]
[Footnote 200: See the "Progress of Romance," by Clara Reeve, for the
names of many now forgotten novels, for which room cannot be spared
here.]
IV.
The writers who took the chief part in originating and sustaining the
romantic revival in English fiction were Horace Walpole, Clara Reeve,
and Mrs. Radcliffe. As we have called upon the testimony of Walpole so
often in this work, and as we are now to consider him as an author,
some account of his personal appearance may be of interest. "His
figure," says Miss Hawkins, "was not merely tall, but long and slender
to excess; his complexion, and particularly his hands, of a most
unhealthy paleness. His eyes were remarkably bright and penetrating,
very dark and lively:--his voice was not strong, but his tones were
extremely pleasant, and, if I may so say, highly gentlemanly. I do not
remember his common gait; he always entered a room in that style of
affected delicacy which fashion had then made almost natural; _chapeau
bras_ between his hands as if he wished to compress it, or under his
arm; knees bent, and feet on tiptoe, as if afraid of a wet floor. His
dress in visiting was most usually, in summer, when I most saw him, a
lavender suit, the waistcoat embroidered with a little silver, or of
white silk worked in the tambour, partridge silk stockings, and gold
buckles, ruffles and frill generally lace.
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