Horatio Walpole, also known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whig politician who served as the 4th Earl of Orford from 24 September 1717 until 2 March 1797. The son of Sir Robert and Catherine Walpole, a former British prime minister, was Sir Robert Walpole. He attended King's College in Cambridge and Eton College for his education. While on a magnificent tour of France and Italy in 1739 with his Eton schoolmate, the poet Thomas Gray, they got into arguments and split up. They subsequently made amends, and Walpole remained a fervent supporter of Gray's poetry for the rest of his life. The Castle of Otranto, which Walpole published in 1764 under a pseudonym, was effective in bringing romanticism to contemporary literature. The almost 4,000 letters in Walpole's private correspondence provide a survey of the culture, etiquette, and tastes of his day. Horace was chosen to represent the corrupt borough of Callington in Cornwall as a member of parliament. On topics like abolitionism and the protests of the American colonists, he was a traditional liberal. At the Church of St. Martin at Tours on the grounds of Houghton Hall, Horace Walpole was interred alongside his father, Sir Robert Walpole.
