ful in collecting gossip as curios. He also erected a private
press, from which various important works, including Gray's _Bard_, as
well as his own writings, were issued. Among the latter are _Letter from
Xo Ho to his Friend Lien Chi at Pekin_ (1757), _The Castle of Otranto_,
the forerunner of the romances of terror of Mrs. Radcliffe and "Monk"
Lewis, _The Mysterious Mother_ (1768), a tragedy of considerable power,
_Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors_, _Anecdotes of Painting_,
_Catalogue of Engravers_ (1763), _Essay on Modern Gardening_, _Memoirs of
the Last Ten Years of George II._, _Memoirs of the Reign of George III._,
and above all his _Letters_, 2700 in number, vivacious, interesting, and
often brilliant. W. never _m._

WALPOLE, SIR SPENCER (1839-1907).--Historian, _s._ of the Right Hon.
Spencer W., Home Sec. in the three Derby Cabinets, belonged to the same
family as Sir Robert W. _Ed._ at Eton he became a clerk in the War
Office, and was thereafter successively Inspector of Fisheries 1867,
Lieutenant-Governor of the Isle of Man 1882, and Sec. to the Post Office,
where he made a reputation as an efficient administrator, and was made
K.C.B. in 1898. He _pub._ _History of England from_ 1815 in 6 vols.,
bringing the story down to 1858, and followed it up with _The History of
Twenty-five Years_. He also wrote Lives of Spencer Percival, Prime
Minister 1809-12, who was assassinated in the lobby of the House of
Commons in the latter year, and who was his maternal grandfather, and of
Earl Russell. His latest book was _Studies in Biography_. He wrote with
much knowledge, and in a clear and sober style.

WALTON, IZAAK (1593-1683).--Biographer, and author of _The Compleat
Angler_, _s._ of a yeoman, was _b._ at Stafford. Of his earlier years
little is known. He carried on business as a hosier in London, in which
he made a modest competence, which enabled him to retire at 50, the rest
of his long life of 90 years being spent in the simple country pleasures,
especially angling, which he so charmingly describes. He was twice _m._,
first to Rachel Floud, a descendant of Archbishop Cranmer, and second to
Ann Ken, half-sister of the author of the Evening Hymn. His first book
was a _Life of Dr. Donne_ (1640), followed by Lives of Sir Henry Wotton
(1651), Richard Hooker (1662), George Herbert (1670), and Bishop
Sanderson (1678). All of these, classics in their kind, short, but simple
and striking, were _coll._ into one vol. Hi