1791; various
people Horace Walpole knows
Are dying -- some
because they're old or sick
And some because
they're French and 1791
Is a tough year in France;
lamp posts --
Who knew? -- make
excellent gallows. He, though,
Is safe enough in England,
if gouty
(Because of his
ancestors; his has been
An abstemious
existence). He is writing a letter
To Mary and Agnes
Berry. They're in Pisa
And Mary fell
recently, hurting her nose.
Walpole
sends them a letter or two every week;
He is feeling a
little desperate for things to say
And so mentions
that Lady Mary Palk,
(He's never met her
but perhaps the Berries have)
Has died in
childbed. Horace Walpole
Is an odd glory of
English literature,
Credited with
creating the Gothic Novel
And thus
responsible for any number of
Gloomy castles
filled with ripped bodices
And the lecherous
noblemen who rip them.
He also wrote
memoirs and volumes
Of quite
respectable art history and criticism.
Still, his letters
are the best thing he wrote;
They've been
published and republished many times
Since he died. Lady
Mary Palk nee Bligh
Is briefly met by
anyone reading the letters
(They fill
forty-eight Brobdignagian volumes
In the Yale
edition). She's not at her best;
The reader meets
her as a corpse. On page 215
Of Volume 11 an
editor reveals she was the 1st dau
Of the 3rd E of
Darnley and died at 23. Assume that,
Disgusted at having
left so slight a trace behind,
She's hired an
agent and now seeks mention
In all suitable
mediums of communication.
While willing to
appear in historical novels
Perhaps as a
spirited heiress or feisty orphan
She has no
objection to modern books or films
Or streaming video
once she understands
Exactly how
computers work. She gives fair warning
That she will bite
anyone -- even a lonesome duke --
Who attempts to rip
her bodice.
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