ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. In a late number of the Quarterly Review, in an article entitled "Horace Walpole," the Reviewer, in the course of an estimate which he makes of the character and talents of Walpole, takes the opportunity of indulging in some strictures on what he calls "his scandalous attempts at increasing his already enormous sinecure income;" observing, "so completely had this man, so shrewd and sharp-sighted in detecting the follies of others, blinded himself, or fancied he had blinded the world to his real motives, that we find that during the long life in which he enjoyed five sinecure offices, pruducing him at least six thousand three hundred pounds a year, he was not ashamed to inveigh bitterly against the abuses of Ministerial patronage, and to profess with astonishing effrontery, that the one virtue which he possessed in a singular degree, was disinterestedness and contempt of money." How far this censure was merited, both as regards the number of places held and the amount of public money received by Horace Walpole (for the whole of which he was solely indebted to his father Sir Robert,) and especially as regards the spirit in which he viewed the matter himself, will be seen by the detailed account of his income given in the Fourth Volume of this series of letters. As Walpole may fairly be presumed to be the best judge of the extent of his own ways and means, his statement, plain and straightforward as it is, will, we take for granted, be considered quite sufficient refutation. With regard to the assertion that "Mr. Pelham and the Duke of Newcastle forfeited his favour by refusing to do a very profligate pecuniary job for him," it will be found that in the Memoir to which we have just been alluding, mention is made of this "job ;" and certainly, as Walpole states it, we can discover nothing "profligate" in the character of the transaction. But inaccuracy of statement is not the only defect to be found in the Reviewer's article. Speaking of the peculiarities of Horace Walpole's Letters, he likens them, among other productions, to the "Annual Register," and "Hansard's Debates!" And yet, in the very same page in which he institutes this strange comparison, he confesses that 66 no painter was ever more ready to sacrifice accuracy of details to a tone of colour than Walpole, and he carries this system of embellishment to a degree that diminishes, even in indifferent matters, our confidence in his veracity. Whenever he takes offence, he distorts facts, discolours motives, and disparages persons with the most ingenious and inveterate malignity." In another page it is added, "to look to Walpole for strict accuracy and impartiality would be to expect from a harlequin the gait and garb of an undertaker." Now, it is well known, that the chief-and indeed the sole-merit of the "Annual Register," and more especially of Hansard's Debates," is that they uniformly maintain a tone of scrupulous impartiality, and are mere matter-of-fact chronicles, nothing more. And yet the Works of a man who, we are told, "sacrifices accuracy of details to a system of embellishment," and whose "veracity" cannot be relied on, are coolly and gravely compared to these two most rigidly faithful records of modern times! LONDON, April, 1844. LETTERS FROM THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE TO SIR HORACE MANN. LETTER CCLXII. Arlington Street, Dec. 20, 1776. I CANNOT write to you myself, my dear sir, for I have the gout in my right hand and wrist, and feel enough of it about me to fear that it will make its general tour; which, by this third year's experience, seems to have grown annual instead of bienial: however, I am still so partial to the bootikins, as to believe that it is they that save me from having near so much pain as other gouty people complain of; and, while I do not suffer much, there is no great hardship in an old man's being confined to his own house. It is not, however, to talk of myself that I send you this; but to tell you that I have received your letter for Lord North, and, as I could not carry it myself, I sent it to him by a friend, and do not doubt but so just a request will be attended to. It looks very much as if we should know soon whether America is to be subdued or saved by a French war. We heard on Tuesday last that Dr. Franklin himself was landed in France-no equivocal step;* and on Wednesday came a full explanation. General Howe had made two movements, which threatened enclosing Washington, and cutting him off from his magazines: a small engagement ensued, in which the Americans were driven from a post without much loss on either side. Washington has since retired with his whole army to other heights, * In September, 1776, three Commissioners were appointed by Congress to take charge of the affairs of America in Europe, and endeavour to procure a treaty of alliance with France. The Commissioners were Dr. Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee. The Commission continued till February, 1778, when a treaty of amity and commerce, and also a treaty of alliance, were concluded, and Dr. Franklin appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of France.-ED. VOL. II.-3 about five miles off, seeming to intend to protract the war, as was always thought would be their wisest way; but, as the Americans do not behave very heroically, and as the King's fleet will now be masters of the coast, it is supposed that Washington must retire northward, and that the Howes will make great progress in the south, if not prevented by the rigour of the season. As nearly as I can make out, Dr. Franklin must have sailed a day or two after Washington's retreat;* and therefore it is natural to conclude that he is come to tell France, that she must directly interpose and protect the Americans, or that the Americans must submit to such terms as they can obtain. If I am not wrong in my reasons, the question is thus brought to a short issue, and there I leave it. I am never fond of speculations, and not at all so when I am not quite well. Adieu! LETTER CCLXIII. Arlington Street, Jan. 24, 1777. In my last, a month ago, I told you I had the gout. It is now gone, and I have been once out to take the air. As I love to make the best of every thing, I call this a short and favourable fit, having, from its first moment to my airing, lasted but six weeks; and, though I had it `in both hands, wrists, and elbows, there was not much pain for above thirty hours; and my feet escaped. These douceurs I attribute to the bootikins. It is true that, for the last three years, the fits have been annual, instead of biennial; but if they are split into more frequent, though much shorter portions, I must still be satisfied; for could I go through five months and a half of pain? I am already so shattered with these attacks, that my nerves are as alarmable as the sensitive plant. The clapping of a door makes me start and tremble; and yet I don't Washington's retreat took place about the 20th of October, and Dr. Franklin sailed from Philadelphia on the 26th, and reached Paris on the 21st of December. Madame du Deffand, in a letter to Walpole of the 18th, says, "The object of M. Franklin's visit remains a problem; and what is still more singular, no body can tell whether he is actually in Paris or not. For the last three or four days, we have been told in the morning that he had arrived, and in the evening that he had not yet come." On the 22nd she again wrote, "Yesterday Franklin arrived at two in the afternoon. He slept the night before at Versailles. He was accompanied by two of his grandsons, one seven years old, the other seventeen, and by his friend, M. Penet. He has taken lodgings in the Rue de l'Université.”—En. Mr. Burke, in a letter of the 6th of January, to the Marquis of Rockingham, throws out the following conjecture as to the object of Franklin's visit. "I persuade myself he is come to Paris to draw from that Court a definitive and satisfactory answer concerning the support of the Colonies. If he cannot get such an answer (and I am of the opinion that, at present, he cannot,) then it is to be presumed he is authorized to negotiate with Lord Stormont on the basis of dependence on the Crown. This I take to be his errand; for I never can believe that he has come thither as a fugitive from his cause in the hour of its distress, or that he is going to conclude a long life, which has brightened every hour it has continued, with so foul and dishonourable a flight."-ED. |