( 356 ) 
Hc OW TEP OF BA Nye 
Gr Bons-Mots; Apophthegms, Obfervations on Life and Literature, with 
sich gl Extraéis from Original Letters 
OF THE LATE HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD. 
NUMBER III. 

*,* This Article is communicated by a Literary Gentleman, for many years in babits of intimacy 
_ suith ir. WaALrore. 
It is partly drawn up from a collection of Bons-Mots, Gc. im bis own 
_ band-writing; partl; from Anecdotes written down after long Converfations with bim. 

XXXVII. HOURS OF COMPOSITION. 
“WROTE the * Cafile of Cirauto’’ in 
A -eight days, or rather eight nights; 
for my genera! hours of eompofition are 
from ten o’clock at night till two in the 
morning, when. I am fure nct to be dif- 
turbed by vifitants.. While I am writing 
¥ take {-veral cups of coffee. , 
| XXXVUI. HUME AND BURNET. 
- E am no admirer of Hume. Incon- 
verfation he was very thick; and Ido be- 
Fieve hardly underftocd a fubje& till he 
had written upon it. 
Burnet I like much. It is obfervable, 
that none of his facts has been contro- 
verted, except his relation of the birth of 
the Pretender, in which he was certamly 
tmiftaken—but his very credulity is a 
proof of his honefty. Burnet’s ftyle and 
manner are very interefting. It feems as 
if he had juft come from the king’s clofet, 
or from the apartments of the men whom 
he defcribes, and was telling his reader, 
in plain honeft terms, what he had feen 
and heard. 
XXXIX. AUTHORS AND ARTISTS. 
I have always rather tried to efcape the 
acquaintance,and converfation,of authors. 
fin author talking of his own works, or 
cenfuring thofe ot others, is to me a dofe 
of hypecacuana. I like only afew, who 
can in company forget their authorfhip, 
and remember plain ienfe. 
_ The converfation of artifts is fill 
worfe. Wanity and envy are the main in- 
gredients. One detefts vanity, becaufe 
3t fhocks one’s own vanity. 
Had I liftened to the cenfures of artifs, 
there is not a good piece in my colleétion. 
One blames one part of a picture, another 
attacks another. Sir Jofhua is one of the 
moft candid; yet he blamed the ttiff 
drapery of my Henry VII, in the ftate. 
wbed-chamber, as if good drapery could 
be expected in that age of painting. 
XL; CAUTION. TO YOUNG AUTHORS. 
Youth is prone to cenfure. A youns 
man of genius expects: tesmake a world 
for himfelf; as he gets older, he finds he 
muft take it as it is. 
It is imprudent in 2 young author to 
make any enemies whatever. He fhould 
not attack any living perfon. Pope was, 
perhaps, too refined and jefuitic a pro- 
feffor of authorfhip ; and his arts to efta- 
blifth his reputation were infinite, and 
fometimes perhaps exceeded the bounds 
of fevere integrity. But in this he is ay 
example of prudence, that he wrote no 
fatire till his fortune was made. 
XLI. PUBLIC VIRTUE, 
When I firft thruft my nofe into the 
world, I was apt loudly to blame any 
defection from what I efteemed, publie 
virtue, or patriotifm. As I grew older, 
I found the times were more to blame 
than the men.. We may cenfure places 
and penfions; while the placemen and 
the penfioners are often intitled to our 
efteem. One man has a numerous family 
to provide for, another is ruled by a vain 
wife, &c. &c- I think fome tempta- 
tions would have overcome even Brutus. 
But why talk of Brutus, while men not 
meafures are the objeét ? 
XLIY. GEORGE THE FIRST. 
I do remember fomething of George 
the Firt. My father took me ta St. 
James’s while I was a very little boy; 
after waiting fome time in an anti-room, 
a gentleman came in all drefied in brown, 
even his ftockings; and witha ribbon and 
ftar. He took me up in his arms, kiffed 
me, and chattdd fome time. 
XLII, LIKENESS IN ANTIQUE POR- 
TRAITS. . 
On looking at the buft of Mareus An- 
toninus, in the gallery at Strawberry Hill, 
Mr. Walpole obferved that even the 
wortt artifts among the ancients ‘always 
hit the character and likenefs ; which the 
beft of ours feldom, or never, do.’ 
This is a problem worthy of ample 
difcuffion, in a country fond of portraits. 
Had the ancients any particular mode, or 
machine; or was it the pure effe& of fu- 
perior genius ? 
XLIV. FOR- 
