but he enjoyed wealth and honors, and, by the possession of three
sinecures, he lived a life of elegant leisure. He transformed a small
house on the bank of the Thames, at Twickenham, into a miniature castle,
called _Strawberry Hill_, which he filled with curiosities. He held a very
versatile pen, and wrote much on many subjects. Among his desultory works
are: _Anecdotes of Painting in England_, and _AEdes Walpoliana_, a
description of the pictures at Houghton Hall, the seat of Sir Robert
Walpole. He also ranks among the novelists, as the author of _The Castle
of Otranto_, in which he deviates from the path of preceding writers of
fiction--a sort of individual reaction from their portraitures of existing
society to the marvellous and sensational. This work has been variously
criticized; by some it has been considered a great flight of the
imagination, but by most it is regarded as unnatural and full of
"pasteboard machinery." He had immediate followers in this vein, among
whom are Mrs. Aphra Behn, in her _Old English Baron_; and Ann Radcliffe,
in _The Romance of the Forest_, and _The Mysteries of Udolpho_. Walpole
also wrote a work entitled _Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of
Richard III_. But his great value as a writer is to be found in his
_Memoirs_ and varied _Correspondence_, in which he presents photographs of
the society in which he lives. Scott calls him "the best letter-writer in
the language." Among the series of his letters, those of the greatest
historical importance are those addressed to Sir Horace Mann, between 1760
and 1785. Of this series, Macaulay, who is his severest critic, says: "It
forms a connected whole--a regular journal of what appeared to Walpole the
most important transactions of the last twenty years of George II.'s
reign. It contains much new information concerning the history of that
time, the portion of English history of which common readers know the
least."

_John Lord Hervey_, 1696-1743: he is known for his attempts in poetry, and
for a large correspondence, since published; but his chief title to rank
among the contributors to history is found in his _Memoirs of the Court of
George II. and Queen Caroline_, which were not published until 1848. They
give an unrivalled view of the court and of the royal household; and the
variety of the topics, combined with the excellence of description, render
them admirable as aids to understanding the history.

_Sir William Blackstone_, 172