9 th S. III. JAN. 21, '(
NOTES AND QUERIES.
55
30 Aug., 1783) : " Sir Edward [Walpole] says
I shall be mighty happy with meeting mj
Lord of Orford, ' who is often at Nuneham
for Lord Harcourt is very good to him.' " Ii
is evident that Orford here is a misreading o:
Cunningham for Oxford. The reference is
undoubtedly to John Butler, Bishop of Oxforc
(1777-88), with whom Sir Edward Walpole
was on friendly terms, as may be seen from
the following quotation :
"The Bishop of Oxford, once a writer in patriol opposition, wrote t'other clay to his friend anc patron, my brother, that Lord Harcourt had invitee him to dinner, treated him most benignantly, anc not mentioned a word of politics ; ' surely,' added the meek apostle, 'if there were a toleration oj patriots, Lord Harcourt would be entitled to the benefit of it.' "Letter of Horace Walpole to Mason, dated 18 Aug., 1779, vol. vii. 242.
An observation to the same effect, addressed by Horace Walpole to Earl Harcourt, will be found on p. 256, vol. vii. On the other hand, Horace Walpole always refers to his nephew as Lord Orford (see, for instance, vol. iv. p. 46 ; vol. vi. p. 2), and there is no evidence to show that the latter ever visited Nuneham. The proximity of Oxford to Nuneham would, of course, account for Lord Harcourt showing hospitality to the bishop as his neighbour, though they held (on the bishop's own show- ing) different views on politics. The reference to the Bishop of Oxford as my " Lord of Oxford " is quite in Horace Walpole's manner ; he refers, for instance, to the Archbishop of York as " my Lord's grace of York " (vol. vi. p. 484) and as " my Lord of York " (vol. vii. p. 14), to the Archbishop of Canterbury as " my Lord of Canterbury " (vol. vii. p. 478 ; vol. viii. p. 229), and to the Bishop of Ely as "my Lord of Ely " (vol. vi. p. 316).
In a letter to Lady Ossory dated 23 Sept., 1780 (vol. vii. p. 440), Walpole writes : "My cousin and namesake is come into Parliament, which baptizes me the old If . W" This cousin and namesake was Horatio, the eldest son of Lord Walpole of Wolterton, Horace Walpole's first cousin ; and Cunningham states in a note that he was " M.P. for the Walpole constitu- ency of King's Lynn." This is a mistake. The Mr. Horatio Walpole alluded to did enter Parliament in 1780, but it was as member for Wigan, which he represented from 1780 till 1784. In the latter year he became member for King's Lynn in succession to his uncle Thomas Walpole, who was re-elected for that borough in 1780, at the same time that his nephew became member for Wigan.
In a letter to Lady Ossory dated 8 June, 1784 (vol. viii. p. 481), Horace Walpole writes : "They [the newspapers] have been circum- stantial about Lady Walsingkam's birthday
clothes, which to be sure one is glad to know,
only unluckily there is no such person."
Wright, in his note on this passage, shares
Horace Walpole's opinion, and states that
"Lady Walsingham" was "Mrs. Boyle Wal-
singham, Charlotte, daughter of Sir Charles
Hanbury -Williams, Bart., married to the Hon.
Robert Boyle Walsingham." Both Horace
Walpole and his editor, however, are mistaken
as to the non-existence of Lady Walsingham.
Strangely enough, at that particular date
there were two Lady Walsinghams alive.
Thomas de Grey, second Lord Walsingham,
who succeeded his father in 1781, married in
1772 Augusta Georgiana Elizabeth Irby, only
daughter of the first Lord Boston, and this
lady survived till 1818 (see Collins's and
Debrett's 'Peerages'). Her mother-in-law,
Mary Cowper, Dowager Lady Walsingham,
was also living, and died in 1800.
The correspondent to whom Letter 1271 (vol. v. p. 315) is addressed has not yet, ap- parently, been identified, as Cunningham leaves the title blank. The addressee appears pretty clearly, from internal evidence, to be Edward Louisa Mann, elder brother of Sir Horace Mann. Edward Louisa Mann was deputy of Sir Edward and Horace Walpole in the Customs Office (see the '.Royal Kalendar' of this year, 1771). His occupancy of this place is referred to by Horace Walpole in a letter (vol. vii. p. 297) of 1775, the year of
Edward Mann's death : "I might plead
that Mr. Mann's death detains me, for he held our place for Sir Edward and me, and there is much to settle." Throughout Letter 1271 Horace Walpole refers to a place held jointly by himself and his only surviving brother Sir Edward Walpole. The place in question is that of Collector of the Customs, as may be gathered from Walpole's 'Account of his Conduct ' relative to the places held by him under Government (printed by Cunningham in vol. i. p. Ixxxiv). The patent of this par- ticular office was twice offered to him for his ife, and refused by him. To this refusal he ^wice refers in this letter.
Towards the end of the letter Walpole writes : " I do not forget my obligations to you dear Sir, or to your dead brother, whose memory will ever be most dear to me." This s, no doubt, a reference to Galfridus Mann Edward Mann's younger brother, who died in 1756, and for whom Horace W a ^P^ e na cl a f ery real regard (see letter to Sir H. Mann on
- he death of Galfridus Mann, vol. iii. p. 53).
There seems very little doubt, therefore, that
- his letter was addressed to Edward Louisa
Mann. HELEN TOYNBEE.
Dorney Wood, Burnham, Bucks.
