Footnotes

'I AM UNAMBITIOUS, I AM DISINTERESTED – BUT I AM VAIN': WALPOLE'S REVEALING LETTER TO WILLIAM PITT.

Both letters are published in the Yale online edition of Horace Walpole's Correspondence (pp.170-171), but the whereabouts of the originals, until now, has remained unknown. They were first printed in The Works of Horatio Walpole, Earl of Orford, 1798, Vol.2, pp.374-376, edited by Mary Berry, the text taken from the originals in her possession. The letters bear the consecutive numbers in ink, 3 and 4, and pencilled page references to the Works where they were included in the chapter 'Letters to and from Ministers'. They formed part of the Walpole correspondence retained by Mary Berry and bequeathed to Lady Lewis in 1852.

Provenance: Horace Walpole (1717-1797); Mary Berry (1763-1852); Lady Maria Theresa Lewis (née Villiers) (1803-1865); her son Sir Thomas Villiers Lister (1832-1902); thence by descent.

Lady Lewis' collection was initially formed through the amalgamation of two significant collections of letters: royal and political correspondence from that of her mother the Hon. Theresa Villiers (1775-1856), and that of her close friend, the writer Mary Berry (1763–1852). Mary Berry's bequest included correspondence from Horace Walpole, most notably his correspondence with Thomas Chatterton and David Hume, hitherto thought lost, and three poems dedicated to her. To this inheritance Lady Lewis subsequently added her own correspondence and collection of autographs gathered through her wide circle of social, political and literary connections entertained at her home, Kent House, St James's. Not seen outside the family until now, the collection is a remarkable survival and tells the story of a family at the heart of English society. An intricate web of connections and alliances is revealed, bringing together the worlds of royalty and politics, the arts and literature. It is also a story of influential women both as collectors and as correspondents: Theresa Villiers as keeper of royal secrets, Mary Berry and her circle of intellectuals, and, importantly, Lady Lewis as collector and salonnière bringing them all together in one extraordinary collection.