The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1850-04-27
Ten minusea, Gosstn

publahed monthly
.Ssis .asr IL. y il SC Ssr 'S'
.z Ten Minutes, Gossip
ABOUT STRAWBERRY HILL AND HoRACE wALroLE. /
To the dilet,anti Of the fashionable world the
summer Of 1912 was memorable one for just as |
the roses were coming into blossom that same FASH
ionable world was inforned-in flaming placards,
and snowy advertisements, in which all the graees
Of type and printers display were brought into re-
quisiton-that Strawberry Hill, the renowned
seat Of Horace Walpole,'' was for sale; in other |
words, that the Earl Of WaIdegrave had determined,
for reasons best known to himself to dispose Of the
entire stock of knick- -knackeries collected by his
clever and somewhat trifling ancestor
The catalogue, which occupied some two hun
dred and fifty quarto pages and was sold for seven
shillings. is somewhat Of curiosity now il is in
the usual grandloquent style Of that prince OF
tioneers, George Robins, and commences by in
forming the reader that the Earl Of Waldegrave |
had condescendingiy honored Mr.. Robins in Sc |
ecting him to sell by public competition the classic
contents" Of the "most distinguished gem that |
ever graced the annals of auction " goes to
speak of the place itself with verbosity and flow
Of words peculiarly its own recommends it 81
really genuine repast for the lovers of literature and
the fine arts :" and concludes by declaring that
"by-gone days furnish previous example Of the
splendor and uniqueness of the lots, - and that
1t would be vain to contemplate repetition OF
such sale !" in times to come" Alas the name
and Strawberry Hill is no longer numbered among
the celebrities Of Twickenham the groves
g Made classic by the of Pope,''
no more echo the sweet music Of song and laughter,
and the collected curiosities Of lifetime are scat
tered none know whittier by the extravaganza Of the
spendthrift descendant Of him who passed his best
and peasantest days in contemplating their richness
and variety. The sale occupied twenty-fou Jays,
and Tealized-what matter how many thousand
pounds!
strawberry Hill is called, in the old documents
relating thereto, Strawberry hill Shot, and was
originally a small tenement, built in 1898 by the
Earl Of Bradfords goodman, by whom it was let
lodging house. Colley Cibber was of its
first tenants, and there wrote his comedy entitled
The Refusal, or the Lady's Philosophy The
natural beauties Of the scene-and fortunately they
survived the improbable capabilities of WaIpole
occasionally tempted persons of higher rank than
the facetiOus playwright to adopt the place
summer residence. II was occupied successfully
by Dr.Talbot, Bishop of Durham, and the Marquis
of CaernaTvon; then it was leased to Mrs. Cheve-
nix, the noted toy-woman, who let part OF il to
Pere Courayer, well-known French divine Of the
times"
OF this Mrs. Chevenix, Horace Walpole, Earl of
Oxford, purchased the remainder Of the lease in
1747, and in the year following became the owner
Of the fee simple Of the estate which he thus pi-
quantity describes to his friend Mr. afterwards Field
| Marshal Conway, the only man for whom he ap-
/ peared to have entertained great regard he
had for his old China teapots and gimcrack biioH-
| terie: Hssrs,5sie s,ua sasaar Is .lsls
and have left my and Windsor Il Is q is playthne
house have got oot Of this CheyeniHs show and i "
0Sme y 81 sf% you sysE saw 1t set in sOameed mead
| A small Euphraes through the piece is rolled,
| And little fishes wave their wings in gold.
TwG dsEhtIa EOsd: that S you would call dusty supply
SDg BSS & IF d The E move under my wndpw Rc
the Thames between the Duchess Queen,
bury Dowagers, plenty founders nLabt all around
CEe1s TsE Rsd
library l%I i h Ct ' STs. n. Ms
she'll bust OF Sir Isaac Newton, and lunar telescope with
Walpoe seemed to have always considered th,
place as sort of toy, and by principle of associ
alton peculiar to his genius, the author of the "CastlG
OF Otranto" seems to have striven henceforth to I'll
his house with furniture and such like, worthy
| its somewhat petty pretensons. What the gem >
| was like before his numerous alterations contri-
| vances, and adaptations, we have o
knowing but at the time of the sale il was "min-
| lature gothic gimcrack composed Of round towers
| long galleries, yellow and blue chambers, starred
| boudoirs, bodkn-like pmnacles, and gingerbread
battlements covered with a worn-out coat Of
rough cast stucco, overlooking the Thames from one
| side, and dusty road from the other" Those who
have visited Blenheim, Stow, or Chatfeld, however,
would have but small admiration for the toy-shop
| of Horace Wapole.
somewhat puerile tastes of Walpole. Without vigoI
enough to become politician without talent enough
to take prominent position in the world Of letters,
and without ardor enough to push his way in the
world, he fain to content himself with his
| baubes of which he had no small valueless col
lection. He appears to have had little mind a,
well little person, and despite his boast, wher
showing the suit Of armor worn by Francis the First
who was slim and under the average height, tina
"httle men could be sometimes great men," h,
l L. r II
elements Of greatness himself
Walpole was fond, too, OF being the "great man
Of the village" and the neighborhOod aboundet
with celebrities. almost upon its threshold lived
in small cottage forming part of the estate, Frank
lin, the printer of the Craftsman, who had been
imprisoned more than for Pulteney's attack.
upon Horace Wapoles father. The very suggest
iveness of the association Of ideas to which he be
came enthusiast, afterwards induced Walpole t.
establish private printing press. Can there, ht
says, in one of his letters, be an odder revolution
than that the printer OF the Craftsman" +" shoult
live in a cottage Of mine, and the author OF tn
Craftsman " write panegyric upon a house o
mine alluding to the ballad by the Earl of Bath
Garrick was another Of his neighbors, whom Wal
pole admitted possessed great social resources, bu
confessed at the same time that he liked his wifi
better Paul Whitehead, the poet, and Admire
Byron, who discovered the Palagonians and pub
1 lished the narrative upon which the shipwreck
Don Juan partially founded these, wit
Hudson, the painter, Mrs. PritchaTd, the actres
and last but not least Kitty Give, dwelt right an
left of him. Mrs Give appears to have been a
especial (avorite she had budget of anecdot,
about the players and dramatists that must ha,
amused Walpole, and helped him wonderful
through the twilight, when il was getting too dal
for him to arrange his last purchases Of china,
| work away at his inches and pedestals"
b Walpole's principal male acquaintances we
It Field Marshal Conway, and the poet Gray; a
among his lady visitors may be numbered Lady
: ana Beauclerk, the merry Give, and Lady Sulfc
Z The Marquise du Deffand, an old and once eel
e brated leader OF fashion, appears to have ente
tanned warm attachment for her entertainer; 4
: warm, indeed, for WalpOle appears to have had
great love for the sex and for wife, she wou
have disturbed the neatness he so loved to beho
in his toy-shop. Being once asked to give a b
at Twickenham, he fatty denied the possibility
such an affair taking place in his Gothic Halls; o.
the story is best told by himself. Writing TO u
Marquis Of Hertford, he says
"The Duchess of Bedford asked me before Madame
Guerphy would not give thea pam a I;
and million Of candles, into my charming new gallery
said, could fatsf myself that people would give The
selves the trouble of going eleven miles for ball houg
sSsi Ss dnsS% Win al my heart have no obsetc
but no BAL shall set lis foot within my doors. 4"
For Gray the poet he appears to have enteFtaiE
some sort Of friendship He was Just Walpol
beau-ideal Of poet could talk ofthe ancient Gre,
and Romans, sculptures, urns, and marbles, la,
: most unbounded admiration for his host, and P
= sessed withala modest independence meaR 0