Editing Horace Walpole (section)

==Writings==
Strawberry Hill had its own [[printing press]], the [[Strawberry Hill Press]], which supported Horace Walpole's intensive literary activity.{{sfn|Verberckmoes |2007|p=77}}

In 1764, not using his own press, he anonymously published his [[Gothic novel]], ''[[The Castle of Otranto]]'', claiming on its title page that it was a translation "from the Original Italian of Onuphrio Muralto". The second edition's preface, according to James Watt, "has often been regarded as a manifesto for the modern Gothic romance, stating that his work, now subtitled 'A Gothic Story', sought to restore the qualities of imagination and invention to contemporary fiction".{{sfn|Watt |2004|p=120}} However, there is a playfulness in the prefaces to both editions and in the narration within the text itself. The novel opens with the son of Manfred (the Prince of Otranto) being crushed under a massive helmet that appears as a result of supernatural causes. However, that moment, along with the rest of the unfolding plot, includes a mixture of both ridiculous and sublime supernatural elements. The plot finally reveals how Manfred's family is tainted in a way that served as a model for successive Gothic plots.{{sfn|Watt |2004|pp=120–121}}

From 1762 on, Walpole published his ''Anecdotes of Painting in England'', based on [[George Vertue]]'s manuscript notes. His memoirs of the Georgian social and political scene, though heavily biased, are a useful primary source for historians.

[[File:George Montagu Eccardt Peterborough.JPG|thumb|upright|Portrait of ''George Montagu'' by [[John Giles Eccardt]] after [[Jean-Baptiste van Loo]] ({{circa|1713–1780}})<br />Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery<br />A close friend and correspondent of Horace Walpole]]

Smith, noting that Walpole never did any work for his well-paid government sinecures, turns to the letters and argues that:
<blockquote>Walpole served his country, not by drudgery in the Exchequer and Customs, which paid him, but by transmitting to posterity an incomparable vision of England as it was in his day – London and Westminster with all their festivities and riots, the machinations of politicians and the turmoil of elections.{{sfn|Smith|1983|p=25}}</blockquote>

Walpole's numerous letters are often used as a historical resource. In one, dating from 28 January 1754, he coined the word [[serendipity]] which he said was derived from a "silly fairy tale" he had read, ''[[The Three Princes of Serendip]]''.{{sfn|Merton|Barber|2011|p=1}} The oft-quoted [[epigram]], "This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel", is from a letter of Walpole's to [[Anne FitzPatrick, Countess of Upper Ossory|Anne, Countess of Upper Ossory]], on 16 August 1776. The original, fuller version appeared in a letter to Sir Horace Mann on 31 December 1769: "I have often said, and oftener think, that this world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel – a solution of why [[Democritus]] laughed and [[Heraclitus]] wept."

In ''Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard III'' (1768), Walpole defended [[Richard III of England|Richard III]] against the common belief that he murdered the [[Princes in the Tower]]. In this he has been followed by other writers, such as [[The Daughter of Time|Josephine Tey]] and [[Valerie Anand]]. This work, according to Emile Legouis, shows that Walpole was "capable of critical initiative".{{sfn|Legouis |1957|p= 906}} However, Walpole later changed his views following [[The Terror]] and declared that Richard could have committed the crimes of which he was accused.{{sfn|Sabor|2013|p=223}}{{sfn|Pollard|1991|p=216}}