TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have beenplaced at the end of each chapter.
The Appendix has sections marked B to K; there is no section A, andno section J.
As the Editor notes in his Preface, “Some, though very few, coarseexpressions, have been suppressed by the Editor, and the vacantspaces filled up by [3 or 4] asterisks.” A few names have beeneditorially omitted; these are sometimes indicated by ——and sometimes by ****.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
MEMOIRS
OF THE REIGN OF
KING GEORGE THE SECOND.
VOL. I.
MEMOIRS
OF THE REIGN OF
KING GEORGE THE SECOND.
BY
HORACE WALPOLE,
YOUNGEST SON OF SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD.
EDITED, FROM THE ORIGINAL MSS.
WITH A PREFACE AND NOTES,
BY THE LATE
LORD HOLLAND.
Second Edition, Revised.
WITH THE ORIGINAL MOTTOES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER,
GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1847.
EDITOR’S
PREFACE.
The work now submitted to the public is printedfrom a Manuscript of the late Horace Walpole,Earl of Orford.
Among the papers found at Strawberry Hill,after the death of Lord Orford, was the followingMemorandum, wrapped in an envelope, on which waswritten, “Not to be opened till after my Will.”
“In my Library at Strawberry Hill are twowainscot chests or boxes, the larger marked withan A, the lesser with a B. I desire, that as soonas I am dead, my Executor and Executrix willcord up strongly and seal the larger box, markedA, and deliver it to the Honourable Hugh ConwaySeymour, to be kept by him unopened and unsealedtill the eldest son of Lady Waldegrave, or whicheverof her sons, being Earl of Waldegrave, shall attainthe age of twenty-five years; when the said chest,[vi]with whatever it contains, shall be delivered to himfor his own. And I beg that the Honourable HughConway Seymour, when he shall receive the saidchest, will give a promise in writing, signed by him,to Lady Waldegrave, that he or his Representativeswill deliver the said chest unopened and unsealed,by my Executor and Executrix, to the first son ofLady Waldegrave who shall attain the age oftwenty-five years. The key of the said chest is inone of the cupboards of the Green Closet, withinthe Blue Breakfast Room, at Strawberry Hill, andthat key, I desire, may be delivered to Laura, LadyWaldegrave, to be kept by her till her son shallreceive the chest.
(Signed) “...