The Press.
London, England, 1857-01-24 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

connection, and " a speculative Republican*
by political profession.
Walpole writes at page 242, " Patapan sits
" to-morrow to Wootton for his picture." The
note by Mr. Cunningham is singularly mala•
droit
John Wootton, the Sir Edward Landseer of England
between 1740 and 1760. He died in 17115. Wootton's
picture of Patapan sold at the Strawberry-hill sale fur 4L
—CUNNINORAII.

Landseer will not be highly complimented
at being classed with Wootton. The compari-
son is more unlucky, since the annotator
records that the picture of "the Landseer"
between 1740 and 1760 sold for 41.
We have marked several other notes, but we
must proceed to the four original letters
printed in this volume. The first original
letter is to John Chute, of the Vine, in
Hants. Under date of August 20th, 1743,
Walpole writes from Houghton :
Indeed, my dear sir, you certainly did not use to be
stupid, and till you give me more substantial proof that
you are so I shall not believe it. As for your temperate
diet and milk bringing about such &metamorphosis 1 hold
it impossible. I have such lamentable proofs every day
before my eyes of the stupifying qualities of beef, ale, and
wine, that I have contracted a most religious veneration
for your spiritual nouriture. Only imagine that I here
every day see men who are mountains of roast beef, and
only seem just roughly hewn out into the outlines of
human form, like the giant-rock at Pratolino ! I shudder
when I see them brandish their knives in act to carve, and
look on them as savages that devour one another. I should
not stare at all more than I do if yonder alderman at the
lower end of the table was to stick his fork into his neigh-
bour's jolly cheek, and cut a brave slice of brown and fat.
Why, I'll swear I see no difference between a country
gentleman and a sirloin ; whenever the first laughs or the
latter is cut there run out just the same streams of gravy.
Indeed the sirloin does not ask quite so many questions.
I have an aunt here, a family piece of goods, an old rem-
nant of inquisitive hospitality and economy. who, to all
intents and purposes, is as beefy as her neighbours. She
wore me so down yesterday with interrogatories, that I
dreamt all night she was at my ear with " who's " and
" why's," and " when's" and " where's," till at last in my
very sleep I cried out," For God in heaven's sake, madam,
ask me no more questions."

He then continues in his equally characteristic
style, passing from lively anecdotism into
mock philosophy :

Oh, my dear sir, don't you find that nine parts in ten
of the world are of no use but to make you wish your-
self with that tenth part? I am so far from growing used
tc mankind by living amongst them that my natural fero-
city and wildness does but every day grow worse. They
tire me, they fatigue me ; I don't know what to do with
them ; I don't know what to say to them ; I fling open the
windows, and fancy I want air; and when I get by my-
self I undress myself, and seem to have had people in my
pockets, in my plaits, and on my shoulders ! I indeed
find this fatigue worse in the country than in town, be-
cause one can avoid it there and has more resources, but
it is there too. I fear 'tis growing old, but I literally seem
to have murdered a man whose name was Ennui, for his
ghost is ever beforo me. They say there is no English word
for ennui ; I think you may translate it most literally by
what is called " entertaining people," and doing the
honours "—that is, you sit an hour with somebody you
don't know and don't care for, talk about the wind and the
weather, and ask a thousard foolish questions, which all
begin with, " I think you live a good deal in the country,"
or " I think you don't love this thing or that." Oh, 'tis
dreadful!

The most striking of these letters relate
to the borough of Castle Rising. Mr. Cunning-
ham says :

The death of old General Churchill (a few weeks only
after his friend, Sir Robert Walpole) caused a vacancy for
Castle Rising, in Norfolk ; and Horace interested him•
self, gregtly to the annoyance of his elder brother Edward,
in returning the new member for the family borough.
Horace had his way. The member returned was John
Rigby.

Sir Edward Walpole thus commenced the cor-
respondence in the following "remarkable
letter," as Mr. Cunningham rightly calls it :

lil. SIR EDWARD WALPOLE TO HORACE wAtrocr.

....-•-
Pall.mall, May 17, 1745.
Sir,—Castle Rising is a family borough. Lord Orford's
son ought to be brought in there preferably to anybody.
Next to him, I, and then you. My uncle and his children
have the nest claim, then the Townahends and the Ham-
monds, who altogether make an large a number that J did
nut imagine there was a possibility of a recommendation
of mine taking place ; otherwise, as I have frequently
wished it, I should have spoken to my lord long ago; but
I always thought he was bound to offer it to some one of
them whether they applied or not; and in case they should
all of them decline it, I did imagine my lord must have
out of his own particular friends more than one whom he
would wish to distinguish by so great a favour ; for which
reason, besides the consideration of our near relations, I
should have thought it presumption in me to apply, though
there is no one thing I should covet more than thus to
support a friend, and by it to give myself an additional
credit and weight in Parliament, How you came never
to think of me who stand so direotly before you, or, if you
40 think of we, how you happened to ituasine that I wk