had been adverse to the person or administration of Sir Robert
Walpole. This, though an amiable feeling, occasionally
carries him too far in his invectives, and renders him unjust
in his judgments.

"The answers of Sir Horace Mann are also preserved at
Strawberry Hill: they are very voluminous, but particularly
devoid of interest, as they are written in a dry heavy style,
and consist almost entirely of trifling details of forgotten
Florentine society, mixed with small portions of Italian
political news of the day, which are even still less amusing
than the former topic. They have, however, been found useful
to refer to occasionally, in order to explain allusions in the
letters of Walpole.

"Sir Horace Mann was a contemporary and early friend of Horace
Walpole. (2) He was the second son of Robert Mann, of Linton,
in the county of Kent, Esq. He was appointed in 1740 minister
plenipotentiary from England to the court of Florence-a post
he continued to occupy for the long period of forty-six years,
till his death, at an advanced age, November 6, 1786. In 1755
he was created a baronet, with remainder to the issue of his
brother Galfridus Mann, and, in the reign of George the Third,
a knight of the Bath. It will be observed that Walpole calls
his correspondent Mr. Mann, whereas the title-pages of' these
volumes, and all the notes which have been added by the editor
designate him as Sir Horace Mann. This latter appellation is
undoubtedly, in the greater part of the correspondence, an
anachronism, as Sir Horace Mann was not made a baronet till
the year 1755; but, as he is best known to the world under