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Horace Walpole, 4th earl of Orford

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From: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
Date: 20080424
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Horace Walpole, 4th earl of Orford 1717-97, English author; youngest son of Sir Robert Walpole . Educated at Eton and Cambridge, he toured the Continent with his friend Thomas Gray from 1739 to 1741, when the two quarreled and parted. He was elected to Parliament in 1741 and served until 1767, confining himself largely to the role of spectator and defender of his father's memory. In 1747 he acquired a country house, Strawberry Hill, near Twickenham, where he built a pseudo-Gothic castle, which became the showplace of England. He was reconciled with Gray in 1745 and later published his ...

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