Nor need it be concealed that, like Gray the poet, he was averfe to the degraded imputation of being an author, By foliciting mock fubfcriptions for works, never, thank heaven! to be published, and by other mean and devious devices, the character of author had, about the time of his birth, incurred confiderable contempt. The fafhion of the court, under the first and fecond George, muft alfo have had its weight with a young man of fashion, the fon of their favourite minifter; and one fuch expreffion as that of the late Duke of Cumberland to the late Mr. Gibbon*, would have effectually ftifled all Mr. Walpole's literary exertions. In another point of view, the character of author was beneath Mr. Walpole's pretenfions. Ancient pedigree, high birth from à family to which nobility was the more dear as it was the recent reward of fuperior merit, continual motion in the first spheres of life, the refpect and deference paid to his father and family by all the pride and all the wealth in the land, were confiderations which few minds could have overcome; and it is no wonder that the very name of Walpole was confidered as an inali *Soon after Gibbon published his laft volumes, he attended at the duke's levee, who faluted him with this elegant flattery, "What! Mr. Gibbon, till fcribble, fcribble ?" inalienable inheritance of fame, which the dubious celebrity of an author might have endangered, but could not have incrcafed. The whig aristocracy, to which Mr. Walpole belonged, never yielded to the tory ariftocracy in the claims of family pride and ambition: the favourite idol, Power, was equally adored by both; the radical difference was on what pedestal to place it, on popular liberty, or popular flavery. Mr. Walpole's fafhionable life, and repeated refidences at Paris, foftered these inborn ideas; and the celebrity of lineage continued, unfufpectedly, to maintain a weight far fuperior to the mean and modern glory of talents. But, as Voltaire told Congreve," Had you been only a private gentleman, I fhould have fpared this vifit, which arifes folely from your fame as an author," fo Mr. Walpole's birth and death might have been limited to a monumental infcription, if his mind had not opened a path to a fu perior emanation of fame. By this inmortal claim, he, who might have flumbered in a peerage, afpires to a nich in the Biographia Britannica; if a lively writer, wearing his own hair, may have any claim among the frizzled wigs of fo many famous parfons, hierarchic and prefbyterian. Horace *All men famous in their generation," says Holy Writ. A fin Horace Walpole was born in the year 1717; the month and day may be traced in fome one of the peerages, by any idle perfon who has got fuch books. gular alliance joined his father, a decided whig, with the daughter of John Shorter, Efq. the fon of Sir John Shorter, arbitrarily appointed mayor of London by the fpecial favour of James II. Horace was the third, and youngeft, fon of this marriage. On the death of this his first wife, Sir Robert Walpole wedded Maria Skerret, who bore only a daughter, Lady Maria. Eton fchool imparted the firft literary tinge to the mind of Horace Walpole, who here formed his acquaintance with Gray the poet, a name ever to be eminent, while genius and literature are revered by mankind. About the year 1734 both proceeded to complete their education at Cambridge. Mr. Walpole was of King's College; and his verfes in memory of Henry VI. the founder, dated Feb. 1738, may be regarded as his first production, and no unfavourable omen of his future abilities. In the fummer of that year, Mr. Walpole, now arrived at majority, was appointed infpector-general of the exports and imports; a place which he foon after exchanged for the finecure office of ufher of the Exchequer, worth three thousand pounds |