The letters of Horace Walpole [ed. by J. Wright].

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Page 5 - In the evening I sat down and began to write, without knowing, in the least, what I intended to say, or relate. The work grew on my hands, and I grew fond of it.
Page 407 - Roman vase dressed with pink ribbons and myrtles receives the poetry, which is drawn out every festival; six judges of these Olympic games retire and select the brightest compositions, which the respective successful acknowledge, kneel to Mrs. Calliope Miller, kiss her fair hand, and are crowned by it with myrtle, with — I don't know what.
Page 161 - They have boys and girls with charming voices, that sing hymns, in parts, to Scotch ballad tunes ; but indeed so long, that one would think they were already in eternity, and knew how much time they had before them.
Page 123 - The generality of the men, and more than the generality, are dull and empty. They have taken up gravity, thinking it was philosophy and English, and so have acquired nothing in the room of their natural levity and cheerfulness.
Page 162 - Except a few from curiosity, and some honourable women, the congregation was very mean. There was a Scotch Countess of Buchan *, who is carrying a pure rosy vulgar face to heaven, and who asked Miss Rich, if that was the author of the poets. I believe she meant me and the Noble Authors.
Page 403 - The Antiquities of Furness ; or an Account of the Royal Abbey of St. Mary, in the vale of Nightshade, near Dalton, in Furness.
Page 327 - I congratulate you on the late victory of our dear mamma, the Church of England. She had, last Thursday (Feb. 6) 71 rebellious sons, who pretended to set aside her will, on account of insanity; but 217 worthy champions, headed by Lord North, Burke, Hans Stanley, Charles Fox, Godfrey Clarke, &c., supported the validity of it with infinite humour.
Page 197 - These odes are marked by glittering accumulations of ungraceful ornaments; they strike, rather than please; the images are magnified by affectation; the language is laboured into harshness. The mind of the writer seems to work with unnatural violence. "Double, double, toil and trouble.
Page 110 - Mr. Hume carries this letter and Rousseau to England. I wish the former may not repent having engaged with the latter, who contradicts and quarrels with all mankind, in order to obtain their admiration. I think both his means and his end below such a genius. If I had talents like his, I should despise •any suffrage below my own standard, and should blush to owe any part of my fame to singularities and affectations. But great parts seem like high towers erected on high mountains, the more exposed...
Page 162 - Wesley is a lean elderly man, fresh-coloured, his hair smoothly combed, but with a soupfon of curl at the ends. Wondrous clean, but as evidently an actor as Garrick. He spoke his sermon, but so fast, and with so little accent, that I am sure he has often uttered it, for it was like a lesson. There were parts and eloquence in it ; but towards the end he exalted his voice, and acted very ugly enthusiasm ; decried learning, and told stories, like Latimer, of the fool of his college, who said,

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