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Walpole (HORACE EARL OF OXsha Sir)

HORACE , EARL OF OXsha Sir Robert Walpole; born in London, at Eton, and which he traveled two years on the Con- King's College, Cambridge, on leaving tinent in company with Gray the poet. of Commons and sat for various consti- Returning in 1741 he entered the House tuencies up to 1768.

He always took a lively but superficial interest in politics, to extreme opinions. In 1747 he purchased "Strawberry Hill," near London, where he erected a Gothic villa, laid out the grounds with minute ingenuity, and made it a principal business of his life to adorn and furnish it with objects of curiosity and . His maintenance pointments. In 1757 he established a was provided for by some sinecure apprivate printing press at "Strawberry Hill," at which he printed not only his own works but those of others. In 1791 WALPOLE he succeeded his nephew in the peerage.

He never took his seat in the House of Lords, and appears to have avoided using his title. The works of Horace Walpole are numerous; but his fame as a writer rests on his "Letters" and "Memoirs."

The former are held to be unsurpassed HORACE WALPOLE in the English language, and both are highly interesting and valuable as a storehouse of the more evanescent traits of contemporary history. His romance, "The Castle of Otranto," is also well known. He died in London, March 2, 1797.