own table, but I may go so far as to say I like my own cook better than anybody else's. A nephew of the Neapolitan ambassador here goes away to-night, and will soon be in England. He is a Prince Raffadali. Some months hence I shall probably trouble some of my friends with recommendations of Count Fernan Nunez, to whom I shall with pleasure do any good office; you will perhaps call this a retainer. I hope you will know him. I am very likely to trouble March upon this account. I beg my best compliments to him. I was not at all surprised to hear from you that you had received real marks of his friendship for you during your illness. We have here a Duc d'Havre and a M. Montpelier; the former has Flemish relations here, and is himself a grandee, and a bore. He is nephew to the Prince of Croy, but I beg pardon for telling you who any Frenchman's uncle is, as you have their genealogy by heart. At this time of the year I can say nothing of the club, who are probably dispersed and distressed all over the face of the country. Whatever scattered anecdotes you can pick up of them I shall be very glad to have. I beg occasionally to be remembered to any of them, and to assure you that one of the pleasures which I look forward to is that of seeing them altogether again. If you lived in this country you would not think this a great compliment; but you may be assured that, even in England, I rejoice at every occasion in which I can tell you how sincerely I am Yours, GRANTHAM. P. S. My brother desires his best compliments to you. The Hon. Horace Walpole to George Selwyn. YORK, Aug. 12, 1772. DEAR GEORGE:-I love to please you when it is in my power, and how can I please you more than by commending Castle Howard? for though it is not the house that Jack built, yet you love even the cow with the crumpled horn that feeds in the meadow that belongs to the house that Jack's grandfather built. Indeed, I can say with exact truth, that I never was so agreeably astonished in my days as with the first vision of the whole place. I had heard of Vanbrugh, and how Sir Thomas Robinson and he stood spitting and swearing at one another; nay, I had heard of glorious views, and Lord Strafford alone had told me I should see one of the finest places in Yorkshire; but nobody, no, not votre partialité, as Louis Quatorze would have called you, had informed me that I should at one view see a palace, a town, a fortified city, temples on high places, woods worthy of being each a metropolis of the Druids, vales connected to hills by other woods, the noblest lawn in the world fenced by half the horizon, and a mausoleum that would tempt one to be buried alive; in short, I have seen gigantic places before, but never a sublime one. For the house, Vanbrugh has even shown taste in its extent and cupolas, and has mercifully omitted ponderosity. Sir Thomas's front is beautiful without, and, except in one or two spots, has not a bad effect, and I think, without much effort of genius, or much expense, might be tolerably harmonised with the rest. The spaces within are noble, and were wanted; even the hall being too small. Now I am got into the hall I must beg, when you are in it next, to read Lord Carlisle's verses on Gray, and then write somewhere under the story of Phaeton these lines, which I ought to have made extempore, but did not till I was half-way back hither: "Carlisle, expunge the form of Phaeton; Oh, George, were I such a poet as your friend, and possessed such a Parnassus, I would instantly scratch my name out of the buttery-book of Almack's; be admitted, ad eundem, among the Muses; and save every doit to lay out in making a Helicon, and finishing my palace. I found my Lord Northampton: his name is on his picture, though they showed me his nephew 'Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, so celebrated for his share in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, died June 15, 1614. Suffolk's portrait, who was much fatter, for his. There is a delicious whole-length of Queen Mary, with all her folly in her face and her hand, and a thousand other things, which I long to talk over with you. When you write to Spa, pray thank Lord Carlisle for the great civilities I received here. The housekeeper showed me and told me everything, and even was so kind as to fetch Rosette a basin of water, which completed the conquest of my heart. Wine I was offered, and fruit was heaped on me, and even dinner was tendered; in short, I never passed a day more to my content. I only wanted you, and I should have been as happy as I was at Iceaux ; you know my ecstasies when I am really pleased. By the end of next week I shall be in town, and hope to find you there, that we may satisfy both ourselves with larger details. When I mentioned the attentions paid to me, I am ungrateful to forget the sun, who was complaisance itself, shone all day, gilt an hundred haycocks that were spread over the great lawn, and illuminated the mausoleum during my dinner. And now, will you tell me that Lord Carlisle is not nearer related to him than some folks thought? Let me tell you, this is much better authenticated than his lordship's priority to Howard of Corbie, in which you are mistaken, and so good night. Yours most cordially, HOR. WALPOLE. The Hon. Horace Walpole to George Selwyn. Monday night, 9 o'clock. DEAR SIR:-I am so much enjoined silence, that it is the more necessary for me to speak to you. I am utterly incapable of writing to Paris: I have nobody to write for me, and am not allowed to dictate above two or three lines. It would oblige me infinitely if that might be to you, either at the beginning or end of your letter, if you write to-morrow. One at noon, or seven in the evening, are the cleverest hours for me, - but I must not choose. Yours, etc., To G. A. Selwyn, Esq., Chesterfield Street. H. W. The Hon. Horace Walpole to George Selwyn. DEAR SIR: As I have more gout to-day, and am not able to stir out of my bedchamber, which is up two pair of stairs, and where it is not proper to receive her, I must decline the honour you flattered me with of seeing Lady Holland, till I can get down-stairs again; but I hope that will not hinder you from calling on me, whenever you have nothing better to do. The Earl of Carlisle to George Selwyn. CASTLE HOWARD, Friday [1772]. MY DEAR GEORGE :-I intended writing by the last post, but was so tired with hunting that I |