Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797) was an English art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and Whig politician. He is now largely remembered for Strawberry Hill, the home he built in Twickenham, south-west London where he revived the Gothic style some decades before his Victorian successors, and for his Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto. Along with the book, his literary reputation rests on his Letters, which are of significant social and political interest. He was the son of Sir Robert Walpole, and cousin of the 1st Viscount Nelson.
Read more about Horace Walpole: Early Life: 1717–1739, Grand Tour: 1739–1741, Early Parliamentary Career: 1741–1754, Strawberry Hill, Later Parliamentary Career: 1754–1768, Later Life: 1768–1788, Last Years: 1788–1797, Writings, Formal Styles From Birth To Death
Famous quotes by horace walpole:
“The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those who feel.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“When Shakespeare copied chroniclers verbatim, it was because he knew they were good enough for his audiences. In a more polished age he who could so move our passions, could surely have performed the easier task of satisfying our taste.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“Eighteen convicts being hanged in one day ... a woman was crying an account of their execution. A gentleman asked her why she said nineteen, when there had been but eighteen hanged? She replied, ‘Sir, I did not know you had been reprieved.’”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“Poetry is a beautiful way of spoiling prose, and the laborious art of exchanging plain sense for harmony.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“An ancient prophecy ... pronounced, That the castle and lordship of Otranto should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it!”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)