Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 59.djvu/179

 was reprinted definitively in 1784, accompanied by engravings. In this form it was reproduced in his posthumous ‘Works’ (ii. 393–516).

The catalogues of 1774 and 1784 were printed at his own Officina Arbuteana or private press at Strawberry. This he set on foot in July 1757, in a cottage near his house, taking for his sole manager and operator an Irish printer named William Robinson. His first issue was the ‘Odes’ of Gray, which he set up for the Dodsleys in 1757. These in due course were followed by a number of works of varying importance. Of those from his own pen, the chief (in addition to the catalogues above mentioned) were ‘A Catalogue of the Royal and Noble Authors of England,’ 2 vols. 1758; ‘Fugitive Pieces in Verse and Prose,’ 1758; ‘Anecdotes of Painting in England’ (from Vertue's MSS.), 4 vols. 1762–1771 [1780]; ‘A Catalogue of Engravers who have been born or resided in England,’ 1763; ‘The Mysterious Mother, a Tragedy,’ 1768; ‘Miscellaneous Antiquities,’ Nos. 1 and 2, 1772; ‘A Letter to the Editor of the Miscellanies of Thomas Chatterton,’ 1779; ‘Hieroglyphic Tales,’ 1785; ‘Essay on Modern Gardening’ (with a French version by the Duc de Nivernais), 1785; and a translation of Voiture's ‘Histoire d'Alcidalis et de Zelide,’ 1789. Besides these, he printed Hentzer's ‘Journey into England,’ 1757; Whitworth's ‘Account of Russia in 1710,’ 1758; Spence's ‘Parallel’ (between Hill the tailor and the librarian Magliabecchi), 1758; Lord Cornbury's comedy of ‘The Mistakes,’ 1758; Lucan's ‘Pharsalia,’ with Bentley's notes, 1760; Countess Temple's ‘Poems,’ 1764; ‘The Life of Lord Herbert of Cherbury,’ 1764; Hénault's ‘Cornélie,’ 1768; Hoyland's ‘Poems,’ 1769; ‘Seven Original Letters of Edward VI,’ 1772; Grammont's ‘Memoirs,’ 1772; Fitzpatrick's ‘Dorinda, a Town Eclogue,’ 1775; Lady Craven's comedy of ‘The Sleep-walker,’ 1778; Hannah More's ‘Bishop Bonner's Ghost,’ 1789, and a number of minor pieces, single sheets, labels, and so forth. All the earlier of these books were printed by his first printer, Robinson. But Robinson was dismissed in 1759, and, after an interval of occasional hands, was succeeded by Thomas Kirgate, who continued to perform his duties until Walpole's death.

Apart from the history of Strawberry and its press, Walpole's life from 1747, when he came to Twickenham, has little incident. In 1747–9 his zeal for his father's memory involved him in some party pamphleteering, the interest of which has now evaporated. In the November of the last-mentioned year he was robbed in Hyde Park by the ‘gentleman highwayman,’ James Maclaine [q. v.], and narrowly escaped being shot through the head (World, No. 103; Corresp. ii. 218–230). In 1753 he contributed a number of papers to the ‘World’ of the fabulist Edward Moore (1712–1757) [q. v.], one of which was a futile plea for that bankrupt Belisarius, Theodore of Corsica, to whom he subsequently erected a memorial tablet in St. Anne's churchyard, Soho; and in the same year he was instrumental in putting forth the famous edition of Gray's ‘Poems,’ with the designs of the younger Bentley, the originals of which were long preserved at Strawberry. In 1754 he became member for Castle Rising in Norfolk, a seat which he vacated three years later for that of Lynn. About the same time he interested himself, but vainly, to save the unfortunate Admiral Byng. But his chief distraction, in addition to his house and press, was authorship. Most of his productions have been enumerated above. But a few either preceded the establishment of the press or were independent of it. One of the former class was a clever little skit, on the model of Montesquieu, entitled ‘A Letter from Xo Ho, a Chinese Philosopher at London, to his Friend Lien Chi, at Peking,’ 1757, an effort which to some extent anticipated the famous ‘Citizen of the World’ of Goldsmith. Another jeu d'esprit, three years later, was ‘The Parish Register of Twickenham,’ a list in octosyllabics of the local notables, afterwards included in vol. iv. of his ‘Works.’ To 1761 belongs ‘The Garland,’ a complimentary poem on George III, first published in the ‘Quarterly’ for 1852 (No. clxxx). But his most important effort was issued in December 1764. This was the ‘Gothic romance’ of ‘The Castle of Otranto,’ further described on its title-page as ‘Translated by William Marshal, Gent., from the original Italian of Onuphrio Muralto, Canon of the church of St. Nicholas at Otranto.’ The introduction gave a critical account of the supposed black-letter original, the existence of which at first seems to have been taken for granted, even by Gray at Cambridge. Its success was considerable. In a second edition, which was speedily called for, Walpole dropped the mask and disclosed his intention in a clever preface. He had sought to blend the ancient and modern romance; to combine supernatural machinery and every-day characters. His account of the inception and progress of the idea as given to his friend Cole (Corresp. iv. 328) is extremely interesting; but his book is more interesting still, for he had hit upon a new vein in romance, a vein which was to be worked by a crowd of writers from Clara