One of Walpole's longest and liveliest correspondences was the Lady Ossory (formerly Duchess of Grafton), providing her, in her country retirement, a dazzling narrative of London's social life from 1761 until Walpole's death in 1797. The letters are in his happiest vein; in them he "most consciously practised the art of letter-writing." Of the 450 letters, including some written by Walpole to her husband and daughter, 48 are here printed for the first time, one them being the only survivint letter written to him by Lady Ossory. Commenting on the series, the Times Literary Supplement has said, "The editing of the volumes is as fine as ever: the notes are as illuminating and erudite, the result of an almost incredible thoroughness of research.
