"I have heard an oyster speak as well, twenty times," On one occasion, in the House, the worthy citizen shone out with peculiar lustre. In combating some proposition which was founded merely on the copy of a letter, the original being lost, the worthy Knight demanded if the copy had been taken before or after the loss of the original!

The state of the political world at this juncture cannot be better described than it is in a few poetical lines composed by Sir Charles Hanbury Williams.

03 90166 By Scotland art thou doom'd to be undone! 919VO But Scotland now, to strike alone afraid, itleyo Calls in her worthy sister Cornwall's† aid; And these two common strumpets, hand in hand, Tova tud; bih bus 120 Walk forth, and preach up virtue through the land; bu bo who broJ tyr Start at corruption, at a bribe turn pale, edeam galışındɔ teom amoabShudder at pensions, and at placemen rail. uzar enst bus didgid eid bas Peace, peace! ye wretched hypocrites; or rather, 711919 With Job, say to Corruption, Thou 'rt our Father.

But how will Walpole justify his fate?s Fan odybas ***He trusted Islay+, till it was too late. *en of Where were those parts! where was that piercing mind That judgment, and that knowledge of mankind! To trust a Traitor that he knew so well! brer(Strange truth! betray'd, but not deceived, he fell!)

block Knew him the tool, and Brother of Argyll!

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He knew his heart was, like his aspect, vile;`adi boril 15 of 9a5 iste tesy div Yet to his hands his power and hopes gave up; od dynod sved od And, though he saw 'twas poison, drank the cups to obsto Trusted to One he never could think true,i es And perished by a villain that he knew.'Vol. ip.115 We follow our pleasant guide over the series of letters, marking out as usual the green spots where we can invite our readers to delay with us. It will be seen that he spares no one when a jest is to be made; king and beggar, rustic and nobleman, all alike are obliged to pay tribute to the genius of his humour.Amongst the good things mentioned of Lord Lincoln, is his sending once De jodi Aducat

him

*Alluding to the Grand Rebellion against Charles the First. The Parliament which overthrew Sir R. W. was carried against by his losing the majority of the Scotch and Cornish boroughs; the latter managed by Lord Falmouth and T. Pitt.'

Archibald Campbell, Earl of Islay, brother of John Duke of Argyll, in conjunction with whom (though then openly at variance) he was supposed to have betrayed Sir R. W., and to have let the Opposition succeed in the Scotch elections, which were trusted to his management. It must be observed that Sir R. W. would never allow that he believed himself betrayed by Lord Islay.'

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to the Duke of Richmond, that he would come and dine with his Grace, and begged of him to know if he would allow him to bring Lord Bury with him to the dinner. Now, the fact, was, that the Lord Bury was the Duke's nephew; so the Duke replied, that Lord Bury might bring him (Lord Lincoln) if he pleased. Walpole used to complain of Englishmen who travelled abroad coming to him and annoying him with their affectation. Prideaux, whom he describes as" that oaf of unlicked antiquity," and his son visited the author; and Walpole asked him if he had seen Stosch's collection in Italy. He replied-Very few of his things, for he did not like his company; that he never heard so much heathenish talk in his days. I inquired, says Walpole, what it was, and found that Stosch had one day said before him, that the soul was only a little glue. I laughed so much, that he walked off; I suppose; thinking that I believed so too. to noitroqzib

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Sometimes he notices, the commonest events which occurred in the streets; and, on one occasion, he describes a man who walks about the streets on stilts so high, as that he can peep into all the one pair of stairs windows. If this practice becomes general, says he,, our drawing-rooms will be quite as moral as our churches. This statement appears to justify the belief that the lower orders of the metropolis had not as yet got rid of that barbarous spirit for which they were so disgracefully distinguished at an earlier period; but should any doubt of this view remain, it will be speedily removed by reading the following anecdote given by our author There has lately been the most shocking scene of murder imaginable; a parcel of drunken constables took it into their heads to put the laws in execution against disorderly persons, and so took up every woman they met, till they had col lected five or six-and-twenty; all of whom they thrust into St. Martin's round-house, where they kept them all night, with doors and windows closed. The poor creatures, who could not stir or breathe, screamed as long as they had any breath left, begging at least for water: one poor wretch said she was worth eighteen pence, and would gladly give it for a draught of water, but in vain! So well did they keep them there, that in the morning four were found stifled to death, two died soon after, and a dozen more are in a shocking way. In short, it is horrid i to think what the poor creatures suffered; several of them were beggars, who, from having no lodging, were necessarily found in the street, and others honest labouring women: one of the dead was a poor washerwoman, big with child, who was returning home! late from washing. One of the constables is taken, and others s absconded; but I question if any of them will suffer death, though the greatest criminals in this town are the officers of justice; there! is no tyranny they do not exercise, no villainy of which they do) not partake. These same men, the same night, broke into a 01 16dw holedar Food end iftis anolui of

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bagnio at Covent-Garden, and took up Jack Spencer, Mr. Stewart, and Lord George Graham, and would have thrust them into the round-house with the poor women, if they had not been worth more than eighteen-pence! won at 23. qua brod sloFrom an anecdote of another kind, we learn that the members of the two houses of Parliament were each very jealous of a member of one coming into the other, and it was the regular practice for the Commons when they saw a peer in their house to cry out withdraw! withdraw In a letter, dated May 26th, 1742, Walpole writes that two nights before Ranelagh Gardens were opened at Chelsea, the Prince, Princess, Duke, much nobility, and much mob besides, were there. There is a vast amphitheatre, finely gilt, painted, and illuminated, into which everybody that loves eating, drinking, staring, or crowding, is admitted for twelvepence. The building and disposition of the gardens costs sixteen thousand pounds. Twice a week there are to be Ridottos, at guinea tickets, for which you are to have a supper and music. I was there last night, but did not find the joy of it! Vauxhall is a little better, for the garden is plea santer, and one goes by water. 11 Lewobi & true to any ono sit ils . But undoubtedly one of the most impudent things that ever was printed, was a document published at this time, under the designation of the Irish Register. This was a catalogue, in full, of the names of all the unmarried women then in England, from the Duchess Dowager, down to the humblest family in genteel life. This was intended as a sort of book of reference for Irish fortune hunters, or, as the compiler of it facetiously pretended, a book for the incorporating and manufacturing of British commodities. An excellent caricature is next given by Walpole of an eccentric, called John Scrope. He was a little testy, and old, and was very obstinate and perfectly intractable. He had engaged in early life in Mon mouth's rebellion, and had carried intelligence to Holland on ac count of Moumouth, in the disguise of a female. Having been in the House of Commons, he once pulled a member's nose for something which had been said of him. This man was Secretary of the Treasury, was summoned before a parliamentary committee to give evidence. As a preliminary step, he was under the necessity of going before the Middlesex magistrates to be sworn: "Gentlemen," said he," have you any complaint against me? if you have not, don't you fear that I will prosecute you for enforcing oaths!" However, one of them began to read the oath-" I, John Scrope""I, John Scrope!" said he," I did not say any such thing; but come, however, let's hear the oath;"-" do promise that I will faithfully and truly answer all such questions as shall be asked me by the Committee of Secrets! cy, and they were going on, but Scrope cried out, Hold, holds there is more than I can digest already.' He then went before the Committee, and desired time to consider. Pitt asked him, abruptly, if he wanted a quarter of an hour? he replied, "He did not want to inform either his head or his heart, for both were satisfied what to

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Horace Walpole's Letters to Mann.

do, but that he would ask the King's leave." The Committee did every thing in their power to induce him to swear, but he answered, That he was fourscore years old, and did not care whether he spent the few months he had to live in the Tower, or not; that the last thing he would do, should be to betray the King, and next to him the Earl of Orford."

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In the course of one his letters, Walpole mentions that Sir Robert, in removing from Downing Street, after his resignation, found an old account book belonging to his father, in which his expenses were set down. In three months and ten days, that he was in London one winter as Member of Parliament, he spent-what do you think? sixty-four pounds seven shillings and five pence. There are many articles for Nottingham ale, eighteen pences for dinners, five shilz lings to Bob (now Earl of Orford) and one memorandum of six shillings given in exchange to Mr. Wilkins for his wig-and yet this old man, my grandfather, had two thousand pounds a-year, Norfolk sterling-he little thought that what maintained him for a whole sessions, would scarce serve one of his younger grandsons to buy japan and fans for Princesses at Florence!

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In October, 1742, the country was agitated by the preparations which were set on foot, for a military expedition to Flanders. The King was to have gone, and his court was to be the most magnificent in the world, on this important occasion. The number of napkins alone amounted to nine hundred dozen: six hundred horses under the Duke of Richmond's care alone, were shipped; and one of the officers, the Earl of Bristol's son, had a war-horse, which, with the richest caparisons of any other horse in the expedition, was likewise ornamented with a gold net, to keep out the flies -in winter! Interrupting the course of his military annals for a moment, Walpole informs us of a terrible fracas, which took place at this time, at Kensington Palace. One of the young princesses, in a frolic, pulled the chair from under the Countess Deloraine, as she was sitting in it, and playing at cards. This lady was an English female who been a great favourite of the King, who enjoyed the trick so much, that she came to where his Majesty was sitting, and gave him a similar fall. The King grew angry, and marked his displeasure, by giving all his attentions for some time afterwards to the rival of the Countess, Lady Yarmouth.

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When, in the Parliament, in January, 1743, it was avowed by the ministers that they were much distressed, as to the mode in which they should raise sufficient for the expenses of the state, they made a suggestion, which they afterwards found it necessary. to abandon, to put a new duty on tea, which was to be paid by every housekeeper for all the persons in their families, but, observes Walpole, and the remark is curious as applicable to an era just ninety years ago, tea is so universal, that it would make a greater clamour than wine.

Two personages are mentioned in the letters which close the first

volume, to whom we shall direct the reader's attention. The first was the Princess of Buckingham. She was a natural daughter of James II. by the Countess of Dorchester. The pride of this lady was such as an absolutely to render her subject to an imputation of insanity. She' refused to go to Versailles-for instance, because the Court there rel fused to yield her the consideration due to a Princess of the blood; and whenever she went to Rome, her box at the Opera House was surmounted with royal emblems, such as distinguish crowned heads. When her only son died, she dressed up his corpse, and sent messages to her friends, to say, that if they had a mind to see him lie in state, now was their time, as she would let them in through the back door. When the time approached for his burial, she had the imputdence to send to the old Duchess of Marlborough, the well known Sarah of history, for the loan of the triumphal car on which the body of the illustrious Duke had been previously borne. Sarah, who was just as proud as herself, returned word, that "it had carried my Lord Marlborough, and should never be profaned by any other corpse." This was a humiliating insinuation, which the Princess could not endure, and, to mitigate in some measure her indignation, she communicated to the Duchess of Marlborough that she had engaged with an undertaker to make a finer one for twenty pounds! Shortly before her death, in 1743, her great anxiety was to settle the ceremonial which was to take place at her own funeral; and when she found herself gradually getting weaker, she cried out, "Why won't they send the canopy for me to see? let them send it, though all the tassels be not finished." Even this she outdid, for she extorted on her death-bed a solemn vow from all her ladies that they would not attempt to sit down in the room until she was quite dead Ten peeresses all somehow dashed with royal blood, with two or three countesses, descended from Monmouth, walked at her funeral.

The other personage alluded to, was Theodore, the pretender to the throne of Corsica, whose history is well known. Lord Dover, the editor of these letters, mentions, that after his unsuccessful attempt to obtain the foreign crown, he came to England, where he suffered much from poverty and destitution, and was finally arrested by his creditors, and confined in the King's Bench prison. He was released from thence under the insolvent act, having registered the kingdom of Corsica for the use of his creditors. Shortly after this évent he died, December 11, 1756, and was buried in the churchyard of St. Anne's, Soho, where Horace Walpole erected a marble slab to his memory. He was an adventurer, whose name was Theodore Anthony, Baron Newhoff, and was born at Metz, in 1696. Horace Walpole, who had seen him, describes him as a comely, middle-sized man, very reserved, and affecting much dignity,"

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We may add to these, the case of a wild young Venetian Ambassadress recently imported, who expressed her wonder, when she was introduced to an elderly man, who she was told was going to be mar