BIB_ID
331601
Accession number
MA 494.62
Creator
Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797.
Display Date
1791 May 26.
Credit line
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan, before 1904.
Description
1 item (4 p., with address) ; 20.3 cm
Notes
Address panel with seal and postmark and addressed "À Mademoiselle Mademoiselle Berry à lat poste restante à Florence, Italie."
Numbered "No. 44" and "No. 34" [of the series of letters addressed to the Berrys abroad].
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).
Some passages have been crossed through, presumably by Mary Berry.
Numbered "No. 44" and "No. 34" [of the series of letters addressed to the Berrys abroad].
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).
Some passages have been crossed through, presumably by Mary Berry.
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
Thanking her for two letters; discussing the fashions and business of the younger generation, reporting the Duchess of Gordon's schedule for the previous Monday (which included a visit to the trial of Warren Hastings); mentioning that Mrs. Cholmeley visited and mentioning other mutual acquaintances; describing Boswell's Life of Johnson as "gossiping:" noting it would be more readable if it was reduced to one volume, listing the people slandered in its pages, and deriding Boswell as a Johnson's contemptable flatterer. Discussing his antipathy towards Johnson, stemming largely from Johnson's criticism of Thomas Gray. Noting that Burke has published a new pamphlet against the French Revolution, remarking that it is not as good a his first. Promising to lend her three volumes of collected correspondence of the Talbot and Howard families when she returns, and discussing the Tudors;. Continuing the letter on Friday: mentioning mutual acquaintances and the weather.
Catalog link
Department