One aspect of Walpole's original definition of serendipity, often missed in modern discussions of the word, is the need for an individual to be " sagacious " enough to link together apparently innocuous facts in order to come to a valuable conclusion.

Clara Reeve, best known for her work The Old English Baron ( 1778 ), set out to take Walpole's plot and adapt it to the demands of the time by balancing fantastic elements with 18th-century realism.

Though Lewis's novel could be read as a pastiche of the emerging genre, self-parody was a constituent part of the Gothic from the time of the genre's inception with Walpole's Otranto.

He was out of power for most of his career, and became famous for his attacks on the government, such as Walpole's corruption in the 1730s, Hanoverian subsidies in the 1740s, peace with France in the 1760s, and the uncompromising policy toward the American colonies in the 1770s.

Pitt was a leading advocate of a more hard-line policy against Spain, and often castigated Walpole's government for its weakness in dealing with Madrid.

Walpole's domination over the House of Commons was highlighted by the ease with which he secured the rejection of Sir John Barnard's plan to reduce the interest on the national debt.

Though her death did not end his personal influence with George II, who had grown loyal to the Prime Minister during the preceding years, Walpole's domination of government continued to decline.

In April 1720, Walpole's wing of the Whig party reconciled with the governing wing, and Walpole and Caroline helped to effect a reconciliation between the King and her husband for the sake of public unity.

By the time of the next director's elections in 1718 politics had changed again, with a schism within the Whigs between Walpole's faction supporting the Prince of Wales and James Stanhope supporting the King.

The college shares part of its campus with Walpole's Strawberry Hill.

Robert Jenkins hands a dismissive Prime Minister Robert Walpole his severed ear, as his companions lift off his wig to show the scar ; one of Walpole's associates displays total indifference, preferring to converse with a lady.

He gained over the Duchess of Kendal with a bribe of £ 11, 000 from his wife's estates, and with Walpole's approval obtained an audience with George.

He has been here these two years, and will not tell who he is, or whence, but professes wonderful things, the first that he does not go by his right name ; the second that he never had any dealings with any woman-nay, nor with any wikt: succedaneum | succedaneum ( this was censored by Walpole's editors until 1954 ) He sings, plays on the violin wonderfully, composes, is mad, and not very sensible.

* The South Sea Bubble burst, with many losses of fortune, including John Gay, and there are increasing suspicions of complicity by Robert Walpole's government.

They would be political partners for the next twenty years, and Newcastle would remain a loyalist until Walpole's fall in 1742. Newcastle vigorously sustained the Whigs at Queen Anne's death, and had much influence in making the Londoners accept King George I, even organising so-called ' Newcastle mobs ' to fight with rival Jacobites in the street.

He was related to Walpole's leading ally Charles Townshend, strengthening his bond with the leader of the new administration.

Though he stayed with Walpole to the end, Newcastle was later accused by many of Walpole's supporters of undermining him.

In 1731, at Houghton Hall, Sir Robert Walpole's country house in Norfolk, the Duke, with the Duke of Lorraine ( later the Holy Roman Emperor ), was made a Master Mason by the Grand Master, Lord Lovell, at an Occasional Lodge.

So long, to use Walpole's witty remark, as the firm was Townshend and Walpole all went well with it, but when the positions were reversed jealousies arose between the partners.

Popular reels, danced with a partner, included Lady Walpole's Reel, aka Boston Fancy, Lady Washington's Reel and Speed the Plow.

In particular he proved unable to compete with Walpole's proposals for an allowance for the King.

The effect of Gothic fiction feeds on a pleasing sort of terror, an extension of Romantic literary pleasures that were relatively new at the time of Walpole's novel.

Horace Walpole's 1764 novel, The Castle of Otranto, invented the Gothic fiction genre.

Following Walpole's admission of authorship, however, many critics were loath to lavish much praise on the work and dismissed it as absurd, fluffy, romantic fiction.

The result stands alongside Walpole's novel and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein ( 1818 ) in the first rank of early Gothic fiction.

This work described the fascination with supernatural fiction in English literature from the publication of Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto in 1764 to Charles Maturin's ' Melmoth the Wanderer ' in 1820 on to modern times.

For over 40 years after Walpole's fall in 1742, there was widespread ambivalence about the position.

This position was attacked by English Austrophiles who wanted to aid the Austrians against France, but Walpole's dominant position ensured that Britain stayed out of the conflict.

The individuals who had brought about Walpole's impeachment in 1712 were now themselves attacked for purely political reasons: Lord Oxford was impeached, and Lord Bolingbroke suffered from an act of attainder.

Walpole's first year as Prime Minister was also marked by the discovery of a Jacobite plot formed by Francis Atterbury, the Bishop of Rochester.

During the remainder of George I's reign, Walpole's ascendancy continued ; the political power of the monarch was gradually diminishing and that of his ministers gradually increasing.

Walpole's position was threatened in 1727 when George I died and was succeeded by George II.

The year 1737 was also marked by the death of Walpole's close friend Queen Caroline.

Walpole's new majority was difficult to determine because of the uncertain loyalties of many new members, but contemporaries and historians estimated it as low as fourteen to eighteen.

A committee was created to inquire into Walpole's ministry but no substantial evidence of wrongdoing or corruption was discovered.

Walpole's influence on the politics of his day was tremendous.

The Jacobite threat was ended, soon after Walpole's term ended, by the defeat of the rebellion of 1745.

The prince was isolated politically when Walpole's Whigs joined the government, and Leicester House played host to literary figures and wits, such as John Arbuthnot and Jonathan Swift, rather than politicians.

Devonshire was a supporter of Sir Robert Walpole and, after Walpole's fall from power, of the Pelhams.

There is no sufficient ground for Horace Walpole's charge that the fall of Sir Robert was brought about by Hardwicke's treachery.

Edgcumbe was a faithful follower of the Whig Sir Robert Walpole, in whose interests he managed the elections for the Cornish boroughs, and his elevation to the peerage, which took place in 1742, was designed to prevent him from giving evidence about Walpole's expenditure of the secret service money.

The paper was aimed mainly towards the overthrow of Sir Robert Walpole's government ; there is some debate about its effects, with most historians agreeing it was doing little more than preaching to the converted.