be remembered to you. Adieu, my dear Lord, pour aujourd'hui. I have
no chance of hearing from you by this post, the letters having come
yesterday; so God bless you. I am ever most sincerely and
affectionately yours.

(76) Richard Rigby (1722-1788). A prominent politician, he was for
many years Paymaster of the Forces; but was a coarse, hard-drinking
place-man.

(77) Horace Walpole (1717-1797) was the fourth and youngest son of
Sir Robert Walpole. He was Selwyn's lifelong friend. His biographers
place him at Eton with Selwyn, the two Conways, George and Charles
Montagu, the poet Gray, Richard West, and Thomas Ashton. On leaving
Cambridge he made the continental tour with Gray, but after two
years of travel together they disagreed and separated for the
homeward journey. In 1747 he bought Strawberry Hill, which he
transformed into his Gothic Castle, ornamenting the interior with
objects of beauty or curiosity. In 1757 he set up his private
printing press, where he brought out Gray's poems and other
interesting English and French publications, beside his own
productions, which culminated in "The Castle of Otranto," a
departure in fiction beginning the modern romantic revival. In 1765
he visited Paris, where he went much into society, and when his
celebrated friendship with Mme. du Deffand began. He helped to
embitter Rousseau against Hume by the mock letter from Frederick the
Great offering him an asylum in Germany. In 1789, nine years after
Mme. du Deffand's death, he met the two sisters, Agnes and Mary
Berry, who came to live near him at little Strawberry, which he left
them at his death. He succeeded his nephew as fourth Lord Orford in
1791, but he preferred the name which he had made more widely known,
and signed himself "Horace Walpole, uncle of the late Earl of
Orford." The celebrated letters begin as early as 1735 and extend to
1797. Walpole never married.

(78) "Historic Doubts on Richard the Third."

(79) The Duke of Grafton.

(80) Hugh, second Duke of Northumberland (1742-1817).

(81) Stephen Fox.

[1768,] Feb. 16, Tuesday morning, Newmarket.--I have just finished a
long letter, which, when I came to sand, I have, par distraction,
covered all over with ink. I came down here on Saturday with March
to meet the Duke of Grafton, who by the by only stayed here that
night, and then went to Bury, so that I have scarce seen him.

We are at Vernon's house, that is, dinner and supper; which he has
bought