(710) “August 14, 1654.-Passed through Pontefract; the castle, famous for many guests, both of late and ancient times, and the death of that unhappy king murdered in it (Richard ii.), was now demolishing by the rebels:  it stands on a mount, and makes a goodly show at a distance.”  Evelyn, vol. ii. p. 88.-E.

(711) Kippax Park.

(712) The chapel upon Wakefield bridge is said to have been built upon the spot where Edmund Earl of Rutland, the youngest son of Richard Duke of York, and brother of Edward iv. and Richard iii. was killed by John Lord Clifford, surnamed the Butcher.-E.

(713) The magnificent structure here described by Walpole was burnt down in 1761.-E.

339 Letter 195 To Sir Horace Mann.  Strawberry Hill, Sept. 19, 1756.

I promised you an account of your brother as soon as he should return from Bristol, but I deferred it for a week, till I could see him reposed and refreshed, and could judge more fairly.  I do think him much mended; I do not say recovered.  H e looks with colour again, and has (got a little flesh, and is able to do much more than before he went.  My Lord Radnor thinks he has a great appetite; I did not perceive it when he dined with me.  His breath is better, though sometimes troublesome, and he brought back a great cough, which, however, is much abated.  I think him so much better, that I ventured to talk very freely to him upon his own state; and though I allowed him mended, I told him plainly that I was convinced his case would be irrecoverable, if he did not go abroad.  At times he swears he will, if he falls back at all; at others he will not listen to it, but pleads the confusion of his affairs.  I wish there is not another more insurmountable cause, the fury, who not only torments him in this world, but is hurrying him into the next.  I have not been able to prevail with him to pass one day or two here with me in tranquility.  I see his life at stake, I feel for him, for you, for myself’; I am desperate about it, and yet know no remedy!  I can only assure you that I will not see it quietly; nor would any thing check me from going the greatest lengths with your sister, whom I think effectually, though perhaps not maliciously, a most wicked being, but that I always find it recoils upon your brother.  Alas! what signifies whether she murders him from a bad heart or a bad temper?

Poor Mr. Chute, too, has been grievously ill with the gout- he is laid up at his own house, whither I am going to see him.

I feel a little satisfaction that you have an opportunity of Richcourt’s insults:  who thought that the King of Prussia would ever be a rod in our hands?  For my part, I feel quite pleasant, for whether he demolishes the Queen, or the Queen him, can one but find a loophole to let out joy?  Lord Stormont’s(714) valet de chambre arrived three days ago with an account of his being within four leagues of Dresden.(715)