 279,
280, 281;
a favourite of Walpole, 256;
his description of Walpole, 279-282.
Pomfret, Lady, 47-50, 101.
Pope, Alexander, 103, 109, 139, 216.
Preston Pans, the battle of, 89.
Prévost d'Exiles, M. l'Abbé Antoine-François, 31.
Prior, Matthew, criticised by Walpole, 76, 77.
Pulteney, William, Earl of Bath, 62, 64, 151, 228.
Q.
Quadruple Alliance, the, 14;
ended, 18, 19.
Queensberry, the Duke of, 231.
Quinault, Jeanne-Françoise, 32.
R.
Radnor, Lord, his Chinese summer-house, 119.
Ranelagh Gardens, the, 85, 86.
_Reminiscences of the Courts of George the I. and II._, written for
the Misses Berry, 262.
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 241.
Richardson, Samuel, 167, 171.
Robinson, William, 146, 147, 150, 156.
Rochford, Lady, 156, 157.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 181, 182;
sham letter from Frederick the Great to, 182, 183;
anger of, 184;
his quarrel with Hume, 184.
S.
Saint-Cyr, Walpole's visit to, 188.
Saunderson, Professor Nicholas, 20.
Scott, Samuel, 139.
Scott, Sir Walter, his study of the _Castle of Otranto_, 164, 165.
Selwyn, George Augustus, 13, 138, 168, 231.
_Sermon on Painting, The_, 71-76.
Shenstone, William, 149.
Shirley, Lady Fanny, 160.
Shirley, the Hon. Sewallis, 102, 103, 202.
Shorter, Catherine (Lady Walpole), 3, 4, 210;
death of, 24;
burial of, 25;
Dryden claimed as great-uncle to, 210.
Shorter, Sir John, Lord Mayor of London, 3.
_Short Notes_, Walpole's, quoted, 5, 11, 17, 35, 56, 80, 124, 152,
189, 239.
Skerret, Maria, 4, 49, 63, 210.
Smollett, Tobias, 101, 105.
Spence, Professor Joseph, 50, 55, 56, 150.
Sterne, Laurence, 173.
Strawberry Hill (Twickenham), Walpole removes to, 86;
description of, 107-124, 146, 147, 208;
previous tenants of, 109, 110;
additions to, 111, 204, 205;
the Gothic castle at, 113-119;
views executed by Müntz, 138;
private printing-press at, 142, 145, 146;
described by William Robinson, 146-148;
works published at the Officina Arbuteana, 149-151 (_see_
Appendix), 152;
_Description of the Villa at_, 195, 201, 208;
fêtes at, 205, 206;
ground plan of the villa at, 208;
China Closet and China Room at, 210;
the Yellow Bedchamber (Beauty Room), 211;
Breakfast Room, 212, 213;
plan of principal floor, 212;
Green Closet, 213;
Library, 214;
Blue Bedchamber, 214;
Armoury, 214;
the Red Bedchamber, 216;
the Holbein Chamber, 216;
the Star Chamber, 217;
the Gallery, 204, 218;
the Round Tower, 220;
the Cabinet (Tribune), 220;
collection of rarities, 220, 221;
the Great North Bedchamber, 218, 221;
the Great Cloister, 223;
the Chapel, 223;
the Flower Garden, 112, 224;
Gothicism of the villa, 225, 226;
bequeathed to Mrs. Damer, 270;
subsequent disposal of, 270.
Stuart, Prince Charles Edward (the Chevalier), his descent on
Scotland, 88, 96;
temporary success of, 90, 91, 96;
escape of, 91.
Stuart, Lady Louisa, her _Introductory Anecdotes_ quoted, 14-16, 22,
23.
Suffolk, the Countess of (Mrs. Howard), 9, 122, 139, 157, 201.
Swift, Jonathan, 19, 103, 139.
T.
Townshend, Charles, Viscount, 6, 156.
Townshend, Lady. (_See_ Harrison, Audrey.)
Tragedy in England, Walpole's opinion of, 194, 195.
Triumvirate, the, 14.
Twickenham. (See Strawberry Hill.)
V.
Vane, Henry, Earl of Darlington, 128.
Vauxhall, 84, 128-131.
Versailles, visited by Walpole, 32, 171-173.
_Verses on the Suppression of the Late Rebellion_, 98-100.
Vertue, George, the engraver, 69, 70, 77, 154, 216.
Voltaire, François-Marie-Arouet de, 178, 190.
W.
Wales, Frederick, Prince of, 24, 61, 86, 87;
composes a _chanson_ on the battle of Fontenoy, 87;
wins £800 from Lord Granby, 131.
Walpol, Sir Henry de, 1.
Walpole, Dorothy, Lady Townshend, 6, 210.
Walpole, Sir Edward, Knight of the Bath, 2.
----, Sir Edward (brother of Horace), 100, 202, 203;
the daughters of, 203;
death of, 256.
----, George (third Earl of Orford), 141, 202, 245.
----, Horace (Horatio), his ancestry, 1-4;
scandal regarding his birth, 3, 4;
early childhood, 5-10;
his visit to George I., 9;
his appearance as a boy, 11;
his school-days at Eton, 11-17;
his scholarship, 12, 19, 20;
his companions at Eton, 13-16;
enters Lincoln's Inn, 16;
enters King's College, Cambridge, 18;
his university studies, 19, 20;
the 'triumvirate,' 19;
the 'quadruple alliance,' 18, 19;
literary productions at Cambridge, 24;
appointed Inspector of Imports and Exports, 27;
becomes Usher of the Exchequer, Controller of the Pipe, and Clerk
of the Estreats, 27, 28;
leaves college, 28;
travels with Gray, 29;
visits France, 30-39;
in Switzerland, 39;
crosses the Alps, 40;
in Italy, 41-56;
his description of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, 49;
his misunderstanding with Gray, 52-55;
his illness in Florence, 55;
his return to England, 56;
becomes Member of Parliament for Callington, 56;
poetical _Epistle to Thomas Ashton_, 58, 59;
praised by Gray, 59;
his letters to Mann, 61, 65, 88;
his first speech in Parliament, 64;
his _Sermon on Painting_, 71-75;
the _Ædes Walpolianæ_, 75-77;
his parodies, 78, 236;
his paper against Lord Bath, 78;
his father's death, 79, 80;
receives legacy from his father, 80, 81;
his criticism of Mrs. Woffington and of Garrick, 83;
removes to Twickenham, 86;
his _Verses on the Suppression of the Late Rebellion_, 98, 99;
epilogue to _Tamerlane_, 98;
marriage of his sisters, 100;
his criticism of Lady Orford, 101, 102;
his contributions to _The Museum_, 103;
his poem, _The Beauties_, 104, 105;
resides at Windsor, 106;
his description of Strawberry Hill, 107-120, 147, 195, 205, 206,
227 (_see_ Strawberry Hill);
his papers in _The Remembrancer_, 124;
his tract, _Delenda est Oxonia_, 124;
is robbed in Hyde Park, 125, 126;
his account of Vauxhall, 128-131;
his papers in _The World_, 131;
his reconciliation with Gray, 134;
his admiration of Gray's poetry, 135-137;
is chosen Member of Parliament for Castle Rising, 141;
for Lynn, 142;
his _Castle of Otranto_, 142, 163, 168, 169;
publishes Gray's _Odes_, 142, 148;
his _Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors_, 142, 149, 151;
his first _Memoirs_, 142;
his _Letter from Xo Ho_, 143, 145, 295;
his other _Catalogues_, 145, 149, 151;
establishes the Officina Arbuteana, 145;
his publications, 149-151 (_see_ Appendix), 153, 154, 165;
his _Catalogue of Engravers_, 155;
his _Anecdotes of Painting_, 152, 156, 241, 243;
his occasional pieces (_The Magpie and her Brood_, _Dialogue between
two Great Ladies_, _The Garland_, _The Parish Register_), 157,
158, 245;
his second visit to Paris, 167-181;
is presented to the royal family, 171-173;
sham letter to Rousseau, 182;
visits Bath, 186;
his third visit to Paris, 187;
his _Account of the Giants_, 189;
begins his _Memoirs of the Reign of George III._, 189;
retires from Parliament, 189;
his letters to the _Public Advertiser_, 190;
his _Historic Doubts on Richard III._, 190, 191;
his tragedy, _The Mysterious Mother_, 191, 192, 195;
his relations with Chatterton, 196-200;
his fondness for his nieces, 203;
his correspondence, 235;
his minor writings, 236-239;
his _Nature will Prevail_, 239;
his fourth visit to Paris, 249;
his correspondence in French, 248;
his farewell to Madame du Deffand, 251, 252;
his acquaintance with Hannah More, 258;
his friendship with the Misses Berry, 259-263, 265, 286, 291;
his _Reminiscences_, 262;
his _Catalogue of Strawberry Hill_, 262;
succeeds his nephew as Earl of Orford, 263;
his _Epitaphium Vivi Auctoris_, 264;
his last letter to Lady Ossory, 267, 268;
his death and burial, 268;
disposal of his estate, 269, 270;
Lord Macaulay's criticism of, 271-276;
portraits and descriptions of, 276-278;
Pinkerton's reminiscences of, 280-282;
his character as a man, 284-287;
as a virtuoso, 288, 289;
as a politician, 290-292;
as an author, 293, 294.
---- of Walterton, Horatio, Baron, 6, 219.
----, Maria (Lady Waldegrave), 203, 205.
----, Lady Mary (Countess of Cholmondeley), 67, 100.
----, Reginald de, 1.
----, Sir Robert (first Earl of Orford), ancestry of, 1, 2;
first marriage of, 3;
second marriage of, 49;
decline of his political power, 61, 62;
resigns the premiership, 63;
is created Earl of Orford, 63;
intrigues against Pulteney, 64;
prevents his own disgrace, 64, 65;
death of, 78-80;
will of, 81.
----, Robert (second Earl of Orford), 85, 102, 129.
----, Lady Robert (Countess of Orford), 48, 101, 102, 202;
death of, 256.
----, Col. Robert, M. P., 2.
----, William, 3.
Walpoles of Houghton, pedigree of the, 1;
spelled Walpol, 1.
_Walpoliana_, Pinkerton's, 3, 10, 84, 256, 258, 279-282.
Walsingham, Melusina de Schulemberg, Countess of, 9.
Wesley, John, Walpole's description of, 186.
West, Richard, 15, 16, 103.
Whitehead, Paul, 139.
Wilkes, John, 173.
Williams, George James, 138, 168, 203.
Williams, Sir Charles Hanbury, 13, 131.
William Henry, Duke of Gloucester, marries Maria Walpole, 203.
Woffington, Margaret, 83.
X.
_Xo Ho, Letter of_, 143, 144.
Y.
Yarmouth, the Countess of (Madame de Walmoden), 9.
Z.
Zouch, Rev. Henry, 196;
Walpole's letters to, quoted, 152-155, 285.
Transcriber’s Notes:
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Minor punctuation and printer errors repaired.
Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
possible, including obsolete and variant spellings, inconsistent
punctuation, and other inconsistencies.
Obvious printer’s errors corrected.