[Footnote 1:  “The Dialogues of the Dead” were by Lord Lyttelton.  In an earlier letter Walpole pronounces them “not very lively or striking.”]

There is a little book coming out, that will amuse you.  It is a new edition of Isaac Walton’s “Complete Angler,"[1] full of anecdotes and historic notes.  It is published by Mr. Hawkins,[2] a very worthy gentleman in my neighbourhood, but who, I could wish, did not think angling so very innocent an amusement.  We cannot live without destroying animals, but shall we torture them for our sport—­sport in their destruction?  I met a rough officer at his house t’other day, who said he knew such a person was turning Methodist; for, in the middle of conversation, he rose, and opened the window to let out a moth.  I told him I did not know that the Methodists had any principle so good, and that I, who am certainly not on the point of becoming one, always did so too.  One of the bravest and best men I ever knew, Sir Charles Wager, I have often heard declare he never killed a fly willingly.  It is a comfortable reflection to me, that all the victories of last year have been gained since the suppression of the Bear Garden and prize-fighting; as it is plain, and nothing else would have made it so, that our valour did not singly and solely depend upon these two Universities.  Adieu!

[Footnote 1:  “The Complete Angler” is one of those rare books which retain its popularity 250 years after its publication—­not for the value of its practical instructions to fishermen, for in this point of view it is valueless (Walton himself being only a worm or livebait fisherman, and the chapters on fly-fishing being by Cotton), but for its healthy tone and love of country scenery and simple country amusements which are seldom more attractively displayed.]

[Footnote 2:  Afterwards Sir John Hawkins, the executor and biographer of Dr. Johnson.]

VISITS IN THE MIDLAND COUNTIES—­WHICHNOVRE—­SHEFFIELD—­THE NEW ART OF PLATING—­CHATSWORTH—­HADDON HALL—­HARDWICKE—­APARTMENTS OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS—­NEWSTEAD—­ALTHORP.

TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ.

ARLINGTON STREET, Sept. 1, 1760.

I was disappointed at your not being at home as I returned from my expedition.

My tour has been extremely agreeable.  I set out with winning a good deal at Loo at Ragley; the Duke of Grafton was not so successful, and had some high words with Pam.  I went from thence to Offley’s at Whichnovre[1], the individual manor of the flitch of bacon, which has been growing rusty for these thirty years in his hall.  I don’t wonder; I have no notion that one could keep in good humour with one’s wife for a year and a day, unless one was to live on the very spot, which is one of the sweetest scenes I ever saw.  It is the brink of a high hill; the Trent wriggles through at the foot; Lichfield and twenty other churches and mansions decorate the view.  Mr. Anson has bought an estate [Shugborough] close by, whence my Lord used to cast many a wishful eye, though without the least pretensions even to a bit of lard.