by Horace Walpole

Horace/Horatio Walpole, (1717-1797), more commonly known as Horace Walpole, was a politician, writer, architectural innovator and cousin of Lord Nelson. His Letters are highly readable, and give a vivid picture of the more intellectual part of the aristocracy of his period. He was born in London, the youngest son of British Prime Minister Robert Walpole. He was educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge. Following his father's politics, he was a devotee of King George II and Queen Caroline, siding with them against their son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, about whom Walpole wrote spitefully in his memoirs. His father was created Earl of Orford in 1742. Horace's elder brother, the 2nd Earl of Orford passed the title on to his son, the 3rd Earl of Orford. When the 3rd Earl died unmarried, Horace Walpole became the 4th Earl of Orford. In 1764, he published his Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto, setting a literary trend to go with the architecture. From 1762 on, he published his Anecdotes of Painting in England, and in 1785 he published his Hieroglyphic Tales.