The Castle of Otranto

- By Horace Walpole
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English writer and politician (1717–1797) For other people named Horatio Walpole, see Horatio Walpole. The Right HonourableThe Earl of OrfordPortrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1756Member of Parliamentfor King's LynnIn office25 February 1757 – 16 March 1769Serving with Sir John Turner, 3rd BaronetPreceded byHoratio Walpole the ElderSucceeded byThomas WalpoleMember of Parliamentfor Castle RisingIn office21 May 1754 – 25 February 1757Serving with Thomas HowardPreceded byRobert KnightSucceeded byCharles BooneMember of Parliamentfor CallingtonIn office12 June 1741 – 18 April 1754Serving with Thomas Coplestone (1741–1748), Edward Bacon (1748–1754)Preceded byIsaac le HeupSucceeded byJohn Sharpe Personal detailsBornHoratio Walpole(1717-09-24)24 September 1717London, England, Great BritainDied2 March 1797(1797-03-02) (aged 79)Berkeley Square, London, Great BritainResting placeSt Martin's Church,Houghton, NorfolkPolitical partyWhigParentsRobert WalpoleCatherine ShorterResidence(s)Strawberry Hill, LondonEducationKing's College, CambridgeOccupationWriterArt HistorianMan of LettersAntiquarianPoliticianSignature Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (/ˈwɔːlpoʊl/; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whig politician.[1] He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London, reviving the Gothic style some decades before his Victorian successors. His literary reputation rests on the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto (1764), and his Letters, which are of significant social and political interest.[2] They have been published by Yale University Press in 48 volumes.[3] In 2017, a volume of Walpole's selected letters was published.[4] The youngest son of the first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, he became the 4th and last Earl of Orford of the second creation on his nephew's death in 1791. Early life: 1717–1739[edit] Walpole by Jonathan Richardson, 1735. Walpole was born in London, the youngest son of British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole and his wife, Catherine. Like his father, he received early education in Bexley;[5] in part under Edward Weston. He was also educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge.[6] Walpole's first friends were probably his cousins Francis and Henry Conway, to whom he became strongly attached, especially Henry.[7] At Eton he formed a schoolboy confederacy, the "Triumvirate", with Charles Lyttelton (later an antiquary and bishop) and George Montagu (later a member of parliament and Private Secretary to Lord North). More important were another group of friends dubbed the "Quadruple Alliance": Walpole, Thomas Gray, Richard West, and Thomas Ashton.[8] At Cambridge, Walpole came under the influence of Conyers Middleton, an unorthodox theologian. Walpole came to accept the sceptical nature of Middleton's attitude to some essential Christian doctrines for the rest of his life, including a hatred of superstition and bigotry even though he was a nominal Anglican. Ceasing to reside at Cambridge at the end of 1738, Walpole left without taking a degree.[9] In 1737, Walpole's mother died. According to one biographer, his love for his mother "was the most powerful emotion of his entire life ... the whole of his psychological history was dominated by it".[10] Walpole did not have any serious relationships with women; he has been called "a natural celibate".[11] His sexual orientation has been the subject of speculation. He never married, engaging in a succession of unconsummated flirtations with unmarriageable women, and counted among his close friends a number of women such as Anne Seymour Damer and Mary Berry named by a number of sources as lesbian.[12] Many contemporaries described him as effeminate (one political opponent called him "a hermaphrodite horse").[1] Biographers, such as W. S. Lewis, Brian Fothergill, and Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer, interpreted Walpole as asexual.[13] Walpole's father secured for him three sinecures which afforded him an income: in 1737 he was appointed Inspector of the Imports and Exports in the Custom House, which he resigned to become Usher of the Exchequer, which gave him at first £3900 per annum but this increased over the years. Upon coming of age he became Comptroller of the Pipe and Clerk of the Estreats which gave him an income of £300 per annum. Walpole decided to go travelling with Thomas Gray and wrote a will in which he left Gray all his belongings.[14] In 1744, he wrote in a letter to Conway that these offices gave him nearly £2,000 per annum; after 1745 when he was appointed Collectorship of Customs, his total income from these offices was around £3,400 per annum.[15] Grand Tour: 1739–1741[edit] Walpole by Rosalba Carriera, c. 1741. Walpole went on the Grand Tour with Gray, but as Walpole recalled in later life: "We had not got to Calais before Gray was dissatisfied, for I was a boy, and he, though infinitely more a man, was not enough to make allowances".[16] They left Dover on 29 March and arrived at Calais later that day. They then travelled through Boulogne, Amiens and Saint-Denis, arriving at Paris on 4 April. Here they met many aristocratic Englishmen.[17] In early June they left Paris for Reims, then in September going to Dijon, Lyon, Dauphiné, Savoy, Aix-les-Bains, Geneva, and then back to Lyons.[citation needed] In October they left for Italy, arriving in Turin in November, then going to Genoa, Piacenza, Parma, Reggio, Modena, Bologna, and in December arriving at Florence. Here he struck up a friendship with Horace Mann, an assistant to the British Minister at the Court of Tuscany.[18] In Florence he also wrote Epistle from Florence to Thomas Ashton, Esq., Tutor to the Earl of Plymouth, a mixture of Whig history and Middleton's teachings.[19] In February 1740, Walpole and Gray left for Rome with the intention of witnessing the papal conclave upon the death of Pope Clement XII but never saw it.[20] Walpole wanted to attend fashionable parties and Gray wanted to visit antiquities. At social occasions in Rome, he saw the Old Pretender, James Francis Edward Stuart, and his two sons, Charles Edward Stuart and Henry Stuart, although there is no record of them conversing.[21] Walpole and Gray returned to Florence in July. However, Gray disliked the idleness of Florence as compared to the educational pursuits in Rome, and animosity grew between them, eventually leading to an end to their friendship.[22] On their way back to England they had a furious argument, although it is unknown what it was about. Gray went to Venice, leaving Walpole at Reggio.[23] In later life Walpole admitted that the fault lay primarily with himself: I was too young, too fond of my own diversions, nay, I do not doubt, too much intoxicated by indulgence, vanity, and the insolence of my situation, as a Prime Minister's son, not to have been inattentive and insensible to the feelings of one I thought below me; of one, I blush to say it, that I knew was obliged to me; of one whom presumption and folly perhaps made me deem not my superior then in parts, though I have since felt my infinite inferiority to him.— Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 71 Walpole then visited Venice, Genoa, Antibes, Toulon, Marseille, Aix, Montpellier, Toulouse, Orléans and Paris. He returned to England on 12 September 1741, reaching London on the 14th.[24] Early parliamentary career: 1741–1754[edit] By 1735, Walpole was a student at King's College, Cambridge. He had long periods of absence from the college, often returning to Norwich to live at Houghton Hall, in Norfolk. Interested in local politics, he and the "wealthy" Mayor of Norwich, Philip Meadows, encouraged local merchant Thomas Vere to run for a seat in Parliament "in the Whig interest" with Vere becoming the MP for Norwich in 1735.[25][26][27][28][29] At the 1741 general election Walpole was elected Whig Member of Parliament for the rotten borough of Callington, Cornwall. He held this seat for thirteen years although he never visited Callington.[30] Walpole entered Parliament shortly before his father's fall from power. In December 1741 the Opposition won its first majority vote in the Commons for twenty years. In January 1742 Walpole's government was still struggling in Parliament although by the end of the month Horace and other family members had successfully urged the Prime Minister to resign after a parliamentary defeat.[31] Walpole's philosophy mirrored that of Edmund Burke, who was his contemporary. He was a classical liberal on issues such as abolitionism and the agitations of the American colonists.[32] Walpole delivered his maiden speech on 19 March against the successful motion that a Secret Committee be set up to enquire into Sir Robert Walpole's last ten years as prime minister. For the next three years, Walpole spent most of his time with his father at his country house Houghton Hall in Norfolk.[33] His father died in 1745 and left Walpole the remainder of the lease of his house in Arlington Street, London; £5,000 in cash; and the office of Collector of the Customs (worth £1,000 per annum). However, he had died in debt, the total of which was in between £40,000 and £50,000.[34] In late 1745 Walpole and Gray resumed their friendship.[35] Also that year the Jacobite Rising began. The position of Walpole was the fruit of his father's support for the Hanoverian dynasty and he knew that he was in danger: "Now comes the Pretender's boy, and promises all my comfortable apartments in the Exchequer and Custom House to some forlorn Irish peer, who chooses to remove his pride and poverty out of some large old unfurnished gallery at St. Germain's. Why really, Mr. Montagu, this is not pleasant! I shall wonderfully dislike being a loyal sufferer in a threadbare coat, and shivering in an antechamber at Hanover, or reduced to teach Latin and English to the young princes at Copenhagen".[36] Strawberry Hill[edit] Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham Walpole's lasting architectural creation is Strawberry Hill, the home he built from 1749 onward in Twickenham, southwest of London, which at the time overlooked the Thames. Here he revived the Gothic style many decades before his Victorian successors. This fanciful neo-Gothic concoction began a new architectural trend.[37] Long-connected with the Blue Stockings Society, Walpole played host to its members and associates at Strawberry Hill, including Anna Laetitia Barbauld in 1774.[38][39] Later parliamentary career: 1754–1768[edit] Horace Walpole by John Giles Eccardt, c. 1755. In the House of Commons, Walpole represented one of the many rotten boroughs, Castle Rising, which consisted of underlying freeholds in four villages near Kings Lynn, Norfolk, from 1754 until 1757. At his home, he hung a copy of the warrant for the execution of King Charles I with the inscription "Major Charta" and wrote of "the least bad of all murders, that of a King".[40] In 1756 he wrote: I am sensible that from the prostitution of patriotism, from the art of ministers who have had the address to exalt the semblance while they depressed the reality of royalty, and from the bent of the education of the young nobility, which verges to French maxims and to a military spirit, nay, from the ascendant which the nobility itself acquires each day in this country, from all these reflections, I am sensible, that prerogative and power have been exceedingly fortified of late within the circle of the palace; and though fluctuating ministers by turns exercise the deposit, yet there it is; and whenever a prince of design and spirit shall sit in the regal chair, he will find a bank, a hoard of power, which he may lay off most fatally against this constitution. [I am] a quiet republican, who does not dislike to see the shadow of monarchy, like Banquo's ghost, fill the empty chair of state, that the ambitious, the murderer, the tyrant, may not aspire to it; in short, who approves the name of a King, when it excludes the essence.— Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 127 Walpole worried that while his fellow Whigs fought amongst themselves, the Tories were gaining power, the result of which would be England delivered to an unlimited, absolute monarchy, "that authority, that torrent which I should in vain extend a feeble arm to stem".[41] In 1757, he wrote the anonymous pamphlet A Letter from Xo Ho, a Chinese Philosopher at London, to his Friend Lien Chi at Peking, the first of his works to be widely reviewed.[42] In early 1757, old Horace Walpole of Wolterton died and was succeeded in the peerage by his son, who was then an MP for King's Lynn, thereby creating a vacancy. The electors of King's Lynn did not wish to be represented by a stranger and instead wanted someone with a connection to the Walpole family. The new Lord Walpole, therefore, wrote to his cousin requesting that he stand for the seat, saying his friends "were all unanimously of opinion that you were the only person who from your near affinity to my grandfather, whose name is still in the greatest veneration, and your own known personal abilities and qualifications, could stand in the gap on this occasion and prevent opposition and expense and perhaps disgrace to the family".[43] In early 1757, Walpole was out of Parliament after vacating Castle Rising until his election that year to King's Lynn, a seat he would hold until his retirement from the Commons in 1768.[44] Walpole became a prominent opponent of the 1757 decision to execute Admiral John Byng.[44] Later life: 1768–1788[edit] Without a seat in Parliament, Walpole recognised his limitations as to political influence. He wrote to Mann critical of the activities of the East India Company on 13 July 1773: What is England now? – A sink of Indian wealth, filled by nabobs and emptied by Maccaronis! A senate sold and despised! A country overrun by horse-races! A gaming, robbing, wrangling, railing nation without principles, genius, character or allies.— Walpole 1844, p. 339 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFWalpole1844 (help), Carson 2012, pp. 18–33 He opposed the recent Catholic accommodative measures, writing to Mann in 1784: "You know I have ever been averse to toleration of an intolerant religion".[1] He wrote to the same correspondent in 1785 that "as there are continually allusions to parliamentary speeches and events, they are often obscure to me till I get them explained; and besides, I do not know several of the satirized heroes even by sight".[1] His political sympathies were with the Foxite Whigs, the successors of the Rockingham Whigs, who were themselves the successors of the Whig Party as revived by Walpole's father. He wrote to William Mason, expounding his political philosophy: I have for five and forty years acted upon the principles of the constitution as it was settled at the Revolution, the best form of government that I know of in the world, and which made us a free people, a rich people, and a victorious people, by diffusing liberty, protecting property and encouraging commerce; and by the combination of all, empowering us to resist the ambition of the House of Bourbon, and to place ourselves on a level with that formidable neighbour. The narrow plan of royalty, which had so often preferred the aggrandizement of the Crown to the dignity of presiding over a great and puissant free kingdom, threw away one predominant source of our potency by aspiring to enslave America—and would now compensate for that blunder and its consequence by assuming a despotic tone at home. It has found a tool in the light and juvenile son of the great minister who carried our glory to its highest pitch—but it shall never have the insignificant approbation of an old and worn out son of another minister, who though less brilliant, maintained this country in the enjoyment of the twenty happiest years that England ever enjoyed. — Langford 2011 Last years: 1788–1797[edit] Horace Walpole by Sir Thomas Lawrence, c. 1795 Walpole was horrified by the French Revolution and commended Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France: "Every page shows how sincerely he is in earnest — a wondrous merit in a political pamphlet—All other party writers act zeal for the public, but it never seems to flow from the heart".[1] He admired the purple passage in the book on Marie Antoinette: "I know the tirade on the Queen of France is condemned and yet I must avow I admire it much. It paints her exactly as she appeared to me the first time I saw her when Dauphiness. She...shot through the room like an aerial being, all brightness and grace and without seeming to touch earth".[45] After he heard of the execution of King Louis XVI he wrote to Lady Ossory on 29 January 1793:Indeed, Madam, I write unwillingly; there is not a word left in my Dictionary that can express what I feel. Savages, barbarians, &c., were terms for poor ignorant Indians and Blacks and Hyaenas, or, with some superlative epithets, for Spaniards in Peru and Mexico, for Inquisitors, or for Enthusiasts of every breed in religious wars. It remained for the enlightened eighteenth century to baffle language and invent horrors that can be found in no vocabulary. What tongue could be prepared to paint a Nation that should avow Atheism, profess Assassination, and practice Massacres on Massacres for four years together: and who, as if they had destroyed God as well as their King, and established Incredulity by law, give no symptoms of repentance! These Monsters talk of settling a Constitution—it may be a brief one, and couched in one Law, "Thou shalt reverse every Precept of Morality and Justice, and do all the Wrong thou canst to all Mankind".— Ketton-Cremer 1964, pp. 305–306 He was not impressed with Thomas Paine's reply to Burke, Rights of Man, writing that it was "so coarse, that you would think he means to degrade the language as much as the government".[46] His father was created Earl of Orford in 1742. Horace's elder brother, the 2nd Earl of Orford (c. 1701–1751), passed the title on to his son, the 3rd Earl of Orford (1730–1791). When the 3rd Earl died unmarried, Horace Walpole became, at the age of 74, the 4th Earl of Orford, and the title died with him in 1797. The massive amount of correspondence he left behind has been published in many volumes, starting in 1798. Likewise, a large collection of his works, including historical writings, was published immediately after his death.[47] Horace Walpole was buried in the same location as his father Sir Robert Walpole, at the Church of St Martin at Tours on the Houghton Hall estate.[48] Rumours of paternity[edit] Blue plaque at Arlington Street, City of Westminster, London commemorating Horace and his father Robert After Walpole's death, Lady Louisa Stuart, in the introduction to the letters of her grandmother, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1837), wrote of rumours that Horace's biological father was not Sir Robert Walpole but Carr, Lord Hervey (1691–1723), elder half-brother of the more famous John Hervey. T. H. White writes: "Catherine Shorter, Sir Robert Walpole's first wife, had five children. Four of them were born in a sequence after the marriage; the fifth, Horace, was born eleven years later, at a time when she was known to be on bad terms with Sir Robert, and known to be on romantic terms with Carr, Lord Hervey."[49] The lack of physical resemblance between Horace and Sir Robert,[50] and his close resemblance to members of the Hervey family, encouraged these rumours. Peter Cunningham, in his introduction to the letters of Horace Walpole (1857), vol. 1, p. x, wrote: "[Lady Louisa Stuart] has related it in print in the Introductory Anecdotes to Lady Mary's Works ; and there is too much reason to believe that what she tells is true. Horace was born eleven years after the birth of any other child that Sir Robert had by his wife; in every respect he was unlike a Walpole, and in every respect, figure and formation of mind, very like a Hervey. Lady Mary Wortley divided mankind into men, women, and Herveys, and the division has been generally accepted. Walpole was certainly of the Hervey class. Lord Hervey's Memoirs and Horace Walpole's Memoires are most remarkably alike, yet Walpole never saw them. [Yet] we have no evidence whatever that a suspicion of spurious parentage ever crossed the mind of Horace Walpole. His writings, from youth to age, breathe the most affectionate love for his mother, and the most unbounded filial regard for Sir Robert Walpole." Personal characteristics[edit] The novelist Laetitia Matilda Hawkins, a younger contemporary of Walpole, wrote of him as follows:[51] His entrance into a room was in that style of affected delicacy, which fashion had made almost natural, chapeau bras between his hands as if he wished to compress it, or under his arm; knees bent, and feet on tip-toe, as if afraid of a wet floor. His summer dress of ceremony was usually a lavender suit, the waistcoat embroidered with a little silver, or of white silk worked in the tambour, partridge silk stockings, gold buckles, ruffles and lace frill. In the winter he wore powder ... His appearance at the breakfast table was proclaimed, and attended, by a fat and favourite little dog, the legacy of Madame du Deffand; the dog and favourite squirrel partook of his breakfast. He generally dined at four ... His dinner when at home was of chicken, pheasant, or any light food, of which he ate sparingly. Pastry he disliked, as difficult of digestion, though he would taste a morsel of venison pie. Iced water, then a London dislike, was his favourite drink. The scent of dinner was removed by a censer or pot of frankincense. The wine that was drunk during dinner. After his coffee he would take pinch of snuff, and nothing more that night. In his old age, according to G. G. Cunningham, he "was afflicted with fits of an hereditary gout which a rigid temperance failed to remove".[52] Writings[edit] Strawberry Hill had its own printing press, the Strawberry Hill Press, which supported Horace Walpole's intensive literary activity.[37] In 1764, not using his own press, he anonymously published his Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto, claiming on its title page that it was a translation "from the Original Italian of Onuphrio Muralto". The second edition's preface, according to James Watt, "has often been regarded as a manifesto for the modern Gothic romance, stating that his work, now subtitled 'A Gothic Story', sought to restore the qualities of imagination and invention to contemporary fiction".[53] However, there is a playfulness in the prefaces to both editions and in the narration within the text itself. The novel opens with the son of Manfred (the Prince of Otranto) being crushed under a massive helmet that appears as a result of supernatural causes. However, that moment, along with the rest of the unfolding plot, includes a mixture of both ridiculous and sublime supernatural elements. The plot finally reveals how Manfred's family is tainted in a way that served as a model for successive Gothic plots.[54] From 1762 on, Walpole published his Anecdotes of Painting in England, based on George Vertue's manuscript notes. His memoirs of the Georgian social and political scene, though heavily biased, are a useful primary source for historians. Portrait of George Montagu by John Giles Eccardt after Jean-Baptiste van Loo (c. 1713–1780)Peterborough Museum and Art GalleryA close friend and correspondent of Horace Walpole Smith, noting that Walpole never did any work for his well-paid government sinecures, turns to the letters and argues that: Walpole served his country, not by drudgery in the Exchequer and Customs, which paid him, but by transmitting to posterity an incomparable vision of England as it was in his day – London and Westminster with all their festivities and riots, the machinations of politicians and the turmoil of elections.[55] Walpole's numerous letters are often used as a historical resource. In one, dating from 28 January 1754, he coined the word serendipity which he said was derived from a "silly fairy tale" he had read, The Three Princes of Serendip.[56] The oft-quoted epigram, "This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel", is from a letter of Walpole's to Anne, Countess of Upper Ossory, on 16 August 1776. The original, fuller version appeared in a letter to Sir Horace Mann on 31 December 1769: "I have often said, and oftener think, that this world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel – a solution of why Democritus laughed and Heraclitus wept." In Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard III (1768), Walpole defended Richard III against the common belief that he murdered the Princes in the Tower. In this he has been followed by other writers, such as Josephine Tey and Valerie Anand. This work, according to Emile Legouis, shows that Walpole was "capable of critical initiative".[47] However, Walpole later changed his views following The Terror and declared that Richard could have committed the crimes he was accused of.[57][58] Walpole Society[edit] The Walpole Society was formed in 1911 to promote the study of the history of British art. Its headquarters is located in the Department of Prints and Drawings at The British Museum and its director is Simon Swynfen Jervis. Works[edit] Non-fiction[edit] A Letter from Xo Ho, a Chinese Philosopher at London, to his Friend Lien Chi at Peking (2nd ed.). London: Printed for J. Graham, Strand. 1757. Anecdotes of Painting in England. London: Ward Lock & Co. 1879 [1762–71]. A Catalogue of Engravers who have been born, or resided in England. London: Printed for J. Dodsley, Pall Mall. 1782 [1763]. Essay on Modern Gardening. With a faithful translation into French by The Duke of Nivernois and an introduction by Alice Morse Earle (Facsimile reprint ed.). Canton, Pa.: Kirgate Press. 1904 [1780]. A Description of the Villa of Mr. Horace Walpole. Strawberry Hill, Twickenham: Printed by Thomas Kirgate. 1784. Historic Doubts on the life and Reign of King Richard the Third (Second ed.). London: Printed by J. Dodsley in Pall Mall. 1768. Park, Thomas, ed. (1806) [1758]. A Catalogue of the Royal and Noble Authors of England, Scotland, and Ireland, enlarged and continued to the present time. London: Printed for John Scott, Strand. Vol. 1 • Vol. 2 • Vol. 3 • Vol. 4 • Vol. 5 • (1st edition: Vol. 1 • Vol. 2) Vassall-Fox, Henry, 3rd Baron Holland, ed. (1847) [1822]. Memoirs of the Last Ten Years of the Reign of King George the Second. (posthumously published.) (3 vols.: 2nd, revised ed.). London: Henry Colburn. Vol. 1 • Vol. 2 • Vol. 3 (reprint of 1st ed., 1846) Jarrett, Keith, ed. (2000) [1845]. Memoirs of the Reign of King George III. (4 vols). New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-07014-4. Vol. 1 • Vol. 2 • Vol. 3 • Vol. 4 Walpole, Horace (1903–1925). Toynbee, Helen Wrigley (ed.). Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford. (16 vols. 1903-5, Supplement, ed. Paget Toynbee, 3 vols., 1918–1925). Oxford: Clarendon Press. Vol. 1 • Vol. 2 • Vol. 3 • Vol. 4 (bound with Vol. 3) • Vol. 5 • Vol. 6 • Vol. 7 • Vol. 8 • Vol. 9 • Vol. 10 • Vol. 11 • Vol. 12 • Vol. 13 • Vol. 14 • Vol. 15 • Vol. 16 • Suppl. Vol. 1 • Suppl. Vol. 2 • Suppl. Vol. 3 Toynbee, Helen Wrigley, ed. (1912). Lettres de la Marquise du Deffand à Horace Walpole (1766–1780). 3 vols. (Completed by her husband Paget Toynbee after her death in 1910) (in French). Methuen & Co. Vol. 1 • Vol. 2 • Vol. 3 Selected Letters, edited and introduced by Stephen Clarke. New York: Everyman's Library, Alfred A. Knopf, 2017. Reviewed by Margaret Drabble Fiction[edit] The Castle of Otranto (1764) The Mysterious Mother: A Tragedy (1768) Hieroglyphic Tales (1785) References[edit] Citations[edit] ^ a b c d e Langford 2011. ^ "The Castle of Otranto: The creepy tale that launched gothic fiction". BBC News. 13 December 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2017. ^ Smith 1983, pp. 17–28. ^ Selected Letters, edited and introduced by Stephen Clarke. New York: Everyman's Library, Alfred A. Knopf, 2017. ^ "Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill – London Borough of Richmond upon Thames". Government of the United Kingdom. 3 August 2009. Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2014. ^ "Walpole, Horace (WLPL734HH)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 34. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 35. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, pp. 48–49. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 44. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 47. ^ Norton 2003. ^ Haggerty 2006, pp. 543–561. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, pp. 49, 98. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 98. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 50. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 51. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, pp. 53 ff.. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, pp. 60 ff.. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 61. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 62. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, pp. 68 ff.. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, pp. 72–73. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 77. ^ Wilson, Kathleen (28 July 1995). The Sense of the People. Cambridge University Press. p. 396. ISBN 9780521340724. ^ "Vere, Thomas (c.1681–1766), of Thorpe Hall, Norf". History of Parliament. Retrieved 9 August 2016. ^ Walpole, H. (1884). Horace Walpole and his World. SEELEY, JACKSON, AND HALLIDAY, 54, FLEET STREET. Retrieved 3 June 2023. In 1735, young Horace proceeded from Eton to King's College, Cambridge, where he resided, though with long intervals of absence, until after he came of age. ^ Walpole, H. "A Description of Houghton Hall, continued: The Embroidered Bed-chamber, the Cabinet (partial) Author Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, 1743". © 2000–2023 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 3 June 2023. ^ "Literary Norfolk". ©Cameron Self 2007–2014 (Supported by Norfolk Tourism). Retrieved 3 June 2023. Walpole's son, the prolific letter writer Sir Horace Walpole (1717–97), lived at Houghton Hall but was not over enamoured with Norfolk. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 80. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 82. ^ Allen 2017. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 84. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 97. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, pp. 100–101. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 102. ^ a b Verberckmoes 2007, p. 77. ^ Walpole, Horace (1891). Cunningham, P. (ed.). The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford. The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford. Vol. 8. Richard Bentley and Son, London. Retrieved 4 June 2023. To The Countess of Ossory – July 15,1783...I have given one or two dinners to blue-stockings... ^ Russell, G. (2006). Romantic Sociability: Social Networks and Literary Culture... Cambridge University Press. p. 71. ISBN 9780521026093. Retrieved 10 June 2023. ...of a new literary and personal identity for Anna Barbauld. Horace Walpole had been pleased, in 1774, to show Anna and [her husband] Rochemont around Strawberry Hill, and a few years later to praise her poetry in a letter to William Mason. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, pp. 126–127. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 127. ^ Sabor 2013, p. 4. ^ Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 200. ^ a b Ketton-Cremer 1964, p. 201. ^ Lock 2000, pp. 34–35. ^ Lock 2000, p. 159. ^ a b Legouis 1957, p. 906. ^ Historic England. "St Martin's Church (Grade I) (1077787)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 31 July 2022. ^ White 1950, pp. 84–89. ^ White 1950, p. 88: No beings in human shape could resemble each other less than the two passing for father and son." (Lady Louisa Stuart) ^ White 1950, pp. 89–90. ^ Cunningham 1834, pp. 207–213. ^ Watt 2004, p. 120. ^ Watt 2004, pp. 120–121. ^ Smith 1983, p. 25. ^ Merton & Barber 2011, p. 1. ^ Sabor 2013, p. 223. ^ Pollard 1991, p. 216. Sources[edit] Allen, Brooke (9 September 2017). "The Word from Strawberry Hill". The Wall Street Journal. Carson, Penelope (2012). The East India Company and Religion, 1698–1858. Boydell & Brewer. pp. 18–33. ISBN 9781782040279. Retrieved 28 October 2020. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help) Cunningham, G. G. (1834), "Horace Walpole", Memoirs of Illustrious Englishmen (1834-37), vol. 6, archived from the original on 23 October 2021, retrieved 24 October 2019 Haggerty, George E. (2006). "Queering Horace Walpole". SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500–1900. 46 (3): 543–561. doi:10.1353/sel.2006.0026. ISSN 1522-9270. JSTOR 3844520. S2CID 154410341. Ketton-Cremer, Robert Wyndham (1964). Horace Walpole: a Biography. London: Methuen. ISBN 9787270010670. Langford, Paul (19 May 2011). "Walpole, Horatio, fourth earl of Orford (1717–1797)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28596. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) Legouis, Emile (1957). A History of English Literature. Translated by Louis Cazamian. New York: Macmillan. Lock, F. P. (2000). "Rhetoric and representation in Burke's Reflections". In Whale, John (ed.). Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. New Interdisciplinary Essays. Manchester: University Press. Merton, Robert K.; Barber, Elinor (2011). The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Sociological Semantics and the Sociology of Science. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-4152-3. Mowl, Timothy (2010) [1996]. Horace Walpole: The Great Outsider. London: Murray. ISBN 978-0-7195-5619-7. Norton, Rictor, ed. (23 February 2003) [1999]. "A Sapphick Epistle, 1778". Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 16 August 2007. Pollard, A. J. (1991). Richard III and the Princes in the Tower. Stroud: Alan Sutton. Smith, W. H. (1983), "Horace Walpole's Correspondence", The Yale University Library Gazette, 58 (1/2): 17–28, JSTOR 40858823 Sabor, Peter (2013). Horace Walpole: The Critical Heritage. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-136-17217-5. Watt, James (2004). "Gothic". In Keymer, Thomas; Mee, Jon (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to English Literature 1740–1830. Cambridge: University Press. Verberckmoes, Johan (2007). Geschiedenis van de Britse eilanden [The History of the British Isles] (in Dutch). Leuven: Uitgeverij Acco Leuven. ISBN 978-90-334-6549-9. White, T.H. (1950). The Age of Scandal. New York: Putnam. Further reading[edit] Frank, Frederick, "Introduction" in The Castle of Otranto. Gwynn, Stephen (1932). The Life of Horace Walpole. Hiller, Bevis. findarticles.com Who's Horry now? The Spectator, 14 September 1996 (in Italian) Carlo Stasi, Otranto e l'Inghilterra (episodi bellici in Puglia e nel Salento), in 'Note di Storia e Cultura Salentina', anno XV, pp. 127–159, (Argo, Lecce, 2003) (in Italian) Carlo Stasi, Otranto nel Mondo, in 'Note di Storia e Cultura Salentina', anno XVI, pp. 207–224, (Argo, Lecce, 2004) (in Italian) Carlo Stasi, Otranto nel Mondo, dal 'Castello' di Walpole al 'Barone' di Voltaire (Editrice Salentina, Galatina 2018) ISBN 9788831964067 External links[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford. Wikiquote has quotations related to Horace Walpole. Wikisource has original works by or about:Horace Walpole Works by Horace Walpole in eBook form at Standard Ebooks Works by Horace Walpole at Project Gutenberg The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 1 (1735–1748) The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2 (1749–1759) The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 3 (1759–1769) The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 4 (1770–1797) Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume I (1736–1764) Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume II (1764–1795) The Castle of Otranto Works by or about Horace Walpole at Internet Archive Works by Horace Walpole at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks) Horace Walpole at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA) The Literary Encyclopedia. Courtney, William Prideaux (1911). "Walpole, Horatio" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). pp. 288–290. The Friends of Strawberry Hill The Twickenham Museum – Horace Walpole[dead link] "The Walpole Cabinet". Furniture. Archived from the original on 1 July 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2007. Portraits of Horace Walpole at the National Portrait Gallery, London Lord Carr Hervey (1691–1723) as a Youth. (National Trust Collections). "The Walpole Society". Archived from the original on 16 July 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2013. "The View From Strawberry Hill: Horace Walpole and the American Revolution" Horace Walpole Correspondence | Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University "Archival material relating to Horace Walpole". UK National Archives. Parliament of Great Britain Preceded byThomas CoplestoneIsaac le Heup Member of Parliament for Callington 1741–1754 With: Thomas Coplestone (1741–1748)Edward Bacon (1748–1754) Succeeded bySewallis ShirleyJohn Sharpe Preceded byThe Lord LuxboroughThomas Howard Member of Parliament for Castle Rising 1754–1757 With: Thomas Howard Succeeded byThomas HowardCharles Boone Preceded bySir John Turner, BtHoratio Walpole Member of Parliament for Kings Lynn 1757–1768 With: Sir John Turner, Bt Succeeded bySir John Turner, BtThomas Walpole Peerage of Great Britain Preceded byGeorge Walpole Earl of Orford 2nd creation1791–1797 Extinct Viscount Walpole 1791–1797 Baron Walpole of Houghton1791–1797 Baron Walpole of Walpole1791–1797 Succeeded byHoratio Walpole Authority control databases International FAST ISNI VIAF National Norway Spain 2 France BnF data Catalonia Germany Italy Israel Belgium United States Sweden Japan Czech Republic Australia Greece Korea Croatia Netherlands Poland Portugal Vatican Academics CiNii Artists RKD Artists ULAN People Deutsche Biographie Trove Other SNAC IdRef
CHAPTER V.
Every reflection which Manfred made on the Friar's behaviour, conspired to persuade him that Jerome was privy to an amour between Isabella and Theodore. But Jerome's new presumption, so dissonant from his former meekness, suggested still deeper apprehensions. The Prince even suspected that the Friar depended on some secret support from Frederic, whose arrival, coinciding with the novel appearance of Theodore, seemed to bespeak a correspondence. Still more was he troubled with the resemblance of Theodore to Alfonso's portrait. The latter he knew had unquestionably died without issue. Frederic had consented to bestow Isabella on him. These contradictions agitated his mind with numberless pangs.
He saw but two methods of extricating himself from his difficulties. The one was to resign his dominions to the Marquis-pride, ambition, and his reliance on ancient prophecies, which had pointed out a possibility of his preserving them to his posterity, combated that thought. The other was to press his marriage with Isabella. After long ruminating on these anxious thoughts, as he marched silently with Hippolita to the castle, he at last discoursed with that Princess on the subject of his disquiet, and used every insinuating and plausible argument to extract her consent to, even her promise of promoting the divorce. Hippolita needed little persuasions to bend her to his pleasure. She endeavoured to win him over to the measure of resigning his dominions; but finding her exhortations fruitless, she assured him, that as far as her conscience would allow, she would raise no opposition to a separation, though without better founded scruples than what he yet alleged, she would not engage to be active in demanding it.
This compliance, though inadequate, was sufficient to raise Manfred's hopes. He trusted that his power and wealth would easily advance his suit at the court of Rome, whither he resolved to engage Frederic to take a journey on purpose. That Prince had discovered so much passion for Matilda, that Manfred hoped to obtain all he wished by holding out or withdrawing his daughter's charms, according as the Marquis should appear more or less disposed to co-operate in his views. Even the absence of Frederic would be a material point gained, until he could take further measures for his security.
Dismissing Hippolita to her apartment, he repaired to that of the Marquis; but crossing the great hall through which he was to pass he met Bianca. The damsel he knew was in the confidence of both the young ladies. It immediately occurred to him to sift her on the subject of Isabella and Theodore. Calling her aside into the recess of the oriel window of the hall, and soothing her with many fair words and promises, he demanded of her whether she knew aught of the state of Isabella's affections.
"I! my Lord! no my Lord-yes my Lord-poor Lady! she is wonderfully alarmed about her father's wounds; but I tell her he will do well; don't your Highness think so?" "I do not ask you," replied Manfred, "what she thinks about her father; but you are in her secrets. Come, be a good girl and tell me; is there any young man-ha!-you understand me." "Lord bless me! understand your Highness? no, not I. I told her a few vulnerary herbs and repose-" "I am not talking," replied the Prince, impatiently, "about her father; I know he will do well."
"Bless me, I rejoice to hear your Highness say so; for though I thought it not right to let my young Lady despond, methought his greatness had a wan look, and a something-I remember when young Ferdinand was wounded by the Venetian-" "Thou answerest from the point," interrupted Manfred; "but here, take this jewel, perhaps that may fix thy attention-nay, no reverences; my favour shall not stop here-come, tell me truly; how stands Isabella's heart?"
"Well! your Highness has such a way!" said Bianca, "to be sure-but can your Highness keep a secret? if it should ever come out of your lips-" "It shall not, it shall not," cried Manfred. "Nay, but swear, your Highness." "By my halidame, if it should ever be known that I said it-"
"Why, truth is truth, I do not think my Lady Isabella ever much affectioned my young Lord your son; yet he was a sweet youth as one should see; I am sure, if I had been a Princess-but bless me! I must attend my Lady Matilda; she will marvel what is become of me." "Stay," cried Manfred; "thou hast not satisfied my question. Hast thou ever carried any message, any letter?" "I! good gracious!" cried Bianca; "I carry a letter? I would not to be a Queen. I hope your Highness thinks, though I am poor, I am honest. Did your Highness never hear what Count Marsigli offered me, when he came a wooing to my Lady Matilda?"
"I have not leisure," said Manfred, "to listen to thy tale. I do not question thy honesty. But it is thy duty to conceal nothing from me. How long has Isabella been acquainted with Theodore?" "Nay, there is nothing can escape your Highness!" said Bianca; "not that I know any thing of the matter. Theodore, to be sure, is a proper young man, and, as my Lady Matilda says, the very image of good Alfonso. Has not your Highness remarked it?" "Yes, yes,-No-thou torturest me," said Manfred. "Where did they meet? when?"
"Who! my Lady Matilda?" said Bianca. "No, no, not Matilda: Isabella; when did Isabella first become acquainted with this Theodore!" "Virgin Mary!" said Bianca, "how should I know?" "Thou dost know," said Manfred; "and I must know; I will-" "Lord! your Highness is not jealous of young Theodore!" said Bianca. "Jealous! no, no. Why should I be jealous? perhaps I mean to unite them-If I were sure Isabella would have no repugnance."
"Repugnance! no, I'll warrant her," said Bianca; "he is as comely a youth as ever trod on Christian ground. We are all in love with him; there is not a soul in the castle but would be rejoiced to have him for our Prince-I mean, when it shall please heaven to call your Highness to itself." "Indeed!" said Manfred, "has it gone so far! oh! this cursed Friar!-but I must not lose time-go, Bianca, attend Isabella; but I charge thee, not a word of what has passed. Find out how she is affected towards Theodore; bring me good news, and that ring has a companion. Wait at the foot of the winding staircase: I am going to visit the Marquis, and will talk further with thee at my return."
Manfred, after some general conversation, desired Frederic to dismiss the two Knights, his companions, having to talk with him on urgent affairs. As soon as they were alone, he began in artful guise to sound the Marquis on the subject of Matilda; and finding him disposed to his wish, he let drop hints on the difficulties that would attend the celebration of their marriage, unless-At that instant Bianca burst into the room with a wildness in her look and gestures that spoke the utmost terror.
"Oh! my Lord, my Lord!" cried she; "we are all undone! it is come again! it is come again!" "What is come again?" cried Manfred amazed. "Oh! the hand! the Giant! the hand!-support me! I am terrified out of my senses," cried Bianca. "I will not sleep in the castle to-night. Where shall I go? my things may come after me to-morrow-would I had been content to wed Francesco! this comes of ambition!" "What has terrified thee thus, young woman?" said the Marquis. "Thou art safe here; be not alarmed."
"Oh! your Greatness is wonderfully good," said Bianca, "but I dare not-no, pray let me go-I had rather leave everything behind me, than stay another hour under this roof." "Go to, thou hast lost thy senses," said Manfred. "Interrupt us not; we were communing on important matters-My Lord, this wench is subject to fits-Come with me, Bianca." "Oh! the Saints! No," said Bianca, "for certain it comes to warn your Highness; why should it appear to me else? I say my prayers morning and evening-oh! if your Highness had believed Diego! 'Tis the same hand that he saw the foot to in the gallery-chamber-Father Jerome has often told us the prophecy would be out one of these days-'Bianca,' said he, 'mark my words-'"
"Thou ravest," said Manfred, in a rage; "be gone, and keep these fooleries to frighten thy companions." "What! my Lord," cried Bianca, "do you think I have seen nothing? go to the foot of the great stairs yourself-as I live I saw it." "Saw what? tell us, fair maid, what thou hast seen," said Frederic. "Can your Highness listen," said Manfred, "to the delirium of a silly wench, who has heard stories of apparitions until she believes them?"
"This is more than fancy," said the Marquis; "her terror is too natural and too strongly impressed to be the work of imagination. Tell us, fair maiden, what it is has moved thee thus?" "Yes, my Lord, thank your Greatness," said Bianca; "I believe I look very pale; I shall be better when I have recovered myself-I was going to my Lady Isabella's chamber, by his Highness's order-" "We do not want the circumstances," interrupted Manfred. "Since his Highness will have it so, proceed; but be brief."
"Lord! your Highness thwarts one so!" replied Bianca; "I fear my hair-I am sure I never in my life-well! as I was telling your Greatness, I was going by his Highness's order to my Lady Isabella's chamber; she lies in the watchet-coloured chamber, on the right hand, one pair of stairs: so when I came to the great stairs-I was looking on his Highness's present here-" "Grant me patience!" said Manfred, "will this wench never come to the point? what imports it to the Marquis, that I gave thee a bauble for thy faithful attendance on my daughter? we want to know what thou sawest."
"I was going to tell your Highness," said Bianca, "if you would permit me. So as I was rubbing the ring-I am sure I had not gone up three steps, but I heard the rattling of armour; for all the world such a clatter as Diego says he heard when the Giant turned him about in the gallery-chamber." "What Giant is this, my Lord?" said the Marquis; "is your castle haunted by giants and goblins?"
"Lord! what, has not your Greatness heard the story of the Giant in the gallery-chamber?" cried Bianca. "I marvel his Highness has not told you; mayhap you do not know there is a prophecy-" "This trifling is intolerable," interrupted Manfred. "Let us dismiss this silly wench, my Lord! we have more important affairs to discuss." "By your favour," said Frederic, "these are no trifles. The enormous sabre I was directed to in the wood, yon casque, its fellow-are these visions of this poor maiden's brain?"
"So Jaquez thinks, may it please your Greatness," said Bianca. "He says this moon will not be out without our seeing some strange revolution. For my part, I should not be surprised if it was to happen to-morrow; for, as I was saying, when I heard the clattering of armour, I was all in a cold sweat. I looked up, and, if your Greatness will believe me, I saw upon the uppermost banister of the great stairs a hand in armour as big as big. I thought I should have swooned. I never stopped until I came hither-would I were well out of this castle. My Lady Matilda told me but yester-morning that her Highness Hippolita knows something."
"Thou art an insolent!" cried Manfred. "Lord Marquis, it much misgives me that this scene is concerted to affront me. Are my own domestics suborned to spread tales injurious to my honour? Pursue your claim by manly daring; or let us bury our feuds, as was proposed, by the intermarriage of our children. But trust me, it ill becomes a Prince of your bearing to practise on mercenary wenches." "I scorn your imputation," said Frederic. "Until this hour I never set eyes on this damsel: I have given her no jewel. My Lord, my Lord, your conscience, your guilt accuses you, and would throw the suspicion on me; but keep your daughter, and think no more of Isabella. The judgments already fallen on your house forbid me matching into it."
Manfred, alarmed at the resolute tone in which Frederic delivered these words, endeavoured to pacify him. Dismissing Bianca, he made such submissions to the Marquis, and threw in such artful encomiums on Matilda, that Frederic was once more staggered. However, as his passion was of so recent a date, it could not at once surmount the scruples he had conceived. He had gathered enough from Bianca's discourse to persuade him that heaven declared itself against Manfred. The proposed marriages too removed his claim to a distance; and the principality of Otranto was a stronger temptation than the contingent reversion of it with Matilda. Still he would not absolutely recede from his engagements; but purposing to gain time, he demanded of Manfred if it was true in fact that Hippolita consented to the divorce. The Prince, transported to find no other obstacle, and depending on his influence over his wife, assured the Marquis it was so, and that he might satisfy himself of the truth from her own mouth.
As they were thus discoursing, word was brought that the banquet was prepared. Manfred conducted Frederic to the great hall, where they were received by Hippolita and the young Princesses. Manfred placed the Marquis next to Matilda, and seated himself between his wife and Isabella. Hippolita comported herself with an easy gravity; but the young ladies were silent and melancholy. Manfred, who was determined to pursue his point with the Marquis in the remainder of the evening, pushed on the feast until it waxed late; affecting unrestrained gaiety, and plying Frederic with repeated goblets of wine. The latter, more upon his guard than Manfred wished, declined his frequent challenges, on pretence of his late loss of blood; while the Prince, to raise his own disordered spirits, and to counterfeit unconcern, indulged himself in plentiful draughts, though not to the intoxication of his senses.
The evening being far advanced, the banquet concluded. Manfred would have withdrawn with Frederic; but the latter pleading weakness and want of repose, retired to his chamber, gallantly telling the Prince that his daughter should amuse his Highness until himself could attend him. Manfred accepted the party, and to the no small grief of Isabella, accompanied her to her apartment. Matilda waited on her mother to enjoy the freshness of the evening on the ramparts of the castle.
Soon as the company were dispersed their several ways, Frederic, quitting his chamber, inquired if Hippolita was alone, and was told by one of her attendants, who had not noticed her going forth, that at that hour she generally withdrew to her oratory, where he probably would find her. The Marquis, during the repast, had beheld Matilda with increase of passion. He now wished to find Hippolita in the disposition her Lord had promised. The portents that had alarmed him were forgotten in his desires. Stealing softly and unobserved to the apartment of Hippolita, he entered it with a resolution to encourage her acquiescence to the divorce, having perceived that Manfred was resolved to make the possession of Isabella an unalterable condition, before he would grant Matilda to his wishes.
The Marquis was not surprised at the silence that reigned in the Princess's apartment. Concluding her, as he had been advertised, in her oratory, he passed on. The door was ajar; the evening gloomy and overcast. Pushing open the door gently, he saw a person kneeling before the altar. As he approached nearer, it seemed not a woman, but one in a long woollen weed, whose back was towards him. The person seemed absorbed in prayer. The Marquis was about to return, when the figure, rising, stood some moments fixed in meditation, without regarding him. The Marquis, expecting the holy person to come forth, and meaning to excuse his uncivil interruption, said,
"Reverend Father, I sought the Lady Hippolita." "Hippolita!" replied a hollow voice; "camest thou to this castle to seek Hippolita?" and then the figure, turning slowly round, discovered to Frederic the fleshless jaws and empty sockets of a skeleton, wrapt in a hermit's cowl.
"Angels of grace protect me!" cried Frederic, recoiling. "Deserve their protection!" said the Spectre. Frederic, falling on his knees, adjured the phantom to take pity on him. "Dost thou not remember me?" said the apparition. "Remember the wood of Joppa!" "Art thou that holy hermit?" cried Frederic, trembling. "Can I do aught for thy eternal peace?"
"Wast thou delivered from bondage," said the spectre, "to pursue carnal delights? Hast thou forgotten the buried sabre, and the behest of Heaven engraven on it?" "I have not, I have not," said Frederic; "but say, blest spirit, what is thy errand to me? What remains to be done?" "To forget Matilda!" said the apparition; and vanished.
Frederic's blood froze in his veins. For some minutes he remained motionless. Then falling prostrate on his face before the altar, he besought the intercession of every saint for pardon. A flood of tears succeeded to this transport; and the image of the beauteous Matilda rushing in spite of him on his thoughts, he lay on the ground in a conflict of penitence and passion. Ere he could recover from this agony of his spirits, the Princess Hippolita with a taper in her hand entered the oratory alone. Seeing a man without motion on the floor, she gave a shriek, concluding him dead. Her fright brought Frederic to himself. Rising suddenly, his face bedewed with tears, he would have rushed from her presence; but Hippolita stopping him, conjured him in the most plaintive accents to explain the cause of his disorder, and by what strange chance she had found him there in that posture.
"Ah, virtuous Princess!" said the Marquis, penetrated with grief, and stopped. "For the love of Heaven, my Lord," said Hippolita, "disclose the cause of this transport! What mean these doleful sounds, this alarming exclamation on my name? What woes has heaven still in store for the wretched Hippolita? Yet silent! By every pitying angel, I adjure thee, noble Prince," continued she, falling at his feet, "to disclose the purport of what lies at thy heart. I see thou feelest for me; thou feelest the sharp pangs that thou inflictest-speak, for pity! Does aught thou knowest concern my child?"
"I cannot speak," cried Frederic, bursting from her. "Oh, Matilda!" Quitting the Princess thus abruptly, he hastened to his own apartment. At the door of it he was accosted by Manfred, who flushed by wine and love had come to seek him, and to propose to waste some hours of the night in music and revelling. Frederic, offended at an invitation so dissonant from the mood of his soul, pushed him rudely aside, and entering his chamber, flung the door intemperately against Manfred, and bolted it inwards. The haughty Prince, enraged at this unaccountable behaviour, withdrew in a frame of mind capable of the most fatal excesses. As he crossed the court, he was met by the domestic whom he had planted at the convent as a spy on Jerome and Theodore. This man, almost breathless with the haste he had made, informed his Lord that Theodore, and some lady from the castle were, at that instant, in private conference at the tomb of Alfonso in St. Nicholas's church. He had dogged Theodore thither, but the gloominess of the night had prevented his discovering who the woman was.
Manfred, whose spirits were inflamed, and whom Isabella had driven from her on his urging his passion with too little reserve, did not doubt but the inquietude she had expressed had been occasioned by her impatience to meet Theodore. Provoked by this conjecture, and enraged at her father, he hastened secretly to the great church. Gliding softly between the aisles, and guided by an imperfect gleam of moonshine that shone faintly through the illuminated windows, he stole towards the tomb of Alfonso, to which he was directed by indistinct whispers of the persons he sought. The first sounds he could distinguish were-
"Does it, alas! depend on me? Manfred will never permit our union." "No, this shall prevent it!" cried the tyrant, drawing his dagger, and plunging it over her shoulder into the bosom of the person that spoke. "Ah, me, I am slain!" cried Matilda, sinking. "Good heaven, receive my soul!"
"Savage, inhuman monster, what hast thou done!" cried Theodore, rushing on him, and wrenching his dagger from him. "Stop, stop thy impious hand!" cried Matilda; "it is my father!" Manfred, waking as from a trance, beat his breast, twisted his hands in his locks, and endeavoured to recover his dagger from Theodore to despatch himself. Theodore, scarce less distracted, and only mastering the transports of his grief to assist Matilda, had now by his cries drawn some of the monks to his aid. While part of them endeavoured, in concert with the afflicted Theodore, to stop the blood of the dying Princess, the rest prevented Manfred from laying violent hands on himself.
Matilda, resigning herself patiently to her fate, acknowledged with looks of grateful love the zeal of Theodore. Yet oft as her faintness would permit her speech its way, she begged the assistants to comfort her father. Jerome, by this time, had learnt the fatal news, and reached the church. His looks seemed to reproach Theodore, but turning to Manfred, he said, "Now, tyrant! behold the completion of woe fulfilled on thy impious and devoted head! The blood of Alfonso cried to heaven for vengeance; and heaven has permitted its altar to be polluted by assassination, that thou mightest shed thy own blood at the foot of that Prince's sepulchre!"
"Cruel man!" cried Matilda, "to aggravate the woes of a parent; may heaven bless my father, and forgive him as I do! My Lord, my gracious Sire, dost thou forgive thy child? Indeed, I came not hither to meet Theodore. I found him praying at this tomb, whither my mother sent me to intercede for thee, for her-dearest father, bless your child, and say you forgive her."
"Forgive thee! Murderous monster!" cried Manfred, "can assassins forgive? I took thee for Isabella; but heaven directed my bloody hand to the heart of my child. Oh, Matilda!-I cannot utter it-canst thou forgive the blindness of my rage?" "I can, I do; and may heaven confirm it!" said Matilda; "but while I have life to ask it-oh! my mother! what will she feel? Will you comfort her, my Lord? Will you not put her away? Indeed she loves you! Oh, I am faint! bear me to the castle. Can I live to have her close my eyes?"
Theodore and the monks besought her earnestly to suffer herself to be borne into the convent; but her instances were so pressing to be carried to the castle, that placing her on a litter, they conveyed her thither as she requested. Theodore, supporting her head with his arm, and hanging over her in an agony of despairing love, still endeavoured to inspire her with hopes of life. Jerome, on the other side, comforted her with discourses of heaven, and holding a crucifix before her, which she bathed with innocent tears, prepared her for her passage to immortality. Manfred, plunged in the deepest affliction, followed the litter in despair.
Ere they reached the castle, Hippolita, informed of the dreadful catastrophe, had flown to meet her murdered child; but when she saw the afflicted procession, the mightiness of her grief deprived her of her senses, and she fell lifeless to the earth in a swoon. Isabella and Frederic, who attended her, were overwhelmed in almost equal sorrow. Matilda alone seemed insensible to her own situation: every thought was lost in tenderness for her mother.
Ordering the litter to stop, as soon as Hippolita was brought to herself, she asked for her father. He approached, unable to speak. Matilda, seizing his hand and her mother's, locked them in her own, and then clasped them to her heart. Manfred could not support this act of pathetic piety. He dashed himself on the ground, and cursed the day he was born. Isabella, apprehensive that these struggles of passion were more than Matilda could support, took upon herself to order Manfred to be borne to his apartment, while she caused Matilda to be conveyed to the nearest chamber. Hippolita, scarce more alive than her daughter, was regardless of everything but her; but when the tender Isabella's care would have likewise removed her, while the surgeons examined Matilda's wound, she cried,
"Remove me! never, never! I lived but in her, and will expire with her." Matilda raised her eyes at her mother's voice, but closed them again without speaking. Her sinking pulse and the damp coldness of her hand soon dispelled all hopes of recovery. Theodore followed the surgeons into the outer chamber, and heard them pronounce the fatal sentence with a transport equal to frenzy. "Since she cannot live mine," cried he, "at least she shall be mine in death! Father! Jerome! will you not join our hands?" cried he to the Friar, who, with the Marquis, had accompanied the surgeons.
"What means thy distracted rashness?" said Jerome. "Is this an hour for marriage?" "It is, it is," cried Theodore. "Alas! there is no other!" "Young man, thou art too unadvised," said Frederic. "Dost thou think we are to listen to thy fond transports in this hour of fate? What pretensions hast thou to the Princess?"
"Those of a Prince," said Theodore; "of the sovereign of Otranto. This reverend man, my father, has informed me who I am." "Thou ravest," said the Marquis. "There is no Prince of Otranto but myself, now Manfred, by murder, by sacrilegious murder, has forfeited all pretensions."
"My Lord," said Jerome, assuming an air of command, "he tells you true. It was not my purpose the secret should have been divulged so soon, but fate presses onward to its work. What his hot-headed passion has revealed, my tongue confirms. Know, Prince, that when Alfonso set sail for the Holy Land-"
"Is this a season for explanations?" cried Theodore. "Father, come and unite me to the Princess; she shall be mine! In every other thing I will dutifully obey you. My life! my adored Matilda!" continued Theodore, rushing back into the inner chamber, "will you not be mine? Will you not bless your-" Isabella made signs to him to be silent, apprehending the Princess was near her end. "What, is she dead?" cried Theodore; "is it possible!"
The violence of his exclamations brought Matilda to herself. Lifting up her eyes, she looked round for her mother. "Life of my soul, I am here!" cried Hippolita; "think not I will quit thee!" "Oh! you are too good," said Matilda. "But weep not for me, my mother! I am going where sorrow never dwells-Isabella, thou hast loved me; wouldst thou not supply my fondness to this dear, dear woman? Indeed I am faint!"
"Oh! my child! my child!" said Hippolita in a flood of tears, "can I not withhold thee a moment?" "It will not be," said Matilda; "commend me to heaven-Where is my father? forgive him, dearest mother-forgive him my death; it was an error. Oh! I had forgotten-dearest mother, I vowed never to see Theodore more-perhaps that has drawn down this calamity-but it was not intentional-can you pardon me?"
"Oh! wound not my agonising soul!" said Hippolita; "thou never couldst offend me-Alas! she faints! help! help!" "I would say something more," said Matilda, struggling, "but it cannot be-Isabella-Theodore-for my sake-Oh!-" she expired. Isabella and her women tore Hippolita from the corse; but Theodore threatened destruction to all who attempted to remove him from it. He printed a thousand kisses on her clay-cold hands, and uttered every expression that despairing love could dictate.
Isabella, in the meantime, was accompanying the afflicted Hippolita to her apartment; but, in the middle of the court, they were met by Manfred, who, distracted with his own thoughts, and anxious once more to behold his daughter, was advancing to the chamber where she lay. As the moon was now at its height, he read in the countenances of this unhappy company the event he dreaded.
"What! is she dead?" cried he in wild confusion. A clap of thunder at that instant shook the castle to its foundations; the earth rocked, and the clank of more than mortal armour was heard behind. Frederic and Jerome thought the last day was at hand. The latter, forcing Theodore along with them, rushed into the court. The moment Theodore appeared, the walls of the castle behind Manfred were thrown down with a mighty force, and the form of Alfonso, dilated to an immense magnitude, appeared in the centre of the ruins.
"Behold in Theodore the true heir of Alfonso!" said the vision: And having pronounced those words, accompanied by a clap of thunder, it ascended solemnly towards heaven, where the clouds parting asunder, the form of St. Nicholas was seen, and receiving Alfonso's shade, they were soon wrapt from mortal eyes in a blaze of glory. The beholders fell prostrate on their faces, acknowledging the divine will. The first that broke silence was Hippolita.
"My Lord," said she to the desponding Manfred, "behold the vanity of human greatness! Conrad is gone! Matilda is no more! In Theodore we view the true Prince of Otranto. By what miracle he is so I know not-suffice it to us, our doom is pronounced! shall we not, can we but dedicate the few deplorable hours we have to live, in deprecating the further wrath of heaven? heaven ejects us-whither can we fly, but to yon holy cells that yet offer us a retreat."
"Thou guiltless but unhappy woman! unhappy by my crimes!" replied Manfred, "my heart at last is open to thy devout admonitions. Oh! could-but it cannot be-ye are lost in wonder-let me at last do justice on myself! To heap shame on my own head is all the satisfaction I have left to offer to offended heaven. My story has drawn down these judgments: Let my confession atone-but, ah! what can atone for usurpation and a murdered child? a child murdered in a consecrated place? List, sirs, and may this bloody record be a warning to future tyrants!"
"Alfonso, ye all know, died in the Holy Land-ye would interrupt me; ye would say he came not fairly to his end-it is most true-why else this bitter cup which Manfred must drink to the dregs. Ricardo, my grandfather, was his chamberlain-I would draw a veil over my ancestor's crimes-but it is in vain! Alfonso died by poison. A fictitious will declared Ricardo his heir. His crimes pursued him-yet he lost no Conrad, no Matilda! I pay the price of usurpation for all! A storm overtook him. Haunted by his guilt he vowed to St. Nicholas to found a church and two convents, if he lived to reach Otranto. The sacrifice was accepted: the saint appeared to him in a dream, and promised that Ricardo's posterity should reign in Otranto until the rightful owner should be grown too large to inhabit the castle, and as long as issue male from Ricardo's loins should remain to enjoy it-alas! alas! nor male nor female, except myself, remains of all his wretched race! I have done-the woes of these three days speak the rest. How this young man can be Alfonso's heir I know not-yet I do not doubt it. His are these dominions; I resign them-yet I knew not Alfonso had an heir-I question not the will of heaven-poverty and prayer must fill up the woeful space, until Manfred shall be summoned to Ricardo."
"What remains is my part to declare," said Jerome. "When Alfonso set sail for the Holy Land he was driven by a storm to the coast of Sicily. The other vessel, which bore Ricardo and his train, as your Lordship must have heard, was separated from him." "It is most true," said Manfred; "and the title you give me is more than an outcast can claim-well! be it so-proceed."
Jerome blushed, and continued. "For three months Lord Alfonso was wind-bound in Sicily. There he became enamoured of a fair virgin named Victoria. He was too pious to tempt her to forbidden pleasures. They were married. Yet deeming this amour incongruous with the holy vow of arms by which he was bound, he determined to conceal their nuptials until his return from the Crusade, when he purposed to seek and acknowledge her for his lawful wife. He left her pregnant. During his absence she was delivered of a daughter. But scarce had she felt a mother's pangs ere she heard the fatal rumour of her Lord's death, and the succession of Ricardo. What could a friendless, helpless woman do? Would her testimony avail?-yet, my lord, I have an authentic writing-"
"It needs not," said Manfred; "the horrors of these days, the vision we have but now seen, all corroborate thy evidence beyond a thousand parchments. Matilda's death and my expulsion-" "Be composed, my Lord," said Hippolita; "this holy man did not mean to recall your griefs." Jerome proceeded. "I shall not dwell on what is needless. The daughter of which Victoria was delivered, was at her maturity bestowed in marriage on me. Victoria died; and the secret remained locked in my breast. Theodore's narrative has told the rest."
The Friar ceased. The disconsolate company retired to the remaining part of the castle. In the morning Manfred signed his abdication of the principality, with the approbation of Hippolita, and each took on them the habit of religion in the neighbouring convents. Frederic offered his daughter to the new Prince, which Hippolita's tenderness for Isabella concurred to promote. But Theodore's grief was too fresh to admit the thought of another love; and it was not until after frequent discourses with Isabella of his dear Matilda, that he was persuaded he could know no happiness but in the society of one with whom he could for ever indulge the melancholy that had taken possession of his soul.

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Word Lists:

Wench : a girl or young woman

Dissonant : lacking harmony

Inquietude : physical or mental restlessness or disturbance.

Suborn : bribe or otherwise induce (someone) to commit an unlawful act such as perjury

Adjure : urge or request (someone) solemnly or earnestly to do something

Usurpation :

Comport : conduct oneself; behave

Bauble : a small, showy trinket or decoration

Impious : not showing respect or reverence, especially for a god

Oratory : a small chapel, especially for private worship.

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Additional Information:

Rating: A Words in the Passage: 5873 Unique Words: 1,520 Sentences: 517
Noun: 2010 Conjunction: 361 Adverb: 284 Interjection: 27
Adjective: 313 Pronoun: 868 Verb: 1255 Preposition: 669
Letter Count: 26,211 Sentiment: Positive / Positive / Positive Tone: Conversational Difficult Words: 1060
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