BIB_ID
330997
Accession number
MA 494.6
Creator
Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797.
Display Date
1789 June 23.
Credit line
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan, before 1904.
Description
1 item (4 p.) ; 19.6 cm
Notes
Numbered "No. 6."
Part of a collection of letters from Horace Walpole to Mary and Agnes Berry. Items in the collection have been described individually; see related collection-level record for more information. See also MA 495 (Letters from Walpole to the Misses Berry, 1791-1793); MA 496 (Letters from Walpole to the Misses Berry, 1794-1796, and letters from the Misses Berry to Walpole); and MA 497 (letters to various persons and miscellaneous writings).
Recipients identified by Lewis and Wallace.
Several passages have been crossed through, presumably by Mary Berry.
Written over several days: begun on 23 June 1789 and completed on "Saturday" [27 June 1789].
Part of a collection of letters from Horace Walpole to Mary and Agnes Berry. Items in the collection have been described individually; see related collection-level record for more information. See also MA 495 (Letters from Walpole to the Misses Berry, 1791-1793); MA 496 (Letters from Walpole to the Misses Berry, 1794-1796, and letters from the Misses Berry to Walpole); and MA 497 (letters to various persons and miscellaneous writings).
Recipients identified by Lewis and Wallace.
Several passages have been crossed through, presumably by Mary Berry.
Written over several days: begun on 23 June 1789 and completed on "Saturday" [27 June 1789].
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
Gently chiding them for not writing while on their journey [to Yorkshire]; saying that their dog Tonton [left to Walpole's care] does not miss them as much as he does; discussing his love for them both, referring to them as his two wives, and noting that his "affection has done nothing but increase." Wondering if they are sad that the Opera House [in Haymarket] is being torn down, and suggesting that they rebuild only the after-room, since "to be crowded to death in a waiting room at the end of an entertainment is the whole joy." Continuing the letter on Wednesday: Chiding them for not writing, noting that he writes every day but cannot send a letter until they send their direction. Continuing the letter on Thursday night: Despairing that they have not sent a letter, fearing that one might be ill; mentioning that he could speak of nothing else to his dinner guests, who tried to persuade him not to be afraid for the Berrys. Continuing the letter on Friday: Saying that his anxiety increases daily, noting that they cannot all three (Mary, Agnes and their father) be too ill to write and fearing that he has been forgotten so quickly, but noting that he is not jealous. Concluding the letter on Saturday: Thanking them for a letter, but chiding them for not including a direction; intending to send the letter to the post-house in York, as they instructed Lady Cecilia to do. Signed "Your dutiful son-in-law and most affectionate husband, H.W."
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