Produced by MWS, John Campbell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. A superscript is denoted by ^x or ^{xx}, for example M^R. Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been placed at the end of each chapter. The Appendix has sections marked B to K; there is no section A, and no section J. As the Editor notes in his Preface, “Some, though very few, coarse expressions, have been suppressed by the Editor, and the vacant spaces filled up by [3 or 4] asterisks.” A few names have been editorially omitted; these are sometimes indicated by ---- and sometimes by ****. In addition there are four ‘thought breaks’ indicated by a line of 5 spaced asterisks. Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book. MEMOIRS OF THE REIGN OF KING GEORGE THE SECOND. VOL. I. [Illustration: GEORGE II. London. Henry Colburn, 1846.] MEMOIRS OF THE REIGN OF KING GEORGE THE SECOND. BY HORACE WALPOLE, YOUNGEST SON OF SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD. EDITED, FROM THE ORIGINAL MSS. WITH A PREFACE AND NOTES, BY THE LATE LORD HOLLAND. Second Edition, Revised. _WITH THE ORIGINAL MOTTOES._ VOL. I. LONDON: HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1847. EDITOR’S PREFACE. The work now submitted to the public is printed from a Manuscript of the late Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford. Among the papers found at Strawberry Hill, after the death of Lord Orford, was the following Memorandum, wrapped in an envelope, on which was written, “Not to be opened till after my Will.”