HORACE WALPOLE'S CORRESPONDENCE

To LINCOLN,1 Saturday 21 November 1739 NS

Printed for the first time from a photostat of the MS deposited in the Notting­ ham University Library by the Trustees of the Newcastle Estates. Confusing and frequently misleading endorsements in an unidentified hand have been omitted from all the Lincoln letters. ,3 Nov. 21, 1739. My dear Lord, THANK you: this word is short, but as I feel it, contains a vast deal: it contains all I owe you for your civilities to me at Turing and for your company, which you know I am fond of; I wish you were here, that I might thank you better. You can't imagine how well I would do the honours of Genoa; do, come and see; try if I have not learned of you. Here are a thousand inducements; a glorious town, delightful situation, a dear Doge,4 a French play, and an English Lord Granby;5 millions of pretty women beside, which my Lord can tell you more of. Except to Mr Spence,6 I won't trouble you with any compliments; he is so much in the way of Mr Hume; I am quite fond of him; you

1. Henry Fiennes-Clinton (after 1768 dia storico-nobiliare italiana, Milan, 1928- Pelham-Clinton) (1720-94), 9th E. of 36, i. 475, 476). HW and Gray had seen him Lincoln; nephew of the 1st D. of New­ that morning at a festival 'in his robes of castle, whom he succeeded in 1768. HW crimson damask, and a cap of the same'; describes him as 'a very dark thin young Gray describes him as 'a very tall, lean, nobleman, who did not look so much stately, old figure' (Gray, Correspondence, of the Hercules, as he said he was him­ ed. Toynbee and Whibley, i. 130-1). self (MS Poems, p. 99). He plays a promi­ 5. John Manners (1721-70), styled M. nent part in HW's 'Patapan, or the Little of Granby; eld. son of 3d D. of Rutland; White Dog,' printed below, Appendix 1. army officer; M. P. Grantham 1741-54, 2. HW and Gray arrived at Genoa 20 Cambridgeshire 1754-70. Nov. 1739 NS and stayed a week (GRAY 6. Rev. (1699-1768), au­ i. 9 n. 50). thor, friend of Pope; professor of poetry 3. HW and Gray had been at at Oxford 1728-38; regius professor of 7-18 Nov. (ibid. i. 188 n. 1, 190-1; Gray to modern history, 1742; HW's occasional West 16 Nov. 1739 NS, , correspondent; at this time Lincoln's Correspondence, ed. Toynbee and Whib­ tutor. ley, Oxford, 1935, i. 127-9). Lincoln and 7. Rev. John Hume (1703-82); Bp of his tutor, Joseph Spence, had been at Bristol 1756-8, of Oxford 1758-66, of Turin since 11 Oct. NS and remained Salisbury 1766-82 (S. H. Cassan, Lives until 15 Sept. 1740 NS (GRAY i. 191 n. . . . of the Bishops of . . . Salisbury, 23; BM Egerton MSS 2235, f- 79)- Salisbury, 1824, iii. 320-5; John LeNeve 4. Costantino Balbi (d. 1740), Doge of and T. Duffus Hardy, Fasti ecclesicc Genoa 1738-40 (Michael Ranfft, Genealo­ Anglicance, Oxford, 1854, i. 219-20, ii. 316, gisch-historische Nachrichten, Leipzig,450 , 508, iii. 366; Philip Morant, History

1)7gg_52( ii. 74; Vittorio Spreti, Enciclope­ . . . of Essex, 1768, ii. 362; Foster, Alumni