rthday

73. TO THE EARL OF HERTFORD, _Dec._ 29, 1763.--The ordinary way of Life
in England--Wilkes--C. Townshend--Count Lally--Lord Clive--Lord
Northington--Louis Le Bien Aime--The Drama in France

74. TO MONTAGU, _Jan._11, 1764.--A New Year's Party at Lady
Suffolk's--Lady Temple, Poetess Laureate to the Muses

75. TO MANN, _Jan._ 18, 1764.--Marriage of the Prince of Brunswick: His
Popularity

76. TO THE EARL OF HERTFORD, _Feb._ 6, 1764.--Gambling Quarrels--Mr.
Conway's Speech

77. TO THE SAME, _Feb._ 15, 1764.--Account of the Debate on the General
Warrant

78. TO MANN, _June_ 8, 1764.--Lord Clive--Mr. Hamilton, Ambassador to
Naples--Speech of Louis XV.

79. TO THE SAME, _Aug._ 13, 1764.--The King of Poland--Catherine of
Russia

80. TO THE EARL OF HERTFORD, _Oct._ 5, 1764.--Madame De Boufflers'
Writings--King James's Journal

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

I. HORACE WALPOLE

From an engraving after a sketch by Sir THOS. LAWRENCE, P.R.A.

II. SIR HORACE MANN

III. STRAWBERRY HILL, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST

IV. GEORGE MONTAGU

V. THE LIBRARY, STRAWBERRY HILL

VI. HORACE WALPOLE

From a picture in the National Portrait Gallery, by NATHANIEL HONE, R.A.

INTRODUCTION.

It is creditable to our English nobility, and a feature in their
character that distinguishes them from their fellows of most other
nations, that, from the first revival of learning, the study of
literature has been extensively cultivated by men of high birth, even by
many who did not require literary fame to secure them a lasting
remembrance; and they have not contented themselves with showing their
appreciation of intellectual excellence by their patronage of humbler
scholars, but have themselves afforded examples to other labourers in
the hive, taking upon themselves the toils, and earning no small nor
undeserved share of the honours of authorship. The very earliest of our
poets, Chaucer, must have been a man of gentle birth, since he was
employed on embassies of importance, and was married to the daughter of
a French knight of distinction, and sister of the Duchess of Lancaster.
The long civil wars of the fifteenth century prevented his having any
immediate followers; but the sixteenth opened more propitiously. The
conqueror of Flodden was also "Surrey of the deathless lay";[1] and from
his time to the present day there is hardly a break in the long line of
authors who have shown their feeling that noble birth and high positi