MEMOIRS OF HORACE WALPOLE. CHAPTER I. STRAWBERRY HILL.-1736 To 1746. DURING the eventful period described in the preceding chapters, the younger Horace Walpole was generally in town, floating buoyantly on the stream of politics, and watching the course of events; but after the stir of the Scottish rebellion had subsided, he returned to his customary avocations with renewed spirit. Politics were, however, soon to be superseded by poetry, and the statesman gave way to the fine gentleman. Walpole had many fair acquaintances, and with a species of refined gallantry then not entirely out of season, he endeavoured to recommend himself to their good opinion, by publishing his estimate of their attractions. From time immemorial, it has been the VOL. II. B privilege of the poet to draw his inspiration from the personal graces of the more admirable examples of the sex, with whom it may have been his exceeding good fortune to have become intimate. It matters little whether such example be married or single, maid, or widow; neither crusty father, nor jealous husband, nor testy guardian has any right to interfere with the poet's privilege. Where beauty exists, he claims to be her herald, and his blazoning is that which outlasts all others. The Sacharissa of Waller is remembered, while the armorial bearings of Sunderland are forgotten, and the Leonora of Tasso has a prouder and more lasting title to fame, than that derived from the heraldic glories of the House of Este. One of Walpole's happiest attempts at verse was a familiar poem called "The Beauties-an epistle to Mr. Eckardt the painter," in which he remonstrates with the artist for lamenting that the beauties so renowned in classical story, had flourished so long before his time, and refers by name to the numerous females then existing in society, whose personal attractions might successfully rival the fairest of the fair deities of Greece or Rome. This poem, he says, met with marked ssucces: "On Britain's isle observe the fair, And curious, choose your models there, The Who ransacked Greece, and culled the age On your each canvas we'll admire The charms of the whole heavenly choir."* poem contains some prettily turned compliments on his fair contemporaries-not unworthy the pupil of Waller for example, "With her the bright dispensing fair, Such Guido's pencil heavenly tipped In measured dance to tuneful song Heaven's azure 'neath their bright feet spread, The buxom Hours the fairest led."† Although in the autumn of 1743, Walpole is found writing so enthusiastically in praise of a town life, as to assert that if he were a Physician he would "prescribe nothing but Recipe CCCLXV drachm. Londin," he began to sigh for a change. Walpole having already contracted a habit of literary composition, was therefore naturally inclined towards the leisure of retirement. Though extremely partial to London, and not averse to society, the distaste he felt or affected for a political life, and the increasing pleasure he found in cultivating a taste for literature and art, and in forming a collection of *"Lord Orford's Works." Vol. i. p. 20. † Ibid. Page 22. articles of vertu, made him anxious to remove from the perpetual stir of the metropolis to some quiet retreat in the country, where he could, uninterruptedly, pursue the studies that had become so agreeable to him. There was no slight difficulty in the way of obtaining his wishes in this respect for though his inclinations were for a country residence, he could not completely abandon the town. He sought in the suburban villages for the Tusculum which should satisfy all his town-bred wants, while it realized his rural predilections; but a hundred years ago, the travels of a gentleman in search of a villa, were much more protracted than they need be in the present over-built age. Then Chelsea aspired to be a watering place, and Chiswick was considered in the provinces, and though both boasted of country houses, they were not likely to suit a gentleman of education, whose taste had been improved by observations of continental architecture, both Palladian and Gothic. Now, any of our fashionable auctioneers and land-agents can show an almost endless list of villa residences in every desirable locality-and difficult indeed to please must be the individual who is not to be satisfied out of such a selection. For a short time Horace rented a small house at Windsor, but the beauty of its neighbourhood could not counterbalance its want of sufficient accommodation. It was also found to be at too great a distance from town, and he gave it up, and looked out for a more convenient residence. Till this was discovered, he contented himself with his house in Arlington Street, where he pursued his literary and artistic studies, with facilities he could not expect to meet in the country. Though the death of the Earl of Orford had apparently extinguished all political aspirations in his youngest son, Horace still continued to perform his duties in Parliament, and to enter into the party questions and party intrigues which were then carried on, with as much animosity as in the most stirring portion of the Walpole rule. At the general election, in the year 1747, Horace was again elected a member for Callington, and for several subsequent years he became one of the most active among the minor pieces in the political game then being played. There is little question that he took this trouble upon himself, less with a prospect of advancing his own interests, than with a hope of causing annoyance to the leading members of the party who had driven his father from office. Against them his animosity was very great; its intensity may be imagined from the fact that for several years it overpowered his repugnance to a public life; and though often expressing his distaste for a parliamentary career, he not only in his correspondence enters into the most copious details respecting the business before both Houses of Parliament, but commenced a regular record of the political events of the year-particularly devoting himself to the task of reporting the debates in the House of Commons. In the meantime he continued his search for a |