ities which he
undoubtedly possessed, seemed to re-appear as soon as the pressure of
party feeling was withdrawn. He was fast declining in health when the
insurrection of 1745 was impending. He had warned the country of its
danger in his last speech, one of the finest ever made in the House of
Lords: after that effort his voice was heard no more. The gallant,
unfortunate Charles Edward was then at Paris, and that scope of old
experience

----'which doth attain
To somewhat of prophetic strain,'

showed the ex-minister of Great Britain that an invasion was at hand. It
was on this occasion that Frederick, Prince of Wales, took Sir Robert,
then Lord Orford, by the hand, and thanked him for his zeal in the cause
of the royal family. Walpole returned to Norfolk, but was summoned again
to London to afford the ministry the benefit of his counsels. Death,
however, closed his prosperous, but laborious life. He suffered agonies
from the stone; large doses of opium kept him in a state of stupor, and
alone gave him ease; but his strength failed, and he was warned to
prepare himself for his decease. He bore the announcement with great
fortitude, and took leave of his children in perfect resignation to his
doom. He died on the 28th of March, 1745.

Horace Walpole--whatsoever doubts may rest on the fact of his being Lord
Orford's son or not--writes feelingly and naturally upon this event, and
its forerunner, the agonies of disease. He seems, from the following
passages in his letters to Sir Horace Mann, to have devoted himself
incessantly to the patient invalid: on his father having rallied, he
thus expresses himself:--

'You have heard from your brother the reason of my not having written to
you so long. I have been out but twice since my father fell into this
illness, which is now near a month, and all that time either continually
in his room, or obliged to see multitudes of people: for it is wonderful
how everybody of all kinds has affected to express their concern for
him! He has been out of danger this week; but I can't say he mended at
all perceptibly till these last three days. His spirits are amazing, and
his constitution more, for Dr. Hulse said honestly from the first, that
if he recovered it would be from his own strength, not from their art.
How much more,' he adds, mournfully, 'he will ever recover, one scarce
dare hope about; for us, he is greatly recovered; for himself--' He then
breaks off.

A month after we