NOTES

UNPUBLISHED LETTER OF HORACE WALPOLE

I have the pleasure of inclosing to you (I believe) an unpublished
letter of Horace Walpole's. It was found among the papers of the late
William Parsons, one of the Della Cruscan poets. That it is genuine I
have no doubt. The handwriting is precisely similar to a note sent with
a copy of the _Mysterious Mother_ to Mr. Parsons, in which Horace
Walpole writes, "he is unwilling to part with a copy without protesting
against his own want of judgment in selecting so disgusting a subject;
the absurdity of which he believes makes many faults of which he is
sensible in the execution overlooked." It is also guaranteed by its
date,--"Paris, July 28. 1771." By reference to his correspondence with
Sir H. Mann (vol. ii. p. 163.), we find a letter dated July 6, 1771, in
which he writes, "I am not gone; I do go to-morrow;" and in his _General
Correspondence_, vol. v. p. 303., writing to John Chute, his letter is
dated from Amiens, July 9. 1771, beginning, "I am got no farther yet;"
and he returned to Arlington Street, September 6. 1771, having arrived
at Paris on the 10th of July, and quitted it on the 2nd of September. I
notice the dates, as they indicate the rate of travelling in some degree
at that period. The Query is, to whom was it addressed? There is nothing
on the original to indicate the person. The letter is of no great
importance, except as it shows that Walpole, under certain conditions of
being, was more earnest and sincere than perhaps was in his nature, or
was generally his wont.

SPENCER HALL.