Letters of Horace Walpole Author:Horace Walpole Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: and England. The figure of the dead man who spoke at his burial, contains all the strongest and horridest ideas, of ghastliness, hypocrisy discovered, and the he... more »ight of damnation, pain and cursing. A Benedictine monk, who was there at the same time, said to me of this picture : Cest une fable, mais on la croyoit autrefois, Another, who showed me relics in one of their churches, expressed as much ridicule for them. The pictures I have been speaking of are ill preserved, and some of the finest heads defaced, which was done at first by a rival of Le Sceur's. Adieu! dear West, take care of your health ; and some time or other we will talk over all these things with more pleasure than I have had in seeing them. Yours ever. THE CARNIVAL—THE FLORENTINES CIVIL, GOOD- NA TURED, AND FOND OF THE ENGLISH—A CURIOUS CHALLENGE. To Richard West, Esq. Florence, February 27, 1740, N.S. Well, West, I have found a little unmasqued moment to write to you ; but for this week past I have been so muffled up in my domino, that I have not had the command of my elbows. But what have you been doing all the mornings ? Could you not write then ?— No, then I was masqued too; I have done nothing but slip out of my domino into bed, and out of bed into my domino. The end of the Carnival is frantic, bacchanalian; all the morn one makes parties in masque to the shops and coffee-houses, and all the evening to the operas and balls. Then I have danced, good gods I Jww have I danced! The Italians are fond to a degree of our country dances : Cold and raw they only know by the tune ; Blowzybella is almost Italian, and Buttered peas is Pizelii al buro. There are but three days more ; but the two last are to have balls all the morning at the fine unfinished palace of the Strozzi; and the Tuesday night a ma...« less