"[19] We know how in idle moments Walpole loved to
brood on the picturesque past, and we can imagine his falling
asleep, after the arrival of a piece of armour for his
collection, with his head full of plans for the adornment of his
cherished castle. His story is but an expansion of this
dilettante's nightmare. His interest in things mediaeval was not
that of an antiquary, but rather that of an artist who loves
things old because of their age and beauty. In a delightfully gay
letter to his friend, George Montagu, referring flippantly to his
appointment as Deputy Ranger of Rockingham Forest, he writes,
after drawing a vivid picture of a "Robin Hood reforme":
"Visions, you know, have always been my pasture; and so
far from growing old enough to quarrel with their
emptiness, I almost think there is no wisdom comparable
to that of exchanging what is called the realities of
life for dreams. Old castles, old pictures, old
histories and the babble of old people make one live
back into centuries that cannot disappoint one. One
holds fast and surely what is past. The dead have
exhausted their power of deceiving--one can trust
Catherine of Medicis now. In short, you have opened a
new landscape to my fancy; and my lady Beaulieu will
oblige me as much as you, if she puts the long bow into
your hands.
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