Global Encounters and the Archives: Britain’s Empire in the Age of Horace Walpole

Letter to Henry Seymour Conway, June 16, 1768

Despite his role in repealing the Stamp Act in the Rockingham Ministry, Henry Seymour Conway was dismissed from his ministerial role under the Duke of Grafton's new administration in 1768. Horace Walpole wrote this letter to Conway, his cousin, upon hearing the news. Walpole excoriates the Duke of Grafton for dismissing Conway, writing that Grafton "would be puzzled to give a tolerable reason for" his choice. Also of note is Walpole's global perspective; destabilizing this ministry would prove dangerous with "London and Middlesex distracted, the colonies in rebellion, Ireland ready to be so, and France arrogant and on the point of being hostile."

Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University Library

Horace Walpole

Horace Walpole Papers (1725-1797)Account books, travel journals, commonplace books, music manuscripts, poetry and art supplement the well-known online collection of Horace Walpole's correspondenceExtent: 43 volumesSummary: The Horace Walpole Papers form the most well-known collection at the Lewis Walpole Library. Containing over 3,000 letters to and from Walpole and 3,000 transcripts of correspondence from other public and private repositories, this collection offers a window into the life of the seminal cultural figure, Horace Walpole (1717-1797). While the immense amount of correspondence is available electronically through the digital collections of the Lewis Walpole Library, a rich body of supplemental materials, including account books, travel journals, commonplace books, manuscript copies and translations of printed texts, music manuscripts, poetry and examples of fine prints and graphic satire are available to scholars and students who visit the Lewis Walpole Library. The Library also holds a broad array of items that Walpole himself collected, including several bound manuscripts on a variety of topics and an extensive run of pamphlets (refer to below for manuscripts and pamphlets) and many theatrical playbills.