"some of his friends represented to
him the risk which he ran by sitting on an illegal tribunal, he was not
ashamed to answer that he could not live out of the royal smile."]

If these details, Sir, which I should have thought interesting to no
mortal but myself, should happen to amuse you, I shall be glad; if they
do not, you will learn not to question a man who thinks it his duty to
satisfy the curiosity of men of sense and honour, and who, being of too
little consequence to have secrets, is not ambitious of the less
consequence of appearing to have any.

P.S.--I must ask you one question, but to be answered entirely at your
leisure. I have a play in rhyme called "Saul," said to be written by a
peer. I guess Lord Orrery. If ever you happen to find out, be so good to
tell me.

_WALPOLE'S MONUMENT TO SIR HORACE'S BROTHER--ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF
THE KING OF PORTUGAL--COURTESY OF THE DUC D'AIGUILLON TO HIS ENGLISH
PRISONERS._

TO SIR HORACE MANN.

STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 24, 1758.

It is a very melancholy present I send you here, my dear Sir; yet,
considering the misfortune that has befallen us, perhaps the most
agreeable I could send you. You will not think it the bitterest tear you
have shed when you drop one over this plan of an urn inscribed with the
name of your dear brother, and with the testimonial of my eternal
affection to him! This little monument is at last placed over the pew of
your family at Linton [in Kent], and I doubt whether any tomb was ever
erected that spoke so much truth of the departed, and flowed from so
much sincere friendship in the living. The thought was my own, adopted
from the antique columbaria, and applied to Gothic. The execution of the
design was Mr. Bentley's, who alone, of all mankind, could unite the
grace of Grecian architecture and the irregular lightness and solemnity
of Gothic. Kent and many of our builders sought this, but have never
found it. Mr. Chute, who has as much taste as Mr. Bentley, thinks this
little sketch a perfect model. The soffite is more beautiful than
anything of either style separate. There is a little error in the
inscription; it should be _Horatius Walpole posuit_. The urn is of
marble, richly polished; the rest of stone. On the whole, I think there
is simplicity and decency, with a degree of ornament that destroys
neither.

What do you say in Italy on the assassination of the King of
Portugal?[1] Do you believe that Portuguese subjects lift the