BIB_ID
136604
Accession number
MA 497.38
Creator
Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797.
Display Date
undated.
Credit line
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan before 1904.
Description
1 item (3 p.), bound ; 23.2 cm
Notes
Part of a collection of the correspondence of Horace Walpole to various recipients including Henry Seymour Conway, Benjamin Ibbot and Horace Mann and with a small number of miscellaneous writings and copies of the writings of others. Items in the collection have been described individually in separate catalog records; see collection-level record for more information.
Walpole has titled his manuscript "Loose Thoughts;" the title of the published text is "Thoughts on Government."
Walpole has titled his manuscript "Loose Thoughts;" the title of the published text is "Thoughts on Government."
Provenance
Given by Mary Berry to Sir Frankland Lewis; by descent to his daughter-in-law Lady Theresa Lewis; by descent to her son Sir Thomas Villiers Lister; by descent to his wife Lady Lister; acquired by Pierpont Morgan before 1904.
Summary
Commenting on the nature of power, its uses and its abuses; saying "No nation can make laws for posterity without posterity having equal right to repeal them. No man can be born with a right to oppress others. No man is of a nature superior to other men. He is as fallible as they. A crown gives no superior virtue or wisdom; but it demands more of both; because a king, who is only a chief magistrate, ought to have virtue and wisdom not only to govern but to set an example to his people."
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