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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Horace Walpole
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(1717–97, 4th earl of Orford 1791) Author and inspired dilettante, sixth and youngest child of Robert *Walpole. His prolific letters are an invaluable source for historians of the period and he was a major figure in the early *Gothic Revival, the example of *Strawberry Hill being followed by The Castle of Otranto (1764). This prototype of the Gothic novel is a spine-tingling tale of medieval villainies and wronged innocence. At the end the ghost of the murdered prince of Otranto grows larger and larger until his castle cannot take the strain and crumbles around him.
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