Transcripts of letters from Horace Walpole to Horace Mann, 1741-1786.

4 v. ; 33 cm.

English

Purchased from Sotheby's, February 1964.

This material is available for research.

Dr. John Allen (1771-1843) was a political and historical writer. In 1791 he graduated with an MD from the University of Edinburgh. In 1801, in his capacity as a doctor, he accompanied Lord Holland to Spain, and on his return to England became a regular inmate of Holland House. Although he served in 1806 as under-secretary to the commissioners for treating with America, Allen is best known for his social life at Holland House, especially as documented in his diary. He also helped Lord Holland to research the materials for his speeches; contributed 35 articles to the Edinburgh Review, especially on Spanish subjects; and an Inquiry into the Rise and Growth of the Royal Prerogative in England (1830). Allen was appointed warden of Dulwich College from 1811 to 1820, and master from that year until his death. He was also auditor of the duchy of Lancaster from 1841 until his death.

Manuscripts, in Dr. John Allen's hand, of transcripts of 833 letters from Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann. In his correspondence, Walpole discusses such topics as family news, including the illnesses of his father, Sir Robert Walpole, and news pertaining to Mann's family; news "in town," including weddings, deaths of friends, balls, gossip, the Opera, artwork, and transcriptions of popular epigrams and new songs; and political affairs, including Parliament elections, debates, and bills, as well as international affairs such as the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence. The first volume contains a preface in which Walpole writes that though the letters had not been written with the intention of public consumption, upon a second perusal he discovered passages which might be entertaining to a large audience.

The Yale edition of Horace Walpole's correspondence / edited by Wilmarth S. Lewis. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1937-1983.

July 22, 2008

John Allen, Transcripts of Letters from Horace Walpole to Horace Mann. The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.

John Allen, Transcripts of Letters from Horace Walpole to Horace Mann. The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.

Correspondence.