Manuscript, in Walpole's and others' hands, of a collection of several dozen scraps of notes, verse fragments, sketches, and drawings, collected from Walpole's papers. The notes are primarily epigrammatic or anecdotal, on such topics as printing books; British monarchs; Waldegrave's time as ambassador at Paris; Lady Mary Coke's affectations; and Sir W. Draper's gambling. The collection also includes several riddles and verses. Some of the notes have been transcribed, on the same page, by Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis and The manuscript also contains 29 drawings, including pencil sketches of Strawberry Hill some done by Walpole and others possibly by John Chute; a pen-and-wash drawing of a scene from The Castle of Otranto accompanied by a note of thanks from Mrs Susanna (Highmore) Duncombe; a pen drawing of the actor William Kemp copied from the frontispiece of a book; numerous busts; a detailed pastoral landscape scene in pencil, possibly by Agnes Berry; pencil sketches of a pig, cow, and dog; pen sketches by Sir John Fenn; and a woodcut title page to a book of John Skelton's works, dated 1523
Alternative Title:
Walpoliana mss and drawings
Description:
In English., Laid in: scrap of paper with faded ink writing, possibly Walpole's., Marbled endpapers., Binding: full calf; gilt decoration. In gilt on spine: Walpoliana mss and drawings., and For further information, consult library staff.
Manuscript, in a single hand, of a collection of descriptions of residences of English nobility. The author focuses on descriptions of the views from each seat and the landscape in which the house is situated; occasionally he also describes the architecture and furnishings of the houses and provides anecdotes about the owners. He calls Winander Meer in Westmoreland "the largest water of the kind in England," and notes its picturesque promontories and shrub-decorated shores. At Raby Castle in North Riding, Yorkshire, the seat of the Earl of Darlington, he praises the Gothic taste of the windows; provides the dimensions of the "rendezvous apartment"; and explains how the dog-kennel, "rising out of a wood," beautifies the scene. He also speaks approvingly of Sir James Lowther's project in Cumberland of "building a town to consist of 300 houses, for the use of such of his Domesticks, and other people as are married," which he calls "a most incomparable method of promoting population."
Description:
In English., Alphabetical table of contents at beginning of manuscript., At end of manuscript: "The following table of Rooms in the Noblemen & Gentlemen's Seats mentioned in this Vol[u]me do not give the exact proportion of any whole house ... .", Title from title page., Bookplate of Philip Shirley., Bookplate of Ettington Manuscript Library. Written in ink in center: No. 62., Steel engraving pasted on preliminary leaf, opposite clipping with description: Ickworth House near Bury St. Edmunds : the seat of the most noble the Marquess of Bristol / engd. on steel by Alfred Adlard. 50 Dorset Street, Salisbury Square., and Binding: quarter calf over marbled boards. Printed on spine: Noblemens Seats.
Subject (Geographic):
England., England, and Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Young, Arthur, 1741-1820.
Subject (Topic):
Architecture, Domestic, Gentry, Homes and haunts, Nobility, Social life and customs, Travelers' writings, English, and Description and travel
