Referring to themselves as the Quadruple Alliance, the four schoolmates prided themselves on their intellectual precocity and delved into Latin classics as well as French and English literature, which they read, translated, and parodied. Here he became close friends with Thomas Ashton, Richard West, and Thomas Gray. From 1727 to 1734 Walpole attended Eton, which proved a much more stable environment than his family's estate. Lady Walpole, a reputedly vain and capricious woman, compulsively pampered her youngest son, and the atmosphere of the Walpole home can perhaps best be summed up by the family motto: 'Fan qua sentiat' ('Say what you think').

Conditions in the Walpole home enhanced Horace's tendencies toward impetuosity and self-indulgence. He, however, was unaffected by the gossip and remained fervently loyal to both of his parents until their deaths.

Because Horace was considerably younger and both physically and temperamentally different from the other children of Sir Robert and Catherine Shorter Walpole-and because his parents had a notoriously strained marriage-there was considerable speculation over Horace's paternity. Sir Robert Walpole, who held many influential posts including secretary of war and treasurer of the navy, served during the reign of George II as England's first prime minister and became the first Earl of Orford. His immediate family came into wealth during his father's political career. Walpole was born into a family of old Norfolk stock which could be traced back to the last king of the Britons. In addition to this achievement, Walpole is widely recognized as one of England's first art historians, an influential revivalist of Gothic architecture, and the author of The Castle of Otranto (1764), a work which pioneered the introduction of supernaturalism and mystery into the romance and is thus regarded as the first Gothic novel. While the detailed description they provide of English politics and society in Walpole's time is unsurpassed, they also possess stylistic charm and wit which make them highly entertaining prose.

Lewis (see Further Reading), 'Walpole is the man who brought the art of letterwriting to the highest point it reached in our language.' The Letters, which date from 1732 to 1797 and number in the thousands, are noted for their remarkable content as well as their distinctive style. One of the most flamboyant personalities in eighteenth-century English letters, Walpole is often considered the outstanding chronicler and correspondent of his era. English novelist, biographer, memoirist, historian, essayist, playwright, and letter writer.

The castle of novel by horace walpole