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

Letter to Charlotte, August 3, 1734

Alured Clarke was a chaplain-in-ordinary to kings George I and II; in 1731 he became a prebendary of Westminster Cathedral. Charlotte Clayton was a woman of the bedchamber to Caroline, Princess of Wales. In this letter to Charlotte, Clarke describes a 1734 visit by members of the Yamacraw Nation to King George II at Kensington Palace. The Yamacraw were a Creek tribe who lived along the Savannah River in what had become the British colony of Georgia two years earlier. James Oglethorpe, founder of the colony and one of its trustees, orchestrated the visit. Clarke remarks at length on the Yamacraw party's clothes (including their English garments) and body paint. Midway through delivering a speech, the Yamacraw chief Tomochichi presents George II with animal skins and "sticks with Feathers on 'em which are Emblems of Peace and which he laid very submissively upon the Skins, as a Token of his Entering into a firm Alliance with us." It seems possible that these "sticks" were, in fact, feathered peace pipes, such as the one depicted in the print The Dance of the Calumet of the Sun (1809). Catalog Record

Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University Library

Alured Clarke

Bound Manuscript CollectionThis collection includes over 300 volumes of a diverse set of material relating to political, religious, literary and domestic life in the eighteenth-century British world. Extent: over 300 volumes Summary: This extensive and diverse collection of bound manuscripts both supplements the other manuscript collections highlighted in this exhibition, but also stands as a largely untapped and robust resource for any scholar studying eighteenth-century Britain and her Empire. It includes several diaries and commonplace books of prominent political and religious figures, travel journals, account books, autograph books, engravings and religious writings. In addition, the bound manuscripts collection contains more ephemeral items such as recipe books, newspaper clippings, broadsides, songbooks, tickets and much more that offer a glimpse into daily and domestic life. This vast collection is an incredibly rich trove of material that mirrors eighteenth-century society in full, offering insight into anything from high philosophical and political debates to concerns and daily life of the family. Whether consulted in tandem with other collections or on its own, this collection promises to be invaluable for any scholar of the eighteenth-century British world.